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Random Produce

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Sufferin’ Succulents

2 oz Prickly Pear infused Pisco [Macchu Pisco]
1/2 oz Chareau Aloe Spirit
1/2 oz Blanc Vermouth [Dolin]
barspoon Mezcal [Del Maguey Vida]

Pour mezcal into a cocktail glass, swirl and set aside. Combine remaining ingredients in mixing glass with ice and stir. Dump out mezcal, and strain other ingredients into the glass. Garnish with lime and orange Prickly Pear Cactus.

The other day I was at the grocery store, doing my normal weekly shopping. Veggies for some dinners during the week, snacks for lunches, and some fruit for the house. As I made my way towards the citrus, there was a whole display with a bunch of – shall we say, weirder – fruits. Yucca, star fruit, chayote. My cocktail gears started turning, so I took a closer look, and spotted some prickly pears. “Yeah”, I thought, “I could work with that” (despite the fact I never even had one before).

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Interesting Bubbles

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Prince of Wales

3/4 oz Brandy [Copper and Kings]
3/4 oz Madeira [Broadbent Rainwater]
1/4 oz Triple Sec [Short Path]
Few dashes Titze Bitters Bear’s Den Aromatic Bitters (original recipe calls for Angostura]

Combine in a mixing glass, stir with ice and strain into champagne flute.  Top with ~3 oz Champagen (or Prosecco, or Cava), and lightly stir to combine.  Garnish with lemon twist.

Taken from Mr. Boston Official Bartender’s guide.

Welp, it’s that time again.  The weather’s getting cold, the calendars are turning over, and parties are being planned.  Rest assured no matter where you celebrate Sunday night, there will be bubbles.  And it’s my yearly duty to remind you that you can do better than just champagne on New Year’s Eve. Continue reading →

Interstellar Hospitality

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Maz Kolada

1 oz Pineapple rum [Plantation Stiggins Fancy]
1/2 oz Aged Rum [Planation 5 year]
1/2 oz White Rum [Smoky Quartz Distillery]
3/4 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Coconut Cream [Coco Lopez]
1/4 oz Licor 43

Shake with ice, strain into an ice filled rocks glass.  Garnish with lime peel “glasses”.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know the latest Star Wars movie dropped last Friday.  And if you read this blog (or follow me on Instagram) you know I’m a huge Star Wars fan.  I haven’t seen The Last Jedi yet, but I did recently rewatch The Force Awakens as a quick refresher for where things left off.  Then I made a drink. Continue reading →

Just Don’t Slip on the Peel

Adam (aka Mr. Muddle)1 Comment

Come, Mr. Tally Mon

2 oz Aged Rum [Plantation 5 year]
1/2 oz Amaro Meletti
1/4 oz Banana Liqueur [Giffards]
1/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse

Stir with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with banana slice.

Guess what, there’s a whole event going on out in the drinkstagram-o-sphere celebrating all things bitter and (mostly) brown.  It’s Amaro Week!  My pal @mmydrinks has put together another wonderful campaign celebrating this tasty yet challenging class of spirit.  Be sure to follow @amaroweek and #amaroweek for amazing submissions from across the globe.  Continue reading →

Better Know a Classic: Rum Swizzle

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Rum Swizzle

2 oz Dark Rum [Plantation]
2 oz Gold Rum [Short Path]
2 oz Pineapple juice
1.75 oz Orange juice
1 oz Triple Sec [Short Path]
1 oz Falernum [house]
.75 oz Lemon Juice
few dashes angostura bitters

Combine ingredients in a glass and stir.  Fill a Collins glass 2/3 of the way with crushed ice, and add contents of mixing glass.  Swizzled or stir vigorously until a frost forms on the outside of the glass.  Top with more crushed ice.  Garnish with orange slice and mint (cuz I had some in my yard).  Add any kitschy swizzle sticks you may have and a straw.

* adapted from The Swizzle Inn website

Sorry (not sorry) for the lack of posts lately, but I have a valid excuse.  I was on vacation! A cruise to Bermuda to be exact.  While aboard the ship and on shore, I had many a tropical drink.  However, the one I’m spotlighting in this week’s entry into the Better Know a Classic series is Bermuda’s other famous drink – the Rum Swizzle.

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Woodsy Refreshment

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Conifer Fizz

1 oz Green Chartreuse
1 oz Cocchi Americano
1/2 oz Pine Syrup [Dram Apothecary]
1/4 oz Lime Juice

Combine ingredients with ice and shake.  Strain into an ice filled Collins glass and top with 3 oz club soda.  Garnish with lime slices.

We spent last weekend up in the White Mountains in New Hampshire.  It’s one of my favorite parts of New England, with outdoors activities galore and jaw dropping views.  Hiking is the real attraction though, with trails taking you up mountains, to waterfalls, and through dense forests.  So it’s no surprise when I got home I was inspired to use my newly acquired Dram Apothecary pine syrup I bought at the Boston General Store. Continue reading →

Cinnamon and Spice and Everything Nice

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Hot Take

1 oz Bourbon [Woodford Reserve]
3/4 oz Besamim [Sukkah Hill Spirits]
3/4 oz Ramazzotti
1/2 oz Dark Rum [Plantation]

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass.  Stir with ice, strain into an empty rocks glass. Garnish with charred cinnamon stick.  If you don’t have Besamim, you could try 1/2 oz Benedictine and 1/4 oz Allspice Dram plus your most cinnamony bitters.

A few months ago Sukkah Hill Spirits was nice enough to send me a sample of two of their spirits.  I already talked about their Etrog Liqueur for the Julerita, so today I’m turning my attention toward their Besamim Liqueur. Continue reading →

Inspiration in a Glass (or Store, or Bottle)

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Robber Baron

1 oz Rye Whiskey [Rittenhouse]
1 oz American Single Malt Whiskey [Ryan and Wood]
1/4-1/2 oz Earl Gray Tea Syrup*
Few dashes DRAM Palo Santo bitters
Scant barspoon each of Ardbeg 10 (or other smoky scotch) and Absinthe

Rinse rocks glass with absinthe and scotch, set aside.  Combine everything else in a glass and stir with ice.  Strain into rinsed rocks glass, express oils from a lemon twist and discard.

* Earl Grey Tea Syrup – steep three Earl Grey Tea bags in 3/4 cup near boiling water for 5-10 mins. Remove tea bags, add 3/4 cup sugar and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Let cool and store in the fridge. A splash of vodka will extend the shelf life.

This past Tuesday was Mardi Gras, and I saw lots of people posting about Sazeracs (rightfully so).  It’s a wonderfully simple drink with a ton of flavor.  Booze, sugar, bitters. Doesn’t get much more spartan than that.  However, even in this constrained formula, there is room for variation.  Take a look at the original, for example.  Even then one could use cognac or rye whiskey.  Some have taken things a step further and done a split base approach with both spirits.  This week I’m going in the same direction, but with my own spin.

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Even Steven

Adam (aka Mr. Muddle)4 Comments

Captain of Industry

1 oz Gin <Bully Boy>
1 oz Green Chartreuse
1 oz Amaro Montenegro
Few dashes Angostura Bitters

Stir ingredients with ice, strain into an ice filled rocks glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Last weekend I listened to an episode of the Speakeasy podcast.  The guest was Kara Newman, author of Shake, Stir, Sip.  Her book consists solely of recipes where all the ingredients are used in equal parts (aside from bitters).  From the two ingredient Martinez to the four ingredient Last Word and beyond, this is one of the most useful templates for the home bartender (or any bartender, really).  I use it often, like in the Jagroni, Supersonic Parachute, Firepit, etc.  After listening to this episode, I was inspired to work with this ratio again. Continue reading →