Scotch Cocktails

[FrogPrincesse]

At Dutch Kills week before last, Giuseppe made me a Cat's Meow, a drink by Aisha Sharpe from BAR. I think he said they reworked it slightly. Whatever he did, it was really delicious. It's essentially a Remember The Maine with Islay scotch instead of rye, but the phenols in the scotch really alter the sense of the drink. It's also a little drier than we make the Maine at Heaven's Dog. Here's the recipe he gave me:

Cat's Meow

1 1/2 oz Islay scotch

1/2 oz Carpano Antica

1/4 oz Cherry Heering

3 dashes absinthe

Stirred then strained over a large cube, lemon twist. (And if you're going full Kills style, the ice is cut from a lake in Virginia. Bastards.)

 

I tried it last night with Laphroaig 10 years, Dolin rouge, Luxardo cherry liqueur, and St. George absinthe. Quite intense, even with dilution. It would probably work best with a milder Islay.

 

 

[Czequershuus]

Finally got inspired enough to make the Honey-Ginger syrup needed for the Penicillin(read, finally remembered to buy ginger when I went to the store). I used this recipe

 

Penicillin (Link)

2 Oz Blended Scotch( Ballantines)

0.75 Oz Lemon Juice

0.75 Oz Honey-Ginger Syrup

0.25 Oz Islay Scotch (Laphroaig)

 

It really is a delightful drink. Not as medicinal as I expected, the Islay came through, but muted. Will have to remember this one when winter comes around again. And as a bonus the syrup is excellent, and will be very nice with ice cream.

Edited April 12, 2014 by Czequershuus (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

My take on Seven Grand's Islander, which is more or less the Rum Crawl from Bourbon & Branch but with scotch as the base.

Scotch (Highland Park 12), falernum (homemade), ginger syrup (Canton ginger liqueur), lime juice, bitters (Angostura + Fee whiskey barrel-aged).

 

 

The finish of the cocktail was a little off. The Bowmore that they use at Seven Grand is a better fit than Highland Park in this drink, although in their version they use a fresh and very pungent ginger syrup that makes the scotch almost completely disappear (shame). I guess more tweaking will be in order once I get a bottle of the Bowmore.

 

For reference, the Seven Grand version is pictured below on the right. I was told that the red stuff was Angostura bitters, but there is just no way.

 

The drink on the left (Scarecrow) was like a Japanese cocktail with Scotch, orgeat, cocoa bitters. It could have made a decent dessert drink, I suppose.

 

 

For my second drink, I played it safe and got a glass of Willet rye (5 years). The cocktail on the right was a Rob Roy twist called Lawyers, Guns, & Money (Autentoshan, Barolo Chinato, Drambuie, cacao bitters) which was actually quite nice.

 

 

Our bartender became more chatty once an adjacent group left. I watched in amazement as they downed 6 or 7 cocktails a head in less than an hour (they were heavyset Americans, but still...). I guess they were making sure to take full advantage of happy hour...

Edited May 20, 2014 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

The Graduate (Daniel Shoemaker). It's an aperitif cocktail with sweet vermouth (Dolin) as the base and scotch (Highland Park 12), curaçao (Pierre Ferrand dry), and tonic water (Fever Tree). Quite nice with bitter and smoky notes.

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

Another scotch-based aperitif cocktail from a few days ago, this one fine but probably not worth repeating. Fair Isle (Kathy Casey) with barolo chinato (Cocchi), scotch (Highland Park 12), grapefruit juice (white), grapefruit bitters (BDW). I am not sold on the combination of barolo chinato with grapefruit juice, or maybe the ratios should be tweaked a little to my taste (less chinato, more scotch!).

 

 

[EvergreenDan]

My attempt to make the Blood and Sand into a good drink:

 

1 oz Scotch (single malt -- I used Balvenie Golden Cask)

3/4 oz Punt e Mes

3/4 oz Cheery Heering

3/4 oz Amer Boudreau (mine is high proof, low sugar, and very, very bitter)

3/4 oz lemon juice

 

Excellent. Potent, bitter, tart, complex, smokey. The bitter orange / cherry / smoke thing is cool.

[FrogPrincesse]

Variation on the Raucherkerzen (Caleb Linton via Gaz Regan) with Laphroaig 10 scotch, Cruzan blackstrap rum (Smith & Cross Jamaican rum), cinnamon syrup (homemade, D&C recipe, reduced to 1/4 oz), St Elizabeth allspice dram, Angostura bitters, orange twist (which was supposed to be discarded - oops!).

 

No idea why but although I have blackstrap in my home bar, I reached for the S&C (and did not regret it).

The end result is smokey/spicy with orange undernotes. A big glass of frankincense. Love it.

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

Bloody Nail (Zachary Nelson via Gaz Regan), drawing its inspiration from two classic scotch-based cocktails, the Rusty Nail and the Blood and Sand. Monkey Shoulder blended scotch whisky, Drambuie, Luxardo cherry liqueur, Regan's orange bitters.

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

.38 Special (Michael Madrusan in Sasha Petraske's Regarding Cocktails) with 2 3/8 oz Glenlivet French oak reserve 15 years, 3/8 oz yellow Chartreuse, 3/8 oz amaro CioCiaro

 

 

 

[BarinaCraft]

A nice Scotch drink themed for The Masters golf tournament is the Hole In One cocktail with whisky, sweet vermouth, lemon juice and orange bitters.