Drinks! (2011–2012)

[tanstaafl2]

Tonight it was the Airbag I found a couple of days ago in the Batavia Arrack thread.

1 El Tosoro Reposado (Used Clas Azul reposado)

.5 Batavia Arrack

.5 Los Amantes Joven Mezcal (Used Sombra mezcal)

.75 Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth

.25 All Spice Dram

.25 Benedictine

Dash or so of Avery's Chocolate Bitters

Stir serve up

Added an orange twist just to make it "pretty"!

Not the easiest of drinks to make but surprisingly tasty and very drinkable considering the recipe. The Pimento Dram does still manage to lead the way here despite being only a small part of the drink and having to hold off some pretty strong competing flavors. One I will have again and make for the more adventurous drinkers amongst my friends!

[Hassouni]

Egad, I may have discovered a new favorite drink!

Kraken old fashioned. I was wondering if the Kraken would play nice in such a simple drink, and by God it does! 2 oz aforementioned dark-as-death spiced rum, a splash of turbinado simple, 2+ dashes of Angostura, a dash of Regans' Orange, a lemon twist, and a homemade Luxardo cherry.

Amaaaazing. The spices in the rum have a real synergy with the bitters. Oddly, there are faint traces of Dr Pepper or maybe root beer in the finish....

Edited November 6, 2011 by Hassouni (log)

[KD1191]

Staggerac, 2011 Edition

2 oz George T. Stagg '11

+1/4 oz Demerara Simple Syrup

3 Dashes Peychaud's Bitters

Stirred for a good long while, then strained into a chilled glass coated with Jade Edouard 72 Absinthe. Lemon Peel.

Was discussing the relative merits of the latest Stagg on another forum, where Alchemist brought up the power of high-proof spirits to amplify other flavors in a drink. It seems like the complexity of Peychaud's is really front and center here in a way it isn't in a normal Sazerac. I can't say I prefer it, but it's certainly an interesting study.

[tanstaafl2]

Time to crack open the new bottle of Bols 10 yo Corenwyn!

This blend of at least 51% rye, wheat and corn with the taste of an unusual whiskey, and that is certainly what it tastes like as any hint of the juniper that it started with is now so deep in the background as to be unrecognizable at least by my palate, has a delightful nose of vanilla and maybe even a bit of caramel. If I did not know it was in the genever "family" I do not think I would have recognized it as such, much less as a gin.

The information I can find suggests tasting it chilled a bit so that was my approach. Vanilla is present on tasting this but the caramel is less present and is replaced with a subtle hint of spiciness on the back end. A tingle on the lips to start but pretty smooth throughout with little burn at the end. Although I must say the flavor did not linger too much at the end. There was also a hint of malty effervescence for lack of a better word. Nowhere near as much as found with the regular Bols Genever but still there all the same.

All in all, a nice and rather unique addition to the collection and one to share with friends who appreciate an unusual whiskey.

[EvergreenDan]

I was playing on the union of the Paper Plane idea and the Last Word / Final Ward idea and tried:

Drink Lab 9 - Join the fun

by Kindred Cocktails Group Effort (I hope)

3/4 oz Rye

3/4 oz Sloe gin, Plymouth

3/4 oz Campari

3/4 oz Lemon juice

1 ds Grapefruit bitters, Bittermens

4 dr Orange bitters, Angostura (as garnish)

Shake, strain, lowball, rocks, garnish with orange bitters

The idea was to interplay the bitterness of the sloe gin and the Campari. The result was a touch one-note, I think. It would also benefit for expressed orange peel, rather than the Angostura Orange, and I might drop the grapefruit bitters. It does need another layer -- maybe upping the rye? (I used Redemption.)

I called it Drink Lab in the hopes that other people would chime in with their ideas and the cocktail would evolve a la wiki. If there's interest, I will cross-post any ideas from here on Kindred Cocktails and vice versa.

[KatieLoeb]

My monthly LUPEC meeting was hostessed this evening at The Franklin Mortgage and Investment Company, one of the City of Brotherly Love's finest drinking establishments. We ladies were treated to a delicious punch made from Plymouth gin, fresh lemon, house made mulled wine syrup, bitters, and a few other fine ingredients. It was fantastic and perfect for the season. I'll have to get my friend and colleague, bartender Al Sotack to share the recipe. Even tastier than it looks.

Yes - that is a gigantic hand carved ice ball in the center of the punch bowl. These guys don't mess around.

[ThatNateGuy]

A close friend of mine works for a local Liquor distributor brings me lots of liquor that is either promo'd, broken seal, etc as he no longer drinks casually. As much if it isnt top quality i've been using most of it to make infusions, bitters, and playing with crafting cocktails. Here is a spin on th "bento's old fashoned from PDT I have been toying around with that friends haved joked about calling "the winged swine"

2oz Old Crow Reserve (fat washed with Organic Black Forest Bacon Fat)

1/2oz Grade B Maple Syrup

2 Dashes (Black Cherry espresso bitters)

Nothing revolutionary but its my first batch of the bitters and i used Ritual Coffee Co's Seasonal Espresso w/ dried black cherries, with some great local herbs.

[haresfur]

Yes - that is a gigantic hand carved ice ball in the center of the punch bowl. These guys don't mess around.

Whew! I thought it was a red cabbage

[EvergreenDan]

Whew! I thought it was a red cabbage

I was thinking asteroid.

[bostonapothecary]

I was playing on the union of the Paper Plane idea and the Last Word / Final Ward idea and tried:

Drink Lab 9 - Join the fun

by Kindred Cocktails Group Effort (I hope)

3/4 oz Rye

3/4 oz Sloe gin, Plymouth

3/4 oz Campari

3/4 oz Lemon juice

1 ds Grapefruit bitters, Bittermens

4 dr Orange bitters, Angostura (as garnish)

Shake, strain, lowball, rocks, garnish with orange bitters

The idea was to interplay the bitterness of the sloe gin and the Campari. The result was a touch one-note, I think. It would also benefit for expressed orange peel, rather than the Angostura Orange, and I might drop the grapefruit bitters. It does need another layer -- maybe upping the rye? (I used Redemption.)

I called it Drink Lab in the hopes that other people would chime in with their ideas and the cocktail would evolve a la wiki. If there's interest, I will cross-post any ideas from here on Kindred Cocktails and vice versa.

love the bitter sours.

i made this last night for a few friends:

.75 oz. hop aromatized gin (local cascade hops)

.75 oz. cynar

.75 oz. M&R rose vermouth

.75 oz. lime juice

i avoid aromatic cocktail bitters in these because the drink already has enough aroma. in general i feel cocktail bitters are a bit over hyped. over use turns many drinks into the california wines of cocktails... too dense in aroma.

when i make a bitter sour with either cynar or campari i try to partner it with another liqueur that has under 200g/l of sugar. my most successful partners have been the aromatized wines and the delicious but easily forgotten stuff like pineau des charents and pomeau.

if you want to use a dense overshadowing liqueur like sloe gin, i've found that you need to switch the spirit and acid to options that have more aggressive and penetrating aromas. lime instead of lemon. and mezcal, arrack or potent agricole's instead of ryes & gins.

bitter sours read ferocious, but it is surprising how many people enjoy them.

[Dan Perrigan]

I was playing on the union of the Paper Plane idea and the Last Word / Final Ward idea and tried:

Drink Lab 9 - Join the fun

by Kindred Cocktails Group Effort (I hope)

3/4 oz Rye

3/4 oz Sloe gin, Plymouth

3/4 oz Campari

3/4 oz Lemon juice

1 ds Grapefruit bitters, Bittermens

4 dr Orange bitters, Angostura (as garnish)

Shake, strain, lowball, rocks, garnish with orange bitters

The idea was to interplay the bitterness of the sloe gin and the Campari. The result was a touch one-note, I think. It would also benefit for expressed orange peel, rather than the Angostura Orange, and I might drop the grapefruit bitters. It does need another layer -- maybe upping the rye? (I used Redemption.)

I called it Drink Lab in the hopes that other people would chime in with their ideas and the cocktail would evolve a la wiki. If there's interest, I will cross-post any ideas from here on Kindred Cocktails and vice versa.

Hi Dan.

This sounds like fun. One of my own favorite creations is also a Paper Plane variation. Here it is in hopes that it might lend a few ideas to the Group Effort Cocktail -- namely adding a rich Amaro (or even subbing it for the Campari). (I'd also appreciate it if you'd give it a try as-is and let me know what you think)

New Red House

1 oz Rittenhouse Bonded Rye

1 oz Campari

1 oz Amaro CioCiaro

1/2 oz Lemon

(Shake and strain. No garnish)

Anyway, I'll play with the Group Effort Cocktail and post my results. Sounds fun!

Dan

[EvergreenDan]

Hi Dan,

I'll try your New Red House. Amusingly, I had a variation like yours (CioCiaro for Aperol/Campari), but also with Gran Classico for Campari. I called it the Balsa Airplane. I think it is my favorite version so far. Alas, CioCiaro is not distributed in MA and I'm not sure when I can get another bottle from NY.

I also did a right / wrong face-off between the Paper Airplane as I *thought* it was (with Ramazzotti) and as I now know it is (still with Nonino). The right version is all about the Campari and lemon. The Ramazzotti version is quite a bit richer and more complex. I think it is a better drink, and cheaper too!

I got the incorrect version from Chowhound. I think it was simply a substitution that wasn't noted, esp. since Ramazzotti is quite a bit easier to find than Nonino.

As for Drink Lab 9 -- you just gave me the idea: I wonder if you could skip the Campari and use some dark amaro, like Ramazzotti. Or if you'd need all three (including Sloe Gin) to make it work. I also wonder if given the gin base of the sloe gin, it should go back to gin as the spirit. Lots of directions this could go....

Edited November 8, 2011 by EvergreenDan (log)

[Dan Perrigan]

As for Drink Lab 9 -- you just gave me the idea: I wonder if you could skip the Campari and use some dark amaro, like Ramazzotti. Or if you'd need all three (including Sloe Gin) to make it work. I also wonder if given the gin base of the sloe gin, it should go back to gin as the spirit. Lots of directions this could go....

Hmm. We might just need a separate Drinklab 9 thread for this. Can't wait to get started. (And my vote is to stay with Rye as the base and find ingredients that work with it. I'm always looking for a new yummy rye drink)

Dan

[tanstaafl2]

As for Drink Lab 9 -- you just gave me the idea: I wonder if you could skip the Campari and use some dark amaro, like Ramazzotti. Or if you'd need all three (including Sloe Gin) to make it work. I also wonder if given the gin base of the sloe gin, it should go back to gin as the spirit. Lots of directions this could go....

Hmm. We might just need a separate Drinklab 9 thread for this. Can't wait to get started. (And my vote is to stay with Rye as the base and find ingredients that work with it. I'm always looking for a new yummy rye drink)

Dan

I would be happy to do my part by drinking whatever you come up with and offering an opinion for what ever that's worth! Not sure I have that much to offer in terms of tweaks to the recipe.

Don't have Rittenhouse bonded and don't think it is readily available locally but have several other ryes I can try (Sazerac 6yo, Jefferson 10yo and Bulleit in hand). Would also need to track down some grapefruit bitters if that stays in the recipe. Not sure if Bitterman's various bitters are readily available locally but maybe the H&F bottle shop can get them.

[EvergreenDan]

Don't sweat the bitters and any rye is fine for this purpose. Mix something up and let us know what you think!

[KatieLoeb]

Whew! I thought it was a red cabbage

I was thinking asteroid.

Could've been an asteroid. But it was merely the perfect punch bowl ice orb. I wish I knew how to do that. Ice carving is a bit out of my wheelhouse.

[FrogPrincesse]

Whew! I thought it was a red cabbage

I was thinking asteroid.

Could've been an asteroid. But it was merely the perfect punch bowl ice orb. I wish I knew how to do that. Ice carving is a bit out of my wheelhouse.

Was this a sphere or a half-sphere? If it's a half-sphere, it's easy to achieve with the right bowl.

[Tsiologist]

I'm excited about my new bottles of Ransom and Smith & Cross. Here's some of the stuff I've been making with em:

An Improved Hollands Gin cocktail with Ransom is one of my favorite things in the word:

2 oz Ransom Old Tom

.125 oz Demerara

3 dashes Maraschino

2 dashes Angostura (I threw in 2 of Peychaud's too, just for fun)

1 dash Absinthe (I used St. George, because Ransom deserves it)

garnish lemon peel

Today I made myself a Cocktail a la Louisianne with Ransom:

1.5 oz Ransom

.75 oz Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi Sweet rocks)

.50 oz Benedictine

3 dashes Peychaud's

rinse of Herbsaint

garnish lemon peel

One of my other favorite variations these days is a Bijou cocktail made with Smith & Cross in place gin.

The Aratama Cocktail:

1.5 oz Smith & Cross Jamaica Rum

.75 oz Sweet Vermouth*

.50 oz Green Chartreuse

2 dashes orange bitters

garnish orange peel

*Again, I like Cocchi. Antica is also good but I have friends who have never liked a Bijou in any iteration, and they swear the reason is that the vanilla of Antica combined with Chartreuse makes it taste like candy corn.

Anyway, these are all delicious. Hope someone enjoys them.

[KatieLoeb]

Whew! I thought it was a red cabbage

I was thinking asteroid.

Could've been an asteroid. But it was merely the perfect punch bowl ice orb. I wish I knew how to do that. Ice carving is a bit out of my wheelhouse.

Was this a sphere or a half-sphere? If it's a half-sphere, it's easy to achieve with the right bowl.

Nope. Full on orb. The Franklin crew takes their ice deathly seriously. Ice orbs for rocks glasses are always available as well, for their cocktails served "on a rock".

[KD1191]

The Franklin crew takes their ice deathly seriously.

Apparently it's not just their ice they take seriously...reports are that this evening they are changing the menu every hour, recreating great drinks from 7 different bars over the course of one evening.

I heard about it on Freddie Sarkis's Twitter.

They started with Milk & Honey, then moved on to Rickhouse and are currently about to finish up The Violet Hour. Apparently Door 74 is up next...

[KatieLoeb]

Don't remind me. I had a personal invitation but am unfortunately stuck at my computer finishing up some writing. I would go when I'm done but I suspect I might go all the way across town and find I can't even get in the door. Perhaps a well placed text message in advance will get me in the door. That might be an excellent reward to myself when I finish up.

[EvergreenDan]

I tried three variations last night:

Dan Perrigan's (the other Dan's) New Red House (1:1:1:1/2 rye, Campari, CioCiaro, Lemon). Nice, but I prefer the tartness of the original 1:1:1:1 formula. I can see that those who like a touch of sweetness would like this. My recollection is that when I did this with Gran Classico for the Campari, it was magical. Alas, my bottle is gone so I'll have to try it again when I restock.

I then tried 1:1:1:1 rye, sloe gin, Ramazzotti, lemon. Meh. Ok, but not as good as the same drink with Campari instead of sloe gin.

Then I couldn't resist going back to the Last Word: 1:1:1:1 Tanqueray, sloe gin, Campari, lemon. (Ok, in truth some lime since I ran out of lemons). Enjoyable, but not as good as either the Last Word or the Paper Airplane.

Right now, my go-to drink of this sort is still the 1:1:1:1 rye, Campari, Ramazzotti, and lemon. I prefer it to both the Paper Plane (Nonino/Aperol) and Paper Airplane (Nonino/Campari). I think it is some sort of magical, synergistic combination. I also love it with Gran Classico and CioCiaro.

I haven't given up on the sloe gin, but I think it should be a drink that is either better than the competition or sufficiently different as to avoid the "I wish I were drinking a Ramazzotti Paper Airplane" disappointment.

So tonight I took a break: 2 oz rye, 1 oz Carpano Antica, 1 oz Sutton Cellars Brown Label, and 1/2 oz Amer Boudreau with a homemade cherry. Pretty nice after is sat on the rocks for a while. I think it would have been better with Punt e Mes. I'm not sure that I'm loving my batch of Amer Boudreau. It seems harsh in the orange dimension, and really intensely bitter. I think I need to use less. Maybe too long infusing the bitter and sweet orange peels.

[Dan Perrigan]

Drink Lab 9 - Join the fun

by Kindred Cocktails Group Effort (I hope)

3/4 oz Rye

3/4 oz Sloe gin, Plymouth

3/4 oz Campari

3/4 oz Lemon juice

1 ds Grapefruit bitters, Bittermens

4 dr Orange bitters, Angostura (as garnish)

Ok, here's my DrinkLab 9 tweak:

3/4 oz Rye (Rittenhouse 100)

3/4 oz Maurin Quina

3/4 oz Campari

1/4+ oz Lemon

1 ds Jerry Thomas' own Decanter Bitters

My thinking was that the sloe gin might be fighting with the rye so I looked for something else with a bitter red fruit flavor. The Maurin Quina (to me) tastes of cherry/cranberry/lemon and quinine -- but it's also not the easiest bottle to find. The JT Bitters keep it from being too tart. They're also one of the "bitterest" bitters I know of. I do think the result was pretty nice.

Anyone else want to play?

Dan

[Dan Perrigan]

Dan Perrigan's (the other Dan's) New Red House (1:1:1:1/2 rye, Campari, CioCiaro, Lemon). Nice, but I prefer the tartness of the original 1:1:1:1 formula. I can see that those who like a touch of sweetness would like this. My recollection is that when I did this with Gran Classico for the Campari, it was magical.

I'm "the other Dan" now? Aw, man.

In the name of Science, I just mixed up a New Red House (1:1:1:0.5 Rye/CioCiaro/Campari/Lemon) and Dan's 1:1:1:1 Rye/CioCiaro/Gran Classico/Lemon. Two tasty drinks -- very similar and yet very different. I actually tasted more sweetness from the 1:1:1:1 Gran Classico version, with a long lemony finish. I suppose my next experiment will be to try the 1:1:1:1 with Campari. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Dan

[tanstaafl2]

Drink Lab 9 - Join the fun

by Kindred Cocktails Group Effort (I hope)

3/4 oz Rye

3/4 oz Sloe gin, Plymouth

3/4 oz Campari

3/4 oz Lemon juice

1 ds Grapefruit bitters, Bittermens

4 dr Orange bitters, Angostura (as garnish)

Ok, here's my DrinkLab 9 tweak:

3/4 oz Rye (Rittenhouse 100)

3/4 oz Maurin Quina

3/4 oz Campari

1/4+ oz Lemon

1 ds Jerry Thomas' own Decanter Bitters

My thinking was that the sloe gin might be fighting with the rye so I looked for something else with a bitter red fruit flavor. The Maurin Quina (to me) tastes of cherry/cranberry/lemon and quinine -- but it's also not the easiest bottle to find. The JT Bitters keep it from being too tart. They're also one of the "bitterest" bitters I know of. I do think the result was pretty nice.

Anyone else want to play?

Dan

OK, so I took a crack at it. I have Plymouth sloe gin but given the mixed reviews by the author, KC Dan, I decided to start with a Paper Plane variation with 1:1:1:1 of Bulleit rye, Nonino, Aperol and lemon. As a small tweak tried the Creole bitters from Bitter Truth. I thought it was an interesting drink and would have it again.

Then I decided to make my own Maurin Quina by keeping the Bulleit rye and Aperol but replacing the Nonino with half and half of Bonal and Cherry Heering (no idea if that is even close as I have never had the Maurin) and keeping the JT bitters. Not so sure about this one but might have to try it again just to see!

Not as big a fan of Campari generally speaking and the Aperol no doubt makes it sweeter and more orangey. Neither of those was a bad thing to me though!

Tomorrow I may try to visit the New Red House and try a version with Campari and one with Aperol. I have the CioCiaro on hand to play with as well but no Gran Classico on hand at the moment.