last week, my brother requested some recipes for easy cocktails. i wrote up a thing, then thought i would expand and post it here.
i tried to follow some rules:
very tasty!
easy to make, not too many ingredients, no difficult techniques needed; infusions and homemade syrups optional.
easy to find and inexpensive ingredients and brands
no exotic ingredients [...]
i made another batch of zombies, this time i made the passionfruit syrup by reducing the passionfruit nectar in half. this was not as successful; i prefer the uncooked passionfruit flavor.
i also started thinking about being more mathematical/systematic about making syrups. i figure that a cup of 1:1 syrup has 360 [...]
ice is a big deal to some cocktail makers. too-small ice can be kind of a buzzkill, especially in conjunction with an unchilled glass.
kold-draft is generally regarded as the nuts when it comes to ice cubes. and hardcore bartenders will hand crush ice for juleps, and will make big ice for [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
sigh, still haven’t learned.
i must forge ahead with my notes, through pain and shame.
– shiso leaf is really strong, don’t go hogwild
– fruit juice syrups: start with good fruit. for example, something other than a bland-yet-slightly-funky honeydew.
– also: be careful with sweetening. start with 1/2 the amount of tart. [...]
nothing ruins a good cocktail like a mouthful of salt. the practice must have originated in a time or place where the prevailing culinary issue was how best to obscure the taste of rotting meat with eucalyptus leaves and fish guts.
we are beyond that now…so let’s act like it!
if you are going to rim [...]
balance
the key to a good cocktail is BALANCE. here’s a basic cocktail recipe, from the “sour” family (eg, margarita, cosmo, sidecar, daiquiri, etc) to illustrate that point.
basic cocktail 1
2 oz base spirit (approx 80 proof)
1 oz acid (usually lemon or lime)
1 oz 1:1 simple syrup (that is, 1 part water, 1 part sugar, shaken [...]
