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

yeah, gotta freeze yr glasses imo

I actually just discovered last night that PAMA works as an effective substitute for grenadine (for some reason I never knew that grenadine is traditionally made with pomegranate). Made a couple of Ward Eights, which is basically a spin on a whiskey sour:

2 oz. rye (I used Redemption)
3/4 oz. lemon juice
3/4 oz. orange juice
1 tsp. PAMA
cherry garnish (these)

like a whiskey sour with more depth

Ha, I didn't even read that bit.

Red Ghost sound good -- though I'll have to pick up that vermouth.

My girlfriend made us these tonight. It's not really tropical drink season yet, but we had some pineapple left over from making fruit salad. They was good.

The Pineapple Trainwreck

1 1/2 oz. aged rum
1 1/2 oz. fresh pineapple juice
3/4 oz. ginger syrup
1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
1 dash each Angostura and Peychaud’s bitters
Shake and strain over fresh ice.

xp Oh, and it looks like jaxon posted about Ward Eights two years ago.

Hi, I have never read this thread before.

We have almost bought PAMA a few times, probably should.

How come there's no thread where people invent cocktails based on/in honor of ILX ppl? Huh? HOW COME????

Aero's drink is similat to the scofflaw:

http://12bottlebar.com/2010/10/the-scofflaw/

I got a bottle of Ransom Old Tom Gin recently which has more of a spicy flavor than regular gin.

This recipe for a Martinez has a very smooth cinnamon flavor.

2 oz Ransom Old Tom gin
3/4 oz Maraschino Liqueur
1/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
Dash of bitters
Lemon Twist

Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Add lemon twist.

those are interesting martinez proportions--usually iirc it's made with a good slug of vermouth and much less maraschino

Very happy that they're starting to sell Carpano Antica in small bottles!

they are?? that's tremendous news.

will buy!

I have been working through some of the genever recipes in this thread, damn that One-Armed French Hooker is good.

xpost They are! Bought one at Binny's, maybe ... $16?

man cad this thread is so good. hope to toast your health someday face to face

i'm glad it's been useful to ppl and likewise on the toast!

totally forgot i have some pretty good grenadine here so i will be doing a red ghost trial run later on.

update: yeah, i could knock back a few of these. big, bold-flavored drink.

something funny always seems to happen when vermouth (esp. sweet vermouth) and citrus interact. the end result is not always successful (though i think it is here) but it is always memorable. i used a healthy slug of boker's bitters (aka the bitterest of bitters i have) which gave it some nice depth.

I am so pleased! yesterday I brewed a cup of oolong tea and then forgot that I'd done so (this happens a lot in my busy house) and so I put it in the fridge and used it to improvise a drink at dinner time. I don't think the drink is quite ready for prime time yet but it was 1.5 oz gin, 1 oz of this stuff - I think more tea is actually what it needs, that was a delightful flavor, and maybe a rim the glass with a cherry

Have any of you actually had vermouth turn? I know it can, esp. since a lot of people don't refrigerate it, but I keep my bottles vacuum sealed and so far seem to be OK, even after a few months. Though per CAD, every once in a while I'll make a drink with vermouth and something seems to be off, but then when I try to replicate the (bad) results, the next drink turns out OK.

old-ish sweet vermouth is not usually that bad. dry vermouth turns amazingly quickly though. usually when i buy a new bottle of either i do a quick taste compare to the old bottle just to remind me of the difference. i don't think either will murder a drink where there are a decent amount of other ingredients (and the vermouth is more of a supporting player), but if you're making martinis or manhattans and have any doubt it's best to buy a fresh bottle.

ok damn I found a bottle of st. germaine and grabbed it and the first thing I mixed was that there Paris Manhattan only I used the only vermouth I had to hand - again, Doulin's red - too sweet. but then I mixed a Jim Rose from that wordpress link. FUCKIN A THAT IS AN A+ DRINK, just beautiful. used Pama instead of the homemade grenadine recipe but man oh man...I will be revisiting this drink. It helps that we have a local applejack that's just a terrific mixer.

Imagining a version of the kids in the hall "girl drink drunk" sketch right now, but it's mixologist drinks and this fellow here is someday dodging offstage during a show and yelling questions about whether anyone has orange bitters or the right brand of vermouth from the green room after running off mid-set

it's my birthday so I ad-libbed another cocktail and I think it's my best riff yet. I based it on this, but the Amaro I have has been around a while, I'm sure it's ~ok~ but I wanted something really good and I'd made if I do say so myself a spectacular soup for dinner (seriously) so I just went for it

the 316
1.5 oz rye plus a tiny bit extra
1/4 oz luxardo
2 dashes celery bitters

generously rim chilled glass with lime; squeeze remainder into shaker with rye, luxardo and bitters. shake vigorously with ice and strain.

i haven't been following this thread as much i should be. i'm always on the lookout for quality cocktails.

let it be known that my mom cosigns on the jim rose

so inspired by the Jim Rose that I bought pomegranate molasses so I could make the crazy homemade grenadine recipe in the link.

i had to open a bottle of port to make stew tonight, so i set about looking for some port cocktails. this is called elk's own, from the beta cocktails book:

1.5 oz. bourbon
.5 oz. ruby port
.5 oz. lemon juice
.5 oz. simple syrup
.25 oz. cynar
egg white
nux alpina walnut liqueur rinse

shake and double-strain as appropriate for egg drinks into a rinsed rocks glass. this was really tasty.

If I wanted to spend, say $100, and get 3-4 bottles of spirits as a gift for a friend who wanted to start in the mixology game...what would you guys recc?? This person always has gin, rum, vodka, etc., on hand. Also, any particular book to recc on the subject?

so you don't need to get them gin, rum, vodka as they have those? I'd almost get them sweet/dry vermouth, a nice tonic water, some uncommon but very mixable juices (pineapple?) and maybe a bitters or two. and some whiskey and maybe a strainer.

^^^all good advice.

this site here: http://12bottlebar.com/ is pretty smart about building a small bar. in addition to what mh recommended, the next two most useful things would prob be an orange liqueur and maraschino.

re: books, david wondrich's imbibe! is the most useful book if you want to understand cocktails from the ground up. but it takes some patience since it's more like 40% recipes and 60% amusing history. ted haigh's vintage spirits and forgotten cocktails, gary regan's book, and dale degroff's books are also v. good.

only one mention of the boulevardier itt. for shame

just had a few of those last night. really good! I need more campari around the house.

Made a boulevardier a couple weeks ago, and the smokiness of it gave me the thought of making a negroni with genever replacing the gin. Worked real well; I used Aperol and Cocchi Americano like I usually do for the negroni family of drinks (Aperol+Cocchi+soda is a great summer drink, I think it's called an Americano). The equal parts ratio tends to be too sweet for my taste, so I generally do 3-2-2 in favor of the spirit.

what should I do w/this anejo especial

made an equal-parts boulevardier with nice ingredients tonight (stagg jr., carpano antica, and of course campari). i am pleased.

re: anejo especial, you should prob just do everything with it. i really wish we had havana club here.

Oh man I have made so many cocktails since I last posted itt.

do tell!

jaymc doesn't cock and tail.

I made a negroni tonight. I liked it! I drink about 4 cocktails a year.

not a bad choice for one of the four.

I'd make more, but I need simple simple recipes. Got not time for fussy cocktails. This was pretty easy.

RANDOM NIP COCKTAIL CHALLENGE #2

(random nip cocktail challenge #1 already happened but i forgot to post live about it. some time ago i received a bunch of random nips, and i am using them in heretofore untested ways).

random nip #2 was smirnoff 100-proof espresso vodka. i have stirred it with some dry vermouth, a dash of peychaud's bitters (actually bitter truth creole bitters but same thing), and some ferrand dry curacao. the undercurrent of mocha (the actual flavor of the nip) is pretty hard to escape. this is not vile but not a very good cocktail.

random nip #1, for the record, was fireball cinnamon whiskey, shaken with lemon juice, some grade b maple syrup, and a dash of angostura orange. that one was pretty good.

Oh man I have made so many cocktails since I last posted itt.

― jaymc, Thursday, June 26, 2014 11:07 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

do tell!

― call all destroyer, Friday, June 27, 2014 8:35 AM (5 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OK, I'll show:
http://instagram.com/jk_cocktails/

(Sorry for the dumb Instagram filters.)

very nice! it's an addictive hobby tbh.

I want to get this, though I'm pretty sure if I buy a liquid nitrogen dewar I'll wind up killing myself somehow.

http://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Intelligence-Science-Perfect-Cocktail-ebook/dp/B00J8R3KOE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419436813&sr=8-1&keywords=Liquid+Intelligence

I just bought this: http://thirstyinla.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/death-and-co-book.jpg

I got into this a bit in 2014 - now I have a cupboard full of bottles but have also realised that 90% of the time what I want to make is an Americano.

Coffee?

It's a proto-Negroni: I use equal parts Campari, Carpano Antica and sparkling water, plus orange bitters and a big ice cube.