A Pair of Irish Whiskey Cocktails

I came home with a bottle of Tyrconnell Single Malt a few days ago, and this post ought to have been written sooner but the whiskey was so charming that it took me a while to settle down to work. Maybe that’s the nature of Irish whiskey, and why experimentation seems limited. And then I bought a nice bottle of barley beer thinking it would compliment, Almanac’s Honey Saison, and that was pretty and quaffable too, and was soon sucked down without a thought to cocktails.



Raising the Stakes

• 1 1/2 oz single malt Irish whiskey (Tyrconnell)
• 1 1/2 oz amontillado sherry
• 2 dashes peach bitters

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

Amontillado is a great compliment to this whiskey, emphasizing vanilla and caramel. The peach bitters open up fruit aromas without adding sweetness on the palate. I tried playing with spicier flavors but they only got in the way.



Double Barrel Barley

• 1 oz single malt Irish whiskey (Tyrconnell)
• 1 oz amontillado sherry
• 3 oz Almanac Honey Saison

Stir whiskey and sherry with ice and strain into a wine glass. Add beer.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Eventually, I managed to hold onto a bottle of beer long enough to make a cocktail with it. Almanac is a local brewery based in San Jose. The barley and honey compliment the gracefulness and flavor profile of the spirit. Rich but light.

Let’s Eat Home

There’s something soothing about the tastes and aromas of fall and winter. I’m really getting into cooking with potatoes and roots, mushrooms, shallots and cipollini, apples, rosemary—often just cutting it all up to sauté or simmer a while, then throwing a little baked fish or smoked tofu on top. I want a cocktail that’s going to wake up my palate and harmonize with all the umami goodness in the pan. Dry sherry does this very well, as does calvados, the traditional apple brandy of Normandy. They’ve both been favorite subjects with me lately so it was only a matter of time before they got together in a cocktail.

 

Let’s Eat Home

• 2 oz amontillado
• 3/4 oz calvados
• 1 dash Bitter Cube Jamaican Bitters #2

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

A classic three-part structure but “inverted” in that the base is wine and the accent is spirit. Nice and light, good for before a meal of related flavors. The apple brandy is a natural compliment to the nutty acetaldehyde of the sherry. Hints of ginger, allspice and black pepper from the bitters round out the cider-like profile of this dry aperitif cocktail.

More Fun with Smoked Tea Syrup: Rain Cloud Tiger

It seems like whenever I tell people I’m taking a vacation they ask where I’m going. Go? I’m going to go home, lock the door and shudder. “Just a little moment away. I’ll be fine—really.” (Eesh.) So I’m holed up here in the Fogged In Lounge with plenty of nice things to get interested in that I don’t otherwise have much time for. It’s gray and rainy, perfect weather for listening to records, eating cereal out of the box and writing my blog.

And of course it’s perfect weather for a sherry cocktail! Recent visitors will note that I’m on a fortified wine kick, going at the amontillado like a crazed lemur. (It is a scientific fact that lemurs love Spanish fortified wines. Trust me, I’m an expert. I’m also guy who sits around on his vacation eating dry cereal.) And liking a little smoke flavor with my sherry, I’ve paired it with the rich and tasty Russian Caravan tea syrup I’ve become fond of. It’s a very versatile ingredient, adding subtle depth and complexity. I’m always on the lookout for new ways to get smoke flavors into cocktails.



Rain Cloud Tiger

• 1 1/2 oz amontillado sherry
• 3/4 oz pisco
• 1 oz lime juice
• 3/4 oz Russian Caravan tea syrup
• pinch sea salt

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

Powerful tang of the sherry-tea-lime combo up front accentuated with the hint of salt, subtle smoke and aguardiente notes rounding things out in the background.

MxMo LXXIV: Cherries—Silver Spurs

A very warm Fogged In thank-you to Andrea of Gin Hound for Hosting this month’s Mixology Monday, and for her excellent theme, cherries. These stone fruits are essential to so many great and varied cocktails that it took me a while to decide on a direction that I hadn’t explored before. But lately I’ve been working with wine-based ingredients, which suggested a cherry-sherry combination. Tequila seemed a natural compliment to both.



Silver Spurs

• 1 1/2 oz blanco tequila
• 3/4 oz amontillado sherry
• 1 barspoon Maraschino liqueur
• About 1/2 tsp mezcal

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

Off-dry; delicate fruit and florals. Black pepper from the tequila softened by the sherry.

Fred’s Sherry Mai Tai

This is a great wine cocktail remix by the incomparable Frederic Yarm of Cocktail Virgin Slut. The recipe follows the basic Trader Vic template, changing the Jamaica and Martinique rums for two styles of sherry. These wines as well as the classic Mai Tai are house favorites here so of course I jumped when I saw this item on Fred’s blog. Rich and flavorful, the crushed ice held onto the sherry flavor to the last.



Sherry Mai Tai

• 1 1/2 oz amontillado
• 1/2 oz Pedro Ximenez (subbed East India Solera)
• 1/2 oz curaçao
• 1 oz lemon juice
• 1/2 oz orgeat

Shake with ice and strain into a double old fashioned full of crushed ice. Mint garnish. (Used a cherry.)
SOURCE: FREDERIC YARM, COCKTAIL VIRGIN SLUT

Sorry to be all out of mint last night when making these but the sweet almond aroma of the (naturally) candied cherry worked well enough with the other nutty flavors in the drink.

Manhattan Transfer

Someone’s surely made this before though I couldn’t find a recipe: the Manhattan cocktail formula transposed for sherry and port. It’s bright with the acidity of the wine, and definitely lighter in alcoholic impact than spirits, like you’d expect. But for an aperitif cocktail, it seems kinda like a New Yorker.



Waverly & Waverly

• 2 oz amontillado (Lustau)
• 1 oz port (Churchill Reserve)
• 2 dashes orange bitters (Regans’)

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

Paper design: Vibe, Jean Orlebeke, eieio. 

MxMo LXIX: Fortified Wines—Whispers of the Frost

Many thanks to Jordan Devereaux of Chemistry of the Cocktail for hosting this month’s Mixology Monday, and for his very fine and tasty theme, Fortified Wines. Here at the Lounge, we’re big fans of port, madeira, and the whole range of sherries. The rich flavors and little dose of extra alcohol make these wines perfect for wintertime drinking, alone or in cocktails.

Here’s a classic recipe I’ve liked for a long time which has two fortified wines, port and sherry. Most recipes I’ve seen don’t mention what sort of sherry, though a very sweet one seems too heavy for the port. Also, most recipes call for sugar, which is totally dispensable, even with a dry sherry.



Whispers of the Frost

• 3/4 oz bourbon
• 3/4 oz port
• 3/4 oz sherry (Amontillado)

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

Elegant fruit and nuts brightened by the spray of lemon oil from the twist. Mellow and warming. Have two—they’re small.

Fort Greene

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

Croton Cocktail

Dry and elegant, the Croton is a great sleeper of a classic bourbon cocktail. But without bitters, it seems a little unfocused—not quite a cocktail. I first experimented with Regans’ No. 6 on the premise that the Croton is essentially a bourbon version of the Gordon, but the bitters and the sherry repelled each other. My next attempt was with Fee Bros Whiskey Barrel Aged, and everything came together.



Croton Cocktail

• 2 oz bourbon
• 3/4 oz sherry (Amontillado)
• 1-2 dashes Fee Bros Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon Twist.
SOURCE: COCKTAILDB, ADAPTED BY ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Very sherry at first, but gradually opens up to vegetal notes from the bourbon pointed up by the lemon peel.

If you prefer a simpler beverage, try another drink of the same name.