Cocktails Please

[zetroc]

I did a trade with another salonista a little while ago and became the recipient of some homemade bitters, one of which is a nice sour cherry flavor that goes very, very well with Woodford. Could drink Manhattans like this all night.

[spopepro]

I did a trade with another salonista a little while ago and became the recipient of some homemade bitters, one of which is a nice sour cherry flavor that goes very, very well with Woodford. Could drink Manhattans like this all night.

The reports are all in... The other flavors are ok, but the cherry is a winner. Time to start another infusion I suppose.

Ps. I keep forgetting to mention the kraut and mustard went fast and was awesome. Food trades rock.

[AJPM44]

Really cool about the bitters trade. I tried to make some pine bitters, but some of the proportions were way off, and it was way too piney. I did get a chance to sneak out with my wife a week ago to a bar in somerville where the bartender made me a drink with Mezcal, Cynar, Punt e mes, Sriracha bitters, and some bitters a customer made called smoke bitters. It was a perfect drink for me. Smokey, bitter, and balanced. It was like the first time I had a Oaxacan Old Fashioned, 2oz silver tequilla, .5oz Mezcal, .25oz Agave nectar, Mole Bitters, and a bunch of oil from an orange peel. I'm also upset that I finished a bottle of Teapot bitters I got for christmas. Absolutely perfect in a daiquiri I make with ginger syrup. Good bitters are like a tailwind on a really nice ride; they only make it better.

[crumpton]

Michelle is making pasta as her mother is visiting. I am sure we will have a nice red with dinner but we will start with a simple negroni. I am sure this one is already well known.

1 part dry gin
1 part Camapri
1 part sweet vermouth

I actually prefer a dryer version for myself and use dry vermouth in place of sweet vermouth and Aperol in place of Campari. Aperol is sweeter than Campari but toned down by the dry vermouth. An interesting variation that comes in less sweet than the original.

[steveo]

Gin Old Fashioned
.5oz Yellow Chartreuse
1.75oz Plymouth Gin
5 dashes Fee Brothers peach bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters

[jbartmc]

Here in Louisville, the drink for Derby is a Mint Julep. Once a year it is excusable, but there are so many better ways to enjoy bourbon.

[zetroc]

I skipped the juleps this year. Is it a sin to use good ($40+/bottle) bourbon for those?

[AJPM44]

Why the hate for a Julep? It is a tasty drink when made right and the situation suits it. I wouldn't hesitate to use good bourbon with it, pretty much just have mint as the only other flavor in the drink.

Also, after crumpton's Negroni recipe I made my own in a similar vein. I used Hayman's Old Tom, Cynar, and Dry Vermouth. Mine was out of necessity since I was out of campari. Same idea, but a lot less sweetness. Add a dash or two of grapefruit bitters and it went down quite well.

[crumpton]

i'll be trying this one soon.

Gin Old Fashioned
.5oz Yellow Chartreuse
1.75oz Plymouth Gin
5 dashes Fee Brothers peach bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters

[crumpton]

5th of May here in Texas so... this is a double so you can share with your friend.

the quintessential 3:2:1 Mexican martini. a few of these will kick you in the ass!

3oz HeraDura silver
2oz Cointreau
1oz FRESH lime juice --->no bottles or frozen limeade crap or i'll know, find you and confiscate your HeraDura!!

shaken mad with ice, strain/pour into a nice cocktail glass(salt optional but i prefer not) and drown a few fat jap stuffed olives such as these winners

ps, its cool how this jar appears to be hovering over the background.

[prcrstn8]

...Bulleit rye whisky and some cheaper Jim Beam. Suggestions for other rye to look for?

You have the $30 and $20 category winners right there.

Other winners in higher categories:

Sazerac rye (yes, that's the brand name) $40
Few rye, my current favorite $60
Whistle Pig $75
Thomas H Handy Sazerac for your birthday (128 proof, >$100)

[WadePatton]

yeah, i've never been much of a bourbon or rye drinker before Bulleit-which i like pretty much.

BUT MARTINI ME!!!

The lovely Susan and I requested the bartender's personal best recently and he responded with Lemon Drops (martinis) and they were GREAT.

We later (another day) tried to replicate them (she has bartender history) but didn't quite make the mark. Then I ordered a Lemon Drop at an upscale restaurant and got junk (made with flavored vodka-peeyuu), i got by on "Dirties" after that.

Then I made a batch of Dirty Martinis at Susan's instruction (my first evers) and FWAK they were perfect.

SO i has just now a fresh bottle of Bombay Sapphire and some Martini Dry Vermouth. Hit me with your Martini faves and secrets and any such similar thanks.

[spopepro]

Hit me with your Martini faves and secrets and any such similar thanks.

My martini secret:


Which is also kind of my manhattan secret and so forth... Anyway, Vya is made by a central valley CA winery who really cares for their vermouth. As in they start with really great wine rather than dregs. Vermouth snobs will sometimes prefer something different, but I think all of quady's offerings are top notch (they only do desert wine, except for a strange dry experiment involving some of their extra tinto roriz), they are a family owned company, and my father-in-law did their loan for some of their land. Totally worth it for the quality of the stuff, but good people too, kind of like thompson, swiftwick, and a number of forum favorites.

[zetroc]

My martini secret is good gin. A place local to me makes a few gins that are astounding (St. George Spirits) and it's one of the only brands I buy anymore. That and Blade (or Rusty Blade) are my current favorites.

[gkk]

My martini secret:


Which is also kind of my manhattan secret and so forth... <snip>.

Ditto to this! The Whisper Dry (on the left up there) makes a great martini, but Vya's regular Dry is a good choice if you want some botanicals and you aren't using a very flowery gin.

Vya Whisper Dry + Leopold gin 1:4 = crazy delicious.

Why didja have to start this topic up on a Tuesday night, Wade? Now I'm thirsty and its a school night.

/gkk

[Filly-fuzz]

Drinks!?



When I drank (not no more) the cocktails of choice were gin & lemon, tom Collins, rusty nail's and salty salty margaritas

[Octave]

I recently picked up some Aztec Chocolate Bitters on a whim, and am now trying to figure out what exactly to do with them.

Two successes -

Kave

3/4oz dark rum
3/4oz Zwack
3/4oz homemade coffee liquer
2-3 dashes chocolate bitters

shake with ice and strain into ice-filled glass


Untitled (just messing around, turned out quite well)

Rinse glass with pernod
Stir in separate glass filled with ice: 2oz reposado tequila, 3 dashes chocolate bitters
Pour into pernod-rinsed glass
Garnish with flamed orange peel


Any suggestions?

[Ben]

I went to a bourbon tasting this past weekend. Lots of nice stuff on hand. Off the top of my head, I drank Angel's Envy, Blanton's, Four Roses (small batch and single barrel), Col. E.H. Taylor, Eagle Rare, W.L. Weller, Pritchard's double chocolate, Bulleit rye and 10-year-old, Woodford, Belle Meade, and one or two more I can't remember (for obvious reasons). And I only tried about half the selection. There was a premium room (extra $30 ticket) that I didn't do. Honestly, the number of people who can tell the difference between a $50 bottle and $100 bottle is exceedingly small, and I ain't among them, especially not after the first of the evening.

Anyway, the point of all this: Angel's Envy has started making a rye that will hit the shelves soon. I'm a huge fan of their bourbon, so I was excited to try their rye. It's... different. It's one of those bourbons that if you like it, you'll love it. It was dramatically butterscotch-y, and didn't taste anything like any rye (or really, any bourbon) I've ever tasted. It tasted good, but it was so different from what I was expecting - and truly, from any other bourbon I've ever had - that it was hard to give it a fair shake. I didn't like it at all at the time, but if you sat down to drink just that, it might honestly become your favorite spirit ever. Trying it in that setting was like drinking a port in the middle of sampling twenty cabernets, you know? Whether you like it just depends on what you like, but there's no doubt it's special, and I'll try it again when it's for sale. No doubt you could make some amazing cocktails with it, if you're into making cocktails with $60/fifth spirits. Anyway, keep an eye out for it.

Here's a review, of sorts.

[AJPM44]

I recently picked up some Aztec Chocolate Bitters on a whim, and am now trying to figure out what exactly to do with them.

2 oz Tequilla
.5 oz Mezcal
.25 oz agave nectar
Liberal amount of bitters

Stir

Take a large swath of orange zest, spritz throughout the cocktail, rub rim of glass, enjoy

[AJPM44]

Also, I'm assuming you have the fee brothers aztec bitter, if you enjoy them, look to try to get some Bittermen's Xocolatl Bitters.