in the 2k10 i am learning to make cocktails. this is my mixology thread

i am actually going on a mission to find amer picon later today.

also glad you're sticking with it, donna rouge--you'll be drinking straight fernet branca in no time :)

I just came on this thread to post about the negroni but see that it's already been mentioned! Well done, fellows.

Manhattans have been ruling at my place lately. I went out to a bar in LA - the Edison, for those familiar - a few weeks ago, and they make their Manhattans with some sort of black cherry that was not a maraschino. It was amazing how much the taste changed without that small amount of the red sugar water!

at home, its been 3 parts Bookers (133 proof), 1 part sweet vermouth, three dashes Angostura, and a maraschino over crushed ice. So f-ing good.

hmm i wonder if it was a "real" maraschino as opposed to those gross mass-produced ones

possibly, but it appeared to be a black cherry. I am unaware of the difference b/t real and the mass-pro'd maraschinos.

a real one would be a cherry soaked in maraschino liqueur--no artificial color or sweetener or whathaveyou.

may have been one of these, if not housemade:

http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/2/0/0/15a/4/AAAAAl9BmaMAAAAAAVpKRQ.jpg

the excellent book Raising The Bar by Nick Mautone, published a few years ago, has a great recipe for making maraschino cherries - I make a big batch twice a year or so and keep them in armagnac, it's pretty easy and they last indefinitely.

I had the best Manhattan last night! Neat, half dry half sweet vermouth, with lemon twist instead of cherry.

Those were them! Maybe my Manhattan has been the pretender.

Ah well.

i have that book, i died. he has a lot of cool recipe-type stuff relating to drinks that i'm going to work on as soon as i have more space and a better kitchen.

related question for you: do you have any thoughts on the shelf life of homemade syrups and grenadines and stuff? mautone seems really conservative on this--i'm positive most of the stuff lasts longer than two weeks but am nervous about testing the outer limits.

Yeah, I've had stuff last months before w/ no problems - just give everything a taste before you use it. Different ingredients go off at different times, of course. If you plan on having something around longer, adding a little vodka to it is a great way to extend shelf like w/o affecting flavor.

tonight: fun with CARPANO ANTICA!

http://onthesauce.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/carpano_antica3.jpg

RECIPE TWENTY-FOUR: the supernova

an original from drink in boston, this is a hilarious performative recipe that also happens to be awesome.

1.75 oz. laird's bonded apple brandy
.75 oz. carpano antica
.5 oz. cardamom simple syrup (sub about half that amount agave nectar)
1 dash barrel-aged bitters
1 dash angostura bitters

stir all this stuff over ice

.25 oz. green chartreuse
lemon rind

pour the chartreuse into a rocks glass and carefully ignite it. squeeze the lemon peel over it and drop the peel in. after about 15 seconds strain the main mixture into the glass. serve carefully (the glass will cool off where the drink sits, but the whole top will be pretty hot)

i don't really know how to explain this but it's complex and quite good.

currently i'm taking the advice of numerous carpano antica stans and drinking it over ice with an orange twist. this stuff is completely delicious.

RECIPE TWENTY-FIVE: creole variation

the creole is an amer picon cocktail, and since it's still unavailable damn near anywhere afaict, we'll make this variation from the cure restaurant in new orleans.

1.5 oz. rye
1 oz. sweet vermouth
.25 oz. benedictine
.25 oz. luxarado amaro abano

stir with ice and strain, garnish w/lemon twist

it's going to be hard to go back to another sweet vermouth after finishing this carpano antica, that's all i can say. this is a very complex drink that i enjoyed a lot.

I know it'll be tough to find another vermouth, but Dolin is fantastic, and somewhat easier than Carpano to mix with as well.

In most cocktails I use about 2/3 the amount of vermouth specified when I'm mixing w/ Carpano, just because it's so intense.

rare daytime cocktal update! didn't want to lose this one from last night.

RECIPE TWENTY-SIX: the casino

2 oz. old tom gin
.25 oz. lemon juice
.25 oz. maraschino
2 dashes orange bitters

stir with ice and strain.

this is a great intro to how old tom gin works--notice there is no added sugar and no sweet liqueurs or vermouth.

i cut up a grapefruit tonight and was able to make these. i believe both are originals from cocktail virgin slut

RECIPE TWENTY-SEVEN: cravan

1.5 oz. bourbon
.75 oz. grapefruit juice
.5 oz. maraschino
.25 oz. campari
1 dash angostura

shake and strain. garnish with an orange twist or a mint sprig

this is one of those nonintuitive happy mess drinks afaict. i was concerned about that amount of maraschino but it turned out to be fine. a sip of this goes through three distinct phases--bourbon and bitters, bright fruit, weird maraschino/campari bitterness. i used a pretty good bourbon and it wasn't wasted--flavor came through nicely. not sure if angostura is the best play here though.

RECIPE TWENTY-EIGHT: leonid

so named as a variant on something called the star cocktail.

.75 oz. gin
.75 oz. apple brandy, applejack, or calvados
.75 oz. grapefruit juice
.5 oz. dry vermouth
.25 oz. cointreau
[1 dash angostura]

shake and strain, garnish with grapefruit twist

tbh i forgot the angostura and i think if i remake this i'd be more likely to use orange or grapefruit bitters. it's a dry cocktail that was strongly alcoholic on the first couple sips; thankfully it mellowed out after that. interesting ideas here but i'd consider modifications in the future.

tonight: inverse cocktails

RECIPE TWENTY-NINE: growing hold and dying happy is a hope, not an inevitability

(yes that is the name, from cure in new orleans)

2 oz. cynar
1 oz. rye
pinch salt
two pieces lemon peel
herbsaint for rinsing

combine the cynar and rye, add the salt and stir. twist the lemon peels over the liquor and drop them in. add ice and stir. strain into a glass that has been rinsed with herbsaint. garnish with another lemon twist.

http://www.betacocktails.com might be me new favorite mixology blog. this drink is weird--sweet to start like you'd expect with so much amaro but a much more interesting finish. sort of an inverse of a manhattan variation, in keeping with tonight's theme.

RECIPE THIRTY: le coquetiez du lion

(from somewhere in germany by way of ohgosh.tv)

50 ml lillet blanc (sorry this is in metric. 50 ml is just about 1.5 oz afaict)
30 ml dry gin (just a tiny bit under 1 oz.)
2 dashes peychaud's bitters

stir over ice, garnish with a lime twist.

an inverse gin martini with lillet. simple and elegant, this is a grown-up drink.

RECIPE THIRTY-ONE: ruirita

(from the guy at adashofbitters.com)

2 oz. blanco tequila
.5 oz. cynar
.5 oz. lime juice
.25 oz. simple syrup
3 dashes fee's rhubarb bitters
2 drops orange flower water (for rinsing)

shake and strain all except the o.f.w., which you just used to rinse the glass

too pungent at first; this mellowed out nicely in the glass. will i ever use those rhubarb bitters again?

RECIPE THIRTY-TWO: the mai tai

but enough of these weirdo drinks, right?

1 oz. aged rum 1
1 oz. aged rum 2
.75 oz. lemon juice
.5 oz. triple sec or orange curacao
.25 oz. orgeat
.25 oz. simple syrup

shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. garnish with a mint sprig and a lime husk.

i'm using cheap orgeat (fee bros because most good liquor stores have it) but pretty good rums. one common rec for mai tais is an aged jamaican rum (easy enough to find an appleton product, i'm using their v/x) and an aged martinique rum (tougher, i've seen saint-james and clement and today shelled out for clement vsop). but i think you can experiment as much as you want. soooooooo good.

DAMMIT, lime juice

think i'm over my campari aversion (ie drinking negroni as intended as we speak). that was fast!

glad 4 u! last time i went out to a mediocre bar i got them to make me americanos the whole night.

we're doing manhattan variations until further notice.

RECIPE THIRTY-THREE: manhattan

2 oz. rye
1 oz. sweet vermouth
2 dashes bitters

stir over ice and strain. some people use cherries but not me. i go with lemon twist.

i've been assembling ingredients for manhattan variations for a while, capped off by today, when i finally bought some affordable high-proof rye (wild turkey's 101 proof rye, which is very nice stuff).

RECIPE THIRTY-FOUR: red hook

2 oz. rye
.5 oz. punt e mes
.5 oz. maraschino liqueur

stir and stain, garnish w/a cherry

sweeter, more upbeat manhattan. for the uninformed, punt e mes shares the same sweet qualities as my beloved carpano antica, but with a less complex finish. not really like other sweet vermouths at all, a fact which extends to its location in the liquor store: sometimes it's near the vermouths, but today i grabbed it from a shelf it shared with the amaros and other italian specialty liqueurs.

RECIPE THIRTY-FIVE: little italy

2 oz. rye
.75 oz. sweet vermouth
.5 oz. cynar

stir and strain, garnish with a cherry.

a real winner if you, like me, are an amaro fan.

That sounds good.

I am a big amaro fan - I like trying different recipes w/ an amaro subbed for vermouth. Ramazzotti manhattans are great!

Speaking which, the weather's getting warm enough to switch to my simple summer patio standby of last year, Ramazzotti and soda on ice. Tastes like an adult cola, nicely deep and bitter but refreshing and not too boozy.

man that sounds excellent, going to make one of those in a min

ramazzotti and soda was an excellent suggestion, i enjoyed those v. much that night.

my life is insane right now and i haven't even been drinking much nevermind making manhattan variations. but i do have a pause for a couple of drinks tonight.

RECIPE THIRTY-SIX: peralta (1)

there's an alternate peralta recipe too, but i'm making the one from drinkboston.com. developed by a bartender at deep ellum, an awesome bar in my nieghborhood that i don't go to nearly enough.

1.5 oz. rye
.5 oz. cynar
.5 oz. green chartreuse
.5 oz. grapefruit juice
1 dash grapefruit bitters
1 dash orange bitters

shake and strain, garnish with a grapefruit twist.

i've never seen ramazzotti in london but it sounds like just the kind of thing i like. enjoying cynar + soda tho

successfully signed a new lease yesterday, figure i deserved a bottle of st germain for that:

http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/cocktails/images/bottle-greybackground-300_000.jpg

as you may have noticed this stuff is in a lot of drinks these days. i had never been able to isolate the flavor in cocktails on my own, so being able to take a sip of it is helpful. the trick is that it tastes like fruit, not flowers or anything else. mostly like a mild lychee imo. i'd venture that it's been so successful because the amorphous "fruitiness" it adds is pleasant without evoking any one thing.

RECIPE THIRTY-SEVEN: boutonierre

invinted at rendezvous, central sq, cambridge, ma

2 oz. applejack
1 oz. dry vermouth
.5 oz. st germain
1 dash peychaud's
1 dash orange bitters

stir and strain, garnish with orange.

a really good introduction to st germain in a classically-proportioned drink. it's easily detectable here while enhancing some of the other flavors that are going on.

RECIPE THIRTY-EIGHT: shaddock

invented at trina's starlite lounge, also in cambridge

.75 oz. each genever, aperol, st. germain, lemon juice.

shake and strain, no garnish.

another riff on the 4-equal-ingredients formula, this one is pretty smooth and sweet with an awesome orange-pink color. each ingredient pops out at different times.

RECIPE THIRTY-NINE: one-armed french hooker

1.5 oz. genever
1 oz. grapefruit juice
1 oz. st. germain
2 dashes peychaud's

shake and strain, top with sparkling wine (i omitted this).

st. germain and grapefruit seem like a natural combo, so i've been looking all over for recipes that use them both. this is nice, the genever is a supporting player only with the main flavor being sweetened citrus.

what is the consistency/color on simple syrup supposed to be

simple made w/regular sugar should be clear. consistency will depend on the ratio of sugar to water.

a 1:1 syrup will be a little thick but not super-thick

ok, i made 1:! with cane sugar and it's sort of like sugar water? attempting to make mint julep fwiw

when i made grenadine with sugar and pom juice i thought it was p. watery at first, it actually thickened up after chillin in the fridge for a bit

ok, that makes sense

yeah you're probably ok