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.

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…