Earl Grey Cooler

Made a pot of earl grey to experiment with. 

Shake over ice briefly, and strain into an ice filled Collins glass:
5 oz. cold earl grey tea
1.5 oz. Plymouth gin
1.5 oz. St. Germain
.5 oz.lime juice

Habanero Bitters for Vino Poblano

I mentioned that the Vino Poblano needed some spice.  I tried mixing one with sriracha, but it didn't really work.  So, taking a clue from Cocktail Hacker's coronal bitters, I made a batch of habanero bitters.  They are still steeping, but I'm excited to give them a try.  Recipe below.

Combine in a jar and let sit for 10 days:
1 lime, cut into eighths
5 habaneros, cut into quarters
1 Tbsp molasses
9 allspice berries, crushed
1/4 tsp. cinchona
3/4 c. plus 2 Tbsp 100-proof vodka (I used Smirnoff)
2 Tbsp plata tequila (I used Milagro)

Columbus

My brother brought back a bottle of Cruzan 9 spiced rum from his recent trip to St. Croix.  Used it to make some solid Painkillers and pseudo-Dark and Stormies, but I've been looking to try something that doesn't mask it quite as much.  Let's give this a shot.

Columbus
1.5 oz. Cruzan 9
1/2 oz. Curacao
1/2 oz. Bitter Truth Allspice Dram
1/2 oz. lime juice
1/4 oz. simple syrup

Shake and strain all ingredients.

Update (June 8, 2012):  Might be worth trying this with unspiced rum to really let the allspice shine.

More with shrub

I've been struggling with the purpose (and use) of my apricot thyme shrub.  Like pickling and other methods of preserving, it seems like a great way to use fruit when you have home-grown abundance, but is questionably writer when using store-bought produce.  Here is one recipe that might make me think otherwise.  As a background element, shrub adds brightness without citrusy acidity.

Your mother was a hamster
2 oz gin (I used Botanist)
.25 oz st germain
.25 oz apricot thyme shrub

Stir all ingredients over ice and strain.

Pantry Old Fashioned

There's a scene in So I Married an Axe-Murderer where Rose, the axe-murderer, asks Charlie, "What would you say to silver dollar pancakes, fresh squeezed orange juice, bacon, and Kona coffee?"  After Charlie accepts, the camera cuts to him eating cold cereal and Rose says "Sorry, I didn't have those other things."  That's how I felt when I went to make a old fashioned and had no oranges or cherries.  Even the grapefruit I had was moldy when I cut into it.  Turns out Cointreau and Heering aren't the worst substitutes. 

Pantry Old Fashioned
2 oz. bourbon
1 tsp. Cointreau
1 tsp. Cherry Heering
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes Orange bitters

Stir all ingredients over ice in an old fashioned glass.

Damiana Sour

Something of a shame that I only made this with most of the bottle done.  Its pretty delicious.

Damiana Sour 1.5 oz. gin
1.5 oz. Damiana
3/4 oz. lemon-lime juice
3/4 oz. water
1 tsp. simple syrup

Shake all ingredients over ice and strain.

Normandy Fizz

I gave a friend instructions for starting a home bar today and mentioned that you can make a fizz out of any spirit.  Took my opwn advice to use up some pear liqueur I got on our flight back from Paris.

Normandy Fizz
2.5 oz calvados
1 oz. lemon juice
1 oz. pear liqueur
1 egg white

Shake all ingredients over ice and strain into a collins glass.  Add 5 oz. club soda and fill the glass with ice.  Stir. 

Vino Poblano

Decided to use some leftover (i.e. not worth drinking) wine in cocktails.  This drink needs some heat.  I used Fee Brothers whiskey barrel bitters for spice but think habanero bitters or even sriracha would work much better.  It would also benefit from a heartier wine.  Preliminary recipe below.

Vino Poblano
1/2 oz. mezcal
1 oz. creme de cacao
2.5 oz red wine

Shake all ingredients over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Apricot Shrub and Apricot Cooler

Saw a recipe at my dad's house for apricot shrub and spring tonic from Flavor magazine.  Had to give it a try.  Modified recipes below.

Apricot Shrub
2 cups apricots, halved, pitted, and quartered (about 1 lb)
2 cups sugar
2 cups cider vinegar
10 sprigs thyme

Combine apricots and sugar and stir well.  Cover and allow to macerate in the refrigerator 1-2 days, until the sugar has drawn water out of the fruit and created a syrup.  Add vinegar and allow to come to room temperature.  Stir until sugar is dissolved and add thyme.  Cover and return to the refirgerator for 1 day.  Strain and keep refrigerated.

Spring Cooler
1.5 oz. gin
1 oz. apricot shrub
.5 oz. dry vermouth
6 dashes rhubarb bitters
3 dashes orange bitters
3 dashes peach bitters
2-4 oz. club soda

Shake over ice all ingredients except for club soda.  Strain into an ice-filled collins glass and top with club soda.

Cocktails at Fiola

Coventry and Bitter End.  Details to follow.

Update:
Great drinks at Fiola.  Their cocktail menu is my new to do list. 

Bitter End - gin, campari, cointreau, lemon juice, chocolate bitters
Coventry- rye, averna, maraschino

Seelbach

Made Seelbachs for my guests.  Great pairing of bourbon and bubbly.

Sweeet and Dry Vermouth

Kosher vermouth bring as difficult as it is to obtain, I was instantly taken in by DIY recipes for sweet (Serious Eats) and dry vermouth (Jan/Fen 2012 Imbibe).  They ended up tasting remarkably similar.  The sweet was not sweet enough with strong wormwood flavors coming through.  The dry was too dark, with plenty of bitterness from wormwood, cinchona, and gentian.  Both are certainly usable, though.  The sweet made a perfectly serviceable, if dry, Manhattan.  The dry is cooling in my fridge on its way to a Martini tomorrow night.  Recipes for my next attempt are below.

Dry Vermouth
Simmer, for 15 minutes, 1 cup dry white whine wine with:
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp chamomile flowers
1/2 tsp angelica
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp wormwood
1/8 tsp cinchona
3 black peppercorns
2 cloves
3/4 tsp granulated orange peel
1/4 vanilla bean

Allow to steep one hour.  Strain and mix with remaining wine from 1 bottle, add 3 oz water, 2 oz brandy, and simple syrup to taste.  Should be just sweet enough to balance the bitterness from the herbs and acidity in the wine.

Sweet Vermouth
Simmer, for 15 minutes, 1 cup dry white whine wine with:
zest of 1/2 orange
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon dried chamomile
8 cardamom pods
1 star anise
1 teaspoon dried lavender
1/4 teaspoon wormwood leaf

Strain and add:
remaining wine from bottle
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 cup sweet wine

Set aside.  Meanwhile, caramelize 1/2 cup sugar until deep golden brown.  When sugar has cooled slightly, at 1/4 cup boiling water and stir to dissolve caramel.  Combine caramel with wine mixture.  Chill.