Solar Radio

This is an original recipe I blogged for a Mixology Monday that called for a favorite niche spirit. I went with kirsch, a classic eau-de-vie made from cherries, and accented it with another niche item, dry sherry, which seems under-appreciated in my home country of the United States.

For those who haven’t had much experience with dry sherries, they have a distinctive pistachio and green apple aroma which comes from a compound called acetaldehyde, the result of oxidization in the presence of a layer of special yeasts referred to as the flor.

Dry sherries don’t hold well once opened, and should be consumed quickly—within a day or so for best flavor.



Solar Radio

• 2 oz kirsch
• 1 oz dry sherry (anything labelled fino, manzanilla or amontillado)
• 1 – 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• Amarena or brandied cherry, garnish

Stir kirsch, sherry and bitters with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add cherry garnish.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

This is a dry, aromatic cocktail that would be suitable before dinner or for other Martini-type situations.

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 Sherry: Jasper’s Corner Tap and Kitchen

Another fun bar visit and another awesome pair of sherry cocktails. Jasper’s Corner Tap and Kitchen is an oasis in San Francisco’s downtown hotel district where the harried can stop hurrying and get something really nice to drink. Still collecting sherry cocktails, I was excited to find these two by bar manager Kevin Diedrich, one wine-based, the other with scotch.

To The Window, To The Flor is a subtle balance of oloroso and Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao lightened with Lillet, served up. I wanted another but it was the perfect prelude to the Smoked Peach, an impossibly elegant combination of different whiskies and sherry, peach and honey on the rocks. I’m already wondering how soon I can get back for more.



Special thanks to Adrian for his grace and vitality behind the bar, and to everyone at Jasper’s for a great visit.

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.

Booze Up Your Sherry

When it comes to wine cocktails, I find there’s no flavor compliment more felicitous than a good slug of liquor. The drink below by yours truly is an equal parts trio like Whispers of the Frost except with rum instead of port. Puerto Rican rum is a good choice for this Manhattan-type drink, though a more full-bodied style like Pampero Aniversario seems appropriate and would add interest.



W 67th St

• 1 oz rye
• 1 oz gold rum
• 1 oz East India Solera sherry
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

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

For the sherry, East India Solera was what I happened to have though anything in the medium-to-cream zone would probably work. Or use madeira.

Bamboo Cocktail

All right—this here’s the Bamboo Cocktail. It’s another sherry drink in this wine series I’m doing. A classic 19th-century thing, I had it just this weekend at Comstock Saloon here in San Francisco, a fine place to drink in Barbary Coast style. The next day, I tried my hand at the Bamboo as well.



Bamboo Cocktail

• 1 1/2 oz dry sherry
• 1 1/2 oz dry vermouth
• 1 dash orange bitters
• 2 drops Angostura bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist a strip of lemon peel over the glass and discard. Stuffed olive.

I worked from David Wondrich’s Imbibe! which recounts the creation and naming of this light, dry cocktail by saloonman Louis Eppinger. The recipe calls for two dashes orange bitters, though results vary considerably with the brand. Fee Bros seemed better at one dash. Regans’ added a nice cardamom note. And because I’m a scotch nut, I tried a dash of single malt as well, which didn’t hurt a thing.

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. 

Sherry Cocktails

Sherry—so delicious! Only a few years ago was I startled to learn that others might not consider sherry a morning beverage. Can you imagine? Anyway, when I saw that the incomparable Frederic of Cocktail Virgin Slut posted a Sherry Mai Tai, I made it as soon as possible, and then made another. A sherry cocktail is probably going to be an easy sell around here. Wanting more, I was inspired to think of a recipe of my own using another favorite ingredient, apple brandy. It’s a bit like Todd Maul’s Joe Bans You, also blogged by Frederic. I feel a wine cocktail series coming on.



Muy Linda

• 2 oz straight apple brandy
• 1 oz East India Solera sherry
• 3/4 oz lemon juice
• 1 tsp orgeat
• 1 dash Fee Bros Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters

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

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.

Sherry Cocktail

Making good on a threat from a couple of posts ago, I present the Sherry Cocktail. In 1934, the Sherry Cocktail was reckoned by bartender and author Barney Burke to be the 13th most famous cocktail in the world. (Man, did that go the way of all flesh.) If made with dry sherry, it’s light, modern and easy to drink. It would be a good item to serve before lunch or dinner instead of a Martini, like when you have someone over who only drinks wine. (I have met such people though I do not find them easy to understand.)

Burke’s Sherry Cocktail in his Complete Cocktail & Drinking Recipes calls for 2 ounces sherry, 3 dashes dry vermouth and 4 dashes orange bitters. And at the beginning of the book, he defines his dash as three drops. So nine drops of dry vermouth? In a glass of sherry and bitters? Really? The CocktailDB came in at a half ounce of vermouth and only 2 dashes orange bitters. That sounded like a recipe you could follow—a drink you could actually make without tossing and turning all night wondering what on earth the man meant. Measuring out nine drops of dry vermouth might give me a complex.

(In the CocktailDB, by way of The Café Royal Cocktail Book, there is also a drink called the Plain Sherry Cocktail. This is sherry with dashes of maraschino and absinthe, which seems less plain than the Sherry Cocktail. Something has been added there but I can’t seem to work out what.)



Sherry Cocktail

• 2 oz pale sherry (fino is good)
• 1/2 oz dry vermouth
• 1 dash orange bitters (Fee Bros)

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ADAPTED FROM THE COCKTAILDB

I felt like Fee’s orange bitters this time. Regans’ would be be fine, if very different, and Angostura Orange probably too assertive. Notice that I’ve only used a dash. Two dashes trampled the light, bone-dry sherry I used. In any case, it sounds like there’s some latitude with the sherry. Maybe Burke’s was an amontillado, but nobody would’ve tasted even ten drops of dry vermouth in that.

Bittercube Jamaican #1 Bitters

Feeling in the mood for a dry, spirit-forward rum cocktail to try my new Jamaican #1 bitters from Bittercube, a bright combination of allspice, ginger and black pepper—all flavors I crave. Of course this calls for a big Jamaica rum.



Jamaica & Spain

• 1 1/2 oz Smith & Cross
• 1 1/2 oz fino sherry
• 2 dashes (24 drops) Bittercube Jamaican #1

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

Pistachio notes in the sherry get freaky with the woodsy funk of the Smith & Cross. A friend who likes whiskey cocktails was asking about rum analogs....

Need another rum fix? Doug is serving up the magic of Tiki Month in grand style.

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

Ephemeral Horse

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

MxMo LVIII: Favorite Niche Spirit

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.

Fogged In Fog Cutter

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.

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.

Mellow Bee

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.