The Sugar House Blog

MetroMix

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:14:02 +0000

Hey bros, do us a solid and vote for us as Best New Bar in Detroit on MetroMix…

Woodford Reserve Rye

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:01:28 +0000

I just got an allocation of the Woodford Reserve New Cask & Aged Cask Ryes in today. I’m a huge fan of rye, so while the price point on these is pretty steep, I figured I’d buy a set (it comes in pairs of 375ml bottles, in a fancy little box) just to try it. FWIW, I could only get one set – apparently this stuff is in major demand.

Both bottles contain the same spirit: triple distilled, 100% rye. However, one was aged in a new charred American oak cask, while the other was aged in a previously used cask. The first difference you’ll notice is the color; the New Cask rye is a deep caramel, while the Aged Cask rye is a much lighter straw color.

Woodford describes these as “grain forward” (Aged Cask) and “barrel forward” (New Cask), which is pretty accurate. I personally prefer the New Cask Rye, but here are my tasting notes on them… both very interesting.

Woodford Reserve Aged Cask Rye
Aroma: Delicate, slightly grassy, lightly citrus and very subtle vanilla.
Taste: Green & black pepper, tastes young (duh), very light vanilla, clean finish.

Woodford Reserve New Cask Rye
Aroma: Wow. Shit tons of oak, cinnamon, caramel, vanilla on the nose.
Taste: Soft pepper and tons of nuttiness on the palate. Much fuller bodied than the Aged, with a slightly sweet finish.

Overall, these are both excellent, and a very fun experiment in aging, if you consider rye fun, which I do. Personally, I prefer a “rye” that doesn’t have a 100% rye mash bill – Rittenhouse, Wild Turkey – where the pepper and snap from the rye is cut with sweetness of a corn, and which I generally find have a greater depth of flavor. Having said that, I’ll fuck up some Bulleit rye, which has a 95% rye mash bill.

Either way, I’m not going to use these in a drink, as they are way too expensive, but we’ll have them on hand at the bar if you want to try them.

Day 7: Root Beer Flip!

admin — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:00:55 +0000

Me? I’m a root beer guy. And I’m also a BLT guy. But in terms of drinks, I’m a root beer guy. Unless I’m drinking whiskey, in which case I’m a drunk guy. Either way. This drink here? Well… It’ll knock your dick in the dirt. (Which is an expression that a friend of mine used to say quite a bit, but I’ve never honestly understood what it meant. Until now.)

Root Beer Flizzip
1 oz. Cruzan Black Strap Rum
1 oz. Art in the Age Root Liqueur
.5 oz. Canela Syrup
Whole Egg

Dry / Hard / Double / Nutmeg

And let me just take a moment to endorse Art in the Age Root Liqueur. As I mentioned earlier, root beer plays a very important role in my life. As soon as this stuff became available, I was on it like Michelle Kwan, dressed as Voltron at Comicon, drinking a Fin du Monde, chilling with Steve Zahn who was, as usual, acting like a moron. It’s infinitely better than BlackMaker Root Beer Liqueur, which is another new product available here, and tastes artificially root beery. Which I’m pretty sure, is a thing.

Day 6: The (Historic) Brownfield Project

admin — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:52:43 +0000

For those of you who live in states like New York or California or Denver, you are fortunate enough to be able to buy your booze in a “free market” environment. Michigan, unfortunately, is a “control state,” which means that all the liquor has to be sold by the manufacturer to the state, who then marks it up and sells it to the bars, party stores, etc. It’s some bullshit law that dates back to prohibition, and needless to say, inherently inhibits the spirits that are sold in the state, and increases their price point to boot. And it also means, as a licensee, we cannot sell spirits that are not sold thru the state (I think technically it’s considered bootlegging). So when you’re reading thru the bloggs about all the sexy new liquors and liqueurs that the kids are using (Bols Genever, Battavia Arrack, etc., etc.,), rest assured that they are beyond our reach, and that Michigan will therefore always reside in the dark taint of the mixology world.

So let me be the first to say how very “fucking jazzed up” I am that the Haus Alpenz wine based liqueur portfolio is now on sale here. It’s only stuff under 20% abv, but we’ll take it. With any luck, we’ll get the rest of the portfolio in the state next year, so we can really “run with the dick punchers,” as the kids say.

So yeah, we’re going heavy with that shit on my new menu. Can you blame us?

The Historic Brownfield Project
1.5 oz. Wild Turkey Rye
.5 oz. Cynar
.5 oz. Cardamaro
3 dash Root Beer Bitters

This bastard tastes like a bitter little dirt sandwich, in all the right ways. The root beer bitts really make the whole thing work, and if you squeeze a lemon peel over top, well, then you’re doing God’s work.

Day 5: The Gun Show

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:44:23 +0000

Here’s a tip: if you don’t like mezcal, just give it up. Just give up on life, cause you’ve already fucking lost. It’s way, way up there with the best stuff I’ve ever put in my mouth. And everybody that knows anybody that knows anything about cocktails knows that single village mezcal is the thing to be getting woooorsted on these days. To that end, my freaks, I give you the Gun Show…

The Gun Show
1 oz. Vida Mezcal
1 oz. Elijah Craig 12 Year Bourbon
.375 oz. Chestnut Syrup
a few dashes orange bitters

Build in glass, add ice, stir, represent.

Day 4: Famous Last Words

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:39:03 +0000

There are some drinks out there, like the Last Word, that combine extremely different flavors with complete success. I don’t hesitate to say this is one of those drinks. Instant fucking classic… Assuming you like extremely smokey, bitter, citrusy stuff. If not, this drink probably isn’t for you. Or whatever. The important thing is, I probably went through about ten variations of this drink, until I came up with this one, and now, honestly, I can say the world is a little better because of it.

"That shit is fucking McMazing" - David Foster Wallace

Famous Last Words
.75 oz. Laphroaig
.75 oz. Aperol
.75 oz. Bonal
.75 oz. Lemon

Shake, double strain into a coupe.

You’re welcome.

Day 3: The Douglas Cooper Cocktail #2

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:14:32 +0000

The Doug Cooper, as I like to call it, is a classic*, and was named after the HMS Douglas Cooper**, a British war ship that took heavy fire and subsequently sank in the south Pacific during the Cuban-Panamanian war of 1952***. Fittingly, it’s a really solid tropical rum drink (original formula: white rum, dry vermouth, lime & simple). Here’s an excerpt from the short lived Boston Spangler, dated 1953:

“Reports from the south seas suggest the boys are taking quite a liking to the native’s rhum, which they’re drinking down with lime (to keep off the scurv) and white Italian wine, seized from a ship outside the TanHauser**** Port. Apparently it’s really becoming quite the cocky-tail among the young seamen.”

The balance of the rum, lime and vermouth is really very nice, but I had a few modifications in mind for this one, to “sex it up” a bit.

The Douglas Cooper Cocktail #2
1 oz. El Dorado 3 Year aged Light Rum
1 oz. Cocchi Americano
.5 oz. Lime
1 barspoon house made apricot – ginger preserve
2 dash cardamom bitters

Shake, double strain into a coupe.

This thing is like the velvety sleeve of a wizard.

Actually, I completely made this drink up last week, along with the name, which is so great. But, it is roughly based on the Fig Leaf, which actually is a classic, so I’m not completely full of shit.
Again, no such ship actually existed.
To my knowledge, which is limited at best, there never was a Cuban-Panamanian war. And even if there was, why would a British war ship be involved? C’mon bro, you’ve got to be more critical in what you accept as fact.
****That TanHauser shit is from Bladerunner, the best movie ever.

Day 2: Where There’s Smoke…

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:45:32 +0000

John Lennon once famously said, “I’m an artist, and if you give me a tuba, I’ll bring you something out of it.” Well, I’m like that, but with Laphroaig. What can I say? It’s my muse, my inspiration, and my life partner. So this one here, well, it’s gonna be huge… arguably bigger than Jebus himself.

Where There’s Smoke…
1.5 oz. Blended Scotch (I like White Horse here)
.5 oz. Grade C Maple Syrup
.5 oz. Lemon Juice

Shake, double strain into a rocks glass. Add a few ounces of Laphroaig foam*, and a dash of cayenne pepper over top.

*To make Laphroaig foam, combine five ounces of the balls, plus two of water and three of simple, and four egg whites in an iSi prof-whip canister. Chill and shake before use.

Day 1: The Johnny Rottenseed

admin — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 21:46:47 +0000

Since the start we’ve had an old fashioned on our menu. First it was the Autumn Old Fashioned (wild turkey rye, apple cider reduction, ango), and then it was the Blackfoot Old Fashioned (riverboat rye, grade C maple syrup, blackfoot bitters, flamed orange peel). And these have been consistently our best seller. Maybe because they’re always the cheapest drink on the menu at $7 – but maybe also because people still enjoy simple, complimentary flavors without all the hoopla.

The concept for this drink actually came to me in the middle of the night. Not really in a dream, cause only pussies dream, so let’s say… in a whiskey induced hallucination.

The Johnny Rottenseed (Old Fashioned)
2 oz. Laird’s Bonded Applejack
.5 oz. Coca Cola Syrup*
Dash house orange bitters

Build this in the glass, add a few large cubes, and give it a stir. Let those cubes dilute a bit, since we’re dealing with 100* goods here, and then add a few more cubes. We use large cubes from our Kold Draft, but you can use whatever the fuck you want, my homey.

*Reduce Mexican coke down to about 25% of it’s original volume to make the syrup. It’s pretty rad stuff.

Tomorrow’s drink: Where There’s Smoke…

Twelve Days of Drinksmas

admin — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 20:51:13 +0000

Since we opened in early October, we’ve changed our menu 19 times. I know…. like, really? And then we’re like, yes. Not complete makeovers, mind you, but swapping out this drink for that, etc. And not a single drink we opened with still exists on our menu, which you’ve got to admit is pretty cool. Now, not all of them have been the complex masterpieces we are known for, but we also wanted to keep the menu a bit accessible for those people who don’t really know what we’re about yet. I know what you’re thinking: that’s not what you signed up for. I get it. You want new and exciting, and we want to give that to you. But listen brohammers, it’s not easy being sleazy, as they say. Actually, that has nothing to do with the conversation, but I wanted to slip it in there… ahem … so to speak.

So, we’ve been plotting and planning, spending all hours working on new drinks that will eclipse our previous drinks in terms of complexity and sophistication. Yes, we’ll still make you a sazerac and be pretty happy about it, but we’re rolling out some balls-deep shit here. We’ve even got some fancy new toys we’re going to show off. But slow. Slowly. Slow. Don’t get all jazzed up. The new menu will be released on NYE. Until then, I’m going to drop a new drink from the menu on the blog, along with a photo and the recipe, so you can make it at home, or rip it off, or whatever. Consider it a gift, from us to you, during this holiday season.

Tonight’s drink: The Johnny Rottenseed