Did a play on the Adonis - 1.5oz Lepanto Brandy de Jerez (instead of dry sherry), 3/4 dry vermouth, 3/4 sw vermouth, dash bitters, 2 dashes Angostura orange bitters. Really good.
On a related note, if you can find it, go pick up some Cocchi Vermouth di Torino. Great stuff. Heavy cinnamon and baking spice that is really nice. $20
I tend to like whiskey and cognac drinks. I’ve been making this one lately because it’s complex : Waltzing with Vincent Price
Although I have not been using the crispin cider simply because I don’t have any on hand. If I had it, I would use it, as it is the only hard cider I’ve had that doesn’t taste like vomit.
Also, this one is nice as well because of the complex flavors it creates :
First Fleet
2oz Rye whisky
½ oz jasmine syrup
½ Fernet Branca liquer
Regans orange bitters
Minor pet peeve of mine - why do recipes call out specific brand liquors. I can understand the Averno (although I’m wondering if the Fernet Branca I have on hand is much different) but why use Redemption rye as opposed to Rittenhouse rye or any decent rye that you like?
Joe, I only mention the the liquor I use as a habit. Sometimes when I make a drink again and I try it out with different spirits I will make notes of what I like and don’t like about the drink. I do think for certain drinks there are “perfect” spirits, for others any combos work.
Wow, that’s a pretty high amount of pernod I would think, did it take over?? Would be interesting to do 1/2 pernod and 1/2 gin (prob Plymouth or similar) and see what happens.
When I make one at home the way you are describing I use Squirt. Most of the time however I make it like this:
Ice
2 ounces Siete Leguas Silver Tequila
3 ounces Fresh squeezed Grapefruit juice*
1/2 ounce Fresh squeezed Lime juice*
1/2 ounce Agave nectar
Sea Salt to rim the glass
1 Thin lime wheel for garnish
Fever Tree Club Soda
(Recipe curtesy of Jason Wilson via WaPo)
*I go to Whole Foods and buy the fruit and then have them juice them there.
Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full with ice and add the tequila, grapefruit juice, lime juice and agave nectar. Shake well and strain into an ice-filled collins glass rimmed with sea salt. Garnish with the lime wheel and top with a splash of club soda.
This cocktail is probably a riff on a few others so I’m not sure it really has a name:
1 1/2 oz Hangar One Buddha’s Hand Vodka
3/4 oz Campari
3 oz Honey Syrup (Equal parts honey and water, heated on stove top)
1 table spoon Egg White
3 thin slices of lemon for garnish
Fever Tree Club Soda to taste
Place the Vodka, Campari, Honey Syrup and Egg White in an ice filled mixing glass and shake thoroughly. Fill a goblet-style glass with large sized cubes and the lemon wedges. Strain the mixture over the ice. Add the soda to taste. Stir.
Here is another DeGroff recipe:
(I do it a little different than him)
Old Flame
1 oz Death’s Door Gin
1/2 oz Vya Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Cointreau
1/4 oz Campari
1 1/2 oz Fresh squeezed Orange juice
Orange peel for garnish
Last weekend, I made a few versions of this. The classic style with Jarritos grapefruit soda, one with Fresca, and a variation of the classic with Jarritos and a squeeze of fresh grapefruit along with fresh lime.
Verdict?
I liked the version with Jarritos and fresh grapefruit/lime juice the best, but it needed a splash of club soda to get the right level of fizz.
As for the Fresca versions, didn’t like it; it has that cloying, fake sweetner aftertaste which I can’t stand.
There is a whole subset of mixies who are really into using bitters as the base of cocktails. The (now out of print) Rogue Cocktails book represented a high point, but the movement seems to be picking up a second wind with bitters having a major role, but not some of the 1:1 ratios I’ve seen. Last night, I mixed a “Mission of Burma.” Made it not in the least that the name is in tribute to a great band from murky years past, but somehow the recipe also intrigued :
2 1/4 oz Grand Marnier
1/4 oz Junipero Gin (used DD)
1/4 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Angostura Bitters
Errr, not so much. “Interesting,” I said. “Awful,” my wife said. She was probably closer to correct. I suspect that having a bitters I liked more than Ang would make this better, but not really sure I am going to go to the effort.