MxMo Roundup

And, Cocktail Virgin Slut has posted the entries for the most recent Mixology Monday. There's some great stuff in there to try, all equal parts recipes. 29 people entered, including two Frenchmen, and one guy from Baltimore who it seems just started up his blog to join MxMo. (And I'm glad he did -- it looks tasty.)

MxMo: Rahasia

A hearty welcome back to Mixology Monday! Mixology Monday is a semi-regular event that has various cocktail bloggers creating a cocktail based on a theme. It's hosted by Cocktail Virgin Slut, and we appreciate Fred bringing it back. Past themes have included tiki and morning drinks. This month's theme is 'equal parts'. The idea is to create a cocktail that mixes equal parts of its component ingredients. Since fall is fast approaching, I thought I'd go with an anti-Negroni.

As opposed to the Negroni, which is bright and a little fruity, this is dark and rich. I was originally calling it the Inorgen, which is Negroni spelled backwards, but then decided that was dumb. I didn't think it was going to be much good -- it was pretty sweet and a little syrupy. But the addition of the grapefruit bitters transformed the drink. It's wonderfully complex, with some spiciness from the rye, some bitterness from the Averna, some sweetness from the Cardamaro, and some herbality (herbalness?) from the bitters. It's still very rich, but pretty good. Recipe after the jump.

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.

Tasha's Uncontrollable Laughter

I bought some Becherovka lately, and I've been experimenting with it a bit. So if there's a surfeit of posts involving it, you know why. Becherovka is a Czech herbal liqueur, invented by a shopkeeper named Josef Vitus Becher, who had 16 children. Like most liqueurs, it's complex, but there's a strong cinnamon flavor and an undercurrent of anise. It's a bit more mixing friendly than most liqueurs, and so the experimenting hasn't been too hard on me.


My first concoction is a saucy little thing. It's very tasty and complex. I used bourbon to give it a decent backbone without overpowering it with the spiciness of a rye. A strong gin might be a good base spirit as well. I added some burlesque bitters balances out cinnamon. This resulted in a flavor mildly reminiscent of an Atomic Fireball, though the complexity of the Becherovka prevented it from becoming too candy-like. Recipe after the jump.

Robilar's Gambit

Photo by Paul Bratcher, from flickr.

Combining strong liquors is a bit like putting on flashy pants with a flashy shirt. Often, it's just going to clash, but every once in a while it can really come together nicely. For some reason, I was inspired to try mixing Cherry Heering with Green Chartreuse, a recipe that sounds destined to taste like some sort of Lovecraftian cough syrup. But it ended up turning out smooth.
I started by just tasting the Chartreuse and the Cherry Herring together, to get some feeling for what I was working with. It didn't taste great, but it gave me hope that if it was chilled and mixed with a base spirit, it wouldn't be too bad. My first try involved scotch. I thought that scotch would be strong enough to stand up to the other ingredients in the mix. It's not, really, but mezcal wasn't either. A really peaty scotch might be the way to go here. Alternatively, if it doesn't really matter, maybe just a cheapish whiskey.

The result was pretty good. I added some Boker's Bitters, because it needed something else, and I wanted to let the other ingredients shine through. But they're probably strong enough that you could use something like Hellfire bitters and get a totally different drink. The cherry ends up balancing the Chartreuse quite well, so that the final result is pretty understated. Ironically, it might make a good winter warming drink. Recipe after the jump.

Negroni Punch

As long time readers of the blog are aware, I'm a big fan of the Negroni. But sometimes, I want something a bit lighter, especially when it's hot out. For a long time, I went for a Campari soda to get that nice refreshing bitterness. But this past weekend, I happened to have a grapefruit lying around, so I thought I'd see what I could do with it. I like the way negronis go with grapefruit anyway, so that's where I went.

I combined the juice of half of the grapefruit with an oversized negroni, and topped it off with soda water. I think I should have gone with a normal sized negroni, since there wasn't a whole lot of room for the soda when everything was said and done. But it ended up good enough that my wife made me make her one, so not too shabby. It's a great drink for an overly hot summer afternoon. Recipe after the jump.

Casbah

Photo by John Holland, on flickr.

The Casbah is a bit of a variant on a Manhattan. Back when I was young, I took most of my drinking advice from a slightly older gentleman we nicknamed Jim "Beam". Among his drinks was a Manhattan, always with a splash of grenadine. I eventually moved on from those to different sorts of Manhattans, but the suggestion always stuck with me. So now that I have my own grenadine, it was time to play with it. Grenadine combined with sweet vermouth is just too sweet for me, but I figured I could replace the sweet vermouth, and it would be okay, so for my first recipe I got the following:

1.5 oz Rye
.5 oz Grenadine
3 dashes, Peychaud's bitters

It ended up very floral, since I added a bit more orange flower water to make the grenadine than may have been in fact ideal. It was somewhat sweeter than usual as well, and the Peychaud's seemed to aggravate that. It needed a different sort of bitters.

The second time I tried, I used 1/4 oz grenadine and added hellfire bitters.This version was much better and had a great finish. The third version I used Angostura bitters, and again, it was quite floral, though not exceptionally sweet. Not a bad summer drink for someone who likes brown spirits.

Mexican Manhattan

As part of my never-ending quest to find more uses for a bottle of mezcal, I decided to add some to a Manhattan and see what happens. Given the spicy smokiness of the mezcal, I used Punt e Mes to provide a bit more sauciness; I figured Dolin Rouge wouldn't stand up to the mezcal well enough. I also used the traditional rye instead of bourbon. I added Hellfire bitters, because once a drink is this spicy, what's a little more spiciness?

Unsurprisingly, going for the spiciest ingredient at each step makes for a very spicy drink. It blends together very well, each ingredient adding its own thing to the cocktail. There's definitely an underlying sweetness here, with a bit of fruit I didn't expect. It's quite good, though it might be worth trying with bourbon to tone down the sweetness. Recipe after the jump.

The Frisco

Golden Gate Bridge. Photo by Niall Kennedy, on flickr.

One of the features of the craft cocktail revolution that is intriguing to me is the search for the original recipe of a cocktail. Now, I'm not a fetishist for authenticity, either in my cocktails or elsewhere, so it's all a bit mysterious to me. But I admire their enthusiasm and dedication to tracking down the One True Recipe. This New York Times article actually provides a good example of trying to balance the quest for authenticity with the quest for a tasty beverage. Unlike noir classics, which start with a girl, this starts with a drink:

Last month I dined in a Los Angeles restaurant called Test Kitchen, which provides space for chefs from other establishments to try out new menus or put dishes through trial runs. On the night I was there the proprietors of Red Medicine, a progressive Vietnamese place that was getting ready to open, were introducing their food and cocktails, including a drink identified as the No. 15 and described as a mix of rye, Bénédictine and lemon. I had a No. 15 early in the seven-course dinner and several more as the meal unfolded because the drink so nicely matched the food and so beautifully hit the spot.

Of course, like any good journalist, Bruni needs to get to the bottom of this cocktail. He quickly found out that the No. 15 was a Frisco. Or like a Frisco. After a bit of research, he finds that the Frisco is spoken of in a variety of ways. The principal question is whether it's made from bourbon or rye.

The answer is vague and depends on how far you travel back in time. This I learned from Jim Meehan, a cocktail sage at PDT in the East Village. When I called him about the Frisco, he was immediately familiar with it, though like Ms. Saunders he went through a moment of rye-bourbon befuddlement, which he was determined to resolve.
“Call me back in 45 minutes,” he said.
That was all the time he needed to riffle through his research books and place a few strategic calls of his own. He said that a Frisco recipe from the early part of the 20th century mentioned whiskey without specifying what type, and Bénédictine. Frisco recipes from the 1940s, he said, specifically call for bourbon.

But it doesn't end there! Bruni tries a number of combinations of rye, bourbon, Bénédictine, and lemon juice,  and in his opinion, it's 1.5 oz of rye, 1/4 oz Bénédictine, and 1/2 oz lemon juice. Just for the ease of measuring (really!), I'm going to try the second suggested recipe of 2 oz rye, 1/2 oz Bénédictine, and 1/2 oz lemon juice.

What a great drink! The lemon juice, Bénédictine, and rye all blend together really well, with the lemon juice removing the sweetness of the Bénédictine, and the rye providing an excellent base. If I had any complaints, it would be that this drink is a bit acerbic. When I try it again, I might use Bruni's recipe, but switch the proportion of the Bénédictine and the lemon juice. Alternatively, you could try using Meyer lemons in place of the lemon juice.

Tenser's Transformation

A bit stressed out and need a break? This drink will transform you into a beach bum, a guy relaxing in a lounge chair, and probably wearing a Hawaiian shirt. The flavor is definitely tiki, fruity and floral with a hint of spice from the bitters and the spiced rum. Adding a bit of lime juice would class it up, but as it stands, Tenser's Transformation is smooth and easy-drinking. Recipe after the jump.

Fancy Toast

The other weekend I was at Passenger for the best pork cheek nachos in town. They typically have a board with the drinks of the day; the last item on the board was an item called "French Toast," involving Cointreau, Kumquat jam, and walnuts. Chatting with my wife, I mistakenly thought this was a beverage. It was not. It was actual french toast. (Fortunately, I didn't order it. I think I had a Corpse Reviver.) But I was inspired to try and create a drink that would taste like fancy french toast.

I used cognac as the based, because I thought it would give it a some nice undertones, and because it's fancy. I used Cointreau, both because the french toast used Cointreau and to replicate some of the orange-ness of the kumquat. I used hazelnut liqueur for the nuttiness, and Benedictine for breadiness.

It turned out pretty much like I was expecting. Some maple flavor might be nice, for the syrup, but it's definitely reminiscent of french toast. It's pretty thick, sweet, and boozy, so even though it's very tasty, I probably couldn't drink more than one. There are nice nutty notes, and a bit of orange. Recipe after the jump.

Sun and Sand

The other night, I was looking to relax with a drink. I was feeling something tiki influenced, perhaps something with the homemade grenadine. So naturally, I decided to make a variation on the Blood and Sand. Nothing says Polynesia like Scotch! To lighten it up a bit, I replaced the usual Cherry Heering with the grenadine. The number one thing I noticed about this drink? I should use fresh squeezed orange juice. The other is that, while the grenadine did lighten up the drink in comparison to the original, and added some floral notes, it's still a pretty heavy drink. Recipe after the jump.

Manhattan Montenegro

Recently at the liquor store, I saw on the top shelf a bottle of Amaro Montenegro. Being a big fan of all forms of amaro, I wanted to give it a shot. So I bought it and gave it a good home. By itself, it's pretty tasty; it tastes a bit like a less intense Fernet Branca. So I thought it would go great in a cocktail.

Eventually, I want to try it in a Negroni, but for my first foray into mixing it, I thought I'd try a Manhattan. Since Amaro Montenegro is more bitter than sweet vermouth, I used bourbon instead of the more traditional rye. I'm not sure this was the right decision. I thought the sweetness would go well with the bitterness of the amaro, but I'm afraid the bourbon just gets overpowered. I'm not sure if I should try rye, or just reduce the proportions a bit. I guess that's what experimentation is for!

The Golden Ratio: A Cocktail Method

Photo by Juan Barahona, JBlaze B on flickr

A while back, I talked about a method for devising your own cocktails, the Mr. Potato-Head method. Truth be told, most of the time when I'm fooling around with mixology, I use what I call the ratio method. For a long time, I made Manhattans with the ratio 3 parts bourbon to 2 parts sweet vermouth to 1 part Cointreau. As I started occasionally making margaritas, I made them with 3 parts tequila to 2 parts lime juice to 1 part Cointreau. Noticing the similarity, I came up with a general rule. New beverages can be made tasty by mixing three parts of a base spirit with two parts of a blender and 1 part of a flavoring agent.

Let me explain. I take it you are all familiar with the idea of a base spirit. This is your tequila or whiskey or rum, or whatever. According to the ratio method, this is what defines your drink. The flavoring agent is what characterizes your drink. To explain what I mean, let me use hobos as an example. In this metaphor, 'hobo' is your base spirit. But there are lots of different kinds of hobos. There are drunk hobos, sleepy hobos, clever hobos, shifty hobos, etc. The drunk, sleepy, clever, or shifty? That's your  flavoring agent. Both of the drinks above use Cointreau as their flavoring agent, but you can use lots of different things. Amaros, like Averna or Cardamaro, make good flavoring agents. If you're making a Dirty Martini, which I recommend against, the olive brine would be your flavoring agent. 

Finally, we have the 'blender'. This is the portion of the drink that brings it all together, that 'blends' the base spirit and the flavoring agent. Very often, it's some variety of vermouth, but it can be lime or lemon juice as well, anything that helps combine the diverse ingredients together. Of course, you can use different ratios as well. If you're using a strongly flavored blender, you could go with 3:1:1. If you want to give less prominence to the base spirit, you could go with 2:1:1. Experimentation is key! There's recipe for a really tasty margarita after the jump.

The Last Word

One of the reasons I wanted to make a Last Word was for the word play. This probably makes me a bad person. But it's a classic cocktail, and it has both cherry and chartreuse, so I figured it would be pretty tasty. The recipe requires maraschino liqueur, however, and I only have Cherry Herring. A friend assured me I could substitute the Cherry Heering for the maraschino, and so I did.

My friend was wrong. The Heering made it way too thick and syrupy. The flavor wasn't horrible, but way too rich, and not balanced at all. I want to try it again, once I get my hands on some maraschino, but please, don't make it with Cherry Heering. I'll never make that mistake again. Recipe, courtesy of Cocktail Chronicles, after the jump.

The Tribeca

I really liked the wine we had with dinner tonight, a Chateau Julien 2009 Merlot, but didn't really feel like I wanted to drink more wine. I wanted a cocktail. I don't know much about making cocktails with wine, but I know I like Manhattans, and sweet vermouth is a type of wine, right? So I made a Manhattan, but replaced the sweet vermouth with wine. In an attempt to balance out the different flavor profile, I added extra bitters and a fresh orange peel.

It makes for an interesting combination. It definitely tastes a lot fresher than a typical Manhattan, and it has a really nice finish. But for whatever reason, it's very, very bitter up front. I suspect that that is from the extra bitters, and when I make it again, I'll tone those down. But it looks like this is a good way to make a Manhattan for the summer, when you don't want the heaviness of the traditional Manhattan.

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.

Vermouth Cassis

A while back, I wanted to make kirs, and so I bought a bottle of Creme de Cassis. Unfortunately, I bought a really cheap bottle, and so it's been a struggle to get rid of it. Flipping though my copy of Schumann looking for a random beverage, I came across the. Not only did it use creme de cassis, but it used a very small amount, so I thought it would be perfect for getting rid of just a bit more of that bottle.

It's a bit bitter, with a nasty aftertaste that I assume is from the cheap creme de cassis. Other than that, it's not bad. The lemon peel is necessary to lighten up the flavor, especially with the substitution of Cocchi Americano for the dry vermouth making it a bit thicker and boozier. I used a relatively small glass, so there was also less soda in here than there might have been. Recipe after the jump.

Finish Line

I was feeling like I've had too many boozy drinks lately, so I thought I'd make myself a Runner's Reward. When I got to the kitchen, however, I got distracted. Last night, I thought I had finished off all of the Aperol in the house. This made me sad. Fortunately, my wife pointed out I had already bought a new bottle, since we were running low. And that inspired me to try a variation on the Runner's Reward, replacing the St. Germain with Aperol.

Unsurprisingly, this made for a different type of drink. Where the Runner's Reward is light and refreshing, the Finish Line is a bit more savory. The flavor lingers longer, and is a hint more bitter. I used Fee Bros. Grapefruit bitters instead of the Hopped Grapefruit bitters, and I'm glad I did. I think that the hopped grapefruit would have been a bit much. In fact, perhaps some Boker's Bitters would be even better. I also suspect white rum might be better than spiced rum. Recipe after the jump.