i have been trading cocktail email with my friend matt, instead of posting here. i am going to rectify that now. below are some selections from our exchanges:
[matt mentioned that he tried and liked the gary regan margarita which is 1.5 tequila, 1 triple sec, 0.5 lime]
wrt ratios and recipes, i think it depends on taste (obv?) and frame of reference. like maybe my reference point is the spiked limeade style margarita, or like hershey’s syrup and peppermint schnapps while hottubbing at alexis smith’s house. but for others (like regan?) the reference point is like, tequila neat, or maybe cointreau neat. and so the lime juice is more like a condiment.
coincidentally (and out of sheer laziness) i have been making some 1.5 gin 1 triple sec and 0.75 citrus cocktails lately. i dont dare go down to 0.5. do i?
some stuff i tried recently.
champagne cocktails for a lachlan party. champagne was going to be there anyway, so why not.
fave bubbly is roederer brut which is a light, moderately dry, champagne. so the optional base mixtures were on the sweet side, (1) equal parts bourbon and apple liqueur (this was actually quite good on its own, surprisingly) (2) pear liqueur, gin, chartreuse, and lime. one thing about this i found was that it was MUCH better when both the champagne and the base mixtures were ice cold. as in, kept in the freezer. (didnt keep it there long enough for anything to form
crystals, if thats even possible)
a rum punch: rum, lime, apple liqueur (trying to use it up), orange liqueur, ginger tea. i then ‘ruined’ it by adding a slug of dark rum and another of aged rum. the flavors of those are powerful and so dominated the drink…maybe made it taste better, actually, but too much like every other punch ive made with those two rums.
plan for mikey: rum, tequila, lime, grapefruit, blackberry honey, ango. kind of a riff/rip on the high plains drifter he liked so well at boot n shoe. i don’t have a bitter component tho (the HPD had campari). maybe will experiment with a vermouth.
[i named the above cocktail 'the warcraft soulmate']
just made a variant of the brown derby which itself is a variant of the warcraft soulmate:
2 oz bourbon
3/4 oz grapefruit
3/8 oz lime
3/8 oz honey OR 3/4 oz honey syrup
1 dash ango
(actually made a larger batch, so 8 bourbon, 3 grapefruit 1.5 lime, 1.5 honey)
really awesome. the proportions are girly/accessible, the manly version (as manly as a drink with honey can be) would be like:
2 oz bourbon
1/4 oz grapefruit + dash of lime
1/4 oz honey OR 1/2 oz honey syrup OR 1/2 oz honey-based liqueur
1 dash ango
1 dash grapefruit bitters
grapefruit and lime twists
on the rocks is the way to go, its a drink that needs to be ice cold.
bought a bottle of cruzan dark aged rum tonight, to test drive i made a kind of punch:
4 oz dark rum
1 oz lime
1 tbsp maple syrup (mainly cuz it was on hand and ez)
couple dashes angostura
was ok. was really hoping for something like the gunpowder punch we had at pizzaiolo, but this rum was just not strong enough.
but….jp’s mom made some kind of squash similar to butternut and the
pairing of the two things was AWESOME.
i’m still playing with the dark rum proportions, there is a traditional recipe called a ‘ti punch’ which is 2 oz agricole rum, 1/4-1/2 oz syrup (traditionally cane), and muddled lime peel. no citrus juice. there is nothing i hate more than muddled lime peel (eg, caipirinha). but nothing i love more than lime zest. so i made a ti punch with some zest. nice, but i still miss a little tartness. so i made a modification, which i think nails it:
- peel two lime twists, whittle off pith
- muddle one of them in a glass
- add a dash of ango to the glass
- squeeze 1/6 to 1/4 of a lime into the glass
- pour maple syrup into the measuring cup up to approx 1/4 oz
- fill to 2 oz with dark rum
- stir in the cup until syrup dissolves
- pour into the glass, stir, let stand for a minute
- add lots of ice, stir again
- twist the other over the drink and rub on the lip
so i made a batch of regan margaritas. at first i thought: too
strong, and too sweet. but i found myself sipping more and more,
until it MADE ME LOVE IT. i do think it could stand a dash of water,
or maybe a little extra shaking. i also used a low proof triple sec
(40 proof) so maybe that was part of it. i agree with your assessment
that it is really almost more of a triple-sec drink than a tequila
drink; maybe demanding cointreau.
i have been coming around to the less-tart side of things, in general.
here are my latest purchases, and comments:
new amsterdam gin – a great gin for me, probably not for real gin
lovers. its basically a less-ginny gin, very clean. made a real nice
drink: 1 oz pear liqueur, 3/4 oz NA gin, 1/2 oz lime.
mathilde pear liqueur – a clean, candy-like liqueur. maybe that is an
insult. points of comparison, aqua perfecta/st george, which is drier
and crisper, and j pear liqueur, which is funkier and dirtier and
(therefore?) more evocative of actual fruit
smith and cross rum – we had this at pizzaiolo in the gunpowder
punch. this is a great product, but not sure how versatile. it is incredibly
assertive, but, despite its proof, totally drinkable and with tons of
flavor. it is the kind of thing you either add a dash of for color,
or else you add a LITTLE sweetener and EVEN LITTLER citrus and let it
do its thing
jose cuervo tradicionale reposado – a perfectly serviceable tequila,
but not sure if better than, say, azul. it has a nice vanilla caramel nose.
clear creek apple brandy – expensive. don’t quite see the appeal.
good, but enough to justify the cost? my palate is not refined enough to appreciate this neat.
el dorado 5 year rum – need to play with this more. seems like a good
basic rum.
benedictine liqueur – terrific. a nice herbal, slightly licoricey
liqueur. cate has an awesome drink called the chinato speaker which i
am going to attempt to replicate soon: 3/4 rum, 3/4 lime, 3/4 barolo
chinato, 1/2 benedictine. barolo chinato is kind of like a cross
between a port/vermouth/amaro, i figure i could probably sub vermouth
and be ok.
dolin blanc – strong recommendation if you like light dessert wines.
nice over ice, with a twist and/or a dash of bitters, and plays well
in cocktails, too.
rothman and winter apricot liqueur – not sure what i think of this.
i’ve had it in cocktails in sf joints and liked it well enough. it
starts off all girls and bubblegum, but has a low-end rotty
finish…so kind of doesn’t go with anything. i made a rum drink with
it, then a gin drink with it, and it didn’t seem to play nice with
either. i think this might be more of a seasoning than a star player.
the tap water here is not very good, so i have become THAT GUY who
makes ice cubes from brita-filtered water.
been experimenting with the apricot liqueur with good results. stumbled across this page which seemed like a good starting point:
http://ohgo.sh/archive/apricot-brandy-cocktails/
tulip cocktail
1 oz apple brandy
1 oz sweet vermouth (martini and rossi)
1/2 oz apricot liqueur
1/2 oz lemon
lemon twist
this was excellent but i used my too-expensive apple brandy,
unnecessarily. i think i’d like to try again, cutting the non brandy
ingredients in half. need to buy some lairds bonded for these kinds
of drinks.
yellow parrot variation
3/4 oz green chartreuse
3/4 oz dolin blanc
3/4 oz apricot liqueur
3/4 oz lemon
orange twist
also excellent but maybe a little sweet, maybe cut the apricot to 1/2 oz.
hop toad
3/4 oz el dorado 5
3/4 oz smith and cross
3/4 oz apricot liqueur
3/4 oz lime
1 dash ango
lime twist
had a nice version of this at comstock, they use all smith and cross.
i liked what i made here, but maybe would take the lime down to 1/2
oz.
jp hates the smell of the smith and cross. she says she might ban it from the premises. 
i also made a couple daiquiris with the el dorado 5, one which i loved and one i didn’t. i dont know what i did right/wrong…maybe the right one was sweeter/less-tart.
we have a guest tomorrow. he is a girly drink kind of guy, but last time we went out he discovered the negroni and loved it. now, i cannot abide by campari, NOT UNDER MY ROOF. so i have coming a bottle of aperol and also gran classico bitters, and will be doing a little experimenting with each/both.
i made a sidecar with the delord 10yr armagnac, was very good, not sure if its better than the paul masson….
the campari substitute experiment. i made a base mixture of:
1 part NA gin
1 part sweet vermouth
orange bitters
orange twist
then made four variations with 2 oz of the base mixture:
a) 1/2 oz aperol
b) 1/2 oz gran classico bitters
c) 1/2 oz benedictine
d) 1/4 oz maraschino (a martinez)
all enjoyable, but none are a negroni, for better or worse. maybe aperol + gran classico could come close. after a few sips of each i spiked them with a dashes of lemon. a VAST improvement across the board.
we went to a restaurant that had a shiity cocktail menu but a decent selection of amaro, so got a sample of: ramazzotti, averna, nonino. i wish i had a better palate, i could tell them apart but couldnt come up with many descriptors. i would call ramazzotti ‘port-y’, nonino ‘astrngent, musty’. averna….dunno. all were nicely balanced wrt sweet/bitter.
i made this variant of the vieux carre:
2 oz apple brandy
1/2 oz benedictine
1/4 lemon
1 dash ango
lemon twist
loved it! get some lairds bonded and benedictine, you wont be sorry.
just now tried:
2 oz tequila
3/4 oz aperol
1/2 oz lime
too bitter…i tried to fix it by adding 1/4 oz triple sec and that worked!
3/4 oz apple brandy
3/4 oz dolin blanc
3/4 oz lemon
1/2 oz benedictine
lemon twist
was a good citrus drink, but next time i will try: more brandy, less vermouth, less lemon.
modified busdriver
2 oz dolin blanc
1 oz grapefruit-infused gin
this is the first time i’ve used gin instead of vodka, and it is way better.
i usually use lillet blanc, which i slightly prefer.
as much as i like mild gins, this drink might actually benefit from something more assertive.
made another round of purchases because binny was having a 10% off sale.
lairds bonded
plymouth gin
appleton extra
cossart gordon bual madeira
lillet red
kraken
i haven’t yet tried anything but the laird. which is fine, but it made me really appreciate the clear creek which i think i now think is a really nice product.
i used it to make a jack rose (1 1/2 oz lairds 100, 1/2 oz lemon, 1/2 oz homemade grenadine) which is very, very tasty.
you may recall mike has sung the praises of kraken which i mostly ignored because im a snob. but it turns out that it is actually pretty well loved by the rum communnity. i bought a bottle because i’m preparing to make egg nog for christmas:
http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2009/egg-nog/
i’ve made a version of this using regular rum instead of spiced, adding bitters, and using all whole milk, and it is excellent.
