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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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!!

Original Vermouth Recipes: TDN Vermouth is a post from: cocktailnerd

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

Port can have a tough time in cocktails and Sandeman’s 10-year Tawny and Founder’s Reserve (a ruby-styled port) both earned my respect as ingredients that bring a unique character to cocktails and, generally, can stand up to the bolder flavors and profiles of juices, spirits, and liqueurs with which they’re mixed, a problem I’ve often had when trying to work port into a drink. Hell, we even had a submission using a healthy dose of flaming absinthe that the port stood up to, so that’s saying something. All that being said, I’ve only found a couple of port recipes that I’ve put in standard rotation but another I’ll add to the list¹ is Logan’s Harbor, submitted that night by JenTiki.

Logan’s Harbor

• 2oz Sandeman Founders Reserve
• 1 1/2oz Domaine de Canton
• 1/2oz lemon Juice
• club soda, to top
• lemon peel, for garnish

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Top with club soda and garnish with a lemon twist.

Originally called “The Prestige” (apparently there was already a drink named this, but not as a nod to Hugh Jackman…unless Hugh Jackman is 80+ years old, which, after seeing “The Fountain”, I suppose is possible), this drink has a very nice effect of adding a layer of bright spiciness on top of the ruby port’s inherent sweet character and the citrus adds just enough tart to keep the liqueur and port from running away over the hills towards candyland. In fact, as the drinks warms the ginger bite of the Domain de Canton comes forward and the port takes more of a back seat. This led me to work the drink with the 10-year-old Tawny port and while it added a more dry character it also lended an additional spicy edge that compounded the separating of flavors. So, grab the Sandeman ruby port for this one.

I also like this drink because I’m a sucker for all things fizzy and effervescent, except bubble baths…they’re creepy² . There’s a nice feel to the Logan’s Harbor but it’s important to strike the right balance. Too much and you, obviously, dilute the drink (though the flavors tend to separate less) and too little and it lacks the feel that suits the drink best and the flavors separate more quickly. This means you should probably chill your club soda for this one too.

Last Night's Dogbite: Logan's Harbor is a post from: cocktailnerd

1. well, as soon as I can score a full-sized bottle of Domain de Canton
2. except for that one time in Vegas when we put bubbles in the hot tub and filled the bathroom floor with bubbles and tried to flush them all to get rid of them, that was just flat-out fun

2070 Swizzle

• 1 oz Angostura 1919 Rum
• 1 oz 151 Demerara Rum
• 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
• 1/2 oz rich simple syrup
• 1/2 oz honey syrup
• 1/4 oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
• 4 drops Pernod
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
• 1 pinch freshly-ground nutmeg

Add all ingredients to a glass. Fill with crushed ice. Insert barspoon and swizzle until frost forms on the glass. Top with extra ice if needed. Serve with a straw.

The honey syrup is a simple 1:1 honey-to-water combination that is stirred over heat until all of the honey is fully dissolved and it lends a fabulous backbone to this drink that everything else hinges to. This is, I’m sad to say, the first swizzle I attempted and it was highly rewarding. So much so that at my mother-in-law’s birthday party, after a good number of Sazeracs and Lion’s Tails and John Collins and you-name-it, I made a couple of these and shoved them in everyone’s face demanding they try it, NOW!, and sing the praises of Martin lest I limit them to the slightly-warmed Heineken mini-keg I had in waiting. Needless to say, I had many takers, with many smiles. I must say, I can be an intense host when serving drinks.

Martin Cate notes the Twenty Seventy is influenced by the classics, and soon after making this, I found the 151-Swizzle in Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log to be closely-related though I have yet to try it. Of course, upon entering the Mixoloseum Bar and lauding the 2070 I was met with a knowing, and accurate, analysis by Craig who said (and I’m paraphrasing), “Ah! The honey and lime or grapefruit combination or a punch of pastis and bitters is classic in Don the Beachcomber-style drinks.”³ See, I told you I left these things up to better people than I.

The final word on this, for me, is that the rums are critical (another sign of a well-constructed tiki drink). I’ve tried several iterations of this and none match the Angostura 1919 (one of my favorite rums right now) and 151-Demerara combination. In the interest of saving my 151-Demerara, which I can’t replenish here and should tell you just how many of these I’ve downed, I have replaced it with a split of 151-Bacardi and 80-proof Demerara rum. But, as you’d expect, it’s not quite the same. Barring any Demerara at all, well, the Barbados rums are the closest I’ve gotten. A dark Jamaican rum just kills it entirely I’m afraid. I’d be interested in any thoughts any of you have on rum replacements absent Demerara. Also, in my first attempt at this, I dumped a bit too much Pernod and really went heavy on the nutmeg – I didn’t, and still don’t, regret it one damned bit.⁴

I’ve become such a fan of Cate’s creations that I featured the Dead Reckoning in my November Oklahoma Magazine article and find the architecture of his drinks to be extremely-well done. You can almost taste the time and care he spent in constructing them, and that’s always a great and rewarding thing. Too bad he makes for a terrible Elvis.

And, for the record, the second swizzle under my belt, which is surprisingly good, is the Cilician Voyage that came out of the 10/02 Thursday Drink Night! via the addled brains of Rick and Marshall⁵ . If you have Strega, check it out.

Last Night's Dogbite: 2070 Swizzle is a post from: cocktailnerd

1. god bless you, Paul
2. Martin, I only got to meet you briefly on the Saturday night of Tales gallivanting about with Jeff Berry, but you were a fine, and tired, gentleman
3. see the Test Pilot, Montego Bay, or Never Say Die as object lessons
4. however, this does lead most people to look at the drink oddly the first time and wonder, based on my usual taste, why I like it
5. good work gentlemen
6. I kid, of course. Paul is a prince among kings.

The Do-si-Do⁴

• 2 oz gold rum (used Angostura)
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1/2 oz agave nectar
• 1/4 oz Allspice dram
• 3 fresh peach slices (approx. half of a peach)
• 4 fresh raspberries
• 2 oz Prosecco sparkling wine

Place the agave nectar, peach slices, and raspberries in a mixing glass and muddle well. Add all remaining ingredients except sparkling wine and shake well with ice. Fine (or double) strain into a chilled cocktail glass and top with prosecco. Garnish with dirty looks in the watermelon’s direction.

This is my first time working with agave nectar and it has an interesting effect in that it gives a more earthy and rich sweetness than simple syrup or granulated sugar. It reminds me of a heavy demerara simple syrup. It, along with the high amount of muddled fruit, give this drink an extremely thick and heavy body prior to the addition of the sparkling wine. I wouldn’t use Brut or Extra Dry with this as they will push the drink a little too much toward the dry category and mask the spiciness of the allspice dram and tartness of the raspberries.

When Joana tried this she said, “I think you have a winner; there’s a lot going on there but it all comes together.” And that’s what I noticed as well, that all the constituent parts retain their character but ultimately balance and bounce around the palate without clashing. I’m not a huge raspberry fan but seeing as how blackberries and mulberries weren’t on-hand, though they grow well here too, I went with them and it paid off handsomely. This is a cousin to the Bramble or Blair’s Shamble but being served up and with the sparkling wine floater it takes on different character from that family.

Thanks to Kevin of Save the Drinkers! for hosting. We didn’t get to cross paths or formally meet at Tales, mainly because I was intimidated by his well-coiffed hair and very clean t-shirts. I’ll have to not make the same mistake twice next year.

MxMo XXX: The Do-si-Do is a post from: cocktailnerd

1. part of the reason for this post’s delay
2. these are the sorts of things that get us International attention, folks
3. more on this soon
4. named such because the two fruits are “back-to-back” and it does seem to dance a bit on the palate

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.”

Elan Vital

• 2 oz Full-bodied Dutch-style gin
• 3/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse
• 1/2 oz Dry vermouth ⁶
• 1/4 oz Creme de Violette
• 1/4 oz orgeat

Fill a mixing glass halfway with ice. Add ingredients and stir well to chill. Strain liquid into a saucer and garnish with freshly grated orange peel.

I heard many wonderful things about Daniel Shoemaker and the Teardrop Lounge while in New Orleans and this drink definitely gives them some measure of credibility if it’s any indication of the quality of drink they’re producing there. I love all of these ingredients on their own but the 3/4 oz of Yellow Chartreuse made me skeptical that this drink would work given all of the floral and botanical flavors that would be vying for prominence. However, they came together extremely well. Joana and I both likened this to a deeply-honeyed herbal tea. Just delicious and well worth its cost in hard-to-find ingredients. This is a drink that’s sweeter than expected but welcome in its complexity. “Vital impetus” indeed.

My only issue is that the dry vermouth gets lost in the shuffle and deserves to be featured more, at least if you’re using Martini & Rossi as I did. Now that I have a bottle of Vya Extra Dry I’m curious how it will change the make-up of this drink and how much a homemade or higher-quality orgeat syrup would deepen it and subdue the sweetness a bit. However, it’s not the slightest bit tacky or cloying, so don’t get me wrong; it’s just on the sweeter side of the scale for an “up” cocktail.

T. Marshall Fawley III of Scofflaw’s Den jiggered up a variation of this he called the “Elan Witch” that replaced the grated orange peel with a drop of orange flower water and added Strega in place of the Yellow Chartreuse. It sounds like it would dry it out a touch and, by his reckoning, kick up the vermouth’s influence on the final product.⁷

If you have these ingredients handy, give this a shot. If not, turn to Imbibe! where…ummmmmm, well, maybe not.⁸

Note: To be fair to Imbibe!, the ratio of straight-forward to “fussy” drinks is about 2:1 and it seems, more often than not, to keep its mission in mind with the drinks it chooses to feature. So, please Hammer, don’t hurt ‘em.⁹

Last night's dogbite: Elan Vital is a post from: cocktailnerd

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
6. calls for Vya, I had to use Martini & Rossi
7. this sentence edited to reflect Marshall’s comment and additional detail in the comments
8. I’m trying not to be completely unfair to Imbibe as it’s an extremely good publication. It just gets frustrating to me at times and it’s the most visible example of this phenomena of fussy and labor-intensive cocktails-maybe I’m lazy or in the wrong part of the country, it remains to be seen
9. also, I think Joana disagrees with me on this entire point which is usually a sign I’m deeply in the wrong

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

Now let’s be clear about this drink. If you’ve had one at a typical glorified-juice-stand bar recently it was probably made like this:

“Singapore Sling”

• 1/2 oz grenadine syrup
• 1 oz gin
• sweet & sour mix²
• club soda³
• 1/2 oz cherry brandy

Pour grenadine into the bottom of a collins glass, and fill with ice. Add gin, and almost-fill with equal parts of sweet and sour and chilled soda. Top with cherry brandy, and serve unstirred, garnished with a cherry. (courtesy (I use that term charitably) of drinksmixer.com)

The Singapore Sling is a venerable drink with a great heritage. And to have it reduced to the status of a Pat O’Brien’s Hurricane is sad and unfortunate. The Singapore Sling was developed at the Raffles Hotel’s bar in Singapore by one Mr. Ngiam Tong Boon sometime in the early 1910’s (though dates vary). Nowadays, however, in the name of commerce and no small amount of avarice the Raffles bar serves the neon-tastebane shown above⁴ . Simon Difford actually recounted⁵ how he flew to Singapore solely to have a Singapore Sling at its birthplace and came away dismayed, and much lighter in the wallet for such a terrible drink. He advises you don’t go.

I’ll take a moment to note that this drink, despite its “sling” moniker, has little to nothing to do with the slings made as progenitors of the “cocktail”. A classic sling is simply a blend of a spirit, water and some sugar and, if you’re lucky, a spot of ice. I can’t recommend these, but in Imbibe!… Wondrich tells us that with a bit of nutmeg they’re passable and curious study of pre-cocktail drinking. I’ll take his venerable word, one gin sling was enough to satisfy my curiosity and make me glad we discovered bitters, liqueurs and, well, everything else.

Singapore Sling

• 1 1/2 oz gin⁶
• 1/4 oz Cherry Heering
• 1/4 oz Gran Marnier
• 1/4 oz Benedictine
• 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
• 2 oz pineapple juice
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Add all ingredients in a mixing glass. Add ice an shake vigorously for 6-10 seconds. Strain into a tall glass with fresh ice. Garnish (usually with a pineapple flag)

This is tasty, almost tiki in style but with a tart and herbaceous back to it from the lemon juice and Benedictine, respectively. Now, there are endless variations of this drink, some of which use lime juice and more Heering, some which add orange bitters and muck about with proportions⁷ , and some which follow the Savoy example and simplify it to a matter of gin, lemon juice, cherry brandy, and soda water and call it a day. Here’s what I say, start with the above and adjust from there to taste. Dale DeGroff’s recipe is highly regarded, so in that direction you may find nirvana. To see how exhaustive and just how wonky we cocktailians can get on these sorts of mysteries I suggest the following:

Jay’s walkthrough of the “Straits Sling” and other incarnations
Drinkboy’s piece on the Singapore Sling and his slight adjustment to the recipe
Dr. Cocktail’s exhaustive white paper on the Singapore Sling, its history, and just where we lost our minds

MxMo XXIX: Sling This! is a post from: cocktailnerd

1. Dr. Bamboo, sitting next to me, took note and said, “Dude, you gotta get a picture of that…”
2. I assume until you fill up the glass, or some shit
3. after your arm gets tired of pouring sweet & sour I presume
4. despite their coaster’s recipe, it apparently is a pre-mix solution
5. in his ‘Great bars of the World and What Makes Them Great’ seminar
6. Plymouth, naturally, would ask that you use Plymouth Gin here
7. a Straits Sling recipe

Jeff blows the conch shell, and it’s all eyes up-front

10:40- Jeff asks for his “laser pointer” to point to his presentation, turns out it’s a harpoon. Good quick overview of where tiki cocktails were made and migrated through the “New Riviera” to Hawaii in the 60’s.

10:41 – Punch and Pirates

Meeting House Punch

• 75 oz Cruzan Estate Light Rum
• 112 1/2 oz Rhum Clement VSOP
• 400 oz Red Stripe beer
• 25 oz Fresh lemon juice
• 25 oz Muscovado Syrup

Mix in a large punch bowl fill with ice and lemon wedges

Beer really comes through in this, but it is refreshing in its citrusy and bright character.

10:45 – Jeff relates the story of ‘Sucking the Monkey’, don’t ask…¹

10:48 – Prohibition drove everyone to Cuba and Tiki drink culture thrived…and to drove them to drink at Sloppy Joe’s bar-then immediately fly back to the States. See the movie Our Man in Havana for shots from the original Havana bar-amazing stuff.

10:53 – But don’t drink in Sloppy Joe’s in Key West. But do have:

La Florida Cocktail

• 1 oz Rhum Clement VSOP
• 1/8 oz Rhum Clemente Creole Shrubb
• 1/2 oz Martini & Rossi Rosso Vermouth
• 1/4 oz BOLS White Creme de Cacao
• 1/8 oz grenadine
• 1 oz Fresh lime juice

Shake with ice, strain and drop in orange peel.

Very tart, the volume lime juice really push this high on the tartness scale² .

10:58 – History of the expansion of tiki drinks in the US when Conrad Hilton retooled many of the Hilton bars to serve tropical drinks in Hilton bars.

11:02 – Two prizes given out, and a Big Lebowski reference…nice.

11:05 – Wayne Curtis talks about the mob (Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky (sp?)) and how it influenced the design of tiki bars, shows the Havana Hilton’s Trader Vic’s interior-very ornate, dense, and looks like a good time. Until Castro came in and used it as his headquarters for the Revolution. Bad investment for Conrad Hilton…

11:08 – LEGO version of Fidel Castro on the slide, they left out the falling off stages and dying parts in the LEGO recreation. Wayne ordered a Mai Tai in the current bar there, and was served a neon-red cheap punch-looking thing³ and said, “…this is not a good argument for Socialism.” Too true.

11:11 – Rum Pot (adapted) is served and Jeff Berry walks through the original Rum Pot and the taste differences

Rum Pot (adapted)

• 1 1/2 oz El Dorado 12-year Demarara Rum
• 1/4 oz French Vanilla Syrup (Fee Brothers)
• 1/2 oz passion fruit puree
• 3/4 oz orange juice
• 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice

Shake well with ice and pour unstrained into glass.

This is really interesting, the vanilla and passion fruit work together really well without creating too heavy a body.

11:17 – Martin Cate takes over and discusses how the modifiers available in the Caribbean influenced Don the Beachcomber’s approach and recipes. Soil and moisture in the West Indes creates a high amount of oil, and thus intensity, in the native spices. neat!

11:18 – A “hardwood” tree in Grenada helps men with impotency…Martin manages to shame a couple of men in the audience by offering them several pieces of bark…then we all get a sample a bit⁴ -it tastes like, ummmmmm, wood.

11:22 – Jasper’s Jamaican Cocktail is handed out, and get to see fresh pimento berries…negates the effect of the bark..

Jasper’s Jamaican Cocktail

• 1 1/4 oz Cruzan Estate Dark Rum
• 1/2 oz St. Elizabeth allspice dram⁵
• 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon rock candy syrup⁶

Shake well with ice and strain. Dust with nutmeg

loody hell, this is good-like a falernumy/pimento syrup mixed with rum, just delicious with a great balance of spiciness and sweet. And, the Dark Rum works very well, I wouldn’t replace it with gold per the original recipe.

11:23 – best set of slides thus far in any presentation I’ve seen, Martin does an extremely funny take on the preparation a pimento cocktail that’s buried for 6-8 weeks…really good stuff.

11:27 – Stephen Remsberg walks through Jasper’s Jamaican mix and is very charming in talking through the effects of rum on the cocktails such as the overproof Jamaican rum against many of the regular-proofed and lighter rums served to the tourists.⁷

11:33 – Stephen’s final thought- “Pay attention to the rum, and take note of what difference they make in your drinks.”

11:35 – Jeff Berry walks through several caribbean bars and then has a very funny take, since there are no damned tiki bars in New Orleans, on having a wonderful Daiquiri at one of the slushy stands here⁸ .

Q/A: Berry’s “favorite” rum is Cruzan Estates for mixing and Demrara as a style and sipping rum.

(Will add photos later-cheers!)

Potions of the Caribbean (almost live-blogged) is a post from: cocktailnerd

1. but if you must, they stored monkeys they’d shot in alcohol for the trip back and, well, being sailors, got thirsty and would eventually be driven to tap the cask storing the dead monkey…told you not to ask
2. this sentence edited from the original for stupidity and ignorance…
3. much like the Pat O’Brien Hurricane
4. lady handing them out did a double-take and gave me 12 pieces-dammit
5. or any pimento liqueur
6. a heavy simple syrup
7. it’s also endearing that the mic keeps wondering from his mouth and Berry has to remind him
8. there’s literally a ‘Daiquiri Dogs’ stand on the way to the hotel

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

Union

• 4 mint leaves
• 2 drops rosewater
• 2 barspoons creme de cassis

Muddle the above in a mixing glass.

• 2oz Hendrick’s gin

Fill mixing glass with ice and stir. Strain into a cocktail glass and top off with 1oz prosecco or other light sparkling wine. Garnish with a single rose petal³ .

This drink was developed by Keith as a way of reviving an old cocktail at Union as well as a way to honor his recent betothral to his fiancee’, Christine⁴ . A wonderful story and a wonderful drink, if you take a few precautions. See, there is a lot going on in this drink. Everyone that tried it that evening immediately commented on two things; the floral aromatic and the mouthfeel. An extemely important, but easily overlooked, component in this drink is the rosewater. I’m not sure what they use at Keith’s bar, but the store-bought, if overapplied, creates an oily feel to the drink which can turn some people off. So, when it says ‘two drops’, grab your eyedropper and use exactly that, two drops. An incautious pour will send this over the edge like Walter Sobchak at a bowling tournament.

Also, I think Hendrick’s is an ideal gin for this; I wouldn’t change a thing in the gin but understand that this is a gin-lover’s drink. People unused to or put off by gin will not find many charms here, which leads me to my next warning: use an artisanal creme de cassis if at all possible. I’m forced to use Hiram Walker Creme de Cassis in this cocktail backwater and it drags the drink down a touch with its tacky and sachharine quality. Using Massenez Creme de Framboise did wonders for it, but changed the drink’s character significantly.

Other than that, the mint and gin play together like young lovers (as they almost always do) and everything else at the gathering can be made to swing in style with them if handled properly. It has a high degree of complexity but loses its depth when a cheap liqueur is used or the rosewater is allowed to overrun things.

I’d be curious what rosewater they use at Union for the drink and what Keith has to add regarding the drink’s construction. That is, if he’s not too busy packing and can forgive my using, and enhancing, the picture at the top of the page.⁵

Last night's dogbite: Union is a post from: cocktailnerd

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
3. or an impatiens as supplies allow
4. hence the hearts above
5. i.e. I hope he doesn’t whoop my ass at Restaurant August next week…
6. kick this to 3.5-4 if it comes together perfectly, but it’s a delicate drink

I made my first batch of Pimento Dram (Allspice Liqueur) last Fall and, given that it takes a month-and-a-half to make it properly, set it on the shelf, tried the occasional tiki drink that called for it, added it to a batch of Egg Nog or two (delicious), but otherwise found it a fantastic ingredient for which I had yet to find a natural, recurring, and fitting home for. Until, that is, I came upon the Ancient Mariner in Jeff Berry’s Grog Log. This is the rare life-changing drink. My secret shame is that it’s taken me this long to write about it and Pimento Dram¹ . Let’s look at the secret weapon of the drink, the Pimento Dram, first.

I’ve used the recipe presented by Paul Clarke in his post Adventures in Kitchen Mixology: Pimento Dram which is also the same recipe he presents in the July/Aug 2007 issue of Imbibe as ‘Chuck’s Pimento Dram No. 3’. So, between Dr. Cocktail’s, Paul’s, and Chuck Taggart’s endorsement, I figured it was a helluva safe bet. You can find alternatives like Darcy O’Neil’s, Robert Hess’s, and Rick Stutz’s which mainly vary the type(s) or rum, add citrus, or add and change up the spiciness of the liqueur to various degrees. Try them all and write the definitive Allspice Liqueur showdown, I dare ya.

Chuck/Paul’s Pimento Dram 3.14159265

• 2¼ cups 151 Demerara Rum
• ½ cup whole allspice berries (crushed)
• 3 cups water
• 1½ lbs. brown sugar

Step 1:
Crush the allspice berries (I’ve tried using a blade coffee grinder and a mortar & pestle, go with the mortar & pestle) and add to a sealable jar with the rum and let steep for at least ten days (I get the best results when I push that out to 14 or so). Shake the mixture daily and then strain through as fine a strainer as possible, pressing the solids to extract as much of the liquid as you’re able. Then, strain that through a coffee filter to remove sediment. Plan, more accurately, to use about 5 coffee filters.

Step 2:
Make a simple syrup with the sugar and water by heating them until all of the sugar is dissolved. Once it’s cool then add the resulting infusion from step 1 and allow to sit, sealed, for a month or more. Put it into whatever jars or bottles you like.

If you taste this immediately upon mixing you will question not only your own, but all of our judgments in suggesting you go through the process of making this. It’s quite harsh and, while not unpleasantly spicy, simply doesn’t seem like it belongs anywhere near a drink that depends on balance for it to be classified ‘non swill’. Taste it, but trust the process and come back to it a month or more later and it’ll be much more refined and friendly.

Some notes on this:

The Rum: Since I don’t have regular access to Lemon Hart Demerara rum my first batch was made with Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum which, besides its high proof, has a rich and almost musty character not unlike a cachaca. Once I got my hands on Lemon Hart 151, though, I was able to compare the two and found the Lemon Hart lends a much spicier and biting profile to the liqueur. Not a bad thing, but it needed a little more rest before serving than the Wray & Nephew did. I refuse to go near Bacardi 151 for this, I just think it’s awful.

The Sugar: With this much sugar your choice has a lot to do with how the final product comes out. I’ve used both brown sugar and, because I had to use Wray & Nephew in my first batch but wanted to assure a Demerara character, I have also used Demerara sugar. I highly recommend the Demerara sugar if you can get it. It makes it even more itself versus simply acting as a sweetener. And, if you’re unable to get Demerara rum, I suggest using it even more strongly.

Everything else is time, or in the case of the alternate recipes, taste. Now, on to the Ancient Mariner:

Ancient Mariner

• 1 oz 80-proof Demerara rum
• 1 oz dark Jamaican rum
• ¾ oz fresh lime juice
• ½ oz grapefruit juice
• ½ oz simple syrup
• ¼ oz pimento dram

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass and pour into a double old-fashioned glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a lime wedge and a sprig of mint.

This is simple to build but suprisingly complex and deep. As I mentioned earlier, this drink rocks my socks and has kept a standing order for grapefruit on the grocery list for the past half year because there’s a certain blend of complexity and balance that you rarely get in a drink. I mean, I love a good Negroni or Bronx or Pink Lady as much as the next guy, but they’re not particularly complex; distinctive, yes. The Ancient Mariner is both. Also, if you’re throwing a party and really want to show off your pimento dram ‘killer app’ usage, it’s extremely easy to make a pitcher of these and let the ‘oooooooohhs’ and ‘aaaaaaahhhs’ commence. Making a pitcher is also serves to tear through your pimento dram because, seriously, you end up making a lot of it and it goes slowly at ¼-1/2 oz per drink (it easily overpowers a cocktail so it’s almost always used sparingly).

I thought I’d be clever and up the pimento dram proportion in this because, hey! more of a good thing, right? Wrong, it completely kills it. Follow those damned proportions above, they’re fer yer own good, ya bastard. That being said, not everyone can get their hands on Demerara rum, myself included² . The best combination of dark Jamaican and non-Demerara rums I’ve found thus far are Coruba (though Appleton will do) and Angostura Gold (a very molasses-profiled rum). Barring Angostura Gold, go with Cruzan. It’s light and sweet and stays out of the way, though it gives the drink less zing.

The only thing I’ve found that improved on this drink is using simple syrup made from demerara sugar (a tip I picked up from David Wondrich in his wonderful book, ‘Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash…’). It adds a little more intensity and rich spiciness to the drink and helps makes up for the lack of demerara rum. Other than that, muck about with this drink at your peril. Oh, and pay attention to that crushed ice thing. It’s important. I let my Ancient Mariner sit and think about just what he did wrong for about a minute before devouring him. Sometimes I pretend I’m Davy Jones while doing it, too.

The Ancient Mariner Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars³

Now, don’t even get me started on the Amer Picon I’ve made.

More Mariner, Less Albatross… is a post from: cocktailnerd

1. It’s featured by Ted Haigh in the March/April ’08 issue of Imbibe, excellent taste, that man
2. getting the one bottle of Lemon Hart was a minor act of [insert deity here]
3. it barely misses 5-stars because it’s very delicate and, therefore, an inconsistent drink-even the season of the lime will throw this into just better than average terrotory

My wife became interested in limoncello after seeing it featured on one of Giada’s shows on Food Network and decided to whip up a batch…boom, 1.5L of limoncello hanging around the house. Then, to compare the homemade to a manufactured brand we purchased another bottle and taste-tested them for comparison. And purchased one once again, after Danny DeVito’s infamous appearance on The View where he was fairly visibly intoxicated after a night out with George Clooney due to his, “…last seven limoncellos…” I found it amusing and then some months later unexpectedly running into a bottle at a liquor store here in Tulsa went ahead and picked it up. Why not, right? (Let’s just hope Avril Lavigne doesn’t take it on herself to develop her own line of limoncello as well). So, wham, I then have approximately 3L of limoncello cluttering my bar. Urg. And finally, a marketing firm saw fit to send a bottle of limoncello to me without warning and, great gobs of goosefat!² , I have nearly 4L of the stuff sitting around the house. What to do? Oh, yeah, write a damned post, that’s what.

Limoncello is a very simple liqueur that depends heavily on the type of lemon and grain alcohol used for its make up and flavor. It has four constituent parts; lemon zest/rind, alcohol, water and sugar. That’s it. The Italians keep it simple when it comes to creating their lemon liqueur and, it would seem, rightfully so. It’s primarily produced in Southern Italy but with its growing popularity and wider distribution is making its way into more continental mires³ . Typically neutral spirits are used in its production, and almost entirely in what you’ll find in the U.S., but it can be made with various and sundry darker and/or more flavorful spirits as one will, but I haven’t, and probably won’t.

There are three brands and one homemade concoction we’ll be working with here; Danny DeVito’s Premium Limoncello, Gioia Luisa Lemoncello, Stock Limonce Limoncello, and Marquette-Szaszko Bond in Bottle (BIB) Limoncello⁴ . Two are similar, one is “ass-nasty”⁵ , and the other distinctive but not without its charms.

All in all, and as you’ll see, you can do far worse than this. It behaved very well in the Starfish Cooler and I think it captures the heart of what limoncello should be; plenty of lemon zest and sweet flavor with a bit of that rind bitterness that came through on the finish. I think I will turn to this as my ‘mixing’ limoncello as I think it will hold up well against other ingredients and not get lost nor add distasteful elements to a cocktail. One person mentioned that it would make a fantastic flavor to strive for in lemon squares. I could see that, if I liked lemon squares.

This does manage to be sweet and present a much less caustic flavor profile than its nose, but its interminably long, bitter, and relentless finish⁷ reminds you why all those arguments against God are gaining such traction in the first place. Stay far far away from this. This isn’t your, “Yeah, but it’s like half the price of the good stuff, you’ve got to cut corners now and again,” option like Gordon’s is to Hendrick’s. This is your, “I hate people and I’m having guests over by some accident,” option. Especially when, traditionally, you’re going to be driking this fairly much on its own and you’ll be stuck with it in your maw, which I assume you’d like to keep as a friend. Misanthropes, meet your brew. Everyone else, nihilists excepted, walk on by.

Limoncello by Giada De Laurentiis

• 10 lemons
• 750ml Vodka
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 2 1/2 cups sugar

Zest the lemons using a citrus zester or microplane avoiding the white pith. Put the lemon zest and vodka in a covered container and let soak for 4 days.

Once the lemon zest has steeped for 4 days then combine the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar is fully dissolved. Let the syrup cool and then add it to the lemon/vodka mixture and let sit for 24 hours. Strain the mixture into bottles and discard the zest. Refrigerate and serve cold.

First, a couple of notes on this recipe. In The Joy of Mixology Gary Regan proposes using grain alcohol instead of vodka and cuts the cups of sugar and water to two. This will yield a more zesty and vibrant limoncello as the higher proof alcohol will extract more oil from the lemon zest and it will be less diluted by simple syrup. Also, he recommends letting it sit at least a week before serving to help ‘mellow’ the flavor and I find this to be a very good practice with the syrups or liqueurs I make at home such as falernum, pimento dram (a month), and amer picon (even longer).

All that being said, this is by far the smoothest of the bunch and has a very sweet and mild lemon character. There is a bit of the Pledge/hardwood floor cleaner effect in the smell but the taste comes across as the most natural, if not particularly strong. It’s not quite as sweet as even the Gioia Luisa was which was suprising. One of us had the idea to tart it up with a squeeze of half a lemon and it instantly came to life and was the crowd pleaser of the evening with requests for refills ensuing (good, I have loads of this stuff on my hands). In the form it’s currently in though, I can’t recommend it for mixing in cocktails calling for limoncello as it won’t stand up and as a straight drink it needs a little kick like the squeeze of lemon provided. I think Regan’s proposed adjustments may take care of both of those things and, for the price, it comes out smelling sweet indeed.

Danny DeVito’s Limoncello:

God bless Danny DeVito for making limoncello when life gave him lemons. It represents almost everything good about the American spirit when you can make Barbara Walters scowl intensely at your antics for 7 minutes and then launch a successful line of booze from it. Well done, sir, well done. As Eric Felten notes in his WSJ article on limoncello one has to wonder at the opportunism an importer, Harbrew in this case, exhibits by creating a celebrity brand after something like this. However, this isn’t half bad⁸ .

It came across as the most balanced of the bunch with a good blend of sweet and tart. It’s very similar to the Stock Limonce and it made me wonder at the possible “repackaging” of an existing brand and manufacturer under the ‘DeVito’ name. Nonetheless this is a decent-to-good product with a little extra zest and kick than the Stock brand and much more than the homemade. The only complaint made about this was the “new plastic bin” aroma that came from it in the glass when served neat. None of that was present in the flavor however. One could use this or the Stock in a cocktail and be confident that it will bring the desired flavors and depth to the party. I would tend towards the Stock though, if pressed.

Stock Lemonce Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Gioia Luisa Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Homemade Rating: 3 out of 5 stars (4/5 with the squeeze of lemon-that was damned tasty)
Danny DeVito’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Lemon ain't easy, but it sure is fun is a post from: cocktailnerd

1. I apologize mightily for the joke, but I couldn’t resist; it got stuck in my head the instant I thought of it
2. a favorite expression of my 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Adams
3. ok, so technically North America isn’t wholly a bog, but I like the way the word sounded. Sue me–no, actually, please don’t
4. aka homemade, yo
5. a term I coined as it threatened my gullet with nefarious claims of destruction and avarice
6. in critical-thinking school I learned to consider that that broad a statement may be true but true because of its distribution channels and it may not be the best-selling in Italy or “best-selling” due to its quality
7. seriously, we were trying to move on to other brands/retasting and this wouldn’t release our tastebuds. We all had to go get water and kill 5-10 minutes cleansing our palates before we could proceed
8. actual quote from my tasting notes