What I’m Drinking: Santa Cruz Daisy (Sort Of)

So, the other night I was reclining in the big comfy chair, trying to decide what to have for my evening libation while paging through a pocket-sized book called The Standard Cocktail Guide: A Manual of Mixed Drinks Written for the American Host by Crosby Gaige, published in 1944. It’s a handy little book, if not as exuberantly fun at Mr. Gaige’s Cocktail Guide and Ladies Companion. But well worth picking up if you ever see it. I knew, before  deciding on a drink, a couple facts. One: I wanted to make a drink using iced crushed in my new McSology Lewis bag (a dandy Lewis bag made here in Seattle out of 100% cotton canvas, and available for $48 for the professional-sized model and $26 for the home-bartender version, if after reading this you want one). Two: I wanted to make a drink I didn’t know. Three: I wanted to make a drink out of this book. Four: I wanted to use the last bit of mint from the mint plant out back. I ended up with the Santa Cruz Daisy, though admittedly I modified it perhaps nearly out of Daisy-dom, cause I went with a mint instead of fruit topping, and I used crushed and not shaved ice. But it was still massively delicious.

The Santa Cruz Daisy (Sort Of)

2 ounces white rum

1/4 ounce maraschino

1/4 ounce simple syrup

Crushed ice

Fresh mint sprigs

Splash of soda water

1. Add the rum, maraschino, simple syrup to a mixing glass and stir well.

2. Crush a bunch of ice in your Lewis bag and revel in the crushing.

3. Fill a goblet or other swell glass with ice, and strain the mix gently over it, topping with more ice as needed.

4. Add a splash of soda and garnish with mint sprigs.

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Cocktail to Cocktail Hour V4, E3: The Horse’s Neck

The Cocktail to Cocktail Hour episodes are coming with rare regularity so far in Season Four (but don’t expect miracles people – genius takes time). And for Episode 3, we have a special guest making his second appearance on the show – call us lucky – the mysterious and well-coiffed Stereolad himself, Mark Butler! In this episode he’s teaching us how to make the Horse’s Neck, and being generally awesome.

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Cocktail to Cocktail Hour V4, E2: The Aperol Spritz

Buon giorno cocktail fans, and fans of cocktail videos, and Italian fans, and fans of good drinks, and fans of good translations, and welcome all y’all to another episode of the Cocktail to Cocktail Hour, the world’s best cocktailunmentary show. This episode is extra special, as we have a guest who’s traveled all the way from Italy to share a special recipe with us. So, watch up, and ciao until next time.

PS: Special thanks to AK Translation Services for the immaculate translating.

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What I’m Drinking: Chartreuse Daisy

I recently was talking to a friend, and they mentioned that they didn’t like Chartreuse. I was flabbergasted. I didn’t, like, knock them over the noggin with a three-legged stool or anything, but I did decide then and there to never talk to them again (okay, maybe not – but that would have been sorta great). I also decided to go right home and make myself a Chartreuse Daisy, in honor of the lovely herbal French liqueur/aperitif that had been maligned by my one-time friend. I think you should do the same. We certainly don’t want Chartreuse to feel bad, after all.

Chartreuse Daisy, using the recipe from Ginger Bliss

Cracked ice

2 ounces gin

1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 ounce grenadine

1 ounce yellow Chartreuse

Strawberry, for garnish

Orange slice, for garnish

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with cracked ice. Add the gin, lemon juice, and grenadine. Shake very well, until the shaker gets frosty.

2. Fill a goblet three-quarters up with cracked ice. Strain the mixture over the ice. Stir briefly. Float the Chartreuse over the ice, and stir again briefly. Garnish with the strawberry and the orange slice.

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What I’m Drinking: Perseverance

Sometimes, you (or I – though if this doesn’t happen to anyone else I’ll eat my hat) forget about a drink that you actually really like. There are so many drinks out there! Then you come back to it like an old friend after that first sip and think, why did I not drink this for so long? I recently had this moment with the Perseverance, which is a recipe featured in Wine Cocktails. It’s actually a nice end-of-summer-beginning-of-fall drink, so fit my mood as well. Tastiness.

Perseverance

Ice cubes

1 ounce vodka (I think Rocket vodka is good)

2 ounces chilled Maryhill Rosé Sangiovese

1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur

2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the vodka, rosé, maraschino, and bitters. Shake well.

2. Strain the Perseverance equally into two cocktail glasses.

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Cocktail to Cocktail Hour V4, One, The Kick-Off Cocktail

Holy Toledo! Everyone who’s been holding your breath can now exhale – the new season of the Cocktail to Cocktail Hour is finally upon us. They (those bastardos) said it couldn’t be done, said that the Cocktail to Cocktail Hour was too radicool, too awesome, too tasty for modern T.V. – but they were wrong. To prove it, the first episode of the new season, where I teach you have to make the Kick-Off, a combination of gin, dry vermouth, anisette, Benedictine, and Angostura. Get to it, y’all!

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What I’m Drinking: Marguerite

A week ago today, I put up a Friday night drink called the Portofino, which was a drink I made for my mother’s 75th birthday party. One of the other drinks (there were three) was the Marguerite. As mentioned in that earlier post, I was slightly angling the drinks the Italian way, and the Italian connection here is anisette – specifically Meletti anisette, which is one of the finest sippers I know. I blogged more about it on a specific Meletti post, so go catch up if you missed it. Then, when back, make this drink. It has an interesting balance, as it’s equal parts gin and vermouth, but the end result is awfully wonderful (oh, the recipe is from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, if you wondered).

The Marguerite

Cracked ice

1-1/4 ounces gin

1-1/4 ounces dry vermouth

1/4 ounce anisette

Thin lemon slice for garnish

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

2. Strain the mix into a cocktail glass or comparable glass

3. Give the lemon slice a small squeeze over the glass then drop it in.

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What I’m Drinking: The Portofino

It was recently my mother’s 75th birthday (yay mom!), and she had quite the wing-ding to celebrate, with oodles of friends and family in attendance, and lots of delicious edibles, and some piano playing, and some singing, and some toasting. I also made drinks for everyone, and we went with a little Italian-styled, or at least Italian-touched, menu of three drinks. One of those was the Portofino, a drink I hadn’t had since putting together the recipes for Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz. It ended up being the favorite of the evening, I think because, well, it’s a tasty drink, sure, but also because it’s such a fine, fine bubbly beauty for August, when the weather is hot. The Italian part of the drink comes out in the name (which is a small port city in Genoa), as well as the addition of Italian aperitif champion Aperol. The neat thing – I believe – is that the drink also has a dose of Pimm’s No. 1 Cup in it. That’s not only neat because it references the days when English sailors used to dock in the port city the drink’s named after, but also because the day before my mom’s 75th birthday party, I returned from a two-week sojourn in jolly old England, where Pimm’s, of course, is from.

The Portofino

Ice cubes

2 ounces Pimm’s No. 1 Cup

1 ounce Aperol

Chilled ginger ale

Orange wedge, for garnish

1. Fill a highball glass three quarters up with ice cubes. Add the Pimm’s and Aperol and stir briefly.

2. Fill the glass almost to the top with ginger ale. Stir again and garnish with the orange wedge.

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