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Currently enjoying an amzing cocktail out. "The Need for Tweed" at Teardrop Lounge in Portland, OR. One of their House Cocktails on An impressive menu of House, Classic, and Friends (from other contemporary bars) cocktails. The Need for Tweed Ardbeg 10yr 1.5 oz? Cynar .75 oz? Malted pumpkin (roasted pumpkin with pumpkin pie spices malt syrup) one squirt maybe .5 oz? Chipotle-chocolate bitters 2 drips Pacifique Absinthe 10+ drops A couple strips lemon zest Stirred with cracked ice and strained into a stemmed glass - no ice. Opaque, 'scotch colored'. Aggressive taste with a smoky spicy finish. Cinnamon/smoky chipotle are dominant. Really well ballanced. Not too boozy 'hot'. I'm smitten. I can't believe the Cynar scotch combination. Both flavors are present but not competing. If you find yourself in PDX this is a great bar with great bartenders. If I succeed in recreating this at home I'll post more accurate measurements.
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Oct 13, 2011 07:21
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I'm doing my annual holiday cocktail party and this year we decided to do some premixed cocktails: Sidecar, Manhattan, and Martini. The plan now is to mix about 30oz or so and put them in carafes that are left in an ice bucket (like chilling champagne). People can pour their own mini cocktail (these little 3oz glasses) or a proper full drink. My question is ... am I missing some major pitfall about doing these premixed? * The carafes will come straight out of the freezer. Drinks will all be stirred with ice in a pitcher so I don't think I will have a problem with temperature or proper dilution. (I don't have a way to chill the glasses though) * The quantities aren't so high that I fear "settling out" or separation of any of the cocktails. * I can easily whip up another batch as these run out. It sounds like it should work out OK. Obviously it would be ideal to mix each drink individually as someone orders it, but I've spent the last few parties behind the bar all night as we have 30+ people, and this year my wife says I need to enjoy the party more (and I agree). These three pre-mixed "classic cocktails" are along with a "champagne cocktail" station where I'll have a carafe of St. Germain and lemon, a small bottle of creme de cassis, and a carafe of peach nectar so people can pour into a flute and top with champagne. Also a "holiday cocktail" station with dark rum to mix with heavily clove spiced cider, a cranberry/orange/spice infusion to top with soda, and some peppermint chocolate cream concoction my wife loves. Little oxo 2oz measuring cups for each item and a small notecard with instructions for each drink. There is also a full bar and people can mix their own x+tonic/soda or other highballs. Plus beer and wine. Also, any recommendations for the brandy component in the sidecar? Don't want to go as high end as I usually make for myself.
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Nov 30, 2011 04:27
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Thanks for all the responses. I really appreciate it. I did a punch a couple of times and really liked it, but this year we're trying something new. I think it would be awesome to do a party with nothing but punches. I hadn't thought about the sidecar being shaken to lighten it up like other sours. I think I will shake that one good before it goes in the carafe to see if it makes a difference. That may help keep the lemon juice suspended properly. And good tip on the dilution happening properly because of temperature. I will store the carafes in the freezer, mix the cocktails with ice in a room temp pitcher till the proper dilution, then transfer to the cold carafes in the ice bath to keep as chilled as possible. Unfortunately not an option to store the glasses cold due to location, but that would be ideal. I'll take some pictures of the drinks stations before they get demolished. I wish I had more friends as into the food and drinks as I am that I could invite to these things! Hooray for the internet to bring us all together. Vegetable Melange posted:3oz is a full drink, you lush. Haha! We got 8 of these tiny cocktail glasses at Pier 1. I just measured and they are two ounces. Picture for reference. 
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Dec 1, 2011 05:13
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Vegetable Melange posted:There always is. Air is oxidizing your wine from the moment you open it until the last drop. The solution? Burn the cork. Vacuum the wine. Better than it should be days later. Toddy sounds awesome.
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Oct 30, 2012 04:27
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A year has passed and I'm doing my annual cocktail party again. You guys really helped out with my questions last year and I promised to post pictures but never did. Well, here are some pictures and then I'll get to the questions.  "Bubbly" prosecco to mix with creme de cassis, lemon+St. Germain, and peach nectar  "Holiday" cranberry spice infusion to mix with club soda, Kraken rum and heavily spiced cider, and a chocolate mint cordial.  "Classic" pre-mixed Sidecar, Martini, Manhattan  Mediocre bar for people who are afraid to try my interesting cocktails  This year we are definitely doing the bubbly station as we went through 7 bottles last year. The holiday station is being dismantled into just hot spiced cider with kraken and some bourbon on the side to add to your mug. As for the Classics the Sidecar (as so well predicted by you all) didn't work out but we went through 2 liters each of Manhattan and Martini so those are definitely coming back. Questions: 1) I have decided to bring back a punch this year - any recommendations? Also we are going to have about 50 people again so I'd like to plan on 30-40 "servings" for the punch. I assume leftover punch is not really a thing so I'd rather not way over make. I mean we could attempt to drink it all but I have to be useful by 6 pm the next day... 2) I would love to do a third Classic cocktail but again run into the issue of putting it into a carafe for a couple hours. Any other recommendations?  Bonus food shot
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Dec 5, 2012 15:56
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Kenning posted:great thoughts I really appreciate the ideas. I love a Negroni. It should hold up just fine in a carrafe and that would be different enough from the other two drinks to really stand out. I think I have all the ingredients for that Hollands old fashioned so I'll try that out tonight. Never tried a Japanese Cocktail I'll see if I can order it out soon as I don't have any orgeat. I knew I could have just filtered for your posts and found the great punch ideas. Thanks for doing it for me! I think a batch of Admiral Russel's is the right plan. Looks like that recipe comes out to about 4.5 quarts. If I do a 2 quart ice block is it going to look silly in my 11 qt punch bowl? Maybe I'll do 1.5 batches? Also, to make the ice block all fancy are there any tips layering thin slices of lemon and lime so they look great in the finished block? Any thing else recommended to add to the ice for visual appeal? I would hate to alter the flavor of the bunch or have something floating around in there as the ice melted. This is the punch bowl and I like it because it doesn't take up too much real estate on the table. edit: is a 2 qt ice block too big? too much dilution? KWC fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Dec 6, 2012 |
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Dec 6, 2012 00:44
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Klauser posted:I assume you mean do a fourth? If you want to do the same three you have in your photo, but add another, you can represent rum with a Daiquiri. If you wanted to mix it up, you could keep the base spirit the same but change the drinks out. I love the suggestion of a Japanese, and that could replace your Sidecar. Swap out the gin Martini for something like a Fitezgerald, Pegu Club, or a Negroni (2oz gin?!?!?!), and the Manhattan for a Left Hand or an Algonquin or something similar. Yeah I meant to imply I would get rid of the Sidecar and replace it with a third. I prefer my Negroni as 1-1.25:1:1 gin:campari:vermouth (and I actually have preferred cynar in place of campari) so I would lean that way as opposed to 2:1:1  I think the Daquiri, Fitzgerald, and Pegu Club would each present a similar issue as the Sidecar - the juice would not incorporate as fully as I'd like it to be a hands off "just pour it out of a carafe" situation. The Left Hand sounds great, but I fear the Algonquin suffers the same fruit juice concern. Thanks for the suggestions! I don't actually have a lot of exposure to rum drinks (besides terrible college Bacardi Silver + something) so I don't usually think of rum as a base spirit.
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Dec 6, 2012 04:53
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Another year another cokctail party. Thanks for the suggestions! The Admiral Russel's punch was a hit. My wife talked me out of a third classic cocktail. Have some blurry pictures. Only went through 5 bottles of prosecco this year. And 3 bottles of sparkling cider because apparently there were 3 pregnant women this year. I'll take that as evidence that it is predominantly women who drink the bubbly.  Just one liter of Martini this year, but two and a half liters of Manhattan. I ended up mixing up 6 or so Negronis because I had talked it up in the days preceding, should have just made a carrafe of it too . . .  Almost a gallon of cider was drunk along with that whole bottle of Bulleit and most of a pint I had stashed. Only a half bottle of Kraken.  Admiral Russell's punch was great. 5 minutes after this picture the ice ring got all clear on top so you could see the lemon and lime slices. I was surprised that the fresh nutmeg made such a significant impact. Really rounded out the whole thing. I'll definitely do this again. Only about 20 oz left and that was after the ice had completely melted. I ended up using Martell VS for the cognac. I couldn't find the any oloroso sherry so I went with a "medium" sherry and added a 1/4 cup of brown sugar to the syrup. I'll track down proper sherry next time I make it to see how significant the difference would be.  bonus food pic  and desserts That is a very stressful party to put together but so much fun. We even scaled back the food this year and I didn't do any infusions for the cocktails, and still both took off a day of work to pull it off. fake edit: It is cool to store the leftover martini in the fridge sealed right? At least for a week or so? I poured my self one last night and it didn't taste off, but it didn't taste "fresh" either. Maybe I just need to drink it up ...
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Dec 14, 2012 21:35
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Jack Trades posted:Hi, Coctail Thread. It sounds like your method has a lot of leeway in how much of each ingredient actually goes into each drink. The point of all these drink recipes being written with with .25 oz precision is to get a consistent result. The amount of gin, the amount of lime, and the amount of tonic will all affect the way the berry juice is going to sit "on" or "in" the drink. The engineer in me wants to see you try the same amount of gin/lime/tonic then vary the amount and type of berry juice to get some data on what works the way you want it to, and what to do to affect the outcome.
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Feb 5, 2013 20:46
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Kenning posted:I don't think a gin and tonic necessarily calls for the sort of precision you're talking about, honestly. Don't get me wrong, I'm a jiggerman all the way when it comes to drinks that need it, but a G&T has always been about easy refreshment, rather than fiddly precision. I agree completely. If the question was something other than "what makes it do different things" I would not have suggested measuring for control the way I did. quote:The berry juice is more likely to float if it's warmer than the G&T. You could try building the drink and then letting it sit for just a minute so the ice cools it down more and then adding the berry juice. This here is very interesting and much better advice! Does this hold for most drinks that have a float? Temperature differentials (easier to float on colder bases) and sugar content (less sugar floats better)?
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Feb 6, 2013 14:05
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door Door door posted:... And I don't know; I just want to find a bar with knowledgable bartenders who can offer good recommendations based on my tastes without the place trying to turn the whole thing into an 'experience.' From end of last page, but I agree completely on this. To get my cocktail fix when I am in an unfamiliar place I look to restaurants rather than bars. Most higher end restaurants are putting more effort into their cocktail programs now. I find that going into a nice spot (usually with a more modern menu where it is difficult to get a reservation) and sitting at the bar gives you good access to a bartender that probably enjoys mixing a drink. It can be hit or miss, you may pay a little more for a drink, but they should have a pretty broad selection of liquors and are usually looking to break out something interesting rather than another grey goose martini or X and tonic. A usual plus is you won't be surrounded by people who are only going to the speakeasy for the speakeasy vibe, and there is probably awesome food at a good price if there is a bar menu.
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Mar 15, 2013 15:18
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Kenning posted:Yeah seriously Chartreuse and maraschino can't really be overused. Although Luxardo is defnitely better than Maraska. I had an outstanding chartreuse swizzle at the bar at Nomad last December. It was more chartreuse in one cup that I have ever seen (except of course just chartreuse rocks).
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Apr 15, 2013 14:57
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Klauser posted:
Is this by weight? And any specific mulling spice blend? The cocktails sound great. I am gearing up for my holiday party and looking to stretch a little so it isn't a repeat of the last few years - this looks like a good building block to use.
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Oct 31, 2013 00:43
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Klauser posted:By volume. Specifically, I did 1/2 cup water:1/2 cup sugar:1/4 cup mulling spice. Thanks. I guess I had only seen powdered mulling spice mixes before and was thinking that would be one intense syrup If that was what you had used.
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Oct 31, 2013 20:05
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Kenning posted:I made a 1/3 batch of Frank Forrester's Punch for Thanksgiving. Since it was a smaller batch, we decided to do it up, and used Pierre Ferrand 1840 for the cognac and Roederer Estate for the champagne. It was goddamn delicious. Does that have a lot of bubbles remaining once it is all mixed? I am getting ready for my annual holiday cocktail party and trying to decide on a punch. Last year Admiral Russell's was excellent so I am thinking of a repeat, but that Frank Forrester's looks just fantastic. We already have a "sparkling" station so I don't want too much overlap. And my annual question of how to mix things up a little bit. I have fallen into a comfortable pattern (rut?) of premixing manhattan and martini in carafes for the "classic" station, putting out a case of prosecco with creme de cassis, lemon and St Germain, and peach nectar for the "sparkling" station, and doing a punch and some heavily spiced hot cider with bourbon and kraken to mix. This is on top of a full DIY bar and guests usually bring beer and wine. Someone also always brings their grandmother's eggnog recipe that has got to be at least 50% bourbon. The only thing I can think of is adding a carafe of negroni like I planned last year. Maybe some variation at the bubbly station? fake edit: haha poo poo - I just looked at my post from last year's party with the same questions and I realize I didn't really take any of the suggestions ... I did eventually try most of the cocktails and am now thinking I should add that Improved Hollands old fashioned. I couldn't get the Bols Genever last year, but I got around to making it this summer. That may make the cut. I did not however try the rum drinks recommended. I will see if I can fit those in tomorrow. Any other suggestions are welcome.
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Dec 5, 2013 04:23
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Klauser posted:I've made big batches of Negroni for gatherings before and it's always a hit, just don't forget to add some water. Kenning posted:The Improved Hollands Old Fashioned is a great idea, and you should do it. It is now a toss up between the Admiral Russel or an orange punch. I didn't see seville oranges yet, but satsumas are in so maybe they are close behind. I don't have a lot of time to experiment so if I can't get seville oranges today I'll stick to the good old Admiral. Kenning posted:Also, if the party is such that there might be a dramatically-appropriate moment, consider making some Flaming Bishop in place of your usual hot cider option. I will definitely do this at my Christmas Eve family gathering where 12 or so people will really appreciate it. It can replace the mediocre attempts at flaming Christmas pudding. Kenning posted:Where do you live man? I've been jealous of this Christmas party for 3 years running now. I'm in Cleveland, OH. You get the benefit of low cost of living, but you kind of have to make your fun FUN! to survive the long dreary winter. We love kicking things off with this party and then we can pretty much coast through the rest of the season at other peoples parties.
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Dec 5, 2013 17:31
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I just got 25 oz lemon juice from 12 lemons. These are lame non-organic supermarket lemons.
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Dec 12, 2013 02:26
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I was recently at a bar in St Louis - Taste - and had an excellent drink: Auburn and Ivory 1.5 oz Bonal 0.5 oz Cynar 1.0 oz Camus vs cognac dash Angustura Can't remember if it was shaken or stirred. I've made it both ways back home but subbed courvoisier vsop (what I had)for the camus and have finished it with a flamed orange or just a twist. Good bar doing classics and house cocktails, and drat good small plates of food. Good bourbon selection too.
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Feb 6, 2014 15:27
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I had a great drink this week at Eventide in Portland, ME Kentucky Cyclist 1.5 bourbon 1.5 bonal .5 green chartreuse .5 yellow chartreuse 2 dash orange bitters Stir serve up with orange peel A tiny bit on the sweet side, but went great with some raw seafood apps. Not usually what I think of pairing whiskey with. It was really nice. I am liking every cocktail I've had with bonal in it. Also, my local liquor store was mistakenly sent a case of yellow chartreuse instead of green so I finally picked up a bottle and I can make these at home.
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Oct 8, 2015 15:01
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MAKE NO BABBYS posted:Please upgrade yourself to Cocchi do Torino or Cocchi Barolo Chinato and get off that scrub-tier Carpano poo poo. Just got a bottle of Cocchi di Torino. Convinced by a couple of outstanding cocktails at local beverage store with an awesome bar in it. Really like it. I still don't think of Carpano as scrub-tier though. I know you are on a whole other level than me regarding this, so what are the problems with Carpano? My favorite drinking vermouth is Atxa Rojo, but that could be colored by only ever consuming it while on vacation eating tapas.
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Jan 24, 2017 19:43
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