Cocktails for Colorful Foliage

[eje]

What did you end up serving at thanksgiving?

I froze my glass cocktail pitcher a la Pegu and made the apple-jack/cranberry liqueur/lemon cocktail as above, using the classic sidecar proportions (1.5, 3/4, 3/4), adding a dash or Pechaud's and garnished with a half a cranberry. Everyone really enjoyed it, from novice drinkers to cocktail enthusiasts. Isn't it great when guests get that, "I didn't know cocktails could be this good," look on their face!? Party guests took to calling it the "Crannestad"; but, I think something like the "Blushing Applecart" would be better.

[KatieLoeb]

Oooooh Erik! That cocktail sounds positively dreamy.

I took the cheater's route on Thanksgiving and brought along a bottle of Pom Wonderful to make Pomegranate Mimosas at my host's house. Everyone liked those.

I have a bag of frozen cranberries in my freezer. I think I'm going to try make cranberry liqueur out of it.

[Alchemist]

I'm not much of a cranberry fan. Maybe because I've poured tens of thuosands of Goose and Crans (tuff that up 'eh chief) And more cosmos than I can count. So I made a sour cherry compote. Sour cherrys, GrandMa, Sugar, Fees Aromatic Bitters and orange zest. After the turkey was a carcus the compote becam the base for Old fashions. Wicked. With turkey or Rye.

[eje]

...GrandMa, Sugar, Fees Aromatic Bitters and orange zest.  After the turkey was a carcus the compote becam the base for Old fashions.  Wicked.  With turkey or Rye.

←

Aversion to cranberry coctails understandable.

Grandma=Grand Marnier? Sounds like an awesome old-fashioned.

[scratchline]

Had considerable success at a party tonight mixing a drink inspired by suggestions on this board. It went like hotcakes!!

We have christened it Apple of My Eye:

served stirred only, on the rocks

1 1/2 oz apple brandy or calvados or applejack

1/2 oz Berentzen Apfelkorn

fill with sparkling cider (we used a nonalcoholic regional blush cider we found in Virginia, made with muscadine grapes as well as apples)

generous squeeze of lemon to bring the sweetness down (about 1/4 lemon)

This particular cider is especially good and complex, and also makes the drink a festive dark pink, but I bet it'd be good with other ciders too.

[KatieLoeb]

Hmm... my very rusty german associated Obstler with something like "fruity"... so it is a type rather than a brand... hmmm.  The distiller of mine appears to be Stroh... and this stuff is not rocket fuel, and downright smooth when it is cold.

Let me know what sort of mixological inspiration the stuff gives you.

←

Chris:

Whilst grocery shopping at Smack-me the other day I noticed they had Martinelli's Premium Apple-Pear Sparkling Cider. I grabbed a bottle and brought it home thinking of this thread. I put a small shot (approx. 1 oz.) of Obstler schnapps into a Champagne flute and filled with the Martinelli's Apple-Pear cider. While not the most complex of cocktails, it is certainly a pleasant and autumnal flavored quaff. Next time I plan to put a dash of bitters in to see if it takes the sweet edge off the drink. It is certainly tasty. I'm sure many folks would like this if they tried it.

[Alchemist]

...GrandMa, Sugar, Fees Aromatic Bitters and orange zest.  After the turkey was a carcus the compote becam the base for Old fashions.  Wicked.  With turkey or Rye.

←

Aversion to cranberry coctails understandable.

Grandma=Grand Marnier? Sounds like an awesome old-fashioned.

←

Yes, GrandMa=Grand Marnier. I won't go off topic and delve into the other innane clubisms. I'm sure that by the time GrandMa is introduced to Rye one can no longer call the concoction an Old Fashioned. But It was tastey non the less. Another unorthodox cocktail that happened on T-Day was, while transfering some bacon fat from pthe pan a wee bit slipped into a Wet Plymouth Martini. WOW!!! Kinda like the Smokey Martini with a peaty scotch but richer. I must wonder if me and my fellow celebrants are a truley depraved lot to have enjoyed that cocktail so much.

[lostmyshape]

while transfering some bacon fat from pthe pan a wee bit slipped into a Wet Plymouth Martini.  WOW!!!  Kinda like the Smokey Martini with a peaty scotch but richer.  I must wonder if me and my fellow celebrants are a truley depraved lot to have enjoyed that cocktail so much.

←

wow... truly depraved... but i'm actually tempted to try this. oh, god, how will i explain this to my wife when she catches me pouring bacon grease into the cocktail shaker?

[Alchemist]

Wait, stop!!!

The bacon grease should be room temp, and floated on top. Otherwise it will congeal, and that won't be pretty.

[lostmyshape]

ha! yeah... i figured as much... it's just such a funny picture that i couldn't resist... my wife coming around the corner to catch me shaking equal parts gin, vermouth and bacon fat... ha, ha, ha... ugh...

i'm actually kinda shocked that your still advocating this... think of the disasters possible... and i'm assuming that you're sober now.

wow... a bacon martini. what will they think of next?

[Alchemist]

Yes, I am severely sober, appalingly under served. It's really a short jump from the hot buttered rum to the back fat martini.

[drunkenmonkey]

bourbon and cider (formerly known as sweet cider to differentiate between strong or alcoholic) is called a stone fence - and highly enjoyable.

i have been preparing a hot mulled cider for the last cuple of fall/winters:

cider

stone's ginger wine

velvet falernum

coruba rum

ginger juice

allspice

cinnamon sticks

heat (add spirits towards the end so as to preserve precious alcoholic content)

and ladle into cups

find comfortable seat

Edited December 31, 2005 by drunkenmonkey (log)

[Alchemist]

Dear Mr. Monkey,

Have you ever made mulled Apple Jack? It seems to me the double apple, and the dryness of A.J. might make for a splendiferious libation. I think it could be called the Good Neighbor, with a nod for Mr. R. Frost.

[drunkenmonkey]

Dear Mr. Monkey,

Have you ever made mulled Apple Jack?  It seems to me the double apple, and the dryness of A.J. might make for a splendiferious libation.  I think it could be called the Good Neighbor, with a nod for Mr. R. Frost.

←

funny you should ask, i have prepared the same recipe with applejack and indeed is delightful. the spices added and those in the falernum and stones make a nice compliment and obviate the need for any sugar or further sweetening.

it was good to see you at the watering hole recently and a pleasure to aid in the furthering of your imbibological endeavors.

[Alchemist]

I mulled some applejack on thanksgiving, and I used a horsesneck of orange, and lemon, it gave it a brightness that I found pleasing to the palate. The slinkyesque properties of the zest also wowed some of the more inebriated inebreated of the group. I am thinking that some of the Fee's Old Fashioned Bitters would hit the imbibological spot.

[Ktepi]

Looking for some quick advice if that's all right: I'm hitting the liquor store today to "autumnize" my liquor supply, but can't afford to fully stock the bar because of impending Christmas and birthday shopping.

I have: two kinds of rum, Auburn vanilla liqueur, Strega, Stone's ginger wine, Kijafa cherry wine, sparkling wine, Noilly Prat dry vermouth, absinthe, homemade triple sec, homemade spice liqueur (clove/mace/cinnamon/allspice/peppercorn), bunch of bitters (Regan's orange, Angostura, Peychaud's, Unterberg, homemade vanilla bitters) and flavored syrups.

I'm definitely buying bourbon because I use it for eggnog and hot cider, some vodka to cook with, and probably Starbuck's liqueur because I'm thinking of doing some sort of "cafe au lait eggnog."

Maraschino is unavailable, as is anything strictly mixologist like that -- falernum, fernet branca, you know. I'm at the mercy of the state liquor stores.

They do have Sortilege, though, a French-Canadian whiskey-based (I think?) maple liqueur. They don't have Laird's bonded but have Laird's blended -- is it worth buying, or should I wait until I'm in Massachusetts sometime and look for the bonded?

I drink ... everything good. I mean, I'm an eGulleter. I suppose what I'm trying to figure out is what's going to give me the most autumnal drinks to play around with, without being too repetitive -- Campari seems appropriate to the weather but doesn't lend itself to as many drinks as whiskey does.

[kvltrede]

Looking for some quick advice if that's all right: I'm hitting the liquor store today to "autumnize" my liquor supply, but can't afford to fully stock the bar because of impending Christmas and birthday shopping...

...I suppose what I'm trying to figure out is what's going to give me the most autumnal drinks to play around with, without being too repetitive -- Campari seems appropriate to the weather but doesn't lend itself to as many drinks as whiskey does.

←

Campari doesn't strike me as autumnal but knock yourself out. I'd recommend rye whiskey, brandy (or cognac or armagnac) and calvados in addition to your other purchases. Lots of wonderful fall/winter drinks can be made with these.

Kurt

[Bricktop]

Not really fancy, but after making a rather pedestrian apple martini (2:1) for my wife, I decided to modify it a little. 2 oz vodka, 1/2 oz apple schnapps, 1/2 oz Belle de Brillet (my new favorite thing). Stirred over ice and strained into a cocktail glass.

Much more complex, and a whole lot better.

[Ktepi]

Campari doesn't strike me as autumnal but knock yourself out.  I'd recommend rye whiskey, brandy (or cognac or armagnac) and calvados in addition to your other purchases.  Lots of wonderful fall/winter drinks can be made with these.

Kurt

←

I don't know what it is about Campari -- I think I may have first tried it in late summer, and have a lot of early fall memories of it as a result. The bitterness really suits the season for me, and I especially like it with Thanksgiving food.

I wound up getting rye, brandy, Goldschlager, Dubonnet (it was on sale and I haven't tried it before), and Grand Marnier.

Last night's drink:

unpasteurized cider (of the still, non-alcoholic sort) heated to a simmer, poured into a mug with

2 oz bourbon,

2 oz Goya ginger beer,

and a dash of Goldschlager (a little seems to go a long way).