4 oz aged rum
4 oz dark rum
4 oz 10 cane rum
4 oz vodka
3 oz sugar
1 1/2 oz cherry liqueur
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur
4 oz lime
4 oz lemon
2 oz orange juice
4 oz celestial seasonings bengal spice tea (strong)

more cleaning of the booze cabinet.

i’ve been craving tiki drinks lately…need to haul my ass back to smuggler’s cove. anyway, i made this for a sibling party. we first convened at starbase for some old school video games. like wizard of wor. which btw is a really shitty game. joust on the other hand is kick. ass.

also got in some area 51 and maximum force which is the one of the few, and the most recent, video games i became addicted to.

anyway, the above recipe is excellent. but then i made it worse by adding:

2 oz vodka
2 oz pineapple
3/4 lemon

still drinkable, but it tasted more like a generic, pineapple-heavy rum punch. and the vodka was definitely a mistake, took away some of the delicious richness.

2 oz gin
1 oz meyer lemon
2 tsp d’arbo raspberry-rhubarb jam
3 dashes peychaud bitters

great, would def make again.

2 oz rum
1 oz lime
1 oz simple syrup
3 dashes peychaud bitters
1 pinch ground coffee

next time i would go 3/4 oz for sweet and sour with the rum i used (10 cane). i like the coffee element, though ruined the drink as a refresher. instead added smokiness, complexity, funkiness, savory.

1 1/2 oz J pear liqueur
3/4 oz rittenhouse rye
1/2 oz lime

excellent.

2 oz gin
1 oz lime
1 1/2 oz aqua perfecta pear liqueur
tsp of honey syrup

this was a tart/dry drink, not a great sipping cocktail but good with food.

as one last gasp i will mention some experiences in the past two months:

comstock saloon. i had a great experience here with some other people. tasted a great sazerac and a manhattan that reminded me, somehow, of lake tahoe. something alpine. maybe a little green chartreuse? also a pisco sour which them madcats had infused with magrut lime leaf as a nod to a traditional coca leaf infusion. or something. at any rate, it was perfumy and delicious and complex. i myself had the pisco punch which was ‘merely’ very good, and the hop toad punch (rum, apricot brandy, lime, bitters) which was unexpectedly dirty and savory in all the right ways.

15 romolo. i am prepared to say that scott baird is a genius, i have had many of his drinks at the cuesa event and have been wanting to come here a long time. he may be my favorite drink creator in the bay area. stockholm syndrome, a great spirit-based drink using amontillado sherry as the sour component and leopolds apple as the sweet. then the los altos sour which on paper sounds like a typical sour variant but is somehow greater than the sum of its parts.

clyde common. much has been made of the barrel-aged cocktails, and i can’t say i loved the negroni. on the other hand, i don’t care much for the non-aged version so i’m not the best judge. a generally good drinking experience overall, but not better than anywhere i’ve been in the bay area. i will say that without exception, every person in that place, male, female, customer, or staff member, was better looking than me.

…

some experiments of late:

1 oz rye
1 oz bourbon
3/4 oz meyer lemon
3/4 oz giffard blueberry
1/4 medium strawberry, muddled
2 mint leaves
1 dash ango

(a variant/ripoff of the blue and red smash at rickhouse)

2 oz brandy
1 oz lime
1 oz triple sec
1 magrut lime leaf, muddled

(a variant/ripoff of the aforementioned pisco sour, or perhaps a sidecar)

1/2 oz tequila
1/2 rum
1 oz grapefruit vodka
1 oz lime
3/4 oz giffard lychee
1/4 oz maraschino liqueur
2 dashes grapefruit bitters

this was the using up of some odds and ends, tortured into a strawberry hemingway variant. really good.

now, i have lost my notes on drinks, and so am mostly constructing from memory. but here are some drinks that stood out:

five stars – calvados with a little lemon, caramel liqueur, and scotch. the idea was ‘apple roasted over a bonfire’ good, but smelled better than it tasted.

montenegro manhattan. montenegro is a delicious amaro. this drink was awesome paired with braised beef.

unknown – tequila, lemon, falernum, jasmine. your basic sour type drink, but the aromatics were insane. would drink this all day every day.

the zorak – brandy, cherry liqueur, lime, maraschino. a freestyle david wolowidnyk concoction. delicious, not at all cough syrupy, which is what you might expect.

while i was up there i picked up some giffard liqueurs; blueberry, and lychee. have since made a great drink with the blueberry:

1 1/2 oz blueberry liqueur
1 oz rye
1/2 oz meyer lemon

…

come on! be a fan of random cocktails!

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 cup water
10 lime leaves, chopped

toast the spices over medium-low heat. add remaining ingredients, bring to a low boil. turn down to a simmer for five minutes. take off heat, let cool for a few minutes, strain out solids.

this drink is really excellent. flavors are well represented and balanced.

the five spice syrup would make a nice alternative to falernum.

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 very good

then went to boot and shoe service:

fata morgana – bourbon, amaro nonino, dry vermouth, blood orange, cardamom. really excellent.

…

some experiments:

1 oz bourbon
1 oz rye
1/4 oz lime
3/4 oz grapefruit-honey-maraschino mix
grapefruit bitters
grapefruit ribbon

grapefruit-honey-maraschino mix

6 parts red grapefruit juice
3 parts honey
1 part maraschino liqueur

cross between a manhattan and a hemingway. excellent. but i once again forgot: do not muddle seeds. never, ever.

also:

1 1/4 oz bourbon
3/4 oz vermouth
3/8 oz cherry liqueur
1/4 oz lime

basically a manhattan with citrus. very good.

i lost my bottle of angostura bitters. not sure if it can be replaced any time soon, as there is a shortage.

…i started these experiments using some cheap bourbon and rye, figuring that i didn’t care and couldn’t tell the difference. but i found that i did care, and could tell the difference. i upgraded to bulleit bourbon and old overholt rye (according to the bevmo lady, rittenhouse isn’t making rye anymore). life is better.

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 any rosemary. i need to find out more about sloe gin, taste it neat.

…

a draft of randomcocktails.com is up. please check it out and provide feedback.

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 were good but intense; maybe a 3:1 champagne:base ratio next time. where next time is tomorrow, since i have so much left over.

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 hand. and turns out was probably not necessary.

i might add a little grated cinnamon tho.

this is for the family xmas eve party. the poirier’s have a tradition of reubens for xmas eve (?!). and so i am making the above cocktail and am also planning a french 75 variant of gin, lime, elderflower, kumquat, topped with champagne.

…

coming soon to this blog: a page of cocktail basics. basically some of my early posts, updated, and made into a page that can be reached via sidebar link.

and if i can get my shit together, an automated, randomized cocktail creator web page.

hoping posting that im gonna do it, will motivate me to actually do it.

incredible menu, and a fun, cozy space. i will definitely be back.

…

boot and shoe service: the sequel to pizzaiolo. tried a new cocktail, ‘kushiel’s dart’ (rum, carpano antica, lime, grenadine). really excellent. the vermouth used as an accent/herbal notes. nice.

and the room is beautiful.

…

what jen wanted was egg nog. but we had no eggs in the house, and she is off dairy right now. so i made a version of the japanese cocktail i got at p the other day.

yarou (japanese for ‘bastard’)

1.5 oz brandy
0.5 oz dark rum
1.5 oz almond milk (unsweetened)
1 T organic sugar

dry shaken first, then shaken with ice. top with grated nutmeg.

this could be a little sweeter, and jp would have preferred less boozy. so maybe something like 2 oz almond milk and 1.5 T sugar.

the japanese cocktail seems to be part of the family of:

2 oz spirit
1/4-1/2 oz syrup
bitters/other flavors

…which includes sazerac, mint julep, corn and oil, and old fashioned…