The Unknown Cocktail

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Well, I found this picture on my camera a couple of days ago…it’s dated May 14.  It looks delicious, doesn’t it?  I just wish I knew what the heck it is!  Obviously, made with Hendricks….

Wait a minute.  I just flipped through the spiral bound notebook that I use to write down new recipes and write my notes as I drink cocktails … and … I think I found it.  I’d swear that I’d looked before through my notebook and didn’t find this cocktail, but I’m sure this is it.  With Alzheimer’s moments like these, it’s no wonder that I’m getting AARP cards in the mail every other day.

  Mint Love and Happiness

• 3 cucumber slices
• 4-5 mint leaves
• 1/2 oz bar syrup
• 2 oz Hendrick’s
• 1 oz St. Germain

In a mixing glass muddle the cucumber, mint and syrup.  Add ice and the Hendrick’s and St. Germain.  Stir to mix and chill.  Double strain into a chilled coupe.  Garnish with a lemon peel floating on a mint leaf (fancy, I know). 

Ahh, a twist on one of my favorite spring/summer cocktails, this takes the Love and Happiness a step further with the addition of the mint.  The flavors of the Hendrick’s, cucumber, mint and St. Germain were just made for each other – sorta  like Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (did I really just write that?).

As you mix this baby up, put the Raveonettes latest release “Raven In The Grave” on the old Pioneer and listen to “Forget That You’re Young” while you sip.  The aural experience will match the taste experience, I promise!

(Really – this post is written exactly as my mind worked through it – I really didn’t know what the drink was in the picture as I uploaded it – do you really think I could make this stuff up?)

It Is Done

Day 365, Cocktail 365

Whew!  The last cocktail of my year long sojourn is finally here – and I can hardly believe its been year since I started!  It’s really been quite the journey and I’ve had some very interesting cocktails…along with a few clunkers.  So as I contemplated what to make as my 365th cocktail I decided to try to find something that would combine two of my favorite ingredients, Maker’s Mark bourbon and Luxardo maraschino liqueur.  There aren’t a lot of recipes that call for this combination, but I did find one that would fit the bill.

  Bourbon Crusta

• 2 oz Maker’s Mark bourbon
• 1/2 oz Luxardo maraschino liqueur
• 1/2 oz lemon juice

Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.  Shake, shake, shake to chill and combine.  Strain into a chilled coupe.

Mmm, a nice, tart cocktail that highlights the maraschino.  The bourbon comes in on the back end of this drink but it really does a nice job of showcasing the maraschino.  Typically, a crusta also would include a sugared rim, which I skipped, half out of expediency to get to the drink and half out of the fact that I didn’t want the extra sugar.  However, if this drink is too tart for you, just add a 1/4 oz of bar syrup.

So, in the words of the immortal Bugs Bunny, that’s all folks!

Cheers!

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!

Shhh, It’s a Secret!

Day 318, Cocktail 321

You know how sometimes you come across something that was secret and it should have stayed that way?  Like discovering that Uncle Fred is a cross dresser, for example?  Well, that’s kinda’ the way I feel about Wednesday’s cocktail.  I found it doing a random search of the CockailDB.  It was called the Great Secret, and I wish it still was a secret…

  Great Secret

• 1 – 3/4 oz gin
• 3/4 oz Lillet Blanc
• 1 dash Agnostura bitters

Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir to chill and mix.  Strain into a chilled coupe.

Well….first off, this is a very small cocktail…like really small, as in it only filled my 4 oz coupe to barely half full.  Second, it tasted like bitters…and bitters… and bitters…until finally I got a hint of Lillet coming through.  Perhaps if I amped up the gin (I was using Beefeater) and the Lillet this would have worked out better.   But in it’s current state I’m going to pass on adding it to the index.

Cheers!

Hit the Nail on the Head

Day 317, Cocktail 320

So what happens when you don’t hit a nail square on the head?  It gets bent, of course!  I know, I’m grasping here, but (in the words of Brett Hertzberg, the father of modern bartending in Germantown) it’s all I got.

So the Bent Nail is a variation of the classic Rusty Nail.  How it get the name Bent Nail is beyond me as my research turned up nothing.  If you happen to know, please share with me and my readers!

So, without further adieu:

  Bent Nail

• 1-1/2 oz Canadian whiskey
• 1/2 oz Drambuie
• 1/4 oz Kirsch

Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice.  Stir to chill and mix.  Strain into a coupe.

I used the coupe for this since this a relatively small drink at just 2-1/4 oz of ingredients.  When accounting for ice melt while mixing it probably comes in at a little less than 3 oz.  As for the taste, it’s good.  Just a hint of cherry from the kirsch, which also helps cut the sweetness of the Drambuie.  It’s not as bold as a Rusty Nail, given that the Canadian (I used Canadian Club) doesn’t have the smokey, peaty components that Scotch does.

Cheers!

Blinker

Day 304, Cocktail 306

Wednesday’s cocktail was less than spectacular, so this will be a relatively short post.

  Blinker

• 1-1/2 oz rye
• 1 oz grapefruit juice
• 1/4 oz grenadine

Combine in a shaker with ice to mix and chill.  Strain into a chilled coupe.

I have to admit that this cocktail just did not hit the spot.  The initial flavor was odd – the rye came through and it was very tart and almost tasted like there was lime in it, although there is none.  It was very disjointed and never did come together in the glass.  I suspect that a bit grenadine or bar syrup and perhaps a dash of Peychaud’s might help, but I didn’t the time Wednesday to fool around with it.  Maybe another day!

Cheers!