The GF gave me a twist & sparkle for my birthday. (Oh, I can’t believe I just typed that! Perverts!) Now I have an iSi sofa siphon that I use to make soda water and I really enjoy it. The T&S allows me to carbonate other delicious drinks. I think you know where I’m going with this.

Last weekend while hanging out at a friend’s house who has a T&S, we carbonated several batches of pisco punch. Other than the carbonation, the flavor of the punch was slightly altered. Basically, the flavor was a bit muted. We added a little extra lime juice to punch (get it?) up the tartness and the second batch came out great.

Another great benefit is making homemade sodas. And the first think I had to make was ginger beer! I used Morgenblogger’s recipe. It’s a very simple recipe and tasty to boot.

As I investigate more fun uses I’ll report back.

Cheers!

Sorry. I love that movie (The Rock, if you have to ask). We used to watch it twice a night in college – once on a copy with crappy video and good sound, and once with a copy that had good video and crappy sound. Typically put away a block of Kroger’s brand pepper jack cheese and a bag of tortilla chips along with a couple of 40s while doing it.

No, I do not wonder why I am fat.

When DJ Hawaiian Shirt aka MEESTER CHREES posted this topic my first thought was to whine. After all, I did not go home with the prom queen.

To be honest, I don’t even remember who the prom queen was. Though, by careful scientific calculation, I’m sure that whomever she was, she’d want to hook up with me now, definitely, unless she’s married, in which case she’d just be thinking about in the back of her head.

(waits for someone from high school to read this blog post and either direly insult me or post pictures of how dorky I am was back then)

(waits for Marshall to say something so he can break out Photoshop and have some real fun)

Anyways, I realized I did have a drink that was popular. It’s not that I don’t think I make good drinks (SHUT THE HELL UP REST OF THE COCKTAIL BLOGGER COMMUNITY) it’s just that I don’t typically sit around and tweak them until they’re perfect.

THAT’S MY EXCUSE AND I’M STICKING TO IT.

But some of them have been popular.

I don't know KP is hosting it but hey.

Back a few years ago (2, to be precise) I decided to come up with drinks named after a bunch of folks working up to Tales of the Cocktail 2009.

Oh, to be young and stupid in those days!

One of the drinks I did I named after local bartender Derek Brown. To call him just a “bartender” is to call Tiger Woods just a “golfer” or “trashy girl?aficionado” or to call [POLITICIAN RANT DELETED].

Those motherfu[DELETED] how much I [DELETED].

Sorry.

Basically, this was an easy drink to come up with: Dolin Blanc is delicious. At the time – and I don’t think he still is, but I could be wrong, and don’t have time to double-check so as to give this post the delicious patina of last-minute-panic that DJ Hawaiian Shirt evidently just drinks in from my posts – he was a brand rep for Domaine de Canton.

Thus, the Derek:

The Derek
3-4 leaves of mint
1/2 ounce Domaine de Canton
3 ounces Dolin Blanc
1 dash orange bitters (Regans #6)
Lightly muddle the mint and Domaine de Canton in an old-fashioned glass.? Add the vermouth, bitters, and ice.? Stir gently to mix.? Garnish with a fresh sprig of mint.

(The post I originally put this in explains why it has so much better a picture than I’d normally give a drink.)

The really cool thing about this drink is how easily it’s modified; just sub out the Domaine, really. Try The Bitter Truth E***X***R, for instance, or Berechovka – two of the drinks I’ve had recently – or even better, try Hum. Replace the Dolin Blanc with Caparno.

Okay, there’s one of my best drinks. People really seemed to like it.

But this is SCOFFLAW’S DEN! We don’t just kowtow to MxMo with one drink! NEIN! NYET! NO! We do multiple drinks!

So, I give you, by far, and without pictures, the two most popular drinks I’ve ever come up with. In some synchronicity, these are also named after people I know. In fact, it’s my brother and my sister-in-law.

Back in the hectic, lawless, far-flung days of 2009 I lived with my brother and his?fianc?e. As they approached the sacred rites that would bond them as one, forever destined to take care of two flagrantly obnoxious cats, and one condo surrounded by some?pusillanimous (and some?recherch?, I admit) neighbors, I suggested I’d make up drinks named for each of them. They liked the idea and I disseminated some test drinks which, soon enough, got narrowed down to these. The fact that their cakes would be soaked in Grand Marnier gave me the appropriate animus.

The Matt
2 ounces Crown Royal
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
2-3 dashes Regan’s #6 orange bitters
Top with Coca-cola
Build in a low ball glass. Stir.

A lot of my family likes Crown & Coke and so I built from there. What’s scary about this drink is how easily it goes down, as the GM just makes it … well, damn easy to drink. Even if you replace the Crown with rum (as one guest did at the reception) or the Coke with diet (as many guests did).

The Cathy
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
1/2 ounce vodka
Top with sparkling wine/champagne
Garnish with a long twist of orange peel
Build in a champagne flute

Like the other drink, I also wanted to make sure these were easy to make for the bartenders. When I tested this for the first time I was actually asked (surprisingly to me) to make it stronger, thus the vodka.

Warning note: Five of these might mean you nap somewhere you’d rather not do so.

So that’s it for this MxMo. Thanks to DJ Hawaiian Shirt for hosting, and Paul for organizing. Cheers!

I’m keeping tonight’s short, not to disrespect it’s namesake (who is busy working right now) but because it’s already been a long day for me.

If you’re into cocktails in the DC area and haven’t met Chantal Tseng yet, you need to make your way to the Tabard Inn on a Wednesday or Thursday night and meet her.? She not only makes some great drinks but is a lot of fun to hang out with whether she’s behind the bar or just chilling.

When thinking of a drink for her, I wanted something a bit classy, but I also remembered her Tabard cocktail which included tequila.? She’s engaged to Derek, so I thought – hmmmm, maybe we should have some Domaine de Canton in there, too.? Well – whaddyaknow.

Yes, that's not very good champagne, but I don't have good champagne in a small bottle.

The Chantal
1 1/2 ounces tequila blanco (inocente)
1/2 ounce Domaine de Canton
2 dashes orange bitters (Regan’s #6)
Champagne
Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.? Top with champagne.? Garnish with a long twist of lime peel, or if you’re as bad at it as I am, three small pieces of lime peel.

If you try it with other kinds of champagne, let me know!

[Tenth 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.]

But you don’t come here to the Den to read about cats, you come for the drinks.

Cathy had asked me to come up with drinks for each of them for the wedding reception.? We talked about it with the wedding planner at the Four Seasons Georgetown and she liked the idea, so I started banging my head against a table.? What would be a good drink for each of them?

Matt – most of his liquor drinks are “something and coke” – usually Jack Daniels or Crown Royal (Crown Royal being the unofficial family drink of our clan, it seems).? I had hoped to convince Crown to hook us up for the wedding, but alas, they didn’t write back to me.? He’s not a fan of very “liquor”-y tasting drinks.

Cathy – her primary drink is usually the kir royale or some variation of it – Chambord or creme de cassis topped with champagne, basically.? One long night I’d invented a drink called the “Cathy cocktail” which was Hendricks, creme de cassis, and something else topped with Sprite but I wanted something new.

I took into consideration a few other things, too:

1. The wedding cakes would be soaked in Grand Marnier.
2. The drinks should be easy on everyone – in terms of tastes.? I might love a good Sazerac, but that doesn’t mean my cousins do.
3. It should be easily made by the Four Seasons.

So I started experimenting.? From the looks and the sounds of it, I hit the ball out of the ballpark with both of them – especially by the descriptions of some of the hangovers!

I’ll show the Cathy first, since it doesn’t have my ugly mug in the picture.

This picture is from our friend Jennie Lin (used with permission).? She and Debbie are enjoying a Cathy’s Cocktail.

Cathy’s Cocktail
1/2 ounce vodka
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
Dash of Chambord
Champagne
Shake the vodka and Grand Marnier together.? Pour a dash of Chambord into a champagne flute and swirl it around to coat the flute.? Pour in the vodka and Grand Marnier, then top with champagne.? Garnish with a twist of orange rind.

One of the things that the Four Seasons did for both was premix parts of it, and that made them faster.? Which is a good thing to do with hundreds of guests, but after the reception I went upstairs and had Kevin at the Bourbon Steak bar make another Matt’s Cocktail and it was goshdarned delicious-er.

(And if you’re wondering, I’m going back to the bar at Bourbon Steak, as their drinks and food were AWESOME, but I want to devote some time just to that.)

Here I’m holding up a Matt’s Cocktail while Joanna and I sing along with some song that the DJ was playing (picture courtesy of her husband, Mike Conroy).? That’s the kind of thing that a drink like this will do to you – it’ll fill you up with sugar and caffeine and make you silly.? I hadn’t drank that much “regular” Coke in years and I definitely did not sleep at all that night (well, for the most part).

Matt’s Cocktail
2 ounces Crown Royal
1 ounce Grand Marnier
2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
Coca-Cola
Shake the first three things over ice and strain into a glass.? Top with Coke.

So – have any of y’all out there made specialty drinks for someone’s big occasion?? How’d it go?

Champagne, of course, is that fizzy white wine from the Champagne region of France.? Cava is champagne’s Spanish brother while prosecco is the Italian sister.? Learn about more types of sparkling wines here.

Whatever you call it, sparkling wine is a wonderful way to ring in the New Year.? It’s festive, tasty and looks great in a glass.? Ahhh, but even though it is wonderful all by it’s lonesome, champagne makes an excellent addition to cocktails.

One of the great things about champagne is its versatility.? One word of warning though – whichever type of sparkling wine you use for cocktails taste it first.? Many sparkling wines are very dry, also called “Brut.”? This dryness comes for a relatively low amount of sugar.? But the opposite is also true, some sparkling wines are incredibly sweet.? You’ll need to figure this out before mixing cocktails in order to achieve the proper balance.

Before the New Year celebrations begin, I want to share with you a few classic champagne based cocktails.? First, is the aptly named “Champagne Cocktail.”

Champagne Cocktail
1 sugar cube
Angostura Bitters
Sparkling Wine/Champagne

Saturate the sugar cube with Angostura bitters.? Pour a flute of champagne and drop in the sugar cube.? Watch the pretty fizz.

Honestly, the sugar cube and the bitters don’t bring much to the party.? As the sugar cube breaks down, the bitters are released into the drink but not enough to drastically alter the taste of the champagne.? The sugar just kind of sits in the bottom of the glass and without stirring it up (and releasing a lot of the bubbles in the process) it doesn’t do much good either.? But it certainly makes for a striking presentation!

Another classic champagne (or sparkling wine) cocktail is one of my favorites, the French 75.

French 75
2oz Gin
1oz lemon juice
2 bar spoons simple syrup
Champagne

-Shake gin, lemon juice and simple syrup with ice and strain into a chilled champagne flute.? Top with champagne.? Garnish with a spiral of lemon peel and a maraschino cherry.

The French 75 is, to me, what a champagne cocktail should be. It is sweet, tart, fizzy and packs a nice little punch (almost like a piece of artillery . . . ) from the gin. This is a pure crowd-pleaser – not even the self-described gin haters would turn down this cocktail. Feel free to play around with the types of gin you use to find what works best for you. I’ve used Plymouth, Aviation and Hendrick’s to great success. Each creates a slightly different profile on the final product and each was very (hic!) enjoyable!

Finally, feel free to experiment with creations of your own. Sparkling wine is a fantastic base to create your own house cocktails. While prepping for this article, I had just finished a batch of spiced pumpkin liqueur. (Keep your eyes open to the Scofflaw’s Den for more about that!) I decided to take my own advice and see if I could come up with something unique and festive using champagne and the spiced pumpkin liqueur. What I came away with is

A Sweet Ending
2oz Amber Rum
1oz Spiced Pumpkin Liqueur
Dry/Brut Sparkling Wine

-Shake the rum and liqueur with ice and strain into a chilled champagne flute. Top with the dry sparkling wine of your choice.

The name is derived from the sweet ending of a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal – usually pumpkin pie at my house.? But it also serves as a reminder that this is the ending of one year and the beginning of the next.

So there you have it.? Go out and buy a few bottles of your favorite sparkling wine and experiment with some cocktails of your own.? You and you’re guests will love the versatility and creativity that champagne cocktails bring to the party.

Have a Happy (and Safe) New Year!? Cheers!

Additional champagne cocktail photos can be found here.

When we went to New Heights Restaurant last week, I had a lot of fun.  Marshall wrote up his long post on it but I wanted to touch on some of the points of my visit.

Like I said, I had a great time.  Everyone was very friendly there.  I felt a bit bad for our bartender, Chris.  He was a pretty nice guy but was almost overwhelmingly slammed a good bit of the night.  Two different tables ordered brandy alexanders!  There were a lot of no-reservation walk-ins for both the dining room and the bar thanks to a convention and the article in the WaPo (I heard them say).

Marshall is s-m-r-t … errr… smart.  When we first walked in it was fairly empty so we took seats right at the very end of the bar.  That kept us from getting surrounded when the large group came in.  I still got jostled a lot by one of the first guys in from that group.  I was convinced that they were going to be quite annoying but in fact they were very polite and when they realized they were running into me made it a point to be careful about it.  You know what?  Thanks!  Honestly, I appreciated their concern and effort to be conscientious bar-neighbors.

(Compare that to the other night at Bailey’s when the guys next to me – even a few chairs down – seemed nice at first but quickly grew annoying, to the point of having my chair stolen when I was in the bathroom and smoke blown at me.)

For the most part that night I stuck with gin and tonics.  My reasoning – which seemed to be accurate – was two-fold.

First, that’d provide a consistent tasting amongst the different gins.  To be completely consistent I should’ve stuck with the same tonic all the time.  They had a list of tonics and how to pair gin with tonic so I stuck with those guidelines.  At home I tend to stick to one kind of tonic.

Second, it would be easier for the bartender.  That it was – I definitely got drinks faster.

It looks like I didn’t manage to Twitter EVERYTHING…oh well.  I definitely had a gin and tonic to start, I just don’t remember which one!  Andrew (our original bartender) made us an Aviation with Aviation gin.  I liked it more than previous ones I’d had, though Marshall does have that creme de violette fetish.

Next was the #24.  They had a couple of these “numbered” drinks and I neglected to ask what was up with that naming schema.  This one was, according to my Twitter, G-vine gin, St. Germaine elderflower liqueur, Peychaud’s bitters, simple syrup, kaffir lime leaf, lime juice, Schweppes tonic.  I’d never heard of G-vine gin before that night and they had sent the pastry chef out to buy some more of it.  It’s a French gin and I actually found later in a gin and tonic that I liked it a lot.

Next up was another gin and tonic.  This time I tried the Old Raj, blue label, with the Fever-Tree tonic.  That was quite good.  There’s another label (red, I believe) of Old Raj, but the blue is stronger and I wanted more of the taste to shine.

Around this time we got our food.  The ham & cheese croquettes were awesome, as were the truffle fries.  I also got the pickled herring (MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE) and I loved it.  Honestly – I think it was the best pickled herring I’ve had.  To be completely honest, I’ve only had it a couple of other times but I think it was better than it was at Aquavit.

I threw Chris a curveball for the next drink.  Let’s avoid the gins and hit the classic – a Sazerac.  It’s always interesting how other people make it.  He used St. George absinthe, for one.  Due to the expense of St. George, as he pointed out, he doesn’t just toss it out as you’re supposed to do with the pastis.  He just pours a little bit in.  Then there was a sugar cube, both Peychaud’s and Regan’s bitters, and Russell’s Reserve rye.  That rye is one I use a lot in Sazeracs.  It was quite tasty, if not as sweet as I tend to prefer mine.

Next was back to the gin and tonic.  I knew I needed something big to cut through the remnants of taste in the Saz.  I went with the G-vine and Fever-Tree bitter lemon tonic.  That was a SPECTACULAR choice.  I’m really digging the G-vine.

Jake had been hanging out with us and had been waiting on a complimentary Aviation for a while but finally needed to leave.  Just after he left it came up so Marshall and I polished it off.  I’d had a Rogue Spruce gin and Schweppe’s before that and needed to clear some of the taste out of my mouth; it wasn’t that bad but it wasn’t something I particularly go for.  Kind of like how a really peaty Scotch might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

The final drink of the bar for me was a martini – I’m a huge martini fan, I’ve found.  And it was good.  Marshall had a champagne cocktail of some sort.

We went home after that.  Just as I got home some friends of Cathy’s were coming in for the birthday of one of her really good friends.  Cathy wanted a drink and surprisingly enough, not a champagne drink like she usually has.  I ended up drinking the Kir Royale made with sparkling shiraz (not the best drink ever) while I thought up something.  I called it the Cathy Cocktail:
3/4 ounce Hendrick’s gin
1/2 ounce creme de cassis
1/4 ounce simple syrup
dash of Regans bitters

Shake, pour over ice in a collins glass, top with Sprite.

Later her friends and I did an absinthe tasting between the Kubler and the Lucid.  While tasty, it was not what I needed at that point in the evening…it definitely led to a rough morning when I had to get up early to take care of the block party!

2 ounces Hendricks Gin
2 ounces St. Germain
1/2 ounce simple syrup
1/2 ounce lemon juice
2 ounces sparkling wine (I stole some of Cathy’s Korbel)

Mmmmm.

For a good bit of the day I’d been drinking Sam Adams Winter Lager so the drink made a great departure from that.  I passed mine around the room and everyone seemed to enjoy it, too.  The first was a bit too sweet, so I upped the sparkling wine in the second (I was using the Demerara simple syrup which might’ve caused that).

I need to buy some of my own sparkling wine so I can make this more.

Hey that URL sounds familiar…oh yeah.  It’s in my bookmarks.

She’s got two recipes in there from the “resident mixologist” for Bombay Sapphire.  Since I was thinking of picking up a bottle of that (mostly for martinis) soon, I went ahead and picked up the magazine (well, for that, and for the article on take-out).

Here are the recipes.

White Sapphire Ginger Martini
1 ounce Bombay Sapphire
Slither of fresh ginger
8 white grapes
1/2 ounce fresh apple juice

Muddle ginger and grapes at the bottom of a cocktail shaker.  Add remaining ingredients, then shake with lots of ice.  Strain into a chilled martini glass.

I’m not certain if I see the point of this one.  You’ll get…sort of grape-ginger-apple flavor?  I’m guessing that the Bombay Sapphire is going to be fairly overwhelmed by everything else, especially the grapes, though you might get a hint of flavor/burn.  And by shaking, it’s going to be all cloudy, as the attached picture shows in the magazine, but I guess with 8 muddled grapes it’s going to look worse if it was stirred.

The suggestion is for it to go with rich, meaty crab cakes.

Sapphire Bubbles
1 1/4 ounce Bombay Sapphire gin
1 teaspoon fine sugar
1/2 ounce lemon juice
2 ounces dry champagne
1/2 ounce mandarin liqueur

Mix lemon juice and fine sugar into stirring glass then fill with ice.  Add gin and mandarin liqueur.  Shake and strain into chilled champagne flute.  Top with champagne.

Again with the shaking!  On his site, Robert Hess often complains about the grittiness that one can get from using sugar in a drink versus simpnle syrup.  You may need to shake to get the sugar fully dissolved, but I’d rather stir (maybe) with simple syrup.  On the other hand, maybe the bubbles in the champagne would cover up the sugar’s grittiness.

This is one I could see myself making for Cathy – though it may be too strong for her.

I haven’t had any experience with Mandarin liqueur.  Any suggestions on a brand out there?

There’s also a review of a vodka that’s trying to be a gin called Sonnema VodkaHERB.  I’m kind of wondering the point…