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

Today I made an oleo saccharum for the first time, so I could make a Quoit Punch. (I have a bottle of Madeira in the fridge that I don't use enough, and I recently acquired Smith & Cross rum for the first time in a while.)

I started with David Wondrich's recipe, which makes about 24 servings, and scaled it down to 2. That meant 2 oz each of rum, cognac, and Madeira, and 1 1/3 oz each of sugar (to mix with lemon peels) and lemon juice. I think it turned out pretty well, though it was a little sweet, so maybe I'll use less sugar next time. Or else just dilute it more to start (I didn't shake it, just added ice as though my glass were a punch bowl and stirred a bit).

yeah that modified bijou is a more structured, thought-out drink. i think there's a few equal-parts cocktails that could benefit from not being equal parts but have stayed that way for ease of transmission.

re: green chartreuse, my wife spent a college year in grenoble, france not far from where they make chartreuse. when we went there together 5 years later we met up with one of her friends who met a local guy while in the program and wound up going back and marrying him. we went out with them one night and dude ordered a neat green chartreuse just to sip on. i chalked it up to being a local thing.

A bar I used to live near (now defunct) had a neon Chartreuse sign in the window, which I always liked.

https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/10991532_766754133423136_8290960104367919861_o.jpg?_nc_cat=108&_nc_sid=85a577&_nc_oc=AQlI0V3XvszTI8fmCtoZpdV_Pp0-iT2UtdNTcr_NI6x3dNHOxpYVO0rOMXNBYgiTgBI2sLUGo_1AYrg-txsa0Hhd&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-2.xx&oh=ffd8fe007fbb1b200a435ac8fe553d3b&oe=5EDC1CFAp

https://i.imgur.com/ZbrpbWX.jpg

We're very proud of our jeroboam of green chartreuse in my work. Eventually a staff member will win the lottery and buy it.

Here it is standing guard over its 70cl and 5cl wee buddies...

https://i.imgur.com/q34il4P.jpg

I will definitely try that modified Bijou tonight.

Have you ever had a Sixth Borough?

https://kindredcocktails.com/cocktail/the-sixth-borough

2 oz Rye
1 oz Amaro Nonino
1⁄2 oz Green Chartreuse
1 ds Orange bitters, Regans' orange bitters

Pretty good drink.

I would drink all of these chartreuse variations

I don't own chartreuse, but I guess I should.

I wish my local stores carried 5cl bottles so I could try it before I drop $50.

Yeah, the cost has made me pause. I know it's not a liqueur you just guzzle, though. I've had a bottle of St. Germain almost five years.

the big bottles are $65 here in Oregon, I've had a few of the half-size ones but yeah it is an investment

i'd like to try that 6th borough, but my bottle of nonino is gone and i'm not sure i can replace it easily in lockdown.

you guys should all buy green chartreuse though. you won't regret it.

There's a daiquiri I like (it's from a bar here in Chicago) with 2 oz rhum agricole blanc, 1 oz lime juice, 0.75 oz simple syrup, and 0.25 oz Green Chartreuse.

that sounds great, may try later

cad and jaymc, you were right upthread: that modified Bijou is better.

glad it worked for you!

I found a case of Irn Bru that my brother sent me as a birthday present years ago. It's gone flat so I plan to boil it down into a syrup. I was hoping one of the many British people on this board might be able to suggest a better use for this than Google, which hasn't turned up anything more exciting than an irn bru flavored aperol spritz.

i admire the resourcefulness but fear that you've painted yourself into an artificial orange corner

Hot tip: they sell chartreuse bottles in half sizes, 375ml.

Not where I live, they don't.

Whack it in with some gin, lemon and bitters and use it like a liqueur.

Take it to the gay thread, sailor.

Making a liqueur out of IRN BRU cannae be the gayest thing on i love cocktails? To a British person it's about equivalent to making a liqueur out of Mountain Dew.

I did get a 375ml bottle of chartreuse, as well as Luxardo Sour Cherry Gin, so I made a modified Last Word:

https://scontent.ftup1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/121000581_10160141452858709_6347640605481677524_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=-UP6AVOmsOAAX_qAeTd&_nc_ht=scontent.ftup1-1.fna&oh=8c22de6f8765acdfc807788b685fea22&oe=5F9FCE95

I'm calling it a Flag Post.

hahah

Ran across a simple enough recipe for something called an Italian Gentleman and tried it Friday at home, and again last night at the bar, and it is a treat.

1.5 oz. bourbon
1.5 oz. Campari
.75 oz. lemon juice
.25 oz. simple syrup
1 dash orange bitters

Shake, strain, up if you want to go fancy, but I had mine on one large cube and it works very well that way. The combination somehow brings the flavor of vanilla to the front, I assume from the bourbon. This was true both times with 2 different bourbons, so I don't think it was a trick of the light.

ooh I can make that, will try

That looks like a great one. Orange and bourbon is a good, underrated mix. I used to have a bottle of wild turkey 101 that I infused with orange peel and vanilla bean.

Made a couple of drinks lately that mixed bourbon and apple brandy, one of which also mixed in cinnamon simple syrup (which I fudged by just adding a dash of cinnamon). Not bad! Bourbon I often find a tough spirit to mix with, as is tequila, imo. Perhaps not coincidentally that those are the two spirits best straight (to my taste). So when I find one that works with either (beyond the obvious) I get pretty excited.

Drink is good! I might make it with half as much Campari, though.

Next time.

i did 2:1 bourbon to campari on the italian gentleman tonight. nice little bracer before dinner.

Had no simple syrup ready so used a splash of maraschino cherry liquid, and a capful of Cointreau in place of the bitters. Also now notice I underfunded the bourbon & Campari by .5 oz ea, so mixologist grade = D, but the result was nice.

TIL the Rusty Nail variation with rye instead of scotch is called a Donald Sutherland.

Attn tipsy mothra, I finally tried the split-sherry sour you recommended to me on Faceache and that is a nice complex drink, thank you! (e.g. a whiskey sour with half the whiskey replaced by a good fino sherry)

I'd been using a 30 oz. shaker tin and a beer glass for shaking at work, but I saw some video of a guy using an adorable little single-drink cobbler shaker and thought I'd get one. It's 17 oz., heavy stainless steel, much heavier than the thin ones we have at work, and it gets drinks much colder much quicker, with less dilution. And it fits my hands better. Best piece of bar gear I've bought, period.

link to heavy stainless cobbler?

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/mercer-culinary-m37038-barfly-17-oz-3-piece-stainless-steel-heavy-weight-shaker-set/470M37038.html

Love this site. I put stuff in my bar's cart and reimburse them, but I don't think you need a business acct?

cool. there's another item i've been eyeing from this site for a while so maybe that's enough to pull together an order.

I found a recipe from Phil Ward of Death & Co. that I'm going to try this evening. I've already done the tequila infusion -- hot but not too hot.

FRESA BRAVA
1 strawberry
2 oz. jalapeno-infused tequila
3/4 oz. yellow chartreuse
3/4 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. simple syrup

Muddle strawberry, shake, double strain, coupe.

This is the best cocktail I've ever made up (I'm sure it's not original, because I've had variations on scotch plus sherry over the years):

Scotch Solera
1.5 oz Laphroaig 10
.75 oz Amaro Meletti
.75 oz Lustau Amontillado Dry Sherry
Angostura bitters
Lemon twist

I am going to try an orange twist next time, as I think that will play even better with these flavors. The play between peaty scotch and the aroma of dry sherry is my favorite thing in cocktails.

Never thought about this, don't know what to think about this:

https://chicago.eater.com/2021/9/10/22666750/lost-lake-chicago-bar-tik-tropical-changes-open-logan-square

I also didn't realize this is a thing that's been (er) brewing for a while:

https://punchdrink.com/articles/problem-with-tiki-bars-cultural-appropriation/

https://residentmodernist.com/2020/08/05/tiki-cultural-appropriation/

https://residentmodernist.com/2020/12/29/an-open-reply-to-doom-tiki-invitation/

I've never considered a cocktail could be problematic, let alone an entire style, but once you invoke the specter of cultural appropriation and the legacy of colonialism, ... whither the gin & tonic? Whither rum entirely? Say goodbye to the Margarita? IPAs?

stop it

https://www.britannica.com/topic/slippery-slope-argument

yeah if you were to take, say, 10 minutes to learn about the history of tiki you would understand that this is a unique case.

honestly the best thing would be for tiki culture/aesthetics to die slowly and gracefully which is probably on its way to happening anyway, like even someone like martin cate who has dedicated his professional life to preserving them is on the wrong side of the generational divide here. also, the drinks themselves need to be separated from the presentation as far as what is appropriative about tiki imo.

No, I know the problematic nature of the presentation and decor. But the drinks themselves as "'colonial roleplay' in the way it offers drinkers an escape via a drink made of tropical ingredients without acknowledging the Black Afro-Caribbean and Polynesian peoples responsible." That's not about the mugs, that's about the *ingredients*; the Eater piece makes a distinction between tiki drinks and tropical drinks, with the latter "defined largely by drinks that were developed in the tropics — mojitos and daiquiris in Cuba, and the piña colada in Puerto Rico." Like, a mai tai in a glass, with none of the other tiki trappings, is that still problematic? I love a good mai tai. Does it just need a new name?

And back to the gin and tonic, that drink is *explicitly* linked and connected to colonialism.

yeah that distinction does not track to me at all. we can just agree that all sours are colonial products.

Would think that sugar is the most “problematic” ingredient in these drinks from a colonialism perspective, but I don’t think we really want to go there.

in the form of rum, yes, absolutely

need to come up with a mint-forward drink to give the name Bengay Fever

Dab the outside of the glass with Vicks VapoRub?

fernet menta?

Yeah, I have a bottle of Branca Menta -- now to figure out something with balance. Maybe just a daiquiri riff.