What I’m Drinking: The Temporary Getaway

In late January, many of us are starting to dream about June. We’ve had just long enough of the cold weather that we crave the warm weather – and heck, many travel to find a summerlike setting right about now. But, many others can’t take the time to take the trip. This drink is for those folks (hmm, I may just be one of those folks), and the recipe’s from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz.

The Temporary Getaway

3 apple slices

1/2 ounce freshly squeezed orange juice

1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice

Ice cubes

1 ounce St-Germain elderflower liqueur

4 ounces chilled brut Sekt or other sparkling wine

1. Place 2 of the apple slices, the orange juice, and the lemon juice in a cocktail shaker or mixing glass. Using a muddler or wooden spoon, muddle well.

2. Fill the cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the St-Germain and, using a long spoon, stir well.

3. Pour the chilled Sekt into the cocktail shaker. Using that same reliable spoon, stir briefly, being sure to bring up the fruit on the bottom when stirring.

4. Strain into a flute glass or cocktail glass (in this instance I like the way the latter breathes, but a flute’s more traditional). Garnish with the remaining apple slice, putting a little notch in it if needed for rim balancing.

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What I’m Drinking: The Blue Train

There’s another drink also called The Blue Train (as happens, cause people are creating drinks all the time. Like ten were created as I typed “ten”), or the Blue Train Special, which shakes together 1-1/2 ounces brandy and 1 ounce fresh pineapple juice over ice, and then tops it with Cap Classique or other sparkling wine and a pineapple chunk in a flute glass. This is not that Blue Train. The Blue Train is in Wine Cocktails. This one is in Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz. Both drinks are awesome. This just happens to be the one I’m drinking today. But tomorrow? Who knows?

The Blue Train

Ice cubes

1 ounce gin

1/2 ounce Cointreau

1/2 freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 ounce crème de violette

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the gin, Cointreau, lemon juice, and crème de violette. Shake briefly.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass.

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What I’m Drinking: Shine Along the Shore

Poor amaretto. So many folks these days consider it a boozy beverage drunk by college students during the hours when they (and when I, back then, between us) have more drinks than brains. But listen up: this isn’t the case. The dandy-est amaretto is something that Italians savor and so should you. It’s a treat, if you don’t mind finding brands like Gozio, Luxardo, and Disaronno, amarettos that have been made with a sense of taste and care and ingredients that are real and not chemistry experiments. The end result should be a deep almond flavor (which comes from apricot or peach pits, usually) and not overly sugary.

And while we’re dolling out pity party invites: poor summer. It’s far out the rear window now, and you’ve probably forgotten all about those days of sun and cut-offs (though a nice fall sunny day is savorable much like the good amarettos mentioned above). This drink will remind you, for a few sips at least, of those shore-bound summer day and help re-introduce amaretto as needed. The recipe’s from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, if you wondered.

Cracked ice

1-1/2 ounces dark rum

1 ounce amaretto

1/2 ounce sweet vermouth

Wide orange twist, for garnish

1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add the rum, amaretto, and vermouth. Stir well.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Twist the twist over the glass and drop it in.

A Note: I like a pretty wide twist here, so don’t fear following the same route.

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What I’m Drinking: The Baltimore Bracer

Oh golly, I love this drink. My love reaches such a magnitude that I made a Baltimore Bracer cocktail video already, but I still wanted to post the drink again. It’s just the ideal combination of tough name, sweet-in-a-good-way-meaning-with-a-kick taste, and amazing mouthfeel thanks to the egg white. I’m not even saying any more (except that the recipe’s from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz). Just have the drink already. Or you’ll be sorry.*

Cracked ice

1-1/2 ounces brandy

1-1/2 ounces anisette

1 egg white, preferably organic

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with cracked ice. Add the brandy, anisette, and egg white. Shake well.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass.

*Not sorry cause I’m going to get all Bruce Campbell on you or anything. I’m not really that tough. Just sorry cause you’ll be missing a dandy drink.

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Somebody Had a Fizzalicious Easter

Sometimes, a picture tells a perfect story. Example A, sent to me by my pal Kristine (who is a jewelry maker, NYC charmer, and also a survivor of years spent in Kansas), is below. Violet Fizzes (with recipe from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, dontcha know, and made with the wonderful Rothman & Winter Crème De Violette) served up in their lovely effervescence-ness on Easter. I don’t even need to know any more to know that her Easter was amazing. And that I’m jealous I wasn’t there to share a few drinks and eats with her. But at least she sent me this fab photo:

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What I’m Drinking: Great Secret

Sometimes, you have a little secret that you like to hold close like a puppy (one I have is that I actually don’t drink. Nah, I’m kidding. How does the fact that I’m a Martin Lawrence devotee work?). Sometimes, you have a larger secret that’s oodles of fun that you can’t tell but that you hold close to youself to like a favorite key (naturally I have these, but I surely can’t tell you about them). And then, sometimes you’re associated with a great big secret, like this recipe, or like when you get abducted by aliens and discover leap year is an alien plot, or when you wear a cape and fight crime at night using mystical powers. Of course, now this delicious recipe isn’t a secret at all, since I’m telling you it to you. But it’s still great. And we’re still sharing it. So, that’s something almost as good, right?

Cracked ice

2 ounces gin

1 ounce Lillet Blanc

Dash of Angostura bitters

Orange twist, for garnish

Orange slice, for garnish (optional, used instead of above twist)

1. Fill a mixing glass or cocktail shaker with cracked ice. Add the gin, Lillet, and bitters. Stir well.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Twist the twist over the glass and then drop it in. Shhhhh.

PS: Though this Great Secret is featured in Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz (a beautiful book you should really have), I found it in Patrick Gavin Duffy’s The Official Mixer’s Manual (Alta, 1934).

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What I’m Drinking: Lucien Gaudin

According to the esteemed booze-ologist Dr. Cocktail (also known as Ted Haigh), this drink was named for a gold medal winning Olympic fencer. Which means you should only drink it when making a fence. Ba-dump-bump. No, really, what you shouldn’t do is drink it and use either real swords (plastic ones are okay) or hammers. What you should do is serve this at any commemorative celebration, as it’s a classy number, and one that has a host of mingling flavors–which is appropriate for a celebration, because who wants to have a boring celebration? It’s also featured in Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, which is (if I can say with without sounding pompous) a celebration itself.

Cracked ice

1 ounce gin

1/2 ounce Cointreau

1/2 ounce Campari

1/2 ounce dry vermouth

Orange twist, for garnish

1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add the gin, Cointreau, Campari, and dry vermouth. Stir well.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the orange twist.

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What I’m Drinking: Three Wishes

There are some combinations that you just know, before you even start pouring and experimenting, will go together like the Hulk and green skin. By which I mean, perfectly. Dark rum and Rhum Clément Creole Shrubb are one of these pairings. This of course makes perfect sense, since the latter is made on a base partially of the former. But still, sometimes things don’t go as planned (like the Gamma bomb going off on poor old Doc Banner). However, I’m happy to report that in this case no one was turned into an over-sized misunderstood creature. Instead, the rum and the Rhum Clément Creole Shrubb mingle nicely, aided by an addition from another part of the globe, amaretto. Amaretto is, much like the Hulk, often misunderstood. Here, though, it shines with our two Caribbean pals. All of above leads to the fact that you shouldn’t drink this when angry (or drink anything really—who needs another angry drunk?), but drink it while watching the 1970s Incredible Hulk series, or reading the comics of the same character from the same era.

Cracked ice

2 ounces dark rum

1 ounce Rhum Clément Creole Shrubb

1 ounce amaretto

1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add the rum, Creole Shrubb, and amaretto. Stir well.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass.

A Note: I think cracked ice is crackingly good for stirring here, but if you have only ice cubes and don’t feel like cracking, they’ll work too.

PS: This recipe is from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz. Which you should get, for gosh sakes.

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