Once, I Thought I Was Wrong…

Day 362, Cocktails 361 & 362

…but it turned out I was mistaken.

So tonight’s mea culpa is that I had a miscount on my days.  I’ve actually been off by two days, and it’s two days the wrong way, meaning I have 2 less days to complete my journey.  Fortunately I was ahead of the count in terms of cocktails, so all is well.  However, I’m sure Andy will have something to say about all this!

Now, back to the fun stuff – the cocktails!  I did two last night, the first a recipe from Dale Degroff’s “The Craft of the Cocktail” that I selected for its ease of mixing and cool sophistication.

  Black Rose

• 2 oz bourbon
• 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
• 1 dash grenadine

Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir to chill and combine.  Strain into a rocks glass over an ice ball.  Garnish with a flamed lemon peel.

For this drink I used Knob Creek bourbon and it was a winner!  The deep, charcoal flavor of the bourbon was mellowed ever so slightly by the grenadine and Peychaud’s.  It was reminiscent of a Manhattan, but without the sweetness and allowed the bourbon to still be the star.  I really liked this drink and will definitely be having it again!

Unfortunately, Gwen didn’t really appreciate the Black Rose.  She asked me to make something with cucumber, so here’s what I put together for her.

  Cucumber Mule

• 2 cucumber slices, about 1/4″ thick
• 1/8 oz bar syrup
• 2 oz Cazadores tequila
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1-1/2 oz Old Ballycastle ginger
• Seltzer water

Muddle the cucumber and bar syrup in the bottom of a collins glass.  Add the tequila, lime juice and ginger and stir.  Fill the glass with ice and top with seltzer water.

Mmmm, a nice variation of the Monterrey Mule that lets the hint of cucumber compliment the ginger and tequila.  I thoroughly enjoyed this refreshing cocktail and can’t wait to have it on a warm summer evening – assuming summer does show up around here sooner or later….

Cheers!

End Of The Line

Day 313, Cocktails 314 & 315

Two new cocktails were created at the Twilight Lounge last Friday night.  You’ll be welcome to have the first, the Pear Tequila, anytime that you come by.  This was the first of the night and was inspired by my simple desire to play around with the Old Ballycastle Ginger and tequila.  I have no idea what put that idea into my head, but it was there so I went with it.

The second drink of the night was the End Of The Line (pictured).  I decided to use Kajmir, the vanilla flavored brandy – vodka blend.  And why did I name it End Of The Line?  Well, I’m almost out of Kajmir, and since it is no longer made, when its gone, its gone…of course, freeing up a space for a bottle of something else (hehe).  So, I’ll get back to this in a minute, but first I want to go back to the Pear Tequila.

  Pear Tequila

• 1-3/4 oz Cazadores tequila
• 1-1/2 oz Mathilde Poire liqueur
• 3/4 oz Old Ballycastle Ginger
• 1/8 oz bar syrup

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice cubes and stir to mix and chill.  Strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with a lemon twist, if desired.

This turned out to be pretty good.  The recipe above was the second iteration – I had too much tequila and not enough Mathilde and Old Ballycastle in the original attempt.  It’s a multi-layered cocktail, with the pear and ginger flavors both subtly intertwined and complimenting the Cazadores nicely.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

With my first effort under my belt, I turned my attention to my nearly empty bottle of Kajmir.  I really don’t know what led me to pull out … maybe it was just my desire to clear out a space for something new.  Whatever the reason, as I sniffed the now open bottle I started thinking about what else could I pair with this to create a cocktail.  I wanted to stick with the Old Ballycastle Ginger, but I’d need something else as well.  I finally settled on orgeat as my third flavoring ingredient.

  End Of The Line

• 2 oz Kajmir
• 1 oz vodka
• 1/4 oz Old Ballycastle Ginger
• 1/8 oz orgeat

Combine the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice cubes and stir to mix and chill.  Strain into a rocks glass with an ice ball.  No garnish needed.

This is also a very nice cocktail…a hint of nuttiness from the orgeat, a bit of spice from the ginger and the smooth, slighty smokey vanilla of the Kajmir.  I added the extra shot of vodka (I used Sobieski) to give this drink at list a little heft since the Kajmir is only 40 proof.

I’d ask you to try this one out as well, but unless your one of the three people in the world who still have a bottle, you’ll have a tough time finding it.  Of course, if you get over to the Twilight Lounge soon, I still have enough for a couple more!

Cheers!

Mexican Hat Dance

Day 281, Cocktail 280

Gwen was prepping to get the hell of out of Dodge ahead and down to Cancun with a bunch of her friends tonight.  They originally weren’t supposed to leave until Wednesday, but the “big blizzard” headed our way they moved their travel plans up a day.  So I figured that something with tequila was in order tonight.

Besides Gwen’s trip, the inspiration for tonight’s cocktail was a drink I saw on the Cooking Channel show Drink Up.  My inspiration was made with rum and cardamom syrup which I replaced with tequila and Old Ballycastle ginger.    The rest of the ingredients are in the original, although I played around a bit with the proportions.  Let’s see how it turned out.

  Mexican Hat Dance

• 3 slices of cucumber
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 oz bar syrup
• 1 oz Old Ballycastle ginger
• 2-1/2 oz Cazadores tequila

Toss the three cucumber slices into the bottom of your shaker, then add 4-5 ice cubes.  Add the rest of the liquid ingredients and shake, shake, shake.  You need to work this hard because you are muddling the cucumber at the same time that you are mixing your drink.  To prepare your collins glass cut three more slices of cucumber.  Place an ice cube in the bottom, then a cucumber slice, then another ice cube…create a stack three ice cubes / cucumber slices high.  Strain the drink over the cucumber / ice stack in the glass.

I know the drink is good when Gwen asks for seconds and thirds (it’s probably a good thing Andrea wasn’t here).  The flavors are multilayered with cucumber and ginger playing together, supported by the Cazadores.  There is just a hint of spicy heat from the ginger and the syrup keeps the drink from being too tart.  As an alternative, you can just dump the contents of your shaker into a collins glass.  This gives you bits of cucumber mixed in with the drink.  But, you don’t get the neat effect of the layered ice and cucumber slices.

Cheers!

The Last Christmas Cocktail

Day 244, Cocktail 241

I hope you and yours had a Merry Christmas!  We certainly did here at the Twilight Lounge.  At left you can see the newest addition to the Lounge staff.  I hope he works out as the in house entertainer.  Next to him is the latest drink (and the last Christmas cocktail) to come out of the Twilight Lounge.

This cocktail is a twist on the mule style of cocktails.  Basically, a mule is a base spirit, ginger ale or beer and lime juice.  For my Christmas mule I switched it up and used lemonade, Old Ballycastle Ginger and seltzer water to mix with my tequila. 

  Christmas Mule

• 1 oz tequila
• 3 oz lemonade
• 1/4 oz Old Ballycastle Ginger
• selzter water

Place a couple of ice cubes in a collins glass.  Add the tequila, lemonade and Old Ballycastle.  Stir to mix.  Add several more ice cubes to fill the glass about 3/4 full of ice.  Top with seltzer.  Garnish with a lime wedge and fresh cranberries.

You don’t see tequila used in many holiday cocktails, but our friends south of the border certainly do celebrate, so why not?  The Old Ballycastle adds just a hint of ginger and the tequila comes through as well.  Notice that I stirred the drink with only a couple of ice cubes.  I’ve learned that when mixing a drink in the same glass you will be drinking it from that this is a much easier way to get a good stir without slopping all over the place.  I also used fresh cranberries as my garnish – I just love to do this with nearly any holiday cocktail.  There are two reasons for this.  First is that by Christmas the fresh cranberries are usually gone (I buy a bag around Thanksgiving, and they will last a couple of months if kept refrigerated).  The second is that they add a festive touch, and are good to eat as well!

Next up for the Twilight Lounge is our first ever New Year’s Eve party!

Cheers!