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.

i thought i might first try to make a good bloody mary. i started with a recipe in food and wine cocktails 2009.

1 1/2 oz vodka
1/2 oz hendricks gin
4 cherry tomatoes
tiny blob of horseradish
1/8 of a lime
1/8 of a lemon
1 inch green onion
pinch salt
pinch pepper

this was ok. i’m not really a bloody mary guy so i’m not a great judge. next time i would use maybe a couple more tomatoes, and less onion, or maybe red onion. the original recipe calls for a jalepeno, i would normally like that but maybe not for this application. i might try adding tarragon. the salt level was good. might need more pepper.

my plan is to top it with a honey paprika foam (egg white, honey, paprika. foamed with ikea foamer). i will try that soon.

…

this is a pretty good manhattan variant.

2 oz rye/bourbon combination
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
1/4 oz ikea blackcurrant syrup
1 dash/4 drops angostura 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 oz bourbon
1/4 oz egg white
1/2 tsp brown sugar

combine in a separate glass, blend with an ikea milk foamer (technique learned from marco dionysos) until frothy. spoon froth atop peach drink, top with grated toasted pecan.

it all works beautifully (and looks amazing), except the raw nut thing.

so then i had some egg white leftover, and i hate to waste things.

2 oz bourbon
1 oz lemon
1 T brown sugar
1/4 medium peach
2 dashes peach bitters
1 egg white, scant 1/4 oz

muddle peach, combine the rest, froth with foamer, double strain.

can’t complain about this!

technique issue: i lost a lot of foam/head once the drink passed through the strainer, maybe because of the peach pulp? solve for x.

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 notes are as follows

each drink perfectly highlighted everything good about the added spirit.

i’m thinking of calling the base mixture “penta-tonic” because it goes with anything! hahahaha omg im a nerd

other notes: to build the drink, i poured the base mixture into a small glass with two stacked ice cubes, poured the spirit on top of that, and stirred. it could be that adding the spirit last, and on top of ice cubes, creates a prominent aroma and an illusion of flavor, without making the drink too stiff.

almond-peach old fashioned

2 oz bourbon
1/4 small peach
1 tsp amaretto
2 dashes angostura bitters
1 dash peach bitters

this didn’t work for me nor did it work for anyone but stuntman b who is a bourbon slut. i tried to patch with a muddled cherry which was an improvement. it added a touch of acid; without it the drink was just a sort of a watery sickly sweet booze bomb. next time i would (a) add more peach (b) chill or freeze the peach first (c) muddle a cherry.

rosemary-peach-lemon drop

2 oz vodka (b is not a gin drinker)
1 oz lemon
1/2 small peach
some rosemary
2 tsp sugar

this was excellent, but a 2″ branch of rosemary, stripped and muddled, didn’t seem to impart much flavor. next time i would use more. the aroma of the muddled peach and rosemary coming out of the shaker was mouthwatering, but that was all it amounted to.

1 oz rye (rittenhouse)
1 oz citrus-vanilla-infused bourbon (evan williams)
3/4 oz sweet vermouth (noilly prat)
1/4 oz cherry liqueur (luxardo)
1 dash ango
orange twist (this is probably wrong)

[edit: i forgot to add, this is excellent]

but why, and why so adamant? why not, at least, offer a variant? i would hazard a guess that many cosmo drinkers are larval cocktail enthusiasts in a cocoon of ignorance. as we all once were. maybe they just want to play it safe: the least offensive drink in a worst-bar scenario.

as part of my flashcard training, i’m going to actually make the classics, so i can have my own opinions about them and not just recite a recipe. tonight i made a (version of a) cosmo and an old fashioned.

cosmo variant

1.5 oz vodka
0.5 gin
1 oz lime
0.5 oz triple sec
0.5 grenadine

grenadine – 1 part pomegranate paste, 1 part ikea lingonberry syrup, 1 part water, 1 part sugar. could probably increase the water and sugar, this is still very concentrated tart and sweet.

not bad, but too much grenadine, and maybe overly tart, and maybe too much gin.

old fashioned

2 oz bourbon
1/2 tsp sugar
half slice of orange, peeled
2 ripe bing cherries
splash of water
2 dashes ango
2 dashes orange bitters

muddled the fruit with the sugar, add everything else, stir with ice for 30 seconds.

good, but no need for the splash of water. also, i used my citrus-vanilla infused bourbon which is maybe cheating, since that tastes good with anything.

…

stopped at the bar of a neighborhood restaurant to see if by some chance they were making good cocktails. they weren’t, and they were charging a lot. it made me sad. i had a flitter of a notion that i might submit my resume. but now i think working there would only sublimate the remains of my resinous soul.

basil gimlet – really delicious but the basil could have looked better. just for cosmetic reasons if nothing else.
unnamed drink – bardude comped me a drink in exchange for being a guinea pig. a brandy sour made with vanilla sugar, with an aged rum float. excellent, though there was a slight flavor of…wax? maybe from the rum?

eccolo:

smoke screen – rye, lapsang souchong, kumquat. delicious, but i had to send it back to get the kumquat viscera strained out.
southern gentleman – bourbon, charred ginger, apricot liqueur. also great.

all in all a pretty good week for cocktails!
and: i submitted a barback resume!

mood indigo: bourbon, jackfruit marmalade, angostura bitters, champagne. wasn’t a fan. heavy on the bourbon, exoticism undetectable.

i’d like to go back someday. though, as is always the case with sf restaurants…there are too many places to try: nopa, range, rye, beretta. smugglers cove when it opens (i am currently battling “humuhumu” for drunken puzzle-solving supremacy). i’d like to go back to bourbon and branch and alembic. and i’d like to visit jackie p again, wherever she might be on a given night. [edit: plus: alex smith at thirsty bear] all while keeping my seat at pizzaiolo warm. whew! can i make the time?

pretty good, but for some reason whenever i make drinks of this nature (eg, manhattan) they turn out thin. too much or too small ice? shaking vessel not chilled?