Red Goldfish

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.