An online speakeasy of potent potables and other pabulam.

This is actually Paul

You might not believe me, for good reason, but I have it on good word (mine, which I made up) that the original version of Paul’s website featured “The Cocktail Chronicles” with a huge BLINK tag (which I’m not even sure is supported these days) and multiple dancing baby GIFs, all of which modeled after him.

For example, look to the left.

Nowadays, of course, he shows a much more subtle and classy side, and we all thank him for it, because if you don’t like that, you always have me and Blair.

But what to make him?

When I asked one “prominent” blogger (prominent means you don’t update often) he suggested rye and absinthe.  Well, Paul is mad at me about setting absinthe on fire and using Mata Hari (though you’d think he’d like the fact that I set Mata Hari on fire) so I stuck with the fresh bottle of Rittenhouse 100 I picked up at Ace the other day.  From there, I debated, consulted with someone who actually gets paid to do this for a living (the lovely and talented Ms. Sergi), and we experimented a bit.

I did think about setting some Rittenhouse on fire but I was fairly certain if I did Paul would set ME on fire at Tales.

So then I ended up the Cocktail Chronic(-les).  And before you ask, yes, I’ve had the “Chronic(-les) of Narnia” stuck in my head for the past bit.

Not pictured: bitters

The Cocktail Chronic-(les)
2 ounces rye (Rittenhouse 100)
1/2 ounce dry vermouth (Dolin dry)
1/2 ounce Lillet Blanc
1 dash Fee’s orange bitters
Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a sarcastic comment and insightful commentary.

This makes for a pretty nice, surprisingly light cocktail.

If you try it and enjoy it, as usual, let me know.  Yes, this one is a bit late tonight but it’s the 21st one!  That means I’ve posted one drink every night – some of them more half-assed than the others (cough cough) but wow, it’s getting harder and harder to think up new ideas.  Lest I become Mike Rowe and start begging for new ideas for Dirty Jobs this site, please, if you have any for people not done yet (I’m looking at you Craig!) let me know!

As always – enjoy.

[Twenty-first 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.]

This month’s Mixology Monday with brought to us by Matthew Rowley of Rowley’s Whiskey Forge.  Matt’s topic seems very a propos with the current state of the United State’s economy, massive bail-outs every where you look and all around belt tightening when it comes to finances.  For this topic I really had to sit down and decide what to write about.

I could write about brands of spirits and liqueurs which offer the best quality and variety of purpose for your dollar.  Or, I could write about what I drink when the financial belt tightens.  Or I could just make something up as I go along.  Yeah, I’m pretty much doing that last one if you haven’t guessed.

Now don’t get me wrong.  Articles about the best bang for your buck on the spirit shelf are great and generally contain lots of useful information.  I just feel I’ve read this same story a hundred times since the word “recession” became ensconced in everyday vernacular.  With that said, I can certainly see me writing the same kind of story for Scofflaw’s Den because I feel like it.  Oh well . . .   As far as what I drink when the financial belt tightens, well that’s easy.  I drink the same things I do when I’m not concerned so much about my finances.  Rather, I cut back on purchasing booze and limit my trips to bars/cocktail joints.  I love buying random ingredients and spending an hour or two bellied up at one of my favorite bars having great conversations with the bartenders and friends, new and old alike.  But both of these activities tends to eat into my bank account and by curtailing both, I feel much on much more stable financial footing.

So for this Mixology Monday, I decided to page through some cocktail books and give you two drinks on different ends of the “hard times” continum.  First, we have a cocktail that would perfect for those times when you’re very concerned about your next paycheck.  When your job may fall victim to a lay-off or go to the ATM to check your accounts and the machine laughs at you, I give you;

Gloom Chaser Cocktail
1/4 lemon Juice (.5 oz)
1/4 grenadine (.5 oz homemade grenadine)
1/4 Grand Marnier (.5 oz homemade tangerine ratafia)
1/4 Curacao (.5 oz Cointreau)

-Shake everything until well chilled and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
(The Savoy Cocktail Book, p. 76)

The Gloom Chaser is one sweet cocktail.  Literally.  I was a little surprised at how sweet this came out considering it only has half an ounce of grenadine.  The Cointreau also adds some sweetness but I’ve never considered Cointreau to be a “sweet” liqueur.  The homemade tangerine ratafia is brandy based, like the called for Grand Marnier.  I’ve found the ratafia works admirably well as a replacement liqueur.   Regardless, the drink isn’t bad, just a little sweet.  Then again, I think that is precisely the point for a cocktail called the Gloom Chaser.  The orange reminds you of brighter sunnier days and the sweetness is like a reminder of childhood sweets.  Certainly a drink that would provide an uplifting step during a hard time.

Of course, the old saying goes “it’s always darkest before the dawn.”  Or “every dark cloud has a silver lining.”  The point is even though many of us are weathering this troubling financial storm, eventually things will look up.  When they do, our worry and dread will seem like a distant memory.  Who knows, maybe it will lead you to greener pastures and brighter skies.  Maybe, you’ll even find yourself as . . .

The CEO Cocktail
2oz Brandy
.5oz Chambord or creme de cassis (.5oz Massenez Creme de Cassis)
1oz Lillet Blanc
2 dashes orange bitters (Angostura Orange)
a lemon twist for garnish

-Shake (stir please) with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass
The Joy of Mixology, p. 237

A nice brandy cocktail that isn’t too sweet.  The cassis adds just a touch of sweetness and really mellows out the brandy.  I was afraid the brandy and cassis would fight in the glass but the Lillet plays mediator really brings the two together.  I wonder how Chambord would change the outcome of the drink.  Seeing as I don’t have chambord, nor am I inclined to go buy a bottle, I’ll just have to wait until these economic waters even out a bit.

Thanks again for Matthew Rowley for hosting MxMo this month.

Cheers!

Now that the election is over and things have quieted down a little, I wanted to take a moment to share the cocktail menu from my Halloween party.  I had lucky thirteen of my close friends over for drinks, conversation and Halloween merriment.  The party was a great success.  At least that’s what people told me.  And I guess since no one passed out or fell off the 12th story balcony, I can chalk it up as a win.  I also have to thank Sean for helping me make the drinks.  People got served much faster with booze slinging skills helping me out behind the stick (metaphorically.)

For this year’s party, I decided to print up a cocktail menu.  The reasons were simple.  First, I didn’t want to end up making forty-five different drinks or deal with the inevitable “Make me something fruity.”  Number B, I didn’t want drunk people rummaging around my hooch.  (Wow, that sounds kind of scandalous and dirty.)  Finally, I wanted to have a little something for everyone in addition to wine, beer and non-alcoholic drinks.

Here is what the menu looked like:

Once opened, guests were treated to six possible drinks, the non-alcoholic options mentioned above and, for the brave, a traditional absinthe drip.  (Or as traditional as I can get without having the huge water faucet drippy thing.)  Below are the drinks, their descriptions as printed on the menu, and the recipe.

Devil’s Daughter
Sugar and spice and everything nice with a heart as black as the night.
Vodka, Lemon, Lime, Egg White

This cocktail is actually a riff on Eben Freeman’s Bazooka Bubblegum Cocktail served at Tailor.  You can find the original recipe here. I followed Eben’s recipe to the letter, except I replaced the regular vodka with Blavod.  The resulting cocktail was dark violet in color but tasted just like bubblegum.  It was a hit with everyone who tried it.

Corpse Reviver #2
The dead will rise over this little refresher.
Gin, Cointreau, Lillet, Lemon, Absinthe

This was the basic Corpse Reviver #2 recipe.
Corpse Reviver #2
1oz Gin
1oz Cointreau
1oz Lillet Blanc
1oz fresh lemon juice
2-3 drops of absinthe

Shake everything with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Murderous Manhattan
Reportedly the very recipe drunk by David Berkowitz after each kill.
Bourbon or Rye, Vermouth, Maraschino, Bitters

The twist on this Manhattan was that I used Bianco vermouth and added a barspoon of maraschino to the mix.  I also used some cherry bitters and aromatic bitters.  Here’s the recipe:

2oz Bourbon or Rye
1oz Bianco Vermouth
1 barspoon maraschino liqueur
dash of cherry bitters and aromatic bitters

Stir over ice, strain and garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Ignis Fatuus
The hellish flames found in the dark deadly swamps.
Chardonnay, Cognac, Pumpkin, Cider

This is another borrowed recipe.  This time from that crazy Canadian media hound Jamie Boudreau.  His original recipe is here.  This is another cocktail that went over really well.  A few months ago, our friend Roy tasked me with finding a cocktail using pumpkin.  His wife Danielle loves pumpkin and he wanted something that he could make for her.  At the time, he wanted me to use this “Pumpkin Spice Liqueur” that will remain nameless.  But you know what I’m talking about.  Yes, you do.  Well, I toyed around with playing with an actual pumpkin and doing an infusion of some sort, but then Jamie came along with this little number.  I’m still planning on doing a pumpkin infusion this fall/winter (keep your eyes peeled!) but Jamie’s creation was spot on.  Great drink.  Go to his site and see how it’s done.  You won’t be sorry.

Charon’s Dingy
Only the most damned have to cross the River Styx in this leaky vessel.
Brandy, Amaro, Lemon, Cinnamon, Honey, Bitters

This was actually a renaming of a drink I created during Thursday Drink Night at the Mixoloseum.  I based the drink off a standard Sidecar recipe – with a few tweaks of course.  First, I substituted the Cointreau with Ramazzotti Amaro.  Then, to compensate for the lack of sweetness, I added cinnamon and honey syrups.  I also guilded the lilly with whiskey barrel bitters and a flamed lemon peel.  I called the drink “A Sidecar to Milan” to highlight the origin of the Ramazzotti.  For the Halloween party, I simply renamed the drink.  Charon ferried the dead across the river Styx and I thought what would the the sidecar equivalent to a ferry?  A dingy!  So you’ve got Charon’s Dingy.  Here is the recipe (and the original name):

Sidecar to Milan
1.5oz Brandy
1oz Ramazzotti Amaro
.75oz fresh lemon juice
.50oz cinnamon syrup
.50oz honey syrup (or can substitute rich simple syrup, but may need to adjust proportions)
2 dashes whiskey barrel bitters

Shake everything with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with a flamed lemon peel.  After flamed, rub peel around edge of glass and drop in.

Luckily, one of my guests, Victor, brought along his video recorder and through the magic of the interwebs you can see the flamed lemon peel.  And before any of you say it, I was using plastic cups for the cocktails.  I don’t have enough nice glassware for everybody and plastic is a lot easier to get rid of.

Halloween 2008 from Marshall on Vimeo.

Kill-Devil Punch
A misnomer: The Devil will kill YOU over this punch.
Rum, LIme, Pineapple, Bubbly

I found this recipe at Epicurious and it turns out to have been supplied by Phil Ward of Death & Co.  Everyone seemed to really like this punch and by the end of the night I had gone through an entire bottle of prosecco.  The recipe makes enough for six drinks.

Kill-Devil Punch
9oz Rum
6oz Pineapple Juice
5oz Simple Syrup
4oz Fresh Lime Juice
5oz Champagne/Cava/Prosecco

Combine everything except the bubbly in a container and chill in the fridge for a few hours.  Pour over ice and top with the champagne/cava/prosecco.  Garnish with lime wheels, frozen raspberries, blackberries or other fruit.  Or garnish as I did, with a stick of sugar cane.  One note regarding the recipe, depending on how sweet/dry your bubbly is, you will probably want to adjust the amount of simple syrup.  For a dry champagne, leave at 5oz.  If using a sweeter sparkling wine, you may want to use less.

There you have it.  My Halloween 2008 cocktail menu.  Give these drinks a try and feel free to leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Yes, your humble scofflaw is back off to New York City!

It ends up some friends of mine from various parts of the country will all be up there at the same time, so it’s a good chance to meet up with a lot of people whom I profess to like (and vice versa).

Given that this isn’t like last time – i.e. a specific mission of cocktails – I’m having a few tonight, one last night, and I’m hoping against hope we can make it to Pegu Club and/or Death & Company. I think Pegu would be a big hit with a number in our group, and I’d love to say hi to Audrey again.

Last night, while over at Marshall’s, and having my first chance to try Fee’s Rhubarb Bitters (yummy), I had a Revival, from Food & Wine’s 2008 Cocktail book, and thankfully one that didn’t require specialty ingredients:

Revival
2 ounces rye (Rittenhouse 80 proof)
1/2 ounce Benedictine (the one, the only)
1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)
2 dashes absinthe or Pernod (I used Pernod)
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
Shake and strain, garnish with lemon twist

I actually liked this a lot; it was kind of dry but it was honestly probably the best drink I’ve had with maraschino in it so far.

Tonight, a coworker came by, and I made him a drink passed on to me by a friend I’ll just call “Martini Con Queso” – yes, the liquors ARE specific:

Sacre Blue
1 1/2 ounces Bombay Sapphire
3/4 ounce Lillet blonde
stir and strain; traditionally it should be garnished with a cube of blue cheese on a toothpick but I use a blue cheese-stuffed olive

As we sat and gossiped about work I made myself the traditional (for me) Sazerac from Gary Regan’s _Joy of Mixology_.

Sazerac
3 ounces rye (Rittenhouse 100 proof)
3/4 ounce simple syrup
2-3 dashes Peychaud’s
Fill a rocks glass with ice and absinthe (Lucid). Stir drink, toss out ice and Lucid, and strain; garnish with lemon twist

Mmmmm.

So now I’m on the chat room. And I don’t understand what’s going on, but I come up with a drink that needs a name:
2 ounces cognac (Hennessy)
1 ounce sweet vermouth (Carpano Antica)
1/3 ounce Benedictine
2 dashes celery bitters (Bitter Truth)

Stir and strain.

Later, it was a cocktail that I came up with just, well, to be annoying:

2 ounces Veev
1/2 ounce green Chartreuse
1/2 ounce simple syrup

Hmmm, we need to work on that one.

Later came a rye one that was well-received:
1 1/2 ounce rye
3/4 ounce Benedictine
1/4 oz absinthe
1/4 oz Fernet Branca

Finally, I’m ending with some kind of tiki drink:

1 1/2 oz dark rum (Gosling’s)
1 oz coconut water
1/2 oz pineapple juice

Oof. I’m going to say that’s the one that got me.

With that, I am off – check my Twitter feed (I’m HighwayStar on there) for anything interesting (or not) on that trip!