My normal whiskey sour is something like this:

2oz Bourbon (or Rye)
1oz fresh lemon juice
.75oz simple syrup

-Shaken, double strained and served up. If I give it a taste and the particular lemon I used is intensely sour, I’ll pour the drink over fresh ice in a rocks glass.

Ahhh . . . that hit the spot. But I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I am a big fan of Averna. If you attended the 2009 Repeal Day Ball, you probably already knew that. That’s all I’ll say because I have a constitutional right not to incriminate myself.

Moving on . . . I decided to play around with the basic whiskey sour and see if I could come up with something tasty using Averna. There were several attempts that just didn’t work – too sour, too sweet, strange finish, etc. etc. I soldiered on and after the kitchen drain was drunk from my toss-aways, I hit upon a formula that hit the spot. So I give you,

Whiskaverna Sour
1.25oz 100 proof Rye
.75oz Averna
.50oz fresh lemon juice
.50oz simple syrup
2 dashes orange bitters

-Shake, double strain, serve up with a lemon twist.

And I have the share my latest toy. While visiting my mother over the holidays, we went to several antique stores. Always on the look out for cocktail gear, I found some interesting items. There were some glasses, but compared to what I can get at Good Will, they were over-priced. There were a plethora of shakers. Most novelty shakers from the 80′s but a few from the 60′s and 70′s. Eh. They just didn’t catch my attention enough to buy any. But then! While walking through one store, I found IT!

Les Voûtes
1.5oz Rye
.50oz Sweet Vermouth
.50oz Yellow Chartreuse
1 barspoon of kirschwasser
2 dashes orange bitters

-Stir with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The theme is “Forgotten Cocktails”.  Given the resurgence in cocktail culture, and my relative lack of scholarship done “on my own”, I did what I figure most folks would – grabbed my copy of Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails (2nd edition, natch) and started thumbing through it.

I didn’t have to thumb through it for long.

Bourbon has always been a passion of mine.  Lately – and I blame Harry Turtledove’s “American Empire” series of books for this – I’ve been on a Calvados kick.  I don’t make a lot of drinks using Calvados because I tend to drink it straight (and usually while smoking a cigar) that doesn’t mean I avoid Calvados cocktails.

Speaking of sexy, it's Trader Tiki stuff!

The Avenue is one of the first cocktails in the book.  Immediately I noticed the bourbon and the Calvados, but what really got me interested was the third ingredient listed: passion fruit juice (or nectar), which Dr. Cocktail suggests can be replaced with passion fruit syrup.

Why, I have passion fruit syrup – the ever-so-delicious Trader Tiki variety – and I even have Trader Tiki grenadine!  Let’s see here.

The Avenue
1 ounce bourbon
1 ounce Calvados
1 ounce passion fruit juice (or nectar)
1 dash real pomegranate grenadine
1 dash orange flower water
Shake in an iced cocktail shaker and strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with a carnation boutonniere.

Sorry.  I ain’t got no boutonniere, carnation or otherwise.

Oooo, golden! But no flowers.

The book suggests that you replace the grenadine with a dash of lemon juice if you use passion fruit syrup.  I really wanted to use the hibiscus grenadine, so I used a dash of it ANYWAYS and DAMN THE CONSEQUENCES.  Actually, I also added a dash or so of lemon juice, too.

The drink ended up still a bit sweet but tasty.  The texture is actually quite silky and I’m really digging it.

In fact, I’m very happy with how this drink came out!  It’s a departure from what I usually look for in a cocktail – it’s not bitter, for one – but on a cool fall evening, it works well.

I’m glad I went looking for a new forgotten cocktail, and I guess that means I have to thank Dennis for hosting this month’s MxMo!  I’d thank Paul, too, but don’t want it to go to his head too much.

What little-known or forgotten cocktails do y’all like?

Whenever someone has offered to send a sample of their product to us – or anyone else in the CSOWG, for that matter – I always say two things.  1, “Thank you very much!”  2, “Please send us a fifth (750 ml).”

Why a fifth?

Well, you see, let me give an example.  One thing you have to remember is that we’re COCKTAIL bloggers, for the most part, mixologists by hobby or trade, and we like to play with the spirit to see what we can do with it.  But even without that, the example might illuminate.

Recently we were sent a mini of Firefly Sweet Tea Bourbon.  I’m not going to deny how much I liked the vodka version and I’ve bought a good bit of it.

Unfortunately for me, the night that I tried the mini they sent me I also got some kind of stomach bug.  I won’t give you the details of what happened a few minutes after drinking it but – uhhhh – yeah.

And that’s it.  I’m out of Firefly Sweet Tea Bourbon.  Unless I pay for my own – and really, I have LITERS of the vodka version at home, so why should I? – that’s my chance to try it.

Now Firefly lucked out.  I found some samples at $1 a bottle, and I tried it.  Now I know how I feel about it (which is generally “meh”, right now, because I only bought a little).  If I had more, I could experiment with some drink making, but to be honest, I can’t be bothered to do so.  I have so many other things I need to work on…

Let’s use another example.  The other day I was out with my brother and a friend, and we ran into another friend at a local bar (Harry’s Tap Room).  He was there with his boss who insisted on buying us shots of Cuervo Reserve de la Familia.  These shots were $25 a PIECE.  No way we’d buy them on our own!

And they tasted like ass.

If I could find a nicer way to phrase it I would, but that’s what happened.  He asked the waiter for them chilled, so maybe it was the ice, but that was some of the worst tequila I’ve ever had – and for $25 a shot, I’m not going to risk it by ordering it again somewhere else.

One chance, one try, one fail.

Finally, sort of the opposite.

I love the Del Maguey Crema de Mezcal.  Ever since I first had it – having made fun of Marshall for buying it – it’s been a staple in my bar, especially post-cigar.  Then, the other night, I left the bottle out on the porch after my cigar.

Oops.

We’ve had a lot of really hot days out.  And it’s 80 proof – but 10% agave.  Would it be okay?

Let me put it this way – if it’s been a mini, it’d have been thrown out.

Knowing it’s something I like, I paid the $40+ for another bottle just so I could compare them.  I do sacrifices like this for you, our dear readers, because I love you so much.

And yeah, it’s okay.

So there’s a lesson here.  When we ask you for a full fifth of a drink, we’re not being greedy or drunk.  We just need room to experiment.  Booze gets drank in a number of different ways, sometimes spilled, sometimes straight, sometimes mixed.  We appreciate and thank everyone who gives us stuff to help us help YOU find what’s good out there – but honestly, give us some room to work!

This month Mixology Monday is being hosted by Vidiot over at Cocktailians and the chosen theme is vermouth.   Our instructions,

So: your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to present a delectable vermouth cocktail for us all to drool over. Sweet/Italian or dry/French vermouth are fair game of course, as are quinquina, aperitif wines like Pineau des Charentes, or for that matter any fortified, aromatized wine such as Lillet (red or white), or Dubonnet (ditto.)

I can’t necessarily promise a delectable cocktail, but I thought this would be a great opportunity to try something new.  Vermouth, as most folks will tell (and as I’m sure you’ll read in other MxMo posts) is an incredibly versatile ingredient.  Without getting into the nitty-gritty on the correct storage methods, the various types, or the various herbs and flavorings that go into vermouth, the most important thing to know that vermouth brings a lot of complementary flavors to a cocktail.

When I first started getting indoctrinated into the world of classic cocktails, I wasn’t a big fan of vermouth.  Maybe I had some not-so-fresh vermouth.  Maybe my palate wasn’t as refined as it is now.  Regardless, I’m now a vermouth convert.

In wanting to try new a new cocktail, I turned to our old friend the Savoy Cocktail Book.  This is a cocktail I’ve wanted to try for a while but for some reason never got around to it.

ATTY Cocktail (p. 25)
1/4 dry vermouth  (.50 oz dry vermouth)
1 bar spoon absinthe
3/4 London Dry Gin (1.50 oz London Dry Gin)
1 bar spoon creme de violette

Shake (really? please stir this drink!) with ice, strain into a cocktail glass.

Basically, the ATTY is a 3 to 1 dry martini with a little absinthe and a little creme de violette added to the mix.  It isn’t a bad cocktail, the aromatics and herbs of the dry vermouth really shine through.  The absinthe gives a slight anise note and the violette adds color.   You can see from the photo the light purple hue to the drink.  To be honest, the flavor of the violette melds into the herbs of the dry vermouth and gets sort of lost.  Definitely stir this drink really well to get it as cold as you can.

And, in Scofflaw’s Den tradition, I can’t just leave you with one drink for MxMo!  I decided to try another new cocktail and with Halloween around the corner the following number from Gary Regan’s The Joy of Mixology seemed quite appropriate.

Deadly Sin (p. 245)
2oz Bourbon
1/3oz sweet vermouth
1/4oz maraschino liqueur
1 dash orange bitters
orange twist for garnish

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The Deadly Sin is definitely a bourbon lovers cocktail.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have any oranges in the house so I couldn’t use the peel for a garnish and I think that would really make the drink better.  As it was made you get a slight cherry note from the maraschino and the vermouth underscores the inherent sweetness of the bourbon.

And this brings another Mixology Monday to a close.  Thanks again to Vidiot for hosting this month!

Cheers!

I was unable to do August’s MxMo, thanks to my trip to South Korea.  Thanks to Tales, we didn’t have one in July.  So the theme for this week, thanks to our hosts at eGullet, is “Dizzy Dairy”.  This means anything dairy, or it seems, egg whites.

I’ve had a lot of debates over what to make for this one.  I also did a lot of searching for heavy cream in case I wanted to do that.  I had bad luck in that regard – I first went to Harris Teeter near me and they were out.  So I got home from work and went to the mini-mart in my building, but they did have Guinness (which I may be using).  Nothing.  Walked up to Courthouse Plaza and tried the convenience store there – didn’t see any, but they had that Bud Light Golden Wheat which I had wanted to try.  From there I went to CVS, but they had none of those things, so I went back to the convenience store, actually found a carton of cream I’d missed (whew!), bought the Bud Light, then went back to my mini-mart for a four pack of Guinness pub cans.

Now let’s see if I use ‘em – because as of the time I’m writing this, I still haven’t made a drink!

Let’s look at some ingredients first.

My first instinct had been to use Castries, a rum-based peanut cream liqueur.  I love this stuff.  LOVE IT IN THE FACE.  It is delicious.  Actually, I typically drink it straight.  Hmmmm.

Then it occurred to me (thanks to a fortuitously timed e-mail) that I also had a bottle of the limited edition Kahlua coffee cream liqueur in my fridge.  As you know, a White Russian is equal parts Kahlua, vodka, and cream, so the easy (and perhaps lazy) thing to do would be a version of that – say, adding vanilla vodka to a measure of Kahlua coffee cream liqueur – but I wanted to do something different.

Thus the Guinness.

Depending on who I end up going out drinking with there’s a good chance I end up with a car bomb at some point – usually made where we go with Bailey’s and Irish whiskey.  That gave me an idea, though using the Kahlua coffee cream meant I should use something like a Spanish brandy, I thought.  Alas, I didn’t have any, so I went with some Armagnac XO.

I'm glad someone reminded me that I had this!

I fiddled around a bit and came up with a drink that’s delicious whether or not you use the beer.  I thought about naming it something related to the car bomb but thought some people might not appreciate it so much – whatever, I know, but hey, let’s think up a different name.

Uhhhh…I hate thinking up drink names!

Anyways, here it is:

The Cross Hemispheres
1 1/2 ounces armagnac (XO if you have it – I used Castarede)
1 ounce Kahlua coffee cream
1-2 dashes Fee’s Aztec chocolate bitters
Add ingredients to a mixing tin with ice and shake.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Alternatively, strain into a chilled pint glass and top with Guinness.  Let the Guinness settle, give a light stir, and drink.  If you add the beer, call it a Cross Hemisphere Fizz.

nom nom nom

But you know what the problem is – here at the Den, we like to give you two drinks for your Mixology Monday fun!  I’ve come up with a brand new drink (I think) so this time I thought I’d take a look through my copy of The Joy of Mixology (as much because it happens to be sitting right next to me) to see if there’s a drink I’d like to make in there involving dairy.

Unfortunately, I failed to be inspired.

Then I remembered that I’d come up with some drinks for the Thursday Drink Night we did with Kahlua coffee cream.  It was during the Steelers-Titans football game and, unfortunately, the last game that the Steelers won, so my two drinks named after various Steelers players I decided to skip – especially as my last drink is a bit fuzzy in my memory.

But the first one had some potential, so it was time to tweak, rename, and try it again.  Originally it actually used two cream liqueurs – Castries and Kahlua.  I kept that, but tweaked the proportions on those and the bourbon, added a garnish, and renamed it.

Tastes great and wakes you up! Oops...

That TDN was really the first one I’d done since – well, longer than I could remember, thanks to Tales and Korea.  My first drink, therefore, was called “I’M BACK” and, well, I don’t think that is such a great name.  Therefore we have a new name for it along with the before-mentioned tweaks.

The Bloodhound
1 1/2 ounces bourbon (Willett Pot Still)
1 1/2 ounce Kahlua coffee cream liqueur
1/2 ounce Castries
2 dashes Fee’s Aztec chocolate bitters
Shake with ice, double strain into a chilled cocktail glass half-rimmed with ground espresso.  If desired, sprinkle some additional ground espresso on top.

Man, this drink came out good!  It’s waking me up a bit, not necessarily a good thing right now, but it’s darn delicious.

If you notice, I had the same bitters in both.  There’s two reasons for that.  One, I haven’t got the Bittermens mole bitters yet, so I can’t compare and contrast.  More importantly, however, is that the combination of flavors I feel like works really well with the Kahlua coffee cream liqueur.

I think that’s about all for tonight.  I want to thank the eGullet folks for hosting, and I should also thank Kahlua for providing me with the sample bottle of Kahlua cream liqueur.  (I should note, too, that this bottle of Castries was also a sample, but lord knows I’ve bought enough bottles of it already…)