Upcoming TDN: DOM – B&B and Benedictine

B&B and Benedictine are classic and elegant ingredients used in a host of cocktails from the Singapore Sling (ok, *some* versions) to the Widow’s Kiss to whatever you decide to make at this Thursday’s TDN. THIS week’s special feature will be a LIVE! broadcast of the goings-on at the Monkey Hut where Craig, Blair, Rick, and special guest star Jeffrey Morgenthaler will be mixing and waxing poetic the whole evening. As always, festivities begin at 7pm EST in the Mixoloseum Bar.

TDN Vermouth Wrap-up

It was going to be tough to follow TDN: Mata Hari what with its awesome live action at the Tabard Inn and mocking of Oklahoma and sinking of such glorious failures of drinks as the Cannibal Curse (1.5oz Batavia Arrack, I rest my case) but TDN Vermouth came close. Vermouth, in many ways, gave birth to the modern cocktail and opened up endless possibilities beyond the simple “spirit, sugar, bitters, and water” make-up of the earliest cocktail form. The Manhattan, Martinez, and, in turn, the Martini, of course, being the primary examples of the explosion that happened after vermouth was introduced and popularized in the U.S. Whether our contributions will reach that same level of global appreciation and ubiquity remains to be seen, but at least it wasn’t for lack of trying:

Winning Drink

If I had no shame I would award it to my own drink, The Right Stuff, because the use of Pisco and how it came together was really sexy. However, the Financial District was a widely-tried and very well-regarded drink submitted by drink-well of LA who needs to get ahold of me to pass along his information to get his prize to him. Congrats, sir¹ .

Financial District

• 1.75oz Bourbon
• .75oz dry vermouth
• .25oz coffee liqueur
• dash orange bitters
• dash peychaud

Stir, strain, and garnish with a lemon twist

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Other drinks you should try:

By beautiful wonderful, me.

The Right Stuff

• 2oz pisco
• 1oz bianco
• .5oz grapefruit juice
• .25 simple
• .25 curacao (used Grand Marnier)
• 2dash old fashioned bitters

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

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Submitted by Paul who warns, sharply, do NOT use McClelland’s Islay single malt for this drink, gabe.

Ex

• 1.5 oz sweet vermouth
• .5 oz cask-strength rye
• .5 oz Campari

Stir & strain in glass rinsed with Islay single malt

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Offered up by Rick who will claim it’s the greatest drink ever made, and is dead wrong. But it is awfully damned good.

Jaynestown

• 2oz Firefly sweet tea vodka
• 1oz Dolin blanc
• 2 dashes lemon bitters

Stir and strain over ice

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One of my favorites of the night, and a very classically-styled drink submitted by Jake Parrott.

R.W. APPLE’S ORCHARD

• 1.5 oz apple brandy
• 1.5 oz Dolin blanc²
• dash peach bitters
• dash Decanter bitters³

Stir/strain and garnish with a lemon twist

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Offered, presumably with affection, by Rick and Craig.

Tiki Antica

• 1.5oz Carpano Antica
• 1oz Appleton Extra
• .5oz dark Jamaican rum (used Coruba)
• 1oz Licor 43
• .5oz lime
• .25oz falernum
• float 1oz ginger beer and .5oz Blackstrap Rum

Kick Rick and Craig’s collective asses with a swizzle stick for throwing in the kitchen sink where it’s not likely needed, and then make think and probably enjoy it.

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Submitted by John, a surprisingly good drink that I would cut back on the orgeat with if made again.

Well Stocked Bar

• 2oz gin
• 1oz lillet
• .5oz cynar
• .5oz dry vermouth
• .75oz orgeat
• 1oz lime
• 1 egg white
• 2 oz soda

Shake, strain, top w/ soda

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As always, the whole shameful debacle can be perused, mocked, and set aflame at your leisure.

NOTE: In the future, TDN judging will be handled in a new and exciting way. YOU can be part of selecting the winning cocktail each week. The host(s) will select a group of 4-5 cocktails they feel are worthy of consideration and post them on Friday in a poll on the Mixoloseum blog. Then, over the next few days, try the drinks and vote on your favorite and it will be declared in Tuesday’s wrap-up. Viva la Democracy!!

1. or ma’am, you never can be sure [↩]
2. I used Cinzano Bianco [↩]
3. I used Fee’s Old Fashioned [↩]

The Richmond Gimlet has been well-covered, and deservedly so. But, when I approached our Man in Eugene, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, about interviewing him for a piece on the Richmond Gimlet for Oklahoma Magazine’s September issue he graciously obliged. It was the word count that did not. So, I am posting on the Richmond Gimlet, and the remainder of my interview with Jeffrey, here at cocktailnerd to promote a fine drink as well as satisfy my prolific hunger for adjectives. For a look at the original Oklahoma Magazine article you can register and login¹ and view it online² . I hope you enjoy the interview and the recipe: Read More »

1. login using – user: gabriel@cocktailnerd.com and password: forkboy10 to avoid registering [↩]
2. page 160 [↩]

I have a problem with Imbibe!¹ and, in a larger sense, fussy-buns cocktails that require a body to prepare anywhere from 2 days to 4 weeks in advance to make a drink. You see, I’m not a planner. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the publication and think it’s gorgeous, brilliantly designed and edited, and I find you can rarely go wrong mixing up one of its drinks. But, therein lies the problem; I often can’t. This, from a guy with over 200 bottles of spirits and 30+ mixing supplements (bitters, syrups, infusions, etc.) at his disposal. I can’t imagine what a traditional reader faces what with the calls for tamarind syrup, algarrobina syrup, pinot grigio syrup, Ceylon black-tea infused silver tequila, pomegranate balsamic drizzle…I could go on and on, but I won’t. Suffice it to say that another blogger at TotC said it best when he said, “If I’m not able to reach for the bottles and mix it up, it gets a bit tiresome and fussy.”² In other words, I’m in this to make drinks, people. And, I have a feeling this is why I go in for the classic and vintage cocktails so heartily; they simply require, for the most part, you have a well-stocked bar, some juices, and the gumption.

In going through my Tales of the Cocktail recipe cards I find so many obscure liquors and spirits I can’t come near to acquiring³ here (Rain Organics Honey Mango Melon Vodka? I mean, C’MON!)⁴ or esoteric and arcane ingredients such as Bauman’s unsweetened Spice and Sassafras Apple Butter that I just begin to throw my hands up at the byzantine morass I see ahead of me that would make drinking a slog and turn to a nice classic Attention or Jack Rose cocktail and call it a night.⁵ Maybe I can be accused of not being serious or devoted enough, I don’t know.

But, this is why I get so delighted when I see a drink such as the Elan Vital, by Daniel Shoemaker, featured towards the back of the magazine’s July/August 2008 issue. “Alas,” I say, “a drink I can make this very instant, and it looks divine.” Read More »

1. Anita at MWD made a good point that Food & Wine may be a worse offender than Imbibe! about this. When a publication hunts out recipes and features bar/bartender’s “house ingredient” it becomes a barrier to entry to trying, and enjoying, it [↩]
2. I’m paraphrasing, but it was refreshing to hear the same “Dammit, I want to be able to make the drinks I discover.” sentiment [↩]
3. or wanting to acquire, how many damned specific types of vodka do you expect me to have or invest in, bastards? [↩]
4. GOB of “Arrested Development” reference here… [↩]
5. I understand the difference between having a bar where these ingredients can be made in large quantities and used to differentiate your cocktails and make them unique flavors not found elsewhere, that’s awesome stuff [↩]

First, a confession…I have no idea if that’s the actual Singapore Sling they served during the Juniperlooza session at Tales of the Cocktail, but I’ll be damned if I care because:

1. I remember it being tasty and have notes to that effect…
2. While not the absolute hands-down best drink I had at TotC or during my time in New Orleans, that is the most awesome piece of ice I’ve seen in a a while. It’s like ice porn.¹

Read More »

1. Dr. Bamboo, sitting next to me, took note and said, “Dude, you gotta get a picture of that…” [↩]

Way out west there was this fella, and his drink, I wanna tell ya about. Goes by the name of Keith Waldbauer. His drink goes by the name, “Union“. At least that was the handle its loving creator gave it. Now, “Union” – there’s a name no man would seek out to associate himself with in the South where I come from. But then there was a lot about Keith that don’t make a whole lot of sense. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that’s why I found the drink so darned interestin’. See, they call his bar “Union” too; but I can’t say I’ve come here to talk about that, exactly. But I’ll allow it as there are some nice folks there, in Seattle. ‘Course I ain’t never been to London, and I ain’t never seen France. And I ain’t never seen no queen in her damned undies, so the feller says. But I’ll tell you what – after drinking the “Union”, and this here story I’m about to unfold, well, I guess I seen somethin’ every bit as stupefyin’ as you’d seen in any of them other places. And in English, too. So I can die with a smile on my face, without feelin’ like the good Lord gypped me.

Now this here drink I’m about to tell you about came about in the early twenty aughts – just about the time of our conflict with Sad’m and the I-raqis. I only mention it because sometimes there’s a drink… I won’t say a classic, ’cause, what’s a classic? Sometimes, there’s a drink. And I’m talkin’ about the Union here – the Union from Seattle. Sometimes, there’s a drink, well, it’s the drink for its time and place. It fits right in there. And that’s the Union. The Union, from Seattle. And even if it’s a fine drink – and the Union is most certainly that. Quite possibly one of the more finest in all of King County, which would place him high in the runnin’ for worldwide. Sometimes there’s a drink, sometimes, there’s a drink. Well, I lost my train of thought here. But… aw, hell. I’ve done introduced it enough.¹² Read More »

1. this is, hopefully obviously–if not, go rent, buy, or download ‘The Big Lebowski’ this instant and see what genius the Coen brothers make of a Raymond Chandler crime story, NOW–a riff on the opening monologue by ‘The Stranger’ at the beginning of the film. A film a deep affinity for which I share with Keith [↩]
2. explaining the heart border is a little tougher, keep reading if you haven’t already [↩]

For my MxMo XIX theme in September of last year I chose ‘Fizz’ generally because I thought it’d be fun and narrowly because I have trouble denying myself any reason to have a drink topped with sparkling wine, champagne, tonic water or club soda. Or hell, any with champagne as a base for that matter. So recently when my glorious wife shoved a stack of papers in my face with a great number of drinks she felt I needed to make for her to try post-haste I had no trouble taking that honey-do on when I saw how many involved the bubbly.

Among the many she found were the winners of last year’s Tales of the Cocktails competition; the Crescent City Blossom, the Starfish Cooler, and the Sparkling Sakepom as well as several from the Food Network and Martha Stewart websites including the Laughter in the Rain¹ , the Killer Mango Champagne Cocktail, the Grand Champagne Cocktail, and the Frizzante Mojito. Now, many of these require more work than I’m immediately willing to put in sight unseen² but several of these I could try with little pre-work and had the right ingredients ready, and willing, to go. We tried the Starfish Cooler, the Crescent City Blossom, and the Frizzante Mojito. Each had their considerable charms, and none fell flat or disappointed. Read More »

1. this is another drink that uses cucumber in its preparation, like the Flying Cucumber, to good effect; bit too sweet for me though [↩]
2. I’m looking at you Killer Mango thingy [↩]

In my attempt to get to better know St-Germain Elderflower liqueur I went on a hunt for recipes far and wide at one point landing squarely and confidently on Michael Dietsch’s ‘The Flying Cucumber‘ which he posted at his blog, A Dash of Bitters, many months ago. I was attracted to this recipe for various and sundry reasons, among them:

• Cucumber….goooood
• Elderflower liqueur…looking for a better use for this puppy
• Gin. duh.
• Sort of a modified Aviation.
• Reminds me of these folks

At the time I had this drink, I was having a terrible time finding a consistently good use for St-Germain, and while I’ve found a few other drinks that use it well, it still remains problematic for me. I find its body a bit too heavy and tacky¹ and while it’s not exactly sweet it is a very powerful ingredient that I find easily overpowers most drinks. It’s exceptionally good in a a champagne glass (with the champagne mind you) and adding a half ounce of it to a dry champagne or even a prosecco adds a wonderful floral quality. The only other full-blown cocktail in which I’ve seen it really play well and blend harmoniously with others is the Crescent City Blossom, which received a 3rd place tie at last year’s Tales of the Cocktails competition. It uses a full ounce, which was mind-blowing to me when seeing the recipe, but that’s for another post. For now, on to The Flying Cucumber. Read More »

1. I just didn’t feel like using the word ‘cloying’ here [↩]

After my massive heart attack-inducing scare regarding my laptop last week, which suffered an untimely and irrevocable demise, I had to have a good stiff drink. And more than that, gentle reader, I wanted to tantalize myself with something new and untried. Let’s scare us up some monkeys! Monkeys = fun! Whereas laptop crashes in the middle of a business trip (and all of my business is contained in said laptop) = woe and Job-like curses to the powers that be. Or, rather, Job’s friends-like curses. Job actually turns out to be quite the existential stoic. But, I digress, to the detriment of my point.

I selected the Monkey Gland cocktail, an ill-named but interesting cocktail because it combines several of my favorite things; gin, a chance to use homemade ingredients (grenadine), a chance to feature a monkey (see right), and absinthe or an absinthe substitutes. It also features the mundane in: orange juice. Maybe that’s the ‘gland’-ish part, hmmm? Read More »

The Harrier cocktail interested me for two reasons; I had some grapefruits I needed to use badly (those bastards were $1.69/ea at the time) and the idea of lavender in a drink was very attractive to me, and hey, it was in bloom and gave me a reason to tinker around with making my own ingredients! So, in digging through Food & Wine’s 2007 Cocktail Guide I came across this drink developed by Greg Best of Restaurant Eugene in Atlanta, GA. Now, Greg named this drink after a breed of dog, but that didn’t occur until after I’d doctored that picture of the Harrier aircraft up there, so screw it. Plus, I’ve always loved the Harrier aircraft and am more of a cat person anyways. However, the dog reference makes FAR more sense given that this is a gin-based take off of the classic Greyhound cocktail, a simple mix of vodka and grapefruit juice. Sometimes my thinking cap fits a little loose, I’ll admit. Read More »

As you can imagine, after finally getting my hands on Parfait Amour, the first thing I did was find the recipe that had first piqued my interest long ago; the Jupiter cocktail. I originally found the recipe and description of the drink in Ted Haigh’s Vintage and Forgotten Cocktails but Robert Hess presents the same recipe on his drinkboy.com site here (with a slight variation we’ll discuss below) with the same warning Haigh offers in not overdoing the Parfait Amour in the drink. But before we get into the construction and flavors of the drink itself, a look at Parfait Amour.

Parfait Amour (or Parfait d’Amour if you’re feeling particularly Continental) is produced by two manufacturers; Marie Brizard and Bols, from France and the Netherlands, respectively. There is some variation between the two apparently, but since I have no access to Bols I can’t speak specifically to what they are. As for the Marie Brizard its nose is heavy on the orange (in a curacao, not a triple sec, sense) with a floral and marshmallowish back end. It smells like it looks, sweet and purple. In tasting it I can see how this would overpower a drink as its flavor profile isn’t unpleasant but is very distinctive and heavy. Not to mention the sheer sweetness of the liqueur; it’s pretty unabashed in its syrupy quality. Ok, then, on with the Jupiter, which appears to be a wet-ass Martini with additional nuances.

Read More »