for my fam’s chinese new year dinner i decided to make a version of scott beattie’s awesome waverly place echo:
1 1/2 oz rum
1/2 oz mandarin-tangerine infused vodka
1/2 oz meyer lemon
1/4 oz lime
3/4 oz chinese five spice + kaffir makrut lime leaf syrup
muddled kumquat (seeds removed)
muddled tangerine slice
dash orange bitters
lemon twist
five-spice-makrut-leaf syrup
1 T five-spice
1 cup sugar
1 [...]
been on a few social outings lately. difficult and rare, these days.
rickhouse:
blue and red smash – bourbon, lemon, red and blue berries. excellent.
kentucky buck – bourbon and ginger/ginger beer, other stuff. also excellent.
favela – cachaca, lemon, coffee. not very good.
some kind of sling – gin, cherry heering, other stuff. also not [...]
went to beretta with the inlaws. got two cocktails:
il gitano (amaro, lime, pineapple gomme, grapefruit, bitters). excellent. interesting use of amaro as a base spirit.
the acadian (rye, sloe gin, lemon, honey, absinthe, rosemary). also great. delicate hand with the absinthe which can easily overpower a drink. i didn’t detect [...]
elderquat 75
1/2 oz gin
1/4 oz lime
1/4 oz ikea elderflower syrup
1/2 kumquat
2 oz champagne
seed and muddle the kumquat. add gin, lime, syrup. dry shake* and strain. top with 2 oz champagne. drop in a candied kumquat.
*i made and chilled a batch of the base mixture ahead of time.
the flavors [...]
2 oz bourbon (evan williams, infused with citrus and vanilla)
1 1/2 oz apple cider (trader joe’s)
3/4 oz tawny port (whisker’s blake)
1/4 oz lemon
1 dash ango
version 1 made with 1/2 oz lemon. the above version is much better, and is quite delicious. i wanted to add muddled ginger, but there was none usable on [...]
smugglers cove: got a ‘dead reckoning‘ (rum, lemon, pineapple, maple, tawny port, vanilla liqueur, bitters, soda). good but not as amazing as i’d hoped or expected. i didn’t get anything from the port or maple syrup or vanilla liqueur. ‘merely’ a delicious pineapple-rum drink.
incredible menu, and a fun, cozy space. [...]
went to the independent spirits expo last week. at some point i got fed up with the crowds and left before i could taste it all.
some highlights:
loft liqueurs (deep, clean flavors)
j witty (like a subtle falernum variant)
pc7 (though i know nothing of scotch)
north shore gin no. 11
square one botanical (basically a light, modern gin)
hangar [...]
2 oz vodka
1 oz lemon
3/4 oz orgeat
1/4 medium peach, muddled
2 dashes peach bitters
made this first. tasted good. though i’m starting to not love the taste of raw almonds in the orgeat (from a batch made this afternoon, with orange flower water, for the first time). i need to get apricot kernels.
so then:
1/2 [...]
after getting home from our denver trip, i wanted a simple, clean, easy-to-make drink. and so:
2 oz grapefruit vodka
1 oz lime
1 oz ikea elderflower syrup
hit the spot, though the vodka didn’t have the same crisp smell and taste as it did last week. the day before our trip i strained out the fruit [...]
i was on cocktail duty for a family sushi party last night.
2 oz lillet
0.75 oz grapefruit vodka (i put half the peel and flesh of a grapefruit in a pint mason jar, filled with vodka, sat for two days)
this is a good proportion for me. man-drinkers might reverse the proportions (the standard [...]
i’m not ready to spring for a whole bottle of charbay grapefruit, so i put 4 oz of cheap vodka in a jar with three long ribbons of red grapefruit peel for about four days. excellent.
then i mixed about 1 part grapefruit vodka to 3 or 4 parts lillet. excellenter.
last word variant
1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz lime
1/4 oz maraschino
1/4 oz green chartreuse
1/4 oz syrup
this works. am thinking you can sub lychee or ikea elderflower syrup for the simple syrup. working title “ellipsis, lychee” omg im a dork
…
o-positive (renamed because ‘penta-tonic’ makes it sound like either it contains tonic water, or that its made [...]
muddled a quarter of a medium-large yellow peach, tart but flavorful. mixed in 3 oz of punt e mes, double strained into a jar as the base mixture.
then mixed a bunch of mini-cocktails using 1/2 oz of the base mixture and 1/4 oz of a spirit. the spirits i used and my tasting [...]
had three cocktails at nopa:
escondido romano – chipotle vodka, cynar, dimmi, cava
valkyrie – aquavit, aperol, vermouth (dolin blanc), sunshine (saffron) bitters
sherry shrub – manzanilla sherry, huckleberry shrub
i admired these more than i liked them. what i mean is: none were boring. all were perfectly balanced. the flavors were new, interesting. but [...]
part 3 in the “better know your neighborhood bars” series…
jp, kue, and i went to this place for dinner. i knew from a previous scouting that the cocktail menu was two parts boring one part nightmare: one of the drinks contains spiced apple puree (from a bottle no less) which, for reasons posted previously, [...]
went on a shopping spree at ledgers and bevmo, picked up some new things:
– regan’s orange bitters
– green chartreuse
– j pear liqueur
– sagitaba cachaca
– fever tree tonic water
gin and tonic
2 oz hendricks
2 oz fever tree
i wasn’t impressed with fever tree, cate’s tonic is far superior.
this drink was improved [...]
stopped by pizzaiolo after running some errands as i “just happened” to be in the area.
sfizio alla pesca – rum, lemon, peach, lemon verbena syrup
andina – pisco, lime, drambuie + something else i forgot to write down, maybe orange bitters
of note, cate used a half a peach per drink. that’s commitment!
…
as per [...]
2 oz rum
1 oz red grapefruit
1/2 oz lime
version #3: 1″ x 1″ x 2″ very ripe pineapple core, cut into pieces
version #4: 1/8th of a small ripe peach
1 tsp sugar
short drizzle maraschino liqueur
4 drops grapefruit bitters
muddle fruit with sugar. combine remaining ingredients, shake without ice for 20 seconds, shake with ice for 20 seconds. [...]
my updated strawberry daiquiri was such a success, i thought maybe the formula could work with any fruit. here was attempt #2:
2 oz rum
1 1/2 oz grapefruit juice
1/2 oz lime juice
mango, approx 1″ square
1 tsp sugar
short drizzle of maraschino liqueur
was this any good? not really, but input, not formula or mixer, was the [...]
1 oz punt e mes
1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz vodka
1/2 tsp grenadine
4 drops orange bitters
[note: after sampling this a few times, i think 1/2 tsp is too much grenadine. will try 1/4 next time]
combine ingredients, stir or shake without ice, then stir with ice for 60 seconds.
this drink is delicious. as noted in the [...]
