An online speakeasy of potent potables and other pabulam.

As Sean mentioned yesterday, I have been working on my first brand new cocktail.? I wanted to create something that reminded me of one of my favorite times of the year, autumn in Virginia.? So it kind of named itself the “Virginia Autumn.”? I checked a lot of cocktail databases, blogs, food websites and the Mixosphere and didn’t find any drinks that used the ingredients I had in mind.

I wanted to base the drink on apples.? Virginia has a lot of apples and growing up, we had a small apple orchard on our property that produced great apples, so apples it is.? For the main spirit, I decided to go with Laird’s Applejack because, well, it is an apple brandy and it is a true American spirit.? Check out the link to learn more.? I also have my new bottle of St. Germain elderflower liqueur that I really wanted to incorporate.? I also wanted to add a background flavor/essence that would remind me of apple pies, fall baking/cooking and those great smells of cinnamon, nutmeg, and a warm fire.? Luckily I had some Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters that provide the perfect oaky-cinnamon-baking spice that I was looking for.

Finally, after several trials and errors, with consultation and advice from

runoknows

and a great mixologist and good all around guy Jamie Boudreau, here is the final recipe:
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Virginia Autumn

1.5 oz Laird’s Applejack
1.0 oz? Apple Cider
0.5 oz St. Germain
3/4 tsp Rich Simple Syrup*
1 dash of Fee Brothers’ Orange Bitters
3-4 dashes of Fee Brothers’? Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters

Shake well with cracked ice until your hands feel like they’ve been blasted by a cold November wind and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.? Garnish with a small apple slice on the rim of the glass or a paper thin round of apple floating on top.

*To make Rich Simple Syrup, heat equal parts of water and demerara sugar until dissolved.? Remove from heat and let cool.? Add about an ounce of high proof vodka for shelf-stability, bottle and keep in fridge.
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The glass is a cocktail glass from a set my father purchased after he graduated from the University of Virginia in 1965.? The rim and seal of The University are in gold leaf.? This seemed a very fitting glass to my first foray into classic cocktails.

On another note.? I GOT SOME NEW SUPPLIES LAST NIGHT!? YEEE-HAWWWW.

I got (from left to right) some tiki and palm tree cocktail stirrers, a bottle of Fee Brothers’ Orange Flower water, a bottle of Fee Brothers Orgeat syrup, a bottle of Fee Brothers West Indian Orange Bitters, a bottle of Fee Brothers Falernum (which I have been dying to get!) and a bottle of Fee Brothers Peach Bitters.? Let the mixing begin!

Finally, because I love this picture so much, here you go:

This is my bottle of Thomas H. Handy Sazerac Rye Whiskey, a part of the 2006 Buffalo Trace Antique Selection.? It is unfiltered and bottled at barrel strength.? If you look closely, you can see the handwritten proof on the label . . . yes it does say 132.7 proof.? Yes, Homer, it makes me happy too . . .

So last night, in lieu of going over to

tmfiii

‘s apartment for a cigar, I hung out with a neighbor of mine to have a celebratory cigar.

I almost brought out one of my more expensive ones but decided at the last minute to go with a Lone Wolf Sungrown.  The Lone Wolfs are a good day to day cigar in my opinion – they’re not bad, they’re pretty inexpensive, and if I lose one or it’s a poor smoke, I don’t feel disappointed.

The wind was rather gusty in our area, but the cigar lit fine.  As soon as I ashed it, though, it immediately tunneled and had a hard time staying lit.  I only managed to get about halfway through it before I gave up in frustration.

At least, after all, it was only a Lone Wolf!  The only cheaper cigar that I have in my humidor is a Maker’s Mark little tiny one, given to me in honor of a friend having his first kid, and that one is technically my brother’s, but he’ll never smoke it.

I also started tasting some bourbons.  Marshall made the autumn drink, which if I remember correctly he’s already posted on here, the one using Laird’s Applejack, apple cider, St. Germain, and some bitters.  I’m looking to do a winter drink, and while it’s still unseasonably warm (dammit) I’m looking to do something combining whiskey and vanilla.

I haven’t decided exactly what kind of whiskey or how I’m going to do it yet, though.  So yesterday I bought about a dozen miniatures of various bourbons and blended scotches – plus a Canadian or two – and I’m going to work my way through them, taste testing.  Last night I did the two bourbons that I bought, Bulleit and Maker’s Mark.

(Given that it’s good odds that I’ll be buying more good bourbon in the future I wasn’t overly worried about trying a lot of them.  I’d like to keep it to a fairly mid-line whiskey, though.)

The Bulleit, even with a few drops of water thrown in, just tasted a bit harsh to me.  Bourbon Enthusiast describes it as:
Initial nosings pick up soft, even flowery scents of violets and juniper; later whiffs identify melded aromas of dried herbs, hay, dry cereal, wild flowers, mushrooms and spice. Plenty of grip at palate entry; midpalate is plump and sweet corn-like. Finish is moderately sweet and long. An understated whiskey that subtly displays multiple levels of complexity.

So I went on to the Maker’s, it being one of the bourbons that I’ve had in a number of mixed drinks but not straight in a while (despite it being the favorite drink of someone…).  I found it much smoother, much easier to drink, and I could easily see it pairing well with vanilla.  Michael Jackson (in whiskymag.com, via bourbonenthusiast.com) described it:
Nose: Wheaty, nutty. Bananas?
Palate: Buttered toast. Molasses. Maple syrup.
Finish: Clean, dryish, flapjack.
Comment: Beautifully structured. Tightly combined flavours. Every bit as smooth as it claims to be.

Another quoted reviewer on that site, Jim Murray, had an additional line that matched with what I tasted:
Finish: Caramel toffee with the oak guarantees a bittersweet edge.

This definitely becomes a contender.  I’ll probably try the Elmer T. Lee, maybe some Buffalo Trace and Eagle Rare again before moving on to the scotches – or I might just try the scotches.  I’ve got a variety of blended scotches, such as Johnny Black, Chivas, Dewar’s White Label and Dewar’s Reserve, plus some other whiskeys I haven’t tried before (and, of course, Crown Royale, since that’s the family whiskey it seems).

Heck, I’ll probably go ahead and throw in some Evan Williams into the mix.  Not Jim Beam, though – I freakin’ HATE Jim Beam.  (Too much of it in college, I wager.)

As seen on CNN.

A lot of people were in favor of this bill because “won’t you please think of the children” lad-dee-dah.  The economic ramifications a lot of the taxation increases (such as the loss of literally hundreds of thousands of jobs south of the border, but I guess they don’t matter ’cause they aren’t, you know, up here), the huge increase in Federal control, etc., all make me very glad it didn’t pass.

Don’t get me wrong.  There were good intentions in there.  They were just poorly implemented.

tmfiii

sent me a link that led me to a NYTimes blog post about Underberg.

Yay!  Underberg!

We first had Underberg at a restaurant in NYC called Lederhosen.  A German place, it had a display of it, and while a friend of ours had a bottle with a German label, theirs was in English.  They suggested we wait until after we eat to try it, and thus we did.  It definitely helped with the digestion!

Later, as mentioned in my “normal”

runoknows

blog, a friend of mine brought me a different bitter from Lithuania:

While some people compare Underberg – rightfully or not – to Jagermeister – though I’d say a spicier version thereof – the 999 is smoother and less of an attack on the senses.  It does satiate the bloated feeling you can get after a big meal, though I think (perhaps psychosomatically) that the Underberg does a better job.

Of course, we also have a bottle of port I could break open and use a digestif.  But that ain’t bitter.

Supposedly Campari is used in that regards, too, but I don’t own a bottle of that…yet.

Let’s see, what else can you use…