#illadvisedcocktails has a new poster child.

Airbag, created by Phil Ward, Death & Co. and snagged from eGullet

1 ounce El Tosoro Reposado tequila

1/2 ounce Batavia Arrack

1/2 ounce Los Amantes Joven Mezcal

3/4 ounce Carpano Antica sweet vermouth

1/4 ounce St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram

1/4 ounce Benedictine

1-2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Mole bitters

Stir well with cracked ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lit cherry bomb.

From here: http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/2008/10/30/the-kitchen-sink/

via Joseph H. Vilas

http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/2008/10/30/the-kitchen-sink//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

second version of Your Tie

1 lime

1 Smith & Cross rum

1 Pearl Diver Mix

1/2 Bitter Truth Falernum

1/2 Green Chartreuse

shake with ice, pour the lot into a big stemless wineglass washed with absinthe

#illadvisedcocktails  

Originally shared by Richard G

soliciting names

1 lemon (yellow)

1 LS navy rum

1 LS Polynesian rum

1/2 chartreuse

1/2 falernum (Taylor’s Velvet)

hard shake, up.

6 drops absinthe; watch the lemon scurry!

#illadvisedcocktails

also on the docket tonight: Imperial V

2 Uncle Val’s gin

1 lemon

1 aperol

dash of maraschino

soliciting names

1 lemon (yellow)

1 LS navy rum

1 LS Polynesian rum

1/2 chartreuse

1/2 falernum (Taylor’s Velvet)

hard shake, up.

6 drops absinthe; watch the lemon scurry!

#illadvisedcocktails

also on the docket tonight: Imperial V

2 Uncle Val’s gin

1 lemon

1 aperol

dash of maraschino

despised by Al

1 zucca

1 campari

1/2 LS Navy rum

1/3 strega

2 dashes orange bitters

2 dashes jerry thomas (clove) bitters

build in glass over rocks

#illadvisedcocktails

Seven Dials Shank

Wash with absinthe

1.5 Rittenhouse Rye

1/2 Zucca

1/2 Nardini Amaro

1/2 Campari

1/2 Strega

1 bar spoon Laphroaig

2 dashes orange bitters

2 dashes Jerry Thomas’ (clove) bitters

1 kumquat; halved, squeezed, skewered

Rocks or up. Either way, stir.

…this is a further refinement of the Six-inch Gold Blade – gentler, more aromatic, more controlled. It’s pleasingly smokey without being an Arbroath firebox. The herbal and anise notes are below the overall whiskiness. Frankly more restrained than the name suggests.

#illadvisedcocktails  

posting because I just lost 20 minutes hunting for this – my local variant To Hell With Spain is:

1.5 glenmorangie

1/2 lost spirits navy rum

1/2 carpano red vermouth

1/4 laphroaig

1/4 maurin quina (or sure Cherry Heering I guess)

dash of orange bitters

absinthe wash (ahem Jensen Toperzer)

Similar to but notably different from the earlier Five Points Shiv.

via Joseph H. Vilas

#illadvisedcocktails

http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/2011/12/07/a-drink-at-vitos-in-seattle-and-a-correction///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Sazafraxenbracken

2 barrel-aged Broker’s gin

1/2 Strega

2 dashes orange bitters

2 dashes orinoco bitters

absinthe wash

stir

#illadvisedcocktails

Sazerac of the Long 19th Century

accidentally put orange and angostura bitters in my modern Sazerac, surprised by deliciousness.

2 rye

5 dashes Peychauds

1/2 tbsp simple syrup

1 dropper essence d’absente

2 dashes angostura

2 dashes orange bitters

#illadvisedcocktails

Atlas refinement

2 Calvados (Boulard)

1 rum (Bacardi 8)

1 Amara orange liqueur

3 drops xocolatl bitters

#illadvisedcocktails

Yet another Manhattan/Six Inch Gold Blade variant.

Let’s call it a 5 Points Shiv:

2 Rittenhouse Rye

1 Italian Vermouth

1/2 Laphroaig

1/2 Campari

1 dash Chartreuse (most important!)

2 dashes Angostura bitters

1 dropper Xocolatl Mole bitters

#illadvisedcocktails  

Up, orange twist.

six inch gold blade, Joseph D. Eater variant, bacardi 8 in place of sadly unavailable smith&cross.

Nose: tobacco and burned cordite

Taste: lapsang and smoked shoes

…intriguing. definitely one for Adam Thornton’s Tom Waits cocktail project and most certainly in #illadvisedcocktails

g 50 sake is very good indeed. Fruity, lots of flavour, great warm.

Hakutsuru draft is half the price and tastes it, but it’s still not at all bad and makes a fine saketini.

Both are American. I am slightly amazed that I prefer US sake to Japanese, and that I don’t naturally gravitate straight toward obscure, expensive brands, which seems to be my MO with pretty much everything else. If you don’t know where to start with sake, here’s a good place.

Saketini

2 gin (Boodles, Beefeater)

1 sake

1/4 plum wine or 1/3 Maurin quina

Shake, up, cucumber slice

#illadvisedcocktails

huh. Is this the secret of Donn Beach’s Pearl-Diver’s Punch? A fairly quick/primitive fat-washing of the rum.

Doug Ford

looks like this technique goes back at least to the 1930s and, if you count the use of Batavia Arrack in chocolate truffles, probably the 1870s.

#illadvisedcocktails

http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2014/04/science-fat-washing-spirits-cocktails-how-fatwashing-works.html//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

So I finally had a go at making this – easily the most complicated drink I’ve ever made with the longest prep time – cinnamon and vanilla syrups, clarifying butter, 2 juices and a straining step between blender and glass. It’s a production.

I had to make 3 substitutions:

I’m using Barbancourt 15 and Lost Spirits Polynesian instead of Bacardi 8 and El Dorado 15. It’s what I have, and I already have too many rums.

Also, Allspice Dram is not easy to get around here. Instead I’m using Bitter Truth’s Jerry Thomas Bitters (clovey, the best I could manage). Honestly, there’s only a dash worth in the final drink anyway… I figured I’d risk it.

The result? On first impression, it wasn’t anything special – nice, but clearly not worth all the effort.

But then…… as I was drinking it, getting half way down the glass, I kept being struck by its quiet difference from Don’s other cocktails, how round and satisfying and charming it was, despite the slightly greasy feel on the lips. Even though I was convinced all the butter had stayed behind on the ice in the mixing glass. I definitely will try it again – especially now that I’ve frozen a load of Pearl Diver Mix ice cubes, ready to microwave next time (Philistine! Impostor!).

But I have some adjustments to make for next time, which might change the equation:

1. shake all the ingredients together without ice, to keep the butter liquid as long as possible, and maybe prevent its freezing out, through mixing with the alcohol. This will either be good or disastrous.

2. add an extra 1/2oz falernum and 4 solid dashes of Jerry Thomas bitters

3. add a 1/2oz float of cachaca.

#illadvisedcocktails Doug Ford

http://cold-glass.com/2015/06/21/extra-effort-extra-reward-the-pearl-divers-punch///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

I think this is an improvement on the basic Hurricane but it needs work. It needs inspiration.

2 jamaican rum (Appleton 12)

1 passion fruit juice (lightly sweetened)

2/3 orgeat

1/2 falernum

If you melt Goya frozen passion fruit pulp and add just a little sugar and a cup of water, you get a sour juice, and then you can adjust the sweet/sour balance however you want.

Orgeat flatters rum and tends to bring out the fruit flavours.

Falernum optional.

In the end it’s a passion fruit drink, the rest matters less.

#illadvisedcocktails

So Don the Beachcomber’s basic mix seems to have been rum + lime juice + sweetener. i.e. the basic mix of a hundred cocktails and also navy grog.

But if you use good rum then this foundation seems to yield reliable results even if you throw serious nonsense in there with it.

So. This evening I decided to try equal parts Appleton rum, falernum, and lime juice, to find out what would happen if I stripped Don’s Test Pilot down to its skivvies.

At the same time, I determined to try a Burnt Fuselage (equal parts cognac, grand marnier, dry vermouth). First I figured out that Clement VSOP rum, Creole Shrub and vermouth made a better drink than I could manage with the dodgy Reynal cognac I had on hand – so that Caribbean pilot became my mixing base.

Both the Stripped Pilot and Fuselage performed exactly as expected – they were nice enough but they lacked intrigue, consequences.

So pour them together – equal parts lime, falernum, dry vermouth, shrub, and a double dose of rum and….

It’s not poetry in a glass, but it’s an acceptable Tiki drink. I’m not going to name it yet – something further is needed, probably some bitter or herbal note – but when it’s ready I think I’ll call it the Moment of Impact. Anyway it seems to demonstrate the resilience of Don’s method. I’m strongly tempted next to try mixing it either with another classic combo (Manhattan? Aviation?) or with some totally alien note – sake or sherry or something – to see what happens.

Tagging Doug Ford because in the end he’s the progenitor for all this silliness.

#illadvisedcocktails

http://www.hawaiibeachcomber.com/id9.html//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Ultimate Mai Tai Challenge

Some months ago Natalie Bennett posted about the Mai Tai, propelling me off onto a journey of discovery that would cost me a few hundred dollars and several hours of work. She suggested that Doug Ford’s rum combo of Appleton 12 year old and Clement VSOP should constitute the canonical modern Mai Tai. I immediately wanted to know what this was like, and whether I could beat it.

I have.

Sure, blah blah personal tastes etc etc etc. Whatevs. You will agree with me when you have tried this, because it is a taste sensation.

1oz lime juice

1/2oz Grand Marnier*

3/4oz Monin orgeat syrup**

1oz Lost Spirits Polynesian Inspired Rum (indispensable)

1/2oz Appleton 12 year old Rum (somewhat dispensable)

stir over cubes of ice. Mint sprig and orange slice garnish.

* I have tried it with Clement Creole Shrub. I declare that the Grand Marnier is smoother and easier to get and yields superb results.

** I have made my own orgeat. I have run around in goddamn circles trying all sorts of nonsense. My experiments are not exhaustive but I tell you what, Monin is easy to get and works GREAT. Rum is the key to this drink anyway.

Supplementary reviews:

Clement VSOP Rum actually could be a cognac. Seriously. Delicious, but surprisingly not very rummy. Definitely not as raw-sugar-caney as Clement’s own white rhum agricole.

Clement Creole Shrub is also mighty tasty – thin and acerbic with orange, refined with the cognacky taste of Clement rum – more like a Curacao than Grand Marnier. It’s very tasty BUT not impossible to substitute in this drink or, I suspect, any other.

#illadvisedcocktails

http://cold-glass.com/2010/08/06/mai-tai-cocktail///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Experimental gomme sirop

8 oz piloncillo sugar, dissolved in 4 oz simmering water

2 oz gum arabic, dissolved in 2 oz simmering water

combine, simmer and stir for 3 minutes,

add 1 capful orange flower water.

…this is rich, fruity with the flavour of the cane, like a super dark rum for children. Planning to try it in tiki drinks. Colour is like Guinness, so I’ll have to give up any remaining pretense that visual appeal is a concern.

The gum arabic has a mild flavour but it doesn’t register here – it’s supposed to lend a “silkiness” to alcoholic drinks, but I’m using it because it prevents the sugar recrystallizing in the bottle.

#illadvisedcocktails

Bitters taste test results

The Good:

Dr. Adam Elmegirab’s Dead Rabbit Orinoco Bitters. Kind of a mix between Angostura and chocolate bitters. I could totally do a shot of this and will be experimenting with mixing it.

L’extreme d’absente bitter aux plantes d’absinthe. Essence of absinthe, does exactly what it says on the label. I think this is what my Sazeracs have been missing. I don’t like aniseed but this has a bunch of other notes that I do like, so it’s perplexing and hard to contemplate – like the Green Hour itself in a tiny droppered flask.

the bad

Bitter Bastards centrifugally extracted Angelica and Sour Cherry bitters.

The formula here is simple: fiery high proof rum + gentian for bitterness, + whichever flavour extract they’ve named the concoction after.

The problem is, they both really, really taste like 151 proof rum, a little bit like gentian, and not much like the named ingredient. They’re kinda hard to tell apart. Not recommended.

the Ugly

…which is not necessarily bad.

Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas’ Own Decanter Bitters Improved Formula tastes like 80% cloves, 20% orange. The most intense taste experience on this list. Did you want cloves in your drink? Then this is for you. Might mix very well, actually.

Dr. Adam Elmegirab’s Spanish Bitters is decidedly orangey and herby but also distracting soapy. If I can… get over the soapiness… it might just be brilliant. But get over the soapiness is not something I’ve ever thought before, so it’ll take time to tell.

#illadvisedcocktails

Further drinks porn from Constantine, Cornwall

(they ship around the UK as http://www.drinkfinder.co.uk/ )

Behind this unassuming Post Office front lurks one of the best collections of spirits I think you can find anywhere. Featured: extra premium Chartreuse that I didn’t even know existed, crazy ranges of eaux-de-vie and fruit liqueurs. Did you know that Bitter Truth did a falernum and a creme de violette? I did not.

Acquisitions:

Gins: Warner Edwards’ Rhubarb from Harrington, Sibling from Cheltenham.

Bitters: “Orinoco,” “Spanish,” “Jerry Thomas,” Absinthe herbs (which actually comes with a do not drink this straight warning), and centrifuge-extracted angelica and sour cherry from Bitter Bastards. Experimentation will follow.

Also pictured, Amrut whiskey from India found in upstate NY, because I understand that you will have limited patience for this kind of spamming.

#illadvisedcocktails

Internet age, why do you hate my brain?

….so I said I was looking for an obscure bitters and my mother said “oh you should come to the post office in Constantine,” which is a completely unremarkable little village of 20 houses or something near where I grew up in Cornwall. Behind a reservoir.

So I smiled and nodded and forgot all about it.

But today I went there. And it turns out this village post office also just happens to be the best liquor store I have ever seen in my life. Need orinoco and absinthe herb bitters? Clement Creole Shrubb? Or is there a really specific Japanese whiskey you’ve been curious about?

Problem solved, in the most unlikely way. Over 100 small production gins, 500 whiskies, and on and on. And they sell online, which is of course how they can possibly survive, hidden in the back of a newsagents/convenience store 20 miles from Land’s End.

http://www.drinkfinder.co.uk

And the owner heard us talking about Zuidam oude jenever so he said “would you like to try some gins?” and we said “sure” and so he got out a dozen different bottles and shot glasses and plunked them down on the ice cream cabinet. And so now I have a rhubarb gin and some trendy new thing from Cheltenham with pseudo-rock umlauts over the consonants.

The only problem is, on Saturday I have to go back to the crappy liquor stores in the US.

#illadvisedcocktails

http://www.thisisyourkingdom.co.uk/article/constantine-post-office///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

local variant of the Mary Pickford (let’s call it a Mrs Fairbanks)

1oz Lost Spirits Polynesian

1oz fresh juiced pineapple

1/2 tsp home grenadine

dash maraschino

2 dashes Peychauds

2 dashes Angostura

Stir over ice, old fashioned glass

I forgot the cherry.

Colour is that dirty blonde you get when you mix brown rum with yellow pineapple. Optimally I probably should have dropped some red dye in it rather than grenadine.

Taste: not at all thin/ghostly. Rather sweet, mellow like a Tiki drink I suppose because the pineapple was perfectly ripe.

Joseph H. Vilas I think thinness might be down to unripe pineapple – selecting ripe pineapples: I’m told if you can tug out one of the inner leaves easily it should be ripe.

#illadvisedcocktails

LOST SPIRITS RUM REVIEWS

So I still haven’t bought any Clement rum because this is becoming a ridiculous obsession and really I have to stop buying rums at some point the local doesn’t stock it and my guilt is strong. And therefore I still haven’t tried the canonical Mai Tai. But I have tried Lost Spirits’ Polynesian-inspired and Cuban-inspired rums and here is the report on that.

1. “Polynesian.” Holy crap this is good. I don’t love it for drinking straight, but it makes the best, fruitiest, most complex Mai Tai I’ve ever managed and even people who haven’t heard about this weird obsession smile and their eyes light up when they try these Mai Tais.

Recommendation: Lost Spirits Polynesian Inspired Rum.

Tasting notes: neat it’s fiery (natch, it’s 2/3 alcohol) but the first thing you notice is the bright fruity notes like a nail polish hit only edible. Add a little water and it’s…. honestly not my favourite drink but full of interesting flavours. First impression is like grapey tropical I don’t know, later tastes bring out coffee and some kinda mysterious spice. But the Mai Tais. Oh my lord that is how you drink this spirit.

2. Cuban Inspired 151 proof rum. Yes it’s strong. Mai Tai is unremarkable but quite civilized.

Tasting notes: sure. It’s fiery, but actually seems more controlled than the “Polynesian.” It’s… really… a remarkably smooth and charming rum, especially when you add some water. Well-made, if not super-distinctive. Still, I’m not sure whether I’d rather drink this with water, or Barbancourt’s 15 year old flagship product, Haiti’s premiere rum with a big fan following. My wife would prefer the Barbancourt because it is smoother, but this Cuban thing is refined and cognac-like and kinda spiritual.

In brief: they’re both great. $60 great (with shipping)? The “Cuban” I don’t know, just because there are other well-established rums that also do what it does extremely well – although not at 151 proof (that’s 75% alcohol)… but when do I need a crazy overproof rum? Really, when I’m trying to preserve fruits or something, and then I wouldn’t use this. And there are not so many rums that are this good – it’s more fun than any of those black treacly rums like Wood’s or Morgan’s. I kinda find the overproof thing a turn-off, unless I can learn to think of this as 2 bottles of rum that I just dilute with water. Hm.

But the “Polynesian”? Irreplaceable, I think. Unique. Buy it now before it becomes a collector’s item. I already bought a second bottle and I think I might buy out the local supply because damn. And because the guy who makes it just might not make any more.

#illadvisedcocktails

Home made syrup report:

1. orgeat. Nice but ultimately not worth it for Mai Tais, I think. Maybe in another drink where it has more of a starring role.

2. grenadine. Actually really quite different from store-bought, which is usually innocent of pomegranate. Nice but not astonishing. And now I have a pint of the stuff, it has a short shelf life, and the kids prefer the ersatz treacle they already know.

3. rhubarb. Delicious with half the sugar. But: just a tiny bit of sugar effectively cancels the sourness, so frankly not useful at all as an alternative to lime.

Currently resisting temptation to make falernum.

#illadvisedcocktails

I vote this the blog post most deserving of the #illadvisedcocktails tag:

1. let’s dehydrate spirits and liqueurs to make alcoholic Crystal Light

2. rehydrate dissolve to a tincture with Everclear, which is 95% alcohol.

What could possibly go wrong?

…I imagine the souped-up Contessa is delicious. I’m still not quite clear why it’s better than using straight Aperol, though. More concentrated flavour?

http://www.alcademics.com/2012/04/extreme-aperol-and-the-no-baloney-negroni.html//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Mai Tais and rums: what we have learned so far

A Mai Tai made with inadequate rum is a miserable thing: scratchily sour from the lime, cloying with the almond, not noticeably orangey, thin and harsh and makes you really want a caipirinha. Thus Myers’s and Mount Gay are discarded.

Made with Barbancourt 15yo it is at least pleasant and rather caipirinha-like, but still really not all that special (sorry, famous aged Haitian rhum agricole – which, by the way, is considerably smoother and less sugarcaney than other rhums agricoles I’ve had).

(trying to pep up the Barbancourt version, I tried adding 1oz rye whiskey. And it was nice, but it just tasted like a Mai Tai with a rye whiskey in it)

Made with cachaca, it feels inferior to a caipirinha, lacking the latter’s crisp, balanced, sweet-sour zing.

Made with Lost Spirit’s Polynesian-inspired rum, though, it’s a revelation. Complex, rich, sweet, full of every sort of fruit – I’ve hardly ever had anything that was such sheer joy in a glass. A martini can be clean and round and satisfying, a really good glass of red can give you a sense of contented well-being along with its woody, blackberry, spicy notes, but this here is a drink that can cheer you right up.

1 Lost Spirits Polynesian*

1 lime juice

3/4 orgeat syrup

3/4 grand marnier

stir with ice, serve on the rocks.

#illadvisedcocktails

* at 68%, yes, that will be enough alcohol.

So. I was getting pretty sceptical about the whole Mai Tai thing – I’d tried it with the admittedly lackluster rums I had on hand and it seemed to me rather inferior to a daiquiri – the almond and orange weren’t really doing much, the lime needed taming, and I’d got used to caipirinhas, which have floral sugarcane notes to deal with any limey harshness.

Then my Lost Spirits Polynesian-inspired rum arrived. So I had another go.

Wow. Now I get it. No 2-rum mix, just “Polynesian.”

2 rum

1 lime

3/4 monin orgeat

1/2 grand marnier

#illadvisedcocktails

This is a totally different approach to cocktail making from my usual harassed-barman-with-30-seconds-before-the-end-of-the-world method. I think I like it.

Certainly I’m intrigued by the possibilities of steeping fruits, fresh herbs and spices in the alcohol for a few hours or days ahead of time – citrus juices need to be squeezed fresh or they change flavour, but I see no reason not to lemongrass your gin for a day in the fridge, for instance. The main downside is that I would end up thinking about my night’s drinking all day long.

#illadvisedcocktails

http://www.bojongourmet.com/2014/03/grapefruit-ginger-and-lemongrass-sake.html//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Recent cocktail recipes collected into a blog post for easy reference when I don’t have access to G+. On my woefully neglected drinking blog, which I shall resurrect with wines etc Some Day Soon.

#illadvisedcocktails

https://richarddrinks.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/the-cocktail-post//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Negrotrar

1 Campari

1 Cynar

1 Green Chartreuse

2 shakes celery bitters might not be doing anything given the circumstances.

stir, strain. No garnish, although I’m tempted to add a sprig of dill. 

#illadvisedcocktails

Results of experimenting with that Elan Vital cocktail Joseph H. Vilas posted recently

(https://plus.google.com/u/0/101159830675913070599/posts/cw4wosjzV1U )

2 Jonge genever (Boomsma)

3/4 green Chartreuse

1/2 dry vermouth

1/4 creme de violette

1/4 amaretto

stir, strain

…this is not a colour I usually try to achieve.

I was scared of the toothache sweetness of the original recipe (which has yellow chartreuse in place of green and orgeat syrup in place of amaretto), so I toned it down a bit. The result, though, is like dry gin + benedictine, only more muddled. RECOMMENDATION: IMPERIAL

#illadvisedcocktails

Research Triangle, alternate:

2 gin

2/3 green chartreuse

7 dashes peychauds

1 dash orange bitters

Pink, yet macho. Not at all sweet, kinda martini-like. I actually like this one a lot.

#illadvisedcocktails

Painfully hipster anti-gin is painful

So my curiosity got the better of me and I bought this “garden gin” made by (wait for it) Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. They don’t call it a gin because it doesn’t contain any juniper. And they have some story about the Founding Fathers and Jefferson and gardening…

http://www.artintheage.com/our-spirits/sage/

…but there’s no actual historical basis for the product.

I would love to tell you that it totally blew away all my biases.* But I can’t. It’s… not terrible. It does not bear the hallmarks of a badly-made distillate. But it tastes like the spirit equivalent of the less popular herbal teas from the organic and whole foods section of the supermarket. Notes of licorice, lettuce and soggy marsh weeds, like how I imagine Demeter Fragrance Library’s Wet Garden might smell.

http://www.fragrantica.com/perfume/Demeter-Fragrance/Wet-Garden-7778.html

So far the best thing I’ve managed to do with it is:

3 Sage

2 Dimmi

1 Becherovka

stir and strain

…and even that, I would say, is more interesting than enjoyable, mostly because it masks Sage’s contribution. Experiments with Lillet, Chartreuse, bitters and sake were not worth repeating.

Scratching my head about whether there’s some other ingenious thing I could do with its way-off-the-beaten-path flavour.

Likewise scratching my head over a bottle of Bitter Truth Celery Bitters, which tastes like a mixture of curry and burning printed circuit board (i.e. celery seeds – I shoulda seen both of these coming, really). So far both drinks seem to work best as appetite suppressants.

#illadvisedcocktails

C & B Old Fashioned might be the most misleading name for a cocktail I’ve ever seen. If anything, it’s a very old style martini with some liqueur additions:

2  Plymouth Gin

1 Lillet Blanc

1 Campari

1/3 Bénédictine

1/3 Cointreau

Stir, Orange twist.

The version shown is served on the rocks, topped with Club soda.

I had mine up, minus soda, plus 2 dashes orange bitters.

It’s a delicious, nicely balanced drink with a wild colour. BUT I can’t help thinking, for how it tastes it could be greatly simplified. I reckon:

2 gin

1 campari

2/3 benedictine

2 dashes orange bitters.

trying this next….

#illadvisedcocktails

http://liquor.com/recipes/c-b-old-fashioned///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

soliciting names. I’m tempted by Triangulo Novo

2 gin (boodles with 1/4martin Miller)

2/3 benedictine

7 dashes peychaud’s

1 dash orange bitters

shake, strain, orange twist.

#illadvisedcocktails

ETA: the accepted name is now Research Triangle

If you find this one too sweet, sub Green Chartreuse for the Benedictine without changing anything else. The result will be clean-tasting and martini-like.

So; the Vieux Carré is a Saratoga with a whiff of Benedictine and Peychaud’s.

The Saratoga is a Manhattan modified by mixing cognac with the whisky – it’s equal parts rye, cognac and Italian vermouth, finished with 2 dashes of angostura bitters. http://cold-glass.com/2010/09/30/saratoga-cocktail/

Cognac plus rye, as Doug Ford has observed, makes a delicious, satisfying and sympathetic mixer.

Peychaud’s is essentially an aniseed bitters. Benedictine is essentially a sweet genepi. They’re generally credited with adding “waves of complexity” to the Vieux Carré. But what happens when you mix and drink them on their own?

…the genepi herbiness is freshened up by the anise. The whole takes on a minty, cooling mouthfeel. I’ve a feeling it would work well with gin and maybe a shake of orange bitters.

Up the ante for both Benedictine and anise and you get a Cocktail a la Louisiane:

3/4 oz. rye (or rye/cognac mix?), 3/4 oz. Italian vermouth

3/4 oz. Benedictine

3 dashes Herbsaint (New Orleans pastis)

3 dashes Peychaud’s

http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/2006/11/15/cocktail-a-la-louisiane/

But I’d really like to try this Benechaud mix with… the black pepper in Martin Miller’s gin? Dimmi? I don’t know. Evening of experimentation coming up, suggestions welcome…

#illadvisedcocktails

http://liquor.com/recipes/vieux-carre///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Dimmi Martini

2 Martin Miller gin

3/4 Dimmi

1/4 Lillet blanc

2 dashes orange bitters (most important)

lemon twist.

I have adopted the tag #illadvisedcocktails – if you post your cocktail recipes with the same tag we could I don’t know get some kind of community thing going here. It’s just a thought, maybe someone’s had it before.

This will be the next fashionable thing in cocktails: Rabo de Galo – which is, literally, cock’s tail in Portuguese.

It’s the quintessential Brazilian dive bar drink, beloved by malandros and hobos and taxi drivers. Recipes vary: the simplest version, which I tried yesterday and found forceful but tasty, is:

2 cachaca

1 Cynar.

The recipe given below is

7 cachaca

5 italian vermouth

2 lime juice

#illadvisedcocktails

http://deixaqueeumanjo.pop.com.br/rabo-de-galo-bebida-mais-popularesca-dos-bares-brasileiros///cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Cattaneo

2 gin (boodles)

1 lemon juice

1 creme yvette

1 dimmi

Shake. No garnish

Brendan S

…named after Milanese aviator Bartolomeo Cattaneo: http://www.earlyaviators.com/ecattan4.htm

Who wouldn’t love that face?

#illadvisedcocktails

Razesca? Saxencar?

I’d kind of got into a rut with making cocktails. Variations on the martini, the Manhattan, the Brooklyn. I wanted to make something that I wouldn’t just arrive at through the usual modifications… and wound up making a modified Sazerac, but where there are so many changes that it’s really…

Wash glass with galliano.

mix with ice:

2 cognac

3/4 St. Germain

8 dashes peychaud’s bitters

strain, garnish with large orange twist.

…..it’s kind of fruity and delicious. And nuclear orange. And like nothing else I’ve ever made. Maybe it needs something sour – juice of half a lemon and increase the St. Germain to 1. Maybe even add a 1/4 of maraschino instead. I don’t know yet, my taste buds are still getting used to it.

#illadvisedcocktails

So Joseph H. Vilas turned me on to Doug Ford’s cocktail blog, and he is now my go-to guy for drink recipes – I don’t think I’ve ever read anyone who was so consistently on the mark. Made a Sazerac and a Vieux Carre this evening following his instructions, and the Sazerac’s a bit sweet but that’s easily fixed by reducing the sugar syrup.

http://cold-glass.com/2012/02/14/drinking-the-french-quarter-the-vieux-carre-cocktail/

Highly recommended, at least for these warming winter-time drinks.

On a different tip, my good friend Sergio makes the best Negroni. Pro-tip: he rims the glass with a clementine peel. And like Michael Dietsch says, you hate Campari until that one moment when you love it, and then when you love it you never want your bottle to run dry.

I don’t know that that’s quite true of me – I got hooked on Aperol easy but I’m not feeling the full Campari addiction yet. I was surprised by how sweet I found the Negroni, though. Thinking about trying Cynar next (to recover that masochistic bitter bite, I guess. This is how people end up drinking Fernet. And Malort).

#illadvisedcocktails

http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2014/02/best-gin-for-a-negroni-cocktail-tanqueray-perrys-tot-navy-strength-hendricks.html?ref=excerpt_readmore//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

So I was thinking “what am I going to make with this bottle of Peychaud’s apart from Sazeracs?” and it turns out there’s already a Tom Waits themed modified Manhattan just waiting for me.

#illadvisedcocktails

http://www.kindredcocktails.com/cocktail/tango-til-theyre-sore//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Achievement unlocked: drank a Saratoga in Saratoga.

http://cold-glass.com/2010/09/30/saratoga-cocktail/

Realized I had inadvertently recreated this drink during my Manhattan experiments.

Also a Sazerac (not nearly as sweet as I’d feared) and a Manhattan made with Knob Creek Smoked Maple Bourbon. The latter was very sweet indeed but ideal for a snowstorm with record-setting wind chill. Still, I don’t think I need to get a bottle: I can’t think of too many drinks to make with it and when I absolutely must, I sense I’ll be able to recreate it just by adding some maple to my whiskey.

#illadvisedcocktails

Ongoing cocktail experimentation:

1. Lillet makes a much sweeter Martini. I’m OK with that… sometimes. My Martini-loving friends are not. If Martinis are not sweet dammit then better stick with vermouth.

Test case: 6 Botanist/1 white Lillet. This drink also convinced me that the Vesper, James Bond’s contribution to Martini mixology, would not at all be my sort of drink: cheap gin diluted with vodka, plus Lillet. On the other hand it’s of professional interest to me, as a product that was first popularized on transatlantic liners. AIUI the “Kina” bit was dropped in the 70s, without changing the drink.

2. Negroni variant I actually like:

    2 gin (Botanist)

    1 Carpano

    1 Amaro Nonino

    orange twist

swapping cognac for the gin makes a sweeter, smokier drink, which I’m just going to add to the stable of smoky amaro-based Manhattan/1794 variants. I don’t have names for any of these, and the cocktail problem space is so well explored that I’m pretty sure they already all have names  anyway, it’s merely tiresome to look them up.

#illadvisedcocktails

Amaro – what we have learned so far

Montenegro: not all that keen

Lucano: easy drinking on its own, awfully sweet for mixing

Nonino: not as easy drinking but much better, great mixer

Bassano: like between Nonino and Lucano plus mint. Odd.

Picon: definitely belongs in this group of drinks despite being more orangey

Carpano Vermouth: kind of belongs here… like a waystation between other Italian vermouths and amaros. Like you could sub Dubonnet for red vermouth in many drinks that call for it, and probably improve the drink, but Carpano is something else

Campari and Aperol: really a different kind of drink altogether

Anyone got anything to add? Which amaros should I be drinking?

#illadvisedcocktails

3 brandy

3 rittenhouse rye

1 aperol

1amaro nonino

1 carpano vermouth

1 shake orange bitters

1 cherry steeped in brandy

No name yet but it’s fundamentally another variation on the 1794.

#illadvisedcocktails

Bleecker Street

2 Rittenhouse Rye

1 Amaro Nonino

1/2 Maurin Quina

Shake over ice. Eschew ornament.

Man, that Rittenhouse is a good mixer. Does what a rye should and nothing else.

This is easily my favourite Manhattan ever. I’ve had so many Manhattans that I regretted halfway down the glass. Not this one. 

Adam Thornton you finally convinced me for my own good.

#illadvisedcocktails

OK. People, you gotta try:

3 gin (Hendricks)

2 sake (Hastukura draft)

1 Maurin Quina

…shake over ice. No garnish unless you can scare up an umeboshi or something.

#illadvisedcocktails

5 cognac

2 amer picon

1 fresh squeezed OJ

cherry

name?

#illadvisedcocktails

1 carpano antica vermouth

1 dry vermouth

1 fresh-squeezed orange juice

1 amaro nonino

5 hendricks gin

shake, strain, garnish with orange peel

Inviting names here.

#illadvisedcocktails

first Martinez I’ve actually enjoyed:

2 Boodles gin

3/4 Antica Italian vermouth

1/6 Luxardo maraschino

Yes, it’s sweet. Might be better with brandy. The Antica vermouth is indispensable.

#illadvisedcocktails

http://cocktails.about.com/od/atozcocktailrecipes/r/mtnz_cktl.htm//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

Adam Thornton cocktail cherry porn.

3/4 brandy, 1/4 151* rum, schlouk of maraschino liqueur, sugar, cherries.

Revisiting ca. thanksgiving.

#illadvisedcocktails

Natalie Bennett was asking about amaro. This red vermouth… isn’t quite that but it is kind of a revelation – light, bitter, extremely drinkable and charming. Imma check the mixing properties later, but so far it’s the only Italian vermouth I’d drink neat.

#illadvisedcocktails

http://www.specialitybrands.com/brands/antica-formula-vermouth//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

continuing thoughts about Drunkenness, the first 5000 years with Zzarchov Kowolski and Chris Kutalik

#illadvisedcocktails

Originally shared by Gerrit Reininghaus

Ok, that’s fun. But even more: a fantastic and intelligent satirical way to express criticism on certain Western cultural beliefs and taboos.

http://imgur.com/a/i0Wt7//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js

2 beefeater gin, 1/3 Picon citron.

That simple.

#illadvisedcocktails

Pokemon cocktails!

via Scott Martin

My work here is done. Farewell fleshlings.

#illadvisedcocktails

http://geekologie.com/2013/10/i-drank-eight-umbreons-and-slept-on-the.php//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js