Phil Greene of the Museum of the American Cocktail sent around these recipes a bit ago and I made sure it was okay with him to post them. They’re the recipes of the drinks we tried last Tuesday night at the Tabard Inn and the Great Drinks from Great Hotel Bars seminar. We had all of them except the Bloody Mary.
I’m going to give some notes on the recipes as I post them.
The Rob Roy Cocktail
2 1/2 ounces blended Scotch whiskey
3/4 ounce Italian (sweet) vermouth
1-2 dashes Regan’s orange bitters
Build in a mixing glass with ice, stir, strain into a cocktail glass.
This is a drink that I’ve made a few times. I’d suggest playing with the ratios depending on the Scotch and the vermouth; it’s VERY easy for the Scotch to overpower the vermouth. I believed they used Famous Grouse Scotch at the Tabard Inn and Noilly Prat sweet vermouth; I would’ve used more vermouth, personally.
The Tabard Cocktail (by Chantal Tseng)
1 1/2 oz. Milagro Reposado tequila
1/2 oz. Lustau Amontillado Sherry
1/2 oz. Drambuie
Dash of orange bitters
Stir, garnish with orange twist and a sprig of fresh thyme.
This was an absolutely delicious drink. I’d suggest trying one at the Tabard Inn or making one yourself before really experimenting with it. The Milagro Reposado tequila is one that I should buy for myself now, and I’ve been still meaning to get some sherry. The Drambuie – well, that might be a topic for a post all on its own.
The Bloody Mary
2 oz vodka
4 oz tomato juice
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
4 dashes Tabasco sauce
Pinch of salt and pepper
1/4 oz of lemon juice
Combine all ingredients in mixing glass and roll back and forth to mix. Strain into an iced goblet. Garnish with wedge of lemon and lime on a side plate.
You’ll notice that this drink isn’t as spicy as many you see nowadays. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Then again, I’m a big fan of hot sauce and horseradish in mine – even if the original was even weaker (spice-wise) than this! (And even worse if you believe one claim that the original was half vodka, half tomato juice. Ick.)
The Vieux Carre Cocktail
3/4 oz rye whiskey
3/4 oz Italian (sweet) vermouth
3/4 oz Cognac
1/8 oz Benedictine
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Build drink in rocks glass with ice, garnish with lemon peel.
They don’t say it here, and maybe it’s going against the drink, but I’d stir it, personally. If you take out the Cognac, up the Benedictine, and add a bit of absinthe this becomes a Cocktail a la Louisiane (about) – I wonder if there’s any history between them.
Speaking of history in between drinks, we were given minis of Domaine de Canton and asked to add a splash of it to our Vieux Carre cocktails. I had drank too much of mine already (you should tell us AHEAD of time that we’re going to do something like that) so it was overly ginger, but here’s the recipe for what they’re calling the Nouveau Carre Cocktail, thanks to Walter Bergeron, Derek Brown, and Phil Greene…
Oh. It’s the same thing but with 3/4 of an ounce of Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur added. Okay.
(Mental note to keep bugging Derek about samples of Domaine de Canton!)
Singapore Sling (original version, per Ted “Dr. Cocktail” Haigh)
2 dashes of Orange Bitters
2 dashes of Angostura Bitters
The juice of half a lemon (1/2 oz)
One-eighth gill of Benedictine (1/2 oz)
One-eighth gill of Dry Cherry Brandy (1/2 oz, Cherry Heering)
One-half gill of Gin (2 oz)
Pour into a tumbler and fill up with cold soda water.
I’d suggest at least stirring, if not going ahead and shaking. Come on, it’s Dr. Cocktail, shake that bad boy up!
A number of people drank theirs before the carbonated water was added to theirs. They seemed to like ‘em that way fair enough.
The Side Car
1 1/2 oz Cognac
1 oz Cointreau
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
Shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass, optional garnish of sugar crusted rim
Come on, sugar coat that rim! It’s good!
Anyways, if you didn’t come to the seminar, you missed a good time. Keep your eyes open for the next one!
