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The Negroni and the Joy of Drinking
With all the talk of iSi foams, orgeat, and rangpur lime syrup, I find it important to remind myself of the pleasure I take in one of the simplest drinks you can make: the Negroni. At home on a cold wintery night, and with no desire to bundle up to go buy fresh lemons, the Negroni is ready and waiting. Out with colleagues with a clueless bartender, the Negroni is easily explained and even more easily enjoyed. Waiting to splurge on dinner, few drinks excite me (and my stomach) more for the upcoming meal than a perfectly mixed Negroni.
But the Negroni is so much more than a backup plan, or a ritual before a nice dinner out. It is a drink whose 1:1:1 ratio belies its depth and complexity, and a drink that never fails to make me smile and slow down. I’m not against foams, syrups, or tough-to-find tiki ingredients — I love em all. Neither am I against blood-orange Negronis, barrel-aged Negronis, 1794s, Boulevardiers, or any other cousin-of-Negroni. But I will say this: if you haven’t had a Negroni out in the last few months, or haven’t made one at home while you’re making dinner, give it a shot. You won’t be disappointed.
Recipe: Negroni
- 1 oz gin (I like Beefeater)
- 1 oz sweet vermouth
- 1 oz Campari
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist. Alternately, strain over fresh ice and add an orange slice. Savor.
Rangpur Lime Syrup Rum Old Fashioned
Well I may have gotten a bit overzealous with the obscure ingredients/equipment in my first two posts. So I was thinking I should post something simple and easily reproducible next time. I was feeling that way right up until a box arrived at my house today with all of the Christmas presents we shipped back from visiting family (and Rob and Jeremy of course) on the East coast. A box that contained the best stocking stuffer ever, Rangpur Lime Syrup from Zingerman’s. (Aside on Zingerman’s: its awesome. If only this was a food blog, I’d subject you to an extremely long rant to explain exactly how awesome.)
What are rangpur limes? I honestly had never heard of them before. It’s apparently a sour mandarin, but tastes like a smokey lime. Those are the official tasting notes. I think it kind of smells like Life Savers. And I mean that as a compliment.
So how does one use rangpur lime syrup in a cocktail? Well just the other day I was seriously wishing for lime bitters while constructing a Mai Tai influenced rum old fashioned. So naturally we ended up with…
Recipe: Rangpur Rum Old Fashioned
- 2 oz good aged rum (I used Ron Zacapa 23)
- 1 barspoon rangpur lime syrup
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- lime zest twist
Stir the bitters, rum and lime syrup and strain into a low ball glass. Garnish with the lime zest.
This was incredibly awesome. The only thing that keeps the Old Fashioned from being one of my top favorites is that they can be a bit sweet (especially with aged rum as the spirit!). The rangpur lime syrup, while sweet, also has a tartness to it that really balances this drink well. I might have to keep some of this stuff around just for this drink. In fact, this also goes really well with the Mai Tai foam from last week, perhaps even better than the Orgeat based rum old fashioned I tried at the time.
I should think it would be possible to recreate this stuff with some more readily available ingredients. Will update if I find a good substitute – I think this drink is definitely worth making, but of course it would be nice to not need the obscure ingredient.
–eric
The Smoking Sour
Laphroaig Quarter Cask, the smokiest of smokey scotches. Delicious!
Until Saturday, I had never had a good cocktail based on a smokey scotch.
This has been a terrible shame, as I love smokey scotch. My all time favorite (that is reasonably easy to find) is Laphroaig’s Quarter Cask. It’s so smokey it’s like drinking bog water.
Despite, and because of, its awesome flavor, smokey scotch is hard to mix with. For one thing, the nose often dominates whatever you mix with it. For another, the liquor itself is very strong, above and beyond its alcohol content. Even hard core scotch fiends in Scotland drink it with water to cut the taste. My buddies and I will put a cube or two of ice into a glass of smokey scotch and give it a few minutes to dilute before drinking. But still it’s delicious.
Last Saturday, I ate at Menton in Boston (truly fantastic, btw) and was served The Smoking Gun for my first cocktail. It’s base was Laphroaig’s 10 Year, which means business, but the cocktail did not smell of smoke! The nose was citrusy from lemon, but not smokey. What’s more, the smokey flavor was still strong in the drink itself without being overpowered. In short, the drink was an absolute revelation.
After making The Arbitrary Nature of Time (post forthcoming on that one) for myself tonight, I was also in the mood for more Campari and feeling adventurous, but didn’t want something so sweet as the Cherry Herring also featured in the cocktail.
Recipe: The Smoking Sour
The Smoking Sour
- 1.5 oz Johnnie Walker Double Black (or any really smokey scotch)
- 1.5 oz Campari
- 3/4 oz Bramble Wild Blackberry Brandy
- 3/4 oz Lemon Juice
- 5 dashes Regan’s orange bitters
- 5 dashes Bitter Truth aromatic bitters (can substitute Angostura, but you’d probably need a few more dashes since it’s not as bitter)
- Lemon Twist (garnish)
Stir the lot in a Boston Shaker with ample ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon to offset the blood-like color.
Straight up, The Smoking Sour was delicious. It’s very rare that I make something up and nail it the first time, but I can say unashamedly that this time I succeeded. At the risk of sounding macabre, the serious, dark blood color of it is, itself, unique and very beautiful, and completely an accident. I only added the lemon twist to set off against the color of the beverage.
Here is what went through my head thinking it up.
I didn’t have any Laphroaig at home, sadly, but I did have some Johnnie Walker Double Black, which is a smokey blend that’s actually quite good.
I went 1-to-1 Campari with the scotch, since experiments with Campari and various whiskeys so far have lead me to believe that anything less leaves the Campari in the dust and more serves to water down the whiskey than anything else. You need something close to 1-to-1 to get it to show through.
Bramble Wild Blackberry Brandy, sweet but with some interesting tartness.
The Arbitrary Nature of Time featured the Cherry Herring, which is a strongly flavored, sweet liquor. I didn’t want something so sweet, even given the lemon in this drink, so wanted to substitute something with sweetness that was also, itself, a little tart. The Wild Blueberry Brandy hit the spot there. Very tasty. My dad happened to bring this back from London. I think without this I would have used maybe 1/2 oz Cherry Herring, or maybe 1/2 oz simple syrup to give the sweetness needed.
I squeezed an entire half lemon into it, not quite sure how much I’d need. However, somehow this was perfect. The smoke was almost entirely missing from the nose of the drink without being overpowered at all in the drinking of it. I think this is the trick from The Smoking Gun from Menton.
Finally, I used quite a bit of bitters. Partly that’s because I like my drinks a little more bitter than standard, but mostly it was because I wanted to cut through the scotch on the back of the drink. The Bitter Truth bitters are, from earlier tasting, very bitter. In fact, that’s almost the only thing that recommends them. Regan’s, as far as orange bitters go, is also very bitter, and they also have some spiciness to them so are not a single note.
Enjoy!
Shit Bartenders Say
Nailed it :) My favorite part, “those suburbanites and their fucking mojitos.” I resemble that remark!
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An Ode to Man Cubes
My man cubes bring all the girls to the yard
My drink is colder than yours
Damn right, it’s colder than yours
I’d teach you but I’d have to charge
When it comes to the ice cubes you use in your cocktails, bigger is most definitely better. And the shape matters, both for the quality of your drink and for its presentation.
Advantages of Man Cubes
The first advantage you get from working with bigass ice cubes is pure physics. Greater volume-to-surface area ratio means more cold, less melt. Lots of little things have way more surface area than one big thing. What’s more, many home bartenders use the ice cubes that come right out their fridge’s ice-cube-o-matic. I don’t know what that shape is called. It’s like a cylinder and a 3D rectangle had a love child and it was ugly. From now on I’m calling it uglinder. And using those is worse than using comparable little cubes.
So the big cube? Much better at cooling your drink without watering it down. If you were a total physics geek about this (:::cough::: Eric :::cough:::) you might argue that a sphere is even better yet than a bigass ice cube. You’d be right. Also less sexy.
The second advantage you get is they look awesome. Need proof? Check out the difference. On the right you see a wussy little ice cube (though they are at least cubes and not uglinders). On the left you see a single man cube.
No comparison, right?
It’s alright if you’re a little turned on looking at it; that’s the point. Man Cubes, baby.
When To Use Them
A double old fashioned glass with one big man cube.
As a general rule, when you’re using your shaker, just use whatever ice you have on hand that’s cold and dry (runny ice will water down your cocktail too much; this is why you don’t re-use ice that’s already been shaken or stirred…you don’t, right?). Don’t waste the man cubes on the initial shaking or stirring; you’ll just be destroying a beautiful thing.
Once the drink is mixed, put your beautiful man cubes into the empty glasses and pour the cocktail over them.
For best effect, use something like a double-old fashioned glass or any bigger lowball cocktail glass. You’ll something like what you see to the right.
How to Make Them
Man cube tray.
Making man cubes is easy. You just buy a silicone man cube tray like you see to the left. Or, better yet, buy two of them just in case you have a few people over and make more than one drink that’s meant to be served on the rock and not up.
Amazon.com carries man cube trays, which is where I bought my second one (the first being a gift from my girlfriend Rachel, who also appreciates man cubes).
The Cock: The Drink That Started It All
Back in December, the impending holidays led to a rare occurrence: all three of us in one place. Without much of a debate, it was decided the only real option for the evening was a night of drink-making (and celebrating a number of our newly pregnant friends). At one point in the night, Eric started to riff on a drink we both love: David Wondrich’s The Bone. We thought it would be interesting to replace the original’s Tabasco with Sriracha, and give the drink a little more depth (and Thai-ness) by muddling in some Thai basil. Now, as was probably clear to any of our neighbors who saw us carting 20+ bottles of liquor across the South End earlier in the night, we were well on our way at this point and our memories are a bit hazy. But the spice and simplicity of this drink cut through the haze, and inspired this very cocktail blog.
Recipe: The Cock
- 2 oz Ryan & Wood rye (any high-proof rye should do)
- 1 oz lime juice
- 1 oz simple syrup
- 1 squeeze Sriracha (about 1/8-1/4 tsp, or to taste)
- 4-5 leaves thai basil
Muddle all but one of the basil leaves with the lemon juice and simple syrup. Add rye and Sriracha and shake with ice. Double strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a floated basil leaf.
The result was an easy drink (if you have Thai basil) that was a big crowd-pleaser across a wide range of drinkers there that night. If the etymology of the name isn’t clear you’re clearly not as sophomoric as us, but that’s probably a good thing. Eric and I agreed quickly we wanted the name to reference the sriracha in some way, and while The Bone wasn’t meant as a phallic reference, it was a quick jump from the famed Sriracha rooster to The Cock.
This drink has already leant itself to a number of variations I’ll touch on soon, including a non-alcoholic version we created for our newly pregnant friends, and I also can’t wait to try more drinks featuring my favorite condiment. In fact, a little Google-searching in preparation for this post led to the discovery (and immediate ordering) of Sriracha bitters from Brooklyn Hemispherical Bitters and an incredible sounding Sriracha Sazerac.
One final note: those of you familiar with The Bone probably know it’s meant more as a shot than a drink and it’s actually a 2oz/1tsp/1tsp ratio, not the 2oz/1oz/1oz we used, but we’ll leave that as a happy accident and try the shooter version of this some day soon.
The Mai Tai Deconstructed
I’m a sucker for a good Mai Tai. Not this Mai Tai. More like this Mai Tai. The kind of Mai Tai where the choice of rum(s) definitely matters. Thanks to friends Dave and Nhi, Allison and I tracked down the best Mai Tai in Hawaii, which was in fact the best Mai Tai I’ve ever had. It was surprisingly found here. I understand the irony of this situation, as the Mai Tai was supposedly invented in California, near where I currently live. But this is where I learned that a float of Lemonhart 151 is essential for a good Mai Tai.
My goal here is actually not to discuss the classic Mai Tai. On the contrary, my goal is to find the most awesome possible use of my new iSi Easy Whip for making cocktail foam! And as lately I’ve been really into spiritous rum drinks (this rum sazerac is my current favorite), I figured why not take all of the sweet stuff out of the standard Mai Tai and use it as a foam on something like a rum old fashioned? This sounds complicated, and there is no better way to power through a complicated job than with a classic Mai Tai in hand, so here’s a quick refresher on the original…
Recipe: Mai Tai
- 1 oz amber rum (I always use Clement V.S.O.P.)
- .5 oz Rhum Agricole Blanc
- .5 oz good aged rum (Zacapa 23 or El Dorado 12)
- .5 oz Clement Creole Shrubb
- .5 oz Orgeat
- .75 oz lime juice
- .5 oz Lemonhart 151
Shake all but the Lemonhart 151 and strain into a glass with crushed ice. Float the Lemonhart on top. Drink from a straw to let the float slowly seep into the drink.
Obviously this combination of rums isn’t exactly “classic” but I love the way the brightness of the agricole rhum works with the richness of a good aged rum. The funkiness of Smith and Cross also makes it an excellent alternative to Lemonhart.
Okay now that I’ve got a drink in hand, let’s move on to the fun part. First step: making Mai Tai foam. My basic model for foam comes from Jamie Boudreau’s awesome video (by the way I highly recommend perusing his video collection sometime — there are lots of gems in there, including the idea of flaming green Chartreuse over a finished cocktail, which I haven’t tried but sounds excellent).
I wanted the foam to take on the orange flavor, but still be “rummy” (because this is still supposed to resemble a Mai Tai). I also wanted the Orgeat as a sweetener along with some Tiki bitters. I actually don’t like bitters in a traditional Mai Tai, but a foam should really be aromatic, so I thought the Tiki bitters would fit well. Here it goes…
Recipe: Mai Tai Foam
- 4 egg whites
- 3 oz Clement Creole Shrubb
- 1 oz Lemonhart 151
- 1 oz Rhum Agricole Blanc
- 1.5 oz Orgeat
- .5 oz Tiki bitters
- 3 oz lime juice
Add all ingredients to iSi Easy Whip, charge, shake, refrigerate.
I actually forgot the water, which Jamie Boudreau calls for to keep the flavor from being too intense. But in this case, I thought it was good as is (plus adjusting the foam isn’t easy.) In fact it was really good — like a creamy, orangey Mai Tai, which is what I was hoping for.
Now for the base cocktail. I wanted something like a rum old fashioned but with some shout outs to the classic Mai Tai. Let’s see: Orgeat instead of simple syrup, easy decision. Orange/tiki bitters instead of Angostura, definitely. Lime zest twist instead of orange, yup. Smith and Cross rinse as a nod to the float on the classic version, now we’re getting somewhere.
Recipe: Mai Tai Deconstructed
- 2 oz Ron Zacapa 23
- 1 barspoon Orgeat
- 2 dashes Reagan’s orange bitters
- 1 dash Tiki bitters
- lime zest twist
- splash of Smith and Cross
- Mai Tai foam
Make this like you would a Sazerac. Stir the Ron Zacapa, orgeat and bitters while chilling a low ball glass with ice. Dump the ice from the low ball glass and rinse with Smith and Cross. Strain the rum/orgeat/bitters into the glass, and express the lime oils over them. Now add the foam, and garnish with the lime zest and few drops of tiki bitters.
The Mai Tai Deconstructed was actually pretty amazing, especially once the foam starting to seep in to the rest of the drink. It has hints of some of those Mai Tai flavors without the intense sweet/sour mouthfeel as the lime juice and orgeat in the foam are pretty spread out. The foam itself has awesome flavor, especially from the Creole Shrub, though I don’t think I totally nailed the consistency this time (it could have been creamier). Will try again and post an update if it’s a matter of messing with the ingredients as opposed to how much charging/chilling/shaking.
I would actually drink the base drink on its own too, where the Smith and Cross aroma could really shine. I’m think the Smith and Cross rinse is an idea worth exploring further. Also, next time I might try with a more traditional orange zest garnish, and lime bitters instead of orange bitters, if I can get my hands on some.
–eric
Posted in Cocktail, Original
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Corpse Reviver #5: Adventures in Tequila
Ever since trying a couple of amazing Tequila cocktails at Mateos in Healdsburg, I’ve been trying to make myself explore the spirit that used to just remind me of Cuervo shots in college. On that theme, over Christmas break in Ohio I made a tequila/lime/St. Germain/hot sauce concoction from the inter-webs called Dia Del Amor, which was also pretty amazing. (Love spicy cocktails.)
So it was that at Cask today, I purchased my first tequila bottle for the bar at home, called Fortaleza blanco, on recommendation from one of the super knowledgeable women who run the show there. Straight out of the bottle this stuff is very drinkable, though as I have frankly no clue what constitutes a good tequila, I’ll spare you any fancy adjectives. Priority number one was to find a good cocktail to put this in.
After perusing Cocktail Virgin for a while, I found the Corpse Reviver #5. Seeing as the Corpse Reviver #2 is one of my all time favorite drinks, trying this was a no brainer. I also happened to have pineapple gomme syrup (not homemade), though no Cocchi Americano. I did a bit of research and learned that Cocchi Americano is similar to, albeit definitely more bitter than, Lillet Blanc, which I do have. So I went with Lillet and added a dash of Reagan’s Orange bitters to compensate.
Recipe: (Slight Variation of) Corpse Reviver #5
- 1 oz blanco tequila
- 1 oz lemon juice
- 1 oz pineapple gomme syrup
- 1 oz Lillet blanc
- 1 dash of Reagan’s orange bitters
- splash of absinthe
- lemon zest twist for garnish
This turned out quite well. I love the mouthfeel of gomme syrup, and more generally the body of the Corpse Reviver family of drinks. Adding the Lillet dials back the flavor intensity a bit from the typical 2 parts liquor : 1 part sweet : 1 part sour formula, without tasting boring or watery. Also the tequila was a nice, richer, alternative to the gin in the C.R. #2. My only complaint about this drink is that the gomme syrup made it a tad sweet compared to the C.R. #2, which uses orange liquor instead.
So not being completely satisfied, and also recalling how well St. Germain went with tequila in the Dia Del Amora, I figured I could maybe tweak this to my liking by swapping the pineapple gomme syrup for St. Germain. I knew for sure that grapefruit and St. Germain go well together, so I also switched the orange bitters for grapefruit bitters. But then the Absinthe was a no-go, so I went searching for a complementary flavor. I was wishing for basil, which I’m fairly certain would be amazing here (partially because I make a similar Gin drink sometimes), but alas there was none to be found. I did have fresh blueberries, so why not…
First version was OK. The grapefruit bitters were fighting against all of the other flavors. Too much bitter, not enough depth. So I swapped them for the cranberry-anise bitters we’d made from a recipe in Food and Wine — the anise being a nice nod to the Absinthe in the original C.R. Now I thought this was excellent. Will need to make it again sometime for an audience to see how it flies.
Recipe: Corpse Reviver #75A1D0
- 1 oz blanco tequila
- 1 oz Lillet blanc
- 1 oz St. Germain
- 1 oz lemon juice
- 10 blueberries muddled
- 2 dashes cranberry-anise bitters
Despite combining several pretty agressive flavors, it was still quite well balanced. The blueberry flavor was just a hint, and the tartness of the cranberrry bitters kept it from being too sweet. Tequila was present but understated. And who doesn’t like the smell of St. Germain? Bonus points if you can figure out the name.
Will probably tweak this again next time as I think there is probably a spectacular drink hidden somewhere in the tequila-st. germain-lemon-lillet combination. Suggestions are welcome. But for now I’m thoroughly drunk, and safe from scurvy for the foreseeable future, so I think I’ll call it a night.
Thanks for reading. While this may seem like a rather long post for yet another cocktail blog, keep in mind we promised diatribes as well as drinks — so I’d say I pretty much nailed it.
UPDATE: I tried the Corpse Reviver #5 again yesterday and toned down the pineapple gomme syrup (3/4 oz). It was awesome. Major crowd pleaser. The gomme syrup makes it incredibly smooth if you shake it like crazy and double strain, and the strange pineapple/tequila/anise combination is more interesting than I think I gave it credit for the first time.
–eric
A Cocktail Blog — Drinks & Diatribes
Welcome to our cocktail blog for adventurous, home bartenders.
Now, I’m not gonna say we’re alcoholics. More like like chocoholics, but for booze. Our poison is awesome cocktails.
If you’re here, then you like to drink and want to learn some new cocktails to impress your friends, like The Cock™. You may have to put up with a rant or two here and there, but we promise (mostly) good, unique cocktails, and good times.
-Rob, Jeremy, Eric
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