The Lady's Leg

This week's Mixology Monday was themed around 'humbug', trying to create an anti-Christmas drink. I didn't have any particularly good ideas, but if by anti-Christmas, you mean an escape-your-relatives-boozy type of drink, this one will do it for you. It's named after the iconic lamp from A Christmas Story. This will be my last post until the new year. Merry Christmas!

Lady's Leg
3 oz Crabapple Schapps
1.5 oz Vanilla Vodka
.5 oz Allspice dram
.5 oz Maraschino Liqueur
dashes, mole bitters

How to Build a Home Bar, If You Really Like Chocolate

The Spirit, always helpful, brings you an article on how to update your home bar. Sadly, it's full of tips like this:

Vodka: If you have anything in a plastic bottle, discard it immediately. If you are old enough to have a home bar, you are old enough to buy vodka that doesn’t remind you of making vodka-soaked gummy bears in college.
Three to try:
Ketel One VodkaRussian Standard VodkaVan Gogh Rich Dark Chocolate Vodka (It’s always nice to have a flavored vodka in-house in case you get someone who has more of a sweet tooth when it comes to boozing).

First, vodka is boring, so you shouldn't spend money on anything more expensive than Stoli or Skyy. But it's good to have a bottle or two laying around. It occasionally comes in handy, and because it's so boring, it's good for infusion.  Second, if you want to get a flavored bottle of vodka, don't do chocolate! There are much better ways to add chocolate to your drinks. Personally, I'd recommend either lemon or vanilla for a flavored vodka.

But more generally, there are far too many sweet ingredients on their list. In addition to the chocolate vodka, there's a caramel apple liqueur and three (3!) types of honey liqueur. Honey liqueur should be the last liqueur you buy; that's what honey's for! I also think the advice to stock the five main kinds of spirit (vodka, rum, tequila, gin, and whiskey) dangerous if you don't have an unlimited budget. Take your favorite drink, and get what you need to make that. So if you really like Manhattans, get some rye and sweet vermouth. Then, later, when you want a margarita, you can add tequila and Cointreau. If you want to upgrade your bar, try new spirits. I love Rittenhouse Rye for my Manhattans, but every once in a while, I'll pick up a different rye to see how it works. This way, you can have a great bar without breaking the budget.

Do you have questions about martinis?

Do you have questions about martinis? Or do you want to learn more about them? Check out this amazing Martini FAQ. It has everything you could want to know about Martinis. Though it doesn't come down as hard as I'd like on so-called vodka martinis, it has a great explanation of stirring versus shaking. It's definitely worth checking out.

h/t: Daring Fireball

Modern Vesper

The Vesper has a fairly interesting history, even for a cocktail. It's a classic James Bond drink, ordered by him in Casino Royale. It's also impossible to make exactly the way James Bond had it. Why? Because the original recipe calls for Kina Lillet, which is not made anymore. In 1986, Lillet changed the formula, making their aperitif wine sweeter and less bitter. This made it less suitable for the cocktails, like the Vesper and the Corpse Reviver, it had previously been used in. Fortunately, Cocchi Americano is readily available, and has a flavor profile similar to the original. I made this with more Cocchi than vodka, because vodka is boring. It's pretty tasty, though I think I prefer a classic martini. Remember friends, martinis should be stirred not shaken! Recipe after the jump.

Apple Beverage #4: Now we're cooking with fire!

This is much better than my previous attempts. It's probably the best drink since the first, and certainly the one that tastes most like apples. It's interesting just how pale it is -- the glass in the picture to the left is half full. The nose is very apple-like. The flavor is reminiscent of apples, though it's a bit bitter. I wouldn't want to put any less vermouth in it, so maybe just some more simple syrup would do the trick. That might make it too sweet though -- I'm more looking for crisp. Maybe some sort of bitters. In any case, I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out.

Apple Beverage #4
1.5 oz Applejack
.5 oz Dry Vermouth
.5 oz Lemon Vodka
splash, ginger simple syrup

Apple Beverage

Image from geekphilosopher.com.

So I've been working on a cocktail that tastes like an apple. It's hard! I started off with Applejack, lemon juice, and Domaine de Canton. The first iteration was quite good, but very, very lemony. I'll post it here sometime. The second was more apple like, but still too lemony, so I switched to lemon vodka. I'll need to fool around a bit more, but the lemon vodka is the right idea, I think. Last night I tried something a bit different -- I threw together lemon vodka, St. Germain, and Applejack. It didn't really work. There might be a good drink in there somewhere, but it's not going to be particularly apple-flavored. This iteration had too much St. Germain, so it mostly tasted like elderflower. I wonder if some dry vermouth might not help some of these recipes?