“Mamie” was a “Liberal”, used to throw “Paper Planes” off the “South Slope”. One day, tuckered out, she laid down for a “Siesta” and slept like a “Corpse”. (You’ll have to pardon me… I had no good title for this post.)
Posted: August 26, 2012 Filed under: alcohol, Cocktail recipe, cocktails, drinks, Food and drink, liqueur, liquor, mixed drinks, mixology, spirits, Uncategorized | Tags: absinthe, amaro, Aperol, bourbon, Campari, Corpse Reviver #2, gin, ginger ale, ginger beer, grapefruit juice, Herbsaint, Jim Meehan, lemon juice, Lewis Osterweis and Sons ginger beer, Lillet Blanc, lime juice, Mamie Taylor, orange bitters, orange curacao, Paper Plane, PDT Cocktail Book, rye whiskey, Schlafly, scotch, Siesta, silver tequila, simple syrup, South Slope, sweet vermouth, Ted Haigh, tequila, The Liberal, triple sec, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails 2 CommentsThe conclusion that you might draw from the lame title of this post is that there’s no real overarching them to this post’s drinks. You’d be right! I present to you 6 random drinks that feature random ingredients, with nothing in common with each other, other than the fact that they’re all pretty damn good. A couple of them feature Lillet Blanc, which is a new ingredient for my home bar. Lillet is a delicious French aperitif wine. It’s rather sweet and fruity, consisting of a blend of mostly Bordeaux wines and some citrus liqueurs. One of its most famous roles being that of a key player in a cocktail with one of the best names ever, the “Corpse Reviver #2”. (I actually went out to get my first bottle of Lillet Blanc, specifically so I’d be able to make this drink.) Another new ingredient featured in this post is ginger beer. I love ginger ale, but this is the first time I’ve ever tried true ginger beer. Ginger beer is what ginger ale used to be like, back in the olden days. Ginger beer actually has ginger in it, and quite the spice you’d expect from a soda made with real ginger. A lot of classic cocktails call for ginger beer, so I picked up a bottle of “Lewis Osterweis & Sons” ginger beer, made by The Saint Louis Brewery (aka Schlafly). It’s not something I’d necessarily want to drink every day, but it’s definitely worth keeping a bottle or two in the house for when you do want one.
What a delicious drink! I love the taste of the lemon with just a slight underlying flavor of absinthe, mmmm! I might actually think this drink is a little heavy on the lemon, and I might like it more with a little less, but nonetheless, it’s delicious! It’s very smooth and easy to drink, but also a bit complex in its flavor mixture, with the Lillet and a little bit of the absinthe (Note: 3 drops means just that, 3 small drops, not 3 dashes). Love it!
1 oz. gin
1 oz. Lillet Blanc
1 oz. lemon juice
1 oz. triple sec
3 drops of absinthe
Shake well with ice and then strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a cherry
“The Liberal”
I’ve been wanting to try this drink for some time, as I love its name too. It’s a pretty good drink. It’s got a unique taste. The amaro wrestles with the sweet vermouth, pinning the vermouth’s sweetness and adding a bittnerness, while the orange bitters and bourbon stand on the side lines cheering and encouraging the fight. Good drink indeed.
1.5 oz. bourbon
1.5 oz. sweet vermouth
6 dashes amaro
2 (healthy) dashes of orange bitters
Stir well with ice and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a cherry
The good version of “The Liberal” from “Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails” by Ted Haigh (above)
There’s another recipe for “The Liberal” that’s actually more common on the Internet. I, for one, am not a fan of this version. I highly recommend following the recipe above instead.
More common recipe (echh):
1.5 oz. rye whiskey
1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
1/4 oz. amaro
2 dashes or orange bitters
Stir well with ice and then strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist
The not-so-good version more commonly found on the Internet (below)
“South Slope”
This drink is delicious! It’s dry, citrusy, bitter and smooth, all in one! It’s a really nice cocktail, a perfect blend of tastes and senses.
3/4 oz. gin
3/4 oz. Aperol
3/4 oz. Lillet Blanc
1/2 oz. orange curacao
1/2 oz. lemon juice
Shake well with ice and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist
(“PDT Cocktail Book”)
“Mamie Taylor”
This is a good drink, with quite a unique flavor combination with the smokiness of the scotch and the spiciness of the ginger, pulled together by the unifying lime juice. It works very well together though! It’s quite a unique summer-time refresher. Ted Haigh writes in his book that this drink was considered a fancy drink back in its heyday, and I understand why… the scotch soothes the soul while the ginger excites the heart, and the lime keeps it all in perspective.
2 oz. scotch
3/4 oz. lime juice
ginger beer (not just ginger ale)
Pour the scotch and lime juice into an ice-filled highball glass, and fill to the top with ginger beer, and then stir gently.
Garnish with a lime wedge
“Paper Plane”
This is a pretty good drink. It’s a bit too lemony perhaps, but a nice flavor, all in all. All the different flavors (a little bitter meets a little tart) blend very well in to a good single, unified flavor. Definitely not a bad drink (but nothing that special either).
3/4 oz. bourbon
3/4 oz. amaro
3/4 oz. Aperol
3/4 oz. lemon juice
Shake well with ice and then strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
“Siesta”
And last but not least… Definitely NOT least! This drink is absolutely AMAZING! This is one of the best drinks around. This drink is so good and delicious! The smooth, sweet tequila, with the tart grapefruit juice and the bitter Campari, smoothed out in relief of the simple syrup… Mmmmmm… a perfect mix of flavors! It’s a complex drink that’s both an “easy goin’ summer-time drink” and a “sophisticated cocktail” at the same time. Write this one down, then drink it down, folks!
2 oz. silver tequila
1/2 oz. Campari
1/2 oz. lime juice
1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
1/2 oz. simple syrup
Shake well with ice and then strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a grapefruit twist (I used a lime twist)
(“PDT Cocktail Book”)
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.
Yellow Chartreuse
Posted: November 27, 2011 Filed under: alcohol, bitters, cocktails, drinks, Food and drink, liqueur, liquor, mixed drinks, mixology, spirits, whiskey | Tags: 1 Cocktail, 2, 3, Angostura bitters, Aurora's Bed, Benedictine, chartreuse, Cloister, dry vermouth, Fine & Dandy Cocktail, Fine and Dandy Cocktail, gin, grapefruit juice, green Chartreuse, lemon juice, lime juice, muddle, Mujer Verde, Old Fashioned, rye whiskey, saffron, saffron-infused simple syrup, San Francisco, San Francisco cocktail, simple syrup, sugar cube, triple sec, water, whiskey, Yellow Chartreuse Leave a commentWell, I did it… I bought my first bottle of Yellow Chartreuse. Green Chartreuse is one of my favorite things, so I’ve been intrigued by it’s yellow sister for a while now and knew that sooner or later, I’d bite the bullet and need to reunite these siblings. I must say, I really like the yellow Chartreuse as well. But not nearly as much as it’s powerful counterpart of the green variety. Chartreuse is a pricey liqueur (around $55-60 a bottle). While I really like the yellow Chartreuse, a milder, sweeter, less potent (80 proof, as opposed to the 110 proof of the green) version of the liqueur, I don’t know if it’s really worth the price for my budget. The green variety is worth every penny, plus some, in my opinion. I’d probably pay $100 a bottle if I needed to, and for some context, I’ve never paid more than the price of green Chartreuse for any other liquor. But to be quite honest, I don’t know if I’ll rush to the booze merchant, to pony up the money for another bottle of the yellow stuff, when I run out. I don’t think that this’ll be the only bottle I own, but I also won’t be heartbroken if my bar goes some months without it. At this point at least (and I’ll be the first to admit that my mind might completely change, 360 degrees, by the time I reach the bottom of this bottle, as often my taste does during the course of just a 3 ounce cocktail), I don’t think the price tag justifies treating it as a staple in my bar. Nevertheless, I’m enjoying it quite a bit while it lasts. And I’ve mixed up 4 drinks using the yellow stuff, and 2 of which I love! So, who knows what the future holds! Following, are four drinks that call for yellow Chartreuse, one drink I made just because I loved the name, one 100% classic cocktail, and the last one just because I wanted a drink that called for Benedictine and the drink’s named after one of the best cocktail towns in the world. Enjoy!
“3, 2, 1 Cocktail”
I found this drink, and “Aurora’s Bed” and the “Cloister”, all from a blog called “Cocktail Virgin Slut” (http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/) – what a great wealth of cocktail recipes! This drink, the 3, 2, 1, was the first drink I tried with my new yellow Chartreuse. This was a nice and smooth drink, and I did notice that the yellow Chartreuse was indeed sweeter, more floral and smoother than the kick, bite and punch of the green Chartreuse.
1.5 oz. rye whiskey
1 oz. yellow Chartreuse
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
Stir well with ice and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
(http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/)
“Mujer Verde”
This drink was delicious! It reminds me a lot of the “Last Word” (https://scientistmcgee.wordpress.com/2011/04/16/trips-back-and-forth-to-the-booze-merchant/), one of my favorite cocktails! I must love the combination of green Chartreuse with lime juice – they go so well together!
1 oz. gin
1/3 oz. lime juice
1/4 oz. simple syrup
1/2 oz. green Chartreuse
1/4 oz. yellow Chartreuse
Shake well with ice and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lime.
(“The Art of the Bar”)
“Aurora’s Bed”
For this drink, I made my first infused simple syrup – a saffron-infused simple syrup. To make this, I followed the basic recipe for making simple syrup… equal parts sugar to water, and boil (https://scientistmcgee.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/dashes-and-splashes/). But the water I used had saffron left in it overnight. What I did was use 6 threads of saffron for a quarter cup of water. I placed the saffron threads in the cup of water and let it sit out overnight. The next day, I used this water to combine with sugar and boil to make the simple syrup – very easy!
I then used this saffron-infused simple syrup to make the “Aurora’s Bed” cocktail. It was a very good drink… sweet, sour and herbal. But even though making the saffron-infused simple syrup was easy to make, it took some time, and so I don’t know if I can honestly say that this drink was worth the effort.
2 oz. gin
1 oz. saffron-infused simple syrup
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/4 oz. yellow Chartreuse
Shake well with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with lemon or orange.
(http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/)
“Cloister”
Here’s yet another fantastic drink! I love this one! The herbal taste of the yellow Chartreuse mixed with the tartness of the grapefruit is delicious. A top notch cocktail! (I am a huge fan of grapefruit juice in my cocktails though.)
1.5 oz. gin
1/2 oz. yellow Chartreuse
1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
1/4 lemon juice
1/4 simple syrup
Shake well with ice and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon.
(http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/)
This drink was OK. I only made it because I was attracted to its name. It’s just a very sour drink with an orange twist (kind of tangy though unfortunately). A little simple syrup might help out, but still a decent drink.
1.5 oz. gin
3/4 oz. lemon juice
3/4 oz. triple sec
1 dash of Angostura bitters
Shake well with ice and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
(“Savoy Cocktail Book”)
“Old Fashioned”
One of the most classic of all classic cocktails – the “Old Fashioned”. It’s pretty wonderful… a very nice way to drink whiskey as an alternative to just whiskey and water. Sugar, bitters, water and bourbon – excellent! This recipe is based upon the one Matt Seiter featured in Feast magazine last month.
2.25 oz. whiskey
1/2 oz. water
1 sugar cube
2 dashes Angostura bitters
3 ice cubes
Muddle the water, sugar cube and bitters. Add whiskey and 2 ice cubes, stir. Add 3rd ice cube and serve.
(http://www.feaststl.com/recipes/article_29fd5cc4-ffe4-11e0-902b-0019bb30f31a.html)
“San Francisco”
This is just a random drink I found in my “Bartender’s Bible”, as I was looking for a new drink that called for Benedictine. It’s an OK drink… a bit too sour for me, but then again, I’d be totally content to have another one if someone made another one for me. Ha!
1.5 oz. whiskey
1/2 oz. Benedictine
1 oz. lemon juice
Shake well with ice and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass.
(“The Bartender’s Bible”)
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)
Dashes & splashes… some important measurements
Posted: August 31, 2011 Filed under: alcohol, bitters, cocktails, drinks, Food and drink, liqueur, liquor, mixed drinks, mixology, simple syrup, spirits | Tags: 750 ml, cocktail glass, cordial, dash, fifth, jigger, measurements, mixing glass, pony, pousse-cafe glass, shot, simple syrup, splash, tumbler, wineglass 5 CommentsThis isn’t the most exciting post, but it’s one that’ll prove useful. A lot of times, a recipe will call for a measurement other than an ounce or 1/4 of an ounce… like a dash or a splash, or an older recipe might even call for a pony, a cocktail glass or a wine glass of an ingredient. I thought it’d be helpful for myself to have a one-stop source of what all these measurements mean. So maybe this post’ll be helpful for others as well, but it’ll at least be a nice and easy reference for myself when mixing up a drink. Here’s a list of all the slightly unusual measurements you might come across when looking for cocktail recipes, along with another very handy recipe to have… simple syrup.
Measurements:
Dash = 6 drops
Splash = 1/2 ounce
Tablespoon = 1/2 ounce
Pony = 1 ounce
Cordial = 1 ounce
Pousse-cafe glass = 1.5 ounces
Jigger = 1.5 ounces
Shot = 1.5 ounces
Cocktail glass = 2 ounces
Wineglass = 4 ounces
Cup = 8 ounces
Small tumbler = 8 ounces
Large tumbler = 16 ounces
Mixing glass = 16 ounces
Fifth = 750 ml = 25.4 ounces
Equal parts sugar & water (1:1 ratio)
Combine the sugar & water in a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer. Continue simmering, stirring until the sugar dissolves. This will only take a few minutes. Remove pan from the heat, and let it sit to cool down to room temperature. After it’s cooled down, go ahead and transfer it to a container. You can store the simple syrup in the refrigerator for up to a month.
Pretty simple, right? Simple syrup’s so easy to make, and you can just make enough for what you’ll most likely need in a month’s time, it’s definitely worth making and having on hand. You’ll be glad you have it, when you need it.