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

what are you planning on doing with the whiskey?

Is there something versatile enough for cocktails or straight sipping? I saw Eagle Rare mentioned in the whiskey thread.

cocktails AND straight

yeah if you're not super-versed in american whiskey eagle rare would def be a nice choice; knob creek as well.

i use rye in 90% of my whiskey cocktails but i rarely sip rye, so if you're getting one bottle i'd go w/a bourbon.

i'm realizing that last sentence is sort of illogical; what i'm saying is i'll take bourbon as a mixer over rye as a sipper

otm

Eagle Rare was on sale, $10 off. Got that, Jim Beam rye and Mount Gay rum.

which mount gay?

Eclipse (gold)

An emergency rush job and a royalty check landing in the same week mean that I have a little money to play with, so I'm looking at DrinkUpNY for the stuff I can't get in NH. I need to refill maraschino and genever, so there's that...

Does anyone have any thoughts on Barolo Chinato, esp. Cocchi's? I've had a couple glasses of a non-Cocchi BC in the past, but that was 15+ years ago and I was drinking completely different things. $45 seems steep.

Are The Bitter Truth's lemon bitters legitimately *bitter*? Cause if it's just a lemon tincture, I can make that. Shit, I can make that by accident.

Clear Creek cherry liqueur vs Combier Roi Rene Rouge cherry liqueur vs Cherry Heering vs Rothman & Winter cherry? I like Clear Creek in general.

Esprit de June liqueur?

I'm leaning towards preemptively reupping my Smith & Cross and Punt e Mes, but all of the above are alternatives I'm considering.

no experience with a lot of those items (cherry heering is the only cherry liqueur i've used, and given the rate at which i use it that's not going to change soon), but i have tasted the tbt lemon bitters on their own. they're definitely "bitter" (and tbt is not the type of operation that would make "bitters" without a bittering agent) but i do question their utility--unless you're a hopeless bitters addict there are much better things to do with 20 bucks.

Yeah, that was my impression of TBT based on what I've had. The utility, I don't know. Lemon bitters could be summery, but so is an actual lemon after all.

Cherry liqueur is one of those things that I always think could be amazing if done right, especially if it were bright and tart - but what I've had always goes more towards the cooked cherry flavor.

Man, reading about Barolo Chinato makes it sound like it would go really well with either gin or genever.

(One of these days I need to buy Benedictine again too. I'm watching 10 right now, and the bar has about eight bottles, four of which are Benedictine, Cointreau, Beam, and Cutty Sark. It's like an Iron Chef challenge: go forth and mixologize with these things.)

ok i've been doing this as a serious hobby for a while, and i have no idea how it took me until last week to encounter the southside:

2 oz. gin
.75 oz. lemon or lime juice (lime is the prevalent version but both work)
.75 oz. simple syrup
1 dash angostura
2 big mint sprigs
more mint for garnish

lightly bruise mint sprigs in mixing tin, add liquids, shake and double strain. slap spare mint of drink and garnish with a nice-looking mint leaf.

what an approachable, pleasant cocktail!

of=over

to make good on my earlier promise, i went on a bevmo run today (and btw, OMG BEVMO<333). got some rittenhouse 100, sauza anejo, noilly prat vermouth, angostura and peychaud's. (i still don't have actual mixing equipment, tho.) prolly gonna crack open the rittenhouse for a nightcap later.

noticed when I threw a splash of vermouth in tonight's dinner that I'm almost out! This means now I can get a "good" vermouth - which?

dolin!

dolin sweet, noilly praat dry

has anyone tried this - http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2010/07/gran_classico_an_ancient_lique.php

have not tried it. i see it around a lot and it's good to read a little bit about it (though the line about "small-batch production" is kind of nonsensical). i kind of swore off buying amaros until i finish ones that i have.

you have some good self control. i havent even seen it here, i just liked the sound of it tasting like campari, but more so. btw in that column they say 'dry vermouth (blanc)' arent they 2 different things? i've seen this in other recipes where they've said dolin blanc and then called it a dry vermouth... dolin blanc is sweet right?

I have a bottle of Gran Classico, it's pretty delicious. Deeper and rounder flavor than Campari but with a sharp lift in the finish that's quite drawn out (that's the wormwood, I guess). I haven't really used it in anything yet. Sort of imagine the heft of flavor like Carpano Antica is to a lighter vermouth.

WTF can I do with Drambuie? Is there a cocktail that this stuff tastes good in?

the rusty nail - 3:1 scotch and drambuie

(nb never tried it but it's the only drambuie cocktail i know of)

btw in that column they say 'dry vermouth (blanc)' arent they 2 different things? i've seen this in other recipes where they've said dolin blanc and then called it a dry vermouth... dolin blanc is sweet right?

― just sayin, Monday, May 30, 2011 6:35 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yup, dolin blanc is sweet. i see that mistake a lot.

the rusty nail is sort of the only "standard" drambuie cocktail. use a blended scotch and i'd start with a 4:1 ratio and add more drambuie if it's not sweet enough for you.

but there are tons of things you could, in theory, do with it. here are some starting points: http://www.drambuie.com/view/the-taste/

came across a liquor store in silverlake today that had about forty kinds of bitters for sale, all with tasters - tried a memphis bbq flavored one (bet this would go well with whiskey). they also had many, many bottles of dolin and bols genever, both of which i'd been unable to find anywhere else, and an entire shelf of absinthe - definitely making a return trip!

also i am completely over the campari aversion i wrote about upthread, love this stuff now

^_^

yep. It's a grower. Negroni has become my drink of choice pretty much. Love the slightly medicinal taste it has.

had last night: plymouth, st. germaine, fresh ginger, twist. SO good.

for the first time in my life i own a bottle of angostura bitters. but now.... what do i do with it??

make a manhattan or old fashioned!!!

hey tehresa when u say fresh ginger could you elaborate? muddled ginger pieces or something else?

hmm i guess i will need to also purchase my first ever jar of maraschino cherries

i may go for a negroni

rusty nails are p great fwiw

i am not 100% sure (it was at a restaurant) but there were definitely a few pieces floating in there... but not enough to give it as much ginger flavor as it had... so i'm wondering if it was juiced/strained/something?

i've boiled ginger before to make tea... i imagine if you chilled and strained it you'd get something similar to what was in this cocktail.

hmm, interesting. i've never really messed around with muddling it but the fact that there were pieces tells me that might be what they did? you can juice ginger but my understanding is it's a complete pain in the ass. i just made some ginger syrup which i now need find uses for.

bitters tastes good in nearly anything IMO. I probably overdo it a bit though. I've been drinking old fashioneds with bulleit rye but when that runs out I guess I'll buy some scotch and try a rusty nail. although I've also been planning on making some of my own maraschino cherries so maybe I'll stick to the old fashioned for a while.

i feel like you wouldn't really get enough flavor out of muddling ginger... that's why i thought it'd been boiled and crudely strained? or maybe a tiny bit muddled in...

damn i think i used all the ginger at home or i would work on this tonight

btw the pieces in the drink were TINY

grated?

almost like teeny tiny dice?

if you boil ginger pieces you'll def get little solids that could be missed by a mesh strainer.

for tehresa, here is an experiment using the pegu club formula:

2 oz. plymouth gin
.5 oz. lime juice
.25 oz. st. germain
.25 oz. ginger syrup
dash angostura
dash angostura orange

(ginger syrup: bring to a boil 1 cup water, 1 cup water, 2 inches of peeled/sliced ginger root. simmer for 2 mins, steep for 2 hours, strain)

this is pretty good imo!

oops one cup water, one cup sugar that is

thanks. i think this was my first gin drink in maybe a year? i don't even have any in house. i might start playing with it again, though i think i'd still try for a ginger water over syrup bc the st g is more than enough sweet for my taste. on the other hand, I had a blast making flavored simple syrups 2 summers ago so maybe I'll give it a go again.