Don’t get me wrong, I love beer!? I’m drinking a Rogue right now (the First Growth Dirtoir Black Lager) but like ingredients such as, say, wine (thus, vermouth, natch) while delicious on its own, it can also work as an ingredient in cocktails quite easily.? Cheese is delicious on its own, and you cook with it too, right?

Right.

Another friend of ours, Phil Greene of the Museum of the American Cocktail, let us know about a seminar featuring Tad Carducci talking about spice in cocktails.? I’ve snipped Tad’s bio out of the link, but if you haven’t heard of him – just Google search him.? He’s done a lot.

Spice: The Fennel Frontier

Presented By: Tad Carducci

$45.00 per person pre-register

The ‘at-the-door’ fee will be $50.00.

Thursday, April 22 2010, 7:00 – 8:30 pm

Darlington House
1610 20th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20009

From 2500 B.C. to 2010, a look at the importance of spices and herbs; as medicine, as currency, as foodstuffs, and, most notably, as flavoring agents for spirits, liqueurs and cocktails.? Join us on a whirlwind journey back in time and around the globe to shed light onto an exotic and illuminating topic that most of us take very much for granted, while, of course, we “spice it up” with cocktails.

(It’s not that we don’t love you Tad, but hey, we pay by the character here.? What?? We don’t?? Oh well too late, I already cut it.)

Tonight, if you’re not already there, is Thursday Drink Night in the Mixoloseum bar, and we’re doing spiced rum.? Jump in if it’s not too late!

We’ve got some other events and some drinks coming up for y’all, so for now, go out and find yourselves something to drink.

Well, here it is! From Owen Mack and coBRANDit the Mata Hari Absinthe TDN. Enjoy!

One thing I always try to do – be it in the relative chaos of a TDN or just when sitting around, plotting a drink – is try my best to figure out where the initial idea for a cocktail came from, where the genesis of the taste, in my brain, was inspired.? This could be relatively simple – “Let’s sub this ingredient for this one”.? It could be a bit more cloudy, leading to me thumbing through Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails or The Joy of Mixology just to say “Ohhhhh, that’s where I’d heard of doing that before.”? More rarely, it’s something completely random, usually in an attempt to use an ingredient that I’m having issues with or because I like something that no one else does.

Both of those were shown in my last drink of TDN Chartreuse the other week when I came up with The Slimer.? Clearly, its name derives from the Ghostbusters character and I mostly only picked it out because of the color of the drink.? The idea, though, came from the desire to use two disparate ingredients, one of which was the theme of the TDN and the other an ingredient I haven’t cared for much so far but I think might have potential.

The Slimer
1.5 ounces green Chartreuse (it must be the green!)
1 ounce Zen green tea liqueur
.5 ounces orgeat
Shake and strain into a chilled glass, garnish with a flamed lime peel

Now, that was one of my weaker drinks of that night – in my not-so-humble opinion – but I didn’t think it was that bad. It is a bit sweet, and could easily be perhaps seen as one of those college bar shooter type drinks, but hey, whatever.? At the end of that TDN I enjoyed it and my tastebuds typically work pretty okay even while drinking.

My second drink of the night (and I’m not counting my mostly-joke of a drink, the Chartreuse Bomb, where I suggested dropping a shot of chartreuse into a hefeweizen) has a rather poor name, I think, mostly because – well, I can’t remember why I came up with the name for it.? However, it has a distinct evolutionary path.

The Initech Cocktail
2 ounces Dolin dry vermouth
1 ounce Anchor Junipero gin
1/2 ounce green Chartreuse
2 solid dashes Bitter Truth Orange Bitters
Stir, strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The evolution of this drink came like this: when Dolin vermouth came back to DC just recently, a friend of mine (Jake) started drinking “reverse martinis” with it.? At some point, he told me he was basically just drinking Dolin with a float of Junipero.

Remembering that the original martini recipe included orange bitters, I first tried to recreate the float with an addition of chartreuse.? Unfortunately, I could not get the drink to float right, so I just made it a stirred, reverse martini style drink, and I thought it came out quite tasty.

Thus we have:? martini -> reverse martini -> Initech Cocktail via the ideas of multiple people.

My first drink of the night, however, is probably one of the two best received drinks I’ve ever come up with since I got into this whole cocktail thing.

The Chartreuse Blanc
1/2 ounce green Chartreuse
1 1/2 ounces Dolin blanc vermouth
2 dashes Regan’s #6 Orange Bitters
Stir and strain.

The evolution of this one, really, was based off a single ingredient tasting.? I knew that the theme of TDN was Chartreuse, obviously, and when I tasted Dolin for the very first time I was amazed at how it had some of the floral/herbal taste of Chartreuse in it.

I feel like the Dolin can eat the Chartreuse right up; I kept the proportion down to keep this as a lower proof drink (remember that Chartreuse is pretty strong!) but from what I’ve heard you can really crank it up.? I wouldn’t suggest that, though, if you’re using the Martini & Rossi bianco (which is just not as good, by any means).

But why did I get to all this?

Last night I was sitting at The Gibson, chatting with Derek and a visitor to DC named Rich at the bar.? We were talking about drinks in general, and how there are so many ingredients that you can always seem to come up with new combinations.? I mentioned how after I come up with a drink, I try to do some research to see if I can find similar ones that might’ve unwittingly inspired me, and if I know where the inspiration comes from, I do my best to credit all involved.

Our conversation drifted through a number of different topics in addition to that, including football (go Steelers!), work, travel, etc.? At one point, Derek decided to make a Manhattan variation for Rich that we tentatively called the Pittsburgh.? Simply put, it was a standard rye whiskey Manhattan with port instead of the sweet vermouth and also used a dash of whiskey barrel aged bitters from Fee’s, garnished with a cherry.

I sipped on one as well until my ride showed.? From The Gibson, my friend Mary and I headed down to the Verizon Center to visit Gina Chersevani at PS7.? I hadn’t been able to make it there since she moved from EatBar to there (having bailed last Friday to hang with my brother instead) and so we wanted some place that would be cool to check out.

First off, that is a GREAT place to do so, and the drinks that Gina is coming up with there are awesome!? There was a bit of a crowd when we got there but it emptied quickly and soon it was just a few of us – Gina and Lauren behind the bar, a few people who mostly knew each other at the bar, and chef Peter Smith coming in and out to try out things – when I mentioned to Gina about the Pittsburgh.

She took the opportunity to point out one of the drinks I’d already tried that evening: the “Across the Pond”, made with Bulleit bourbon, Six Grapes Port, and lemon.? Still, the drinks tasted nothing alike, in my recollection – and then I remembered the Sandeman’s sponsored TDN back in December.

The Portugese Manhattan
2 ounces rye or bourbon
1 ounce Sandeman’s Founder’s Reserve Port (ruby port)
2 dashes cherry or orange bitters
Stir, strain, garnish with either cherries or a twist of orange peel – or flamed orange peel, if you’re into that kind of thing.

That was at 10:52 PM EST on December 18th.? What am I, prescient?? No…it just seemed, to me, to be a fairly obvious substitution:

SeanMike -> I can’t believe we haven’t had something like the “Portugese Manhattan” – 2 ounces bourbon/rye, 1 oz Sandeman Founder’s Reserve port, 2 dashes orange or cherry bitters
rumdood -> SHUT UP SM
BonzoGal -> So logical
rumdood -> Damn you you bastard
DrinkPlanner -> no-brainer
SeanMike -> that’s why rumdood also thought of it

Now, I will admit – I wouldn’t have thought of this had it not been a Sandeman’s sponsored TDN, and probably wouldn’t have tried it if I hadn’t had an open bottle of such port.? Still, my memories of that drink are still at odds with the Pittsburgh and the Across the Pond – which also shows how three different drinks of nearly the same ingredients can be completely different due to the styles of the ingredients.

Cocktail recipes are interesting beasts.? Like in music, there are tons of combinations, but not all are harmonious.? It can be hard if not impossible to properly attribute all of the influences on any new cocktail and every trip to a good bar, every read of a new cocktail book (no matter how old), every discovery of a new ingredient and even every conversation with a fellow cocktail enthusiast can lead to new or only-thought-new cocktails.? Short of direct, clear plagiarizing – something that I, personally, haven’t seen a lot of in the community, as most cocktailians seem eager to give proper credit for recipes – inspirations are everywhere.

It can be an interesting challenge though: much like Matt Browner-Hamlin showed us in terms of the Adam Bernbach‘s “taste of a drink evolution” post, the actual inspirational heritage of a drink can be greatly illuminating.

Every Thursday night (officially) beginning at 7pm EST, cocktail enthusiasts, bloggers, writers, bartenders and other sundry forms of riff-raff gather at the online Mixoloseum Bar.? We usually have a particular theme and everyone throws out recipes utilizing that particular themed ingredient.? Some drinks work, others get tossed down the sink never to be thought of again.? The fun is trying new things and occasionally hitting upon an undiscovered gem.

I’ve been lucky to co-create two drinks that have turned out to be favorites.? The first was way back in December when Rick of Kaiser Penguin and I collaborated and came up with the . . .

Cilician Voyage
1oz Citadelle Reserve Gin
1oz Strega
1oz Lime Juice
.50oz Grapefruit Juice
.50oz Cinnamon Syrup
1 dash Fee’s Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters
1 dash Fee’s Grapefruit Bitters
Ginger Beer to top

Build everything except ginger beer in a rocks glass filled with crushed ice.? Give it a good stir and top with ginger beer.? Garnish with a cinnamon stick and a lime twist.? Rick likes to throw a few strands of saffron on the top to gild the lilly.

Thanks to Rick contacting the good folks at Citadelle Gin, they tried it and loved it.? In fact, they liked it enough to send Rick and I a bottle of Citadelle Reserve for our efforts.? Keep your eye on the Den for a write-up on Citadelle Reserve.? It is a fantastic gin!

This past Thursday, TDN was sponsored by Mata Hari Absinthe and we were lucky enough to have a live outpost at the Tabard Inn here in DC.? Gathered at the Tabard’s bar were Sean and I, Rick of Kaiser Penguin, Nathan, a cocktail enthusiast from Pittsburgh, PA, Sam of Brand Action Team and Owen our videographer for the evening.? You can find Sam’s post on TDN here.? Chantal Tseng, head bartender at Tabard Inn was graciously making our drinks as we wrote down the recipes that came across the computer screen.

For my drink, I gave Chantal a list of five specific ingredients and asked her to find a good ratio.? The ingredient list consisted of brandy, amaro nonino, Mata Hari Absinthe, sherry and bitters.? The drink that was invented was . . .

The Bitter Industry
1.5oz Brandy
.50oz Amaro Nonino
.50oz Amontillado Sherry
1 dash Mata Hari Absinthe
2 dashes orange bitters

Stir in a quadrangular motion with cracked ice and strain with the flick of the wrist into a chilled cocktail glass.

And what do you know, The Bitter Industry won for best cocktail of the night!? A platitude I am more than honored to share with Chantal.? If you are interested in reading the full write up of this past TDN, you can find it here on the Mixoloseum blog.? For the brave of heart, there is also a link to the full transcript of the nights festivities at the end of the write up.

Give both of these drinks a try and let me know what you think!? While you’re at it, stop by the Mixoloseum Bar and chat for a while.? And please join us Thursday nights for a great night of recipe collaboration.

Cheers!

I showed up to the TDN late having been out to dinner with some friends.? The action was already going strong when I opened up the Founder’s Reserve – not realizing that it’s one of those corks with a plastic cap on top.? Oops!

I didn’t want to open both up but at the time, I thought that both were tawny.? I was surprised but not displeased when I found my mistake.? I’m much more of a ruby port drinker than a tawny one.? I sipped a bit of it first to get some ideas because, well, I don’t think I’ve ever really mixed with port before.

My first instinct was something easy.? I said at one point in the night something to the effect of “Why not just make a ‘Portugese Manhattan’ by going two parts whiskey, one part ruby port?”

Which, evidently, had been somebody’s idea to post, and they just hadn’t gotten to it yet.? Oops again!

But I did come up with a few drinks over the course of the night.? To me, mixing with port seemed a bit like mixing with sweet vermouth, only without the vegetals/herbal notes that you get with vermouth.? It’s easy for the vermouth to get swallowed up by the ingredients so if I keep doing it, I’ll have to learn how to work with it.

For instance, my first drink I called “The Outstayed Welcome”.? I’d been stuck on the idea of mixing port (which is brandy added to wine) with brandy.? They’re also both traditionally after-dinner drinks which led to the name of the drink.

The Outstayed Welcome
2 oz. brandy (I used St. Remy XO)
1 oz. lemon juice (note: I might adjust this down to 3/4 of an ounce – I can’t remember if I did that or not)
1/2 oz. simple syrup
1/2 oz. ruby port (Sandeman’s Founder’s Reserve)
1 dash orange bitters (Regan’s #6)
Shake and strain.? Garnish with a flamed orange peel.

Basically, I made a brandy sour, and then added in the port to add some complexity to it.? It wasn’t bad for a first try and I’d like to play around with the proportions a bit.? The irony of taking brandy and port for an after-dinner drink, when both are typically drank at room temperature at least in those circumstances, and making it a chilled drink wasn’t lost on me, but I really don’t think – even if I added water to it – that you’d want to drink it warm.

The previously mentioned Portugese Manhattan was technically my second drink.? The variations of it call for a lot of discretion on the part of the person making it.? Does the drinker prefer a fruity or more herbal Manhattan?? What type of whiskey are you using – bourbon or rye – and how spicy is it?? A sweet light bourbon, like Maker’s Mark, mixed with port would demand different bitters and maybe a different proportion than, say, Old Overholt.

Portugese Manhattan
2 ounces bourbon or rye (Bulleit)
1 ounce ruby port (Sandeman’s Founder’s Reserve)
2 dashes bitters (I used cherry)
Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.? Garnish appropriately for the bitters.

There’s a lot of leeway there in the bitters.? If I’d used Maker’s Mark, for instance, I might’ve gone with Angostura or Peychaud’s, or maybe even something a bit more random like rhubarb bitters.? With the Bulleit, a fairly spicy bourbon, I used cherry bitters, but I kind of wished I used maybe some cherry-vanilla bitters I have.? I might play with this drink more tonight.

For my last drink of the night I wanted to do something a little different than what other people were doing.? I’ve been experimenting at times with the combination of tequila and falernum.? I feel like it’s a good combination and from there it’s just a matter of what to add to it.? Given the sweetness of the port, I thought maybe a bit of an herbal taste and there’s only one place to go for that…

Okay, okay, there are multiple places, but I know what *I* wanted to use!

Cactus Needles
2 ounces tequila (I used Corazon blanco)
1 ounce ruby port (Sandeman’s Founder’s Reserve)
3/4 ounce falernum (Velvet Falernum)
1/4 ounce green Chartreuse
Shake and strain into a glass.? Garnish with a piece of cactus – yeah, right – or a twist of lime.

I think that this was a fun drink, if more of a summer drink.? I didn’t garnish it that night but I have a mental image of a hunk of cactus on a sweating double old fashioned glass with this.? I’m betting that lime will also work stylistically and perhaps also with the tastes.? After all, lime and tequila get along like gangbusters.

There were a ton of other drinks that came out that night and I still have a lot of ideas for things I can do with the ruby port – and I haven’t even opened up the tawny yet!? Keeping up with the “sweet vermouth” replacement, I could see doing a Negroni with gin, Aperol, and ruby port, for instance.

I guess this will have to do it until 2009 for TDN.? Hopefully soon we’ll see the recap of this TDN and see what other port drinks are coming up…and hey, playing with port will give me something to do through Christmas-time!

As I’ve mentioned before – you’ve got to give The Gibson a shot if you haven’t yet.

We tried to go to Bar Pilar afterwards but it was just packed; we got to speak with Adam briefly but then hailed a cab and headed back to Virginia for pizza and relaxation.

One of my favorite moments of the weekend came Friday night, however.? Owen was showing off some really cool liquors and cocktails all night, but at one point Chris (and I’ll explain about this in about a week or so) had Marshall and I buy a drink.? He got his favorite, the cocktail a la louisiane, and I got a Sazerac.? Chris had never had a Sazerac so he tried one and absolutely loved it.? It’s always great to see someone try a new drink and see their eyes light up like that!

2.? Repeal Day is up to $90 for a ticket and coming up soon – December 5th.? Hope to see y’all there, I’m really excited about it.

3.? Phil Greene asked us to post an announcement about the Holiday Cocktails seminar at Bourbon on December 9th.? It is presented by the Museum of the American Cocktail and will feature the dynamic trio of Derek Brown (The Gibson), Justin Guthrie (Central Michel Richard), and Owen Thompson (Bourbon) as well as Phil Greene.? $35 in advance, $40 at the door, and that includes light appetizers and sample sizes of the cocktails.? I know Marshall will be there!

You can register here.

4.? TDN – sponsored by Leblon Cachaca – was a heck of a time!? There were a lot of good drinks made and while we wait for the recap (AHEM) I thought I’d share one of the drinks I came up with that people seemed to like.

The Braziliagroni
1 ounce Leblon cachaca
1 ounce Carpano Antica
1 ounce Aperol
2 dashes Fee’s Rhubarb Bitters
Shake over ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

I have to admit that I wasn’t a big cachaca fan before Thursday night but I’ve definitely learned to enjoy some of the complexities of the spirit.? Check out the TDN round up when it’s posted and look also for my Brazilian Frog – it’s an orange flavored drink that needs a bit of tweaking but I think turned out pretty well also.

5.? A friend invited my brother and I over to watch football yesterday and asked that I bring some “tasty drinks”.? I pieced something together and made it which ended up being a big hit.? It was fairly improvised, but the basic recipe is here and we’ll be making both cold and hot versions of this for our Christmas party (we only made cold ones yesterday).

Apple Cider Heaven
2 ounces applejack
1 ounce Jameson’s
1/2 ounce St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram
2 dashes Fee’s aromatic bitters
4 ounces apple cider
Shake and strain into a cocktail glass.? Alternatively, build over ice in a collins or pint glass using 50% more of each ingredient and stir, then serve.

That’s about enough for now, I think.? This week is Thanksgiving so everybody think of what you want to give thanks for and have a good time with your friends and family!? Remember: don’t drink and drive.? Which means – don’t drive.

Sorry.? I’ll try to distract y’all away from the horrors of my singing.

Tonight is Thursday Drink Night (TDN) at the Mixoloseum – and for the first time, it’s sponsored, this time by Leblon cachaca.? I’m very excited about some stuff with that!

I’ve not experimented a lot with cachaca but I’ve got some real ideas in store.? And speaking of “in store”, I still need to go to the store.? I also need to get a haircut, but that’s for something special that we’ll tell you about soon enough.

It’s also almost the weekend.? We’ve got trips to Bourbon and The Gibson planned, so obviously, that should be a lot of fun.? If you see us out, say hi!? Then it’s Thanksgiving, and I’m thinking of something to take home with me, and then there’s Repeal Day…not to mention my brother and his fiancee’ want me to come up with cocktails just for them for their wedding…

I’ll be putting up some of the drink ideas we come up with using cachaca after TDN.? Not necessarily tomorrow, that’ll be dependent on hangover, I guess…

Sorry.

2.? Congratulations to mbrownerhamlin, who won the TDN from about two weeks ago (Irish whiskey) for his Knacker’s Conference.? If you see this before I get ahold of you, shoot me an e-mail with your address and your choice of prize.

3.? REPEAL DAY!? December 5th is the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition.? There’s going to be a bunch of super awesome bartenders there, plus cool folks Tony Abou-Ganim and Jeffrey Morgenthaler and others, and tickets are $80 before November 20th, and $90 after.? You can get them via the DC Craft Bartender’s Guild or RepealDay.org.

With the help of my neighbor Conroy we’ll be trying out the drinks and the best one of the evening will win a great prize!? You’ll get your choice of:? Gary Regan’s The Joy of Mixology, a book that I believe any true cocktail fan must own, A.J. Rathbun’s Good Spirits, which I got as a birthday present and enjoyed a good bit, or, since tomorrow is Halloween, I’m friends with the owners, and they’re making a video game of it, a copy of Twilight Creations’ ZOMBIES!!! board game.

Last night was our “Halloween” – actually more like “Molecular Mixology” – cocktail class at EatBar under the direction of the irascible Gina Chersevani.? Like the first class, I had a great time, and this time I didn’t fall and bust myself up afterwards.? It was also great meeting Kristen (again), along with Lisa, Will, Stephanie, Jamie, and others whose names I’m either not remembering or misremembering in all odds.

Speaking of that class and Irish whiskey tonight, Will gave me a drink that he makes with it:

Irish Ambien
1 oz. Irish whiskey
1 oz. vanilla vodka
1 oz. Bailey’s Irish Creme
Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.? If you wanted to experiment with a dash of maybe mint bitters or something like that, who am I to tell you not to do so?? Heck, if you had some chocolate bitters, or wanted to grate some chocolate or nutmeg or cinnamon on top, I’d bet that’d be money.

As for recovery period…

I’ve been extremely brain dead recently thanks to the events of last weekend – I, in my role of official brother and best man to my roommate and (uh) brother Matt – had to plan the Bachelor’s Party.? We went to Morgantown, WV, on Friday to visit our cousins and granddad, then up to Pittsburgh, PA, on Saturday to meet up with the rest of the group (eight of us, total) to hit the town and the Giants-Steelers game on Sunday.

Perhaps unfortunately, we watched a YouTube video about “My New Haircut” (caution: NSFW, language) before going out.? Which meant more than a few Jager bombs.

Saturday we killed a bottle of JD, there were multiple Bloody Marys made (from a mix, I didn’t want to bring the material prep), and no matter what anyone says, the combination of vodka, cranberry juice cocktail, and Red Bull is not a good idea.

I did have one good cocktail while in Pittsburgh, not counting the Shirley Temple I was sent during a froo-froo shot war (don’t ask, we sent back white wine spritzers).? At the bar in the Omni William Penn I had a martini, specifying the gin (Plymouth), heavy on dry vermouth, slightly dirty.

Perfectly made.? And it cost – after tip – around eight times as much as the beers we’d been drinking at the first bar of the night (and I’m not counting the $.26 ones we also had) and over twice as much as the huge IC Lights, Rolling Rocks, and Miller Lites they had at Heinz Field.

Also, I had rum out of a plastic “pocket“.? More on those later.? Maybe.

Also, Jim Beam shots after the game.? Not a good idea, either.

Anyways, I’m going to cut this off.? Hope to see y’all tonight at TDN!