Reviving the Corpse

OK—maybe I’ve been a little preoccupied with other projects of late. However, I assure you that they have all been beverage-related. (You probably knew that.) While doing some research in the East Bay, a friend and I hit upon the happy idea of remaking a Corpse Reviver #2 as a scotch cocktail. The CR2 is a classic hair-of-the-dog gin concoction meant for those days when you’re still a little shaky from the night before. Whether you think chasing a hangover this way is really a good idea is a matter of personal discretion but CR2 is a fine thing all the same. And this scotch version is very quaffable.

Banquo’s Ghost

• 1 oz scotch (used Black Grouse)
• 1 oz Cointreau
• 1 oz Cocchi Americano
• 1 oz lemon juice
• 1 dash absinthe

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The original Corpse Reviver #2 appears in the venerable Savoy Cocktail Book, edited by Harry Craddock, and turns up in a number of other good bar books as well. Since the amount of absinthe varies slightly from author to author, I turned to the acknowledged authority on Craddock’s book, Erik Ellestad of Savoy Stomp to see what he did with it. I swear I didn’t look at his photo before icing that glass. Clearly the thing to use.

MxMo LXXV: Flip Flop—Chancery Cocktail

It’s that happy time again, Mixology Monday. Our host is the incomparable Frederic of Cocktail Virgin and our MxMo moderator. Many thanks to him for stepping in to host when many other cocktail writers tend to be becalmed, whether from Tales of the Cocktail or from the heat of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. Fred’s theme is Flip Flop, which he describes thus:

I thought of the theme for this month’s Mixology Monday shortly after making the Black Rene, an obscure drink from Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933. The combination of brandy, amber rum, lemon, and Maraschino was tasty, but I felt that the recipe could be improved if I swapped in different ingredients. Taking a page from Max Toste of Deep Ellum who converted the Black Devil into the White Devil, I flipped around the ingredients to be pisco, white rum, lime, and Maraschino instead. With this combination that I called the White Rene, the drink really sang but it was still recognizable as being an alteration of the original recipe. Others have done similar swaps with grand effect including the Bluegrass Mai Tai that that changes the two rums to two whiskeys and swaps lime for lemon from the classic while holding everything else the same.

We enjoy substitution games here at the Lounge, and we love classic cocktails and their variations. Flip Flop reminds me a bit of Stewart Putney’s excellent Inverted theme, so I’ve worked with the same cocktail as on that round, The Chancellor. I’ve had fortified wines on the brain, and thought right away of the white port I’ve been so fond of lately as an exchange for the ruby of the original recipe. The blended scotch became a single malt, the dry vermouth turned sweet, and the orange bitters transformed to apple.

 

Chancery Cocktail

• 1 1/2 oz single malt scotch (Laphroaig 10)
• 1 1/2 oz white port (Quinta do Infantado)
• 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
• 3 dashes Bar Keep Baked Apple Bitters

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

Caramel and wood from the barrels had me drinking this a little too fast, like the flavor descriptor I was trying to think of was just around the bend. I guess I could have used a milder and less iodine malt, but the Laphroaig I bought this afternoon called to me. Since it was intense enough to trample the other stuff in the glass, I used an equal amount of port. (The balance seems roughly like the classic Chancellor recipe when made with my preferred base, Johnnie Walker Black Label.) The apple bitters are a perfect complement to this gold-hued version of the highbrow classic.

MxMo LXX: Inverted—Reverse Chancellor

A big Fogged In thank-you to Stewart Putney of Putney Farm for hosting this month’s Mixology Monday, and for his challenging theme, “Inverted.” Stewart has tasked us to come up with a drink recipe that is some way turned upside down, whether that be a reversal of the ratio of a classic or any of the elements turned on their head in some way.

Well, the composition process is sort of twisted here at the Lounge to begin with so I had to decide how I’d make this demonstrably inverted and not merely warped. I ended up restacking the measures of a great recipe just to see if I could color inside the lines and still come up with something inspired. For this exercise, I went with a superb standard, the Chancellor. Regular visitors may recall that scotch is a favorite ingredient around here, and the Chancellor is the… the prime minister of scotch cocktails. Whisky, port, dry vermouth, orange bitters—what more could you want?

Except that to invert the ratios I’d need a stand-in for the orange cocktail bitters. This was going to be the base of the drink so two ounces of something meant to be an accent might be a lot. Maybe an amaro, a type of bitters constructed as a beverage, would make more sense. Of the ones I had on hand, Torani Amer seemed the best match: mellow and distinctly orange-scented.

And since I was making adjustments, I changed the blended scotch in the original recipe for a single malt that would work a little better in the accent role, the smoky, peaty Laphroaig. I had always been curious about using it in a Chancellor anyway.

Reverse Chancellor

• 2 oz Torani Amer
• 1 oz dry vermouth
• 1/2 oz ruby port
• 2 dashes Laphroaig 10 year

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Rich and evocative of the original. I’d definitely make this again.

Languisher Cocktail

I like random processes when I make up my mind to. Maybe it’s because this world requires an ever increasing level of deliberation for the thoughtful person just to stay sane. So once in a while in a moment of whimsy (meaning boredom), I like to spin the Mixilator and see what comes out. Since the fun is in letting the machine make the drink, I don’t fiddle with the buttons too much except to specify that the cocktail be simple to prepare. Even if the results are too bizarre to try—and they tend to be—I’d like to be able to make the drink if I want to. And now and then, it gives you something good. Take the Languisher Cocktail, a simple boozy drink with nice ingredients.

Languisher Cocktail

Chill cocktail glass. Prepare as follows:

In pre-chilled cocktail shaker combine

• 2 oz tequila añejo
• 1 oz Johnnie Walker
• 1/2 oz St. Raphael
• 3 drops cherry liqueur

Shake with large cubes of ice as though you’ve just perceived a rapidly advancing case of the trots. [You see, the charm of the Mixilator is the element of surprise. And don’t you find that sometimes it’s best not to try to follow a recipe too closely? Stir.] Strain into chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: THE MIXILATOR

This is a rich, strong, medium-dry cocktail not unlike a Manhattan but with the black pepper bite of añejo tequila. (I used Hornitos.) Specific though the instructions are (maybe too specific), there’s no garnish mentioned. I went with a couple of Luxardo cherries, which brought out the taste of the scotch as I ate them. I had no St. Raphael so I substituted another quinquina, Punt e Mes. For the cherry liqueur, maraschino seemed like the obvious choice. I might have had a few more drops than three. Tequila-forward without citrus. Very cool.

Perfect Rob Roy

Somehow the “Perfect” Manhattan and Martini cocktails (those with both sweet and dry vermouth) always seemed like a way to spoil a sweet or dry cocktail formula that was already perfect. Why would anyone think those were good? But I’ve come to understand that you just gotta try things in the name of science. You never know.

And the Perfect Rob Roy is a revelation. Of all the old drinks I’ve tried, there are certainly older, though the PRR has the power of conjuring a past that vanished just after the beginning of my lifetime. Maybe it’s the blended scotch, the malts processed and smoothed, sort of like turning a tartan into a checked sport coat. The two vermouths complete the lounge suit effect: confusing, slightly neutralizing, wearable for every occasion.

There should always be bitters. The great gaz regan recommends Peychaud’s for the Rob Roy in general. His own Regans’ No. 6 is delicious in this as well. (I’m drinking one now.) I’m inclined to agree with him that Angostura is not particularly nice in this drink, though it’s as Mid-Century here as a midnight blue Impala.



Perfect Rob Roy

• 2 oz blended scotch (Johnnie Walker Black Label)
• 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
• 1/2 oz dry vermouth
• Peychaud’s or orange bitters, to taste

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

Sometimes you see a cherry in a Rob Roy. A very red one is bizarre at best, though a brandied one would be OK.

Paper design: Flex, Jean Orlebeke, eieio.

Trick Pony

She hides
The television
Says I don’t owe him nothing,
But if he comes back again
Tell him to wait right here for me
Or,
Try again tomorrow
I’m gonna kick tomorrow
I’m gonna kick tomorrow

—Jane Says, Perry Farrell/Jane’s Addiction

Trick Pony

• 2 oz Rittenhouse Rye 100 Proof
• 1/2 oz Amaro Nonino
• 1/4 oz Ardbeg Single Malt
• scant tsp simple syrup, 2:1
• 2 dashes Bitter Truth Xocolatl Mole bitters

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

Speak Low

I went to a big party in December, a potluck at a house I’d never been to before and didn’t know the crowd. But I figured nothing succeeds like liquor so I made up a batch of a room temp cocktail I’d spotted on Cocktail Virgin Slut, Creole Lady. It features Madeira, my favorite wine of that sort. As it happened, my hosts had invited someone else who felt the same way more than somewhat, and she was my best customer. What’s more, she started ordering Creole Lady all over town. Must’ve been the recipe and the Madeira I’d made it with, a Blandy’s 5-year Malmsey. I’ve used the same for this original cocktail as a foil for some apple brandy and a trace of smoky scotch—my favorite personal invention in a while. Sending this one out to the fellow party guest who likes Madeira.



Speak Low

• 2 oz Laird’s straight apple brandy
• 1 oz Madeira
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1/8 oz or scant tsp Ardbeg Single Malt
• 1 dash Jerry Thomas’ Own Decanter Bitters
• tiny pinch sea salt

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

November Weather

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.

Turn of the Screw

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

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

Last Will and Testament

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

The Doctor Is Out

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

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

Summer and Smoke: Smoky Martini

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.

Arnaud’s Special Cocktail

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.

Mixilator Madness

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.

Laphroaig Rob Roy

The first Rob Roy I tasted was made by a bartender who had no idea what it was supposed to be like. I was served a weird, wimpy drink so vile that it took years to get over before trying another. (And that was lousy too.) Light blended scotch drowned in a sea of melting bar ice and thin, nasty vermouth, no bitters. You want a cherry with that? How about one of them little plastic stir jobbies?

For a cocktail as simple as this one, the base spirit should have enough guts to define the drink, and from the moment I saw gaz regan do the Laphroaig Rob Roy, I knew I had to have one. It just sounded right. There was smoke and velvet, anise and iodine. A wild, regal, intense Rob Roy that might wield the bagpipes as a deadly weapon. Aye.



Laphroaig Rob Roy

• 2 oz Laphroaig 10 Year Old
• 1 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
• 4 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. I serve this with a broad, thin, rough-edged orange twist (sharp vegetable peeler), and express the oil lavishly over the drink. For the vermouth, I like Punt e Mes, though lately I’ve been doing it with Dolin.
SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM A RECIPE BY GAZ REGAN

For a kickass post on the same drink, visit The Sugar House Blog.

You can also see gaz himself in action on YouTube.

MxMo XLX: Brown, Bitter and Stirred

This Mixology Monday is hosted by Lindsey Johnson of Brown, Bitter and Stirred, and the name of her blog is also her theme. Would any of us here at the Fogged In Lounge know anything about brown booze and bitterness? Would we, ladies and gentlemen? Would the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune make us want now and then to climb down the neck of a Wild Turkey and not come out until Thanksgiving? Would some of us feel so buffeted by the Winds of War—or even Whoopie—that we might occasionally want to sip slowly on a glass of Zwack in which had steeped a bunch of rue and a couple of filthy pennies? Well, maybe not that bad. Life can’t be as bad as all that—right, ladies and gentlemen? Here—try this nice drink. It’s not half as bitter as all that.



The Brown Study

• 1 1/2 oz single malt Scotch
• 1/4 oz Averna
• 1/4 oz Campari
• 1/4 oz maraschino
• 4 dashes Regans’ No. 6 orange bitters

Stir gently with ice until the mixing glass frosts and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

For the malt, I happened to use the end of my Highland Park, though something with a little more iodine would be good too.

Dreamy Dorini Smoking Martini

The Dorini is the creation of Audrey Saunders, the Libation Goddess, and named in honor of a friend who loves whisky. I first heard of it from Gary Regan. It is not actually a Martini, though I’m not going to be too adamant about this because:

1. It is very, very good.
2. It is a dry, extremely grown-up cocktail analogous to a Martini.
3. I’m pretty sure Audrey wouldn’t beat me up, but don’t like to risk it.

In the photo below, the Dorini only fills about half the large cocktail glass I used, but the drink is so big in other ways that it seems right in a large glass. The Laphroaig single malt makes it huge. It’s said that Laphroaig is among the most intensely flavored of the malts. It’s also said that people who are unused to drinking Scotch should start with something mild. On the other hand, people who are unused to drinking Scotch might start with Laphroaig on the theory that if they can learn to handle that, they can drink anything.



Dreamy Dorini Smoking Martini

• 2 oz Grey Goose vodka (any good brand will work)
• 1/2 oz Laphroaig single malt whisky
• 2-3 drops Pernod
• lemon twist

Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ADAPTED BY GARY REGAN FROM A RECIPE BY AUDREY SAUNDERS

The Modernista

This is Dr. Cocktail’s refinement of the Modern. Fittingly, this is a very hip cocktail. The name is totally appropriate. Well, two of the three possible names. It’s also known as the Modern Maid.

BARTENDER: What’ll it be?
CUSTOMER: Barman, I feel like a Modern Maid today.
BARTENDER: Gee, mister, that’s a frilly outfit to be wearing for that order!

Doc’s version adds some Swedish Punsch, an ingredient I had lusted after for months until I had the sense to ask a fellow cocktailian in Sweden, the incomparable Tiare of A Mountain of Crushed Ice, how it’s made. She suggested I use Erik’s recipe from Underhill-Lounge. I happened to have a bottle of Batavia Arrack handy, and the recipe turned out to be easy and fun. And the resulting punsch is great. So I solved a months-long problem in about two days. Thanks, folks.



The Modernista

• 2 oz Scotch (Johnnie Walker Red Label)
• 1/2 oz dark Jamaica rum (Coruba)
• 1 tsp pastis (Pernod)
• 1/2 oz Swedish Punsch (homemade from the Underhill Punsch recipe)
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 2 dashes orange bitters

Shake in an iced shaker and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add a lemon twist.
SOURCE: TED HAIGH, A.K.A. DR. COCKTAIL, VINTAGE SPIRITS AND FORGOTTEN COCKTAILS