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

and xp i've been reluctant to pick up ransom for the reason you mention--nontraditional gins kind of frighten me. also the same company makes small's gin which is the worst liquor i've ever purchased.

Ransom is so weird and geeky. It's not that it's bad, but I'm not sure the initial premise of "hey, it's a transitional gin, neither this nor that," as appealingly nerdy as it is, lends itself to cocktails. For the price, I doubt I'll buy it again, but now that I have it ... it's certainly not bad, but beyond the basics, everything seems to either clash with or cover up its botanicals.

In other nontraditional gins, I haven't had many of the new modern gins with unusual botanicals like Bluecoat, Floraison, etc. Sort of curious, sort of worried the bottle will sit on the shelf forever. (Although I'm a big fan of Magellan and Citadelle, so it's not like I'm a staunch gin traditionalist either.)

i love that esquire article abt aperol, going to give some drinks a go tonight

this slate article about the old-fashioned is a fun read:

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/drink/2011/11/the_old_fashioned_a_complete_history_and_guide_to_this_classic_c.html

i like that it also reads as an indictment of cocktail books!

i flipped through that see mix drink book in the store yesterday--i have no idea what problem it thinks it's solving

i have the mr. boston book, which i make frequent use of, but it's the only cocktail-related book i own. i'd like to read more of the historical stuff, like the bitters book

so i flipped through the bitters book yesterday too. it basically breaks down like this:

20 pages of bitters history
16 recipes for bitters
lots and lots of cocktail recipes
a few recipes for cooking with bitters

i was hoping for a little more than another recipe book tbh

if you want history, read this (the only cocktail book i would ever straight up recommend): imbibe!

Geez, NH just started carrying Branca Menta - they only just added Fernet Branca this summer. Is it worth picking up? Is it still an amaro, or just a creme de menthe?

i don't think i've ever had it in anything, but i'm pretty sure it's not just a creme de menthe and includes at least some of the bitter/herbal notes of its bro. maybe a more intense version of fernet branca's menthol blast? i'm not really a big mint guy so i've never been in a rush to check it out.

weirdly i'd never had an old fashioned (w/fruit or w/o) until a couple of weeks ago. kinda got me hooked on the whole idea of mixing and matching the spirit, sweetner and bitters. my two favorites are:

rum (2oz)
coffee liqueur (1/2 oz)
chocolate bitters (4 dashes).

this is in constant rotation (i'm also trying to finish some rums i don't love so i can buy smith and cross and a white rum)

this is kind of an old fashioned. had it a few times. the tabasco doesn't really affect the flavor that much, but it's hot as hell. tried it once w/tapatio and unfortunately it's more flavorful and less spicy, but in a negative way

2oz Rye
1tsp Lime juice
1tsp Simple syrup
3ds Hot sauce, Tabasco

in love with Leopold Brothers Gin (at least the straight taste test i had back to back with plymouth). from costco no less. haven't made any cocktails with it yet. i also got their maraschino for my bday. not sure how it compares to luxardo as i haven't had that, but i think it's pretty great.

ok, who's got the best bloody mary mix recipe? haven't made them at home for a few years, but i'm doing it up on sat for gf's birthday brunch.

it's about getting the proportions of the holy trinity - Tabasco, Worcestershire, vodka - right. also: celery salt, horseradish, fresh lemon juice. you have to tinker. Pete Baran claims that gin is better than vodka but I think that may be one of his LIES.

yeah it's gonna be vodka (although my favorite is a place in town that uses chile tequila).

picked up a bottle of Suze on reco from this thread. was in paris duty free shop for $11 for 1 litre. have yet to try it, but was able to smell it at a bar. the young bartender told me how much he hated it. ha.

hey, at that price it's nbd if you hate it too!

so i made this bitters-heavy concoction tonight:

http://www.kindredcocktails.com/cocktail/dons-little-bitter

i just bought some cruzan black strap so i used that instead of the barbancourt and i reduced the simple syrup a little since i figured the rum'd be pretty strong/sweet but drinking it now i realize i probably should've used the whole 1/2 oz, this drink is bitterrrr. but good! but strange! the fernet makes it so i don't know what the hell is going on in my mouth. and the angostura orange is surprisingly pronounced.

i've been meaning to make that! i have a little barbancourt left. it's a product of laziness since i would have to go retrieve all the bitters bottles from a cabinet to measure those quantities.

can i just say what a great little drink the monte carlo is? fairly basic as far as these things go but so so satisfying

In sydney last week at this great bar and had a toronto (rye, fernet, sugar bitters) and a treacle (basically a rum old fashioned w/ a v small float of apple juice)... Gonna be trying these both out at home

made this tonight, subbed in simple syrup for demerara - good tho i have no point of comparison, never tried demerara syrup

http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2010/09/blackstrap-cynar-flip.html

just think sugar in the raw vs. regular white sugar and imagine a syrup made from both. you're missing a little depth of flavor and like a darker molasses thing but sweet is sweet to an extent.

I'm at home with my mom and last night I tried to make martinis with Hendricks gin. I measured out the gin and the vermouth, stirred it over ice, then put it in glasse with olives. We thought it tasted a bit strange, but thought maybe it was due to the Hendricks. When I went to make our second glass, I realized I never put in the vermouth. Result: Hendricks tastes quite good neat.

The previous evening I was making our second manhattans and ended up using grenadine instead of vermouth by mistake. And I wasn't even drunk. Tonight my mom is going to introduce me to blended whiskey--either manhattans her way (with Seagrams not rye) or 7 and 7s.

so we have this trader joe's spiced cranberry cider that no one really likes in the fridge. i took a cup of it and made a 1:1 syrup and i think it has some potential. didn't love it in an applejack old fashioned but tonight i made a sour with gin, lemon juice, and orange bitters and i'm enjoying it tbh.

FINALLY got my mitts on laird's bonded and cointreau! whole new worlds

oh youre gonna love laird's bonded

you were OTM upthread about the shitty confusing label

yeah it's so shitty. i've grown to love it.

first order of business: jack rose. this is good! may cut back a bit on the lime next time tho.

finally bought pisco today. so delicious! pisco sours for everyone imo.

otm

the Pisco Sour is a perfect cocktail

so warm weather means it's time to buy a fresh bottle of cocchi americano, imo. i wanted to share this really smart cocktail from the pdt cocktail book that doesn't call for anything weirder than fresh cocchi.

nouveau carre

1.5 oz. anejo tequila
.75 oz. cocchi americano
.25 oz. benedictine
3 dashes peychauds

stir, strain, lemon twist

the original recipe uses lillet but i always sub cocchi for lillet these days. i also used reposado tequila and creole bitters (which i almost always sub for peychauds) and it's just a great drink, very harmonious and a bit refreshing while still being somewhat complex.

So how different is cocchi from lillet? I have lillet, but no cocchi.

Got to admit I'm usually a tad suspicious of cocktail that call for anejo tequila, tbh, but I'll give this one a shot (so to speak).

We made whiskey smashes tonight, fwiw. Sort of a prettier mint julep.

Love a good smash.

josh--re: the tequila, use reposado instead if you're unconvinced (tho i'm not sure why anejo is weird in a cocktail). blanco would prob be too overpowering.

cocchi has a pleasant bitter kick in its finish that is absent in current lillet. apparently cocchi matches very well with how lillet was formulated back in the 50s and 60s.

I like anejo in cocktails! It just depends flavors you're looking for in a beverage.

I like a good anejo, but it's kind of a pricey spirit to mix. Relatively speaking, of course. I usually like to mix tequila cocktail with reposado, too, unless it's a color concern and silver is the way to go. Or big jugs of margaritas.

I recently made a Morning Glory #2, which was tasty:

1oz rye
1 oz. brandy
1/4 oz. orange liqueur
1/4 oz. dememara
dash peychaud's
dash angostura
mix over ice for 20 seconds, strain into absinthe rinsed glass

CAD, I'm just seeing this thread now after all this time, but I know what you did wrong with your homemade grenadine from, um, two years ago. So, in the off chance you never figured it out, the trick is to reduce the pomegranate juice by half first, and then make the grenadine with a further 50% reduced 1:1 syrup:sugar mix. That is, boil the juice down by half to a syrup, double the volume with sugar, then boil down by half again. I made the same mistake you did the first time I did it, which tended to add color to drinks but little in the way of enough sweetness.

i'm going to try that! i don't remember how many batches of grenadine i've made since then but i'm never really happy with it. thanks dude.

what have yall been making?

i've been vibing on beers and wines a lot recently so less time for mixing but the game never ends. tonight, from a local restaurant, this is called fire in the orchard.

1.25 oz. bonded apple brandy
.75 oz. cocchi americano
.5 oz. pear liqueur
.5 oz. lemon juice
.25 oz. mezcal
.25 oz. agave nectar (cut 1:1 with water, you can safely improvise on the sweetener)

shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass

i haven't been making anything :(

we just made a basil gimlet with fresh basil from our garden.

3–4 big leaves of fresh basil
1.5 oz gin
juice of 1/2 lime
3/4 oz sugar+water mixture
approx 1 oz club soda

crush basil leaves at bottom of glass. add gin, lime juice. stir awhile. add sugar+water, club soda. shake vigorously. pour strained (somehow this works better). you can garnish with a little basil leaf and/or wedge of lime.

it's really important to crush the basil good, so the basil taste escapes into the drink.

yum.

i'm a basil fan so the 2nd time around i added another 2 basil leaves. but that's just me.

good stuff.

call all destroyer where do you stand on the question of rye vs bourbon in an old fashioned. to put cards on the table I ask because this week I started making 'em with rye and I feel it is superior in this drink

types of old fashioneds I have fashioned:

bourbon
rye
rum
mezcal
tequila
brandy
armagnac

ALL with delicious results

aerosmith,

it's an excellent question. if i am mixing with american whiskey, it is going to be rye 90% of the time. bourbon manhattans, for example, are just not done around here.

that said, i probably make an even number of bourbon and rye old fashioneds. part of the reason is that an old fashioned is a great way to learn something about a new bottle of whiskey. other part is that a very austere old fashioned recipe can cooperate with even a very complex bourbon.