May 20, 2016
I’m not usually a sugar-on-the-rim guy, or a salt, or any of that jazz. Unless it’s done really well. Which it sometimes is! So now I’m contradicting myself. But also sometimes it’s done poorly, with the spice in question all on the inside of the glass and overwhelming the drink’s flavors, instead of complementing them. But once in a while, I do go that route, especially when I’m making a drink that suggests it where the drink is also from Crosby Gaige’s Cocktail Guide and Ladies Companion, my favorite book published in 1941. And if that wasn’t enough, this has a fantastic name. If you can name a drink this swell-ly, then let me know about it, and I will make one of these for you. Really!
Mrs. Solomon Wears Slacks
Super-fine sugar
Cracked ice
2 ounces brandy
1/2 ounce orange curaçao
3 dashes Angostura bitters
Lemon twist
1. Put a good helping of sugar (but not a mound or anything) on a saucer. Wet the outside rim of a Champagne flute (I used a lemon slice, but you could also rotate it through water on a saucer–just don’t get any water in the glass). Carefully rotate the outside rim of the glass through the sugar–but you don’t want to get any sugar on the inside. No, no, not a grain. So, be careful.
2. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add the brandy, curaçao, and bitters. Stir well.
3. Strain the mix into the flute. Slack up.
Tags: Angostura bitters, Brandy, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Mrs. Solomon Wears Slacks, orange curaçao, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Brandy, Cocktail Recipes, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
March 25, 2016
Okay, let’s start with another drink – the Martini. Don’t worry, I’ll get to widows. But recently I received (poor me!) a bottle of Ransom Gin and a bottle of Ransom dry vermouth in the mail. If you don’t know (and, if so, why don’t you?), Ransom is a farm-to-glass distillery and winery in Sheridan, OR, started up by owner and distiller Tad Seestedt. With the f-to-g earlier, you can probably guess that they use local ingredients by the bucketful, including in the gin alone, hops, marionberry, coriander, fennel seeds, and chamomile all produced on the Oregon farm where the distillery is, which is fantastic. And the vermouth also features wine and brandy made on the farm, using OR ingredients, too. That’s pretty darn awesome, and means these old pals (gin and vermouth, that is), in this situation are old, old pals, down to the ground. So, when one (if you’re one like me) gets a bottle of gin and a bottle of vermouth from the same spot and sharing the same agricultural legacy, the first thing that happens is opening the bottles. Then making a Martini, of course.
Mine are made in old school style, 2-1/2 parts gin to 1/2 part vermouth, with a twist of lemon. The end result here – darn delicious. Hints of herb and spice, but with a really lovely smoothness overall. Everything, as you’d expect, plays so nicely together. Of course, me being me and all that, I couldn’t just try the Martini, I had to push the envelope beyond the obvious with a lesser-in-the-road’s-middle cocktail. And that cocktail was the Merry Widow, which I’d recently re-discovered (I can’t remember if this is where I saw it first, honestly) in a fun book from 1936 called Burke’s Complete Cocktail and Tastybite Recipes – a fine read if you can find it. Anyway, the Merry Widow lets the vermouth shine a bit more (which is good here, because the Ransom vermouth is very drinkable all alone, with an balanced herbal, citrus, combo), and also introduces just a hint of a few other players, all of whom played well. Give it a whirl, and see if you can taste that good Oregon terroir coming through. I served a round to some pals, and they all could – and thought the drink would make any widow get up and dance.
The Merry Widow
Cracked ice
1-1/2 ounces Ransom gin
1-1/2 ounces Ransom dry vermouth
2 dashes Absinthe
2 dashes Benedictine
1 dash Angostura bitters
Lemon twist, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add everything but the twist. Stir well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Now, bring that twist to the OR party.
Tags: absinthe, Angostura bitters, Benedictine, Burke’s Complete Cocktail and Tastybite Recipes, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, Martini, Ransom dry vermouth, Ransom gin, The Merry Widow, vermouth, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Distillery, Gin, Liqueurs, Recipes, vermouth, What I'm Drinking
March 18, 2016
Well, it’s the day after St. Patrick’s Day, so you may be up to your ears already in drinks utilizing Irish whiskey this week – but really, can you have too many? Not when you’re using some deliciousness like The Quiet Man Traditional blended Irish whiskey, which is re-casked in first-fill bourbon casks. It carries a very approachable nature, along with a vanilla, honey, apple, spice, and oak flavor that’s sippable, sure, but which also plays well with others – as in this drink. This drink, by the way, you’ll sometimes see with other ingredients (mostly a sloe gin variety). Well, the name you’ll see on other ingredients I suppose would be proper. But this time of year, this is the only way to go, as many have gone before you (it is a fairly old drink). Have a few, and you’ll be telling stories in no time. Unlike The Quiet Man founder Ciaran Mulgrew’s father, John Mulgrew, who this whiskey was named after and who worked many years in the Irish bar world, and who, as they say “told no tales.” A good story! Which also always makes a drink taste better.
The Blackthorn, using the recipe from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz
Ice cubes
2 ounces Quiet Man Traditional blended Irish whiskey
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1/4 ounce absinthe
3 dashes Angostura bitters
Lemon twist, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the Irish, the sweet vermouth, absinthe, and bitters. Shake well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Twist the twist over the glass and let it drop in.
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, The Blackthorn, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: absinthe, bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, Recipes, What I'm Drinking, Whiskey
March 11, 2016
I am, admittedly, about 18 days late here, as first president Washington’s birthday is Feb. 22nd. But I’ve never thought one should only honor the father of our country with a drink on that particular day (December 14, the day he passed away, is another good one), and for that matter, feel there’s not one particular drink to have, either. Another good one, for example, is the Washington’s Wish (in Dark Spirits if you want to know more). And I’ll bet there are others called just Washington too, as it seems a good name for a drink. This one is a good one, though it can be tough, as it’s very vermouth forward, so you need a good vermouth, first off. I used Dolin, which is reliable, tasty, and something one should always have around the house. Then, you need a super brandy, since it’s lower in volume than the vermouth – it needs to stand up a bit. I used Lepanto Solera Gran Reserva Brandy de Jerez (which showed up in the mail, to be honest), the only brandy to be produced entirely in Jerez. It’s nearly too swell for mixing (and great on its own), but hey, sometimes you gotta say “why not?” Aged in American oak barrels once used for sherry for 15 years, it has a nutty and spice taste, with strong wood notes, that go amazingly with the vermouth. This is one fine cocktail, friends, and worthy of the historic personage it’s named after – even when had a little later than expected.
The Washington, from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz
Ice cubes
2 ounces Dolin dry vermouth
1 ounce Lepanto Lepanto Solera Gran Reserva Brandy de Jerez
4 dashes Angostura bitters
1/2 ounce Simple Syrup
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the vermouth, brandy, bitters, and simple syrup. Shake well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass
Tags: Angostura bitters, Brandy, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, The Washington, vermouth, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Brandy, Cocktail Recipes, Recipes, vermouth, What I'm Drinking
February 26, 2016
I tend to make up, uncover from old books, try out, play around with, guess at, and just generally have a fair amount of cocktails. And usually when making them up, or trying to modify up an older recipe found in a deliciously dusty tome, I have good luck from the get-go. Which of course makes me cocky, and probably annoying to friends and family and dogs. However, fairly regularly I get reminded that I make lots of mistakes, too, and sometimes just can’t find that right proportional mix no matter what. Recently, I went through an evening like this, where I was (gasp!) throwing drink and drink out cause they stunk and I stunk. Finally, I just went to what I knew would come together nicely, and quit the wacky experimenting, and that’s gin and Aperol. Easy, friendly, and with a little Blanc vermouth and Scrappy’s orange, the savior of my night and ego. Of course, it helped that the gin was from local stars the Seattle Distilling Company, who make a darn fine gin (and whiskey, coffee liqueur, and vodka). Sometimes, when the night is stormy (even metaphorically so), it’s good to have friends around.
A Fool’s Paradise
Cracked ice
1-1/2 ounces Seattle Distilling Company gin
1 ounce Aperol
1/2 ounce La Quintinye Vermouth Royal blanc
1 dash Scrappy’s orange bitters
1. Fill a mixing glass or cocktail shaker halfway full with cracked ice. Add it all. Stir well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Be humble.
Tags: A Fool’s Paradise, Aperol, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, La Quintinye Vermouth Royal blanc, Scrappy’s orange bitters, Seattle Distilling Company, Seattle Distilling Company gin, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Distillery, Gin, Liqueurs, Recipes, vermouth, What I'm Drinking
February 19, 2016
Recently, I made a drink called the Boomerang, with Spirit Works rye, and it was darn tasty (I sure hope you didn’t miss it). But I also received (lucky me) a bottle of Spirit Works straight wheat whiskey, made from 100% organic CA red winter wheat. I wasn’t sure exactly how to try it out (outside of neat, of course, which is always a good first step), and so took it to my whiskey-loving-pal Jeremy’s house, where he made me a delicious Old Fashioned, which is naturally a fantastic way to take a whiskey through its paces. And this wheat number did dandily. It’s a very round whiskey, if that makes sense, nice and approachable, with a little sweetness, and some nut and fruit accents that were all in play in the drink. Yummy stuff.
The Old Fashioned
Teaspoon simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Orange slice
Maraschino cherry
Ice cubes
2 1/2 ounces Spirit Works straight wheat whiskey
1. Place the simple, bitters, orange, and cherry into an old fashioned glass.
2. Using a muddler or very solid wooden spoon, muddle it all up.
3. Place a couple ice cubes in the glass. Add the whiskey. Drink it up.
Tags: Angostura bitters, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Spirit Works, Spirit Works straight wheat whiskey, The Old Fashioned, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Recipes, What I'm Drinking, Whiskey
February 5, 2016
I was browsing through Crosby Gaige’s Standard Cocktail Guide (which is a smallish book, much smaller that his Cocktail Guide and Ladies Companion, which I love mostest), the 4th printing from 1944, and came across a cocktail called the Boomerang. I’d seen this version before (that’s a name that has probably been used for at 67 different drinks), but it’d been a bit, and fit the What I’m Drinking bill perfectly, because the base is rye, and I had a new rye I wanted to try in a cocktail.
What rye? I can hear you asking, and I’m glad you asked. It was Spirit Works Rye, from Sonoma CA (it came in the mail, I’ll admit). Spirit Works is a “grain-to-glass” distillery, which means that grain is milled, mashed, fermented, distilled, and bottled all on site. That’s neat! The rye is a small-batch number, aged for a minimum of two years in 53-gallon, charred, new American Oak barrels. It’s a rich rye, with nice woodsy-and-baked aromas, and a little spice (nutmeg and hints of clove) on the taste mingling with vanilla and more. Very approachable and mixable.
However! This drink also has a decent helping of Swedish Punsch and Sweet Vermouth. For the latter, I wanted something special, that would deliver its own full range of flavors. Luckily, our pal Michael N had recently given us a bottle of the Martini Gran Lusso Italian vermouth, 150th anniversary edition. Now that’s a gift! It’s based on a blend of Barbera and oak-aged Moscato, with a whole host of secret botanicals. The taste is memorable, with layers of flavors, sweet on the front with just the right amount of bitter on the back end. Delicious on its own, it’s swell in drinks too. And great here with the rye and other players. Crosby would be proud.
The Boomerang
Ice cubes
1 ounce Spirit Works rye
3/4 ounce Martini Gran Lusso Italian vermouth
3/4 ounce Kronan Swedish Punsch
1/8 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add everything. Shake well.
2. Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktail glass. Drink, then drink again.
Tags: Angostura bitters, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Kronan Swedish Punsch, lemon juice, Martini Gran Lusso Italian vermouth, Spirit Works rye, The Boomerang, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Crosby Gaige, Liqueurs, Recipes, Rye, What I'm Drinking
December 25, 2015
Looking for a nice drink to have today, after opening all those presents (or while, as the case may be). Try out this nicely-named-number, which not only is strong enough to balance out the sometimes hectic holiday days, but also has a healthy helping of orange juice, making it both a good breakfast drink and a boon in the cold and flu season. Just consider the suggestion my holiday gift to you! You can thank me later.
The Abbey Cocktail
Ice cubes
2 ounces Kur gin (if you have it! If not, be sad and use another awesome gin)
1-1/2 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice
2 dashes Scrappy’s orange bitters
Maraschino cherry, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass half full with ice cubes. Add the gin, orange juice, and bitters. Shake well.
2. Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the cherry. Have a happy holiday!
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Gin, Kur gin, orange juice, Scrappy’s orange bitters, The Abbey Cocktail, What I’m Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Gin, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
