Saturday, June 10th at 2:30 PM at Dino’s Grotto I’ll be doing a class with Andrew Shapiro and Dean Gold there. We’ll talk about the cocktail itself plus the ingredients that go into it. You’ll get a chance to try a few different variations of the Negroni and even come up with your own version if you’d like! There will also be snacks.

This week is Negroni Week, and Dino’s Grotto is doing seven different variations of the Negroni, with proceeds going to Miriam’s Kitchen.

The class is $30 and you can get tickets here. Hope to see you there!

Alright, it’s Tuesday, so sue me. ?We had some site issues that kept me from posting this yesterday and hey, look, content!!!

I was sitting at work the other when my phone beeps alerting me that someone on Twitter mentioned me. ?I check the tweeters and it was my buddy Chris?informing some of us old fogies that this MxMo would be the last. ?He sent along Fred’s announcement on Cocktail Virgin Slut?that after almost 11 years, MxMo would be ending. ?I tested Sean and we decided that the occasion called for an old-school Scofflaw cocktail makin’ hootnany. ?Scofflaw’s Den has posted 52 articles for MxMo over the years and we’re happy (and a bit sad) to participate in the final one.

The theme is “Irish Wake” and as you can read from Fred’s post, the goal is to uncover or create a new recipe using Irish whiskey or tell a story where Irish whiskey played a role. ?If you know Sean or I, or have read this site before, you know we like our whiskey and Irish whiskey is no exception. ? Sean brought over a bottle of Powers and a bottle of Writer’s Tears. ?I contributed a bottle of Redbreast 12 Year Old and Slieve Foy.

Sean brought over a bottle of BG Reynold’s Orgeat?which we simply had to use. ? Considering a theme of an Irish Wake, it only seemed appropriate to use an amaro as well. ?Something dark and bitter just seemed appropriate. ?We started with Nardini Bassano Amaro. ?The roasted and coffee notes seemed perfect for a sad theme. ?So after several drams of Irishwhiskey, we started mixin.

2

The Nardini Amaro was determined to be too complex for the drink. ?We needed something just as dark and bitter with just a little less going on. ?Sean and I looked at each other and both said “Averna!” ?After a couple of attempts we had a cocktail that we both really enjoyed. ?I give you . . .

The Irish Goodbye
2 oz Irish Whiskey
.75 oz ?Averna
.5 oz ?fresh lemon juice
.5 oz orgeat

Mix all ingredients in an ice filled shaker and shake it like you’re hoping a potato will pop out. ?Strain over ice and garnish with a maraschino cheery.

Now, of course, we can’t leave well enough alone. ?When we go out there is a phenomenon we call the Irish Goodbye where a person simply disappears. ?One second they are talking with you at the bar and then next, POOF, they are no where to be found. ?The thing about the Irish Goodbye though is that you’ve still had quite an enjoyable night and you know that you will see your compatriot soon and bend elbows again. ?With this in mind, I wanted to make the Irish Goodbye something eye catching for the final MxMo.

My freezer contained several hollow ice spheres I made for a party. ?Using my smoke gun, I filled the ice sphere with apple wood smoke and plugged the hole with a maraschino cherry. ?I then poured the cocktail over the ice sphere in a double old fashioned glass. ?After the drink is served, using an ice pick you crack the ice sphere and POOF a puff of smoke rises from the cocktail and disappears into the ether. ?A true Irish Goodbye.

Pictures!

Pouring the drink

Tapping the first ice ball

Tapping the second ice ball

Smoke on the cocktail

Negroni Week at Dino’s Grotto!

Hey guys guess what? It’s International Negroni Week! YAY FOR NEGRONIS THEY ARE DELICIOUS.

A negroni is a classic aperitif cocktail – equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari.

33 different restaurants in the DC area are participating this year, which means they’re doing negroni specials and donating money to charity.

mmm, negronis

At Dino’s Grotto, we’re doing seven different negronis (or negroni variations, like the negroni-meets-Manhattan “Ric Flair”) for $7 each. $1 from each one ordered goes to Miriam’s Kitchen, who helps the homeless here in DC.

So swing by this week and grab a negroni or seven! I’ll be there tonight as the week kicks off, and back on Wednesday and the final day of Sunday. Otherwise, Ric will be here, which means no matter what day you come by, you’ll be amazed by the sexiness. Also, the drinks. And the food. I can’t stop eating the food.

Come by and say hi!

Ragtime!

Before I even moved up to the northern Virginia area, I knew Ragtime – it was the bar we always seemed to end up at in Courthouse around 1 AM, just before last call, with a “surprise” tray of shots and a hangover the next day. Indeed, that reputation stuck with me for a while after moving to NoVA, mostly courteous of one friend who was always giving his number to the servers.

When I moved into Courthouse, though, I discovered that it’s actually a fantastic bar – not just because it’s a WVU Mountaineers bar (which made my parents happy when we went there just after my move) but because of a great staff and a constantly improving beer selection. I’ve been there hundreds of times (according to Foursquare, nearly 400 times) and probably had just about everything on the menu.

The one thing I never really drank, though, were the mixed drinks, with just two exceptions. One was when they did a martini night, and I could get a nice big glass of cold gin with extra vermouth for cheap. The other was the infamous (to us) pomegranate martini, which despite being called a martini was based off tequila. We (we being the guys) would go to Ragtime claiming girlfriends/wives wanted the pomegranate martini, but really we’d end up drinking lots of them. They were kind of addictive.

The latest restaurant by the same owners had a more focused cocktail program and Ragtime went through a time of doing flavored liquors, but still I was surprised recently when they announced their new cocktail program, focusing on classic drinks and fresh ingredients, including squeezed to order juices and housemade syrups such as orgeat. I, of course, needed to check this out as soon as I could, on a night when I wasn’t doing something stupid like drinking two or three pitchers of Blue Point Toasted Lager.

Death in the Afternoon

Fortunately, I got my chance last night finally when I was meeting a friend there (like I’m going to drink all nine cocktails in one night!).

The first thing that really surprised me was the cost of the drinks. The most expensive drink on the menu was $10, and most were $7-$8. In this town that’s a steal! But still, I’d have to try them first. Just to note: I wasn’t sitting at the actual bar, but at a high top near it. I could see the bartenders making my drinks, but I did not notice brands being used.

Death in the Afternoon – $8 – absinthe, lemon, simple syrup, champagne. I’ve had these before and never been a huge fan, but this one hit me just right – the absinthe taste was prominent, and I’m not a fan of absinthe for the most part, but the combination worked out really well. It was served in a traditional champagne coupe (see right) and was exactly the drink I needed to start off the night.

Vieux Carre

Vieux Carre – $10 (only $10 drink on the menu) – rye, cognac, Dolin Rouge, green Chartreuse, Angostura, Peychauds, lemon. First off, I was glad to see Dolin listed! That’s my favorite vermouth. As you can see in the picture, it’s served over one large ice cube and felt like a substantial drink (I did not measure, so that’s why I said “felt like”). I sipped off the top first and wasn’t impressed but liked it more as I drank out of the straw. For me, personally, it could’ve used a bit more bitters in it, but I also know the environment they’re working in – a super-bitter drink probably ain’t gonna work in a sports bar. (Really, the fact that they’re doing this menu at all is amazing and exciting to me, and makes me even more excited about football season!)

Unfortunately, they were out of mint, so the?mint julep and the?Queen’s Park Swizzle weren’t available (the latter being my next choice). So let’s stick with Hemingway!

Hemingway Daiquiri and Pimm’s Cup No. 1

Hemingway Daiquiri – $8 – white rum, maraschino, grapefruit, lime, simple syrup. This came out well-balanced as well, with a solid taste of maraschino in the back end that I thought brought the whole thing together nicely. My companion didn’t agree, as she felt it tasted more alcohol-y, but I’ve grown an appreciation for the taste of maraschino recently. It’s very easy for maraschino to overwhelm a drink so someone newer to those flavors might be hesitant at the flavor but I think after a drink or two they would really enjoy it.

My friend got a Pimm’s Cup.

Pimm’s Cup No. 1 – $7 – Pimms, rosemary syrup, lemon, ginger beer, garden garnish. Yes, technically the “Pimm’s Cup No. 1″ is the name of the liqueur in the drink, as Pimm’s makes a few varieties (which you really can’t get any but #1 in the US). I’ve never had one with rosemary syrup in it and at first was hesitant, but I grew to like it – it gave it a dry herbaciousness (is that a word?) which I think would make it more easily drinkable in quantity on a hot summer day than a sweeter version may be, though it still had a sweetness to it.

…and with that, I switched back to Toasted Lager, because I didn’t really need more liquor.

Tomorrow (Friday, May 30th) at 7 PM in the back bar they’ll be releasing some barrel-aged cocktails: Basil Hayden Manhattans and Makers 46 Sazeracs. I’m going to try to swing by because I’d like to see how they come out, so say hi if you see me!

– ?SeanMike

Well, that’s a whole lotta sodas!

I don’t remember when I stopped mixing with sodas for the most part, but by the time we started this here site I didn’t really do it a lot. That doesn’t mean others don’t – my brother, for instance, and my dad are big fans of it. I’ve also tried to cut back on most of my sodas with the whole “diabetes” thing I’ve gotta deal with.

The other night one of my friends I play Borderlands 2 with online asked about what to mix with his bottles of Bulleit and Eagle Rare. “Don’t mix the Bulleit!” I cried, but he pointed out that he wanted something he could drink for a while. I thought about it a bit and said, hey, this could make a post.

Let’s break them down a bit by types of soda, really.

Ginger Beer – man, I do love me some good ginger beer. Bourbon and ginger beer is a great combo, in my opinion. Obviously, the traditional however is rum and ginger beer (plus a bit of lime, and you’ve got yourself a stew a Dark and Stormy). With vodka, that’s a Moscow Mule, and if you’re a type of drinker who doesn’t dig on the taste of alcohol that might be the way to go – or use a lighter ginger beer/ale, like Q.

Cola – There are so many colas out there that this can be problematic. The Fentiman’s CherryTree cola is dying for some rye, in my opinion, but I don’t know if I’d mix their Curiousity Cola (I do like to give it to non-drinkers, as it’s quite delicious). Obviously, the “…and Coke” combo is a common one, and unless you’re still in college, I don’t want to hear about vodka and Pepsi. I would consider white whiskey and RC cola, but only if you eat a Moon Pie with it too (which I have done). Fernet and Coke is a popular South American combo.

Root Beer and Cream Soda – Spiced Rum. Or most kinds of rum.

Various specialty sodas – Now here’s where it gets fun. Vanilla bean soda? I’d do bourbon, or dark rum. Victorian lemonade? Bourbon for a riff off the “Lynchburg Lemonade”. Cola made with coffee? Spiced rum or maybe tequila or Mezcal.

Sprite or other lemon-lime sodas – Well, you can make SpriTequilas, but you better be good at your mixology game. Also try gin, Pimm’s and gin, or Calvados.

Soda water – Don’t make me punch you in the throat. Really. Asking me a question like that. Just add bitters to it, I GUESS.

What combos do you like? Comment to me on Facebook or on Twitter!

A couple of years ago, I made bathtub gin (basically) for Marshall for a present. Now, thanks to the Washington Post’s Carrie Allan (who is awesome) and Fiola’s Jeff Faile (who is also awesome), we have a recipe for homemade amaro.

I’d say: give us your recipes in the comments, but they ain’t working. Instead, tweet them to Scofflaws Den’s Twitter account. If I give anybody presents this Christmas (sigh, I will, I GUESS), it might be homemade amaro. I just need to get off my ass.

And I’d love to see what you like in yours. Maybe you’ll get a bottle of mine…

Later this week, I’ll post some drink ideas that don’t involve simple syrup (diabeetus, after all) and are based off my favorite video game. Until then, just keep thinking about me while you sleep.

Cheers!

- SeanMike

This week, we started getting back to “normal.” Morning & night temps in the 50s/60s and no humidity. Ahhhhh! Now if we can get a few degrees colder I’ll be in heaven.

But with these weird temps and weather patterns the question arises of what to drink. It’s October so it feels like a brown, bitter & stirred drink seems appropriate. However, the temperature can make it feel like the only thing you should be drinking is something with rum in a tiki mug. So what to do?

In these situations I’ve found the perfect bridge beverage. Granted, this is completely and highly subjective but I wanted to share anyway. Here you go:

The Boulevardier
1.5oz bourbon
1oz Campari
1oz sweet vermouth

-Stir with ice and garnish with lemon peel.

If the recipe looks familiar it should as this is essentially a bourbon-based negroni. It has the same cool-down properties a well made negroni has yet has that depth of flavor and warmth that only an aged spirit can bring to the party.

Give the Boulevardier a try and let us what you think.

Cheers!

Next week I’m headed out to a pool party and one of the hosts asked me to make some punch for it. Of course I agreed, and then immediately moved to Twitter to ask for recommendations. After all, I barely make cocktails at home most of the time, much less punch. Fairly quickly I got two recommendations.

The first came from Rick aka @martinigroove.

@highwaystar Here’s a fancy one that I made that’s pretty solid: http://t.co/AtszauBgmC

? Cocktail Rick (@martinigroove) July 24, 2013

So, off I went to try it. I took it in a couple of steps.

About once a week or so I tend to have a long grilling session where I smoke cigars, listen to music, and grill up veggies and proteins for the upcoming week. Typically I do a steak for that night and chicken and pork for the upcoming week (typically they end up in taco form) along with asparagus, onions, peppers, and jalapenos. That’s honestly how I’ve been losing weight lately. This time, after finishing the other veggies but before the meats, I followed the recipe and put a thinly sliced (as best I could) lemon on the grill.

After it cooled down I threw it in a ziploc bag.

The next day Marshall and I hit Ace Beverage for supplies. The recipe called for 8 ounces of bourbon, specifying W. L. Weller, and 2 ounces of apricot liqueur (Rothman & Winter). After some hijinks I ended up with what I needed. Later that night I headed over to Marshall’s apartment for the experiment.

Now, one thing I did realize was that I only bought one bottle of W. L. Weller, so I used Four Roses (which is one of my favorite bourbons especially in terms of value). I muddled the lemons in a pitcher, added the bourbon, apricot liqueur, and simple syrup, then added ice and stirred.

A few observations from this point:

• This makes a lot less than I expected.
• And the punch is mostly booze. Both a good and bad thing.
• We had particulate matter in the drink.

Garnished with fresh mint, we sipped, and it was fairly tasty. However, after tasting, I thought about a few things, and here’s how I’ll change it when I do it next weekend.

• I’m doing a a triple batch.
• As Rick noted, it’s all about the presentation, so I’ll make it there rather than batching ahead of time. I will batch the liquor part of it, though.
• Before adding ice, I’ll stir it up. Otherwise, it’s hard to get the lemon fully incorporated it seems. Then I’ll strain it through a fine mesh strainer to get out bits of char and seeds. I might grill an additional lemon to use as garnishes.

This punch is good, but I think it could also be livened up with some spice components. I don’t know if I’ll have time to experiment ahead of time on it, but some clove could be nice in it, or even perhaps a dash of heat in terms of some hot sauce. I’d want to avoid anything else sweet, as it’s already pretty sweet despite the lemon, but at the same time bitters might be the wrong way to go. Like I said, I might think on it a bit…

The second suggestion was a Pimm’s Cup punch. While the reasoning behind suggesting it wasn’t appealing (neither I, nor my hosts, give a shit about the royal baby) the drink itself is a classic.

But which recipe?

After spending hours (okay, maybe minutes) combing the web, finding old websites that might be compromised, and craving cucumber sandwiches, I had an epiphany. Instead of a Bloody Mary bar, I’ll do a Pimms Cup bar!

A few bottles of Pimm’s, a couple of gin, lemonade, lime juice, ginger beer, 7-Up, etc.

As our friend Ed would say: “It’ll be great!”

And so I hope. This time, I will take pictures, and I’ll give you an update later. (Especially since I’ll be sober for two weeks in August, I’ll need?something to talk about!)

?Everybody knows the Martinez, right?? asks Dave Wondrich before his demonstration. Open before him is one-time Esquire Magazine drinks writer, David Laskin?s, Wine and Liquor Handbook published in 1984.

?Gin. Vermouth. Stirred. A little splash of liqueur. A very elegant drink. The beginning of the martini, et cetera,? he says.

Jeff ?Beachbum? Berry listens intently. Wondrich looks down at Laskin?s recipe very closely and begins building it.

?First, we put into the blender cracked ice…?

The seminar, Dark Ages: Mixology, 1967-1988, is one of the last for this year?s Tales of the Cocktail (TOTC) event in New Orleans. And for a week filled with deliciously sophisticated cocktails this particular discussion is a delightfully sharp turn backwards.

Wondrich, who also writes for Esquire, hammers home his point as he dumps some cura?ao into the blender.

?I?ll call that three dashes each right there… who gives a shit,? he says. This is Wondrich?s interpretation of the prevailing attitude towards cocktails around that time.

For Berry, the seminar was a slight return to the fern bar topic he?d covered with Smuggler?s Cove owner Martin Cate in 2010.

Since, according to the tiki expert, these bars were more about mingling with the opposite sex, the craft and attention to detail suffered.

?The reason why the drinks were so irrelevant was everyone was doing other drugs,? says Berry. ?Cocktails were basically what your parents drank – they were for squares.?

The seminar takes a jaunt through the worst of the worst and the best of the worst. Wondrich quotes Hunter S. Thompson?s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as well as Heywood Gould?s movie (and novel) Cocktail to show just how bad mixed drinks got.

?Right now we?re kind of having a little bit of backlash against the more precious edges of mixology but it?s worthwhile remembering that, you know, we don?t maybe want to go all the way back,? he says, ?You?re treating people poorly and there?s no excuse for that.?

Berry rifles through a series of hysterical photographs. Many provide only a glimpse of menus coming out of this era?s popular bars. Other images display the Three?s Company-style decor and fashion that filled those places.

?Vodka over gin. Vodka over whiskey. White rum over dark. Lighter over richer. Fruity over herbal. The rise of schnapps,? Wondrich says, ?Each one of those products in and of themselves are fine but when they take over the whole ecosystem you?re losing a lot of flavor, you?re losing a lot of richness, you?re losing a lot of interest in the drinks.?

The seminar culminates with a discussion of the legendary Harvey Wallbanger cocktail, which according to the speakers, was invented by a bartender named Donato ?Duke? Antone.

Harvey Wallbanger

3 parts vodka
1 part Galliano
6 parts orange juice
Add vodka and orange juice into a highball glass with ice. Float Galliano on top. Garnish with an orange slice and a maraschino cherry.

TOTC volunteers not only provided samples of Galliano?s most famous cocktail but also distributed swag for attendees to wear donned with the infamous drink name printed on them.

Berry and Wondrich finish off the event with a recitation of the ?The Last Barman Poet? from the lampooned?Cocktail,?posted here for your viewing pleasure:

I am the world’s last barman poet.

I see America drinking the fabulous cocktails I make.
Americans getting stinky on something I stir or shake.

The sex on the beach.
The schnapps made from peach.
The velvet hammer.
The Alabama slammer.

I make things with juice and froth.
The pink squirrel.
The three-toed sloth.

I make drinks so sweet and snazzy.
The iced tea.
The kamikaze.
The orgasm.
The death spasm.
The Singapore sling.
The ding-a-ling.

America you’re just devoted to every flavor I got.
But if you want to get loaded.
Why don’t you just order a shot?

Bar is open.

I’ll leave the political comments off of the blog, but I will say one thing: the next day is the election, so you can go to the Passenger, booze it up, go to work late the next day and tell your boss “I was voting”. I can’t do that, because I voted early, but if you also vote early, you’ll have the sticker to prove it!

I’m just saying.

(And a special hint: both Brown brothers are supposed to be behind the bar, along with JP Featherston and Alex Bookless, so really, get your butt in there and drink yo’ face off. IT’S FOR CHARITY!)

Second, in the spirit of giving, the Passenger hosted our five year anniversary party a couple of weeks ago. We raised a couple of hundred bucks for our charities (the Museum of the American Cocktail and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation) and had an overall great time. Many thanks to our sponsors: The Passenger, Chartreuse and Edinburgh Gin, Whisked Bakery, Diep 9 genever, Catoctin Creek, and Chairman’s Reserve Rum.

Now my drink came in second to Marshall’s in voting, but since Hurricane Sandy is about to give our area a punch to the nose, it seems appropriately named and timed for me to give you my drink.

Dark Storms Travelling Slowly
2 ounces Chairman’s Reserve Rum (gold)
3/4 ounce lemon juice
1/4 ounce allspice dram
2 dashes Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub
Shake ingredients together and pour into a highball glass unstrained. Top with two parts ginger beer, one part soda water. Garnish with a wheel of lime.

(Also see this news article for the origins of the acronym I used.)

Yes, it says “whiskey” here but they insist it’s “whisky”.

Third, also in the spirit of giving, thanks to Joe at Taylor Strategy I was sent a sample of George Dickel rye whisky. (No “e”! Except on the sample bottle. Oops!)

The aroma out of the bottle was nice. Kind of sweet. I poured some into a glass and tried it straight.

It’s … different than a lot of ryes I’ve had. My very first taste, I liked it at first, then the after taste I did not care for. However, my second and third tastes I liked a lot better, and got the impression it has a different over all “build” to the taste than a lot of ryes have. I haven’t played with it in a cocktail yet but I’ll probably make a Manhattan and/or a Sazerac at some point this weekend OH MY GOODNESS I FORGOT TO STOCK UP ON VERMOUTH BEFORE THE FRANKENSTORM I HOPE THERE IS STILL SOME TOMORROW AT THE STORE!

(Any rumors that I might have also done a “Gangnam Style” tasting, dancing around in my house with no pants on and listening to the song while drinking Dickel rye out of the sample bottle, may be completely and utterly true.)

So I’m off to finish preparing for Sandy’s vengeful wrath upon DC. Have a great weekend everyone! And hopefully see you November 5th!