The Cocktail Thread: Help, I Bought Grappa

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > The Cocktail Thread: Help, I Bought Grappa

The Polish Pirate: Apr 4, 2005; How many Polacks does it take to captain a pirate ship? One.

Made a Legend last night with 1840 and Smith & Cross. drat that poo poo was complex. Went really well with a cigar.

Also snagged a bottle of Meletti so it's time to give that Roman Holiday a whirl

# ? Oct 21, 2022 16:59

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# ? Jun 6, 2024 19:28

my kinda ape: Sep 15, 2008; Everything's gonna be A-OK; Oven Wrangler

Went to multiple liquor stores in the nearest city and the employees didn�t even know what amontillado was nor did they stock any :negative:

I do have some tawny port that�s been vacuum stoppered in my fridge for a couple months, maybe it�s oxidized properly now :v:

my kinda ape fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Oct 21, 2022

# ? Oct 21, 2022 17:20

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

Not a single person made a Montresor joke? I had to read that story in high school.

# ? Oct 21, 2022 17:24

my kinda ape: Sep 15, 2008; Everything's gonna be A-OK; Oven Wrangler

Halloween Jack posted:

Not a single person made a Montresor joke? I had to read that story in high school.

Yeah I was like �Like the Edgar Allen Poe story, but that�s not why I want it.� And then I had to explain the story since they had never heard of it

# ? Oct 21, 2022 17:26

Comb Your Beard: Sep 28, 2007; Chillin' like a villian.

Might need to go to a wine shop for amontillado sherry. My local Total Wine has 7 to choose from, $13.50 the cheapest.

# ? Oct 21, 2022 18:27

my kinda ape: Sep 15, 2008; Everything's gonna be A-OK; Oven Wrangler

Comb Your Beard posted:

Might need to go to a wine shop for amontillado sherry. My local Total Wine has 7 to choose from, $13.50 the cheapest.

Good idea, I actually hadn�t thought of looking for specifically wine shops since I�d never noticed one in town before but apparently there is one and they even have Lustau Amontillado listed for $23

# ? Oct 21, 2022 19:10

Scythe: Jan 26, 2004

Since sherry chat has lasted for multiple pages at this point (sickos yes), I'll plug three classic drinks that those of you with new bottles of good sherry should definitely try:

The Up To Date cocktail: around 2:2:1 rye, amontillado, Grand Marnier, couple dashes angostura, stirred, up, lemon peel. You can probably see the similarity here with the Legend, sherry and orange go together well.

The Tuxedo (sometimes the "Tuxedo No. 2"): a martini with sherry instead of the dry vermouth. Fino or manzanilla are best, but with a particularly brawny gin, amontillado can work too. Definitely don't skip the orange bitters, and you can add a barspoon of simple or orange liqueur etc. if you want.

The Bamboo: equal parts sherry and dry vermouth, couple dashes each of angostura and orange bitters, stirred, up, with a twist. Super refreshing when you want a low-ABV aperitif.

Sherry also works great with agave spirits (so throw some in your margarita or mezcal OF or whatever), and everyone should make a classic fresh-fruit sherry cobbler at least once (but it's a summer drink, IMO).

# ? Oct 21, 2022 20:31

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

quick question: are "cocktail" mesh strainers actually a significantly finer mesh than the regular-rear end kitchen ones? We have this set

and it's not super duper fine, but I feel doubtful that a dedicated cocktail strainer is actually that much finer.

e: ok 2nd question: everything I've seen, when people say "don't use cobbler shakers" the main justifications are never "they don't make as-good drinks," it's always just "they take longer to take apart and clean, and sometimes the cap forms a vacuum and is a pain to get off." Is that true? I switch between a cobbler and a boston mostly based on how lazy I feel, but I don't personally taste any difference in the drinks or anything.

Snow Cone Capone fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Oct 21, 2022

# ? Oct 21, 2022 21:07

Scythe: Jan 26, 2004

Those strainers are fine (in both senses). Are bits of citrus pulp and ice shards getting through em? No? You're as good as you're gonna be without a filter/centrifuge (which are massive overkill).

Cobblers can make fine drinks, just more annoying to use and clean. But some people like em; they're the more popular option in Japan, for one thing.

# ? Oct 21, 2022 21:20

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I have never used my cocktail strainer. I wouldn't buy a special one.

# ? Oct 21, 2022 21:33

Waltzing Along: Jun 14, 2008; There's only one
Human race
Many faces
Everybody belongs here

I use mine all the time. I use it to double strain, and I use it under my lemon/lime juicer to keep the stuff out.

It's not necessary, though.

# ? Oct 21, 2022 21:35

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

Grand Fromage posted:

I have never used my cocktail strainer. I wouldn't buy a special one.

Scythe posted:

Those strainers are fine (in both senses). Are bits of citrus pulp and ice shards getting through em? No? You're as good as you're gonna be without a filter/centrifuge (which are massive overkill).

Cobblers can make fine drinks, just more annoying to use and clean. But some people like em; they're the more popular option in Japan, for one thing.

good enough on both regards, thank you!

for some reason I imagined a dedicated cocktail strainer as being almost like a cheesecloth fineness vs the regular mesh strainers :shrug:

# ? Oct 21, 2022 21:38

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Mine's pretty fine, not cheesecloth level or anything, but ultimately the question is do you give a poo poo about the little bits floating in your drink. I don't, so it stays in the cabinet neglected. The juicer does fine at keeping out the seeds and that's all that I care about.

That little one from your set looks about the same though. It's just not the fancy cone shape.

# ? Oct 21, 2022 21:48

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

yeah, the little one is what I use, it fits in my "big glass mug where i keep the spoons/strainers"

It's right there, and it's an easy extra step, so I do use it. Mostly because I use long spears of ice to shake and they do break apart pretty easily (they fill the shaker perfectly though)

I do use it 100% of the time to strain out lime/lemon juice into their squeezy bottles though, it makes a huge difference in that regard

# ? Oct 21, 2022 21:56

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

Also to dip back into sherrychat:

I thought that review of Lustau as "mushroomy" was a joke but damned if that's not what it tastes like. Are all the mid-level Amontillados like that?

If we're being honest, I kind of preferred the cheaper, sweetened stuff I got originally (labelled as "Medium Sherry: blend of Amontillado") both straight-up, and in Legends.

# ? Oct 21, 2022 21:58

Professor Shark: May 22, 2012

My wife has a bunch of Epicure juicers and strainers that fill into my shaker that I use

# ? Oct 21, 2022 21:59

tonedef131: Sep 3, 2003

Snow Cone Capone posted:

quick question: are "cocktail" mesh strainers actually a significantly finer mesh than the regular-rear end kitchen ones? We have this set and it's not super duper fine, but I feel doubtful that a dedicated cocktail strainer is actually that much finer.

e: ok 2nd question: everything I've seen, when people say "don't use cobbler shakers" the main justifications are never "they don't make as-good drinks," it's always just "they take longer to take apart and clean, and sometimes the cap forms a vacuum and is a pain to get off." Is that true? I switch between a cobbler and a boston mostly based on how lazy I feel, but I don't personally taste any difference in the drinks or anything.

I have that set as well as a finer conical one and actually prefer the one in the photo. The finer one is harder to clean, so I typically use it for double straining shaken drinks were all it�s catching is ice and the less fine for filtering citrus pulp out. If I had to have only one it would be the coarser one, but I like to have a few strainers at my bar.

Cobblers are just slower and harder to get apart and are still 3 parts to wash. I don�t think they make lower quality drinks or anything, they�re just way more work to use and don�t stack for storage.

# ? Oct 21, 2022 22:33

Carillon: May 9, 2014

Yeah I always understood the issue with cobblers being ease of use not quality of cocktail produced.

# ? Oct 21, 2022 22:47

Strange Matter: Oct 6, 2009; Ask me about Genocide

Carillon posted:

Yeah I always understood the issue with cobblers being ease of use not quality of cocktail produced.

Yeah I switched from a cobbler to a classic shaker and I've never looked back. I feel like a classic shaker does a better job at pulverizing berries added to stuff since there's a lot more space for stuff to move around, but that could be my imagination. Either way it's a far more satisfying thing to use, and the theatrics of pounding the thing close and then banging it loose adds to the fun when you're mixing for a group.

# ? Oct 21, 2022 23:17

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Snow Cone Capone posted:

quick question: are "cocktail" mesh strainers actually a significantly finer mesh than the regular-rear end kitchen ones? We have this set and it's not super duper fine, but I feel doubtful that a dedicated cocktail strainer is actually that much finer.

e: ok 2nd question: everything I've seen, when people say "don't use cobbler shakers" the main justifications are never "they don't make as-good drinks," it's always just "they take longer to take apart and clean, and sometimes the cap forms a vacuum and is a pain to get off." Is that true? I switch between a cobbler and a boston mostly based on how lazy I feel, but I don't personally taste any difference in the drinks or anything.

My time to shine! I do a lot of juice filtering for cocktails

�Cocktail� is a vague term which usually means #40 screen

This is a #30 screen, just a plain old strainer

This is a #40 screen, what is usually called a fine mesh strainer (but sometimes a #30 will be called fine mesh, gotta check in person to verify!)

Even small strainers come in #30 and #40! Left is fine mesh, right is #40. Fine mesh is perfect for juicing if you don�t mind tiny particles of pulp

Here we have a small fine mesh strainer, a tea strainer, and a skimmer. Tea strainer and skimmer have significantly finer screens, and are made from flimsier material. The handles are easily bendable. Skimmers are usually flat to skim scum off the top of stocks so they probably won�t help for juice but the tea strainer might be what you�re looking for since it lets juice through fast and holds onto almost all pulp. You can also press a pulp a little with a spoon to squeeze more juice out, but don�t overdo it since it�s flimsy. Also they�re way smaller than small fine mesh strainers so it might be too slow if you�re juicing for more than one person

Stainless steel coffee filters have come a long way over the last decade and now seem to filter as tightly as a Hario paper filter. Not recommended since the juice will flow slowly

If you�re carbonating juice and can�t afford to have any solids for fear of foaming, there�s the centrifuge

Steve Yun fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Oct 22, 2022

# ? Oct 21, 2022 23:47

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

Steve Yun posted:

My time to shine! I do a lot of juice filtering for cocktails

�Cocktail� is a vague term which usually means #40 screen

This is a #30 screen, just a plain old strainer

This is a #40 screen, what is usually called a fine mesh strainer (but sometimes a #30 will be called fine mesh, gotta check in person to verify!)

this is exactly what I wanted to know, thank you haha

but yeah I think I'll just stick with the one from the kitchen set (for now)

# ? Oct 21, 2022 23:50

Berkshire Hunts: Nov 5, 2009

IME a hawthorne strainer keeps out most of the stuff you'd want to strain out anyway, only bother with the double-straining if you're trying to make your drink visually impressive in a way that a couple floaty bits of mint or whatever would hurt.

# ? Oct 21, 2022 23:52

Steve Yun: Aug 7, 2003; I'm a parasitic landlord that needs to get a job instead of stealing worker's money. Make sure to remind me when I post.; Soiled Meat

Snow Cone Capone posted:

this is exactly what I wanted to know, thank you haha

but yeah I think I'll just stick with the one from the kitchen set (for now)

Go back I added more!

# ? Oct 21, 2022 23:57

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

Steve Yun posted:

Go back I added more!

o god

# ? Oct 21, 2022 23:58

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

I have also noticed a lot of the Mixel cocktails I'm enjoying are Death & Co creations. Been drinking a bunch of this guy lately in my search for green Chartreuse uses other than Last Words:

Champs-Elysses

2 oz Cognac
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters

# ? Oct 23, 2022 03:34

Mr. Wiggles: Dec 1, 2003; We are all drinking from the highball glass of ideology.

Champs-Elysses is a fantastic cocktail. It's one of my steakhouse regulars.

Also good with chartreuse is the Chartreuse Swizzle:

1.5 green Chartreuse
1.5 pineapple juice
3/4 lime juice
1/2 falernum

Shake, serve on ice with a mint garnish. Soooo refreshing.

# ? Oct 23, 2022 04:32

Snow Cone Capone: Jul 31, 2003

i entertained one of my big whiskey nerd friends (he brought over a $200 bottle of scotch to try [it was incredible]) and a) he said my manhattans were top-notch and b) asked me for the recipe for the Legends i made us :blush:

# ? Oct 23, 2022 04:40

Kenning: Jan 11, 2009; I really want to post goatse. Instead I only have these🍄.

Congrats, my goon!

Grand Fromage posted:

I have also noticed a lot of the Mixel cocktails I'm enjoying are Death & Co creations. Been drinking a bunch of this guy lately in my search for green Chartreuse uses other than Last Words:

Champs-Elysses

2 oz Cognac
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters

This sounds good as hell, I need to re-up on my Green Chartreuse.

# ? Oct 23, 2022 09:33

Professor Shark: May 22, 2012

Is Hellas considers to be a respectable bitters company?

# ? Oct 23, 2022 12:03

Fart Car '97: Jul 23, 2003

Hella is good

# ? Oct 23, 2022 18:27

Carillon: May 9, 2014

So not a very complicated cocktail, but Singani 63 in black tea with milk/sugar is amazing. I bought it for a punch and didn't really know what else to do with the rest. Yeah niche, but if you ever have the opportunity, it's really really good.

# ? Oct 23, 2022 21:51

The Polish Pirate: Apr 4, 2005; How many Polacks does it take to captain a pirate ship? One.

Carillon posted:

So not a very complicated cocktail, but Singani 63 in black tea with milk/sugar is amazing. I bought it for a punch and didn't really know what else to do with the rest. Yeah niche, but if you ever have the opportunity, it's really really good.

Ooh I love singani but never know what to do with it other than treat it like a pisco. That sounds like a great nightcap for me to try tonight!

# ? Oct 24, 2022 02:52

Carillon: May 9, 2014

The Polish Pirate posted:

Ooh I love singani but never know what to do with it other than treat it like a pisco. That sounds like a great nightcap for me to try tonight!

Whenever you try it let me know how you like it! I'm probably at 12-14 oz of tea to 2oz of Singani, ymmv but it's definitely pretty strong even at that ratio.

# ? Oct 24, 2022 07:14

Pander: Oct 9, 2007; Fear is the glue that holds society together. It's what makes people suppress their worst impulses. Fear is power.

And at the end of fear, oblivion.

I've tried paper planes like 3 different ways, with different bourbons (as well as once swapping nonino with Montenegro).

Every single time it comes across as one-note, just tart lemon. Do I need a stronger bourbon? I've tried larceny, Yellowstone, and longbranch.

I see such glowing reviews and it just doesn't hit anything for me, and I like all the ingredients individually.

Separately, trip report trying a Jane Russell: real drat good. Mole bitters are so magical.

# ? Oct 24, 2022 23:42

Anonymous Robot: Jun 1, 2007; Lost his leg in Robo War I

If none of the bourbons you�ve tried top 100 proof, you might look to trying that. But before that, take the lemon juice down to 3/4 oz. Lots of people prefer it that way, and the acidity of a particular lemon varies. Also, if you aren�t doing it yet, adding a few drops of saline will curb the tartness and bring out some additional sweetness.

That said, I�m not crazy about Paper Planes either. They�re fine, but I would rather have either a Why Not or just plain Nonino.

# ? Oct 24, 2022 23:59

Kevin DuBrow: Apr 21, 2012; The uruk-hai defender has logged on.

Pander posted:

Separately, trip report trying a Jane Russell: real drat good. Mole bitters are so magical.

Yes, I got a bottle of Bittermens mole bitters, the one listed in the recipe, and I would probably enjoy a shot of it because it tastes amazing. It's really good with rye drinks.

# ? Oct 25, 2022 00:10

Quixotic1: Jul 25, 2007

Thinking of making a batch of Alton' Browns eggnog:

12 large eggs
1 pound sugar
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 pint half-and-half
1 pint whole milk
1 pint heavy cream
1 cup Jamaican rum
1 cup cognac
1 cup bourbon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Would it matter what bourbon goes into it or would all the ingredients overpower any of their differences? Just grab a Wild Turkey 101?

# ? Oct 25, 2022 02:30

Anonymous Robot: Jun 1, 2007; Lost his leg in Robo War I

Quixotic1 posted:

Thinking of making a batch of Alton' Browns eggnog:

12 large eggs
1 pound sugar
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 pint half-and-half
1 pint whole milk
1 pint heavy cream
1 cup Jamaican rum
1 cup cognac
1 cup bourbon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Would it matter what bourbon goes into it or would all the ingredients overpower any of their differences? Just grab a Wild Turkey 101?

I�ll be doing the same this year. I�m planning to use some rye I have sitting around. I�m sure bourbon would be better, but yeah, I think any finer points of flavor are going to be overpowered with the cup of Jamaican rum going in there.

I am considering adding some ango bitters and maybe some vanilla, not sure though.

# ? Oct 25, 2022 02:40

Scythe: Jan 26, 2004

Wild Turkey 101 might be the ideal bourbon for that, with its strong �this is definitely bourbon� flavor and low price.

Also don�t feel like you need to use a real cognac there imo. Proof and not-dogshit-taste are more important than provenance/region there.

Also also, bittermens mole is an A-tier bitters. Finest use is in a mezcal old fashioned, I think.

# ? Oct 25, 2022 02:57

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# ? Jun 6, 2024 19:28

Quixotic1: Jul 25, 2007

Scythe posted:

Wild Turkey 101 might be the ideal bourbon for that, with its strong �this is definitely bourbon� flavor and low price.

Also don�t feel like you need to use a real cognac there imo. Proof and not-dogshit-taste are more important than provenance/region there.

I have a bottle of ABK6 VSOP I was going to use. I've been slowly going through it with the Benedictine to make B and B(tasty!); which originally was to make a Sling but I haven't gotten to buying the Cherry Heering yet.

Now to decide on the rum, OFTD to kick it up a notch?Blackwell, Siesta Key Spiced, Appleton Signature, Cruzan Blackstrap, or the practically full bottle of Smith and Cross that scared me when I tried it(all I got was rubber and burning).

# ? Oct 25, 2022 04:19

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