April 2010
2 posts
8 tags
Roll Your Own: Rainy Day Woman, no. 23
I’ve been rehearsing a rum cocktail in my head for about a week now. Turning it over and over and trying to make it come together without getting totally smashed in the process. I enjoy dark liquor, I do, but I do not for the life of me know how to mix it well. Standard cocktails are one things. Batshit inventions are another.
So, understandably, I came back to the gin. And decided that it...
March 2010
5 posts
9 tags
Roll Your Own: Sunday Afternoon
Today’s cocktail I approached with this requirement: it had to contain either sloe gin, crème de violette, or bourbon. I’m not yet well versed enough in this drink mixing to trust myself to do right by whiskey and as far as the sloe gin is concerned - let’s be honest - I’ll most likely use it in a Sloe Comfortable Screw Against the Wall - if only because the name is...
11 tags
Roll Your Own: La Comunista
After prolonged discussions about my recently acquired rhubarb bitters (thanks, Jeremy!) and an excellent prohibition cocktail (ginger beer and rhubarb bitters - next time a lime twist is in order), I decided to finally do a Monday mixology post. It’s a very very far departure from a Negroni, but that idea is more or less where I started. Given the color, I’m calling it La Comunista....
9 tags
Shot in the dark: Silver Sloe Gin Fizz
I’ve been on a hunt for sloe gin for a few weeks. I’d had it once before, in a drink at Bourbon & Branch which I believe they called the Casino Royale. (Namely, a Casino with sloe gin. I feel like there must have been some regular gin as well.)
BevMo does not carry sloe gin anymore, which I now know. John Walker, however, does. My most recent acquisitions have all been from there:...
7 tags
Embury Cocktail: Lotus Club Special
The Sazerac is in many ways a go-to cocktail for me. I am a huge proponent of Peychaud’s bitters and I love both whiskey and absinthe. I am not, however, a fan of the effort it takes to make a Sazerac.
Tonight, I wasn’t in much of a rye mood either. Embury offered up this delightful drink, “with pretty much the same flavor as the Sazerac but which can be made with much less fuss...
1 tag
“But, for the love of all that is holy, don’t spoil a good liquor by mixing...”
– David A. Embury, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks
February 2010
5 posts
6 tags
Embury Cocktail: The Aviation
A recent shopping trip to BevMo netted me Campari, Lillet Blanc, orange bitters, and Maraschino. I had gone to find Sloe Gin, but apparently they don’t carry that anymore. I was told to try Cassis. Right. I also came into possession of a handle of Maker’s - thank goodness for Costco - so I decided that tonight’s drink would have to involve one of the new purchases.
Thumbing...
5 tags
Basic Drink: Jack Rose
My absolute favorite drink looks pretty girlie. I guess in many ways it is pretty girlie. But it could be worse. One of my mother’s many cousins drinks a “Grey Goose Cosmo, shaken hard.” This cousin is one of my favorite people, but that drink order…
The Jack Rose is a pink drink. Gorgeously but embarrassingly pink. A bright, melony, in-your-face pink. The question is of...
1 tag
Straight up: Laird's Applejack
The Jack Rose being one of Embury’s six basic drinks necessitated the purchase of some Applejack. And since next to no one makes Applejack today, it had to be Laird’s.
It looks like brandy and smells like brandy and tastes like brandy. I was hoping for a hint of apple flavor or even scent, but no such luck. It’s not terrible, but it’s certainly not the best I’ve...
7 tags
Basic Drink: Martini
There is something absolutely enchanting about the smell of a good martini: the cool, wintry juniper smell of the gin; the sweet notes of the vermouth; a hint of lemon; a dash of olive brine. This is the stuff that dreams are made of. (No, wait, that must be Rye.) I am a gin drinker. A snobby gin drinker at that. When asked what type of martini or gimlet I’d like, I always blankly stare at...
7 tags
Basic Drink: Sidecar
After years of lusting after it, The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks is finally mine. As a celebration of this purchase, I decided to jump right into David Embury’s six basic drinks. Having already tasted 4 of the 6 and being plumb out of Applejack, I opted for the Sidecar.
8 parts cognac (Hennessy Privilegé V.S.O.P.) + 2 parts lemon juice + 1 part orange liqueur (Grand Marnier)
The drink is...