July 19, 2019
Recently, I was talking about bottles to buy dad for Father’s Day on the mighty and mighty fun New Day Northwest. It was great, as I got to highlight some fantastic spirits and liqueurs made right here in way-out Washington state. And, I also got to make a special cocktail for dad using a number of those bottles. But here’s the thing – the drink, which is called Thy Noble Father (from Hamlet, you know), is a dandy one for any time of year, any day, with Woodinville Whiskey straight bourbon, Brovo Spirits Orange Curacao, Seattle Distilling Company brandy, and Scrappy’s Black Lemon bitters. I’m not sure I can conjure many better quartets than that for you, if you’re the type of person who like cocktails layered with flavor, underlined by two base spirits, cocktails with lots of earthy and celestial citrus, along with spice notes, and a little friendly sweetness that isn’t overly sweet, just an echo. And, you can make it for dad whenever you want – it’s not like he doesn’t deserve a good drink multiple times a year, right?
Thy Noble Father
Cracked ice
1-1/2 ounces Woodinville Whiskey Co. Straight Bourbon
3/4 ounce Brovo Spirits Orange Curaçao
1/2 ounce Seattle Distilling Company Brandy
Dash Scrappy’s Black Lemon Bitters
Wide orange 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 or coupe glass. Garnish with the twist. Toast all the dads!
Tags: bitters, bourbon, Brandy, Brovo Spirits Orange Curaçao, cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Drinks named from Shakespeare, Friday Night Cocktail, orange curaçao, Scrappy's Black Lemon bitters, Seattle Distilling Company Brandy, Thy Noble Father, Washington distillers, What I’m Drinking, Woodinville Whiskey Co. Straight Bourbon
Posted in: bitters, Brandy, Cocktail Recipes, Liqueurs, Recipes, What I'm Drinking, Whiskey
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
June 27, 2014
It may surprise no one to know that I’ve tried a fair number of the spirits and liqueurs and such that are available around the world. But still, there are many, many imbibables that I’ve yet to sample (so please, send me any you think I haven’t had. Hah!). Example A until recently was palinca, or pálinka, the fruit brandy made in the Carpathian Basin and thereabouts. I hadn’t even heard about it until my Romanian pal George (who I work with remotely at a giant video game company, but don’t hold that against us) was visiting Seattle and brought a bottle. It wasn’t earmarked for me, at first, but I quickly convinced him that I should go home with it, and he eventually agreed – he also told it was very dangerous stuff and super strong.
After tasting it, I certainly agree with the latter, but not the former. The version he gave me, Palinca de Maramures, or palinca made from plums or prunes, has a kick, no doubt, but also a nice fruit undertone, with a tiny hint of nuts. He also told me that I could never come up with a cocktail using it – this, of course, was a challenge I couldn’t back down from. So, I invented The Ivanel, named after George. I mellowed out the umph of the palinca and added some layers of flavor with a little Cocchi di Torino (a lovely sweet vermouth) and the unbeatable Pierre Ferrand orange curaçao. The end result was good enough that I expect George to come back soon to try it.
The Ivanel
Ice cubes
1-1/2 ounces Palinca de Maramures
1 ounce Cocchi di Torino vermouth
1/2 ounce Pierre Ferrand orange curaçao
Wide orange twist, for garnish
1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with ice cubes. Add everything but the twist. Stir well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the wide orange twist and a salute to Romania.
Tags: cocktail recipe, Cocktail Recipes, Friday Night Cocktail, orange curaçao, Palinca, Palinca de Maramures, palinka, sweet vermouth, The Ivanel, What I'm Drinking
Posted in: Cocktail Recipes, Recipes, vermouth, What I'm Drinking
July 5, 2011
It’s July, so I’m not going to lie (really, I just wanted to make that rhyme. No, wait, really, I’m not lying. Really)—I have a strong affection for not only the Oriental Cocktail (a beaut of an unburied treasure utilizing a party power pack: rye, sweet vermouth, orange curaçao, and lime juice) but for pretty much all cocktails that come with a good story. Want to learn more? Check out this short-but-swell article on the Oriental Cocktail I wrote that was recently in a special summer cocktail e-issue of the Good Life Report (the article does have the full recipe, too—if you’re thirsty). If you don’t know about the Good Life Report, and yet feel you are someone who does, indeed, want a good life, then, well, sign up for gosh sakes.
PS: I almost forgot–that article also talks about Mark Butler’s genius drink the Occidental, too! How can you miss it?
February 25, 2009
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!
Tags: bitters, Brandy, cocktail, Cocktail Guide and Ladies Companion, Crosby Gaige, Mrs. Solomon Wears Slacks, orange curaçao, recipe, What I'm Drinking Right now
Posted in: Brandy, Crosby Gaige, Recipes, What I'm Drinking
