Two Veterans and a Rookie
Posted: May 30, 2012 Filed under: alcohol, bitters, cocktails, drinks, liqueur, liquor, mixed drinks, mixology, Uncategorized | Tags: Blinker, Blood & Sand, Blood and Sand, chartreuse, cherry brandy, Cherry Heering, Clifton Heights Cocktail, dry gin, gin, grapefruit juice, Official Mixer's Manual, Patrick Gavin Duffy, PDT Cocktail Book, raspberry preserves, rye, rye whiskey, Savoy Cocktail Book, simple syrup, sweet vermouth, Xanthia Cocktail, Yellow Chartreuse Leave a commentWell, I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day holiday weekend. I sure did! Today was my first day back to work after a really nice, long 5 day weekend. I really didn’t make many new cocktails over the holiday weekend however, instead focusing more on drinks best suited for brunches and do-nothing relaxation such as the Bloody Mary and Mimosas. Now that I’m no longer just lounging around with nowhere to be at any certain time, and back to keeping a schedule, I need drinks better suited for enjoying after a long day of work, unwinding in the evening time.
In this post, I have 3 good cocktails to share with you… two of them, the “Blinker” and the “Xanthia Cocktail”, being very old drinks from books of mine and the 3rd being one of my own creation, named 5 minutes ago after my St. Louis neighborhood – the “Clifton Heights Cocktail”.
“Blinker”
I found the Blinker in my PDT Cocktail Book, which coincidentally comes from a book I just recently picked up at a used book fair, Patrick Gavin Duffy’s “Official Mixer’s Manual”. The Blinker’s a pretty good drink, and a very easy one to drink. It’s a cocktail that’s heavy on the fruit flavor, but in a very smooth, subdued and subtle way. The raspberry preserves add a real big fruit punch, while the simple syrup tones it down and keeps the fruitiness in check. The grapefruit also keeps the fruitiness in check with its light characteristic mellowing it all out. And as you may or may not have picked up along the way, reading my blog, I love rye whiskey and I also love a drink with grapefruit juice! All-in-all, a pretty darn good drink.
2 oz. rye whiskey
1 oz. grapefruit juice
1/4 oz. simple syrup
1 bar spoon of raspberry preserves
Shake well with ice, then strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
(“PDT Cocktail Book” and “The Official Mixer’s Manual”)
The Xanthia Cocktail is not one of my favorite drinks, but it’s a decent one. I picked this one out of “The Savoy Cocktail Book”. The yellow Chartreuse definitely takes center stage in this aromatic drink with a kick. The cherry brandy and gin hang in the background, blending nicely and both slightly mellowing and propping up the Chartreuse front and center. If you want a Chartreuse drink, this is it for you. If you’re not in the mood for a Chartreuse drink, this is not it for you.
1 oz. Cherry Heering
1 oz. yellow Chartreuse
1 oz. dry gin
Shake well with ice, and then strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
(“The Savoy Cocktail Book”)
“Clifton Heights Cocktail”
Last but not least… actually this one’s my favorite of the three. I’ve been experimenting lately with modifying one of my favorite cocktails, the “Blood & Sand”, by tinkering with its 4 ingredients (1:1:1:1) and switching out different ingredients a couple at a time. Rather than starting a completely new drink totally from scratch, this tinkering method is a nice, easy and safe foray in to creating my own cocktails. The “Blood & Sand” is made of equal parts scotch, Cherry Heering, orange juice and sweet vermouth. In follow-up to my recent reminder of the fact that I love rye and I love grapefruit, surprise… I worked those two favorite ingredients of mine in to the classic B&S recipe! I swapped the scotch with rye whiskey and the orange juice with grapefruit, keeping the Cherry Heering and the sweet vermouth. And it turns out to be a really great drink! It’s still got the rich, dark sweetness of a Blood & Sand because of the Cherry Heering, but because of having grapefruit instead of orange, it’s not quite as sweet. It’s less of an “out there” flavor combination than the Blood & Sand, and more of a familiar, common sense flavor mix. While I love the Blood & Sand because it’s kind of a crazy mixture of unique, vibrant flavors, I like this drink a lot because it’s got some of the same elements while being a really great balance of a smooth, no-nonsense flavor combination. I’m proud to say that I really like this cocktail. And since I couldn’t think of a clever name that’s a fun twist on the Blood & Sand moniker, I stuck with just naming the drink I made up, derived from one of my favorite cocktails, after the St. Louis neighborhood I live in and love, Clifton Heights.
Equal parts…
-rye whiskey
-Cherry Heering
-grapefruit juice
-sweet vermouth
Shake well with ice, and then strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
Introducing “Scientist McGee’s Annual Cocktail Menu: 2011 Edition” – Now you can play along at home with the Scientist!
Posted: January 22, 2012 Filed under: alcohol, bitters, Cocktail Book, Cocktail recipe, cocktails, drinks, liqueur, liquor, mixed drinks, mixology, spirits | Tags: absinthe, Angostura, Aviation, Benedictine, bitters, brandy, Brigadier, Campari, chartreuse, Cherry Heering, cocktails, creme de violette, dry vermouth, Ernest Hemingway, gin, grapefruit juice, green Chartreuse, Harry Craddock, Havana, lemon juice, lime juice, liquor, Manhattan, maraschino cherry, maraschino liqueur, Margarita, Martini, orange juice, Peter Heering Cherry Heering, pineapple juice, rum, rye whiskey, Savoy Cocktail Book, Sazerac, scotch, simple syrup, St. Germain, sweet vermouth, Tanqueray, tequila, The Last Word, triple sec, Vanilia Vodka, vermouth, whiskey, whisky Leave a commentWelcome to 2012, the second year of Scientist McGee! This blog was created on March 6, 2011. It’s hard to believe that it’s only 10
months old.
I’ve had a lot of fun along the way, trying new drinks and sharing them with all of you! All of you have been really nice and supportive, excited to see what new concoctions the Scientist would post next. It’s fun enjoying the drinks and it’s also fun to document them so that I can refer back to them later on, but it’s obviously a whole lot more fun to do, knowing that my friends and some like-minded strangers are actually reading it and getting a kick out of it too!
So thanks a lot for having fun with me, and I hope you tag along for some more cocktails in 2012 as well.
To celebrate the close of the first year of the Scientist McGee blog, I’m starting what will hopefully be an annual tradition – a recap of the cocktails shared on the blog in that year, in “Cocktail Book” form!
Click on the 2 links below to access a printable version of all the cocktails (except for one bad vodka drink I choose to forget, and therefore removed) from the Scientist McGee blog in 2011. The book is separated in to two documents, and put together make a very handy guide that I hope you all will enjoy. (Makes a great gift too – ha! ha!)
Scientist McGee’s 2011 Cocktail Menu COVER, TABLE OF CONTENTS and MEASUREMENTS
Scientist McGee’s 2011 Cocktail Menu
Thanks, and cheers!
SMcG
Let’s get snooty and drive around town!
Posted: January 22, 2012 Filed under: alcohol, bitters, cocktails, drinks, liqueur, liquor, mixed drinks, mixology, Uncategorized | Tags: Algonquin, Angostura bitters, brandy, Cherry Heering, cognac, lemon juice, Night Shade, Savoy Cocktail Book, Sidecar, simple syrup, sugar rim, The Sidecar, triple sec, Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt cocktail 1 CommentIt’s been nearly 2 months since I last added something to the ole SMcG blog, and it’s because of two reasons… 1- the holidays – I haven’t been experimenting and trying new drinks with all the running around, and I’ve been guzzling the old classic stand-by of brandy and eggnog, along with the classic champagne cocktails for the new year, and 2- bad fortune – The drinks I have tried, I haven’t been too crazy about, except for 2 that wound up being among my list of favorite drinks – “The Vanderbilt” (the “snooty” tongue-in-cheek reference of this post’s title) and “The Sidecar” (the “drive around” part of the title – I love the visual of drinking this cocktail whilst sitting gleefully in a motorcycle side car)!
As my readers may have come to know, I love cocktails with just a few ingredients the most. Nothing against drinks with a laundry list of ingredients, they can be great too. But there’s something about enjoying the simple combination of 2 or maybe 3 ingredients, that allows you to really enjoy the taste of each individual ingredient. Plus, unlike some “showmen” of the drink slinging business/hobby, I like quick and simple drinks to throw together. I like to have a drink come to mind, and have it in my hand in just about 5 minutes, enjoying instant gratification. Both of these drinks (the Vanderbilt and the Sidecar) fit that description.
For these 2 drinks that I love, I also tried 2 drinks that I did not care for much – the “Night Shade” (1.5 oz bourbon, 1/2 oz sweet vermouth, 1/2 oz orange juice and 1/4 oz yellow Chartreuse, served on the rocks with a half slice of orange and a half slice of lemon for garnish) and the “Algonquin” (1.5 oz rye,3/4 oz dry vermouth, 3/4 oz pineapple juice and 2-3 dashes of orange bitters, served up). The Night Shade was OK, but the Algonquin was really terrible.
“The Vanderbilt Cocktail”
The “Vanderbilt” however – oh wow! What a good drink! This is another one from the Savoy Cocktail Book. It’s a smooth, warming drink, good for the cold months of January and February. It’s a stiff drink, but one that’s softened up by the cherry brandy and the simple syrup. If you like brandy, but you want a softer drink, try this. It’s not overly cherry-ish or sweet, just a smooth brandy cocktail that’ll warm you up. Delicous! (Plus it’s fun to drink something called the “Vanderbilt”, makes me feel classy, and a little snooty – ha!)
1.5 oz. brandy or cognac
1/2 oz. Cherry Heering
3 dashes of simple syrup
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
Stir well with ice and then strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
(“The Savoy Cocktail Book”)
“The Sidecar”
The Sidecar’s another great brandy drink. It’s not as wintery of a drink, but still gives you that nice smooth brandy taste. It’s almost a brandy margarita, only with a delicious sweet sugar rim instead of salt. It’s sweet and sour, and super refreshing! Brandy is quickly moving up my list of favorite base spirits in my cocktails!
1.5 oz. brandy or cognac
3/4 oz. triple sec
3/4 oz. lemon juice
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass that’s been rimmed with sugar using a wedge of the lemon.
A Crisp Chill in the Air
Posted: September 17, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Americano, Brigadier, Campari, chartreuse, Cherry Heering, club soda, cocktails, dark rum, egg white, gin, green Chartreuse, heavy cream, hot cocoa, lemon juice, light rum, lime juice, liquor, maraschino cherry, Neyah White, orange flower water, orange juice, Peter Heering Cherry Heering, pineapple juice, Planter's Hotel, Planter's Punch, punch, punch bowl, Ramos Fizz, rum, simple syrup, St. Louis, sweet vermouth, vermouth 2 CommentsSummer’s winding down and there’s now a nice, crisp chill in the air during the evening time. Pretty soon, it’ll be chilly or cold enough to warrant some drinks to really warm the soul. But for now, it’s nice to savor the last few chances we have to enjoy the remnants of summertime. Summertime’s a magical time with long, bright evenings and lots going on around the city. That’s why September-October’s the best time in St. Louis… You get to savor the final fleeting moments of summer, while also enjoying a nice, chilly breeze in the evening time. A perfect balance between the fun summer and the cold winter.
So while an almost unbearably cold time of the year is right around the corner, and soon I’ll be reaching for some cozy whiskey and scotch drinks inside the heated home… For now, I’m enjoying holding on to summer and being on the back porch for as long as I can.
That’s why you’ll only find one “sneak peek” at winter drinks in this post (the Brigadier). For the most part, the drinks featured in this latest post are about as summery as you can get – The Americano, Planter’s Punch (meaning an actual punch shared by friends on a good ole St. Louis back porch Labor Day barbeque), and the Ramos Fizz. It really doesn’t get much more summery than these cocktails. And it really doesn’t get much better in general, no matter what time of the year, than these 3 cocktails. So shake and stir ’em up while you can, because winter’s almost here, and pretty soon we’ll all be sitting on our couches wrapped up in sweatshirts, wrapping our hands around some hot toddies or maybe a Brigadier.
“Americano”
What a tasty drink! Here’s a drink that’s light & refreshing, while still definitely tasting like an adult beverage with its dryness. It’s nice and bittersweet, but not quite so bitter as a “Negroni”. This is definitely a back porch cooler.
1.5 oz. Campari
1.5 oz. sweet vermouth
3 oz. club soda
1 orange slice for garnish
Pour into an ice-filled highball glass and stir, topping with club soda.
(“The Essential Cocktail”)
“Ramos Fizz”
Also known as the “New Orleans Fizz”, this amazing drink dates back to 1888. It was invented by its namesake, Henry Ramos, and I must say it’s a pretty decadent drink! It’s decadent in its appearance, it’s decadent in its taste and it’s decadent in its preparation. This drink calls for 2 things I’ve never used in a cocktail before – 1. orange flower water, and 2. an egg. While using egg whites in cocktails is not uncommon, this is the first time I’ve gotten around to actually using them myself. (I must admit, I was kind of intimidated by the thought of it, but that’s all behind me now.) Since we’re using egg white to add body to the drink, we need to shake it with all our might… much longer than a regular cocktail. Some recipes say “shake it long & hard”, some say “shake it viciously”, some say “shake it for at least one minute, preferably two”. Like I said, I was a little weary of drinking raw egg, so I shook it intensely for about a minute and a half. I shook it so long that my hands were frozen and arms quite tired by the time I was done. A tip for next time would be to wrap a towel around the shaker before beginning. Also, I’ve read some where that one should not be so weary of the raw egg in cocktails because the alcohol, and the citric acid of lemon/lime called for in many drinks, diminishes the chances of salmonella. Anyways, enough about the egg… this drink is quite a drink! It’s a fantastic decadent drink! It’s thick & creamy, sweet & citrus-y! You feel like you’re on top of the world when you’re drinking one of these fellas! I highly recommend treating yourself to one of these. I just wouldn’t recommend mixing it up when you have multiple guests, unless you lift lots of weights and have very strong arms to handle the amount of shaking needed for multiple drinks of these.
1.5 oz. gin
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. lime juice
1.5 oz. simple syrup
3/4 egg white
2 oz. heavy cream
2 dashes orange-flower water
club soda
Shake vigorously for 1.5-2 minutes, and then pour in to a highball glass with no ice. Top with club soda.
“Planter’s Punch”
I finally bought my first punch bowl set! I’ve wanted one for quite some time, and a Labor Day barbeque seemed to be just the justification I needed to track one down. To break in my new punch bowl, I turned to one of the most famous punches, a classic rum punch called “Planter’s Punch”. I’m especially partial to the Planter’s Punch because one of the legends of its origin points to the early twentieth century in St. Louis. Many people think the punch was created at the Planter’s Hotel in St. Louis in the early 1900’s. Others think it was created by actual planters in Jamaica much earlier. Who knows for sure… I’m content to compromise and hypothesize that perhaps it was originally created by actual planters in Jamaica, and then later popularized in the U.S. at the Planter’s Hotel in St. Louis. That’s good enough for me!
Anyways, it’s a really good drink. Good enough that I could see myself enjoying a whole punch bowl to myself if need be. So I mixed up a batch to bring to our friends’ home, transporting it in a plastic pitcher, and planning to take a photo once I assembled the punch at their home… but it slipped my mind! So unfortunately, I’m sad to say that I do not have a photo of my very first punch. I do however have a picture of the making of the punch, the packaging of the punch and a picture of my new punch bowl set, along with a picture of a Planter’s Punch solo-style in a highball glass. So below, for the mathematically challenged, I’ve listed two separate recipes – 1. a recipe for a single-serving drink, and 2. a multiplied recipe suitable for an 80 oz. punch bowl.
Now since this was my first attempt at a punch, and I was also transporting it to a location in which I wasn’t sure of the set up, I did something I’m not sure I needed to do… Instead of just mixing all the ingredients together in the bowl and then adding a big ice chunk, I shook two servings in a shaker to get the right proportion of water added to the drink from the ice, and then poured them in to the jug. I did this 6 times I think. This way, I knew that whatever the circumstances turned out to be, the drink would taste just right. I’m not sure if this was totally necessary, but it turned out well, so it was worth the extra work of shaking. Again, I guess the theme of this blog post is being exhausted from shaking so long.
Single serving:
1 oz. dark rum
1 oz. light rum
2 oz. orange juice
2 oz. pineapple juice
1/2 oz. lime juice
1/4 oz. simple syrup
1 maraschino cherry or orange slice for garnish
Shake well and strain in to an ice-filled highball glass.
Punch bowl:
11 oz. dark rum
11 oz. light rum
22 oz. orange juice
22 oz. pineapple juice
5.5 oz. lime juice
2.75 oz. simple syrup
Orange and lime slices for garnish
Totals 74.25 ounces, plus the water added from shaking with ice (or an ice chunk added later).
“Brigadier”
And last but not least, the sign of winter coming… The nice, crisp chill in the air that’s such a relief from the hot summer right now will soon turn to blustery, cold winds and ice storms. Let us be prepared – Stock up your cupboards with hot cocoa, whiskey, scotch and Chartreuse!
The final drink of this post is definitely a warmer-upper on a cold winter night. Not only will the hot cocoa warm you up, but there’s quite a kick right away that’ll heat you up… The Chartreuse hits you right away with quite a hot & spicy note, and then fades away in to a dark, rich cherry-chocolate flavor with the Cherry Heering and hot cocoa. This is definitely a drink that’ll keep you company when you’re staying inside to escape the assault of the cold.
1 oz. green Chartreuse
1 oz. Cherry Heering
4 oz. hot cocoa
Stir and enjoy.
(created by San Francisco bartender, Neyah White)
Harry Craddock says your father smells of elderberries!
Posted: July 3, 2011 Filed under: absinthe, alcohol, Chartreuse, cocktails, drinks, liqueur, liquor, mixed drinks, mixology, spirits, Uncategorized | Tags: absinthe, Angostura, bitters, Champs Elysees, chartreuse, Cherry Heering, cocktails, creme de violette, daiquiri, El Floridita, elderflower liqueur, Ernest Hemingway, French Gimlet, Gilroy Cocktail, gin, grapefruit juice, green Chartreuse, Harry Craddock, Havana, Hemingway Daiquiri, Le Jacques Strap, lemon juice, liquor, Manhattan, maraschino cherry, maraschino liqueur, Papa Doble, Peter Heering Cherry Heering, Remember the Maine, rum, rye whiskey, Savoy Cocktail Book, St. Germain, Tanqueray, vermouth 4 CommentsI’m somewhat obsessed with liqueurs. Often, I get obsessed with the idea behind a liqueur. Something about one will pique my interest… maybe it’ll be an intriguing recipe for a drink it’s in (i.e. Cherry Heering and the “Blood & Sand”), maybe it’ll be the story and legend behind it (i.e. Chartreuse and the legend that only 3 monks know the true recipe at any given time), or maybe it’ll be the curiosity of a flavor I’ve never tasted in my life, along with a bottle that’s nearly as pretty as an old European church. This last example is what caught my attention and began my curious obsession to try St. Germain’s elderflower liqueur. The bottle alone should get anyone excited to at least try a taste. And when I finally got a bottle of my own, I was very pleased with how this fancy liqueur tastes. I was a little worried that it was going to be another liqueur as floral as creme de violette (nothing against creme de violette, I just wanted something different). It was different. I saw a description somewhere online that was spot on… this person said that it’s floral, but not too floral, sweet, but not too sweet. This is true – I was really happy with its unique flavor. True, it’s floral, but only in a subtle way. It also has quite a few other flavors going on as well, to make a very complex flavor. It’s got tastes of pear, peach, honey and citrus, and probably many more. It’s damn good, and it really spruces up a drink. It’s a great way to take a very traditional cocktail that you’re used to having, and that’s good, but that you want to make a little more special. For example, the first drink I made was the “French Gimlet”. I made this very simple drink because I wanted the St. Germain to stand out, so that I could taste the liqueur I’d just purchased. And this is a perfect example of taking a very simple drink and making it something a little more unique and something special by adding the St. Germain.
“French Gimlet”
2 oz. gin
1 oz. St. Germain elderflower liqueur
1/2 oz lime juice
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
“Le Jacques Strap”
The second drink I tried with my new St. Germain was one I found online with a silly french play-on-words for a name. Paired with the creme de violette, this drink was very floral, but in a very soft manner. I find creme de violette to have an intense floral character, whereas the St. Germain has a nice, soft floral aspect. So mixed, it was a nice balance. This was a fun drink with its many different notes of flavors, all held together with the old, familiar background of gin.
2 oz. gin
3/4 oz. St. Germain elderflower liqueur
1/4 oz. creme de violette (original recipe calls for Creme Yvette)
2 dashes orange bitters
2 dashes green Chartreuse
Stir and then strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
“Hemingway Daiquiri”
The reason I picked up a bottle of St. Germain a few days ago was because I had a thirst for a cocktail using grapefruit juice. I stopped by the ole grocery store to pick up some grapefruit juice, and that’s when I spotted the bottle of St. Germain being discontinued at this store and at a bargain price. This drink is named after Ernest Hemingway, as it was reportedly one of the drinks he’d drink at the El Floridita bar in Havana, Cuba, in which he frequented. Apparently, Hemingway enjoyed his drinks a bit stronger though, so he’d order it as a double, using twice as much rum. This gave way to the drink also being referred to as a “Paba Doble” (“doble” meaning double). I thought this drink was just OK… really nothing special. Maybe next time I’ll make it as a double, with 3 ounces of rum, and maybe I’ll like it more too?
1.5 oz. white rum
1/4 oz. maraschino liqueur
3/4 oz. lime juice
1/4 oz. grapefruit juice
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
“Harry’s Manhattan”
In addition to my recent acquisition of the St. Germain, I’ve been spending time flipping through the pages of my newest cocktail book, “The Savoy Cocktail Book”. This is a great old book with hundreds of recipes, compiled by Harry Craddock and published in 1930. Harry Craddock was the bartender at the American Bar inside the Savoy Hotel in London, England. Harry Craddock left the U.S. for England to continue bartending, when Prohibition struck. I’ve made the following two cocktails from the book. I was not very fond of the latter (Champs Elysees), but the former was magnificent! In his book, it’s just referred to as the classic “Manhattan”, but I refer to it as “Harry’s Manhattan” because I thought it was neat that he suggested using a couple dashes of maraschino liqueur rather than the modern tradition of using a maraschino cherry. (This is my first and only old cocktail book, so maybe this practice wasn’t just Harry’s, but rather the old way of doing it? I’m not sure.) The modern maraschino cherry is pretty much sugar and red food coloring, whereas the maraschino liqueur is true to the marasca cherries it’s made from and even features a nutty taste that comes from the pits of the cherries. This was one of the best Manhattan cocktails I’ve ever had! It wasn’t quite as sweet as a Manhattan made with maraschino cherries, and it tasted almost silkier and smoother. It’s unusual that Harry suggests shaking the drink as well. Most drinks that consist of all alcoholic ingredients call for being stirred. I don’t know, but I’m converted… this is my new way of making a Manhattan. Thanks Harry!
2 oz. Rye Whiskey
3/4 oz. sweet vermouth
2 dashes maraschino liqueur
3 dashes Angostura bitters
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
(based on the “Manhattan Cocktail No. 1” recipe in the Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock)
“Champs Elysees”
Whereas I loved the drink above, I was not a fan of this drink. I’m not too sure of the brandy & Chartreuse combo.
1.5 oz. cognac or brandy
1/2 oz. green Chartreuse
1/4 oz. lemon juice
1/8 oz. simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
(based on the recipe in the Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock)
“Remember the Maine”
I can’t remember how or why I found this drink, but I stumbled across it online somewhere. What a lucky stumble! This drink was really good! It’s a nice stiff drink, with an interesting, complex taste. The absinthe in the forefront made the drink quite intense, while the Cherry Heering hung out in the background offering a nice subtle base. Very tasty indeed.
2 oz. Rye Whiskey
3/4 oz. sweet vermouth
2 t Cherry Heering
1/2 t absinthe
Stir and then strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
“The Gilroy Cocktail”
This drink too… I don’t know how or why I found this one, but I did so online as well. And again, I really liked this one too. It’s nothing fancy, just a good, solid drink. If you ever want a solid, good cherry cocktail, this is it.
1 oz. gin
1 oz. Cherry Heering
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
The only liqueur to have a color named after it…
Posted: June 19, 2011 Filed under: alcohol, Chartreuse, cocktails, drinks, liqueur, mixed drinks, mixology, spirits | Tags: chartreuse, Cherry Heering, cocktails, Communist, dry vermouth, gin, Harry Craddock, lemon juice, liquor, orange juice, Peter Heering Cherry Heering, rye whiskey, Savoy Cocktail Book, Scofflaw, vermouth, whiskey 6 CommentsWelcome back everybody,
Not much has happened since the last time I wrote a couple of weeks ago. I’ve only got two new cocktails to share with everyone today.
However, I’m pretty excited to share one of them in particular. The reason being? It contains the wonderful liqueur, Chartreuse… “the only liqueur to have a color named after it”. I’m excited to have a new Chartreuse cocktail to share here for 2 reasons…
1. I love Chartreuse.
2. I’d say that nearly 85% of all readers who stumble upon my blog, do so as a result of their search for information on this amazing liqueur.
It’s really interesting and really fun to see, in the WordPress site stats page, that probably 95% of the keywords searched, that lead readers to Scientist McGee’s blog, are in fact “Chartreuse”. Obviously there’s tons of other people out there, just like me, who love this delicious and potent herbal liqueur, and if my small, obscure blog comes up in their search results, there’s obviously not as much information on the internet about Chartreuse as there should be. But that’s OK… I’m excited that other Chartreuse lovers have found my little blog as a result of our shared love for this wonderful drink.
The cocktail that I’m including today, that showcases Chartreuse is “The Scofflaw”. This drink is a wonderful whiskey drink. Apparently, when this drink debuted in 1924 at Harry’s Bar in Paris, it originally contained grenadine instead of Chartreuse. So out there on the internet, about 2/3 of the recipes I found had the original recipe of 1.5 oz rye, 1 oz dry vermouth, 3/4 oz lemon and 3/4 oz grenadine, but about 1/3 of the recipes I found (including a Washington Post article) featured this modern recipe:
“The Scofflaw”
3/4 oz rye whiskey
3/4 oz dry vermouth
1/2 oz Chartreuse
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 dash of orange bitters
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon peel.
This is a great drink… It’s relatively light because of the dry vermouth and the lemon juice, but also has a wonderful Chartreuse punch! I don’t know who decided to swap out Chartreuse for the grenadine in the old recipe, but it was quite the upgrade. What a move… it’d be like the St. Louis Cardinals trading away pitcher Ryan Franklin for Roy Halladay.
Another drink I tried in the last couple of weeks was “The Communist”. I found this drink in a search for a new cocktail that featured Cherry Heering. This drink’s relatively good. It’s no “Blood & Sand”, which I still think is the best drink featuring Cherry Heering that I’ve found so far, but it’s OK. (However, I may not be the most unbiased judge of this drink, because as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a big fan of the gin/OJ combo.)
“The Communist”
1 oz gin
1 oz orange juice
3/4 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz Cherry Heering
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
Those are the two new cocktails I have to share with you today. I expect to have quite a few new ones in the weeks/months ahead though, because I’m pretty excited about picking up a copy of “The Savoy Cocktail Book” today. This book is a treasure chest of great, classic cocktail recipes, compiled and written by Harry Craddock, Head Bartender of The American Bar at the Savoy Hotel in London, in 1930. I’ve already started rabbit-earring the pages of all the tasty drinks I want to try.
Until next time, Cheers!
Back in St. Louis
Posted: June 5, 2011 Filed under: absinthe, cocktails, gin, lime juice, mixed drinks, spirits, Uncategorized | Tags: absinthe, Aviation, bitters, Blue Moon, champagne, Cherry Heering, Cherry Vodka, cocktails, creme de violette, creme yvette, Death in the Afternoon, Ernest Hemingway, Galliano, Galliano Margarita, gin, lemon juice, lime juice, Limon Sunrise, limoncello, liquor, maraschino liqueur, Margarita, Mary Pickford, Peter Heering Cherry Heering, pineapple juice, rum, tequila, The Stork Club, triple sec, Vanilia Vodka 1 CommentIt’s been quite a while since I’ve posted an update to the ole Scientist McGee’s blog… a really long time. It seems like ages in fact. Since my last post, over a month ago, I took a trip to Jamaica. It was a wonderful and restful time away from the daily grind. My wife and I stayed at an all-inclusive resort in Montego Bay… all you can eat, all you can drink. I had a lot of tropical drinks, from morning to mid-morning, to lunch, to afternoon, to dinner, to after dinner and so on… repeat for 7 days. It was great… the drinks were very nice and easy and thirst quenching… lots and lots of Tequila Sunrises and an occassional Margarita thrown in there, amongst random others like the Bob Marley, Rum Punch, Pina Colata, etc. I even got some classic drinks mixed in as well, like a Rusty Nail, a Harvey Wallbanger, a Manhattan, etc. The people in Jamaica are amongst the nicest I’ve ever met, and the bartenders were no exception. They were happy to oblige and make a few drinks for me that weren’t on the menu because you can only take so much rum and tropical drinks after a few days. I even tried a new drink that I’d read about in the book I brought along to read on the beach. (Which reminds me… I’ve added a new piece to the side bar of my blog, on the right-hand side… It’s a list of books that I own or have read, and a brief rating of what I thought of them… check it out. And if you have any recommendations for me, please let me know.) The book I read on the beach was called “The Little Green Book of Absinthe”, and as the title suggests, it’s a book dedicated entirely to Absinthe. Pretty fun read, with little anecdotes, quotes and tales of the history of Absinthe. I was even happier to notice that the bartenders at the resort had in fact a bottle of Pernod behind the bar. A lot of the drinks in the book had too unusual of ingredients for me to order them, but one in particular struck my fancy on the 5th day of our stay. My wife had gotten hooked on Mimosas while we were there, and so I thought that the “Death in the Afternoon” cocktail sounded like a perfect companion to hers.
A “Death in the Afternoon” was a classic Ernest Hemingway drink and is…
1/2 oz. Absinthe
4.5 oz champagne
Stir together in a champagne flute.
(recipe from “The Little Green Book of Absinthe”)
And now for all the different drinks I’ve tried since my last post, in no particular order…
“Aviation” (w/ creme de violette)
Shortly after a post of mine a couple back, called “Trips back and forth to the booze merchant…”, in which I had just recently acquired some maraschino liqueur, I got a great tip from a reader who recommended me trying it with some Creme de Violette (some times referred to as Creme Yvette). Thank you to him, because it’s a great addition and a serious twist on the drink itself! As you might imagine, the creme de violette is very floral and a very strong flavor… a little added to a drink goes a long way, and definitely “blues” up the color of the drink, which is kind of fun. In the Aviation, it definitely adds another dimension. In this drink, using only 1/4 ounce is nice as then it’s somewhat subtle, as opposed to its strong presence in the “Blue Moon” coming up next.
2 oz gin
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur
1/4 oz creme de violette
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
“Blue Moon”
Fresh in to my creme de violette kick, I attended a wonderful wedding reception with a very nice open bar and I spotted a bottle of the creme de violette behind the bar… but no maraschino liqueur. I asked the bartender what he’d recommend for the creme de violette, and he made me a “Blue Moon”. Pretty great drink, I must say. The violet melds wonderfully with the lemon, and it seems to almost bond with and transform the gin. It’s a drink of 3 really good flavors working really well together. Each flavor seems very clear and distinct, but also blend nicely to make an overall flavor greater than the sum of its parts.
2 oz gin
1/2 oz creme de violette
1/2 oz lemon juice
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
“Mary Pickford”
This drink was one I found in the book “The Cocktail Hour”, which is a book celebrating the old fashioned drinks and their history, and I wound up really liking this one. It’s a great summertime drink. It’s sweet & refreshing without being “candy sweet”, due in large part to the nutty element of the maraschino liqueur. The recipe looks very simple, but its taste is surprisingly complex… again, thanks in large part to the maraschino liqueur, which leads me to my revelation that – the maraschino liqueur is king! (in my book anyway)
2 oz light rum
2 oz pineapple juice
1 t maraschino liqueur
1 t grenadine
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
(recipe from “The Cocktail Hour”)
“The Stork Club”
Another drink I grabbed from this same book was “The Stork Club”, named after a famed nightclub in New York. I didn’t care much for this drink, and after this one and “The Bronx Cocktail” from my last post, I’ve decided that I don’t care for the gin and orange juice combo in drinks. It tastes like watered down OJ to me, and similar to Tang… which is never good in my opinion. Oh well. The lime juice made it a little better, but still the gin and OJ combo tastes flat & hollow to me, leaving me wanting something more.
1.5 oz gin
1/2 oz triple sec
1/4 oz lime juice
1 oz orange juice
Dash of Angostura bitters
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
(recipe from “The Cocktail Hour”)
“Cherry Vodka”
I made this drink on a whim because I wanted to try a new drink using Cherry Heering. I found this one online, and I did not like it. But full disclosure, I don’t like vodka (as you may have noticed, there are very few vodka drinks in any of my posts). Since vodka doesn’t have much of a taste, this drink tasted like I was drinking just lime juice with some Cherry Heering, and a noticeable “hole of nothingness” where the vodka was. I won’t be making this one again ever.
1.5 oz vodka
3/4 oz lime juice
1/2 oz Cherry Heering
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
“Galliano Margarita”
I bought my first bottle of Galliano yesterday (along with 2 new glasses, pictured here)! To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from the Galliano, as I was sort of just buying it because my wife likes “Harvey Wallbanger” drinks, so I bought a half-bottle (375 ml). But boy was I in for a very pleasant surprise! I love it! I was under the wrong impression that Galliano was strictly a vanilla liqueur. I hadn’t realized how it has quite a bit of an herbal undertone as well, and a strong anise secondary flavor too. I don’t know why I hadn’t noticed this on the prior occassion when I had tried it before, but I hadn’t. I have to say, I think that Galliano is very good indeed. Plus I lucked out by stumbling upon a recipe for a drink that I just loved. When I brought the bottle home, I didn’t want to just make another Harvey Wallbanger, so I looked online for what I could make and figured I’d give a Galliano Margarita a shot. What the hell, eh? It was around 95 degrees out, so perfect, right? Oh my, what a treat! What a good drink! I highly recommend this to everyone.
1 oz tequila
1 oz Galliano
1/2 oz lime juice
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass. Salt rim.
(As you can tell from the picture, I wasn’t in the mood for a salted rim.)
“Limon Sunrise”
And last but definitely not least, is a drink I looked up also online when I found myself reminiscing about the endless Tequila Sunrises in Jamaica and also re-discovered a bottle of limoncello I’d forgotten we had in our house. This one’s a very fun drink for the summer time. Very refreshing and the orange & lemon combo is very good.
1 oz limoncello
3 oz orange juice
Splash of grenadine
Fill a highball-sized glass with ice, and build the limoncello, followed by the orange juice, and then add the grenadine.
3 Monks and a McGee
Posted: March 16, 2011 Filed under: Bijou, Brigadier, Chartreuse, cocktails, Food and drink, gin, hot chocolate, lime juice, liqueur, liquor, mixology, New Amsterdam, on the rocks, Peter heering cherry heering, spirits, Tanqueray, The Last Word, Uncategorized | Tags: Bijou, bitters, Brigadier, chartreuse, Cherry Heering, cocktails, gin, liquor, maraschino liqueur, Peter Heering Cherry Heering, Tanqueray, The Last Word, vermouth 4 CommentsWell, I finally picked up my very own bottle of Chartreuse (the original, green variety) last week, and got busy mixing up some cocktails…
Like a friend of mine said, he describes Chartreuse as “gin on acid”. This is a pretty good description. Gin is very spicy with strong scents and tastes of botanicals. Chartreuse is just that, only with scents and tastes of hundreds (130 to be precise) of spices and herbs flying at your nose and tongue, bouncing off the walls of your mouth and nose… so many in fact, it’s fun to guess what you’re smelling… anise? clove? cinnamon? rosemary? You can smell each and every one wait in line, then step up to the stage to take a bow, giggle, and then slip in to the shadows…
The first cocktail I tried was the Bijou. I really didn’t care for this drink, and it wasn’t very pleasant. It was a little too strong – very alcoholic. It seemed like the gin and the Chartreuse were competing with each other… maybe a lighter gin, like a New Amsterdam, might be better to let the Chartreuse take center stage.
“Bijou”
1.5 oz gin
1/2 oz green Chartreuse
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
Dash of orange bitters
Maraschino cherry for a garnish
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass
A nice way to enjoy the Chartreuse is to just simply enjoy the Chartreuse… by enjoying a nice, small glass of Chartreuse and ice. Chartreuse is 110 proof (55% alcohol), so while it’s quite tasty on its own, it’s also quite strong and can knock you on the ground. Watered down by the melting ice just makes it better and less intense. It’s definitely something worth sipping… very nice.
I found another cocktail recipe that many suggested as the perfect cocktail to introduce oneself to Chartreuse… The Last Word.
Whether it’s a good introduction to Chartreuse or not, I don’t care… it’s a delicious cocktail! The recipe calls for maraschino liqueur, which I don’t have. Based on how much I love Cherry Heering, I should probably buy some (typically Luxardo’s the recommended brand). I’ve never had maraschino liqueur, but I’ve read that it’s sweeter than the liqueur I have… the glorious Peter Heering Cherry liqueur. Cherry Heering is one of my favorite cocktail ingredients, and supposedly it’s a much richer, tarter tasting cherry liqueur… different than maraschino liqueur, but what I have (and what I happen to love), so I figured it’s close enough to make The Last Word. Maybe I’m wrong… I don’t know, but if I am wrong… I don’t wanna be right ; )
[NOTE: After writing this particular post, I did in fact buy some maraschino liqueur and made an authentic “Last Word”… For later notes and a photo of a real “Last Word”, which is now one of my favorite drinks, visit another post called “Trips Back and Forth to the Booze Merchant at https://scientistmcgee.wordpress.com/2011/04/16/trips-back-and-forth-to-the-booze-merchant/ -Scientist McGee 5/8/11]
So the typical recipe for a Last Word is:
“The Last Word”
(no photo available)
1 oz gin
1 oz green Chartreuse
1 oz maraschino liqueur
1 oz lime juice
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
http://ohgo.sh/archive/chartreuse/
My recipe, given what I have on hand, is:
“Denis’ Last Word”
1 oz gin
1 oz green Chartreuse
1 oz Cherry Heering
1 oz lime juice
Very good, I must say! Actually, I should say… very good potential. What I mean is that with a little tinkering, I could tell that this drink had the potential to be one of my favorites. This version, which I doubt the swapping out of a different cherry liqueur would have this effect… was much too heavy on the lime flavor. Maybe it was because I used bottled, pre-fab lime juice, I don’t know… I doubt a trusted recipe such as this would be so heavy on the lime taste though. Also, I’d used a brand of gin called New Amsterdam, thinking that I didn’t like the way a stronger gin like Tanqueray seemed to compete with the taste of Chartreuse in the Bijou drink. For this drink, I used New Amsterdam gin instead, a much tamer, lighter gin. Big mistake… maybe it was the overpowering lime juice or maybe it was the weaker gin, but I could barely detect the gin. So… I made some adjustments in my mind…
A couple nights later, I tweaked the recipe, and voila! One of my favorite drinks! Since it’s not the original recipe of The Last Word, maybe I should rename it? Maybe this one should be called The Counter Argument?
“The Counter Argument”
1 oz Tanqueray Gin
1 oz green Chartreuse
1 oz Cherry Heering
1/2 oz lime juice
Shake well and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
Delicious!!!
The Counter Argument beat The Last Word, in my opinion. At least The Counter Argument beat my tweaked version of the Last Word (with a different cherry liqueur). Without having maraschino liqueur, I can’t say 100% what a true Last Word tastes like. But I’m pretty happy with my Counter Argument.
And I’m pretty happy with my bottle of Chartreuse… whether I’m drinking it straight on the rocks, or if I’m mixing it with gin and Cherry Heering. It’s a pretty wonderful elixir. Once autumn rolls back around (which I’m in no rush for), I look forward to trying a Brigadier, which is…
“Brigadier”
1 oz green Chartreuse
1 oz Cherry Heering
About 4 ounces hot chocolate
Mix ingredients in a warmed mug and stir