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

Ha, yes.

cacao-nib-infused Campari

totally gonna try this

so i have a lot of bourbon that has been given to me as gifts over the years and some of it is of varying quality. typically i just like my bourbon neat but the lower quality bottles i've received are not really ideal for that. i don't know shit about cocktails apart from the fact that i enjoy good ones that are made for me. but i'd like to learn how to make a few and i figure that i could use up some of this bourbon i have. i realize that my cocktails are only going to be as good as the bourbon i'm using but i still feel like the shittier bourbon i have would be better off used in a cocktail than sipped neat. what are some good entry-level drinks to start on?

old-fashioned and manhattans

um, revive?

I have:

some OK tequila
some OK bourbon
some OK vodka
some not OK trashy-ass triple sec
some ouzo

and:

some sparkling h20 (not as bubbly as soda, but y'know)
some DC tap water
some diet coke, which I won't touch so we can ignore this
some, like, jams that I could mix with some h20?
some vinegar

also:

some thai basil
some lime leaves
a cucumber
some tomatoes
tarragon
thyme
uh
some thai peppers (hot hot)
some lemongrass
some ginger
hang on

some pomegranate molasses
wide assortment of spices--reasonable chance I have it if you can name it
um
coconut milk
cat poop
various vinegars
wait let me do one more check of fridge and pantry
rose and orange blossom water
various dried fruits

various fermented fish things

I do NOT have: citrus, wine, adult supervision

also a little tipsy

but I have no next dring

please help

OH WAIT half a pineapple

vitamix

low self esteem

Really, ilx?

s'cool. I blended up shit from my garden in the vitamix, gonna add some booze and sell it for like 10 bux per 8 oz

aw wish i cd help a tipsy ilxor out
but i'm not much of a cocktail person
(& when i go for cocktails tend to be v simple ones)
here's one i can't vouch for but found on the web & i think fits yr ingredients: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/08/drinking-in-season-basil-and-lime-cooler-vodka-highball-recipe.html

sorry, i am just seeing this!

uh, vodka, sparkling h2o, lime leaves, muddled ginger, coconut milk, lots of ice?

OK, thx drash and CAD!

Gonna do this and poorly liveblog

Gotta finish this healthy blood mary first

do I throw lime leaves into blender or should I like make a simple syrup with lime leave and ginger and tha thai basil which I gre myself thankuvery much

answered my q, thanking u, will report back

quick and dirty way wld be muddle grated ginger and leaves with simple syrup, then add vodka and coconut milk (just a bit prob), shake w/ice and fill w/soda.

i have no clue how this would actually taste but seems reasonable enough.

I am a little iffy on the vodka b/c normally I choose anythig BUT vodka--but wtf I go for it

I am so sad no lime b/c this would seem so duh but I no gonn leave my house for lime at this moment

yeah w/o any citrus i'm reaching a bit

OK ginger (thin slice and thankfully not inclurig any finger) muddled with lime leaf in simple syrup and taste nice, however I should have said that reqirement is drank served UP ( I DIED knows how I feel about ice in my drank) so I dunno how it will go shaken w/vodka and coconut milk (and maybe some lemograss bc why not I have it) anyway and then served up; worried it will be weak sauce but will report back. Aslo I am going to find a star anice in cubbord bc why not

but the thing is in the works. Maybe awesome idk

also I was just dancing to courntey luv song in my kigchen so maybe not best drink critique atm

please report back
intrigued by thai ingredients cocktail
speaking of courtney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgOMPVTV0X4

OK i just watched that and now I feel like makig a
"coctail" makes no sense because clearly cocktail has not helped a courtney< I dont think

but this shit is middling so it is gonna end up shaken with coconut in fancy glass so sorry courtney, my drank better and sorry u

6 kaffir lime leaves
4x 1/8 inch slices ginger from double thumb size knob
scant tsp thin-slice lemongrass
1 "arm" from one star anise (no seed, just lil arm)
2 Tbs (1:1) simple syrup

muddled, then sitting while I figure out next move

next move will be vodka and coconut milk, proporions tbd, may be a tragic mistake, shaken and served up because I don't do ice in cocktils

To the above, I sloshed in some cocnut milk (the good brand not the knock of chockosn whateves brown an kind) and som vodka (titos), which Inever have because why vodka when good booze available)

shaky shaky shaky with ice then strained into a martin glass.

first sip was like "whoah this is like sauce from third rate thai take out

it tasted like blatant thai flavors

I added some fancy ass bitters that are allspicy and some pepper

Now is OK

G'night

ชนแก้ว

let's try 77 cocktails: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/cocktail-recipes/

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/21/dining/sasha-petraske-dies-at-42-bar-owner-milk-and-honey.html

I searched this thread to share a recipe and feel weird about doing so directly after a link to the obit of the guy who's largely responsible for people thinking about cocktails more than they had prior to the late 90s but, well, lemme raise this outstanding drink to Sasha Petraske. It was a "I want a bourbon drink, what have I got lying around" attempt and it's kind of spectacular imo

1.5 oz + a little of good bourbon
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 shakes orange bitters
a few drops poured from a bottle of maple syrup

chill glass, shake everything together with ice, strain

I don't have a name for it, it's just really really good

love bourbon and maple, great combo. maple syrup in general is something where i'm always like why don't i use this more

http://www.theperfectlyhappyman.com/uploads/founders-canadian-breakfast-stout.jpg

hey who put beer in the cocktails thread!

yeah, i don't see maple syrup in a whole lot of cocktail recipes, but it does seem like a natural pair with bourbon. last time i used it, i think, was in a riff on the alpine rabbit, which is bourbon, carrot juice, lemon juice, walnut liqueur, and simple syrup. i replaced the last two ingredients with maple syrup, and it worked out pretty well.

actually, it would probably be really good with applejack/calvados, too.

I didn't have much around the house this week except bourbon, limes, and soda water (I was drinking a lot of mojitos because it's been so hot but then I ran out of rum) so I've been making bourbon rickeys and they are a tasty and very easy summer drink imo

lol carrot juice, i will have to try that

This sounds like the worst cocktail ever, and I'm not even sure it's intentional:

This is a delicate drink inspired by our generation’s most sensitive poet/rapper/singer.

3 oz Moët Rosé Impérial
1 oz Bud Light Lime Straw-Ber-Rita
1 5-Hour Energy (any flavor)
5 oz Sprite

1. Pour chilled rosé and Bud Light Lime Straw-Ber-Rita into a wine glass.
2. Add 5-Hour Energy and gently stir.
3. Top with Sprite.

http://luckypeach.com/recipes/drake/

lol

you think a drink with Bud Light Lime Straw-Ber-Rita in it.... might be accidentally bad?

How hit and miss are your cocktails? How often is something you dream up spot-on and how often are you like, “That’s so disgusting, no one’s going to drink that”?
[Laughs] Some time they’re too disgusting, but often—well, I wouldn’t put it in the book if I thought it was too disgusting. Although there are some I haven’t actually tried. There’re a couple that are just for laughs.

From the election thread:

The Short-Fingered Vulgarian:

1 oz Cranberry juice
2 oz vodka
1/2 oz Bud Lite
1/2 oz chocolate syrup
1oz lime juice
shake with crushed ice for 10 seconds, serve unstrained in a rocks glass emblazoned with the words "Who Farted?"
garnish with a glow stick

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, March 4, 2016 10:22 AM

I had a Cayo Romano last week (light rum, dark rum, ginger liqueur, fresh orange, fresh lime, angostura bitters, allspice dram, nutmeg grated on top) and it was the best cocktail I've had in forever. The only thing I don't have in the house to make my own is the allspice dram, so I started a batch of that yesterday.

oooh that sounds delicious! I'm recently back from Dominica with some local rums; they are not exactly sipping straight stuff, so working them into a nice cocktail will be U&K. How was the drink served--rocks, up?

I'm obsessed with celery/gin and dill/gin cocktails right now. PLZ TO SUGGEST THINGS

xpost
Up. The one I had was tiny and gone too fast, but multiples weren't in the budget that night.

1 oz. dark aged rum
1 oz. silver rum
1 oz. ginger liqueur, such as Canton
3⁄4 oz. fresh lime juice
3⁄4 oz. fresh orange juice
1 dash allspice pimento dram (optional)
1 dash Angostura bitters
Freshly grated nutmeg and superfine sugar, to taste

No sugar in the one I had, I'm glad to say. Enough sweetness in the OJ and allspice dram.

Yeah I feel like most rum reads sweetish to me anyway, no need for additional sugar. I avoid ice in my dranks so up is the best answer, always.

I'm obsessed with celery/gin and dill/gin cocktails right now. PLZ TO SUGGEST THINGS

― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, December 22, 2016 4:01 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i remember this being fun:

celeriac
2 oz Gin
3/4 oz Pineapple Juice
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz 2:1 Simple Syrup
4 dash Celery Bitters
1 Egg White

xxp hell yeah WmC, that sounds great

i picked up the smuggler's cove book more b/c it was cheap on amazon and seemed like an interesting read than b/c i planned on starting to make more tiki drinks, but it's got some really good practical guidance. in addition to the very useful approach to categorizing rum, it's the first book i've read that strongly advocates for the use of a drink mixer/spindle blender as both the original and correct way to make donn and vic drinks. i picked one up for about 25 bucks and it opens a lot of doors that a conventional blender doesn't imo.

oh cool. i have the book and have made a few of the drinks, but i feel like i'm still kind of an amateur when it comes to tiki, and part of that's not having the right equipment. like, with any recipe that calls for crushed ice, i just use mini cubes. glad that you've found the drink mixer to be worthwhile!

also, the rum categorization is interesting, though some of it feels counterintuitive to me. like, it's odd that appleton estate signature blend is in the same category as plantation 3 year, even if both are technically "blended, lightly aged" rums.

the idea behind the system seems super-useful, though. i found rum cocktails (not just tiki) kind of hard to get into at first because i never knew how important it was to have the specific rum a recipe called for.

yeah i feel like that's what they're trying to get around. i'm with you in that some of the rums that share a category don't really seem related (i'd never confuse appleton reserve and el dorado 12), but i do think it gives the knowledgable amateur ammo to go the store and pick a solid mid-priced rum in each category.

disclaimer on crushed ice, i've had and used the waring pro ice crusher the book recommends for years and apparently it's been discontinued which really sucks. for me, sticking the drink mixer right next to the ice crusher lets me handle the whole ice and mixing portion of the recipe in about a minute, and the cleanup is a world away from washing out an entire blender container because you felt like making one or two drinks.

I've held off on all this stuff because I don't love rum enough to buy four different expensive bottles upfront before I make anything

but I do like it when other people make me tiki cocktails :)