Monthly Archives: April 2010

Tip of the Day

Posted on April 28, 2010

Here’s a tip… when making a drink, add the cheapest ingredients first, that way if you screw up, you’re not throwing away your costly and precious booze.

Happy drinking!

Tagged Recipes | Leave a comment

If you’ve been watching “Great Cocktails” on Fine Living, then you’ve clearly got nothing happening at 4am on Sundays. Which is cool, I mean, that’s cool… I’m not saying anything one way or another. Just saying… There is an episode which I Hulu’d that has Gary Reagan making a “Laphroaig Rob Roy”, which is so up my alley it’s almost a wonder I haven’t been drinking them my entire life.

Laphroaig Rob Roy

2 oz. Laphroaig

1.5 oz. Sweet Vermouth

Peychaud’s

Stir, serve down. Twist a lemon peel over top.

I altered this recipe a bit… Reagan’s is 1:1 with 4 dashes Peychaud’s. He was using Cinzano, which I couldn’t get down with. So I ran some CA, and was pretty happy about it. But, I did want to taste the Frog a bit more, so I upped the proportion. As for the Peychaud’s, I couldn’t really taste it, so I’ll let you make the call on that one. It’s just nice to know somebody cares.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Recipes, Scotch, Sweet Vermouth | 1 Comment

The Gimlet

Posted on April 12, 2010

The origin of the Gimlet Cocktail is a bit of a mystery, but most of the recipes call for Gin (the use of Vodka makes it a Vodka Gimlet) and Rose’s Lime Juice. I generally think a recipe calls for Rose’s out of laziness – it’s always better to make your own sour mix (lime juice and sugar). However, in this case we may have to make an exception. See, Rose’s was created in 1867, and was rationed to the sailors in the Royal British Navy to make sure they didn’t get scurvy… Another popular beverage on those ships was Plymouth Gin. Thus, I think it’s reasonable to assume that this drink was created by some sailor on some ship on some sea, some time ago. Therefore, we pretty much have to use Rose’s to stay true to the original recipe.

The Gimlet
1.5 oz. London Dry Gin
1 oz. Rose’s Lime Juice

Shake, serve up.

Depending on your taste, you may want to increase the amount of Rose’s, or even add a “scant teaspoon of powdered sugar,” as Trader Vic recommends. It’s a fine drink, but I still prefer it made with a lime juice and sugar combination. And if you add mint, well then you’re dealing with a Southside, and let me tell you something, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Gin, Recipes, The Classics | 1 Comment

Rosita Cocktail

Posted on April 9, 2010

I’ve been wanting to make this one for a while, but never really had an excuse. However, it’s keeping with my tequila without lime theme, so I thought I’d give it a run…

Rosita Cocktail

1.5 oz. Tequila Blanco

.5 oz. Campari

.5 oz. Sweet Vermouth

.5 oz. Dry Vermouth

Dash Ango

Dash Ango Orange

Stir, serve up or down, squeeze a grapefruit peel over top, then rub it on the rim of the glass.

I’ve come across a few variations of this drink on the interweb, and I’ve mixed up more than a few. The recipe I’ve posted is the one the one I find most balanced. Some call for quite a bit more Campari – and while I fucking love on some Campari – it totally overpowers and disguises the tequila. Which sorta misses the point. Same goes for the vermouth – if you’re using CA or Punt E Mes, don’t get too heavy handed with that shit, or it’s all you’ll taste. Some people say this should be served on the rocks, but I don’t think it’s got enough liquor to warrant that. I’ve also added some orange bitters to my version, which I generally like with my Campari. And that grapefruit thing at the end there? That’s just fucking classy. Deal with it.

Tagged Recipes, Sweet Vermouth, Tequila | 2 Comments

Tequila Old Fashioned

Posted on April 8, 2010

Since it’s my 100th post (for those of you who aren’t counting) I grabbed a bottle of El Jimador Blanco which is, for the money, prolly the damned finest tequila blanco on the market (Campo Azul may take issue with that statement, and be justified in doing so). But I didn’t want to just make up margaritas, because that’s so fucking easy. Margaritas are excellent. A classic. But sweet jebus, there are other tequila cocktails out there! And not all of them have lime! And I’ll be damned if I wont drink ‘em.

I don't ever want to dance again... guilty feet have got no rhythm.

Tequila Old Fash

2 oz. Tequila Blanca

1/2 tsp. Agave Syrup

Dash Ango Orange

Dash Lemon Grass Bitts

Stir, serve down.

The thing to emphasize in this drink is the natural herbaceousness of the tequila. I tried this first with Ango, but it didn’t really make sense. The Ango Orange / Lemon Grass combo is much better. I think lemon or orange bitters is the way to go on this drink, but anything you’ve got along those lines – maybe even Peychaud’s (?) – would be good.

Tagged Bitters, Recipes, Tequila | 4 Comments

Whiskey Sour

Posted on April 7, 2010

Speaking of classics, here’s an easy as fuck, straight forward classic cocktail thats friggin’ delish.

Whiskey Sour

2 oz. Bourbon

.75 oz. Lemon Juice

1/2 tsp. Powdered Sugar

Shake and serve in a chilled sour glass.

Yes, powdered sugar. It’s called for quite a bit in Vic’s book, but almost always in the sours. It’s really good – obviously very sweet – so it doesn’t take much. It also seems to have no flavor at all, it just sweetens and enhances the existing flavors. The resulting cocktail is actually very mellow, not overly acidic… but don’t take my word for it.. go make one right now. I SAID MAKE ONE RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

Tagged Bourbon, Recipes, The Classics | Leave a comment

Tattooed Seaman

Posted on April 6, 2010

I’m going on the record here… I am a big fan of Sailor Jerry rum. I said it. It happened. Deal with it. It’s a medium colored “spiced rum”, with some pretty nice flavors of cinnamon, allspice and clove. It’s 92 proof, so it makes for a great sippin’ rum. My favorite use of it so far is in the Tattooed Seaman, which I had at TVH.

Tattooed Seaman

3 oz. Sailor Jerry Rum

1 tsp. Dem Syrup

Root Beer Bitters

Stir, serve down.

Yes, this is essentially a rum old fashioned, but the root beer bitters are massively important to this drink. For some reason these ingredients are the fucking balls together. Just a bit of sweet from the sugar, and you’re dealing with Ass Kick 101.

Tagged Bitters, Recipes, Reviews, Rum | 2 Comments

Fire-Eating Devil Cocktail

Posted on April 5, 2010

This is a recipe from Vic’s… under the Sloe Gin Cocktails section. Which is cool because I have a whole bottle of sloe gin and very little to do with it. And also, this is called the Meehoulang Cocktail, which apparently translates to the “Fire-Eating Devil Cocktail.”

Meehoulang Cocktail

1 oz. Sloe Gin

.25 oz. Sweet Vermouth

.25 oz. Dry Vermouth

Orange Bitts

Shake, serve in a chilled cocktail glass, squeeze a piece of lemon over it and drop it in the glass.

Is it the best drink I’ve ever had? No. Does it have an ass-kicking name? Hells yeah. Hells yeah.

Tagged Bartender's Guide by Trader Vic, Recipes | Leave a comment

The Last Word

Posted on April 2, 2010

Oh jeez man. Yesterday I made a “Pete’s Word,” which is a riff on a cocktail called the “Last Word,” which was invented at the Detroit Athletic Club during the 40′s. And I really liked it… I mean bigtime. I’m talking big time stuff!!! But, thence it occurred to me, I’ve never had the Last Word. So I was like, wait a minute, bro-dogs, let’s take it down a notch… let’s take it down a friggin’ nizotch.

I was drinking when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray.

The Last Word

.75 oz. Gin

.75 oz. Maraschino

.75 oz. Green Chartreuse

.75 oz. Lime Juice

Shake, serve down, be changed for the better.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Gin, Green Chartreuse, Recipes | 3 Comments

Pete's Word

Posted on April 1, 2010

When I’m not drinking, or blogging about drinking, or taking pictures of drinks, I like to spend my time surfing the interweb for drink recipes, drink blogs and pictures of drinks. So yeah, I’m in a good place. I stumbled upon this lil’ mofo on the Death & Company website… It’s a great drink for a few reasons… first of all it’s got Laphroaig, green Chartreuse and Maraschino, which is just too fucking crazy for me not to make. Secondliest, this is a variation on the “Last Word” cocktail, which was invented during prohibition at the Detroit Athletic Club. So that’s pretty cool.

Taste the Stick

Pete’s Word

.75 oz. Laphroaig

.75 oz. Maraschino

.75 oz. Lime Juice

.75 oz. Chartreuse

Shake and serve up.

I know what you’re thinking, “holy shit, that’s a weird combination of intense flavors!?!” Well, you would be correct. However, the proportions are really important on this one… I fucked around and got some pretty bad results, but when I went back to the original proportions, it came out really balanced. It’s sweet, sour, smokey and herbaceous. What’s not to like?

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Green Chartreuse, Recipes, Scotch | 2 Comments