What I’m Drinking: The Mysterious Conclusion

This is a nice fall number, with a bunch of umph and layers upon layers of flavors sure to make the chill recede and the happiness take its place. It has some intriguing players sharing the spotlight, including Woodinville Whiskey’s newly-released straight bourbon whiskey, Salish Sea (a distillery on the edge of Lacey, WA that makes a whole host of really awesome liqueurs) Ginger liqueur, which has a whole lot of wonderful ginger kick and not too much sugary-ness, Alessio Chinato vermouth, made with Cinchona bark and other herbs, and a tiny bit of orange legend Grand Marnier. A combo I’m guessing you’ll love, but hey, there’s only one way to find out for sure.

The Mysterious Conclusion

Cracked ice
2 ounces Woodinville Whiskey Straight bourbon
1/2 ounce Salish Sea Ginger liqueur
1/2 ounce Alessio Chinato vermouth
1/4 ounce Grand Marnier
Ice cube (or Ice cubes)

1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add the bourbon, Ginger liqueur, vermouth, and Grand Marnier. Stir well.

2. Add one big ice cube or a couple fairly-big ice cubes to an Old Fashioned or comparable glass. Strain the mix over the ice.

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What I’m Drinking: Summer Near Puebla

So, it’s September I suppose, and like the very earth itself I can sense the approaching Fall in my bones, and in my drinks too – though admittedly, I’m still leaning in those drinks towards summer-ish mixers. But the drinks know the weather is changing! And the drinks themselves are changing, with new ingredients showing up on my shelves (which are sturdy, I must say). A recent addition which I’d been pining for, and which is now almost in need of restocking, is Ancho Reyes. A lovely, perhaps the lovely, chile liqueur, made of course from Ancho chilies. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of trying it, I can hear you, in my mind, muttering to yourself about how most spice-ily flavored booze-y items are either just freaky hot or taste like chemical fire. Hold on to your chairs, though – Ancho Reyes is different. Full-bodied, rich, holding an underlying spice that isn’t bite-y, but flavorful, with cinnamon, chocolate, fruit, and herbs mingling with the chili, Ancho Reyes is to be savored, solo or in cocktails.

And savoring it is what we’ve been doing, here at the home bar, as the weather begins to think about changing. I’ve made a number of cocktails with it, but Summer Near Puebla, the cocktail below, is ideal for this time of year – still refreshing in a summer way, but with enough flavor and umph to fortify you for the following fall and winter-y months. And the taste! I am going to be a little obvious here (I mean, Ancho Reyes is made in Puebla, Mexico, from local chilies, in a handcrafted manner that’s rather swell, and award-winning Vida Mezcal, another key ingredient here, is from San Luis del Rio), but this drink goes awfully well with Mexican food. Or by itself, as you soak in some of that sunshine while you can.

Summer Near Puebla

Ice cubes
2 ounces Vida Mezcal
1-1/2 ounces Ancho Reyes
1/2 ounce Pierre Ferrand dry curaçao
1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
Cracked ice
2 ounces chilled club soda
Lime wedge, for garnish

1. Fill a cocktail shaker up halfway with ice cubes. Add the mezcal, Ancho Reyes, curaçao, and lime juice. Shake well.

2. Fill a highball or comparable glass three-quarters up with cracked ice. Strain the mix into the glass.

3. Top it off with the club soda. Stir briefly. Garnish with a lime wedge.

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What I’m Drinking: The Montmartre-y

The Montmartre cocktail was possibly named for the neighborhood, which gets its name from the death and decapitation of a bishop, archdeacon, and priest in 1272. That’s heavy! But the drink itself is fairly light on its toes and on the tongue, while carrying a great balance of flavors. However, recently I made it but changed things up slightly, and it was even better than it has ever been throughout history. Ever. EVER! How? Well, first, I subbed in Pierre Ferrand orange curaçao for the traditional triple sec, and the slightly dry and more flavorful nature of the former was fantastic. I also changed the maraschino cherry in for a Rainer cherry right off the tree in my yard. But what may have helped most (this didn’t change the recipe, but certainly helped the flavor) was using Martin Miller gin, whose 10 botanical blend brings a great amount of friendly complexity to the layers of taste here. All together, this makes one of the best drinks I’ve had this week (or longer). I did, since I made changes, think I needed to change the name, at least a little. Hence, the Montmartre-y.

The Montmartre-y

Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounces Martin Miller gin
3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
3/4 ounce Pierre Ferrand orange curaçao
Rainer cherry, for garnish

1. Fill a cocktail shaker half way with ice cubes. Add the gin, vermouth, and orange curaçao. Shake well.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

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What I’m Drinking: The Badger’s Feather

I tend to shy away from pre-flavored spirits. So many, especially in my early years (but even now, for sure) are flavored chemically, with nothing natural involved, and the taste reflects this attitude. It’s a shame, but hey, them’s the breaks. However, with today’s focus on better taste, and so many smaller distilleries who’d rather serve up delicious bottled items instead of just getting out as much as possible, well, there are some good flavored numbers starting to show up. Example A: Skiprock Distiller’s Badger Pocket black peppercorn vodka. I would expect Skiprock (a distillery from Snohomish, WA) to have a good flavored vodka, since their regular potato-based vodka is awfully tasty and uses potatoes grown right here in WA. They use whole peppercorns in the Badger Pocket, and the end result is a vodka that’s spicy, but not as sharp as you might expect – there’s actually a hint of sweetness in there, too. When using it in cocktails, this gives it more flexibility than you might expect. It makes a great Bloody Mary (as you’d guess), but also goes well with fruit liqueurs and a whole wide range of things. But, funny enough, when I was playing around with it, I ended up going a whole different route than originally planned, pairing it finally with the Italian aperitif Aperol (whose just-about-bitter-and-citrus-ness is a dream) and a little Scrappy’s orange bitters, ending with  a drink that’d ideal when the sun is shining.

The Badger’s Feather

Cracked ice
2 ounces Skiprock Badger Pocket vodka
1 ounce Aperol
1 dash Scrappy’s orange bitters
Lemon twist, for garnish

1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add the vodka, Aperol, and bitters. Stir well.

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

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What I’m Drinking: The Mike Collins

Here’s a little rock-and-roll tippler for your upcoming St. Patrick’s Day (forget about that chemical-ized green beer – time to step it up). A cousin of the better-known Tom Collins, the Mike version of the family has the same swell refreshing nature of the TC, but switches the gin for good old Irish whiskey. If you are ready to really step up (and you should be — you deserve it), and aren’t afraid of mixing with a fine whiskey, then try Teeling’s flagship small batch whiskey in this. Aged in ex-rum casks, Teeling has a strong and superb taste, with a little herbalness and vanilla and a smidge of sweetness. Oh, you may want to have a little Teeling by itself, too. Why not?

The Mike Collins, from Dark Spirits

Ice cubes
2 ounces Teeling Irish whiskey
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/4 ounce simple syrup
Chilled club soda
Lemon slice, for garnish

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice cubes. Add the whiskey, juice, and syrup. Shake well.

2. Fill a Collins glass three quarters up with ice cubes. Strain the mix over the ice. Fill almost to the top with chilly club soda. Garnish with a lemon slice.

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What I’m Drinking: The Rusty Nail

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.

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What I’m Drinking Right Now: English Martini (Winter Style)

So, right, I tend to dislike lack of originality in naming drinks. I’m upfront about it. I think drinks are imaginative little mixes that drive us to better conversations as well as transporting us from the mundane and providing us with flights of fancy and joyous silly-ness and good spirits (hah). And sure, I’m flowery, but that’s all right, right? With that said then, my take is that if you come up with a really good drink then you should come up with a really good name to match (such as Mrs. Solomon Wears Slacks), and to bring the whole creative process full circle. Which is why just adding “ini” or “olitan” to something and calling it a fine moniker bores me, even when the drink’s scrumptious. But, in the case of the English Martini, I’ll put up with it, cause that’s the way I heard it when first sampling the particular combination, and if I change it now I’ll get confused (which happens so often, why increase the possibilities?). If this all sounds a touch hypocritical to you, well, I’ll buy your next drink in penance. Anywho, the reason I’m now calling it “English Martini (Winter Style)” is that when I had one last night I used Pimm’s # 3 Winter Cup, which is based on brandy (instead of gin, like Pimm’s # 1 Cup) in a ménage with orange and spices. I don’t believe it’s available stateside (he says, like a yank), but I picked some up when on a U.K. trip last fall. It was pretty good in this drink, but I think I’ll try orange juice, instead of lemon juice, when making it again. And maybe up the Pimm’s a bit. And maybe then come up with a new name. Still, it warmed me inside and out, and got me dreaming about strolling along one of those green-as-green-can-be English hillsides, with white puffy sheep frolicking on every side. Nice stuff, isn’t it?

Ice cubes

2 ounces gin

1 ounce Pimm’s No. 3 Cup

1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice

Lemon twist, for garnish

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add everything but the twist. Shake well.

2. Strain the mix into a cocktail glass, and garnish with that lemon twist.

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What I’m Drinking Right Now: Mrs. Solomon Wears Slacks

I was looking through my library (which isn’t like the booze Library of Alexandria or something, but which is an agreeable little stack of books about drinks, drinking, and more drinking) the other night for recipes for the Betsy Ross, because my pal Andrew had asked about it (for his new bar, which I talked about below. Really, this is turning into the Andrew Bohrer admiration society). Anywho, the flag-making patriot-in-liquid form as far as I found goes back to 1941 (and by the way, history buffs, I’m not saying I made a complete search of every known record and microfilm and microfiche, but just that I looked through the books in the above mentioned library), to a recipe in one of my favorites, the jolly Crosby Gaige’s Cocktail Guide and Ladies Companion. Which was published in 1941, as you might have surmised. Now, this is a winding road way of getting here, but while tracking down the info, I re-noticed another drink, across the page from Betsy Ross, a drink with the enticing and intriguing name, “Mrs. Solomon Wears Slacks.” Which is one of the top twenty-five drink names. Or, at least, that’s what I’m saying today. In honor of Mr. Gaige’s (or whomever’s) naming prowess, I made the mix, a brandy-based affair, and it was pretty swell. I even sugared the Champagne flute’s rim, as suggested, getting sweetly jiggy with it. I mussed around with the Slacks some (gawd, that’s fun to say), but the basic ingredients stayed the same (I went a snitch higher on curaçao and bitters, and brandy for that matter). I suggest serving it up at those affairs where slacks are worn, or anytime you want to be a bit daring (which slacks were in 1941. And that’s how I’m wearing it).

Ice cubes

Super-fine sugar

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 ice cubes. Add the brandy, curaçao, and bitters. Stir well.

3. Strain the mix into the flute. Garnish with the lemon twist (making sure now, that you get that swoosh of lemon oils from the twist into the drink and not into the atmosphere at large). Now, dance!

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