Always have a palate rinser when tasting - Miller Lite

A while ago, I responded to an offer to try Crown Royal Black. It’s a new variation of Crown Royal, it lists on the back about being aged in charred oak and blended to a higher proof than regular Crown Royal – 90 proof rather than the usual 80.

A lot of cocktail folks, myself included, tend to decry Canadian whisky. (AUGH NO “E” MY SPELLCHECKER WILL HATE ME.) In fact, just today Robert Simonson wrote an article in the New York Times about how the industry is trying to redeem itself of the reputation as “the vodka of whiskey”. (If you’ve used up your free clicks on the Times site, you can read a version of it on his site.)

For me, though, I also have my family, and certain members of my family are big Crown Royal fans. I thought I should give it a shot – after all, I did doctor up a Crown & Coke recipe for my brother’s wedding. (You can find that in my previous MxMo post here.)

My plan was set: I would introduce the Crown Royal Black to my brother and my dad, and then I’d make I’d a drink with it commemorating the Steelers Super Bowl win. That was a plan doomed to failure if I’d remembered how the Steelers would probably play.

Sigh. At least I’m not a Redskins fan.

So I hesitated but I consider this a good thing because of the NYT article – and I did introduce it to them.

My first impression of it compared to “regular” Crown Royal was that, yes, this is more whisk(e)y-ish. It’s hotter, but it’s got more of a depth of flavor to it than regular CR which just comes off as sweet to me. My dad, tasting it straight, responded immediately with “Yum!”

In a Crown & Coke – well, you can’t tell the different, I’m afraid.

I poked around with some ideas for a drink. None of them really gelled, I’m afraid – perhaps mostly because I was trying to think of something with Strega or yellow Chartreuse to be “black and gold”. You can use the CR Black much more like you could American whiskeys because unlike the basic Crown Royal, it doesn’t immediately disappear in a cocktail, it can actually stand out.

It’s not the most subtle of spirits, but to be honest, it’s a step in the right direction for Canadian whiskys. (Whiskies? Gah. That looks worse.) At $2 a bottle more, I think it’s definitely worth the extra couple of bucks (come on, in Virginia if I remember correctly you’re talking about $24.95 or $26.95 – get the extra taste and proof), but what I’d be most curious about is how Diageo and Crown Royal push this. Can they make a Canadian whisky that balances sweet and spicy, and make it at a good price point?

Hmmm. I have a sudden urge to make an orange juice drink with this. (Runs into kitchen). Want an experiment?

Experimental Crown Royal Black Cocktail:
2 oz Crown Royal Black
2 oz orange juice
3-4 dashes orange bitters
Shake, pour straight into a high ball glass.

Thoughts? Does it deserve a name? Will Gabe make fun of me for using OJ?

Sorry. I love that movie (The Rock, if you have to ask). We used to watch it twice a night in college – once on a copy with crappy video and good sound, and once with a copy that had good video and crappy sound. Typically put away a block of Kroger’s brand pepper jack cheese and a bag of tortilla chips along with a couple of 40s while doing it.

No, I do not wonder why I am fat.

When DJ Hawaiian Shirt aka MEESTER CHREES posted this topic my first thought was to whine. After all, I did not go home with the prom queen.

To be honest, I don’t even remember who the prom queen was. Though, by careful scientific calculation, I’m sure that whomever she was, she’d want to hook up with me now, definitely, unless she’s married, in which case she’d just be thinking about in the back of her head.

(waits for someone from high school to read this blog post and either direly insult me or post pictures of how dorky I am was back then)

(waits for Marshall to say something so he can break out Photoshop and have some real fun)

Anyways, I realized I did have a drink that was popular. It’s not that I don’t think I make good drinks (SHUT THE HELL UP REST OF THE COCKTAIL BLOGGER COMMUNITY) it’s just that I don’t typically sit around and tweak them until they’re perfect.

THAT’S MY EXCUSE AND I’M STICKING TO IT.

But some of them have been popular.

I don't know KP is hosting it but hey.

Back a few years ago (2, to be precise) I decided to come up with drinks named after a bunch of folks working up to Tales of the Cocktail 2009.

Oh, to be young and stupid in those days!

One of the drinks I did I named after local bartender Derek Brown. To call him just a “bartender” is to call Tiger Woods just a “golfer” or “trashy girl aficionado” or to call [POLITICIAN RANT DELETED].

Those motherfu[DELETED] how much I [DELETED].

Sorry.

Basically, this was an easy drink to come up with: Dolin Blanc is delicious. At the time – and I don’t think he still is, but I could be wrong, and don’t have time to double-check so as to give this post the delicious patina of last-minute-panic that DJ Hawaiian Shirt evidently just drinks in from my posts – he was a brand rep for Domaine de Canton.

Thus, the Derek:

The Derek
3-4 leaves of mint
1/2 ounce Domaine de Canton
3 ounces Dolin Blanc
1 dash orange bitters (Regans #6)
Lightly muddle the mint and Domaine de Canton in an old-fashioned glass.  Add the vermouth, bitters, and ice.  Stir gently to mix.  Garnish with a fresh sprig of mint.

(The post I originally put this in explains why it has so much better a picture than I’d normally give a drink.)

The really cool thing about this drink is how easily it’s modified; just sub out the Domaine, really. Try The Bitter Truth E***X***R, for instance, or Berechovka – two of the drinks I’ve had recently – or even better, try Hum. Replace the Dolin Blanc with Caparno.

Okay, there’s one of my best drinks. People really seemed to like it.

But this is SCOFFLAW’S DEN! We don’t just kowtow to MxMo with one drink! NEIN! NYET! NO! We do multiple drinks!

So, I give you, by far, and without pictures, the two most popular drinks I’ve ever come up with. In some synchronicity, these are also named after people I know. In fact, it’s my brother and my sister-in-law.

Back in the hectic, lawless, far-flung days of 2009 I lived with my brother and his fiancée. As they approached the sacred rites that would bond them as one, forever destined to take care of two flagrantly obnoxious cats, and one condo surrounded by some pusillanimous (and some recherché, I admit) neighbors, I suggested I’d make up drinks named for each of them. They liked the idea and I disseminated some test drinks which, soon enough, got narrowed down to these. The fact that their cakes would be soaked in Grand Marnier gave me the appropriate animus.

The Matt
2 ounces Crown Royal
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
2-3 dashes Regan’s #6 orange bitters
Top with Coca-cola
Build in a low ball glass. Stir.

A lot of my family likes Crown & Coke and so I built from there. What’s scary about this drink is how easily it goes down, as the GM just makes it … well, damn easy to drink. Even if you replace the Crown with rum (as one guest did at the reception) or the Coke with diet (as many guests did).

The Cathy
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
1/2 ounce vodka
Top with sparkling wine/champagne
Garnish with a long twist of orange peel
Build in a champagne flute

Like the other drink, I also wanted to make sure these were easy to make for the bartenders. When I tested this for the first time I was actually asked (surprisingly to me) to make it stronger, thus the vodka.

Warning note: Five of these might mean you nap somewhere you’d rather not do so.

So that’s it for this MxMo. Thanks to DJ Hawaiian Shirt for hosting, and Paul for organizing. Cheers!

You see, I figure this would be a great time to strategically use all this combined creative and crafty brainpower to build up a list of recipes to keep me loaded up on flips the entire year.

So I did some poking around. Paul Clarke (he who done gone and created Mixology Monday, amongst other accolades and general Internet sexiness) wrote an article for Serious Eats about flips. In it, he mentions some other ones created (thus seeing my idea of a Fernet Branca flip is already done) but mentioned this about modern flips, something I took to heart:

Contemporary flips are relatively simple: a base of spirit (preferably dark & rich), a little syrup and/or liqueur, and a fresh egg, all shaken together and served with a little nutmeg grated on top.

Okay, enough of the blockquotes.

Here we go Steelers Here we go

I’m lucky enough that my favorite NFL team, the Steelers, is going to the AFC Championship next week. My idea initially was to use Fernet as the “black” in a Black & Gold Flip, but as I just mentioned, the Fernet Flip has been done. I thought about using Averna, in a bit of honor to Dr. Bamboo, but decided against it. Still: what would be an appropriate Pittsburgh area liquor?

Ahhh, screw it. Let’s Google “Pittsburgh Steelers liquor”, look at the first few liquor pictures that show up in the image search, and see if I’m inspired. A few clicks, avoiding stories about Santonio Holmes throwing liquor at someone, and there we go – Kraken black spiced rum and Strega.

Oh. I can work with that.

I love the idea of whole eggs in drinks anyways, so now it was just time to tweak proportions. I think what I came up with is pretty good, and a bit of a solid drink, if I do say so myself.

Black & Gold Flip

The Black & Gold Flip
2 ounces Kraken spiced rum
1 ounce Strega
1 whole egg
Put the ingredients in a glass with a bunch of ice. Shake for 60-90 seconds. Strain into a chilled glass, top with some fresh grated nutmeg.

Ahhh, delicious! If you’re feeling really ambitious, try topping it with some brown ale or a black stout and give it a quick stir. I haven’t tried it yet, though I was thinking of giving it a shot with some Guinness or Bell’s Hell Hath No Fury beer. But first, I’ll finish the one I have.

Cheers folks, and thanks again to Josh for hosting!

Lifestyle drinks of the coughing and congested

I’d had ideas for a variety of posts.

For instance, I got an iSi Gourmet Whip Pro for Christmas, and I’m very excited about doing tons of stuff with it!

But…holidays…and then, like everyone else in DC, I got sick.

Blech.

So while watching the end of the football games today I decided what I really needed was a hot toddy.  It’s kind of just something I threw together so what the heck.

Hot Toddy
One cup decaffeinated Earl Grey tea
Honey
Half a lemon, squeezed
2 ounces Chairman’s Reserve rum

Mix in a cup.

Well, heck, it’s making me feel better.  Might need some more.

Once I figure out my Tumblr issues, and feel a bit better, we’ll get ya some more substantive posting.  Promise!

One aspect of this season in particular is that a lot of people ask for cocktail ideas or the contribution of a beverage or two for their party.  Of course I’m not one to turn down either and I’m more than happy to contribute to the quality quaffing of the season.

Obviously there are several usual suspects when it comes to Holiday drinks – Hot Buttered Rum, Mulled Wine, Spiced Apple Cider, & Egg Nogg just to name a few.  And while all of these are great options I wanted to add something else to the list.

This past Saturday Sylvie and I went to a Soup & Cookie holiday party at our friend Josh’s house co-hosted by his lovely gal Jenny.  I was tasked with bringing Egg Nogg to the party and I was happy to oblige.  My go-to Nog is the easy-as-pie recipe from Jeffrey Morganthaler. But being a Scofflaw, I couldn’t just leave it at one drink.  I wanted to come up with an original cocktail that was boozy, non-too-sweet, and really made me think of Christmas.  Even further, I wanted a cocktail that brought the flavors of what I feel are Victorian-esque Christmas desert flavors.  So what could that be?  Plums!  Fruit Cake!  Spices!  Brandy!  Oh for the love of Santa Claus, FIGGY PUDDING!!!

Now just to turn these ideas into a cocktail.  Here’s what I came up with:

Christmas Pudding
1.5 oz Brandy
1 oz White Port
.50 oz Bonal quinquina
.25 oz Cointreau
.25 oz Allspice Dram
.25 oz Trader Tiki’s Cinnamon Syrup
3 d Fee’s Plum Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with an orange peel and maraschino cherry.

Before you say anything, yes that’s lemon peel as a garnish in the picture.  I didn’t have any fresh oranges on hand so I used what I had.  Sue me.   To me, the flavors that combine in this drink really hit all the high notes of what I was looking for.  It’s boozy, that’s for sure.  But you also have the spices, citrus, and a bit of a dried fruit character from the white port and the Bonal.  The Plum Bitters adds another layer of fruit and helps to marry the sweetness and spiciness from all the ingredients.   I definitely want to give this recipe a try with a tawny port in place of the white port.  I think that will heighten the dried fruit flavors even more.  If you try it, let me know the outcome.

So tell us what your favorite Christmas cocktails are!  Do you have a unique recipe or an old standby?  Leave us a comment and share.

Cheers!