Ahhhh . . . Mixology Monday XLVI.  I’ve never been good at roman numerals, so I’m not even going to guess what that translates to in normal non-roman number type things.  Regardless, it’s that time again and this month we are being hosted by Sonja at Thinking of Drinking.  Sonja’s chosen theme is absinthe and a fitting theme she has chosen, especially since Sonja is the brain behind North Shore Distillery’s Sirène Absinthe Verte.  Sonja’s instructions:

The topic for February is Absinthe. That much maligned, misunderstood, mistreated spirit, suddenly plentiful again in the US and other parts of the world. Absinthe played a role, whether large or small, in a variety of great cocktails from the 1800’s and early 1900’s – the Sazerac, Absinthe Suissesse, Corpse Reviver No. 2… I’m getting thirsty. So let’s celebrate absinthe’s history, and it’s future, with all manner of cocktails using absinthe.

For this task, I turned to a myriad cocktail books to find a new drink to present to you good folks.  Looking through the 2009 Tales of the Cocktail Recipe Book, I found a very tasty looking tipple.

Green Fairy Sour
1 oz Absinthe (I used Vieux Carre)
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz mineral water (I used plain ole filtered water)
.75 oz simple syrup (2:1)
1 dash Angostura
half an egg white

Dry shake all nice a long.  Add ice and shake like a 19th Century absinthe addict.  Fine strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

First, I’d like to point out that this was the best foam I’ve ever gotten on a drink with egg white.  Woot!  Second, this is a fantastic drink!  It isn’t too sweet or too sour.  The absinthe is front and center but not overpowering by any means.  Honestly, I think I’d like to try it with a little extra absinthe in the mix.  Maybe another dash of bitters.  Regardless, this is a damn fine tasty drink.

I can’t wait to see what other beverages folks write about utilizing absinthe.  But, as is our want, we like to give you at least one more drink for your consumption.

So I’m going to use this opportunity to pimp my favorite cocktail yet again.  Plus there is the added benefit of having the New Orleans Saints as Superbowl Champions to celebrate while drinking this down.

Cocktail a la Louisiane
1 oz rye whiskey
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz Benedictine
.25 oz absinthe
3-4 healthy dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Stir all ingredients until frosty cold.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and twist some lemon peel over the drink.  Garnish with a maraschino cherry and a lemon twist.  Yes, I like both lemon peel and a cherry.  Sue me.

There you have it.  A few great uses for absinthe.  Thanks again to Sonja for hosting and I’ll see you at the bar!

Cheers!

This month Mixology Monday is being hosted by Vidiot over at Cocktailians and the chosen theme is vermouth.   Our instructions,

So: your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to present a delectable vermouth cocktail for us all to drool over. Sweet/Italian or dry/French vermouth are fair game of course, as are quinquina, aperitif wines like Pineau des Charentes, or for that matter any fortified, aromatized wine such as Lillet (red or white), or Dubonnet (ditto.)

I can’t necessarily promise a delectable cocktail, but I thought this would be a great opportunity to try something new.  Vermouth, as most folks will tell (and as I’m sure you’ll read in other MxMo posts) is an incredibly versatile ingredient.  Without getting into the nitty-gritty on the correct storage methods, the various types, or the various herbs and flavorings that go into vermouth, the most important thing to know that vermouth brings a lot of complementary flavors to a cocktail.

When I first started getting indoctrinated into the world of classic cocktails, I wasn’t a big fan of vermouth.  Maybe I had some not-so-fresh vermouth.  Maybe my palate wasn’t as refined as it is now.  Regardless, I’m now a vermouth convert.

In wanting to try new a new cocktail, I turned to our old friend the Savoy Cocktail Book.  This is a cocktail I’ve wanted to try for a while but for some reason never got around to it.

ATTY Cocktail (p. 25)
1/4 dry vermouth  (.50 oz dry vermouth)
1 bar spoon absinthe
3/4 London Dry Gin (1.50 oz London Dry Gin)
1 bar spoon creme de violette

Shake (really? please stir this drink!) with ice, strain into a cocktail glass.

Basically, the ATTY is a 3 to 1 dry martini with a little absinthe and a little creme de violette added to the mix.  It isn’t a bad cocktail, the aromatics and herbs of the dry vermouth really shine through.  The absinthe gives a slight anise note and the violette adds color.   You can see from the photo the light purple hue to the drink.  To be honest, the flavor of the violette melds into the herbs of the dry vermouth and gets sort of lost.  Definitely stir this drink really well to get it as cold as you can.

And, in Scofflaw’s Den tradition, I can’t just leave you with one drink for MxMo!  I decided to try another new cocktail and with Halloween around the corner the following number from Gary Regan’s The Joy of Mixology seemed quite appropriate.

Deadly Sin (p. 245)
2oz Bourbon
1/3oz sweet vermouth
1/4oz maraschino liqueur
1 dash orange bitters
orange twist for garnish

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The Deadly Sin is definitely a bourbon lovers cocktail.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have any oranges in the house so I couldn’t use the peel for a garnish and I think that would really make the drink better.  As it was made you get a slight cherry note from the maraschino and the vermouth underscores the inherent sweetness of the bourbon.

And this brings another Mixology Monday to a close.  Thanks again to Vidiot for hosting this month!

Cheers!

It’s been a while.  We hit Tales of the Cocktail back in July – and not long after I got back from that I found out that my job was sending me out of the country.  It was the first time for me doing so, which also meant I got to do the fun of trying to get a passport in less than two weeks (surprisingly easy in the DC area once you get past the misinformation and apathy), get my stuff together, and head out to South Korea.

Which, really, at least the parts I was in, seemed to have no cocktail culture.  I didn’t even see a bottle of Campari the entire time I was there which meant that first Negroni back was magical – not to mention how I almost came to tears tasting hops in my Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA the first day back.  I did have my soju, and lots and lots of Cass and Hite, but that’s neither here nor there for this post.

Before I left I had a chance to meet up with Erich and Lindsay from Leopold Brothers over at The Gibson.  They took me on a tour of fourteen of their products, from vodka and gin to flavored whiskey to liqueurs, and I was honestly surprised at a lot of them.  When I got back I was lucky enough to find my favorite liquor shop was carrying some of them.  One thing you might not be able to see from the picture is that each bottle is hand numbered.

Keep away, this bottle is mine

We first started off with the vodka.  It uses multiple bases for it and instead of filtering distills it more.  I was really expected to say “meh, vodka” but liked the complexity I tasted in it when warm.  I haven’t bought a bottle yet but I’d have to say it’s more likely to be the kind of vodka I’ll buy for drinking straight – yes, I do that, shut up vodka haters – than for mixing.  Use the cheaper, more one dimensional stuff for mixing where you ain’t gonna taste it.  This is the kind I’ll knock back and chase with caviar and sour cream on homemade potato chips at New Year’s Eve.

Next up was the gin, which has a number of botanicals that are all distilled separately before being added together.  I picked out cardamom and coriander, I’m going to guess by accident, though I was surprised to see how floral it was and that there wasn’t much of a pine hit to it.  This is the gin I used to make my first Negroni after coming back to the States and while it was fine in that, it really shone in gin and tonic, especially with the Fentiman’s tonic.  I’ll be making more of those now that I managed to steal my bottle back.

After the gin we hit the rum.  It reminded me quite a bit of a rhum agricole – not something I’d necessarily drink straight but an interesting flavor.

The next three drinks we had were their flavored whiskeys.  They’re working on a plain whiskey but I didn’t get a chance to try that.

First up was the apple whiskey.  This was, as I said then and will still say now until I’ve drank too much of it, “slap yo’ momma” good.  (Note: now my momma will probably slap me, but what will be will be.  It’s worth it.)  They use real apples and smash the fruit in house.  I was reminded me of a story my grandfather told me about drinking hard cider made in bourbon barrels that had bourbon left in the bottom.  I seriously need to get at least a bottle or two of this, especially as fall approaches.  In fact, I have plans for me, a bottle, and NOBODY ELSE BOTHERING ME WHILE I WATCH FOOTBALL.  I don’t wanna share.

The blackberry whiskey was much more aggressive in the taste profile.  I almost felt like it was more like a blackberry wine in taste.  It didn’t bowl me over, but I could see how someone who really likes blackberries would love it (coughcoughMarshall) and it could be good in some things.  It was my first hint at what was my problem – there are too many good things in the line-up, I can’t afford them all!  (Not to mention store them, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.  If Leopold Brothers (coughing again, man, what is in the air tonight?!) gave me a bottle of each, I’d damn well find somewhere to store ‘em…and not just in my belly.)

The peach whiskey was something I didn’t expect at all.  The proof on this one dropped from 80 to 60, but while I typically am not a huge fan of peaches I liked this.  I immediately started thinking of a lot of drinks that I’ve seen that incorporate peach  brandy or the such and was wondering how this would work (such as the Georgia Mint Julep from the first edition of Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails – it might be in the second, but sigh I haven’t gotten that yet).

From there we went to the liqueurs.

The peach liqueur, like most of them if I remember correctly, uses three pounds of peaches per 750 milliliter bottle.  It was very concentrated, almost to a syrup.  It seemed much more of a one-trick pony to me and not something I’d buy unless I had something specific to use for it.

The tart cherry, though, made me thinking “maraschino liqueur that actually tastes like cherry”.  I’m tempted to pick one up – the difference between it, maraschino liqueur, and cherry Heering is a fascinating idea to me and something I’d like to experiment with.

yes it's dark, what, The Gibson is a dark bar

Next up was the blackberry.  If I thought the blackberry whiskey was like wine this was REALLY like wine, made with four pounds of blackberries per 750.  I liked it a lot – however, I saw myself drinking it more on its own as a dessert (or like I’ve done (ahem) to Horton blackberry wines in the past, chilled and straight from the bottle while at a horse race).

Cranberry was described as “great for your mom” and I was wondering if my mom was getting hit on in absentia.  I wasn’t a huge fan of it, but it did make me think of Thanksgiving, maybe kind of Christmas, so I might try to revisit it as those holidays approach.  (What?!  It’s September?  Feh, I guess I better get on that!)

The sour apple liqueur was like apple juice to me and I mean that in the nicest possible way.  Maybe I need an Apfelkorn versus sour apple liqueur battle in my future.  They’re not the same but they are both very delicious.

The French Press coffee liqueur was something I did not expect at all.  The use the same press to make coffee with the liqueur as they do the fruit, with one added exception – they actually add sugar to the coffee liqueur.  My goodness.  You can taste the quality in this one.  If you like coffee liqueurs either be prepared to give all your money to Leopold Brothers or don’t bother trying it.

Overly bright, overly tasty

Then we hit the herbal side.

They had a digestif called 3 Pins.  Very herbal, but sweet, I would definitely enter it in a battle royale with some of my favorite European digestifs.  It honestly probably reminds me of Hog Master more than a lot of them, since it’s so sweet, but I’d love to break it out for my friends who also like 999, the new Zwack, and Jagermeister.  If I was going to make an old fashioned with it like one might do with Fernet it would need a solid hit of bitters but maybe nothing else.

But the absinthe.

A quick note on me and absinthe: I like absinthe okay but I’d never really seen the holy grail of absinthes.  At Tales, over at the Mixo house, I was introduced to an Obsello reserve absinthe that had aged in barrels.  It wow-ed me.  I loved it.  I was like “OH THIS IS WHAT YOU LOVE”.

The Leopold absinthe uses 15 herbs for flavoring, is aged for three months, and uses 15 herbs for coloring.  It has a HUGE oil meniscus when it louches, and was amazingly smooth when I tried it.  At $71.99 at Ace, I was sorely tempted to buy some, the first time I’d really considered spending that much on an absinthe.  I may still do so, once I take care of a few other things, because it’s damn delicious.

If you haven’t tried these yet you really need to do so.  Ace carries a few of them; Best Cellars in Dupont Circle, from what I hear, carry more.  I’ll be heading out there soon to buy apple whiskey, believe you me.

And great to see y’all again!

But it’s still a tasty drink, though I have to say that this version tonight – using commercial agave syrup instead of homemade simple syrup – isn’t as good.  Use the good stuff, folks.

And there’s the problem of taking a picture of it.  Here is the picture as I took it originally:

What's the problem you think? I'll tell you what it!

See, you haven’t seen the recipe yet.  The problem is fire.

It angers up the Paul Clarke-s something rightenous like, but the “garnish” – because I don’t have any grain – is flaming absinthe, something fierce like Ms. Sergi.  But my camera wouldn’t take a picture of the flames, and I couldn’t get it to flame up when I made it for my camera.  Thus I relied on MS Paint.

See? Fire!

Much better!

And here’s the recipe.  Rachel and I discussed the name and I took a bit of a liberty in its spelling.  Though now I’ve promised one named the Rachel, too, so we’ll see that later I bet…

The Gin-Gin-Ser
2 ounces gin (Martin Miller)
3/4 ounce abinsthe (Vieux Carre)
1 ounce lemon juice (more if you spill it on the floor)
1/2 ounce simple syrup (NOT agave!)
dash The Bitter Truth Repeal Day bitters
Shake with ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into an UNchilled cocktail glass.  Top with a small measure of grain or absinthe (I used Mata Hari) and light on fire.  I’ve also thought about trying it with green Chartreuse – let me know if you do!

I’ve been pretty happy with this drink and I’m not a huge absinthe fan, so I’d love to see what other people think.

[Fourteenth in a series of drinks named after bloggers, mixologists, and random others who'll hopefully be at Tales.  The first post in the series is here.]

Cognac, I feel, is often a misunderstood liquor.  People have an impression of it that it’s only for the rich, while that’s not true; on the other hand, when introducing people to the subtypes of brandy that are available, or even for other drinks, cognac is often easily used as an example because people are familiar with it.  All cognacs are brandy; not all brandies are cognac, it depends on where they come from.  (There are other requirements, too, but that’s the big one, at least, in my humble opinion.)

And where cognacs come from is the French area known as, well – Cognac.

I won’t get into Wikipedia-esque detail on VS versus VSOP versus XO, or the other different types.  The important thing to remember when using cognac in drinks, in my opinion, is to remember that while cognacs vary, you can use a cognac to replace a brandy but not vice versa.  Cognacs, in my experience, tend to be richer, and often sweeter – in my opinion – than other brandies from similar areas.  Armagnacs might be able to replace a cognac, but really, if a drink is so specific to request a cognac you should use it.

Not that many do.  You might see a “special” version of a drink using cognac that has it instead of brandy, but only a rare few use cognac as an ingredient, and there’s one in particular that I know catches more than a few eyes.

I know this because on the last, admittedly hazily remembered, night at Hummingbird to Mars I was offered one – and the bartender (I want to say it was Owen) I seem to remember was surprised that I knew what it was (and drank it anyways).   If you’ve got the Regan’s The Joy of Mixology you might already know where I’m going…

Tremblement De Terre (Earthquake)
2 1/2 ounces cognac
1/4 ounce absinthe
1 lemon twist, garnish
Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Add the garnish.

Now, I’ve had that drink, and it’s a killer.  Not bad whatsoever, in my opinion, but oof!

My favorite cognac right now is Chalfonte VSOP.  I just got word that it’s back at my favorite liquor store, Ace in DC, and that makes me very happy.  It’s not expensive but it’s quote luscious in its taste.  My goal is to make sure I have a bottle of two to enjoy in the snow, around a big bonfire, with family and friends next winter.  It was that goal last winter but never happened.

Still, I need a drink for a blogger or mixologist for tonight, and I thought of that drink and Stevi’s blog name.  Hmmm.  It seems to insinuate that you can only have two of her drinks in a night, and what’s a good drink to base that off of, in addition to her love of Peruvian horses, I thought – oh.  I know.

Two At The Most
1 1/2 ounces cognac (Chalfonte VSOP)
1 ounce pisco brandy (Macchu Pisco)
1/4 ounce + 1 dash absinthe (Kubler)
1/4 ounce simple syrup
1-2 dashes Peruvian bitters
Stir and strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with a brandy soaked cherry, which sinks to the bottom, and a lemon twist.

Yummy!  But that’s quite a bit of booze there, so be warned – you won’t want to have more than two at the most!

[Third in a series of drinks named after bloggers, mixologists, and random others who'll hopefully be at Tales.  The first post in the series is here.]