Menage a Trois

Day 269, Cocktails 269, 270 & 271

As I was preparing tonight’s post I couldn’t help but chuckle over the thought of my favorite Seinfeld episode.  It’s the one that has Jerry dating one gal, but he’s grown tired of her and is interested in her roommate.  Jerry and George spend all night in an attempt to devise a plan for “The Switch” when George comes up with the most brilliant idea he ever had – the Menage a Trois with the girlfriend and her roommate.  The idea is that the girlfriend will turn him down and break up and the roommate will be titillated by the notion that Jerry wanted to include her.  The plan “backfires” when the girlfriend and roommate are into the idea and Jerry backs out!  That’s the point at which I start screaming at the TV, unable to believe that Jerry is passing up the opportunity of a lifetime. 

So what does that have to do with brandy cocktails?  Not much, but I do have three of them for you tonight.  So let’s get to it.

  Fantasio

• 1-1/2 oz brandy
• 1/4 oz Cointreau
• 1/4 oz maraschino liqueur
• 1 dash Agnosturo bitters

Rub the rim of a cocktail glass with a lemon wedge and then sugar the rim.  In a mixing glass combine all the ingredients with ice and stir to mix and chill.  Strain into the sugar rimmed cocktail glass.

The cocktail is excellent, I could do without the sugared rim.  I still don’t know what possessed me to do it (just because the recipe called for it doesn’t mean I will).  I ended up clearing a spot with my first few sips and sticking with that cleared path to drink from.  I’m just not a fan of salted or sugared rims.  (Spinners and rim jobs, on the other hand …).  Anyway, back to the cocktail.  It was delicious with just enough of the maraschino to provide a nice cherry flavor pop that had hints of orange from the Cointreau.  Oh, and yeah, I could also taste the brandy as well as the base for this cocktail.  Given my love of maraschino, it’s no surprise that I liked this one (Gwen thought it was too boozy).

  Cherry Blossom

• 1-1/2 oz brandy
• 1 oz kirschwasser
• 1/2 oz Cointreau
• 1/4 oz lemon juice
• 1/8 oz grenadine

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

Another very nice, cherry flavored cocktail.  In fact, I’d have to say that this is the best cocktail I’ve ever had with kirschwasser.  By itself, I find kirschwasser (a cherry brandy, often German in origin) to be harsh with quite a bite.  In this drink, however, the lemon juice and Cointreau mellowed the kirschwasser out, leaving a lovely, almost (but not quite) cherry flavor accented by the orange of the Cointreau.  I’m sure the grenadine also helped smooth this cocktail out – and be sure to use the real stuff!

  Brandy Cassis

• 1-1/2 oz brandy
• 1 oz lemon juice
• 1/2 oz creme de cassis

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

This is where I should insert the photo of the really, really sour face.  Way too much lemon juice in this one, it completely overpowers the drink!  I even double checked the recipe after I made it and was drinking it (as I’m writing this) to be sure – I really thought I had made a mistake.  Sadly, I did not.  If I were to make this again I would cut the lemon juice in half or add a 1/4 oz of bar syrup.  I’d favor just cutting the lemon juice in half since even if sweetened it would still overwhelm the cassis. 

So, as Meatloaf once sang, two out of three ain’t bad.

Cheers!

Trey Tequilas

Day 127, Cocktails 125, 126 & 127

Whew, what a day!  We had planned to swim and grill out this afternoon and invited our friends Greg and Patty to join us.  When they arrived we all got into the pool and cooled off from another hot day (at least hot for us !) and got caught up with all the news.  About mid afternoon it was time to try out our first cocktail of the day (fortunately, I don’t have to twist Greg and Patty’s arm very hard).  I decided to give a drink recipe sent to me by a high school classmate Mary Sheldon Hyatt a try.  It’s called the Dia Del Amore (which is what Valentine’s Day in Mexico is known as).  As best I can tell, this recipe comes from the fine folks who produce St. Germain, so it should come as no suprise that it uses…ta da…St. Germain.

Dia Del Amor

• 1-1/2 oz Cazadores tequila
• 1 oz St. Germain liqueur
• 3/4 oz lime juice
• 2 dashes Tabasco

Combine all the ingredients in a shaker with 4-5 ice cubes and shake, shake, shake.  Prepare a rocks glass by salting the rim.  Add 4-5 ice cubes and strain the drink into the glass.  Garnish with a lime twist. 

This drink was fantastic!  Mary, thanks for sending me the recipe.  We all enjoyed it!  The sweet, elderflower of the St. Germain was a terrific compliment to the tequila.  I was pleasantly suprised by this as I have not worked with tequila and St. Germain before.  The tabasco added just a hint of smokey, pepper flavor, but really no heat at all.  This cocktail is really a great substitute for your typical margarita, and really blows away nearly any typical restaurant ‘rita made with overly sweetened mixes. 

While we were on the patio enjoying the Dia Del Amor, I handed Greg my new copy of The Ultimate Bar Book by Mittie Hellmich (and a huge thanks to Ashish for giving me this book – it is fantastic!).  Greg, not being one to miss an opporunity to drink my booze started flipping through the tequila section.  It didn’t take long before he started to quiz me. 

 “Do you have silver tequila?” 

“Of course.”

“Pineapple juice?”

“Actually, yes.”

“Angosturo bitters?”

“Yep.”

“Club soda?”

“Yes, why?”

“Because we should try a La Conga next.”

And try we did. 

  La Conga

• 2 oz silver tequila
• 1/4 oz pineapple juice
• 3 dashes Agnosturo bitters
• seltzer water

Fill a rocks glass with ice cubes.  Add the tequila, pineapple juice and bitters.  Top with seltzer water, stir and garnish with a lemon slice.

This is an unusual cocktail in that it is mixed directly in the glass.  That said, it didn’t really catch the fancy of any of us today.  The bitters really dominate the flavor of this drink and I don’t think it really had enough pineapple juice since we didn’t catch any flavor of it in the drink.  If I were to try this again I would double the pineapple juice and cut the Agnosturo to 2 dashes and see how that goes.

We took a break from cocktails to have some dinner, but it didn’t take long to head down to the Twilight Lounge and try our third tequila cocktail of the day, also from The Ultimate Bar Book.

  La Bomba

• 1 oz gold tequila
• 1/2 oz Cointreau
• 1/2 oz pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz orange juice
• 1/8 oz grenadine

Combine the tequila, Cointreau, pineapple juice and orange juice in a shaker with 4-5 ice cubes.  Shake, shake, shake to combine and chill.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and add the grenadine. 

The grenadine ends up sinking to the bottom which gives the drink a very nice visual appeal (it’s the cocktail in the picture above).  It also adds a layer of flavor as you work your way through the drink.  This was another delicious drink that was very well balanced and enjoyed by all of us today. 

So, to paraphrase Meatloaf, two out of three ain’t bad.  Give these cocktails a try and let me know what you think.

Cheers!