Equal Parts Cocktails

[slkinsey]

Yesterday I was sipping a few at Flatiron Lounge and chatting with one of their talented mixologists, as I am wont to do, and somehow the discussion got around to the Corpse Reviver #2. The CR2 is a cocktail composed of equal parts gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc and lemon juice with a drop of absinthe. This got us to thinking about "equal parts" cocktails. Nowadays, the usual formula for a classic-inspired cocktail goes something like this: a lot of the base spirit plus a small amount of modifier, then either another small amount of sour citrus and/or a smaller amount of accent and maybe a dash of bitters. But there are a number of classics that are equal parts cocktails. Besides the aforementioned Corpse Reviver #2, there is a Sidecar formula calling for equal parts cognac, Cointreau and lemon juice. I'm sure there are others, but nothing comes to mind right now.

Nowadays the equal parts formula seems largely ignored, but it strikes me as an interesting concept to build on -- especially "equal parts of four" like the CR2. There's the interesting Last Word, with equal parts gin, Green Chartreuse, maraschino and lime juice. And I had a "Carthusian Martini" at Landmarc a while back, that I think consisted of equal parts of gin, white vermouth, Cointreau and lime juice with a few dashes of Green Chartreuse.

Any others? Anyone played around with this idea?

[birder53]

Isn't the Negroni equal parts of gin, campari and vermouth?

[slkinsey]

It absolutely is! Good call. That's one we identified last night that I couldn't remember.

It's also interesting to speculate about taking an existing "equal parts of three" cocktail and creating a new drink by adding a fourth equal part. For example, gin and Campari both go with orange juice really well. Adding another part of orange juice might make for an interesting and entirely different drink. Or maybe adding a fourth part of lemon juice.

[DrinkBoy]

There's the Bjou, and it's cousin the Tailspin:

Bijou

1 ounce gin

1 ounce Chartreuse

1 ounce sweet vermouth

1 dash orange bitters

Stir well with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry and a squeeze of lemon peel.

(Tailspin uses a dash of Campari instead of a dash of orange bitters... at least the one I reference on my site does... and DANGED if I can recall where I found that version!)

I realize that there are a couple of versions, but at least one of the "Blood And Sand" is a four-parter:

Blood And Sand

3/4 ounce scotch whiskey

3/4 ounce Cherry Herring

3/4 ounce sweet vermouth

3/4 ounce orange juice

Shake with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass.

And here are some more... One issue is that some of these drinks have a few different recipes that are recorded for them... not all of them are "equal parters"...

De La Louisiane

3/4 ounce rye whiskey

3/4 ounce sweet vermouth

3/4 ounce Benedictine

3 dashes pastis

3 dashes Peychaud's bitters

Stir with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Nicky Finn

1 ounces brandy

1 ounce Cointreau

1 ounce lemon juice

Dash Pernod

Shake with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a Maraschino Cherry or a lemon zest.

Tango

1/2 ounce rum

1/2 ounce sweet vermouth

1/2 ounce dry vermouth

1/2 ounce Benedictine

1/2 ounce orange juice

Shake with ice. Strain into cocktail glass Garnish with an orange twist.

This following one is "variation on a theme" that I did with the Negroni as inspiration:

Trident

1 ounce dry sherry

1 ounce Cynar

1 ounce aquavit

2 dashes peach bitters

Stir with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

And to go to a bit of an extreme, here is one the "almost" makes the grade... depending on how you want to handle that bit of brown sugar... let's say we mix it in with "almost" an ounce of water in order to make a brown sugar simple syrup ;->

Zombie

1 ounce lemon juice

1 ounce lime juice

1 ounce pinapple juice

1 ounce passion fruit syrup

1 ounce gold rum

1 ounce 151 demerara rum

1 ounce white rum

1 tsp brown sugar

1 dash Angostura bitters

Dissolve sugar in juice. Shake with ice and pour into a collins glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.

created by: Don the Beachcomber and as uncovered in "Intoxica!" by Jeff Berry

-Robert

[mbanu]

Equal part cocktails are convenient, but you can't just throw equal parts of anything together without knowing how they fit and still consistently get a good cocktail. For instance the corpse reviver is a well balanced drink, but if you switched out the cointreau for lower proof triple sec, the balance would be off and you'd have to reformulate (maybe 3:2:1 gin:triplesec/lillet:lemon juice if it's not too dry, or switch out the lemon for lime if it is, see if that helps); and a lot of times switching seemingly little things when you don't know what you're doing can be the start of screwy drinks. Like some people make Black Russians with a splash of cola; the original reason for this (I suspect) is because Kahlua is a slightly higher proof than what would be optimal for a 1 to 1 vodka/Kahlua ratio, and adding a 1/2 ounce of cola to the mix seemed like a better choice then shaking extra long and watering it down more, or making your Black Russians extra stiff. But switch it to a 1:1:1 ratio for streamlining's sake and the balance is out of whack again unless you're using stronger vodka. Lotsa variables to take into account. :)

Edited May 24, 2005 by mbanu (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Got a couple more, which I thought of while drinking a...

Fernet Standard (thanks to Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli at Eastern Standard)

1 oz Fernet Branca

1 oz yellow Chartreuse

1 oz rye (WT 101)

dash bitters (you I kid not)

Phil Ward's Final Word also fits the bill:

3/4 oz rye

3/4 lemon

3/4 green Chartreuse

3/4 Maraschino

[KatieLoeb]

Like some people make Black Russians with a splash of cola...

They do? I've never heard of this and it sounds really nasty. Has anyone tasted this? Is it good? I'm skeptical at best.

[thirtyoneknots]

Like some people make Black Russians with a splash of cola...

They do? I've never heard of this and it sounds really nasty. Has anyone tasted this? Is it good? I'm skeptical at best.

←

I've heard of a splash of Coke in a White Russian going by the moniker of a Colorado Bulldog. I can't imagine this is any worse.

Edit: Grammar

Edited August 2, 2008 by thirtyoneknots (log)

[Alchemist]

Like some people make Black Russians with a splash of cola...

They do? I've never heard of this and it sounds really nasty. Has anyone tasted this? Is it good? I'm skeptical at best.

←

This I do believe is served with two wide bore straws, which you use to "shoot" the contents of your glass, in one quick slurp. It goes by the very appropriate moniker of “mind eraser” but I would argue that if you order one of these you might not have much to erase in the first place.

Toby

[jsmeeker]

most of the recipes for The Last Word call for equal parts gin, lime juice, Chartreuse, and maraschino.

Edit: oops. I missed this in the bottom of the original post.

Edited August 3, 2008 by jsmeeker (log)

[Penwu]

Another one (which I happen to be drinking as I write this) is Satan's Whiskers:

1/2 oz gin

1/2 oz sweet vermouth

1/2 oz dry vermouth

1/2 oz orange juice

1/2 oz orange curacao

2 dashes orange bitters

Shaken

[evo-lution]

Between the Sheets?

[KatieLoeb]

Like some people make Black Russians with a splash of cola...

They do? I've never heard of this and it sounds really nasty. Has anyone tasted this? Is it good? I'm skeptical at best.

←

This I do believe is served with two wide bore straws, which you use to "shoot" the contents of your glass, in one quick slurp. It goes by the very appropriate moniker of “mind eraser” but I would argue that if you order one of these you might not have much to erase in the first place.

Toby

←

Oh. I've heard of that. Mercifully, I've never worked in nightclubs or the sort of places that would expect me to have a repetoire of silly shot drinks up my sleeve. As you can see, I don't even recognize them when the recipe is right in front of me. And that's just fine with me...

[Cocktailwelten]

What´s about Brandy Alexander

Equal parts (1oz) of Brandy, Cream and Creme de Cacao brown

Shake all and add a little bit of nutmeg

[slkinsey]

From this thread.

I just came across this version of the Golden Dawn, which would also be at home on the equal parts topic:

3/4 oz Laird's Bonded

3/4 oz Plymouth gin

3/4 oz triple sec

3/4 oz apricot brandy

3/4 oz orange juice

I'm not sure about this one -- seems awfully sweet-sounding. Anyone game to try it?

I just whipped up two Golden Dawn variations side-by side. Both had Tanqueray gin, Laird's bonded applejack, Cointreau and orange juice (fresh squeezed valencia) plus a dribble of grenadine to create the "dawn." One version had Apry. One version had Barack Palinka.

The Apry version was richer, spicier and sweeter. I wouldn't say it was cloying, exactly, but it definitely couldn't be any sweeter.

The Barack Palinka version was dryer and more aromatic. I wouldn't say it was thin, exactly, but it definitely couldn't succeed with any less body.

We ultimately decided neither version was entirely satisfactory, and thought that something in the middle was what we wanted. So why not mix the two versions together? This is what we did, and in our opinion it was the superior version.

[Alchemist]

This is a drink that is on the summer menu at The Violet Hour. It comes from Sammy J. Ross of M&H, and Little Branch NYC.

Paper Airplane Cocktail (Sammy J. Ross, Milk & Honey)

.75 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon

.75 oz Lemon Juice

.75 oz Campari

.75 oz Amaro Nonino

Shake, strain up.

Glass: Coupe

Garnish: None

Ice: None

Very dry, so much so that you want another sip before the glass is back on the table. Love it.

Toby

[Graphix]

Corpse Reviver #2 Always comes out well for me with equal parts...

1oz Gin

1oz Lillet Blonde

1oz Cointreau

1oz Lemon Juice

(I usually go just a touch less on the lemon...but close enough to equal parts)

I love this drink...one of my favorites.

[phlip]

Been making Latest Words-last words with Junipero Genevive. Petes Last Word-Last Words with Laphroiag.

Also classic and a bit more obscure the Trinity-Equal parts Gin, Dry V, and Sweet V.

Also for Famous Grouse I did a cross between a Corpse R and Blood and Sand-Using Grouse, Antica, C'treau,Orange and dash of Absinthe which turned out well.

This is a good topic Sam. And lets not forget the lovely succulent Fitty-Fitty I know your quite familiar with. Can I also make a case for the Americano here. I love them stirred using Antica up with no soda water. Delightful and can drink them forever and more importantly when your not supposed to be drinking.

[weinoo]

Can I also make a case for the Americano here. I love them stirred using Antica up with no soda water. Delightful and can drink them forever and more importantly when your not supposed to be drinking.

←

You can always make a case for the Americano, Phil. And I'm probably one of the few who has ordered them at D & C ...whenever I'm not supposed to be drinking.

[bostonapothecary]

Can I also make a case for the Americano here. I love them stirred using Antica up with no soda water. Delightful and can drink them forever and more importantly when your not supposed to be drinking.

←

You can always make a case for the Americano, Phil. And I'm probably one of the few who has ordered them at D & C ...whenever I'm not supposed to be drinking.

←

if you like americano's look for vergano's bottled "americano" which is a rose of the grape grignolino from monferrato in piemonte aromatized in the style of campari/aperol... its affordable and pretty cool. i got a couple bottles of the trial importation and my campari drinkers raved about it. different shades of bitter sexiness.