June 26, 2015
Summer is now fully upon us – time to drink bubbly things. But, but, but, I feel like Scotch, and most people don’t think about Scotch and bubbly drinks together (except the Scotch and soda, which is indeed sometimes lovely in its simplicity). Which is a shame, when drinks like the Tartan Swizzle, a bubbly Scotch-y treat, are around! Don’t get stuck in your ruts, pals, especially in summer because those ruts can get sweaty, and sweaty ruts are the worst. The worst. Anywho, I picked up this recipe from my old pal Jeremy Holt, a fine man and a fine drinker. He’s introduced me to loads of swell drinks over the years, and this is certainly on the list, and also certainly a swell summer sipper. Try it, and test me out!
The Tartan Swizzle, using the recipe from Dark Spirits
Ice cubes
2 ounces Scotch (Jeremy suggests something like Dewar’s, J&B, Cutty Sark)
1-1/2 ounces freshly squeezed lime juice
3/4 ounce simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Crushed ice
Chilled club soda
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the Scotch, lime juice, simple syrup, and bitters. Shake well.
2. Fill a Collins glass or the like three-quarters full with crushed ice. Stir the ice briefly to chill the glass, then strain the mixture from the shaker over the ice.
3. Fill the glass almost to the top with club soda. Stir a bit, to get a little frothiness.
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Jeremy Holt, Scotch, The Tartan Swizzle, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Dark Spirits, Recipes, Scotch, What I'm Drinking
June 19, 2015
I found this Scottish affair in an excellent little bound book called A Guide to Pink Elephants, Volume II (Richards Rosen Associates, 1957). It’s fairly close to a few drinks that are perhaps more famous – the Rob Roy of course, which has Angostura bitters instead of orange bitters, and a slightly different vermouth to Scotch ratio. As well as the Bobby Burns, though a little farther afield in cousinhood. But the taste here, because of those differences, is slightly sweeter and with a different bitter-and-herbal-y hint. It may seem an odd one during June, but, hey, I’m an odd one! I like a strong drink in summer sometimes, as well as the bubbly refreshing ones. Also, having a drink I found in a book with pink elephants in the title is never bad. Never.
The Highland Fling
2 ounces Scotch
1 ounces sweet vermouth
2 dashes orange bitters
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with cracked ice. Add the Scotch, sweet vermouth, and bitters. Stir well.
2. Strain the mix into a cocktail glass.
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, orange bitters, Scotch, The Highland Fling, vermouth, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Recipes, Scotch, vermouth, What I'm Drinking
June 9, 2015
I recently did some Cocktail Talk posts featuring the quotes from the Dashiell Hammett book, The Glass Key, a fine read of politicking, rough-housing, drinking, and plot twists. It’s one of my favs! I also recently re-read the Dashiell Hammett book Red Harvest, and while I don’t love it as well as The Glass Key, it’s still a fun read – a little more of a punch in the face then a tightly plotted yarn (though it does have its share of twists and turns), with a high, high body count, and a whole city boiling over with the rat-a-tat-tat of the tommy gun as The Continental Op (Hammett’s cowboy with no name, in a way) tries to clean up Poisonville (or at least that’s what the residents call it). As you might expect, there’s a fair amount of boozing that goes on, and that’s where we come in! Starting with the below:
Robert Albury, the young assistant cashier of the First National Bank, was sitting in the lobby when I returned to the Great Western Hotel. We went up to my room, had some ice-water brought, used its ice to put chill in Scotch, lemon juice, and grenadine, and then went down to the dining room.
–Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest
March 6, 2015
It’s one of my favorite weather times of year here in Seattle – early spring, late winter, whatever you want to call it, the hallmarks are a temperature that hovers in the mid-50s, and a sunshine that breaks through for days in a row (though don’t tell anyone, as we like to keep people thinking it’s raining all the time in Seattle). So, chilly and sunny. It’s a beautiful time. Especially on Sundays, when you don’t have much pressing, the whole weather-mosphere in the afternoon is amazing. And it’s ideal Rusty Nail weather. The somewhat misunderstood Rusty Nail gets shafted these days, but its combination of umph and a hint of honey-loveliness goes so well with these types of days. What makes it even better is using Syndicate 58/6 Scotch. A blend of 18 single malt whiskies and 4 single grain whiskies and aged 2 to 4 years in Oloroso sherry casks, this is one tasty Scotch. With citrus and other tropical fruits, ginger, and spice on the nose, and then marmalade, apple, fig, and caramel on the tongue. I supposed many would say it’s a Scotch to savor solo (and they wouldn’t be wrong), but if you’re up for it, mixing this top Scotch into a Rusty Nail will take you to another level, and make your early spring, late winter Sunday afternoon something really memorable. Trust me.
The Rusty Nail
Ice cubes
2 ounces Syndicate 58/6 Scotch
1 ounce Drambuie
1. Place ice cubes in an Old Fashioned glass until they reach the halfway point. Let the Scotch and then the Drambuie cascade into the glass.
2. Stir, but not tackily.
Tags: cocktail, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, cocktails, Drambuie, Friday Night Cocktail, Syndicate 58/6 Scotch, The Rusty Nail, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Liqueurs, Recipes, Scotch, What I'm Drinking
December 12, 2014
Baby, it’s cold outside. Luckily, this drink makes it warm inside (both inside you, and inside a domicile, if you happened to be drinking it inside. Though, honestly, it would be tasty if had outside as well, and probably be a welcome sight to anyone who had been outside in the cold). It uses SIA, a lovely blended Scotch that’s recently been released, and which boasts a mélange of citrus, spice, vanilla, and smoke and nuttiness. It’s a great Scotch to woo people who don’t like Scotch as well (and yeah, there are those people out there). Mix it up with the swell French aperitif Pineau des Charentes White Pineu – which is a little citrusy, too – and the always-awesome Scrappy’s orange bitters, and you have this wonderful winter warmer.
The Long and Short
1-1/2 ounces SIA blended Scotch
3/4 ounce Pineau des Charentes White Pineu
2 dashes Scrappy’s orange bitters
4 ounces hot water
Lemon twist, for garnish
1. Add the SIA Scotch, Pineau des Charentes, and the Scrappy’s to a mug that’s been warmed slightly with hot water. Stir briefly.
2. Add the hot water and stir again. Garnish with the lemon twist. Indulge yourself with every sip.
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, Pineau des Charentes White Pineu, Scrappy’s orange bitters, SIA Scotch, The Long and Short, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: bitters, Cocktail Recipes, Recipes, Scotch, What I'm Drinking, Whiskey
October 3, 2014
I feel bad for not being much of a fisherman. Well, not usually that bad, but when I come across a bottle of one of The Fat Trout Scotches, which have fish on the bottles and which are a line of “sportsman’s Scotches,” then I feel a little bad. Until I realize there’s no need for actually going to the trouble of fishing (I realize, fishing folk, that for many it’s no trouble at all – good for you, if you’re one of them), and that I can enjoy the Scotch and just tell fish stories. One time, I caught this great white shark . . .
Anywho, a bottle of the Fat Trout blended Scotch (there are also Lowland and Speyside single malt versions) showed up the other day, and led to all this fish musing. It’s a tasty blend, too, with hints of smoke and spice and grain all mingling together. A fine thing to have neat or on the rocks. But also a fine thing when put into a drink with other items. Example A: The Fat Fisherman. To follow up a fall theme (it being fall and all), I mixed the Fat Trout with a cider, Tieton’s Dry Hopped cider (from here in WA) to be exact, which is a fine fall drink. But it was missing something . . . until I added a healthy dollop of Yzaguirre red vermouth, a type of what most would think of as sweet vermouth. Coming from Spain, this vermouth has a snazzy herbalness and a dash of balsamic flavor that went perfectly with the Scotch and cider.
The Fat Fisherman
2 ounces Fat Trout blended Scotch
1 ounce Yzaguirre red vermouth
Ice cubes
4 ounces Tieton Dry Hopped cider
Apple slice, for garnish
1. Add the Scotch and vermouth to a highball or comparable glass. Stir briefly.
2. Fill the glass three-quarters up with ice cubes. Add the cider. Stir, carefully, working to bring the bottom stuff to the top and vice versa.
3. Garnish with the apple slice. Talk about fish.
Tags: cider, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Fat Trout, Fat Trout blended Scotch, Friday Night Cocktail, Scotch, sweet vermouth, The Fat Fisherman, Tieton Dry Hopped cider, vermouth, What I'm Drinking, Yzaguirre red vermouth
Posted in: cider, Cocktail Recipes, Recipes, Scotch, vermouth, What I'm Drinking
May 30, 2014
Another in the get-yourself-ready-for-summer-drinking category, this bubbly number is from the Italian book Cocktails: Classici & Esotici (Demetra, 2002), and definitely gets around, thanks to its thirst-quenching-but-still-strong mix of Scotch, Italian amaretto, dry vermouth (sometimes known as French vermouth), and ginger ale. That’s a trip in a glass people. The original version of this recipe suggests single-malt Scotch, but I like using a nice blended version, which I think works well with the other ingredients (something like Dewar’s is a dandy choice). It also suggests using Disaronno amaretto, which traces its secret recipe back to 1525. This is a suggestion you should follow.
The Foppa (from Dark Spirits)
Ice Cubes
1-1/2 ounces Scotch
1/2 ounce Disaronno amaretto
1/2 ounce dry vermouth
Chilled ginger ale
1. Fill a highball glass three-quarters full with ice cubes. Add the Scotch, amaretto, and vermouth. Stir with a long spoon.
2. Top the glass off with ginger ale. Stir again.
Tags: Cocktail Recipes, Dark Spirits, Disaronno amaretto, dry vermouth, Friday Night Cocktail, ginger ale, Scotch, The Foppa, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Talk, Dark Spirits, Liqueurs, Recipes, Scotch, What I'm Drinking
April 15, 2014
Once, long ago, in a galaxy far far away (or, in my office barroom), I surfaced a Cocktail Talk quote from the book Lucky at Cards, by master writer Lawrence Block. If you missed, go read it and all the Lawrence Block quotes now, and catch up on what I think and get the full view. Anywho, now that you’re back, I can say that I missed another quote from that book that is perfect for repeating, and which mentions a couple classic Scotches not so in evidence anymore.
The bartender glanced our way. I asked for Cutty Sark on the rocks for both of us. He didn’t have any. I tried him on Vat 69 and Peter Dawson and he didn’t have those fellows either. We settled on Black and White. He brought it over and Joyce and I touched glasses and drank. Most of her Scotch disappeared on the first swallow. She shivered a little, then let out a sigh.
–Lawrence Block, Lucky at Cards
