Fogged In Lounge

Meyer Moon

2012-01-30T19:45:00.000-08:00

A White Lady should be drunk by the light of the moon.
Four White Ladies should be drunk by the light of two moons.

—Cornelia Otis Skinner, The Importance of Cocktails

A friend was talking about making limoncello, and I mentioned that a Meyer lemon version might be interesting. As it happened, a bag of the things suddenly arrived in her produce box. So with the promise that I’d have a drink recipe for her, she got to work.

In the meantime, I got the peeled fruit, and decided to make White Ladies. The White Lady cocktail is a hard drink to order. For one thing, the bartender might not know this classic. And someone nearby is sure not to know, and might think a guy’s spoiling for a fight. Besides, I have to say that for something fairly boozy, the flavor’s a little mild for me most of the time. Similar drinks like the Sidecar or the Aviation have more complexity or bite. So it’s nice to punch it up a little—and avoid getting punched by calling it something else.

Assertive gin usually helps when remixing the White Lady, so I brought out the Botanivore, an herbaceous St. George gin which has plenty of personality to stand up to the tangerine-like spice of the Meyer lemon.

Meyer Moon

2 oz Botanivore gin
1/2 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz Meyer lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Meyer lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Penthouse and Attic

2012-01-19T19:18:00.000-08:00

By a strange and wonderful coincidence, a bottle of ouzo was given to me by another colleague one year after the previous bottle. Santa must’ve heard I like anise or something. Whatever’s going on out there, I just wanna say to one and all that ouzo makes a fine gift. Really digging the ouzo.

Last year, I complimented it with dry vermouth, so I decided to try it with sweet vermouth instead. Again, it’s soft and elegant with a little vanilla note that’s rich without being too candy.

Penthouse and Attic

2 oz dry gin
1/2 oz sweet vermouth (Carpano Antica)
1/4 ouzo (Metaxa)
2 dashes Regans’s No. 6 Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

SE Portland Pub Crawling: Proof

2012-01-17T20:49:00.001-08:00

Having nearly been carried off by a nasty cold, I’m back in the saddle again and not merely drinking for medicinal value. The misery cleared up enough to give me my palate back during a visit to Portland, Oregon last weekend, where I found Proof, a place on Hawthorne Boulevard I hadn’t seen before. It was especially nice because I was just fooling around on my own one afternoon without a plan and suddenly there was a cocktail bar, no pilgrimage to some must-try, no agenda. Melodie was behind the bar lending her distinctive charm to the place’s overall cocktail IQ.

Classic roots but fresh, and without straining every nerve to be different. Try the Tripple A, a rum drink that didn’t taste like the last ten things I’d had or made.

Skating

2011-12-22T11:54:00.000-08:00

Greetings, folks. It’s the time of year when you might see a bowl of prefab eggnog at a party and know you shouldn’t go there, but you just can’t help but ruin your life, can you? Do you try to avoid it, or just give in right away and despise yourself for the rest of the weekend? You know it’s wrong, even as you kid yourself that the bottle of add-your-own next to it makes it all right—even legal—somehow. Like it’ll all balance out in the end. Sure, pal.

But wait—don’t touch that crap. How about a nice coconut drink instead?

Skating

2 1/2 oz gold Jamaica rum
1/4 oz Pernod
1/4 oz Galliano
1 tsp coffee brandy (Firelit Coffee Liqueur)
2 oz coconut milk
1/4 oz vanilla syrup (B.G. Reynolds’)
1/2 oz lemon juice

Shake hard with ice cubes and strain into a 14-ounce glass filled with crushed ice. Cherry, straw.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Coffee, anise and vanilla glide over a coconut-frosted rum pond. It’s wholesome—vegan, even. God Jul, Joyous Kwanzaa, grab your Gin-and-Tonic-ah, drink up.

World on a String

2011-12-11T13:56:00.000-08:00

OK—trying to work up some holiday cheer here at the Fogged In Lounge. The housemate’s busy doing the place up. The shops look like Christmas threw up all over them. The music’s everywhere like some mad scene in a noir film. Might as well work myself into the mood since there’s no beating it.

I made this Campari-absinthe thing last night that I liked a lot. Anise, citrus, tequila, it’s red—I feel festive already. Now where’s that drink?

World on a String

2 oz reposado tequila
1 oz Campari
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 tsp absinthe
1 scant tsp agave syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Williams’ Orchard

2011-12-05T18:39:00.000-08:00

I be free to go abroad,
Or take again my homeward road
To where, for me, the apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.

—William Barnes, My Orcha’d in Linden Lea (Common English version)

Today is the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. My celebratory offering is one I’ve been enjoying for a few days, an apple-pear brandy combo with a little ginger to brighten the winter evenings. The Poire Williams dominates, as the name suggests. For the apple brandy, I had some applejack, which worked fine, though I’d like to try it with Laird’s Bonded—my preference in such things.

Williams’ Orchard

2 oz apple brandy
3/4 oz Velvet Falernum
1/2 oz lime juice
1/4 oz Poire Williams

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Persimmons: More Crazy Produce for the Juicer

2011-11-30T06:28:00.000-08:00

Whenever I go grocery shopping, I always want to buy persimmons. They look so neat. But I never really know what to do with ’em. I guess I could take the trouble to find out but never do. Or at least I didn’t until I decided to try throwing one in the juicer. There were two types available so I picked up one of each. Apparently, one can be eaten firm like an apple. The other one should be allowed to ripen to mush or you’ll end up with an indigestible ball in your stomach like that chewing gum horror story your first grade teacher used to scare you with. Seriously. Anyway, a variety to eat firm is the fuyu, which resembles a squat tomato. Core like a tomato, slice it up, stick it in the juicer. One fuyu gave me 2 ounces of sweet, mild flavored juice.

Rum Fuyu

2 oz 10 Cane rum
2 oz fuyu juice
2 dashes Bar Keep Baked Apple Bitters

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Very fresh and bright, and nicely balanced for sweetness. I tried not to slam it with a lot of ingredients because the persimmon is delicate. A little like pumpkin but fruitier.

Gimme a Beet

2011-11-24T06:14:00.000-08:00

Playing with the juice extractor again to make a Thanksgiving vegetable cocktail. I went to the nearby market that juices everything to look for ready-made beet or beet combinations, but you never know what they’ll have juiced on a given day. So I did my own bloody beets, as it were, and a Granny Smith apple as well. I’ve been thinking about the possibility of a snapper-type cocktail with beet and aquavit for a while now, and here’s a first try.

Gimme a Beet

2 oz aquavit (Aalborg)
1 1/2 oz beet juice
1 1/2 oz fresh apple juice
1/2 oz lemon juice

Stir with ice and strain into a old fashioned. Ice cube or two.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Nicely earthy from the beets and the aquavit’s caraway, and of course the color is amazing.

Forbidden City

2011-11-22T19:52:00.000-08:00

There was a half grapefruit in my fridge left over from the previous post, and I wanted to do something Tiki with it. This drink was inspired by descriptions of the old Forbidden Fruit pomelo liqueur, which seems to have been a fine thing indeed.

Forbidden City

2 oz gold Barbados rum
1 oz Demerara rum
3 oz fresh white grapefruit juice
1 tsp allspice dram
1/4 oz honey syrup (1:1)

Shake with ice cubes and strain into a large, ice-filled glass. Long grapefruit twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

The twist really makes this, contributing bright, delicate grapefruit top notes over the dark molasses and spice. I took the twist with a sharp vegetable peeler, removing a little pith with my bar knife.

MxMo LXIII: North Sea Breeze

2011-11-20T13:29:00.000-08:00

A big Fogged In thank you to Jacob Grier of Liquidity Preference for hosting this month’s Mixology Monday. Jacob’s theme is Retro Redemption, the resurrection of drinks from the not-too-distance-past, those post-war decades some still remember, yet others can only glimpse in pictures while laughing at the haircuts. We’ve been challenged to find a good recipe in all that banality, or at least find one that has the potential to be revitalized with a makeover.

For this test of mixological metaphysics, I’ve selected the Sea Breeze, a vodka-cranberry-grapefruit number popular in the 1980s, and which some would say can never really die. [Sounds of zombies moaning.] I have to say I don’t pour much vodka, which tends to disappear in mixed drinks. My favorite replacement is aquavit, which happens to go particularly well with grapefruit juice. While we’re substituting like this, I’m not that fond of prefab cranberry “cocktail,” preferring the full-strength, unsweetened, deep red juice that can be adjusted to taste. Honey goes with grapefruit and aquavit too, so that will be my sweetener.

North Sea Breeze

2 oz aquavit (Aalborg)
3 oz fresh white grapefruit juice
2 oz undiluted cranberry juice
3/4 oz honey syrup (1:1)

Stir with ice and pour unstrained into a 12-ounce glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

I stirred this gently instead of shaking to avoid beating it up too much and losing the intensity of the flavors. This is more bracing and astringent than the classic Sea Breeze. The cranberry suddenly seems very Scandinavian as the tannins get together with the caraway of the aquavit.

The Formica in the photo also belongs to the Sea Breeze era.

Parting Shot

2011-11-18T17:00:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving week in the United States means that the holidays are upon us once again (quick—the pepper spray!) and I’m reminded that for various reasons, you need to have some booze-free recipes on hand. So how about the other beverage kick, caffeine?

Now I’m not talking about some gigantic dairy-laden thing in a paper cup. This is a shooter that your guests can slam before going off into the night in a car. And you can prepare it in advance and have it waiting in the refrigerator. You’ll need to make an anise syrup for it, and you’ll need to make or buy some espresso.

Parting Shot

Start by preparing anise syrup:

1 c water
1 c sugar
3-4 Tbs anise seeds
2 Tbs fennel seeds
4 star anise pods

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring gently about 15 minutes. Cool and strain. Refrigerate if preparing in advance.

Combine syrup with an equal amount of espresso and chill before serving in chilled shot glasses.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

November Weather

2011-11-16T05:49:00.000-08:00

Dreamers with empty hands
May sigh for exotic lands
It’s autumn in New York
It’s good to live it again

—Autumn In New York, Vernon Duke

Lately I’m longing for a Brooklyn visit, but I’ll have to be content to email and phone my peeps back there. In honor of the Big Apple, I’m posting something with my new Bar Keep Baked Apple Bitters, which add a light, woodsy spice note to whiskey and rum cocktails. (I tried them in tequila too but they were too subtle and got lost.) This one’s with Black Label, much enjoyed by my friends back in Brooklyn.

November Weather

2 oz blended scotch (Johnnie Walker Black Label)
3/4 oz madeira
4 dashes Bar Keep Baked Apple Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

I like the way the acidity of the madeira combines with the damp smoke of the peat like a chill you can smell outside the house but don’t feel cuz you’re inside and warm. The apple bitters mostly come through on the nose and brighten the madeira a little.

Bright-Eyed

2011-11-14T06:21:00.000-08:00

You eat your vegetables? Me neither.

Kidding. In fact, I’ve been so into cooking different veggies lately that thought occurs that they ought to appear in more cocktails. I happen to have a centrifuge-type juicer for doing my own root vegetables and apples and stuff, though if I get lazy, there’s a place five blocks away that sells most of the ones you might expect: carrot, carrot-celery, beet, etc. I get the feeling after cleaning the juicer after carrots that I’ll be headed over to that store soon.

Bright-Eyed

2 oz gold barbados rum
2 oz carrot juice
1/2 oz lime juice
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
1 oz spicy ginger beer (Fever Tree)

Shake all except ginger beer with ice and strain into a double old fashioned. Top with ginger and add fresh ice.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

The carrot comes through, nicely accentuated by the spices and the sugar cane from the rum, but keeps the vegetal thing and doesn't get too sweet.

Hot Rum Punch

2011-10-31T05:49:00.000-07:00

Here’s a Jamaica rum punch with arrack I’m working on—tasty but maybe in need of fine tuning. I used tea to heat it, which did the job within tolerance but could’ve been hotter going in.

Hot Rum Punch

1 1/2 oz Jamaica rum (Smith & Cross)
1/2 oz arrack (Batavia Arrack van Oosten)
1/2 oz lemon
1/4 oz rich simple syrup
4 oz strong black tea
lemon peel
about 15 allspice berries

Boil water to make tea and heat a mug. Pour boiling water over tea, the yellow part of the peel of a lemon and allspice berries. While tea is steeping (4-5) minutes), heat mug, then discard hot water. Combine spirits, lemon and syrup in mug. Strain tea into spirit mixture and stir briefly.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

I made the tea in an open vessel, and now see that I should’ve worked a little harder to keep the warmth in it. The spirits and stuff cooled it more than expected, though it was still quite drinkable. I’m also thinking I might’ve bruised the allspice berries a little too. But the housemate and I both enjoyed it. Well worth doing again. The Smith & Cross rum I used gave the right funk for the 18th-century feel of this.

The Last Word?

2011-10-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

From time to time, I find a great drink from a bygone era that’s a little sweet for my taste. Such is the case with the Last Word, an equal parts cocktail that’s two parts liqueur. A certain amount of drinking of things not entirely to your taste is par for the course in the appreciation of classic recipes. But I’m not averse to drying them down if it doesn’t mean dumbing them down too. Luckily, the Last Word has a lot of flavor and adapts easily. I added a little more sour to cut the sweet, but mostly I made it ginnier.

The Last Word (Paraphrased)

2 oz gin
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz maraschino
3/4 oz lime juice

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

As with most classic cocktails, the history of the Last Word is anecodotal. Paul Clarke sums it up with typical elegance.

Speaking of the Last Word, I try not to annoy bartenders, but I had this once in a bar in Park Slope, Brooklyn while waiting for the rain to let up, and the person working there shook the thing until I finally had to stop her. She was a little too special to begin with, and didn’t like the customer explaining how he wanted the drink. Kindly don’t over-dilute my booze.

Bel Canto

2011-10-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

I was trying to think of something else to do with my Gran Classico when this drink came to mind, which turned out to be something else to do with my orange blossom water as well. (Surely it had to be good for something besides melon salad.) Both ingredients seem 19th-century somehow. Careful when you pour the orange flower. Note that those are drops and not dashes, or you’ll end up with a glass of perfume. Do it in a spoon over the measuring glass and not over the shaker.

Bel Canto

2 oz reposado tequila
1/2 oz Gran Glassico Bitter
1/2 oz lime juice
2 drops orange blossom water

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lime twist from a fresh lime with a sharp vegetable peeler.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Sort of a Margarita relative but with a long ago and far away feel. More bitter-herbal with a hint of orange blossom honey.

MxMo LXII: Morning Starfish

2011-10-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Kevin of Cocktail Enthusiast for hosting this month’s Mixology Monday and for a theme very close to my own heart: morning drinks—a theme I hold so dear that this very post was held up a bit by a protracted celebration of the morning. But fear not—dawn’s very rosy finger has touched the recipe offered below. (Hey, it’s dawn somewhere.) A bright and bubbly tequila-grapefruit-Campari thing that’s light enough to let you have at least two, even in the morning.

Morning Starfish

1 oz gold tequila
1/2 oz Campari
1 1/2 – 2 oz fresh grapefruit juice
1 oz lime juice
1 tsp honey
soda
salt and cracked pepper mixture, garnish

Moisten half the rim of a 12-ounce glass with lime or a little honey, and roll carefully in salt-pepper mixture. Set aside. Flash melt honey about 5-10 seconds in microwave. Stir together with lime juice. Add tequila and grapefruit juice and shake with ice. Strain into prepared glass, add fresh ice. Add Campari, top with soda.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Turn of the Screw

2011-10-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

This one’s like a Rusty Nail but tarted up with some lime juice. I thought about calling it a Nail for a Screw. (Heh.) The housemate was somewhat surprised that scotch was the greatest component, as the other stuff tempers and harmonizes with the peat quite a lot. It’s another drink that seems so basic that I suspect an older version somewhere, but didn’t find it with a quick search. If anybody knows a different name, please comment.

Turn of the Screw

1 1/2 oz blended scotch (Johnnie Walker Black Label)
1/2 oz Drambuie
1/2 oz lime juice

Sitr with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Scotch Collins

2011-10-17T20:38:00.000-07:00

A Scotch Collins sounded like a great idea but for some reason, I couldn’t find a recipe that talked specifically about scotch. In the end, I used David Wondrich’s Tom Collins as a rough guide to proportion. Maybe it was a little lighter than intended but definitely good in the warm weather we’ve been having, and the weighty scotch I used came through all the soda.

Scotch Collins

2 oz blended scotch (Johnnie Walker Black Label)
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 tsp rich simple syrup
soda to fill

Stir all but soda with ice, and strain into an ice-filled collins glass. Fill with cold soda. Lemon garnish.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE

Smith & Cross Cooler

2011-10-15T20:29:00.001-07:00

Don’t know what it is—maybe the San Francisco Indian summer—but I’m craving fizzy rum sours. I was just saying to the housemate that my drinking today has been all of a type: brunch was a Pusser’s Navy Rum Collins, then later a Churchill’s Southside while I was taking a break from my errands. At home, I stared at the bottles for inspiration but it was the same story.

Smith & Cross Cooler

2 generous dashes Angostura Bitters
2 oz Smith & Cross
juice of half a lime
spicy ginger beer, about 3-4 oz (Fever Tree)

Build in a 12-ounce glass over ice cubes. Stir gently and briefly.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

These are all things that are made to go together. It’s nicely dry and clean, with a balance of aromatic, bitter, sour and strong. I guess it’s a classic drink, though I have no idea what else you’d call it so I named it after the rum.

Mai Tai Punsch

2011-10-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

I was sipping a little Rhum Clément and thinking how well it would go with a tea note. This strained drink borrows flavors from the Mai Tai with Swedish Punsch in place of the curacao. I used BG Reynold’s orgeat. Lately, it’s got interesting little bits of almond, but they would’ve been strange in this so I strained them out.

Mai Tai Punsch

2 oz amber Martinique rum
1/2 oz Swedish Punsch (Underhill Punsch)
1/2 oz orgeat (BG Reynolds)
1/2 oz lime juice

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

St. George Negroni Three Ways

2011-10-11T05:10:00.000-07:00

As a number of earlier posts attest, I’ve been having a lot of fun with the new gins from St. George Spirits. I’ve been playing with the Dry Rye and the Terroir, and now I’ve found the Botanivore, a sort of super-gin of 19 botanicals. The least outrageous of the three, it’s elegant dry gin for classic cocktails made the traditional way. Thinking of this classicism, I decided it would be interesting to try the three gins in the same Negroni recipe to show their differences. The Negroni has a ton of personality—a perfect match for three personality gins.

For the Negroni recipe, I went with an ounce and a half of gin and three-quarters of an ounce each of Campari and Carpano Antica sweet vermouth, orange twist. I briefly considered the classic one ounce of each, but wanted to emphasize the gin, and like my Negronis drier anyway. I also opted for straight up, stirred, instead of on the rocks.

First up was Botanivore, and the resulting cocktail tasted, well, like a Negroni. A good one. I wanted to use less of the other stuff to taste the gin, which is what always happens to me unless the drink is made even drier than 2:1:1.

Next there was Dry Rye, and the juniper and black pepper notes not only overpowered the Campari, believe it or not, but crushed it. Tasty, but not much like a Negroni. I remade it later in the 1-to-1-to-1 ratio, which worked a lot better. Big and fruity.

Last came Terroir. This gin is about surprise and the Negroni made with it was no different. The Douglas fir and bay laurel came together with the citrus and spice notes from the Campari and vermouth in a uniquely aromatic feast redolent of frosty mornings, the mountains and Christmas. It was sort of recognizable as a Negroni, but with a highly distinctive green note. I’d like to try this in the equal-measure version as well, though it was good the way I made it.

All three St. George gins performed very well. For this recipe, the Botanivore was classic, the Dry Rye needed to be balanced differently, and the Terroir shone in a special way.

Willett Rye

2011-10-09T09:05:00.001-07:00

I bounced into my local with a grin and told the bartender, “I got me a new baby—Willett Rye!” I had it there several days before when the other guy was on. Unless I’m in a cocktailian bar, I almost always drink Manhattans if the place can actually make a cocktail. It’s sort of endearing to be remembered for a drink—something that doesn’t happen to me as much since I left off drinking neat scotch. And as I still like some alcoholic heat, I was very excited to find Willett. The bottle of single barrel rye I went out and bought within that hour was a 4-year at 55 percent alcohol. Mixed with a sufficiency of Carpano Antica and Angostura Bitters, it’s like driving a sofa down the freeway.

Telegraph Hill

2011-10-07T05:47:00.000-07:00

I’m not sure what I was browsing when I found the Drakensburger in the CocktailDB, a white rum sour with Van der Hum sourced from the Café Royal Cocktail Book. I liked the 1930s look of it. The Rose’s Lime Cordial would make it far too sweet, but it was clearly a Pegu Club relative. I thought right away of the new St. George Terroir Gin with all its evergreen funk as a more complex base for the aromatics of the tangerine liqueur. In place of the Van der Hum, I used Mandarine Napoléon.

Telegraph Hill

1 1/2 oz St. George Terroir Gin
1/2 oz tangerine liqueur
1/2 oz lime juice

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Fort Greene

2011-10-05T05:26:00.000-07:00

This cocktail owes some inspiration to the Slope, which Frederic posted last week and I wanted to try. But it would’ve meant opening a bottle of Punt e Mes, and my fridge was looking a little overcrowded with similar bottles of aromatized wine and the like. I reached for the sherry instead.

Like the Slope, Fort Greene is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York.

Fort Greene

2 oz rye
1/2 oz Amontillado sherry
1/4 oz apricot brandy
dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Autumn Fruit Gin Sour

2011-10-03T12:28:00.000-07:00

More homemade stuff again—and not by accident this time. I don’t know what came over me, but I actually felt motivated enough to overcome my sloth and make cocktail syrup. Come to think of it, I was inspired by the spicy rye and peppercorn notes in St. George’s Dry Rye Gin, my new favorite thing on earth. It’s a natural for pairings with all the fruits of fall and winter—I could even see it with a large orange vegetable or two. But for this syrup, I used a combination of ripe pears, figs and apples, about 2-3 of each. The pear really stands out with the juniper and pepper. Whatever fruit you use, poach in rich simple syrup (2:1) until soft, as you would for fruit to use over ice cream. Remove fruit and reserve (for ice cream, of course). Pour through a fine mesh strainer and bottle. I added a splash of Lemon Hart 151 to mine to improve shelf life.

Autumn Fruit Gin Sour

2 oz St George Dry Rye Gin
1/2 oz autumn fruit syrup
1/2 oz lemon and/or lime juice

Shake with ice and train into an chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Monterey Bay

2011-10-01T11:48:00.001-07:00

Old Father Time checked, so there’d be no doubt,
Called on the north wind to come on out,
Then cupped his hands, so proudly to shout,
“La-de-da, de-da-de-dum, ’tis Autumn!”

—Henry Nemo, ’Tis Autumn

A big, smoky one full of fruit for the turning of the season. Fall makes me all dreamy-eyed, like I don’t want to do anything but sit around and watch the sky and the stuff floating inside my head. It’s the time in Northern California everybody seems to like best.

Monterey Bay

2 oz reposado tequila
1/2 oz crème de framboise
1/2 oz crème de cassis
1/4 oz mezcal
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz lime juice
2 oz soda, or to taste

Combine all but soda and shake with ice. Top with soda and stir gently. Lemon wheel.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Big Yellow Curry

2011-09-29T04:22:00.001-07:00

A banana was sitting around the kitchen for days trying to talk to me but I couldn’t understand what it was saying. Finally I recognized the accent and away we went.

Big Yellow Curry

3 oz gold Jamaica rum
3 oz pineapple juice
1/2 ripe banana
1 tsp simple syrup
1/8 tsp yellow curry powder

Blend with a cup of crushed ice about 20 seconds at high speed and serve in a tall glass. Mint garnish.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Tamarind Tamarin

2011-09-27T22:05:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite pastimes: wandering the shops eyeing everything as a potential drink ingredient. The tamarind paste is a brand called Neela’s. It’s 100 percent tamarind without seeds. Tamarind is something that grows from a tree. Tamarin is something that lives in a tree.

Tamarind Tamarin

2 oz resposado tequila
1 oz pineapple juice
2 tsp tamarind paste

Combine pineapple juice and tamarind paste in a shaker with a barspoon. Add tequila and ice, and shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

MxMo LXI: Local Color

2011-09-25T16:17:00.001-07:00

Warm thanks to Lindsay of Alcohol Alchemy for hosting this month’s Mixology Monday. Her theme is Local Color, drinks based on regionally made artisanal spirits. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we’re home to some of the most distinguished craft distillers, Anchor Distilling in San Francisco and St. George Spirits in Alameda among them. I could go on about all the delicious things from both companies, but this post is about their specialty gins, featured here in two classic recipes.

DUTCH UP YOUR SAZERAC
That’s not a Cosmo in the picture, folks. As David Wondrich points out in Imbibe! Hollands gin, or genever, responds quite well to the Sazerac treatment, and while the results may look like candy from the bitters, this is serious drinking. Here I’ve used Anchor’s Genevieve, an unaged genever in the antique style.

Genever Sazerac

2 oz genever (Genevieve)
1/2 tsp absinthe (St. George—what else?)
4 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
1 tsp simple syrup

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE, PROPORTIONS FROM CHUCK TAGGART, LOOKA!

CORPSES AND COPSES
Two of my neighborhood bottle shops less than a block apart have each decided on a different St. George gin to stock. Fine with me. The Terroir is the offbeat one: inspired by the botanicals of California wilderness, it has notes of Douglas fir, fennel, bay laurel and sage along with the juniper—a forest spirit. The housemate and I dig that kind of thing, and stood around the patio in the blowing mists, wearing our magic helmets and nipping the gin out of shot glasses. “Mm—arboreal!”

Whenever I get an unusual gin, I like to try it in a Corpse Reviver No. 2. It has the right degree of mildness to take on the personality of the spirit, and a botanical edge from the gin balances the sweet.

Corpse Reviver No. 2

3/4 oz gin (St. George Terroir)
3/4 oz Cointreau (Seniors Curacao)
3/4 oz Kina Lillet (Cocchi Americano)
3/4 oz lemon juice
1 drop absinthe (St. George Absinthe Verte)

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
ADAPTED FROM HARRY CRADDOCK, THE SAVOY COCKTAIL BOOK

There seems to be agreement that this is an equal parts cocktail (except for the absinthe, of course), but the volume tends to vary with the editor. Dr. Cocktail gives a full ounce, which makes for a fine bucket of booze, though maybe more than you’d want to suck down on a hangover. The CocktailDB, gaz regan and Erik Ellestad give it 3/4 of an ounce, which makes up to a nice size if a bit light for general purposes.

With an assertive gin like the Terroir, it doesn’t make much difference if it’s one drop or two (or three) of absinthe.

The Terroir is very successful here—slightly savory, which is nice with the lemon. Don’t wait until your next drinking misadventure to freshen up your corpse.

10:30 PM: NIGHTCAP!
I guess I oughta finish this thing off, but I can’t stop playing.

Over dinner, my housemate remarked that the St. George Dry Rye Gin I urged him to make a Martini with for himself last night turned out kind of odd. We had both tasted it neat, and it seemed like a suitable kind of juniperous stuff with which to make a Dry Martini Cocktail. “Like it had a splash of rye in it,” was how he put it. Like that’s a bad thing? I sniffed again: almost like a dry genever. The light came on: Eureka! I knew what to do.

El Camino Real

2 oz St. George Dry Rye Gin
1 oz Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth
2 dashes Creole Bitters

Sitr with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

This gin, with its splash of rye, as the housemate put it, has an intense juniper wallop that rings out clear over sweet vermouth and who knows what else you might throw at it. A great cocktail ingredient.

Mr. Keith

2011-09-23T05:29:00.000-07:00

Gonna find my way to heaven, ’cause I did my time in hell
I wasn't looking too good but I was feeling real well

—Before they Make Me Run, M. Jagger/K. Richards

Tiki time again, or in this case, tikibilly cuz there’s definitely some rock and roll in this one. Inspiration came from the mug below, Ye Olde Treasure Mappe, found on a recent trip to Portland, Oregon. (There’s just something tikibilly about Portland, one of the many reasons I keep going back.) The Mappe is one of a numbered edition designed by Katie Mello of Rum Demon.

Mr. Keith

1 oz Bacardi 151
1 oz Averna
1/2 oz Cruzan Blackstrap
1/2 oz allspice dram
1 tsp absinthe
1/4 oz lemon juice

Shake with a cup of crushed ice, and pour into a 12-oz mug or glass. Crushed ice to fill, straw.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Dark, spicy, intense. This one made me think right away of a certain guitarist, but shares a name with my housemate’s dad as well. This drink is for him.

Aquavit and French

2011-09-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

There are a few variations of the Dry Martini recipe remixed with aquavit. Here I’ve decided to follow the Martini proportions from the 1906 version by Charlie Mahoney that appears in David Wondrich’s Imbibe! So far, this is my favorite classic cocktail with aquavit. The spirit really shines, and the drink seems more assertive than the gin version. I have to say that for this particular ratio of spirit to vermouth, I actually like aquavit better than the original.

Aquavit and French

1 1/2 oz aquavit (Aalborg)
1 1/2 oz dry vermouth
1 dash orange bitters (Angostura Orange)

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
SOURCE: BASED ON CHARLIE MAHONEY’S “MAHONEY COCKTAIL,” DAVID WONDRICH, IMBIBE!

The gin one calls for an orange twist. I had a lemon. The drink’s a bit small for the glass in the photo but it was the best one I had to capture the turn-of-the-century feel of this.

Last Will and Testament

2011-09-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

A drink for summer’s end: green and gold notes, hints of spice and smoke. There are some finicky little measures, but it has several things that could easily overpower it so I’ve specified the amounts to keep it under control.

Last Will and Testament

2 oz gin (Tanqueray)
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Velvet Falernum
1/2 oz lime juice
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 tsp Ardbeg single malt
1/4 tsp allspice dram
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Sunday Morning

2011-09-07T21:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning, praise the dawning
It's just a restless feeling by my side
Early dawning, Sunday morning
It's just the wasted years so close behind

—Lou Reed and John Cale

One of my favorite wine cocktails. I’ve never liked ordinary Mimosas much but enjoyed them with Campari. It gives the drink an edge and there’s that nice sunrise color. I’m not sure when I started drinking them that way, though I remember sitting around with my friends in New York one morning and we all knew what to do without having to discuss it really, beyond saying how much we liked them. Here’s a version with a couple of dashes of other bitters besides.

I should remember this as a use for oranges I’ve peeled for twists.

Sunday Morning

juice of a Valencia orange
1/2 oz Campari
2 dashes orange bitters
2 dashes Angostura bitters
4 oz dry sparkling wine or to taste (prosecco)

Shake all but sparkling wine with ice and strain into a chilled wine glass. Add bubbles, orange twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Pear 75

2011-09-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

As you might guess, this is a variation on the classic French 75 that’s made with pear brandy. I like Poire Williams a lot but it’s very assertive, so I tend to use it in conjunction with some other base to keep the pear from becoming too dominant.

Pear 75

1 oz Poire Williams eau-de-vie
1 oz old tom gin
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 tsp simple syrup
brut champagne to fill

Fill an 8-10 ounce glass halfway with crushed ice. Combine all but champagne with ice in a shaker and strain into the prepared glass. Fill with Champagne and stir gently. Lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

I did two versions: one with crushed ice, one without. I could go either way. The ice one was very cold. The up one was soft and velvety.

Reverse Martini

2011-09-02T17:47:00.000-07:00

You sometimes see an article that attempts to persuade people who think they don’t like gin that they’ve just had a bad drink. (Usually the case.) The Reverse Martini might do the same for the reputation of vermouth. I doubt many people in so-called Martini bars have any idea what vermouth tastes like. If they do, it was a nip of the stuff they picked up cheap and tasted warm, then left open in the cupboard to oxidize for the next several years. All those customers who are told they want a Martini made with that goofy atomizer should try a decent vermouth drink with a reliable brand that’s been stored they way you would an open bottle of wine, which is what vermouth is.

Reportedly, Julia Child liked this cocktail. She had taste and liked a bit of booze as much as the next, so she ought to have known.

Reverse Martini

2 oz dry vermouth (Dolin)
1/2 oz dry gin (Tanqueray)
1-2 dashes orange bitters (Angostura Orange)

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.

I’ve taken my standard Martini recipe and just inverted it. The housemate and I tried a Cocchi Americano one too, which was richer and very different. He liked the Cocchi a little better than I did, though both were good pre-prandial cocktails.

George Plantagenet Cocktail

2011-08-31T21:47:00.000-07:00

Have some madeira, m’dear
You really have nothing to fear
I’m not trying to tempt you, that wouldn’t be right
You shouldn’t drink spirits at this time of night

—Madeira M’ Dear, Michael Flanders and Donald Swann

This first in a wine cocktail series is based on Madeira, of which I am fond more than somewhat. For the Madeira in this, I used a 5-year Malmsey, a very tasty wine, so I’ve called this drink after George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, who was supposed to have been drowned in a butt of Malmsey, poor devil. Whatever really happened, it’s still a hell of a way to go. Everybody raise a glass to old George.

George Plantagenet Cocktail

2 oz Madeira
1 oz gold Barbados rum
1/2 oz lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Pear Sidecar

2011-08-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

I had a great Pear Sidecar at Rams Head in NW Portland that was made from Edgefield Distillery’s own pear brandy. The one I show here combines cognac with a touch of Poire Williams. Feels very French to me for some reason—not just because of the two brandies but there’s just something about pear.

Pear Sidecar

1 1/2 oz cognac
1/2 oz Poire Williams eau-de-vie
3/4 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz lemon juice

Shake and strain into an ice cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Ephemeral Horse

2011-08-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

Life’s a little hectic here at the the lounge lately. I came up with this one few nights ago and barely had time to take the picture, let alone write something. It's got a good dose of Pedro Ximénez sherry held in check by a little Amaro Nonino.

Ephemeral Horse

2 oz blanco tequila
3/4 oz Pedro Ximénez sherry
1/4 oz Amaro Nonino
1/2 oz lime juice
3 dashes Bitter Truth Xocolatl Mole Bitters
Mezcal to rinse

Rinse chilled cocktail glass with mezcal. Shake remaining ingredient with ice and strain.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

The Breakfast Cocktail

2011-08-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

Rich, elegant, herbal. The housemate and I are of differing views on whether this is best with bitters or without. Good either way, though for me, the bitters adds an astringency that makes it and dries the whole thing down. But I suppose adjusting the ratio of Chartreuse to cognac would cut the sweet a bit while preserving what the housemate calls a roundness. I see his point.

The Breakfast of Champions, as a certain Vonnegut waitress tells us, is the Martini, though Dr Johnson notes that to be a hero, one must drink brandy.

The Breakfast Cocktail

1 oz Green Chartreuse
1 – 1 1/2 oz cognac
1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1 tsp Poire Williams
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz lime juice
1 dash Bitter Truth Creole Bitters or other aromatic bitters (optional)

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN. FOGGED IN LOUNGE

For an old friend.

Jamaica Ginger Blues

2011-08-05T06:22:00.000-07:00

A preacher drank some ginger, he said he did it for ’flu
That was his excuse for having the jake leg too
He got the jake leg too, he got the jake leg too.

—I Got the Jake Leg Too, recorded by the Ray Brothers, 1930

The distinction between alcoholic beverages and medicinal preparations has not always been sharply drawn, though Prohibition in the U.S. helped to force the issue. Sometimes a patent medicine was all the booze one could put a hand to. Patent medicines were often dangerous in their own right, but Jamaica ginger extract or “jake,” which had been harmless for years, became the means by which a couple of bootleggers poisoned thousands of people with an additive they believed was harmless, causing often permanent paralysis of the limbs and other symptoms.

The jake leg story haunts me, so I was grimly amused to find recipes with dashes of Jamaica ginger in the elegant Café Royal Cocktail Book. While the poisoning episode seems confined to the early part of 1930 and the victims were drinking a couple of ounces of the stuff mixed with cola, here’s a patent medicine turning up in some Canadian whiskey cocktails. In light of the history, it’s hard not to feel a little spooked.

Nevertheless, I wondered what they tasted like.

There’s a recipe for something called “Flu,” (nice macabre touch), which contains 3/4 Canadian Club Whisky, 1/4 lemon juice, 1 dash Jamaica ginger, 3 dashes rock candy syrup, 3 dashes ginger brandy. The instructions say to shake and strain but do not ice. Leaving aside the question of why anybody would bother to strain something like this without ice, I’m wondering if anyone actually drank this for flu or whether it simply tasted like one might. I think I’ll pass.

Then we have the Hot Deck. It sounds like a Manhattan with a little Jamaica ginger in place of the bitters. Now we’re getting somewhere. Here it is, with plain culinary ginger extract standing in for the jake.

Hot Deck

1 dash Jamaica Ginger (1/4 tsp ginger extract)
1/4 Martini Sweet Vermouth (3/4 oz sweet vermouth)
3/4 Canadian Club Whisky (2 1/4 oz straight rye)

Mix and strain into a cocktail glass.
SOURCE: CAFÉ ROYAL COCKTAIL BOOK, CORONATION EDITION, COMPILED BY W.J. TARLING, 1937

Though not excellent, this is a perfectly drinkable cocktail. It may not be accidental that the dash of ginger is put first since it takes over the whole thing, and blended whiskey, had I actually used it, would probably fare worse.

These drinks also turn up in the venerable CocktailDB, along with other Jamaica ginger recipes. I tried another, Here’s How, which seems to refer to how to make a weird drink out of good ingredients. Don’t. There is even a nifty icon on the CocktailDB home page called Strange Drink Chemistry that talks about Jamaica ginger and links to the recipes. While they don’t look very nice, they probably won’t poison you.

The Doctor Is Out

2011-08-03T06:15:00.000-07:00

We’re in a scotch mood again (or do I mean still?) over here in the crepuscular haze of the Fogged In Lounge. The doctor is out, not that you’d be able to tell most of the time anyway.

The Doctor Is Out

1 1/2 oz Ardbeg
1/2 oz Cruzan Black strap rum
1/2 oz Gran Classico

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Foggy Mountain Breakdown

2011-07-26T23:03:00.000-07:00

Another scotch cocktail for the dank chill on the hills around the Fogged In Lounge. This one’s for my buddy Matt who gave me that swell bottle of Peat Monster. Many good drinks have come out of said bottle.

Foggy Mountain Breakdown

2 oz blended scotch (Peat Monster)
3/4 oz Drambuie
1 oz lime juice
ginger ale or ginger beer to fill (Fever Tree ginger ale)

Combine all except ginger ale over ice and stir. Strain into 10-oz tall glass. Add fresh ice and fill with ginger. Stir gently.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Mango Nectar Taste Comparison

2011-07-23T13:41:00.000-07:00

I’m sending this one out to DJ HawaiianShirt, wizard of the aging barrel and the inspiration for this post. We were discussing a recipe I submitted for his excellent MxMo in April, and I said that the results varied with the brand of mango nectar used. This variation isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if you want the spirits to be fairly forward in a mango drink, it’s worth noting that the thickness and intensity of mango nectar are widely different from brand to brand.

So I decided to taste some products that were available within walking distance of my front door. Alas, one of the nicer brands for mixing I had found months back had vanished without a trace. (I can’t even remember the name.) This left Ceres, Looza, R.W. Knudsen and a fresh juice product I had never seen before from Mollie Stone’s, a local supermarket chain. Another item I would’ve included, a national brand, was left out of the contest due to the presence of high fructose corn syrup. (Yeah, I know—it’s in everything. We can do without it this once.)

The testing procedure for each of these brands was simple: taste it by itself, then mixed 4:3 with Mount Gay Eclipse. The nectar would be evaluated on its own merits, the degree to which it tasted like mango, and how well it played with the rum. The tasting notes below list the brands in the order in which we tried them. We went through all the brands for each of the two parts of the test separately, though for convenience, all the notes are shown together under the name of the brand.

MANGO NECTAR BY BRAND

Ceres Mango: Of the two ingredients, the first is pear, and it definitely tastes like pear. Not much like mango, though tasty. Not too sweet. A little candy-like with Mount Gay.

R.W. Knudsen Family Mango Nectar: Lots of different fruits in this. General impression is more apple-peach than mango. Warmer flavor than the Ceres. Housemate preferred the Ceres. Combined poorly with Mount Gay.

Mollie Stone’s Mango Madness: Very fresh. Distinct mango flavor and somewhat thicker body than the previous two. Contains white grape as the second ingredient, which drops into the background. The flavor of the Mount Gay came through, though the nectar was so clean and fresh that a little sugar would’ve helped it talk to the rum.

Looza Mango Nectar: Rich, velvety, big mango flavor—especially on the finish. The only adjuncts are water and sugar, so it really tastes like mango. Goes beautifully with the Mount Gay but absorbs it into its seductive golden thickness.

SUMMARY

The Ceres and Knudsen were good as bottled juice beverages though I wouldn’t use them in mixed drinks that call for mango.

The Mollie Stone’s may have some applications in mixed drinks, though it’s so refreshing it might be used to temper something with a liqueur component.

Looza was the standout, as I expected it to be, though it tended to smother. We mixed it 50-50 with El Dorado 5-Year and drank that on the rocks at the end of the experiment, and it worked out fine. The rum and the fruit combined into a sort of liquid caramel in the glass. It’s a tricky thing to balance the amber fire and the golden fog.

With this in mind, here’s a recipe that attempts some sort of compromise between the rum and the mango.

Misty Mango Hop

2 oz gold Jamaica rum
2 oz Looza mango nectar
1/2 oz Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur
1/2 oz lime juice
1/2 oz Lemon Hart 151 rum

Combine all except Lemon Hart 151 with one cup crushed iced and stir until cold. Pour into a large glass and add crushed ice to fill. Float Lemon Hart 151. Cherry, lime. Straw.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

I know—there’s no straw in the picture. (All I had were striped bendy straws.) Drink this with a straw, though. If you suck the Lemon Hart off the top first, you won’t taste the other stuff much. It’s better if the float just stays at the top and fortifies the drink as you get to the icy part at the end.

Red Goldfish

2011-07-21T19:45:00.001-07:00

Life at the Lounge is in no small part aquatic. There are all manner of piscine and amphibious creatures of all forms and sizes. (A couple of ’em are bipedal and merely drink like fish, but whatcha gonna do.)

I’m playing a lot with Campari lately. This drink strikes me as slightly Asian with its citrus, ginger and almond notes. The falernum and Campari together seem almost savory, taking the burn off the lime without adding much sugar.

Red Goldfish

1 1/2 oz Cruzan light rum
1/2 oz Appleton V/X rum
1/2 oz Velvet Falernum
1/2 oz oz Campari
1/2 oz lime juice
few drops Peychaud’s Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Orange ’n’ Stormy

2011-07-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

The signature highball of Gosling’s Black Seal and possibly of Gothic novelists as well, the Dark ’n’ Stormy is amenable to the sorts of additions that generally go with rum. Black Seal Rum in particular has a certain affinity for orange, as is demonstrated in this orange bitters variation I had a while ago at Annabelle’s Bar & Bistro here in town, a reliable refuge of house-made cherries and such when the downtown shopping morons drive you to seek the waters of Lethe. Annabelle’s did it with Regans’ No. 6, which makes a tasty drink, though I used Angostura Orange this time.

Orange ’n’ Stormy

2 oz Gosling’s Black Seal Rum
ginger beer
2 dashes orange bitters

Build over ice and stir gently. Orange wheel.
SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM ANNABELLE’S BAR & BISTRO

R for Rocket

2011-07-11T21:53:00.001-07:00

I’ve been waiting for another idea for Campari and cacao. Here it is with another favorite, aquavit. Caraway goes nicely with the bittersweet notes in both Campari and cacao. (If you like caraway as much as I do, it goes with everything.)

R for Rocket

1 1/2 oz aquavit (Aalborg)
3/4 oz Campari
1/4 crème de cacao (Joseph Cartron cacao brun)
1/2 oz lime juice

Stir with ice cubes and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Wood and paper rocket toy by LEAFpdx.

Demerara Cocktail

2011-07-08T05:30:00.000-07:00

It’s tempting to call this “remixed” since I keep doing slight variations of this potent number by Mariano Licudine, but it’s just a matter of running out of some basic ingredient whenever I feel like making one. And I often feel like making one. It’s spirit-forward, rich, complex—great for those moments when you find yourself saying you want a real drink.

Demerara Cocktail

2 oz Lemon Hart Demerara rum (El Dorado 12 Year)
1 oz gold Puerto Rican rum (Mount Gay Eclipse Barbados rum)
1 oz lime juice
1/2 oz passion fruit nectar
1 tsp sugar syrup (1/4 oz Trader Tiki passion fruit syrup)

Shake with ice cubes and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: JEFF “BEACHBUM” BERRY, SIPPIN’ SAFARI

Fogged In Sangria

2011-07-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

This Fourth of July, I volunteered to command the grill, so I had my punch ready two days in advance—an opportunity to play with maceration. I went for sangria this year, and used the peels from the citrus and some sliced red plums, all of which I strained out the morning of the party.

Fogged In Sangria

2 bottles Rioja
12 oz gold rum
4 oz curacao
4 plums
4 oranges
2 lemons

Remove the colored part of the orange and lemon peels with a sharp vegetable peeler, avoiding the white pith. Set in large bowl or jug. Add sliced plums, juice of oranges and lemons, rum and wine. Store in the refrigerator for a couple of days, then strain. Serve with ice and a bottle of soda on the side. Guests can dilute the sangria to taste.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

This had plenty of citrus oil on the nose, as you might expect, and some tartness and fresh fruit notes from the plums that went very well with the wine. Nice and dry, and good with the food. (I was double fisting in the smoke and the heat with a Sierra Nevada, and it went OK with that too.)

A Few of My Favorite Things: Mayahuel Roundup

2011-07-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

There’s such an array of riches on the Mayahuel list that I’m sort of amazed our bartender Kate could keep it all straight. I’m not even sure I remember everything my friends and I tasted on this recent adventure (I know somebody ordered the cocktail in the photo above) but three stand out:

The Mad Cardoon is a long drink of mezcal, cognac, pineapple, lemon and Cardamaro. Funny to think of it but I hadn’t put it together that Cardamaro’s got cardoon in it. I confess to never having eaten a cardoon so I couldn’t say what one tastes like, but the pineapple was very forward and gave it that balance of smoke and fruit you hope for in such potations. The brandy seemed to help too.

The elegant Warlock, an aromatic elixir of reposado tequila, Punt e Mes, pear eau de vie with a rinse of mezcal and absinthe, is one I’ll be playing with at home. If you’re in for a long session, the Warlock would be a good place to start before your palate gets smoky from all the drinks that are heavier on mezcal and from that amazing red salsa.

The West of East India Cocktail is a like a list of sure-fire ingredients, so it’s not too surprising that it’s so drinkable: reposado tequila, Demerara rum, East India sherry, falernum, Amaro Nonino and Xocolatl Mole Bitters. Broadly appealing, it looks like a few of someone else’s favorite things too.

All these fine concoctions were compounded with aplomb by Kate, who made us feel at home right away. Many thanks to her for a great visit.

Slivovitz Cocktail

2011-07-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a packed trip to New York City which included lots of family business and socializing, both leading to drink in one way or another. Here’s one I did on the fly when visiting some friends who invited me to make use of their bar. I’ve had slivovitz with them often over the years so it seemed apt to make a drink with it that evening. I pretty much did what would’ve been called a Fancy Brandy Cocktail in Jerry Thomas’ day. It’s actually fairly plain by modern standards unless you’re in the habit of taking your slivovitz neat.

Slivovitz Cocktail

2 oz slivovitz
1/4 oz triple sec
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Build over ice.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

This should really have a twist, I guess, but it was one of those evenings when there was such a thing as too fancy.

Summer and Smoke: Smoky Martini

2011-06-23T22:50:00.000-07:00

There are several versions of this out there—some have vermouth, some don’t. This here’s my usual Martini but with a little scotch and a lemon twist. Mark Kingwell in Classic Cocktails calls it a Dashiell Hammett. I haven’t run across that name for it before, but as a fan, I could easily see Nick Charles or even the Continental Op enjoying several of these.

Smoky Martini

2 oz dry gin (Bluecoat)
1/2 oz dry vermouth (Dolin)
1 tsp smoky scotch (Peat Monster)

Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE

Like the last one, this has just a touch of smoke to accent the other flavors. For one in which the scotch is intense, see the Dorini.

Summer and Smoke: Smoky Margarita

2011-06-21T22:31:00.000-07:00

We’re having one of our infrequent heat waves here in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I’ve been making intense drinks for the intense weather. Here’s a mezcal-scented Margarita, our recipe for chili night at the Lounge. You could go smokier here, but for this I like to use mezcal as an accent to the basic Margarita flavor.

Smoky Margarita

2 oz reposado tequila
3/4 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1/4 oz mezcal
kosher salt, for rim

Rim a chilled cocktail glass with cut lime and kosher salt. Shake remaining ingredients with ice and strain into prepared glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

MxMo LVIII: Favorite Niche Spirit

2011-06-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Filip of Adventures in Cocktails for hosting this month’s Mixology Monday. Filip’s theme is Favorite Niche Spirit, and he’s challenged us to post a drink based on something other than the standard options: gin, rye, bourbon, rum, etc. Friends reading this might expect me to do an aquavit post, but I’m suddenly inspired by a bottle of Maraska kirsch. It’s an assertive and fairly funky cherry eau-de-vie, and I thought it might stand up to and compliment the strong nut flavors of amontillado.

Solar Radio

2 oz kirsch
1 oz amontillado
1-2 dashes Angostura bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Amarena or other sweet, dark cherry garnish.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

A complex, dry cocktail. The sherry seems very forward at first, but the kirsch becomes increasingly pervasive. The dessert cherry gives some contrast at the end but still relates to the cherry and almond notes in the drink.

Arnaud’s Special Cocktail

2011-06-17T22:26:00.000-07:00

As I think I’ve said once or twice, I love scotch cocktails. Ever since I posted the Laphroaig Rob Roy, I’ve been looking for a similar drink to do with Ardbeg, another very peaty malt. This evening, I was leafing through Dr. Cocktail wondering what to do with my Dubonnet, and the Arnaud’s Special caught my eye. I’ve given it the peat treatment.

Ardbeg Arnaud’s

1 1/2 oz Ardbeg single malt
1 1/2 Dubonnet
3 dashes Regans’ No. 6 Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail shaker. Orange twist.
SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM ARNAUD’S SPECIAL COCKTAIL, VINTAGE SPIRITS & FORGOTTEN COCKTAILS, TED HAIGH, A.K.A. DR. COCKTAIL

This was, at least in its original iteration, a signature drink of Arnaud’s Restaurant in New Orleans in the 1940s-50s. I’ve changed the proportions to balance the intensity of the malt. I tried it with Angostura Orange Bitters too, and a dash is ample.

Hercules

2011-06-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

I’ve been itching to play with my Demerara rum. This one draws some inspiration from another rum cocktail with Campari, the Jungle Bird. (See Tiare and Frederic editions.) It’s all about a setting for the rum, with bitters, fruit and cacao bringing out lights and complexity. A nice strong one for the middle of the week.

Hercules

2 oz Demerara rum (El Dorado 5-year)
1/2 oz dark Jamaica rum (Coruba)
1/2 oz dark crème de cacao
1/2 oz Campari
3/4 oz lime juice
Dash Angostura Bitters

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lime wheel.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

This is a Sidecar?

2011-06-13T23:42:00.000-07:00

Someone who walks up to a bar and orders a Sidecar is likely to want something quite specific—a known quantity. The customer ordering that drink by name without consulting the list is probably not interested in what someone added just to be different any more than a Rum and Coke customer wants Pepsi. (Sorry if this all seems pedantic but lately I’ve been served some pretty nasty things.)

The Sidecar is a three-ingredient classic cocktail than anyone can make and every professional should know. The proportions are a matter of taste, but the ingredients are brandy, Cointreau and lemon juice. Lime is a reasonable substitution without changing the basic personality of the drink. Some people like to add things to the formula, which are sometimes very nice, but the Sidecar cannot be improved upon. And if you substitute an ingredient, it is no longer a Sidecar but something else, and also not an improvement, however tasty it might be.

Some unsuitable things that have turned up in my glass when I ordered a Sidecar:

Orange juice
Muddled orange slices
Bourbon
Simple syrup
Sweet and sour mix
Soda
Some unidentified substance smelling of bowl freshener

It seems to me that the easiest way to deal with the problem of making a drink you don’t know is to ask how it’s made.

Sidecar

1 1/2 – 2 oz brandy
3/4 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The proportions above are what I happen to prefer, pouring a little on the strong side. Like so many of the best things in life, Sidecars are best rich and boozy. Gautier VSOP cognac makes a great Sidecar, as does Courvoisier VS. A good drink reveals the spirit. To those who have served me bad Sidecars, I simply say fear not the booze. Let it be your friend.

Concorde

2011-06-09T21:45:00.001-07:00

This combination of flavors has been in my head for a while: off-dry, gin and lime, a white wine note. As much as I’m taken with Fever Tree ginger beer lately, I used Reed’s for this to compliment the subtlety of white vermouth. You could use a spicier ginger beer but reduce the amount.

Concorde

1 1/2 oz gin
1 1/2 oz dry vermouth
1/2 oz lime
about 4 oz ginger beer (Reed’s Extra Ginger)

Stir all but ginger beer with ice cubes and pour into a 10 oz glass. Fill with ginger beer. Lime garnish.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Fogged In Fog Cutter

2011-06-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

We have our own version of the classic Fog Cutter here at the Lounge, based loosely on the Beachcomber recipe found in Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh. The Fog Cutter typically calls for lemon but I do this one with lime. It also calls for orgeat, but finding that I’d run out, I substituted honey.

Any rich, dark, mellow honey should be fine for this. The Capay Valley wildflower honey I’ve used in the one shown was another weekend find at the Ferry Building. It’s about the density of a popsicle. It bent the measuring spoon and I had to get a regular teaspoon from the silverware drawer to moose the stuff out of the jar. Worth it, though.

The Fogged In Fog Cutter

2 oz gold Barbados rum
1 oz pisco
1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz East India Solera sherry
1 oz lime juice
1/2 oz orange juice
1/2 oz dark honey

Soften the honey for a few seconds in the microwave. Shake all ingredients with ice and pour unstrained into a tall glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

This is an evening in San Francisco: smooth and opaque, it just rolls along, not fighting the weather.

A Pair of Pimm’s Cups

2011-06-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

Summer’s sort of here, more or less, so yesterday I headed off to the farmers market at the Ferry Building to buy herbs. (It was in a driving rain, but never mind. Keeps the crowds in check.) My haul included some lemon basil that I didn’t really have a plan for, but it’s generally true that if you come back with some weird herb you don’t know what to do with, stick it in a Pimm’s Cup. Truly, this works with just about anything. (Avoid those garlic chives.) Lavender? Throw it in there. Hyssop? Have at it. (What is hyssop, anyway?) There ought to be Pimm’s Cup bars, where you can choose your garnish, choose your mixer, and then head out onto a lawn to stumble around till you get hit with a tennis ball.

For those who haven’t had a Pimm’s or haven’t even heard of one, this is a classic English long drink with a gin-based, bottled concoction called Pimm’s No. 1 (there have been other numbers with different bases) and bitter lemon, fizzy lemonade, ginger beer or the like. The traditional garnishes include cucumber, fruit and fresh herbs. Personally, it was the cucumber that got me. As someone with a deep, compulsive desire to stick weird stuff in his glass, I knew I had to have this thing.

Pimm’s Cup is not particularly strong, which is nice, I suppose, if you want several of them on a hot day. Of the recipes I found in the house this afternoon, Gaz Regan’s has the best feeling for form. (He’s English, of course.)

Pimm’s Cup

2 oz Pimm’s No. 1
5-7 oz ginger ale, lemon-lime soda or club soda (Fever Tree bitter lemon)
1 sliver cucumber rind, for garnish

Build in a 16-oz glass. Add the garnish.
SOURCE: GAZ REGAN, THE JOY OF MIXOLOGY

Basically, you grab a beer glass of ice, pour in two ounces of Pimm’s No. 1 and a bottle of bitter lemon and your garnish. I did a long spear of English cucumber. Scoring the cucumber with a zester is a nice touch and gives you more of the peel aroma. I added my lemon basil and a few slices of Meyer lemon. For the photo, I used a battered old pint glass to demonstrate that you don’t need fancy glassware to make this look good.

I’m sipping this in a closed bedroom right now. A butterfly settled on the glass. It’s sort of like Tiki only imagine you’re sitting in the garden with someone who chain smokes and has a voice like Marianne Faithfull.

Not everybody likes cucumber. I am reliably informed that a small minority find it unbearable. My housemate happens to be one of them. No matter. Stick something else in there. If you feel like it, you could go really crazy and add liquor. I recommend gin, which makes the drink a Turbo.

Pimm’s Turbo

1 1/2 Pimm’s No. 1
1 oz gin (Tanqueray)
bitter lemon or ginger (Fever Tree ginger beer)
garnishes to taste

Build in a pint glass over ice. Add garnishes.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE

I used ginger beer this time—my favorite soda for any Pimm’s drink. I also went crazy with the citrus, which looks cool and makes for a very fresh drink as the flavors develop—if you can resist sucking the whole thing down in one go. For the leafy part, I had some mint, which smelled good with the ginger. (Note the bee, who liked it too.) Remember to spank your mint—not just because Pimm’s is sometimes associated with the boarding school set, but to release the aroma. Slap the sprig once gently between your hands and arrange it in the top of the glass.

Basilisk

2011-06-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

I’m on an herb kick lately. (Or do I mean a herb kick? I live with a Canadian. So confusing.) I woke up thinking about the ingredients of this cocktail, and headed straight for the farmers market.

Basilisk

2 oz bourbon (Knob Creek)
3/4 oz Aperol
2 large basil leaves (use 3 if small)
3 drops absinthe

In a shaker, muddle basil well with bourbon. Add Aperol, absinthe and ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. I garnished this one with a spring of basil flowers, though you could use a leaf too.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

White Sage

2011-06-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I don’t really get the White Lady Cocktail, at least as it appears in most recipes. For my money, I’d rather have the complexity of a Pegu Club or a Sidecar instead. But on a visit to Clyde Common several months ago, they had a nice cardamom-scented version that got me to thinking about herbal additions to this classic.

White Sage

2 oz dry gin (Junípero)
1/2 oz curacao (Seniors)
1 tsp Poire Williams
1/2 oz lemon juice
3-4 fresh sage leaves

Muddle sage leaves in lemon juice. Add remaining ingredients and shake with plenty of ice. Use an assertive gin for this, and avoid over-dilution or you lose the edge. Strain through mesh into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Juniper from the gin accents the sage, which dries down the pear and orange. I tried leaving little broken bits of muddled sage in this, which looked good but were a little leathery in such a light-bodied cocktail. I strained them out. I also considered a sage leaf for garnish, but didn’t like the way it sat in the glass. Maybe I’ll try an egg white version.

Since I called this cocktail White Sage, I guess I should note that the recipe refers to culinary sage—the soft, velvety, green kind you buy with the other culinary herbs—and not the white sage that gets burned like incense. Different plant. Don’t use a smudge stick to make this drink. It just wouldn’t be the same.

The Golden Hind

2011-06-01T22:17:00.000-07:00

This is a riff on the Ur-Tiki, the Singapore Sling, but with chocolate in place of cherry and ginger beer instead of plain soda. I’m a big fan of long drinks with lime and ginger beer—especially with Fever Tree ginger beer. Never thought I’d be able to say this of a product: it has that bright, sharp, clean ginger flavor for perfect highballs every time.

The Golden Hind

2 oz gin (Tanqueray)
3/4 oz oz crème de cacao (Joseph Cartron brun)
1/2 oz cognac (Courvoisier VS)
1/2 oz Bénédictine
1 oz lime juice
1 1/2 oz ginger beer (Fever Tree)

Shake all but ginger beer with ice cubes and strain into a tall glass. Top with ginger beer and add fresh ice. Garnish with cherry sprinkled with a bit of coarse sea salt. (Named for the Golden Hind.)
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Plum Jamming

2011-05-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

A friend gave me a jar of her awesome plum jam—rich, dark, big flavor, a little spicy, not too sweet. I knew right away that I wanted to put it in a drink.

Plum Jamming

2 oz cognac
1/2 oz plum jam
1/4 oz Swedish Punsch (Underhill Punsch)
1/2 oz lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

The plum jam is thick with lots of texture, so I poured the cocktail through a mesh strainer, pushing the last of it a little with a spoon. If you make this with commercial plum jam, you may have to adjust the balance.

Big thanks to J. for the very cool gift.

Mixilator Madness

2011-05-19T05:35:00.000-07:00

Will androids one day rule the earth? Can a computer create a decent cocktail if you give it clear instructions and ask nicely?

Last night I settled down at the computer with a Tropical Itch and nothing much in mind except harmless diversion. I went to the CocktailDB and ran the Mixilator. To my surprise, it actually came up with a potable cocktail I had ingredients for, more or less.

Sobbed Downer Cocktail

Chill cocktail glass. Prepare as follows:

In pre-chilled cocktail shaker combine

2 oz cocktail Sherry
1 oz blended Scotch
½ oz orange bitters
2 drops peach bitters

Shake vigorously with fresh snow until thoroughly blended and creamy. Strain into chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: THE MIXILATOR

Obviously the name has to go. There are already sufficient downers without having to make one up. (Laugh and the whole world laughs with you. Sob and you’re gonna clear out the bar.) Instead, let‘s call it something classy: the Max Ernst Cocktail, for an artist who incorporated chance elements in his work.

As for the ingredients list, this has considerable promise. Sherry and scotch are generally tasty, but which sherry? Maybe a dry one? I have some amontillado. Great. I’m out of Johnnie Walker but got this nice Peat Monster for Christmas. Perfect. And scotch and orange have a natural affinity. Use up the end of the Fee’s plus some Regans’. (Two drops of peach bitters? You gotta have a gimmick.)

Fresh snow is certainly poetic, but shake a scotch cocktail? This random nonsense can only be taken so far. Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Dry, rich, woodsy—really pretty good for a drink by a machine.

This recipe was the first one that was generated and it sounded reasonable. Just to see, I ran the Mixilator nine more times, and they all seemed, well, random. And the good recipe I found still needed to come alive with some human decision making. I don’t really think this is a consistent answer to being stumped for a drink to make on a Tuesday evening, but there’s always the odd chance.

Aalborg Variations

2011-05-17T06:20:00.001-07:00

It’s aquavit time again. Some months ago, I promised (threatened?) to post more experiments with aquavit in 19th-century cocktails, and today I have a Martinez. I’ll also show you a classic but more contemporary offering in the style of the Moscow Mule.

Danish Martinez

1 1/2 oz aquavit (Aalborg)
1 1/2 oz sweet vermouth (Dolin Rouge)
2 tsp maraschino
2 dashes Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. I used an orange twist here, getting a nice spray of the oil before dropping it in.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

The ingredients are from Imbibe! with proportions au Boudreau. The orange twist is inspired by the orange bitters in the Boudreau version as well.

The rich sweetness of the 19th-century style tones down the caraway a lot. People who don’t like caraway might be able to handle this. For something a little more bracing, you could try the next one. The people who dislike caraway might find this next drink pretty mild too, so to up the ante, I introduced another ingredient people find obnoxious.

The Cilantro Moose

3 oz aquavit (Aalborg)
juice of half a lime
3 stems cilantro (set aside one for garnish)
ginger beer (Fever Tree)

Squeeze half a lime in the mixing glass and drop in 2 of the cilantro stems. Crush them flat with a muddler. Add aquavit and ice; stir. Strain into tall glasses. Add fresh ice and fill with ginger beer. Garnish with reserved stem of cilantro.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

MxMo LVII: Flores de Mayo

2011-05-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to Dave of The Barman Cometh, fellow Bay Area cocktailian and the host of this month’s Mixology Monday, Flores de Mayo. Dave invites us “to feature a cocktail that highlights a floral flavor profile or includes a floral derived ingredient, whether home-made or off the shelf.” I was already at that moment similarly inspired, thinking of the elusive scent of violets, of tequila, and the haunting nature of memory. Flores de mayo, flores para los muertos, La persistencia de la memoria and the arrow of time. And people wonder why I started drinking cocktails.

Arrow of Time

1 1/2 oz blanco tequila (Tenampa Azul)
1 oz Punt e Mes
1/4 oz crème de violette
1 dash Regans’ Orange Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

The violet should be kept subtle. You’re gonna be haunted by the persistence of memory one way or another so you might as well do it right.

Pub Crawling: Shady Lady Saloon

2011-05-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

On a recent evening with a friend in Sacramento, we had a few rounds at a fine downtown cocktailian establishment called the Shady Lady. With the estimable Anna behind the stick, we were in good hands and passed a very pleasant time. The list read like an encyclopedia of the best classic cocktails, with a great selection of featured items in the front. Particularly memorable was the Laphroaig Project by Owen Westman of Bourbon and Branch, made with Laphroaig, both Chartreuses, lemon, maraschino and peach bitters. Also fine were the White Linen and the Last Word. I remember that the White Linen had cucumber in it, and also that the place had a kitchen, but at some point my tasting notes got strangely blurred. No clue how it happened. Maybe it was something I drank.

Many thanks to the friendly staff at Shady Lady Saloon who made us feel welcome. We had fun.

Handsome Mug

2011-05-07T05:47:00.000-07:00

This week at the Lounge, a carefully wrapped package arrived from Tiki Farm containing a pair of Mana Mana mugs by the great Atomic Tony. Each mug is supposed to be different due to the variegated blue stone glaze, though my two seem matched. They’re amazing works of decorative art. Of course I had to make something to celebrate.

Lost Continent

2 oz gold Barbados rum
1/2 oz green Chartreuse
1/2 oz dark crème de cacao
1 oz pineapple juice
3/4 oz lime juice

Shake with crushed ice and pour into ceramic mug. Add crushed ice to fill. Pineapple chunk, brandied cherry.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

One of my darker ones, inspired by the huge personality of the mug, and on the drier side of Tiki. The different elements are distinct but nothing’s dominant. There’s a slightly savory note in the middle—possibly from my dry-ish Joseph Cartron cacao, a great ingredient. Middle-earth greens from the Chartreuse. Slight pineapple candy on the swallow, salt caramel on the end.

Hapi Papi

2011-05-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

OK—last year I covered St Patrick’s Day. This year it’s Cinco de Mayo. (I honor all peoples every day with a fine drinking holiday, really.) Today’s offering is a riff on one I spotted in Beachbum Berry’s Intoxica! called Happy Buddha, and transformed without much ado into a guava Margarita. (Cross out rum....)

Hapi Papi

4 oz guava nectar (Ceres)
1 1/2 oz resposado tequila (Hornitos)
1/2 oz lime juice
1/4 oz Cointreau

Shake with crushed ice and pour into suitably happy container. Lime garnish, straw.
SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM THE HAPPY BUDDHA, FROM JEFF “BEACHBUM” BERRY, INTOXICA!

The original version calls for Rose’s Lime Cordial but is plenty sweet with fresh lime. It also calls for the old school Hawaiian-style rum (Okolehao) but responds really well to the tequila treament. I can still taste an almost rose petal wine note that would compliment the original rum or a rhum agricole.

Monte Carlo

2011-05-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

When I was first getting interested in mixed drinks, I made this for a good-sized cocktail party, cranking it out in batches. Flinty-dry white Bordeaux was also on offer. I don’t remember how I did it that time (especially with a blitz of canapés too), but surely would’ve used Angostura Bitters. Jeff Hollinger and Rob Schwartz suggest Peychaud’s, which seems like a nice touch with the rye. For the proportions, I went with the Robert Hess version this time.

Monte Carlo Cocktail

2 oz rye
1/2 oz Bénédictine
2 dashes Angostura or Peychaud’s Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE

For the rye, I went with Rittenhouse 100, which did a nice job of drying down the Bénédictine. Some versions mention the lemon twist, others don’t. I like it, particularly with Peychaud’s.

El Maullido del Gato

2011-04-30T19:34:00.000-07:00

A lighter one for a young friend of mine whose moderation is admirable. I know he won’t think the less of anyone for adding a little extra tequila.

El Maullido del Gato

1 1/2 – 2 oz resposado tequila (Hornitos)
1 1/2 oz guava nectar (Ceres)
1/2 – 3/4 oz lemon juice
1/4 oz lavender syrup (Sonoma Syrup Co.)

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Bitter Lemon Drop

2011-04-28T06:08:00.000-07:00

I just got a bottle of Gran Classico to play with, a beverage bitters with a fair amount of sweetness as well. It’s complex and lightly floral in a way that suggested an Aviation-style sour.

Bitter Lemon Drop

1 1/2 oz gin (Junípero)
1/2 oz Gran Classico
1/2 oz lemon juice

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

That Random Citrus I Bought

2011-04-24T22:35:00.000-07:00

It’s been a strange weekend, remembered through a haze of afternoon drinking and sleeping to relieve the awful pain of downtown clothes shopping. There was a strangely cocktail-less social event as well. And then I came home dazed and confused, opened the fridge and remembered with a shock that I had bought all this exotic citrus that I had to use up before it went bad. So I reached for a bottle of rum—two actually.

The Lounge Pirate

1 1/2 oz Demerara rum
1/2 oz dark Jamaica rum
1/2 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz blood orange juice
1/2 oz Meyer lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Meyer lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Brandy Julep

2011-04-22T06:11:00.000-07:00

Another good end to a good bottle this week: Kuchan Indian Blood Peach eau-de-vie. I was planning to use only cognac for this julep, but remembered had about an ounce left of the peach just sort of sitting around so I gave half an ounce each to two drinks. I guess that makes it marginally a Georgia Julep. (David Wondrich and Doctor Cocktail both give the original proportions for the Georgia as half of each.)

Brandy Julep

2 1/2 oz cognac
1/2 oz peach eau-de-vie
1/2 oz simple syrup
6 mint leaves

Break mint leaves and drop them in a julep cup or double rocks glass. Muddle lightly with a little of the syrup. Add remaining ingredients and crushed ice to fill and swizzle. Garnish with plenty of mint.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE

Fogged In Pirate

2011-04-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

Looking for a Rum Manhattan recipe, I thought about the Pirate’s Cocktail but it seemed too rich with dark rum except maybe as a nightcap. The white rum variations were too light. 10 Cane seem about right but my bottle was nearly empty, so I topped it off a little with Mount Gay figuring you can’t go wrong.

Since I was already playing with odds and ends, I went with a dash of Cointreau instead of the bitters, and a Meyer lemon twist for spice—definitely Manhattan-like and yet sort of tropical too.

Fogged In Pirate

1 1/2 oz gold rum (1 oz 10 Cane plus 1/2 oz Mount Gay Eclipse)
1 oz sweet vermouth (Dolin Rouge)
dash Cointreau

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Meyer lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Sorta odd that I had that Meyer lemon around—don’t use the things all that often. But it really works in this one.

Mellow Bee

2011-04-20T05:31:00.000-07:00

Last night on the way home I bought a bottle of Lustau East India Solera, a rich, complex sherry that paired nicely with the Hacienda Vieja tequila I happened to have around. The East India is a great ingredient in this drink, though that bottle of Harveys will work fine.

Mellow Bee

2 oz reposado tequila
1 oz East India Solera sherry
1/2 oz lemon juice
1 tsp honey syrup (or 1/2 tsp honey melted 2-3 seconds in the microwave)

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

I kept trying to put a twist on this to go with the lemon and couldn’t figure out why the balance would suddenly drop out of gear. Better ungarnished.

Martinique Rum Daiquiri

2011-04-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

I went agricole shopping on Thursday evening and came home with white Rhum J.M, a bright, funky 100-proof from Martinique. Intense stuff. It probably could have handled even more maraschino than I gave it. More lime too.

Martinique Rum Daiquiri

2 oz white Martinique rum
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur
3/4 oz lime juice
1/4 oz simple syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE

Medicine Show

2011-04-16T19:19:00.001-07:00

Now the rainman gave me two cures
Then he said, “Jump right in”
The one was Texas medicine
The other was just railroad gin
—Bob Dylan, Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again

My third Zirbenz cocktail and the most interesting so far. The pine combines well with Campari, bringing out its herbal notes. I liked the touch of peat smoke on the last one so I gave this one an Ardbeg rinse too.

Medicine Show

1 1/2 oz gold Barbados rum
1/2 oz Campari
1/4 oz Zirbenz Stone Pine liqueur
Ardbeg (rinse)

Coat chilled cocktail glass with a small amount of Ardbeg or other Islay malt. Combine rum, Campari and Zirbenz with ice and shake. Strain into prepared glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Dan McGrew

2011-04-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

An Old-Fashioned of sorts, but tough and mean with a bite on the finish. I’m still trying to get a feeling for how over-the-top I can go with the stone pine liqueur, but the housemate was favorable, describing this one as bracing and boozy.

Dan McGrew

2 oz bourbon
1/2 oz Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur
1 dash Fee Bros Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters
Ardbeg rinse

Stir bourbon, Zirbenz and bitters with ice. Coat the sides of a chilled glass with a small amount of Ardbeg or other very peaty malt. Strain the bourbon mixture into the prepared glass. Small lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Monkey Suit

2011-04-12T06:01:00.000-07:00

Another Tiki from the hands of yours truly, a pairing of fresh banana and coffee brandy that should please even the most sophisticated primates. The bass note in this one is Cruzan Black Strap, a hint of tobacco for this smoking jacket.

Monkey Suit

1 1/2 oz Mount Gay Eclipse Barbados rum
1/2 oz Cruzan Black Strap rum
1/2 oz Firelit Coffee Liqueur
1/2 oz simple syrup
1/2 ripe banana
2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters

Blend with 1 cup crushed ice for 30 seconds. Pour into a large fancy glass or mug. Banana chunk, cherry.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

MxMo LVI: Your Best

2011-04-07T10:15:00.001-07:00

Many thanks to Chris, a.k.a. DJ HawaiianShirt of Spirited Remix for hosting this Mixology Monday. Chris wants us to post our best, and while I’m not sure which of mine I’d single out, the Lava-Lava is the one I liked working on best. I’ve made it by the pitcher for parties (limit: one pitcher per guest) and it’s a lot of fun. It calls for amber Martinique rum though another dry, woodsy amber like Flor de Caña 5 Year would be fine. For the mango, I developed the recipe around Looza, though it was great with one from somewhere in South America or someplace, maybe—can’t remember and never saw it again.

Lava-Lava

1 1/2 oz amber Martinique rum
1 oz dark Jamaica rum
1/2 oz apricot brandy
3 oz mango nectar
3/4 oz fresh orange juice
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice cubes and pour into a tall glass or mug.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

I know it‘s early for Monday but he’s gonna try to taste them before the wrap-up. Urp.

Rites of Bacchus

2011-04-04T20:00:00.001-07:00

The housemate was headed off to a Roman holiday, which inspired me to make this for a dinner shortly before he left. Gin and orange again—I just can’t stay away. The port gives this a sangria feeling though it’s got some bitterness from the Cynar.

Rites of Bacchus

1 1/2 oz gin
3/4 oz port
1/4 oz Cynar
3/4 orange juice
1 dash Angostura Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Seems like it would be good for sipping while looking at one of those rude wine gods they liked in the Italian Baroque. Speaking of Cynar, Caravaggio once threw a plate of artichokes at a waiter.

Forest Murmurs: Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur

2011-04-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

And now for some brown booze in something really boozy. A cocktail that’s really about that smack in the head. For inspiration I just bought a bottle of Zirbenz Stone Pine liquor, which I’ve had several times in rum and rye drinks to good effect. I’m trying to figure out what it goes in. I won’t kid you—it tastes like a tree. This seemed at first like a cool characteristic for a liqueur and still does. It’s just that I want to understand how to make it play nicely with other flavors so that my guests don’t think it’s weird.

Which it is, a bit. But I like it. I want to show it off in all its weirdness. So let’s see—a little rye, a little ginger beer... a little falernum and this would taste exactly like pine cleanser. And not that boozy really.

OK—how about this one?

Forest Murmurs

2 oz calvados
1/4 oz Zirbenz Stone Pine liqueur
1/4 oz pimento dram

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Sassafras tea and horehound candy. Boozy, woodsy, mellow.

Bronxathon: Parting Bronxes

2011-03-31T05:46:00.000-07:00

At last we’ve come to the end of Bronxathon. I’ve spent more time with this cocktail than I’ve spent with some people I know. To those out there who’ve Bronxed along with me, I salute you all. Hope you had some fun. I certainly did, and liked doing the original variations, though I gotta say that a month of Bronx Cocktails takes some stamina.

By now it’s pretty clear to me what I like in a Bronx and what I don’t. Below are a few thoughts that didn’t get covered in the preceding 16 posts, along with my two cents on what works.

OTHER BRONXES, OTHER FRUITS
Some of you have asked me about varying the fruit component. There are Bronx variations in my own collection dating back to at least the 1930s that call for pineapple, with or without orange. In my experience, the pineapple is a promiscuous fruit, ready to play with anything that comes along. The grapefruit is similarly friendly. But in general, I chose to go with the standard Valencia orange, a nearly ubiquitous variety of sweet orange for juicing. I’ve been thinking that we know that vermouth and gin go together—it’s that orange that causes all the confusion. I figured this crisis was basic to the Bronx Cocktail so I tried to keep it as part of the challenge. (I threw in a couple of close orange relatives now and then.)

THE BRONX NOT TAKEN
Some recipes didn’t make the cut because they just didn’t seem all that distinguished or that Bronx-like. The Bronx Dry, which has no sweet vermouth or any fourth ingredient at all, is an example of a classic recipe that just isn’t any more a Bronx than white chocolate is chocolate.

A BOTANICAL GARDEN OF BRONX COCKTAILS
Some Bronxes in this series could be considered definitive, others were intentionally created as novelties. The Income Tax and the Maurice stand out as solid classics. I think of the former as the basic Bronx and the latter a variation. I’d add the Captain Pell and Old Tom to this group because they taste like traditional Bronxes. For the off-beat ones, I especially like Spuyten Duyvil and Bronx Deco because they’re unusual, though all the amaro variations are good drinking.

THE BRONX REDUX
To my taste, the Bronx Cocktail never quite seems to balance as a 4-ingredient cocktail but it improves with all sorts of small basic additions. It tends to do well with some kind of bitter component to connect the dots and make it whole—like a freer part of the music that seldom gets written into the score. David Wondrich notes in Imbibe! that the first recipe printed, by Billy Malloy, has orange bitters. The Bronx is really a 5-ingredient cocktail.

ALL BRONXED OUT
All right—enough. Bronx on, everybody.

Bronxathon: Tangelo Bronx

2011-03-30T06:05:00.000-07:00

The Bronxathon is nearly over (wrap-up tomorrow) but I couldn’t let it go without doing at least one tangerine variation. There was a big box of tangelos at the market, and they turned out to be great for juicing. I got more out of one than from a comparably sized Valencia orange. The flavor was rich, bright, a little tart and a little spicy.

Tangelo Bronx

2 oz Plymouth gin
1/2 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz Lillet
1 oz tangelo juice
1 small dash Fee Bros Aromatic Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Big tangelo twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

As I was squeezing the fruit, the oil from the rind was visible on top of the juice. Very cool. I can barely wait to get more tangelos.

Bronxathon: Cynar Bronx

2011-03-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

Making good on my threat to try different amari in place of the Bronx Cocktail’s sweet vermouth, I’ve hauled out the Cynar. It’s light and summery here, and easy drinking. The bitter vegetal taste of this artichoke-based amaro compliments the trace of pith from the orange, resolving one of the Bronx’s basic problems. The little cinnamon note at the end is barely noticeable but it’s there. Easy but not dumb.

Cynar Bronx

2 oz gin (Bombay)
1/2 oz dry vermouth (Dolin Dry)
1//2 oz Cynar
3/4 oz orange juice
2 dashes Fee Bros Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Bronxathon: Captain Pell

2011-03-26T06:04:00.000-07:00

Samuel Pell (c.1821-94) was a prominent citizen and notable oysterman on City Island, and this Bronx Cocktail I’ve named for him was created with oysters in mind. The inspiration comes from the same friend who got me thinking about problems with the Bronx Cocktail.

Captain Pell

1 oz old tom gin (Hayman’s)
1 oz dry vermouth (Dolin Dry)
1/2 oz sweet vermouth (Dolin Rouge)
1/2 oz orange juice
1 – 2 dashes Fee Bros Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

This one is more like a classic Bronx Cocktail than some of the recent variations. I like the way old tom in a Bronx smooths things out without changing the drink much.

Bronxathon: Morris Park

2011-03-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

Maraschino is a good addition to the Bronx. I was inspired by the Maurice for this variation and I think I might like it even better.

Morris Park

1 1/2 oz gin (Tanqueray)
1/2 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz dry vermouth (Dolin Dry)
1/4 oz maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)
3/4 oz orange juice

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

About Morris Park, the neighborhood here.

Bronxathon: Obligatory Raspberry Cocktail

2011-03-22T05:14:00.000-07:00

There’s already a drink out there called Bronx Cheer, a highball of sorts with apricot brandy and raspberry soda. (Would you like a lollipop with that?) The one below is more of a cocktail in the original sense, and something else entirely—or almost entirely. It also has the raspberry.

The Bronx Cheer Cocktail

1 1/2 oz gin (Bombay)
1/2 oz sweet vermouth (Dolin Rouge)
1/2 oz dry vermouth (Dolin Dry)
1/2 oz raspberry liqueur (Mathilde Framboise)
1/2 oz orange juice
1 dash Fee Bros Aromatic Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

This one’s OK—easy to drink though maybe not my favorite so far. Raspberry easily dominates the basic Bronx recipe but there’s still some complexity underneath.

Bronxathon: Bronx Deco

2011-03-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

Inspired in part by another cacao cocktail, the great Twentieth Century, I got to thinking about something Dr. Cocktail wrote about how it’s what Art Deco tastes like.

The borough of the Bronx has many fine examples of Art Deco architecture.

Bronx Deco

1 1/2 oz Tanqueray London dry gin
1/2 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz Lillet
1/4 oz white creme de cacao
3/4 oz orange juice
2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Mole bitters
1 dash Fee Bros orange bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

I went for a subtle chocolate note here. The bitters adds some cacao and complexity without sweetness. The housemate says this is his favorite Bronx variation so far.

Bronxathon: Averna Bronx

2011-03-18T06:19:00.000-07:00

Changing the vermouth in the Bronx Cocktail for something round and rich in the amaro range improves the balance and overall synthesis without changing the basic profile of the drink. This one makes me want to experiment with other amari.

Averna Bronx

1 1/2 oz Tanqueray gin
1/2 oz Averna
1/2 oz Dolin Dry vermouth
3/4 oz orange juice
1 dash Angostura Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Orange twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Bronxathon: The Bronxoni

2011-03-16T06:31:00.000-07:00

The housemate and I had a discussion as to whether this should be up or over. I suggested one ice cube. He preferred to have the last sip as intense as the first, even if it meant sacrificing some coldness if he lingered at the end. I guess I’m equivocal on the rocks question for this punch-like cocktail that’s half Bronx, half Negroni, though I generally lean toward intensity myself.

The Bronxoni

1 1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
1/2 oz dry vermouth
1/4 oz Campari
juice of 1/4 orange

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Ice cube optional.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Bronxathon: Spuyten Duyvil

2011-03-14T06:04:00.000-07:00

Place names in the New York area have always fascinated me. Take the Bronx: it’s got a definite article, a letter ‘x’ at the end, and might even be some kind of collective noun—a totally distinctive name. Not really knowing what to make of it, I imagined a bunch of Lenape and Dutch guys standing around smoking cigars and talking to each other in New York accents, agreeing that this was the Bronx, a word common to both cultures, whatever it means. Later, I found out it’s named after a Swedish settler who worked for the Dutch, Jonas Bronck, from whom we get “Bronck’s River” and so on. But I’m still not convinced.

Anyway, they were drinking Dutch gin (genever) once upon a time in old New York, so I came up with a Bronx Cocktail variation based on this interesting spirit, and gave it a classic Dutch place name from the Bronx, Spuyten Duyvil. It seems this might mean “Spinning Devil” or possibly several other things. As you can see, folk etymology is something of a New York pastime.

Special thanks for the suggestion of the name to the same guy who called me all perplexed about the Bronx Cocktail in the first place. I’d say I couldn’t have done it without him, but we have another two weeks of this Bronxathon madness still ahead. Spinning devil, indeed.

Spuyten Duyvil

1 1/2 oz genever (Genevieve)
1/2 oz sweet vermouth (Dolin Rouge)
1/2 oz dry vermouth (Dolin Dry)
1 oz blood orange juice
1 tsp Cointreau

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

This is really the most different of the Bronx Cocktails I’ve done so far on account of the genever-style gin. Although technically a Bronx since all the pieces are there, the family resemblance isn’t that close. I like it, though. It’s bright, assertive and refreshing. The Cointreau could come up a little if you want it sweeter.

Bronxathon: Bronx Bomber

2011-03-12T06:22:00.001-08:00

With this one, the Bronx sort of turns into a sour with the addition of a little lemon and simple syrup. This is mild, citrus-y and easy to drink, though it’s as if the Bronx Cocktail were so problematic to balance that the mixologist turned it into something else. (By now, I can understand the impulse to do that.)

Bronx Bomber

1 1/2 oz Plymouth gin
1/4 oz Italian sweet vermouth (Punt e Mes)
1/4 oz French dry vermouth (Dolin Dry)
1/2 oz fresh orange juice
1/4 oz fresh lemon juice
1/4 oz simple syrup
orange twist for garnish

Shake in an ice-filled cocktail shaker and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: JEFF HOLLINGER AND ROB SCHWARTZ, THE ART OF THE BAR

This comes from the bar book of Absinthe Brasserie & Bar here in San Francisco, a great place to go if you’re thirsty.

Bronxathon: Silver and Golden

2011-03-11T06:23:00.000-08:00

Two items of historical interest: the Silver Bronx and the Golden Bronx. Both have egg in them, and both sound more interesting than they actually are. I present them for the sake of completeness and for anyone who has seen the recipes and wondered what they’re like. Wonder no longer. They are dull. I even added a dash or two of bitters but it didn’t help.

The Silver Bronx Cocktail

2 gin (1 oz Bombay)
1 French vermouth (1/2 oz Dolin Dry)
1 Italian vermouth (1/2 oz Dolin Rouge)
1/2 orange juice (1/4 oz orange juice)
white of 1 egg
(2 dashes Fee Bros orange bitters)

Ice. 25 shakes. Strain into cocktail glass.
SOURCE: HARMAN BURNEY BURKE, BURKE’S COMPLETE COCKTAIL AND DRINKING RECIPES

I shook this without ice (dry shaking) to incorporate the egg, then strained through mesh into an ice-filled tin and beat it up again—in case anyone’s wondering.

It’s not good, but at least it’s totally forgettable. This thing was published in 1934. I don’t know how long the recipe had been around before that, but it would’ve been especially repulsive with bootleg gin. But on to our next delight.

The Golden Bronx Cocktail

1 1/2 oz gin (Bombay)
1/2 sweet vermouth (Punt e Mes)
1/2 dry vermouth (Dolin Dry)
1 oz orange juice (3/4 oz)
1 egg yolk
(1 dash Fee Bros aromatic bitters)

Mix all ingredients with cracked ice in a blender or shaker and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: JOHN J. POISTER, THE NEW AMERICAN BARTENDER’S GUIDE

This is sort of odd, and also not any good. The egg yolk gives it a nice texture, but the drink doesn’t have any focus or much in the way of flavor either.

So I feel a little guilty not showing you something tasty to make today, but at least I had fun finally getting around to these, and now you don’t have to.

Bronxathon: Old Tom Bronx

2011-03-09T05:43:00.000-08:00

Here’s one of my own, though the inspiration of using equal parts gin and the two vermouths is from one by Billy Malloy that I found in David Wondrich’s Imbibe! Malloy’ s recipe sounds OK but not much like a Bronx to me with a mere barspoon of juice against all that vermouth. At any rate, I’m trying to work with the stuff and not hide it. I’ve upped the o.j. to a more usual amount. And I’ve used old tom gin, figuring that the sweetness might bring the elements together a little better.

Old Tom Bronx Cocktail

1 oz old tom gin (Hayman’s)
1 oz sweet vermouth (Dolin Rouge)
1 oz dry vermouth (Dolin Dry)
3/4 oz orange juice
1 dash orange bitters (Fee Bros)

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Orange twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

This version is refreshing and has some complexity as well. The large measure of vermouth gives it a pronounced wine taste that plays off the sweetness and the orange aromatics.

Bronxathon: The Maurice

2011-03-07T06:21:00.000-08:00

In a cocktail like the Bronx where orange juice is a dominant ingredient, it seems to need some sort of bitter component to wed it to gin. The Maurice, yet another Bronx from the CocktailDB, is a slight variation of the Income Tax with pastis as an alternate ingredient for aromatic bitters. I like the Income Tax but I’m getting even fonder of the anise-scented Maurice. It’s dry, light- to medium-bodied depending on your vermouth, and more to my taste than something like the Monkey Gland. I upped the gin half an ounce and liked it just as much.

I’m beginning to hanker after a different white vermouth but have had no luck in the shops over the weekend. I tried doing this drink with an off-dry vermouth, Noilly-Prat Original French Dry, but it just didn’t come together.

The Maurice

1 oz gin (1 – 1 1/2 oz Plymouth)
1/2 oz sweet vermouth (Punt e Mes)
1/2 oz dry vermouth (Dolin Dry)
1/2 oz orange juice
1 dash aromatic bitters or pastis (1 dash St. George absinthe)

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. An orange twist is good for this one.
SOURCE: COCKTAILDB

Bronxathon: Bronx Discotheque

2011-03-05T07:12:00.000-08:00

This third cocktail in the Bronxathon series I’d like to send out to all you Wallbangers. (Wall Bangers? Wallbanger Bangers? Whatev.) The first time I made this, I had spotted it browsing Galliano recipes in the CocktailDB and just couldn’t resist. It turned out to be not unlike other Bronxes in general character, and to have the same balancing issues. So I adjusted it a little. It might’ve seemed like cheating to use a blood orange in a Bronx, but since that Galliano was already in there....

Bronx Discotheque

1 oz gin (1 oz Bombay)
1/2 oz Galliano (3/4 oz Galliano)
1/4 oz sweet vermouth (1/2 oz Dolin Rouge)
1/4 oz dry vermouth (1/2 oz Dolin Dry)
3/4 oz orange juice (3/4 oz blood orange juice)

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker and strain.
SOURCE: COCKTAILDB

This is fruity without being sticky, and increasing the vermouth and Galliano helps the overall roundness as well as the whammy of the thing. Blood orange is one of those hybrids that’s a bit like a red grapefruit, so it’s a little friendlier than the standard juice orange in a drink like this.

Seems like it should appeal to those who love the nightlife.

Bronxathon: The Income Tax Cocktail

2011-03-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

The Bronx Cocktail is one of those drinks that seems unfocused to me without bitters—so much so that it’s odd to me that there’s a bitters version with its own name. The recipe below comes by way of Dr. Cocktail. No clue why they named it something so dreadful unless it was the favorite of tax preparers.

The Income Tax Cocktail

1 1/2 oz dry gin (Tanqueray)
3/4 oz dry vermouth (Dolin dry)
3/4 oz sweet vermouth (Punt e Mes)
juice of 1/4 orange (about 3/4 oz)
2 dashes Angostura Bitters (Fee Bros Old Fashioned Aromatic Bitters)

Shake in an iced shaker (I stirred) and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange wheel.
SOURCE: TED HAIGH, A.K.A. DR. COCKTAIL, VINTAGE SPIRITS AND FORGOTTEN COCKTAILS

This version is one of my favorites and I make it from time to time, using Punt e Mes for the sweet vermouth and Fee’s instead of Angostura. But maybe one dash of bitters is ample. My orange on this round was a little insipid as Valencias go but the drink didn’t suffer too badly. I prefer to strain the orange juice for visual reasons.