3/4 oz Gin [Ryan and Wood]
3/4 oz Triple Sec [Short Path]
3/4 oz Etrog Liqueur [Sukkah Hill Spirits]
3/4 oz Amaro Montenegro
Stir ingredients with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist.
A few weeks ago Mrs. Muddle informed me a package showed up at our door that appeared to be boozemail. She asked if I was expecting anything, but I was not. It turned out the folks at Sukkah Hill Spirits sent me a bottle of their Etrog liqueur. Continue reading
Nexus of the Universe1 1/2 oz Rye Whiskey [Rittenhouse]
1/2 oz Cranberry Liqueur [Grand Ten]
1/2 oz Amaro Montenegro
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth [Dolin]
Few dashes Black and Blue bitters [Black Cloud Bitters]
Stir with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with cherries.
One of my favorite things about making cocktails is inspiration can come from anywhere. Maybe a drink I had at a bar, or something from out of one of the books on my shelf. As my network of fellow drinkstagrammers and bloggers continues to grow, I can barely keep up with all the drinks I bookmark for later consumption. Continue reading
1 1/2 oz Gin <Boodles>
1 oz Amaro Montenegro
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
1 barspoon (~1/8 oz) Apricot Liqueur <Rothman and Winter>
Lemon-Ginger Bitters <Hella Bitters>
Stir with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with half a dried apricot.
When I’m out at bars and restaurants, I try to order things I can’t actually make at home. Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for an expertly made Perfect Manhattan or Last Word. But discovering new flavors is one of my favorite parts of bellying up to a bar. After a few successful encounters out in the wild, I’ll hone in on a particular bottle and bring it home. That’s where the real fun begins. If things go well, I may have a new staple on my hands (looking at you Benedictine and Becherovka). Other times, the getting-to-know-you period can be a bit more challenging, as I discovered when I finally purchased a bottle of apricot liqueur. Continue reading
1 1/2 oz Brandy
3/4 oz Strawberry Shrub
1/2 oz Amaro Montenegro
1/4 oz St. Germain
Hopped Grapefruit Bitters <Bittermen’s>
Stir with ice, strain into rocks glass over ice. Garnish with strawberry wheel.
It’s finally here, the Mixology Monday CX -Vinegar roundup (better late than never, amirite?). It looks like this theme really sparked some creativity, as we had several people with multiple submissions this time around. On to the drinks!
1 oz Old Tom Gin <Hayman’s>
3/4 oz Amaro Montenegro
1/4 oz Campari
1 oz Port <Dow’s Finest Reserve>
Stir with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist.
On Tuesday night I came out to my car to find the front passenger side tire completely flat. Closer inspection revealed a nail sticking out of the tread. No biggie, I’ve changed plenty of tires in my day. All I needed to do was grab the wheel lock key that lives under the passenger seat. I looked in its usual spot only to find the thin pile of the floor mats. Crap. Lack of wheel lock keys makes changing the tire nigh impossible. Even a call to AAA couldn’t get the tire off. What should have been a simple twenty minute job now stretched into 2 hours and included me riding shotgun in the tow truck on the 40 minute ride home. At least there was some unintentional comedy as the driver was rocking out to some Debbie Deb. Continue reading
2 oz White Whiskey <Bully Boy>
1/2 oz Montenegro
1/2 oz St. Germain
1/4 oz Creme de Violette
Stir with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with flamed lemon peel.
The other night I decided to take a different approach to the flavor profiles in my drink. Normally I lean towards the boozier, slightly bitter side of the spectrum. To switch things up, I looked through my bar for liqueurs with a more floral personality. Creme de Violette was an obvious place to start. The aromas in this bottle make you feel like you’ve walked into a flower shop. A friend recently lent me some, and I’ve only put it to use in Aviations so far. This was the perfect opportunity to see how it gets along with other bottles. Plus, the news that Prince had passed just broke, so I figured the purple liqueur would be a nice mini-tribute.
Continue reading
3/4 oz Genever <Bols>
3/4 oz Becherovka
3/4 oz Aperol
1/2 oz Blood Orange juice
1/4 oz Bourbon <Woodford Reserve>
Shake with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass
Genever is an interesting beast. It lives somewhere between gin and whiskey. Gin is simply a distilled neutral grain spirit infused with some botanicals; genever is partly that same spirit, but also blended with a maltier spirit made from the same grains to give it a sweeter edge. Serious Eats goes into a bit more detail, but you get the idea. Genever is also the proto-gin, as the Dutch were making the stuff and throwing some of the classic gin botanicals (juniper, coriander, etc) into it to take the edge off. Eventually it made its way to England and the malty base was eliminated, and you get the more familiar London Dry Gin.
1 1/2 oz Dark Rum 3/4 oz Amaro Montenegro
3/4 oz Aquavit Barspoon Absinthe
Rinse a rocks glass with the absinthe, then discard. Combine remaining ingredients in the rocks glass, stir to combine. This is a room temperature cocktail that doesn’t require ice.
My first Mixology Monday is the reason for this early week post, and the theme is “Brace Yourself”. Playing host is the good doctor at Doc Elliot’s Mixology. As he put it, “the challenge is to create a cocktail that will buttress oneself for Winter’s outdoor adventures.” This proved to be especially prescient as the entire eastern seaboard was blanketed by winter storm Jonas this weekend (amazingly, here in Boston, we only ended up with a few inches), so these cocktails will no doubt come in handy. Continue reading
