Drinks! (2011–2012)

[EvergreenDan]

One last bottle of Chinotto left, so I made a couple of:

Otto's Kin

by Dan Chadwick, Kindred Cocktails

1 1/2 oz Dark rum, Barbancourt

1/2 oz Campari

1/2 oz Lime juice

1/2 oz Orange juice (clementine)

1 1/2 oz Chinotto

Shake all but Chinotto, strain, rocks, lowball, top with Chinotto, stir gently.

I made it with Flor de Cana 7 and finished up the Chinotto with some Rhum JM and lime. I'm now wishing that I'd made it with the white Rhum JM. That stuff is delicious.

Edited September 12, 2011 by EvergreenDan (log)

[Tri2Cook]

One last bottle of Chinotto left, so I made a couple of:

Otto's Kin

by Dan Chadwick, Kindred Cocktails

1 1/2 oz Dark rum, Barbancourt

1/2 oz Campari

1/2 oz Lime juice

1/2 oz Orange juice (clementine)

1 1/2 oz Chinotto

Shake all but Chinotto, strain, rocks, lowball, top with Chinotto, stir gently.

I made it with Flor de Cana 7 and finished up the Chinotto with some Rhum JM and lime. I'm now wishing that I'd made it with the white Rhum JM. That stuff is delicious.

#@%&... now I'm searching google for a place to order Chinotto in Canada. That sounds right tasty!

[bostonapothecary]

well i'm in jamaica for the next few weeks.

2 oz. black well's "fine jamaican rum"

this is from chris blackwell of the island records company fame.

strangely the back of the label does say "aged and infused with tropical flavors"

it is delicious with very enigmatic hard to pin down aromas. the rum is dark and rich (but not simplistic and vanilla-y) with some sort of penetrating arrack like aroma. i feel like the rum has some acidity which might be what "infused with tropical flavors" is all about.

i didn't find much variety down here, but i did find the wray & nephews old tom gin as well as their allspice liqueur.

[bostonapothecary]

wray & nephews old tom gin = approve (it is basically just common gin)

wray & nephews jamaica brandy = disapprove (nothing about it leads you to believe it came from a grape)

today's after construction cocktail

1.5 oz. wray & nephews old tom gin

.5 oz. blackwell jamaican rum

1 oz. lime juice (strange yellowed variety)

.75 oz. wray & nephews allspice liqueur

.25 oz. local honey (hopewell)

[Yajna Patni]

Today I had an aperol sour made with one part Aperol, one part st germain, and one part lime. I found a recipe online. It was a little sweet, but really tasty.

[tanstaafl2]

Today I had an aperol sour made with one part Aperol, one part st germain, and one part lime. I found a recipe online. It was a little sweet, but really tasty.

Aperol has become my recent drink of choice. Try as I might I can't quite get an appreciation for Campari. But the Aperol makes a lovely light Americano varition and the slightly more orange forward taste is quite appealing! Tried the Plymouth gin, Aperol and Lillet combo the other night but not as good. Then again my Lillet has been open a while. A real downside with those types of mixers since I am the only one experimenting most evenings.

Collected a bunch of Aperol recipes from here and other places the other day and look forward to giving this recipe and the others I have collected a try. May substitute it for Compari in a Jasmine or Bitter Elder to see how it does. May bit a bit too much in the Jasmine with the Cointreau but we shall see.

Edited September 15, 2011 by tanstaafl2 (log)

[brinza]

Sounds tasty. I've wanted to try the original Norwegian Wood for some time but yellow Chartreuse is yet another thing I can't get where I live, only the green.

Can you get Strega or Benedictine? Either (or better yet, a combination of both) would reasonably approximate the Yellow Chartreuse. When I make that drink with Strega, I call it the Norwegian Witchwood (I also prefer less apple brandy since, for me, it overpowers the aquavit):

Norwegian Witchwood

1 1/4 oz Aquavit (Aalborg)

3/4 oz apple brandy or applejack

3/4 oz sweet vermouth (Cinzano)

1/4 oz Liquore Strega

[Anna N]

Sounds tasty. I've wanted to try the original Norwegian Wood for some time but yellow Chartreuse is yet another thing I can't get where I live, only the green.

Can you get Strega or Benedictine? Either (or better yet, a combination of both) would reasonably approximate the Yellow Chartreuse. When I make that drink with Strega, I call it the Norwegian Witchwood (I also prefer less apple brandy since, for me, it overpowers the aquavit):

Norwegian Witchwood

1 1/4 oz Aquavit (Aalborg)

3/4 oz apple brandy or applejack

3/4 oz sweet vermouth (Cinzano)

1/4 oz Liquore Strega

When you say Aalborg Aquavit are you referring to Taffel, Jubilaeum or something else? This curious mind wants to know and are you sourcing it in N. America?

[Lahti]

Sounds tasty. I've wanted to try the original Norwegian Wood for some time but yellow Chartreuse is yet another thing I can't get where I live, only the green.

Can you get Strega or Benedictine? Either (or better yet, a combination of both) would reasonably approximate the Yellow Chartreuse. When I make that drink with Strega, I call it the Norwegian Witchwood (I also prefer less apple brandy since, for me, it overpowers the aquavit):

Norwegian Witchwood

1 1/4 oz Aquavit (Aalborg)

3/4 oz apple brandy or applejack

3/4 oz sweet vermouth (Cinzano)

1/4 oz Liquore Strega

I'm curious about the name of the drink, why Norwegian Witchwood when you are using a danish Akvavit? For me (and most other swedes) there is a significant difference between norwegian and danish akvavit, the norwegian type is generally rounder due to barrel ageing.

[tanstaafl2]

Sounds tasty. I've wanted to try the original Norwegian Wood for some time but yellow Chartreuse is yet another thing I can't get where I live, only the green.

Can you get Strega or Benedictine? Either (or better yet, a combination of both) would reasonably approximate the Yellow Chartreuse. When I make that drink with Strega, I call it the Norwegian Witchwood (I also prefer less apple brandy since, for me, it overpowers the aquavit):

Norwegian Witchwood

1 1/4 oz Aquavit (Aalborg)

3/4 oz apple brandy or applejack

3/4 oz sweet vermouth (Cinzano)

1/4 oz Liquore Strega

I'm curious about the name of the drink, why Norwegian Witchwood when you are using a danish Akvavit? For me (and most other swedes) there is a significant difference between norwegian and danish akvavit, the norwegian type is generally rounder due to barrel ageing.

I suspect it has more to do with the fact that the Beatles didn't sing a song called "Danish Wood"! Since the original drink from which this is a variation was called "Norwegian Wood" and specified a Norwegian aquavite it does make more sense in that one than it does here.

a rendering of cocktail epic: norwegian wood

1 oz. linie aquavite

1 oz. double fermented apple brandy**

.75 oz. sweet vermouth (carpano antica because it was all i had)

spoonful yellow chartreuse

**the double fermented apple brandy is made from ascetic acid neutralized apple cider vinegar that is redistilled 8:1 with vodka (and re-soured with non volatile acid (citric) so as not to react with copper). the second fermentation improves the chance of producing extraordinary aromas.

Edited September 15, 2011 by tanstaafl2 (log)

[Yajna Patni]

Today I had an aperol sour made with one part Aperol, one part st germain, and one part lime. I found a recipe online. It was a little sweet, but really tasty.

Aperol has become my recent drink of choice. Try as I might I can't quite get an appreciation for Campari. But the Aperol makes a lovely light Americano varition and the slightly more orange forward taste is quite appealing! Tried the Plymouth gin, Aperol and Lillet combo the other night but not as good. Then again my Lillet has been open a while. A real downside with those types of mixers since I am the only one experimenting most evenings.

Collected a bunch of Aperol recipes from here and other places the other day and look forward to giving this recipe and the others I have collected a try. May substitute it for Compari in a Jasmine or Bitter Elder to see how it does. May bit a bit too much in the Jasmine with the Cointreau but we shall see.

I do love campari, but I think I love aperol more. I have been drinking aperol spritz all summer, and some how until now I did not think of making anything else with it. It is a good idea to sub it for campari and see what happens. A friend of mine drinks campari and fanta, and that seems like the nasty version of an aperol spritz.

[Yajna Patni]

And to report what I drank tonight, a bourbon crusta, and a colony cocktail. I was thinking of making the colony for a 1920s themed picnic i am throwing on Saturday, and was excited about it because i love grapefruit and gin. I got the bottle of Maraschino, and made it. and had a big meh reaction. I think it was because the grapefruit was sweet pink ones. I felt it needed a bit more bitter.

[EvergreenDan]

There seems to be more than one Colony cocktail. The one on cocktaildb is quite different from the gin+grapefruit or gin+grapefruit+maraschino.

If the grapefruit one is correct, then I'm guessing early 20th C grapefruits were quite sour and possibly quite bitter. White grapefruits might be better, but I'd think you could add a touch of lemon for acid and maybe Campari for bitter.

But then I've been known to make a "Pink Pegu Club". Hell, I had Meletti on my ice cream last night, so no accounting for my taste.

[Anna N]

Still hoping someone will answer my question re Aalborg Akvavit as there is more than one and if you are sourcing it in North America.

[Sunny&Rummy]

The only one I see regularly on US shelves and online stores is the Aalborg Akvavit with the whit eon red cross on it. As far as different styles, this BBC Home piece suggests there are @15 different styles of Aalborg Akvavit, but gives next to no info on what they all are.

[tanstaafl2]

The only one I see regularly on US shelves and online stores is the Aalborg Akvavit with the whit eon red cross on it. As far as different styles, this BBC Home piece suggests there are @15 different styles of Aalborg Akvavit, but gives next to no info on what they all are.

The Aalborg akvavit site appears to show the selection and tells a bit about them. The label of bottles available in the US for the Taffel akvavit appears to be an export version as the red cross is much larger.

Internet Wines, a link noted in Doc Cocktails book VS&FC, had both the Taffel and Jubilaeums version listed but both are out of stock. I do not know for how long or if it will ever be in stock again. They also have Linie which I would have ordered in the past but it requires that you order at least 4. It is out of stock at DrinkupNY and not carried by Astor. K&L won't ship to Georgia. Beltramos has it and ships to Georgia but shipping is pretty spendy. The shipping deal at DrinkupNY seems hard to beat so hopefully they will get it again soon!

[Anna N]

The only one I see regularly on US shelves and online stores is the Aalborg Akvavit with the whit eon red cross on it. As far as different styles, this BBC Home piece suggests there are @15 different styles of Aalborg Akvavit, but gives next to no info on what they all are.

The Aalborg akvavit site appears to show the selection and tells a bit about them. The label of bottles available in the US for the Taffel akvavit appears to be an export version as the red cross is much larger.

Internet Wines, a link noted in Doc Cocktails book VS&FC, had both the Taffel and Jubilaeums version listed but both are out of stock. I do not know for how long or if it will ever be in stock again. They also have Linie which I would have ordered in the past but it requires that you order at least 4. It is out of stock at DrinkupNY and not carried by Astor. K&L won't ship to Georgia. Beltramos has it and ships to Georgia but shipping is pretty spendy. The shipping deal at DrinkupNY seems hard to beat so hopefully they will get it again soon!

I asked because we used to drink Taffel Akvavit which is very strongly caraway-flavoured. We can now only occasionally get Jubilaeum in Canada and understand that Aalborg no longer ships ANYTHING to North America. My impression would be that the Taffel and the Jubilaeum are very different and that they would NOT be interchangeable in a mixed drink. Linie is much "softer" if that is a suitable word to describe an akavavit with much less discernible flavour. An unqualified ingredient called akvavit in a cocktail recipe strikes me as being as unhelpful as one that specified rum with no indication as to the type of rum. Thanks very much for the responses.

[Yajna Patni]

There seems to be more than one Colony cocktail. The one on cocktaildb is quite different from the gin+grapefruit or gin+grapefruit+maraschino.

If the grapefruit one is correct, then I'm guessing early 20th C grapefruits were quite sour and possibly quite bitter. White grapefruits might be better, but I'd think you could add a touch of lemon for acid and maybe Campari for bitter.

But then I've been known to make a "Pink Pegu Club". Hell, I had Meletti on my ice cream last night, so no accounting for my taste.

I think I am going to try later the grapefrut maraschino one, and add some grapefruit bitters. I liked the way the flavours worked, it just tasted a little flat.

[Yajna Patni]

because I seem to be spamming this board tonight: figured out the colony cocktail with the help of the wonderful lady at the Boston Shaker. Scrappys Grapefruit bitters, and rhubarb bitters and a little lime. I found some white grapefruit juice which helped. My drink tonight was a pegu club.

[Sunny&Rummy]

Went to a new local seafood restaurant last night. The food was no great shakes, but inexplicably behind their relatively stocked bar they had a bottle of Rhum Clément Cuvée Homère. The ~ $90 price tag had kept me from picking up a bottle, but it was a nice night out and I ponied up for a couple of glasses neat and served 'Ti Punch style with a half-tsp.. of simple and a lime squeeze. Easily the tastiest Martinique rhum I have had to date, though I have admittedly only had the ones that make it to Florida.

[tanstaafl2]

The only one I see regularly on US shelves and online stores is the Aalborg Akvavit with the whit eon red cross on it. As far as different styles, this BBC Home piece suggests there are @15 different styles of Aalborg Akvavit, but gives next to no info on what they all are.

The Aalborg akvavit site appears to show the selection and tells a bit about them. The label of bottles available in the US for the Taffel akvavit appears to be an export version as the red cross is much larger.

Internet Wines, a link noted in Doc Cocktails book VS&FC, had both the Taffel and Jubilaeums version listed but both are out of stock. I do not know for how long or if it will ever be in stock again. They also have Linie which I would have ordered in the past but it requires that you order at least 4. It is out of stock at DrinkupNY and not carried by Astor. K&L won't ship to Georgia. Beltramos has it and ships to Georgia but shipping is pretty spendy. The shipping deal at DrinkupNY seems hard to beat so hopefully they will get it again soon!

I asked because we used to drink Taffel Akvavit which is very strongly caraway-flavoured. We can now only occasionally get Jubilaeum in Canada and understand that Aalborg no longer ships ANYTHING to North America. My impression would be that the Taffel and the Jubilaeum are very different and that they would NOT be interchangeable in a mixed drink. Linie is much "softer" if that is a suitable word to describe an akavavit with much less discernible flavour. An unqualified ingredient called akvavit in a cocktail recipe strikes me as being as unhelpful as one that specified rum with no indication as to the type of rum. Thanks very much for the responses.

It would seem that, as rlibkind noted in another thread, the Linie aquavit and the Aalborg taffel are readily available at least in Atlanta at the store I frequent the most often. Saw both and picked up a bottle of Linie as noted in my post in the recent liquor store purchases thread.

[Chris Amirault]

Tonight, a Biter:

1 1/2 gin (Junipero)

3/4 green Chartreuse

3/4 lemon

absinthe (St. George Absinthe Verte)

I added a dash of salt. Shake, strain, lemon twist. Excellent.

[tanstaafl2]

Tonight, a Biter:

1 1/2 gin (Junipero)

3/4 green Chartreuse

3/4 lemon

absinthe (St. George Absinthe Verte)

I added a dash of salt. Shake, strain, lemon twist. Excellent.

Sounds like an interesting drink! Wouldn't have thought of adding salt. Have not had Junipero but presume it is pretty juniper forward. Would most London Dry gins stand up to the chartreuse in this drink or would you recommend some other gins in place of the Junipero? Interesting that some recipes say yellow and some say green Chartreuse. How much absinthe did you end up using? Recipes I have perused on line suggest 1/4 but that seems like a lot along with the Chartreuse!

[bostonapothecary]

jamaica flip

1.5 oz. jamaica rum

.5 oz. wray & nephews "berry hill" allspice liqueur (30% alc.)

1 oz. water

half spoonful of sugar (light brown. found locally)

whole egg

stir to dissolve sugar then dry shaken and re-shaken with ice.

we drank these while all the married men tried to teach me the art and importance of having other women on the side.

next up is soursop with sweetened condensed milk and i was gifted some backyard passion fruits.

[tanstaafl2]

Went with EvergreenDan's Dark and Orangy as planned.

Dark and Orangy

by Dan Chadwick

2 oz Dark rum

1 oz Triple sec, Cointreau

1/2 oz Ginger liqueur, Crème de Gingembre (or Canton)

1/2 oz Lemon juice

3 ds Angostura Orange Bitters

1 twst Lemon peel (as garnish)

Shake, strain, rocks, lowball, garnish

A nice drink but perhaps the Myers rum, which I usually use for tropical fruit punch mixes, isn't up to leading this dance? Might look for the Cruzan Blackstrap to try here which isn't available in the store I went to last night.

I like the orange influence here and the Canton seems to also play well. Might be one that would be fun to play with by mixing with my Senor Curacao or Solerno in place of Cointreau, swapping lime juice for lemon and perhaps experimenting with Fee Bros orange bitters which to me seems the strongest orange of the three I have available (Fee Bros, Angostura orange and Regan's).