Ain’t That A Kick In The Head

Day 336, Cocktail 341

Monday evening at the Twilight Lounge and I kept looking at the little bit of champagne left over from the weekend.  I needed a cocktail that would make use of my bubbly before it went totally flat on me.  But what to make?  A quick trip to the CocktailDB and a search on champagne gave me my answer.  The Americana cocktail called for champagne and “100 proof” bourbon, among other ingredients.  What better time to break out the Wild Turkey.  Not only is it 101 proof, but what could be more American for the Americana cocktail?  After all, none other than founding father Benjamin Franklin wanted to designate the turkey as our national bird.  So I gathered up the ingredients and went to work.

  Americana Cocktail

• 1/4 oz Wild Turkey bourbon
• 1/8 oz bar syrup
• 1 dash Agnostura bitters
• champagne

Combine the Wild Turkey, bitters and bar syrup in a mixing glass with a little cracked ice.  Stir to combine and strain into a chilled coupe.  Top with champagne and give a quick stir.

Basically, this is champagne with a kick.  There is so little Wild Turkey in this drink compared to the champagne and even the bitters, that I could barely notice it.  However, it was a nice way to use up the last of the champagne!

Cheers!

Death Warmed Over

Day 297, Cocktail 295

When I selected the title for this post I had no idea that there was already a book entitled “Death Warmed Over”, written by Mary Collins and published in 1949 AND a movie by the same title, released in 1984.  Good thing I’ve got this internet thingy, huh?

So why death warmed over?  Well, I still had some champagne left over from Monday’s Valentine’s Day celebration (shocking, in and of itself, I know).  So I started thumbing throught the champagne section of the Ultimate Bar Book and found…drumroll please…the Corpse Reviver No. 3!  The Corpse Reviver and Corpse Reviver 2 are well known in the cocktail world, but this was the first time I had seen number 3.  Mittie Hellmich, the Ultimate Bar Book author credits is origin to the Cambon Bar at the Paris Ritz Hotel, having been created by Franck Meier in 1926.  So I thought to myself, let’s give it a try.  Heck, my champagne is half dead anyway!

  Corpse Reviver No. 3

• 1-1/2 oz Pernod
• 3-5 oz chilled champagne
• 1/4 lemon wedge

Pour the Pernod into a chilled champagne flute.  Top with the champagne and then squeeze the lemon wedge over top of the champagne.

If you like Good & Plenty, you’ll like this since it tastes like a fizzy version of the licorice candy.  This won’t be making the list of my all time favorites any time soon, but it did help me use up the champagne!

Cheers!

St. Valentine’s Day and the Cherub Cup

Day 295, Cocktail 294

St. Valentine’s Day…not to be confused with Harry Potter and his goblet of fire, but it does have a certain ring to it, don’t you think?  Anyway, we celebrated in fine style at the Twilight Lounge this past Monday.  I provided the cocktail, an asparagus and crab salad appetizer while Gwen whipped up the veal marsala for dinner and I closed with a Bananna’s Foster variant for desert.  A very nice evening, indeed!

My Valentine’s cocktail came courtesy of Colleen Graham’s cocktail blog.  I already had everything I needed (the champagne still unopened from New Year’s Day) and it looked like something that we could enjoy several of through the evening – although I must confess to also opening a bottle of Jadot Chassagne – Montrachet, one of my favorite Chablis’ of all time.

  Cherub’s Cup

• 1 oz St. Germain
• 2 oz Hendricks gin
• 3/4 oz lemon juice
• 1/4 oz bar syrup
• 1 strawberry (for muddling)
• dry champange or sparkling wine

Muddle the strawberry gently in the bottom of a shaker with the bar syrup.  Add ice and the gin, St. Germain and lemon juice.  Shake vigorously to mix and chill.  Strain into a collins glass with ice.  Top with your champagne and garnish with a strawberry.

Mmmm, delicious!  The elderflower flavors from the St. Germain play wonderfully with the strawberry and lemon.  The gin, with it’s floral and slightly cucumber flavor provide a nice base and the champagne gives it just a touch of fizz.  We enjoyed several of these with our desert and beyond that night!

Cheers!

Cosmos and Rosemary

Day 149, Cocktails 146, 147 & 148

Ok, the last few cocktails from last week’s travels.  The first is from the lobby bar of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in St. Louis.  Normally I would have had a martini there, but wanted to have something new.  On the recommendation of the bartender I tried her White Cosmopolitan.  This drink was made with Grey Goose orange vodka, Cointreau, white cranberry juice and lime juice.  This was a nice alternative to the standard cosmo, being not quite as sweet and girly as the regular drink.

The second cocktail from my travels was far more interesting.  On Saturday night in Minneapolis Jay and I ended up at the Mall of America to pick our spouses up before the spent all our money.  We ended up at the Twin City Grill for dinner – very nice, upscale steakhouse.  The Gin Rosey caught my eye.  It consisted of Hendrick’s gin, rosemary and olives.  Having previously experimented with sage and basil in cocktails I was ready to give this a try.  The presentation was fantastic using the a standard cocktail glass.  What made it special was the two olives with sprigs of rosemary tucked into them.  It looked really good.  Unfortunately, this would prove to be this cocktail’s undoing. 

When I first sipped the Gin Rosey it was delightful.  The bold, cucumber flavor was a perfect match for the subtle hint of rosemary that I got initially.  Unfortunately, the longer the rosemary that was stuffed in the olive soaked in the Hendricks the stronger the flavor of the rosemary became.  By the time I was half way through it was unbearablely heavy – it tasted like I was drinking straight rosemary.  This might have made a nice sauce for a pork roast, but not very good for drinking.  I suggest (and will try this at the Twilight Lounge) making it with a sprig of rosemary in the shaker (as they did at the Twin City Grill) but leaving the rosemary out of the garnish.  That way just the subtle hint of rosemary will remain and not overpower the drink.

And finally…drum roll please…the final drink of last week’s travels.  Sunday morning found us at the Modern Cafe in Minneapolis.  Recommended by Ashish’s wife Lori and a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives featured restaurant, it was a natural for us to try.  While known for breakfast dishes such as the pot roast hash (it was delicious), meatloaf and homemade sausage, I couldn’t pass on the chance to have the second most popular breakfast cocktail, the mimosa.  A mix of orange juice and champagne, just about everyone has had one of these at one time or another.  The modern’s version was good, with just enough champagne to cut through the orange juice and provide a nice morning pick me up.

Whew, well back to normal, or as normal as it gets around the Twilight Lounge.

Cheers!

Mothers Day and Champagne

Day 15, Cocktail 15

After a terrific brunch this morning at Amici’s we came home to watch an afternoon movie and have a cocktail while Gwen relaxed.  It didn’t take long for Gwen to want something special.  I remembered that I had a very nice bottle of Moet & Chandon Imperial champagne in the wine cellar.  We’ve had a number of champagne cocktails over the last couple of years but I wanted to try something new today.  A quick internet search yielded an interesting recipe that used Chambord and simple syrup.  That got me to thinking.  I had been itching to combine Chambord and St. Germain.  It seemed natural that the elderflower flavor in the St. Germain would work well with the rasberry of the Chambord.  It also helps that both liqueurs are from the same family tree.  Sky Cooper owned the Chambord brand for years (before selling to Brown Forman several years ago) while son Robert Cooper is the creative force behind St. Germain. 

So, down to the Twilight Lounge I went and a few minutes later came back upstairs with what I call the Mother’s Day.  Gwen absolutely loved it and I found the interplay of the rasberry and elderflower to be wonderful and a well balanced offset to the the dryness of the Moet and Chandon I used.

  The Mother’s Day

• 1 oz Chambord
• 1/8 oz St. Germain
• 1/8 oz bar syrup
• Moet and Chandon Imperial (or other dry champagne)

 

Pour the Chambord, St. Germain and bar syrup into a chilled coupe.  Stir with a bar spoon to blend.  Fill the glass with the champagne and garnish with a lemon peel.

We enjoyed drinking this today, and its a great reason to use an entire bottle of champagne!

Cheers!