The Good Corque

I like thespir.it, though sometimes the recipes seem less than entirely useful. But today I got a recipe for a drink I wanted to try: The Good Cork. One problem though -- it called for Red Breast Irish Whisky. We don't have Red Breast, and I wasn't sure what would make a good substitution for a single malt Irish Whiskey. I thought about bourbon, but I eventually decided on brandy. My wife made a similar cocktail, but subbed in scotch. We both liked mine better, but disagreed on whether it was because mine was less sweet or more sweet.

I like this drink both because it's tasty, and because it admits easily of substitutions. You could easily use any brown liquor instead of the Irish Whiskey,  and any herbal liqueur instead of the Benedictine. (I think Green Chartreuse might be especially interesting). The mezcal in this version gives it a smoky backbone, while the brandy lends a nice sweetness to balance the smoke. Recipe after the jump.

The Japanese Cocktail

Published in Jerry Thomas' Bar Tender's Guide of 1887, the Japanese Cocktail is one of the older cocktails out there. Story has it that it was invented by Jerry when the Japanese delegation was in town, visiting New York, and he created it in their honor. It is a combination of brandy, orgeat, and angostura bitters that goes down easy. There's a fair amount of sweetness, but the brandy is strong enough to make itself felt. As Keith at Speakista notes, the orgeat is really a prime contributor, as opposed to the Mai Tai, where it's just a bit player. The almond really hits you hard right up front. The Japanese is a nice drink, if a bit sweet.

Sidecar

Sometimes life hands you lemons. Sometimes your wife makes a cocktail with half a lemon, and hands you the other half. So I decided to make a Sidecar. According to Wikipedia, the Sidecar was invented by an American Army captain during World War I, and named after the little motorcycle sidecar he took back and forth from the bar. It's probably the best known brandy cocktail out there.

There appears to be some disagreement on the best way to make a Sidecar, mostly centering around how dry or sweet to make the cocktail.

Both MacElhone and Vermiere state the recipe as equal parts cognac, Cointreau, and lemon juice, now known as "the French school". Later, an "English school" of Sidecars emerged, as found in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), which call for two parts cognac and one part each of Cointreau and lemon juice.

According to Embury, the original Sidecar had several more ingredients, which were "refined away." Embury also states the drink is simply a Daiquiri with brandy as its base rather than rum, and with Cointreau as the sweetening agent rather than sugar syrup. He recommends the same proportions (8:2:1) for both, making a much less sweet Sidecar. However, Simon Difford, in his book "Encyclopedia of Cocktails," notes Harry Craddock's ratio of 2:1:1 in "The Savory Cocktail Book," and then suggests a middle ground of 3:2:2, calling Embury's Daiquiri formula "overly dry" for a sidecar

Since I tend not to like my drinks overly sweet, I thought I'd do the drier proportions of 8:2:1. I decided to use Gran Gala, a liqueur similar to Grand Marnier, instead of the more typical Cointreau. It made the drink a bit creamier, though I'm not sure better. I definitely like the ratio I used. It's pretty sweet, even with that ratio; I'm not sure increasing the amount of Cointreau would improve it.

Warduke

A post on Autarch's forums reminded me of the classic Dungeons & Dragons character Warduke. If you don't remember him from the game, you may remember him from the cartoon that aired in the early 80. Mostly, I remember a suit of armor with a large set of horns, glowing eyes reaching out from under his helmet. What a great inspiration for a cocktail!

I wanted something wicked, so Hellfire bitters were a necessity. I didn't think tequila was the right spirit; rye had the right sort of spiciness I wanted, but I wanted a bit more complexity. I thought about adding some lime juice, but somehow that just didn't seem right. Of course, a glass of rye, however tasty, isn't a cocktail. I figured I could add vermouth, but that would just make it a Manhattan. I thought I'd try adding some brandy, to give it a bit more complexity (like any villain ought to have). I figured using dry vermouth would keep it from being too sweet, and there you have it. Dry vermouth, rye, and brandy equals a Warduke.

The taste is difficult to describe. The Hellfire bitters definitely give it a spicy kick, but there's definitely an underlying complexity in the interplay between the rye and the brandy. I suspect it might be a bit better if I used bourbon instead of rye; the rye tends to overpower the brandy a bit. Not too much though. You really can taste everything in here. Recipe after the jump.

Picture by Scott Beale/Laughing Squid, laughingsquid.com.



Warduke
1 oz Brandy
1 oz Rye
.5 oz Dry Vermouth
Hellfire bitters
stir, strain into a coupe glass or a rocks glass neat, and serve.

Scorpion

Juice of half a lime (1/2 oz lemon juice)
1.5 oz orange juice
.25 oz triple sec (Cointreau. For the love of all that is holy, please don't use generic triple sec.)
.75 oz brandy (Remy Martin VSOP)
.75 oz white rum (Flor de Cana)
1 oz dark rum (Kraken)

I could have sworn I had lime juice when I decided to make this drink. Ah well. I'm probably less hesitant than I should be to throw in lemon juice instead of lime juice. They're not really the same thing. But the drink turned out okay after all, with a surprising amount of complexity. Sure, it would be better with lime juice. And maybe I put in too much Cointreau. But it's quite smooth, with the sweetness of the liquors balancing well with the tartness of the juices. I added some peach bitters, which worked well, though they definitely tip things towards the sweet end of the spectrum.

Note: This drink, and most of the drinks that come from recipes on this blog, is from American Bar, by Charles Schumann.