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I just made a negroni with Mt Gay Eclipse Rum. It's very sweet to me, but if someone thinks campari is too bitter I could see this being a good intro over a regular gin negroni. Next time I'm going to up the rum to 1.5 or 2 parts to get more of a bite.
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Jan 16, 2014 23:05
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Halloween Jack posted:I stopped by the liquor store on my way home and examined their bottles of the 7.5yr Old Apple, looking to prove you wrong. They didn't attest to anything but brandy, but I would swear up and down that the last time I bought a bottle, hoping for a more premium product than Captain Apple Jack, the back of the label said that it contained neutral grain spirit. It certainly tasted like it--a harsh nose and a rough alcoholic taste with mild apple flavour poorly balanced on the top. All I can figure is that whatever dilution process they use to get the 80 proof is really hurting the flavour just as Wild Turkey 80 is said to be inferior in taste to the 101. The taste you're describing is pretty much what their applejack is like. I think you may have gotten bottles mixed up somewhere, because they definitely don't mix a 7 year old apple brandy with NGS, it would be brand suicide. Also, unless I'm mistaken all American apple brandies (except for the small craft distilleries that have sprung up in the last decade or so) are owned by Laird's, since they survived Prohibition and WWII by making pectin instead of brandy and then bought up all the failing applejack makers after the war.
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Jan 17, 2014 00:32
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Tried a Martinez with: 2 oz Corsair gin 1 oz M&R sweet vermouth 1/4 oz Luxardo maraschino 3 or so dashes angostura bitters Tasted a ton of gin on my first sip but with a few more the other flavors came through pretty well. I think I would find it too sweet with the gin/vermouth amounts flipped.
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Jan 17, 2014 04:18
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The lineup DSC00048.jpg by 総理外人, on Flickr Martinez #1 -30ml Tanqueray Malacca gin -60ml Cinzano Rosso -5ml Luxardo Maraschino -2 dashes Angostura bitters Martinez #2 -30ml Bombay Sapphire -60ml Cinzano Rosso sweet vermouth -5ml Luxardo Maraschino -2 dashes Angostura bitters Martinez #3 -45ml Bombay Sapphire -45ml Cinzano Rosso sweet vermouth -5ml Luxardo Maraschino -2 dashes Angostura bitters Martinez #4 -45ml Bombay Sapphire -45ml Cinzano Rosso sweet vermouth -5ml Luxardo Maraschino -2 dashes Bitter Truth orange bitters For starters I felt that in #1 and #2, the vermouth just overpowered the gin. This was the case with both the Malacca and the Sapphire. Maybe if I had something really juniper-heavy around it would be a ratio worth more experimentation, but maybe left for another day. That said between the two the Sapphire took the prize -- while Malacca has some excellent fruit accents to it (as I sit here and umm, reaffirm that) they get kind of lost in the action. So I went with 1:1 for gin and vermouth, to see if I couldn't balance things out a bit better. And it worked. For  I went ahead and did up two with this same ratio, one with angostura and one with orange. Lo and behold the orange took the prize: think it really balances well against the Sapphire and Maraschino.In the next few days I may also try 2:1 gin:vermouth, since several others are using that ratio. Maybe that will let the Malacca shine through more.  DSC00055.jpg by 総理外人, on Flickr
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Jan 17, 2014 04:27
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I chose the Milk and Honey recipe that uses less vermouth than some of the older recipes I've seen, and after trying it with three different gins I think that the gin/vermouth ratio seems about right. Next time I'm at the store I'll pick up some Cinzano and try it again with a more traditional ratio, but until then I think that the 2:0.75 works pretty well. Martinez #1 2 oz Bluecoat 0.75 oz Carpano Antica 0.25 oz Luxardo Maraschino 2 dash Regan #6 Orange bitters Notes: The juniper from the Blue Coat is strong up front but quickly tempered by the Carpano. Not too sweet, not too dry. It's kind of hard to pick out the bitters with all of the flavors and aromas from the other ingredients, but I'm willing to bet I would notice if they weren't there. Overall, pretty good but a little softer than I expected. Martinez #2 2 oz Haymans Old Tom 0.75 oz Carpano Antica 0.25 oz Luxardo Maraschino 2 dash Regan #6 Orange bitters Notes: The gin completely disappears behind the Carpano. Kenning mentioned that this would happen and he was right. I like the silky mouth feel from the Old Tom, but the balance is off and all I taste is vermouth. I will try the Old Tom again once I get a vermouth that is a little less robust, but until then it is relieved of Martinez duty. Martinez #3 2 oz Anchor Junipero 0.75 oz Punt e Mes 0.25 oz Luxardo Maraschino 2 dash Regan #6 Orange bitters Notes: As you could guess by the name, the Junipero packs an rear end walloping amount of juniper. I figured that the intense botanicals would stack up nicely against the Punt e Mes, which itself is also pretty intense. As predicted the juniper cuts through and combines well with the bitter notes in the Punt e Mes. A little drier than Version #1, but not too much. Overall I think that this is the best of the three, but version #1 is close.
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Jan 17, 2014 05:12
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I'm a 1:1 guy myself, I just like the balance.
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Jan 17, 2014 05:20
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Chuck Biscuits posted:I chose the Milk and Honey recipe that uses less vermouth than some of the older recipes I've seen, and after trying it with three different gins I think that the gin/vermouth ratio seems about right. Next time I'm at the store I'll pick up some Cinzano and try it again with a more traditional ratio, but until then I think that the 2:0.75 works pretty well. Pretty much Gary Regan's recipe, except he uses 1oz Vermouth (what Thufir made). I've made one today with 2oz Beefeater, 1oz M&R sweet vermouth, .25oz Luxardo and 2 dashes of Angostura bitters, stirred and served up... and ugh. The spice in the vermouth was just too forward and seemed to cloud everything else. I tried adding some more bitters to try and temper it, but no go. I'll give that .75 vermouth variety a shot, but I think I'll use even less later on with the vermouth that I have. I'll try it with other sweet vermouths when I pick them up, but I'm a bit skeptical about how it'll turn out with more vermouth. Also there's Dale Degroff's updated Martinez if anyone wants to give it a shot - 2 dashes maraschino, 1.5oz gin, 1oz dry vermouth, 2 dashes of bitters. Shaken and strained, served up and garnished with a lemon piece. I'll give this a shot tomorrow, too much alcohol tonight.
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Jan 17, 2014 09:19
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I made mine last night. 2oz of Dillion's unfiltered gin, .75 oz Martini and Rossi red, .25 oz Maraschino, and a dash of wormwood bitters. It was pretty good. Not at all what I was expecting. I expected it to be a bit too sweet, but I think the bitters really did cut it well.
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Jan 17, 2014 16:17
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Martinez #1: 2oz Hendrick's Gin (I know guys. I know) 1.5oz M&R Splash of Luxardo Few dashes of Peychuad's Pretty drat tasty. Maybe a touch too sweet. Going to remake this with 2oz gin, 1oz vermouth, and switch the Peychaud's to Angostura.
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Jan 18, 2014 01:42
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Thufir posted:Tried a Martinez with: Trying this again with 2 oz Tanqueray gin 1 oz M&R Rosso 3 dashes orange bitters Splash of Luxardo maraschino. This is a little sweeter than the first, though I just eyeballed the Maraschino so there might be a bit too much of that. Less subtle than my first version and I think the orange might dominate too much.
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Jan 18, 2014 04:02
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Kenning posted:Martinez Made it straight up like this, because unlike you people I don't hate IMO this drink is the inverse of the Martini, in that it lives and dies on the quality of your vermouth. I feel like you have a little more flexibility with the gin. (Though I will question history a bit: I have a hard time seeing how Old Tom stands up in this drink. I guess they just wanted something to amp the vermouth without getting in the way, and vodka wasn't real big in the States.) Really want to try this with Junipero now.
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Jan 18, 2014 06:55
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I tried two Martinez cocktails tonight. The first, at: 1.5 oz ea. of Broker's London Dry and Dolin sweet, tsp of Luxardo, and 3 dash Angostura, was certainly tasty but a bit imbalanced I thought. Unless you think of it as an "improved" vermouth cocktail, which its origins apparently indicate it to be. Dolin is amazing, and the bitters and bit of Luxardo woodiness definitely help, but the gin was altogether lost. So, going against the grain of the original recipe and more in line with the thread, I tried 2oz Broker's .75-1 oz Dolin sweet tsp Luxardo 3 dash Regan no. 6 orange bitters and found the Luxardo to be absolutely overwhelming. It makes me want to go in completely the opposite direction, with Junipero and Carpano at 1:2 with angostura, barely any luxardo, and an orange twist, and maybe even on the rocks. Just a gently caress it I'd drink the Carpano straight anyways type of cocktail. Speaking of CAF, we pulled a Boulevardier out of the barrel a couple weeks ago and it's awesome. My bar mgr got a 2L new oak barrel and stuck Bulleit bourbon (our workhorse mixer), campari, and Carpano in it for about 3 weeks. It's surprisingly mellow. The CAF definitely steals the show because Bulleit tends to stay behind the scenes and the barrel smoothed the campari almost out of contention. Still very fun/cool/exciting. What should we do next? I want to do a house cocktail, like the one I just whipped up after Martinez disappointment and that I've mentioned before, and that I will post again here in the form I can do at home with better ingredients... El Padrino 2 oz reposado tequila (though I used Kirkland Signature añejo at $20/L, so sue me) 1/2 oz Dolin sweet vermouth 1/2 oz Campari 3 dash Regan no. 6 orange bitters 1-2 dash Fee's Aztec chocolate bitters Stir with a few good coffee beans, serve over large cube with an orange twist drat just finished, time for another
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Jan 18, 2014 09:49
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pgroce posted:Made it straight up like this, because unlike you people I don't hate The Old Tom is mostly there because people in the 19th Century had a ridiculous sweet tooth. I think Wondrich posted a recipe in Imbibe! that called for 2:1 vermouth:gin, called explicitly for OLd Tom, and also suggested a tsp of gum syrup. It was prolly awful.
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Jan 19, 2014 03:32
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The Martinez is one of those drinks that's blows my mind when I stop to really think about it. My mental image of drinking in the 19th century is pretty much a whole continent full of the bars from Deadwood, and along comes this....thing. I tried one with the original recipe and it wasn't bad per se, but I couldn't see myself drinking it as anything other than a dessert drink. And then in place of an actual dessert, because if I had this with cheesecake I'd spontaneously develop diabetes. I'm a huge fan of the modern version that is 2 to 1 in favor of the gin, and I can work with the 1 to 1, but the original is just too much of a good thing. I had an exceptionally lovely night at work, even by my standards so I mixed myself a Sidecar with Remy Martin when I got in. After pretty much chugging that, I'm nursing my way through one made with lairds BIB Apple Brandy. If you don't have a bottle of laird's BIB 100 proof in your lineup, go get one now. They are a great American distillery, and the BIB punches WAY about it's weight price wise. Sidecar recipe 75 ml Cognac/laird's 50 ml Cointreau 25 ml lemon juice Shake with ice Simple as hell to make, but the end result is very well balanced. Not too sweet, not too tart, and the drink has just enough of a bite to remind you that you're drinking an adult beverage.
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Jan 19, 2014 11:01
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Kenning posted:The taste you're describing is pretty much what their applejack is like. I think you may have gotten bottles mixed up somewhere, because they definitely don't mix a 7 year old apple brandy with NGS, it would be brand suicide.
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Jan 20, 2014 02:13
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Just made a plain ol manhattan. 2 oz evan williams black, 1 oz martini and rossi sweet vermouth, a couple dashes of bitters, stirred with ice, strained. That sound about right? Trying to figure out this cocktail, I'm a scrub who has basically only made old fashioneds before. I like it, no idea whether I need anything. Oh, I didn't garnish with anything because (as noted scrubbishness) I don't have anything to garnish with. Any suggestions on whether bourbon is too sweet for this, if I should be looking to use my WT101 instead, or get a different bourbon/rye/whatever...
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Jan 20, 2014 05:46
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So last night I had some ladies drinking French 75's, and then another lady across the bar drinking a Bee's Knees. French 75 asks me what that drink is that I just made for the lady over there, and I answer back well, it's pretty much what you're drinking but instead of simple syrup, she's got honey- but you've got bubbles on top and a dash of absinthe. If you'd like, I can make your next French 75 with honey and we can call it a French Seventy Hive. The whole bar went nuts.  So I don't know if anyone's done or heard of this before, but if you like your French 75's then give it a try. I'm really reluctant to say that I "invented" something because I tweaked one ingredient in a classic cocktail (this is a pet peeve of mine actually, and happens a lot: don't take credit for someone else's work because you loving shifted a building block to one side) but I am a little proud of my dumb pun and the group of ladies said they all thought it made for a completely different experience as far as the drink was concerned, so maybe try it out sometime. I find the honey adds a nice richness to the drink, which I am almost always a fan of over regular simple syrup. Personally, I think refined sugar is a sin (even though it has its place) and I regularly enjoy a drink that's sweetened with some other natural sweetener so much more. Cut your honey with hot/boiling water to make it easier to work with and to mellow it out a bit as well. I think the same ratio you use for your simple syrup is fine, then you can match your ratios to replace your simple syrup with. It doesn't always work in every drink but when it does, it's awesome. Apart from honey, try maple syrup or agave nectar as well, or even make your simple syrup with Demerara/brown/black sugar (whatever it's called where you live). Most of all, experiment! Have fun.
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Jan 20, 2014 11:56
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nrr posted:(this is a pet peeve of mine actually, and happens a lot: don't take credit for someone else's work because you loving shifted a building block to one side) You invented something. I am on the complete other side of this argument, as soon as one thing changes, it's a new drink. You can say 'Well x cocktail is just y cocktail with a instead of b' about pretty much any drink.
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Jan 21, 2014 14:23
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eh. That's a whole other can of worms that I don't really want to get into. I guess I think it's important to respect the work that other people have done to build these beautiful, rich, complex and even subtle flavor profiles of drinks that have stood the test of time for 50 or even 100+ years. I mean it's fun to tweak things and see what cool and unique twists we can come up with and I fully encourage that, but just keep in mind the history and legacy of these drinks while you're doing it is all. You don't walk up to a house that's older than you are, knock the door off it, put up a shiny new door and say, hey check out this cool house I built!
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Jan 22, 2014 03:29
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Man, I am the worst at cocktails, cause I just made a hybrid between a churchill martini, a gin and tonic and a gimlet. What's worse is that it tastes decent to my degraded tastebuds.
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Jan 22, 2014 03:33
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nrr posted:eh. That's a whole other can of worms that I don't really want to get into. I guess I think it's important to respect the work that other people have done to build these beautiful, rich, complex and even subtle flavor profiles of drinks that have stood the test of time for 50 or even 100+ years. I mean it's fun to tweak things and see what cool and unique twists we can come up with and I fully encourage that, but just keep in mind the history and legacy of these drinks while you're doing it is all. You don't walk up to a house that's older than you are, knock the door off it, put up a shiny new door and say, hey check out this cool house I built! I think it's fine to fiddle with a drink a bit, rename it, and then claim the isomorphism as your own – like Klauser said, that's sort of just how drinksing happens. However, there's definitely a special place for the drink that comes along and is clearly a unique work. The Trident comes to mind. That's a special class of drinksmaking, one to which we all aspire, and so few achieve.
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Jan 22, 2014 08:23
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silvergoose posted:Just made a plain ol manhattan. 2 oz evan williams black, 1 oz martini and rossi sweet vermouth, a couple dashes of bitters, stirred with ice, strained. That sounds about right for a Manhattan. Rye is technically the more traditional spirit for it, but bourbon works fine. If you're worried about the Evan Williams, I'd just try different bourbons until you find one that is more to your taste for it, or get a bottle of rye.
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Jan 22, 2014 18:40
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I am at least two skill levels below most people in this thread, but don't you normally shake and strain a manhattan? I thought you did because the bitters help incorporate air into it which gives the drink a kind of a different flavor & feel, I believe. Maybe I'm full of poo poo and I've been doing it wrong since the beginning of time, but I always shake my manhattans. (Am I doing it wrong, thread?)
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Jan 22, 2014 18:55
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Nicol Bolas posted:I am at least two skill levels below most people in this thread, but don't you normally shake and strain a manhattan? I thought you did because the bitters help incorporate air into it which gives the drink a kind of a different flavor & feel, I believe. Maybe I'm full of poo poo and I've been doing it wrong since the beginning of time, but I always shake my manhattans. (Am I doing it wrong, thread?)
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Jan 22, 2014 18:57
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Mr. Wookums posted:Shake cocktails with juice, dairy and egg, stir everything else. Stuff like this is hard to find, by the way. Any other general rules of thumb that are easy to remember and really useful? Thanks for the Manhattan comments, I like the drink, it's just a more complex thing than my usual old fashioned.
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Jan 22, 2014 18:58
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Nicol Bolas posted:I am at least two skill levels below most people in this thread, but don't you normally shake and strain a manhattan? I thought you did because the bitters help incorporate air into it which gives the drink a kind of a different flavor & feel, I believe. Maybe I'm full of poo poo and I've been doing it wrong since the beginning of time, but I always shake my manhattans. (Am I doing it wrong, thread?) You're not doing it wrong, just differently than the traditional method. Shaking tends to make "softer" drinks since it incorporates lots of air into the drink. That's why a shaken martini goes down much more smoothly than a stirred version, but it loses the bite. My take on a shaken manhattan is that it loses a lot of it's charm - the sharpness of the whiskey and the calm surface as it sits in a cocktail glass. A shaken manhattan is probably easier to drink for most people new to drinking traditional cocktails in general though. You really shouldn't be tied down to hard rules like what Mr. Wookums posted - just understand the reasoning behind why you shake or stir.
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Jan 22, 2014 19:10
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Gotcha--I mean, my friends and I really like it shaken, so I'll keep making it that way for them and me, but if I make it for someone else I'll let them know that I normally shake it. I've definitely seen bartenders shaking them, though I imagine they just don't know.
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Jan 22, 2014 19:33
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Shaken vs Stirred Besides everything already mentioned, it changes the way the finished drink looks. Shaken drinks will be cloudy, stirred drinks will be clear.
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Jan 22, 2014 19:42
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If you're making drinks for yourself, then do whatever you want but if you're behind a bar and you shake someone's manhattan then you could be in for a solid scowl. The general rule of thumb is that of you've got a drink that's all booze (manhattan, martini, negroni, etc) then people want the liquor in that drink to shine. They want to be able to appreciate the flavors and complexeties of those spirits both on their own and working in harmony with each other. When you shake a cocktail, yes you're introducing air but more importantly you're losing control over the amount of dilution the drink is getting. A shaken cocktail will dilute more than a stirred cocktail and drown out those spirits that you specifically want to take centre stage.
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Jan 22, 2014 23:18
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nrr posted:A shaken cocktail will dilute more than a stirred cocktail and drown out those spirits that you specifically want to take centre stage. ??? It's not too difficult to accurately control the amount of dilution for shaken drinks. It may be a bit more difficult in a busy bar setting, but it should be a piece of cake at home. The first thing I figured out was the timing and temperatures needed for accurate dilution for both stirred and shaken drinks. I can now accurately get the exact amount of dilution I want for either method.
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Jan 22, 2014 23:32
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If it works for you man, then go for it. Like you said, it's not too difficult, but what I find is even less difficult is stirring that drink instead. When you shake ice vigorously, you get chips that break off your ice cubes and may even melt before you stop shaking. On top of that, if you don't fine strain those remaining chips out as you pour your drink, they will continue to dilute the drink after it's served, which is exactly what you don't want if you're serving a drink up. In the end, if you're happy with shaking all your cocktails in your own environment that you can completely control and you think you get the same result, then go for it. For me, you're right, in a busy bar I don't have the time to back off and give a finely finessed shake and even if I did, I'm not 100% sure of what exactly is going on inside that shaker, how many of those ice cubes have broken up and how much. It's a whole lot easier to stir that drink. I have complete control over fine tuning what's in that glass and how long I'm stirring it for to get the temperature and dilution perfect. I'm not dealing with any unpredictable ice chips that I can't see in a shaker, and I'm avoiding an argument with my customers at to how precise my shake is, (even if it could give the exact same result,) because if you shake a drink that is traditionally stirred, a lot of people will take that as a sign that you don't know what you're doing. There's also something strangely therapeutic i find about stirring a badass drink in a mixing glass that I just can't quite explain.
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Jan 23, 2014 00:50
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You don't shake Baileys and lime juice 
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Jan 23, 2014 02:40
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Is a hot toddy still a hot toddy if you don't have any lemon juice? Just tea, honey, bourbon. Ah, what a fine thing to drink on a cold winter's day. gently caress shoveling.
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Jan 23, 2014 02:55
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An old school Hot Toddy is just spirits, sugar, and boiling water. And a scrape of nutmeg, of course. W/r/t to shaking, it's true that it incorporates air into the drink – just that with a Manhattan, that's generally understood to be a problem. Incorporated air is used to mellow strong, piercing flavors in a drink, like citrus juice, for example. The ingredients in a Manhattan are subtler and more aromatic, which you wouldn't want to dull with aeration.
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Jan 23, 2014 03:15
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I know a lot of people who think that a toddy is tea+whiskey. I recommend forgetting the tea and making it water, liquor, lemon, and a little cinnamon and nutmeg. (A dash of Angostura doesn't hurt, either.) You can also use brandy or rum; I like dark rum.
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Jan 23, 2014 03:44
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zmcnulty posted:You don't shake Baileys and lime juice I tried this once, actually. The result made me retch. (It was the 21st birthday of someone we didn't particularly like. Someone asked me to mix them "the worst thing ever" and I'm horrible.)
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Jan 23, 2014 07:31
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So, thanks to recommendations in one of the older iterations of this thread, Booth's has become my go-to, everyday gin. It's equally at home in A Martini, Gimlet, or Gin and Tonic.Nicol Bolas posted:I tried this once, actually. The result made me retch. MMM, nothing like chunky, curdled Bailey's.
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Jan 27, 2014 10:13
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It's an effective way to display contempt in cocktail form. Also, I had a mezcal old fashioned last night and it was AMAZING. Highly recommended.
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Jan 27, 2014 23:14
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At the moment in the rxcowboy household, I'm sick, my wife is sick, and all four of my kids are sick. My youngest is a little over a month old and has RSV, and I feel like I'm gargling glass. I decided to try and make a toddy tonight and see what the fuss was about before I decided to eat my gun. Holy loving poo poo. I made a gin hot toddy complete with fresh ginger, and it was amazing. My throat feels great, I have an appetite so I'm wolfing down food, my nose feels better and I feel toasty! This is way better than NyQuil. If you have a cold, make a loving toddy and instantly feel better. I'm going to make one with bourbon then go and pass out.
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Jan 28, 2014 10:32
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| # ? Jun 7, 2024 05:34 |
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I was cleaning out the fridge and found a jar of Evan Williams honey with bourbon in it, I also have a shitload of ginger left. So I made a ginger honey syrup, left the ginger in the mix and put it in a mason jar in the fridge. It's delicious, the ginger is getting stronger as it sits. What do I put this in??? I tried a Gold Rush and it was great, did a Cognac Old Fashioned with this instead of simple syrup, it too was great. What else should I be looking at here?
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Jan 31, 2014 06:02
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