Drinks! (2011–2012)

[KatieLoeb]

Yajna if you are playing with the Wray & Nephew overproof, the only thing I do with that is use the occasional little bit in a tiki drink or use it as a base for infusions like homemade allspice dram or bitters. That stuff is STRONG!! If it's a different W&N product then I don't know it since I live in PA and there isn't any other available I know of...

[Yajna Patni]

It is the over proof. I should try slipping some into a maitai, which is the only Tiki drink I am really comfortable with...(and do not have to run out and buy a million bottles for) I was impressed with how strong the taste was.

[bostonapothecary]

.75 oz. cognac (maison surrenne)

.75 oz. m&r rose vermouth

.75 oz. danzig goldwasser

.75 oz. lime juice

dash peychaud's bitters

most excellent. i hold danzig goldwasser in very high regard. the aroma is very similar to yellow chartreuse but trades the acacia honeyed quality of the chartreuse for an orange expression. most importantly goldwasser is half the price of chartreuse.

i have used a similar pattern in the past where pommeau was used in place of the rose vermouth. in that case extra aromatic tension can be added by trading cognac for its invert; mezcal.

[thirtyoneknots]

has anyone else enjoyed the aromatized wine by vergano: "americano"?

Vergano Americano is the jam. My esteemed colleague Josh Loving employed it to great effect in the Campari Swizzle, which is 3/4 oz each of Americano, Rhum JM Blanc, Campari, Velvet Falernum, and lemon swizzled over crushed or finely cracked ice. One of the fast movers at Fino in the warmer months, and woe to us who had to crush ice to order in a Lewis Bag.

Edit for punctuation and to add that the stuff is unfortunately not cost-friendly, which I'm sure has hindered its popularity.

Edited November 30, 2011 by thirtyoneknots (log)

[bostonapothecary]

has anyone else enjoyed the aromatized wine by vergano: "americano"?

Vergano Americano is the jam. My esteemed colleague Josh Loving employed it to great effect in the Campari Swizzle, which is 3/4 oz each of Americano, Rhum JM Blanc, Campari, Velvet Falernum, and lemon swizzled over crushed or finely cracked ice. One of the fast movers at Fino in the warmer months, and woe to us who had to crush ice to order in a Lewis Bag.

Edit for punctuation and to add that the stuff is unfortunately not cost-friendly, which I'm sure has hindered its popularity.

we are paying about $1.10 an ounce wholesale for the vergano. their spectacular lillet clone "luli" was close to $2 an ounce. i used it for a while years ago with seagram's gin to offset the cost. the cocchi lillet clone "aperitivo americano" is a much better deal.

my bobby burns recipe has a fairly high cost basis but it is well subsidized by other drinks. in the future i'd like to trade the expensive single malt for a affordable blended scotch aromatized with extra boutique grains. you can either redistill the scotch and grains or centrifuge them. i bet you can get the spirit part of the drink down below .75 an ounce while maintaining some serious aroma. i just got a three liter centrifuge, but i'm still learning to use it.

[EvergreenDan]

Vergano Americano is the jam. My esteemed colleague Josh Loving employed it to great effect in the Campari Swizzle, which is 3/4 oz each of Americano, Rhum JM Blanc, Campari, Velvet Falernum, and lemon swizzled over crushed or finely cracked ice.

Oh my. Oh my, oh my. My oh my oh my.

This went straight into Kindred Cocktails (Campari Swizzle). You say that it is a big seller in summer, but, hey, it's red, so I think it makes a fine Christmas cocktail. Anyone who likes this sort of thing should make this immediately. I'm not sure what I'd use to sub for the Vergano, should someone have to -- maybe a mix of bianco and Punt e Mes?

Edited December 1, 2011 by EvergreenDan (log)

[Tri2Cook]

I'm not sure what I'd use to sub for the Vergano, should someone have to -- maybe a mix of bianco and Punt e Mes?

Still doesn't solve it for me, no Vergano and no Punt e Mes at the LCBO. Sounds very tasty though.

[EvergreenDan]

Still doesn't solve it for me, no Vergano and no Punt e Mes at the LCBO. Sounds very tasty though.

No Punt e Mes? Is it to late for you to jump into the Niagara River at Goat Island?

I haven't tried it, but I think I'd try a dry, fruity red wine with Bianco Vermouth, or absent that, maybe a mix of sweet and dry vermouth. I'm sure either would work well enough to enjoy the cocktail, even if it might be different than intended.

[thirtyoneknots]

Dan, that mix would probably work fine though I think the drink was originally built around the Vergano. Definitely in the mercurial climate of a Texas winter we could probably sell a few swizzles, but we have to have a break sometimes you know!

PS When I clicked your link to the Campari Swizzle it didn't work.

[thirtyoneknots]

Nightcap tonight was an Old Fashioned with an on the fly blend of Lemon Heart 151 (1/2 oz), Smith & Cross (1/2 oz) and Plantation Barbados 5 yr (1 oz) on a 2" cube. Lubricating the yawner quite nicely.

[bostonapothecary]

Still doesn't solve it for me, no Vergano and no Punt e Mes at the LCBO. Sounds very tasty though.

No Punt e Mes? Is it to late for you to jump into the Niagara River at Goat Island?

I haven't tried it, but I think I'd try a dry, fruity red wine with Bianco Vermouth, or absent that, maybe a mix of sweet and dry vermouth. I'm sure either would work well enough to enjoy the cocktail, even if it might be different than intended.

punt y mes and the vergano americano are tricky to approximate.

regular sweet vermouths typically have a sugar content of 165g/l while i measured punt y mes to be well over 200+g/l and i'm sure the vergano product matches the punt y mes. all this sugar is to contrast their extra bitterness.

i just had to fake some vergano the other day when my order didn't come in (it was only lost in the warehouse and not dropped by the distributor!). i mixed equal parts M&R rose and M&R sweet and then added extra sugar and a few dashes of a quinine tincture i keep around. in the resultant cocktail i also took out a small fraction of the scotch and replaced it with yellow plum eau-de-vie.

the drink definitely has sensory beauty, but it loses a lot of symbolic beauty when parts get faked.

[EvergreenDan]

PS When I clicked your link to the Campari Swizzle it didn't work.

Argh. I really hate it when I enter a cocktail into my local development server Campari Swizzle entry should be all set. Let me know if there are any corrections.

Gotcha on the substitutions, but I it's a very fine cocktail and deserves being made where Vergano Americano isn't available.

BA is right, it's quite sweet. I hadn't noticed it before because it has an alum-like astringency, like the tannin in red wine, which hides the sweetness.

[tanstaafl2]

PS When I clicked your link to the Campari Swizzle it didn't work.

Argh. I really hate it when I enter a cocktail into my local development server Campari Swizzle entry should be all set. Let me know if there are any corrections.

Gotcha on the substitutions, but I it's a very fine cocktail and deserves being made where Vergano Americano isn't available.

BA is right, it's quite sweet. I hadn't noticed it before because it has an alum-like astringency, like the tannin in red wine, which hides the sweetness.

Who is the importer/distributor for Vergano Americano Chinato? Is it still Louis/Dressner in NY? Can't find any indication of local distributors on the website with an initial glance.

My primary store maintains a decent stock of vermouth/fortified wines (Cocchi Americano, Bonal, Cocchi Barolo Chinato, all three Dolin's, Lillet, Carpano, Punt e Mes, M&R Rosato, etc along with all of the usual vermouths) but I haven't seen Vergano Americano to date. Perhaps I can encourage them to see if it is available locally.

[tanstaafl2]

Last night I decided to try a Holland House Cocktail. Seems to be a bit of variation out there for the recipe but I was specifically looking to use the Bols genever and so I decided to go with the recipe on the from the Savoy Stomp website that was associated with the new introduction of Bols genever a few years ago.

Pleasant enough drink but not as noteworthy as I was expecting/hoping it would be. Then again the Dolin, while refrigerated and closed as tightly as the screw cap will allow, wasn't fresh. It has probably been open a few weeks and my available vacuvins are all still engaged on other bottles. A little preliminary taste beforehand didn't seem bad but I am no expert! In addition the lemon juice was left over from lemons juiced on Thanksgiving and although it had been sealed up and refrigerated since then perhaps it was past its prime as well.

Will have to consider giving this another try when those two ingredients are a little fresher to see if it makes a difference. Or maybe mix things up with Dolin blanc instead of the dry.

There also seems to be at least a little similarity to the Aviation/Blue Moon family here so I wonder if a touch of Crème Yvette might help out here? The berry essence might be a nice addition. Maybe back off the vermouth and add a quarter ounce of it? Not sure Crème de Violette would be as useful.

In addition to being my first Holland House Cocktail it was also the first frost of the season last night. That may result in the end of the roses in the rose garden for the year. A shame as they have been loving the recent cool but not too cold weather and have been fairly prolific of late!

[EvergreenDan]

Who is the importer/distributor for Vergano Americano Chinato? Is it still Louis/Dressner in NY?

That's what my bottles says on the back, but my bottle is at least a year old since it took me a while to get around to opening it.

[thirtyoneknots]

PS When I clicked your link to the Campari Swizzle it didn't work.

Argh. I really hate it when I enter a cocktail into my local development server Campari Swizzle entry should be all set. Let me know if there are any corrections.

Gotcha on the substitutions, but I it's a very fine cocktail and deserves being made where Vergano Americano isn't available.

BA is right, it's quite sweet. I hadn't noticed it before because it has an alum-like astringency, like the tannin in red wine, which hides the sweetness.

Correction from Josh, as originally envisioned this had different proportions and used Carpano Antica Formula, so he personally didn't think subbing something else for the Vergano would adversely effect the drink. He switched to the Vergano when it became available because it works better and as an excuse to put the product on the menu. So the substitutions you suggested would probably work swell.

[bostonapothecary]

8.5 oz. flaked rye aromatized evan williams bourbon (centrifuged to clarify)

yep. i drank it all straight and didn't even make a cocktail.

this technique works really well. the aroma from grains is very economical and there are lots of newly available boutique options. the infusion at first is sort of creamy in the way risotto is, but the centrifuge clears it right up. curiously whatever is in the grains also strips a decent amount of color. i only centrifuged for 20 minutes @ 4000 rpm's, but i think it will need more time to maximize the yield. all of the tasters were really impressed with the "richness" which i think had nothing to do with a change in texture, but only the additional dissolved aroma.

i eventually envision "Octoberfest" aromatized whiskey where an octoberfest grain bill is infused and then spun.

next up "chocolate rye" aromatized rye!

[Tri2Cook]

8.5 oz. flaked rye aromatized evan williams bourbon (centrifuged to clarify)

yep. i drank it all straight and didn't even make a cocktail.

this technique works really well. the aroma from grains is very economical and there are lots of newly available boutique options. the infusion at first is sort of creamy in the way risotto is, but the centrifuge clears it right up. curiously whatever is in the grains also strips a decent amount of color. i only centrifuged for 20 minutes @ 4000 rpm's, but i think it will need more time to maximize the yield. all of the tasters were really impressed with the "richness" which i think had nothing to do with a change in texture, but only the additional dissolved aroma.

i eventually envision "Octoberfest" aromatized whiskey where an octoberfest grain bill is infused and then spun.

next up "chocolate rye" aromatized rye!

I'm feeling a little better now! I asked a while back about the feasibility of infusing with grains, mainly because of the absence of a true rye via the LCBO (which is no longer the case, fortunately) and the idea that I could infuse something with rye to at least get on the same general page, and I distinctly remember feeling as if I was being stared at like there was a horn growing out of my forehead after posting the question. Nobody actually said anything negative but nobody actually said anything directly regarding the idea. Kinda nice to see someone with much more experience in this area than me having the idea as well and finding a useful application for it. Makes me wish I'd went beyond the idea stage and actually played with it.

[Hassouni]

Out of season, but drinking a Hemingway Daiquiri/Papa Doble (?) per Regan's recipe:

3 oz rum (Flor de Caña Extra Dry)

1.5 oz grapefruit juice

ditto lime

1 oz (yeah...) of Maraschino (Luxardo)

He said to fill a 12 oz highball almost to the top with ice, blend, and pour back into the glass, but all those add up to 7 oz, so I used my 20 oz Duvel glass, and here we are:

It's good, there may be too much ice, and the Maraschino really changes this up from an ordinary daiquiri. Anyone have a good ice ratio for these? I never make blended drinks so I'm not really sure...

ETA I'm not even done and this a boozy damn drink....

Edited December 3, 2011 by Hassouni (log)

[bostonapothecary]

8.5 oz. flaked rye aromatized evan williams bourbon (centrifuged to clarify)

yep. i drank it all straight and didn't even make a cocktail.

this technique works really well. the aroma from grains is very economical and there are lots of newly available boutique options. the infusion at first is sort of creamy in the way risotto is, but the centrifuge clears it right up. curiously whatever is in the grains also strips a decent amount of color. i only centrifuged for 20 minutes @ 4000 rpm's, but i think it will need more time to maximize the yield. all of the tasters were really impressed with the "richness" which i think had nothing to do with a change in texture, but only the additional dissolved aroma.

i eventually envision "Octoberfest" aromatized whiskey where an octoberfest grain bill is infused and then spun.

next up "chocolate rye" aromatized rye!

I'm feeling a little better now! I asked a while back about the feasibility of infusing with grains, mainly because of the absence of a true rye via the LCBO (which is no longer the case, fortunately) and the idea that I could infuse something with rye to at least get on the same general page, and I distinctly remember feeling as if I was being stared at like there was a horn growing out of my forehead after posting the question. Nobody actually said anything negative but nobody actually said anything directly regarding the idea. Kinda nice to see someone with much more experience in this area than me having the idea as well and finding a useful application for it. Makes me wish I'd went beyond the idea stage and actually played with it.

the flaked rye seemed to work much better than the three other grains (chocolate malt, pale chocolate malt, and coffee malt)

the flaked rye actually lightened the color of the bourbon while the dark malts turned it black. one difference in technique was that i blended all the dark malts to see if they would separate better. i centrifuged for an hour @ 4000 rpms and the separation wasn't that impressive. the yield wasn't that impressive either. one of the three dark malts got put through an acme juicer lined with coffee filters before centrifuging. that malt only lost 1/8 its volume to the acme while the other two lots about lost about 1/2 their volume to the grounds even after centrifuging. the resultant liquid of the dark malts had a bitterness similar to espresso which might have been exacerbated by the blending. the plain flaked rye wasn't bitter at all. i sugared the samples to see how they would be as liqueurs and the results were astoundingly close to any coffee liqueurs i've ever had.

all grain espresso martinis anyone?

next up is respinning with some clarifying agents.

centrifuging sounds cool but distillation is so much easier. if this stuff could be distilled i'd be done and drinking something wonderful by now... #luckynewzealanders

[Steamtrain]

Rob Roy (Smokey and funky)

Holy WOW! What a great drink!

Created by bostonapothecary and I found it on Kindred Cocktails.

[EvergreenDan]

Rob Roy (Smokey and funky)

Holy WOW! What a great drink!

Created by bostonapothecary and I found it on Kindred Cocktails.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I can't find the original source reference by searching eGullet. I almost certainly collected this before I created Kindred Cocktails. This leads me to believe that I may have modified the recipe with ingredients that I had on hand. If BostonApothecary cares to confirm/correct the recipe and/or name it, I'd be more than happy to update the entry on Kindred Cocktails. If it keeps the Rob Roy name, it should probably be Perfect. I need to revisit this recipe myself.

Rob Roy (Smokey and Funky)

by Boston Apothecary

1 oz Scotch, Laphroaig (Quarter cask)

1 oz Dry vermouth, Dolin

1 oz Sweet vermouth, Carpano Antica Formula

1/2 t Orange liqueur, Clément Créole Shrubb

1/2 t Maraschino Liqueur

1 ds Peychaud's Bitters

1 ds Orange bitters, Regans' orange bitters

Stir, strain, rocks, lowball

Edited December 8, 2011 by EvergreenDan (log)

[bostonapothecary]

Rob Roy (Smokey and funky)

Holy WOW! What a great drink!

Created by bostonapothecary and I found it on Kindred Cocktails.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I can't find the original source reference by searching eGullet. I almost certainly collected this before I created Kindred Cocktails. This leads me to believe that I may have modified the recipe with ingredients that I had on hand. If BostonApothecary cares to confirm/correct the recipe and/or name it, I'd be more than happy to update the entry on Kindred Cocktails. If it keeps the Rob Roy name, it should probably be Perfect. I need to revisit this recipe myself.

Rob Roy (Smokey and Funky)

by Boston Apothecary

1 oz Scotch, Laphroaig (Quarter cask)

1 oz Dry vermouth, Dolin

1 oz Sweet vermouth, Carpano Antica Formula

1/2 t Orange liqueur, Clément Créole Shrubb

1/2 t Maraschino Liqueur

1 ds Peychaud's Bitters

1 ds Orange bitters, Regans' orange bitters

Stir, strain, rocks, lowball

that is an interesting looking drink. i've never owned the quarter cask. which means if i wrote about it the drink was made for me by egullet member David Santucci who relocated to boston. David was an active member here a few years back and is a master of the aroma driven sweet & boozey style.

[bostonapothecary]

2 oz. chocolate malt aromatized "whitened" whiskey

1 oz. carpano antica

tsp luxardo maraschino

this was interesting but tasted vaguely of coffee grounds from the grains. if you know they are grains the aroma is interesting but if you consume it blind and therefore aesthetically detached you might be slightly bored... well chosen aromatic "bitters" probably should have been used to augment the tonality of the aroma.

if i can ever master the chocolate and coffee malt idea i aspire to make the all grain espresso martini.

1 oz. chocolate malt aromatized "whitened" whiskey

1 oz. brandymel (greatest honey liqueur ever!)

1 oz. green chartreuese

1 oz. lime juice

dash peychaud's

after less than success in the sweet realm i thought i'd try the whiskey in a tart contest. here to use an analogy and a bad pun aromas are compared where the grains run in the same direction (chartreuse and the chocolate malt). aroma is also set up to converge with gustation from the lime (but only if you believe in olfactory-gustatory synaesthesia). all in all most excellent.

[Yajna Patni]

I had a whiskey skin, made with tyrconnell. I did not have white sugar so I used honey. It was really good. I probably needed caffeine though... i still have work to do tonight!