Continuing with my apparent recent theme of cocktails with silly names comes this little ditty with a very matter-of-fact name.
As a quick aside, there's a bar in Chicago whose name escapes me where the drinks have oddly literal names. One of their house cocktails is called The Refreshing Drink. I wonder what the other cocktails on the menu are called. Maybe they have drinks such as The Pink Drink, or The Drink With Too Many Garnishes, or The Fall On Your Ass, I'll Call You A Cab Drink.
In any case, when a drink is named something like The Delicious Sour, my first reaction is something along the lines of, "Oh yeah, well I'll be the judge of that, thank you very much." Well, in this case it happens to fit, as my customers always point out. "How your cocktail?" "Oh, well, it's (wait for it) delicious, tee hee hee".
Sigh.
This one comes from Ted Haigh's Vintage Cocktails and Forgotten Spirits. Dr. Cocktail got the recipe from an 1891 cocktail book called The Flowing Bowl by William "The Only William" Schmidt. In the Jan/Feb edition of Imbibe, Haigh goes on to point out that "The Only William" seemed to favor cocktails meant for the ladies. And yes, in my own experience, ladies have been the primary audience for The Delicious Sour, which is kinda bad, kinda good. Kinda bad that the guys aren't curious, kinda good because the ladies are ordering something other than Cosmopolitans and Lemon Drops, even better that someone is ordering an egg white drink.
The Delicious Sour
1 1/4 oz Applejack
1 1/4 oz peach liquer
3/4 oz lime juice
small dash of simple syrup
1/2 egg white
Shake shake shake, then shake some more. Strain without ice into a sour glass.
Given the ingredients, I'd have thought this would have been on the sweet side, but that just isn't the case. The flavors blend well and has the silky texture the egg white provides. The only thing missing might be a dash of bitters of some nature, and part of me believes it's probably just fine without it, though I may experiment.
In any case, it is delicious (see, I can't help myself either, tee hee hee), and I'm happy to have it on the menu at Union.
The Delicious Sour
MXMO: The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch
Death is upon the land and all those who tend it's soil. For thou hath summoned thine secret detonative device, The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. Within it's casing liest a potion so fierce thou shalt not consume another, for if thouest request a second, thou will be blown up into tiny bits.
Ahem.
i can only keep up that prose for so long. Let's get right into the history of this deadly weapon.
Once upon a time, Union held a beer party. One of those beers was a potent bottle of Eku 28, a German Eisbock. I'll let Dr. Beer Love give you the full background if you're curious. If you're not, let me just tell you that the beer clocks in at 11% ABV (!). On our shelves, we always have on hand a bottle of Stroh 80, an Austrian rum proofed at 160 (!). We keep it exclusively for initiating new cooks (they do a shot, we all laugh, they fall down). Being bored one night, I came up with the idea of a boilermaker comprised of both, and called it The One and Done. I call up Rocky Yeh and he drops what he's doing and speeds down the interstate to try one. We wrangled on of the cooks to join him and the cook immediately, ahem, lost his cookies.....
Some time later, Rocky challenged me to come up with a cocktail using this ultimate demon rum. I put it together like an absinthe drip, combining it with lime juice, orange juice, simple syrup and Pernod. Ended up being not too shabby. Every now and then I'd drag it up as a shooter for daring party-goers wandering up First Avenue on their way to Pioneer Square or Belltown. Rocky again challenged me to come up with a shooter that could match a hilarious name, The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, killer of ferocious bunnies. I just dredged up the Stroh shot and, well, there was much rejoicing.
Finally, Rick has the idea of a Limit One MXMO, and I figured I'd haul this one up, but try and make it better. Having just visited Vessel and being enamored with Jamie Boudreau's Rubicon, I thought I'd try my hand at a little molecular mixology to add another layer of flavor. I bruleed some cherries on the bottom of the glass, mashed them and carmelized the syrup as well. Then came the shot of Stroh, a little orange and lime juice, some simple syrup and then, just to see what'd happen, I floated a 1/4 oz of absinthe. Then I handed it to the cooks, master tasters of cocktails. The cooks have a justifiable fear of Stroh, so I kept the ingredients a secret.
What started out as a joke has now ended up being a fantastically tasty cocktail, something I'd never have believed possible. Does it have a silly name? Yes, of course it does. But if you're a Monty Python fan, as I am, you can't help but laugh a little...
Behold...The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. Introduction here by Monty Python, from The Holy Grail, one of the great comedies of our time....
"LAUNCELOT
We have the Holy Hand Grenade.
ARTHUR
Yes, of course! The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch! 'Tis one of the sacred relics Brother Maynard carries with him! Brother Maynard! Bring up the Holy Hand Grenade!
MONKS
[chanting] Pie Iesu domine, dona eis requiem. Pie Iesu domine, dona eis requiem. Pie Iesu domine, dona eis requiem. Pie Iesu domine, dona eis requiem.
ARTHUR
How does it, um-- how does it work?
LAUNCELOT
I know not, my liege.
ARTHUR
Consult the Book of Armaments!
BROTHER MAYNARD
Armaments, chapter two, verses nine to twenty-one.
SECOND BROTHER
And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, 'O Lord, bless this Thy hand grenade that, with it, Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits in Thy mercy.' And the Lord did grin, and the people
did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals and fruit bats and large chu--
MAYNARD
Skip a bit, Brother.
SECOND BROTHER
And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.'
MAYNARD
Amen.
KNIGHTS
Amen.
The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch
Brulee 3 cherries on the bottom of a double rocks glass.
In an ice-filled cocktail shaker combine:
1 oz Stroh 80
1 oz fresh orange juice
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
healthy dash of simple syrup
Shake, dump contents into aforementioned rocks glass. Stir, float a dash of absinthe on top.
Ye Gods!!! Have one, and thou shalt be smitten. Two, thou shalt be smote.
Want to see the scene from The Holy Grail? Darn right you do!!
Slainte!
Silver Lining
I have a new favorite cocktail, just in time for my birthday. I got this one from the 2006 edition of Food and Wine Cocktails, an annual roundup of new cocktails from top bartenders and bars from around the U.S. The bar and bartender? Joseph Schwartz of Little Branch. The combination of rye, Licor 43 and egg white appealed to me, and in this case, it tasted even better than I thought it would.
Silver Lining
1 1/2 oz rye (I used Rittenhouse 100 proof)
3/4 oz Licor 43
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
1 egg white
2 oz club soda
Shake the bejeezus out of everything, aside from the soda, and strain into an ice-filled collins glass. Top with soda water a little bit at a time as the foam rises quickly.
Hooo boy, this is tasty, one of the better new cocktails I've had in some time, and it's going on the menu as soon as possible. Think lemonade, meringue and custard without being sweet. Think rye along with that....
Ah, about Licor 43... this is a Spanish liquer composed of 43 different herbs and spices. Vanilla comes out most prominently. If you happen to have Licor 43 gathering dust in your liquor cabinet for whatever reason, give this one a shot.
Ooooh, my aching liver
It's been a rough week, let me tell you, so rough it's taken me two weeks to write this post. A heavy night of boozing it up at Vessel's Fat Tuesday party, a spectacluar dinner at Union and horrible bowling at the Garage (along with some ill-advised Jagermeister forced upon me) made for an epic, Bunyan-esque hangover. But we're not going to get into that night....
You see, before she had to leave Vessel, Christine, my beautiful fiancee, managed to finagle a promise from me which I, in my Hurricane-induced glory, accepted. I promptly forgot, of course. The next day, wounded and battered, though, I had to make good on my promise to go with her to the Can-Can to see Zach.
Zach McCaffree is one of Seattle's best bartenders. He's built a spectacular bar from the ground-up, and the secret most in Seattle don't know is how great a drink you'll get from the man behind the bar in between cabaret performances (or, heck, even during). You want hooch? Zach's got it, with a selection second only to the Zig Zag. Cocktails? Zach knows them. He introduced me to this gem, which I enjoyed so much I've made a half-dozen for my customers in the week that followed. The cocktail in the picture above is a cellphone capture of it. . .
The Fort Washington Flip
1 1/2 oz applejack
3/4 oz Benedictine
1/2 oz maple syrup
1 fresh egg
Shake the mother-effin' crap out of it, pour into a chilled cocktail glass then grate nutmeg on top.
Now, how did this recipe slip past my radar? It was published on drinkboston, a site I usually read, plus Imbibe Magazine , which I also regularly read. The recipe comes from Misty Kalkofen from Green Street Grill, a bar I'm now inspired to fly across country to visit. Christine and I had several drinks, among them his own Ringmaster involving Averna, apricot-infused rye and something else (forgot/too hungover to ask, natch). If any of you from Seattle have not been to Can-Can, get there now and say hi to Zach for me (Erik, a bartender at Zig Zag, also slings drinks one night a week, another reason to get down there).
Speaking of Zig Zag (nice new site guys, btw), I can't be that close and boozing it up and not go there!!! So Christine and I stopped by, missing Robert Hess and Paul Clarke by mere minutes, apparently. Ben, Erik and Murray were all behind the bar, much to our delight. Murray had the chocolate bitters Paul raved about and Murray whipped up an unnamed drink using the bitters.
2 oz Mt Gay Xtra Old rum
¼ oz Grand Marnier
1/8 oz Cointreau
5 dashes Xococatl mole bitters
The next drink, though, really struck me. It's an odd one, which is usually enough to get my attention, but it also be danged tasty, enough so that I'm going to have to try this one out.
Friar's Pint
1 ¾ oz Plymouth gin
1 oz cardamon-infused Guinness (!)
¾ oz E. India Lustau sherrry (not sure if it's a fino or not)
dash Angostura bitters
dash simple syrup
1 egg white
Okay, now I just copied the recipe from Murray's notes off the back of a coaster (how many of us in Seattle have coasters at home with Murray's handwriting). I imagine you shake the bejeezus out of everything save the Guinness, dump it into a champagne flute (which is how he served it), then pour the world's most venerable stout over the top. I don't know. Perhaps Murray, who has been known to sometimes peek over at this space, can enlighten us. All I can tell you is that this drink cannot be just a one night stand. . . more research is needed (it always is, isn't it?). An absolutely inspired cocktail, and believe me, it didn't stand a chance as I got all Kimbo on the thing and knocked that sucker out within seconds.
I have to thank Christine for dragging my sorry ass around town, and thanks to Zach at Can-Can and Ben, Erik and Murray for another memorable evening.
Muh-Muh-Muh My Negroni
First, my apologies to the Knack for badly appropriating their one and only hit...
But anyway, the Negroni . . .venerable, iconic, on the rocks, served up, loved and worshipped, hated and contortion-inducing. . . there's just no coming down the middle on this one. So allow me, on this Mixology Monday, to add another layer of division.
Proportions are law for the Negroni. So says none other than one of our best and most beloved drinks writers, Gary Regan who, in the Joy of Mixology, says something to the effect that the proportions should be beyond tinkering. I'm going to go ahead and point out that the Negroni itself is a variation on the Americano.... ptttttttt. So let's go ahead and mess with this poor old venerable bastard.
I like Campari, and given that my taste buds are dead, I need to be hit on the head with flavor in my drinks. I like 'em rich and heavy, so delicate nuances are lost on me. Here's what I do. . .
Keith's Negroni Variation
1 ½ oz Campari (yup, that's right)
¾ oz Beefeater Gin
¾ oz Vya Italian Vermouth (I'm currently toying with Punt é Mes also. Verdict is still out)
2 dashes Regan's Orange Bitters (gotta make it up to Gary somehow)
I figured if you ordered a Negroni, you've got a taste for Campari like I do, adding a little orange bitters just adds even more to the party. Vya is nice and rich. That's the Negroni I like to drink.
Turns out I'm not alone. Murray Stenson at Zig Zag makes his pretty much the same way, which is a nice little rubber stamp. And guess who else? Well, in his book New Classic Cocktails, Gary Regan (!) himself shows what an adaptable man he is by including The Cinnabar Negroni, which I have recently discovered is pretty much the same variation Murray and I do, among the chosen few in that book. And I have to add that of all the cocktails we make at Union, and I make quite a few, I get more compliments on this Negroni than any other drink we make. I don't know what that means, but there you have it....
Jimmy, great idea for a MM event. Cheers everyone, see at the party...
The Yeh Yeh Yeh
There's a man about town in Seattle, a man quite a few of those who manage to read this blog now and then know. He's a happy man (except when the Huskies lose), a smart man who knows a lot about a lot of topics (go ahead, I dare one of you to stump him in casual conversation), throws a mean Xmas party, graciously helps his bartender move, launches his bowling balls with more spin than you've ever seen, has a great pool game (though he mysteriously seems to flop against me... what can I say, I am nothing if not intimidating) he loves his food and drink, through which I'm lucky to know him.
He's all over the place. In fact, not only is this cocktail named after him, but he even took this friggin' picture and then drank it. How many of you out there have a drink named after you? Working or owning a bar doesn't count, nor does inventing the drink then naming it after yourself! I mean, how many of us will be so well-regarded that a cocktail will be named in our honor? Not only that, but a cocktail that kicks some serious ass, is ordered frequently then, just as frequently, re-ordered. Betcha' George Bush doesn't have a cocktail, either one of them actually. . .maybe a street, a public building or a library (kind of ironic in the case of Bush the younger, but every President gets one, even this one), but a cocktail? A good one? Yup, I don't think so, either.
So this is a really long-winded way of saluting my friend Rocky Yeh (who is also sometimes self-referred to as Rock Doggy Dogg) and his eponymous cocktail, The Yeh Yeh Yeh, which he orders as a Me Me Me (further exemplifying his bad-assedness in front of everyone). It's a good looking drink, packs a wallop (look at that dose of bourbon!!!) and is a solid drink for this time of year. The blond Lillet rounds off some of the harsh edge of the bourbon and the Rouge lends a sweetness at the end.
Take a bow, Rocky. The You You You is an excellent drink.
2 1/2 oz. Woodford Reserve (!!!)
3/4 oz. Lillet Blonde
Stir, strain into a cocktail glass
Slowly pour 1/4 oz. Lillet Rouge, so that it settles on the bottom, creating a layered effect.
Orange twist as garnish.
The way Rocky drinks it? Enjoy the top layer for a few sips, then stir the layers together.
The Union
My entrant to this Mixology Monday event, hosted by Gabriel over at Cocktail Nerd, marks my first post (gulp) with an original cocktail. As I've mentioned in this space, I don't really consider myself overly talented when it comes to creating new cocktails. I'm no Jamie Boudreau, who seemingly creates three stunningly innovative cocktails per day (I'm sure he comes up with at least one before he's even brushed his teeth in the morning...that dang Canuck!).
Like any proud papa, I'd like to share this cocktail's backstory. Once upon a time we had a bartender at Union who made up a drink called Le Vie en Rose. He misted a cocktail glass with rosewater, then mixed up Absolut Mandarin with Chambord, strained it into the marinated cocktail glass, topped up with bubbly then plopped a rose petal atop the drink. Rose aromatics, a bit of bubbly candy in the glass and a rose petal. . .sheesh, you can imagine how popular it was. Once that bartender left, the drink left with him. The new bar manager and our floor manager didn't like it because the scent of rosewater dominated the bar (and the cabinet where the mister was kept). This disappointed legions of fans, some of whom went out of their way to get one.
I've always wanted to bring this cocktail back, only doing it differently to appease my own palette, and that of my newly betrothed. I wanted to refine this drink for Christine, as a cocktail meant to celebrate our engagement. After some experimentation, Cameron and Anita came in and tried it and came up with a wonderful name, The Pistola Rosa, along with a few helpful observations regarding the composition. Unfortunately, Christine seemed a little bummed, since the name didn't reflect romance or our matrimony. Unbeknownst to her, I think I finally came up with a name, one that also mirrors the name of the restaurant.
So here it is, The Union.
4 mint leaves
2 drops rosewater
2 barspoons cremé de cassis
Muddle above in a pint glass
Add 2 oz Hendricks gin, fill glass with ice then stir
Pour into a cocktail glass, top off with 1 oz prosecco or other light bubbly
Garnish with a single rose petal
No pic of it just yet, since I broke my camera and it's off being repaired. It should come back this week and I'll post a picture of it then, because it really is a pretty drink.
Know I just have to come up with a drink that uses the wonderful name Cameron and Anita came up with. That is, if that @&*#!!! Boudreau doesn't beat me to it.
The Spumoni
By now you might have noticed the sidebar I recently included on this site, the current cocktail menu at Union. I've been wanting to post it since seeing Jeffrey Morgenthaler's menu. He has his as a PDF, but I'm far too dumb and lazy to figure out how to do that, so I just presented it this way.
With fall coming, most of these cocktails will get the elbow. The Spumoni, however, won't be one of them. This spin on the woefully under-ordered Americano is too easy to whip up, my boss loves it, it's popular and, of course, it be too dang tasty to bump aside.
The Spumoni
1 oz Campari
1 oz fresh grapefruit juice
1 oz tonic water
Build in collins glass, garnish with an orange twist.
That's it. The pub for the drink goes to our old bar manager, Jerry Tide. It is utterly simple, both in construction and taste. The little bugger is refreshing too, and given the low alcohol content, you can knock 'em back all friggin' night.
The Ines Cocktail
First, a big huzzah!!! to Paul for hosting a deliriously fun Mixology Monday. I haven't had time to browse through all the blog love, but somewhere in between this post and compiling my recipes into book format, I plan to.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I've got a backlog of drinks I'd like to write about, starting with one of the weirder cocktails I know. This one, like so many others, was introduced to me via Ben Dougherty at Seattle's iconic Zig Zag. It graced the menu at Union for a hot second, until the seasons changed and found itself elbowed aside.
The history behind The Ines Cocktail is slim. All I know is that it won a 1982 bartender challenge in Portugal, whipped up by Alain Nevers of France. Ben found it in an out-of-print cocktail book, then made one for me.
1 3/4 oz gin
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
1/2 oz dry vermouth
1/4 oz amaretto
Stir, strain into chilled cocktail glass
Add one green olive as garnish
After Ben made it, he watched me taste it, furrowed his brow and said something like "it's pretty interesting, isn't it? It's good..."
Interesting is a good word for it. It's an odd little bugger. The combination of Amaretto and gin and an olive seems to throw people off, yet it works, darn it. Something about the sweet-almond flavor of the Amaretto and the saltiness of the olive creates an ethereal flavor I've never tasted in a cocktail.
Just about every bar has the ingredients (Christine even had me instruct a bartender at a casino how to make one). Rather than buying Amaretto for this one drink, I'd recommend you jot the recipe down and teach your local bartender how to make it. It's worth the effort.
Drinks like The Ines are hopefully what this site can be about....saving really good cocktails from the scrap heap.
My Pink Elephant
Been far too long since I threw an entry down, or even trolled through the ever-growing cocktail blogosphere. There are quite a few reasons (excuses?) for that, one of which dovetails slightly with todays Mixology Monday theme. First, the weather in Seattle has been, in a word, sweet. We just don't get that many spectacularly hot and sunny days here. It's kind of hard to be home and blog when the weather is so nice. And second, I've just been flat-out busy either working or going out or recovering from going-out (my hooch intake during the summer borders on the ridiculous).
But really, Paul's public call as to why we blog couldn't have come at a better time. I've been stuck. Not that I don't have a backlog of drinks to highlight, but I've been stuck on the why I blog bit along with - more importantly - what I want my blog to be.
A little background on two elements which got me started blogging. About sixteen years ago, I read 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac and I, like thousands of other brethren before me, got the I-WANNA-BE-A-WRITER bug. I even went to Boulder, Colorado and graduated with a degree in writing from The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute, studying at the elbows of those same characters I read about in Kerouac's books (all of them except Jack and Neal, of course). I tried working on a novel, the title of which is now the title of this blog. After years of writing, I finally decided I flat-out don't have the stamina to complete my book. I ho-hummed my way around America for awhile waiting tables, looking for something else to tie my identity around, until one day I stood behind a bar and helped the bartender kick out Cosmos and Margaritas to a thankless rabble during a private party.
Aha!
So, blogging is a way to get my writing chops back (gotta say, I'm feeling pretty rusty, too), and on a topic I really do love. But this is non-fiction, a completely different beast. Non-fiction requires a type of superior knowledge which often trudges toward education, and this is what invites the thousand-pound pink elephant into the room (ha! I love mixing metaphors). Skimming through the blogs, I'm always reminded how much everyone involved knows about cocktails, history and lore, spirits and bartending. Is there anything new I have to contribute? I don't know, really. I don't feel comfortable enough to be an educator. What I do know is that are a bajillion cocktails out there, some have been undeservedly put out to pasture, and my direction will probably focus on uncovering those which should get more love.
Ok, on to the blog love-fest...
Truly, I browse through all the sites I have listed, and keep them on there because I like them and want you to like and visit them as well. I tend to gravitate toward other bartenders, so Explore the Pour, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, Drinkboston, Spirits and Cocktails, Jimmy's Cocktail Hour, and the Bottle Gang are the ones I usually hit first. But my biggest shout-out goes to the one who initiated this post and inspired me to try my own blog (and also the one I plagarize the most)... Paul.
Maybe it's because he's from Seattle and I'm a shameless homer... maybe it's because I have a black belt in kiss-ass and he is our host today... or maybe it's simply because he knows more than me and writes better to boot and has a unique talent to beat me to topics I want to write about. The updates are frequent and entertaining and inspiring.
The drink? The Ganesvoort Fizz. To be fair, I had noticed the recipe in Wondrich's book well before I read Paul's blog entry, but his unabashed enthusiasm for it got me off my ass. I wrote a little about it one of my earlier posts and eventually this little gem found its way onto the Union cocktail menu.
The Ganesvoort Fizz
2 oz medium-bodied rum
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz Drambuie
2 dashes Peychaud bitters
Shake, strain into a highball glass, top with soda.
Cheers everyone. I've got a barload of cocktail recipes coming up. Stay tuned.
And last but not least, should any of you fine bloggers come to Seattle, let me know... your first drink at The Zig Zag will be on me.
Arsenic and Old Lace
I missed out on this months Mixology Monday. Rather, I let it pass by, mostly because I didn't know any cream-based cocktails that I loved and felt the need to pass on. I did figure I could throw in a créme-based cocktail, but the only one I'm in love with now is the Arsenic and Old Lace, featuring the regrettably impossible to find créme de violette, which I thought might be unfair (as in, here is this great cocktail, you can't make it, neener-neener-neener.. ptttttttttt)
Paul over at Cocktail Chronicles did just that, however, and now I feel the need to share this drink, because it is truly extradordinary.
Like most cocktails I've had recently, this one was introduced to Christine and I by Ben and Murray at the Zig Zag. It's almost impossible to describe. The flavors are delicate, that is the first thing you notice, and long after you've finished it, the delicacy is the element you remember. All the flavors are there, but the violet is haunting and seductive, as if you're sipping on the essence of the flower alone.
The recipe I have comes from Cocktail DB. Not sure if this is exactly how Murray and Ben make it, as they tend to re-interpret and improve upon recipes.
Arsenic and Old Lace
1 1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz pastis
1/2 oz créme de violette
1/4 oz dry vermouth
Stir, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with a lemon twist.
This is now the initial cocktail Christine orders when she sits down at the Zig Zag. Also, it is so unique and fascinating it's inspired me to try and craft some homemade violet liquer.
Too late for Mixology Monday, but if you can track down a bottle of créme de violette, or if you can find someone to bring you a bottle from Japan or France, stir one up and see for yourself.
The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Cocktail
One of the few benefits of a slow night in the bar is the ability to test out cocktails. At Union, I'm lucky enough to have a kitchen crew who is as equally curious about trying out drinks as I am in making them. Sundays are usually the day I get to experiment, though this usually happens during service and they can only have a few sips. A recent Saturday night, however, gave me a rare opportunity to help the kitchen crew get their buzz on (ok, that part is not so rare) with some new drinks, at a time when they're ready to party (again, not so rare for Saturday night).
I'd been making Jason Stoneburner, our extraordinarily talented chef de cuisine, Ganesvoort Fizzes during their cleanup. By the time he was done, I'd run out of Drambuie, and a new cocktail needed to be whipped up. He'd had his first Ganesvoort Fizz the previous night and had been so excited he did some research to a) find out how to pronounce it and b) find another drink I could make him. Somehow, he landed on the Bermuda Rum Swizzle, a drink I'd never made but had the general idea. I mistakenly thought it contained Cointreau. I threw one together and Jason loved it, as did the rest of the table, so I made four more. Then I began to have second thoughts about the Cointreau. Sure enough, a gander at the recipe revealed no Cointreau.
I got home around 4 a.m. and dived into my new Jones Complete Bar Guide (review on this beautiful monster forthcoming) and sure enough, discovered The Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, a Bermuda Rum Swizzle with Cointreau.
1 3/4 oz Barbados Rum
1/2 oz lime juice
1/4 oz Cointreau
1/4 oz Falernum (I always jump at the chance to show my Falernum off)
Shake, strain into cocktail glass
I made this with both Barbados rum and Bermuda rum with equal success. If you enjoy richer flavor, go with the Goslings Black Seal Bermuda. Personally, I thought it was funny not using Bermuda rum given the name of the drink, then again Barbados rum allows the other ingredients more of the spotlight.
Three days later, I snapped the above picture of Christine enjoying one in the sun on our back porch. No yacht, no Bermuda, but she's got the drink so she's at least one step closer...
Dance Around the Maypole
Happy May Day to all the socialists and Wiccans out there. Today is the day of my first post, and I'll have to lobby Wikkipedia to add my blog to it's May Day page. This will allow non-socialists and non-Wiccans the ability to celebrate May Day as well.
So, my initial 'Cocktail of the Day' selection begins on International Workers Day and on a pagan holiday. I'm not sure if there is an over-arching meaning to this, but my cocktail selection will most certainly have to reflect the spirit of the day.
I am not aware of any pagan cocktails (though a quick Web search revealed some bizarre ones, such as the Witches Brew on Cocktail.com, which doesn't read well).
Ahem, on to the socialist inspired cocktails then, of which there are a few. We could select any of the classic Cuban drinks, as I'm sure Fidel Castro would encourage. 'La Floridita', 'El Presidente', a 'Mojito' or two, a 'Cuba Libre', the 'Papa Dobles', heck, any Daiquiri would do today as well. In fact, I strongly recommend drinking your way through the entire Cuban cannon. My initial feeling, though, is that today is not the best day to honor those glorious Cuban barmen who kept Hemingway and countless other thirsty expats satiated during the dark days of Prohibition. Plenty of other days on the calender to raise our collective glasses in their memory.
So today's 'Cocktail of the Day' and this blog's initial selection goes to 'The Communist'. This recipe is from my favorite cocktail author Dr Cocktail aka Ted Haigh, from his book 'Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails'. If you don't own this book, get it; Dr Cocktail deserves to be wealthy.
1 oz gin
1 oz orange juice
1/2 oz cherry brandy
3/4 oz lemon juice
A gin and juice cocktail. Snoop Dogg would be proud. Power to the peoples.
Cocktail Recipes
* Absinthe Frappe - Absinthe, sugar, water
* Aku Aku - Rum, peach liquer, mint, lime juice, pineapple, simple syrup
* Alfonso - Dubonnet, sugar, Angostura bitters, Champagne
* Algonquin - Rye, pineapple juice, dry vermouth
* Americano - Campari, sweet vermouth, soda water
Ancient Mariner
* Anejo Highball - Rum, orange curacao, lime juice, Angostura bitters, ginger beer
* Aperol Sour - Aperol, lemon juice, simple syrup, orange bitters
* Applejack Old-Fashioned - Applejack, maple syrup, Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel Aged bitter
* Arsenic & Old Lace- Gin, creme de violette, dry vermouth, absinthe
* Ascot - Bourbon, Amaretto, peach bitters, star anise
* Astoria - Gin, dry vermouth, orange bitters
* Aviation - Gin, lemon juice, maraschino liquer
* Batida Rosa - Cachaca, lemon juice, pineapple juice, grenadine, simple syrup
* Bee's Kiss - Light and dark rum, honey, cream
* Bellini - White peach puree, prosecco
* Blinker - Rye, grapefruit juice, raspberry syrup
* Blood & Sand - Scotch, sweet vermouth, cherry brandy, orange juice
* Blue Moon - Gin, lemon juice, creme de violette
* Bobby Burns - Scotch, sweet vermouth, Drambuie, Angostura bitters
* Boulevardier - Bourbon, Campari, sweet vermouth
* Black & Tan - Rye, blackberries, mint, simple syrup, lime juice, ginger beer
* Bramble - Gin, creme de mure, lemon juice, simple syrup
* Caipirinha - Cachaca, lime, simple syrup
* Canton - Jamaican rum, orange curacao, maraschino liquer, grenadine, Angostura bitters
* Champagne Cocktail - Champagne, Angostura bitters, sugar cube
* Chartreuse Swizzle - Chartreuse, falernum, lime juice, pineapple juice
* Choke Artist - Cynar, tequilla, sherry, orange bitters
* Chrysanthemum - Dry vermouth, Benedictine, absinthe
* Citron Buck - Absolut Citron, creme de cassis, ginger simple syrup, ginger beer
* Clermont Smash - Mint, falernum, bourbon, lemon juice, peach bitters
* Cocktail a'la Louisiane - Rye, Benedictine, sweet vermouth, absinthe, Peychaud bitters
* Corn-N-Oil - Cruzan Blackstrap rum, falernum, bitters, lime
* Corpse Reviver #2 - Lillet, gin, Cointreau, lemon juice, absinthe
* Creole Resolution - Lillet, grenadine, sugar cube, champagne
* Dark And Stormy - Goslings rum, ginger beer, lime
* Dead Man's Dram - Demerrara rum, brandy, falernum, pimento dram, 1/2 & 1/2
* Death In The Afternoon - absinthe, champagne
* Delicious Sour - Applejack, peach liquer, lime juice, egg white, simple syrup
* Deshler - Rye, Cointreau, Dubonnet, Peychaud bitters
* Diamondback - Rye, chartreuse, applejack
* Drink Without A Name - Vodka, Chartreuse, Cointreau
* Duwamish Julep - Bourbon, mint, blackberry liquer, Angostura bitters
* Eastern Sour - Bourbon, lemon juice, orange juice, orgeat, simple syrup
* El Diablo - Tequilla, lime juice, creme de cassis, ginger ale
* Eldwerwilde - Gin, elderflower syrup, absinthe, Angostura bitters
* Expatriate - Pimm's, ginger syrup, champagne
* Floridita - Rum, sweet vermouth, grenadine, lime juice, white creme de cacao
* Fort Washington Flip - Applejack, Benedictine, maple syrup, egg
* French 75 - Gin, Cointreau, lemon juice, champagne
* Friar's Pint - Gin, cardamom-infused Guinness, sherry, simple syrup, Angostura bitters
* Ganesvoort Fizz - Rum, Drambuie, lemon juice, Peychaud bitters, soda water
* Gentleman Johnson - Bourbon, iced tea, Cointreau
* Gimlet - Gin or vodka, Roses lime juice
* Gin-Gin Mule - Gin, lime juice, mint, ginger beer, simple syrup
* Gypsy - Gin, lime juice, maraschino liquer, elderflower liquer
* Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch - Strohs rum, absinthe, lime juice, orange juice, simple syrup, cherries
* Hoskins - Gin, Torani Amer, Cointreau, Maraschino liquer, orange bitters
* Hurricane - Light and dark rums, orange and lime juices, passion fruit syrup, grenadine, simple syrup
* Ines - Gin, Amaretto, dry and sweet vermouths
* Irish Coffee - Irish whiskey, hot coffee, whipped cream, sugar
* Jaguar - Tequilla, Amer Picon, green Chartreuse, orange bitters
* Japanese - Brandy, orgeat, Angostura bitters
* Jasmine - Gin, Campari, lemon juice, Cointreau
* Jolly Roger - Dark rum, orange juice, falernum, Angostura bitters
* Last Word
* Limon Fresca - Gin, lime juice, ginger beer, simple syrup
* Little Italy - Rye, Cynar, sweet vermouth
* Maharajah Burra-Peg - Cognac, champagne, sugar, Angostura bitters
* Mai Tai - Jamaican rum, Martinique rum, lime juice, orgeat, Cointreau
* Manhattan - Rye or bourbon, sweet vermouth, Angostura bitters
* Margarita - Tequilla, Cointreau, lime juice
* Marmalade Sour - cachaca, orange marmalade, lemon juice, orange bitters, egg white
* Martini - Gin, dry vermouth
* Milk Punch - Brandy, rum, simple syrup, whole milk
* Mint Julep - Bourbon, mint, simple syrup
* Mojito - Rum, mint, lime, simple syrup
* Monkey Gland - Gin, grenadine, orange juice, absinthe
* Moscow Mule - Vodka, lime juice, simple syrup, Angostura bitters
* Nacional - Rum, apricot brandy, lime juice, simple syrup, Angostura bitters
* Negroni - Gin, Campari, sweet vermouth, orange bitters
* Night And Day - Cognac, Grand Marnier, Angostura bitters, champagne
* Nirvana - Rye, Amer Picon, maraschino liquer, Benedictine
* Noa Noa - Demerara rum, lime juice, Angostura bitters, mint, brown sugar
* None But The Brave - Brandy, Jamaican rum, pimento dram, lemon juice, simple syrup
* Nui Nui - Rum, pimento dram, cinnamon syrup, vanilla syrup, lime juice, orange juice, angostura bitters
* Oaxaca Old-Fashioned - Tequilla, mezcal, agave nectar, Angostura bitters
* Old Cuban - Rum, mint, lime, Angostura bitters, simple syrup
* Old Fashioned - Rye or bourbon, Angostura bitters, simple syrup
* Old Pal - Rye or bourbon, sweet vermouth, Campari
* Opera - Gin, Dubonnet, maraschino liquer, orange bitters
* Papa Dobles Rum, lime juice, grapefruit juice, maraschino liquer, simple syrup
* Paloma - Tequilla, lime juice, grapefruit juice, Sprite, salt
* Paloma Mi Amante - Tequilla por mi amante, lime juice, Sprite, grapefruit juice, salt
* Pearl Diver Punch - Jamaican rum, Demerara rum, Puerto Rican rum, lime juice, orange juice, Pearl Divers Mix, falernum
* Pegu - Gin, lime juice, Cointreau, Angostura bitters, orange bitters
* Philadelphia Fish House Punch - Rum, cognac, peach brandy, simple syrup, lime juice, orange juice
* Picon Punch - Amer Picon, grenadine, soda
* Pimms Cup - Pimms No. 1, lemonade, 7UP
* Pink Lady - Gin, Applejack, grenadine, lemon juice, egg white
* Pisco Punch - Pisco, pineapple, gum syrup, water, lemon juice
* Pisco Sour Pisco, lemon juice, simple syrup, egg white, Angostura bitters
* Planters Punch - Jamaican rum, lime juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, grenadine, Angostura bitters
* Police Gazette Cocktail - Bourbon, dry vermouth, grenadine, simple syrup, Angostura bitters, orange curacao, maraschino liquer
* Pusser's Painkiller - Pussers rum, pineapple juice, cream of coconut, orange juice, nutmeg
* Queens Park Swizzle - Rum, simple syrup, mint, Angostura bitters
* Ramos Gin Fizz - Gin, lemon juice, lime juice, egg white, orange flower water, simple syrup, cream, soda water
* Red Hook - Rye, Punt e Mes, maraschino liquer
* Reveillion - Calvados, pear eau-de-vie, pimento dram, Punt e Mes, Fee's Old Fashioned Aromatic Bitters
* Rosemary Gimlet - Gin, lime juice, rosemary syrup
* Rosewater Rickey - Gin, lime juice, rosewater, bruleed cherries, sugar, Angostura bitters mist, soda water
* Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Cocktail - Rum, lime juice, Cointreau, falernum
* Rubicon - Gin, maraschino liquer, lemon juice, rosemary, green Chartreuse
* Saratoga - Rye, cognac, sweet vermouth, Angostura bitters
* Sazerac - Rye, simple syrup, Peychaud bitters, absinthe
* Scofflaw - Rye, lemon juice, dry vermouth, grenadine
* Scorched Earth - Cognac, Cynar, sweet vermouth, flamed lemon twist
* Seventh Heaven - Gin, grapefruit juice, maraschino liquer, mint
* Sidecar - Brandy, Cointreau, lemon juice
* Silver Lining - Rye, lemon juice, Licor 43, egg white, soda water
* Southside - Gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, mint
* Spumoni - Campari, grapefruit juice, soda water
* Strega Daiquiri - Rum, Strega, lemon juice, orange juice, orgeat
* Swami - Pisco, lime juice, green Chartreuse, grapefruit bitters, simple syrup
* Tailspin - Gin, green Chartreuse, sweet vermouth, orange bitters
* Test Pilot - Rum, Cointreau, falernum, lime juice, Angostura bitters, absinthe
* Tipperary - Irish whiskey, sweet vermouth, green Chartreuse
* Verona - Rye, Aperol, Dubonnet, grapefruit bitters
* Vesper - Gin, vodka, Lillet
* Vessel 75 - Bourbon, Peychaud bitters, maple syrup foam (egg white, maple syrup, water, lemon juice
* Vieux Carre - Rye, cognac, sweet vermouth, Benedictine, Peychaud bitters, Angostura bitters
* Union - Hendricks gin, rosewater, creme de cassis, mint, champagne
* White Lady - Gin, Cointreau, lemon juice, egg white
* White Russian - Vodka, Kahlua, cream
* Windemere County Julep - Bourbon, Applejack, maple syrup, mint
* Wisdom of Pele - Rum, more rum, lime juice, grapefruit juice, falernum, honey, cinnamon syrup, Fees whiskey-barrel aged bitters, vanilla liquer
* Yeh Yeh Yeh - Bourbon, blonde Lillet, Lillet rouge
* Zaza - Gin, Dubonnet, orange bitters