A Simple Quandry

Friday, 13th February 2015

We've been having a bit of a cocktail lull recently, although I'm sure it won't last. Certainly not when there are cocktails as good as A Simple Quandry.
I wasn't sure about the Gin and Aquavit base, thinking it might be a bit fierce, but I was really surprised how it turned out. The addition of Benedictine and Cynar (substituted for Punt e Mes), brought about a deliciously balanced combination of rich, herby and bitter fruit flavours. Definitely one to repeat soon.

Cocktail Roundup December 2013

December 2013

Lots of Orange and Lemon this month. Blood and Sand was the winner I think.
Blood and Sand.
Elysian Fields.
Gin and Sin (1½ oz Gin, 1 oz Lemon Juice, 1 oz Orange Juice, Dash of Grenadine). I'm finding that Grenadine is too overpowering, even in small amounts.
Corpse Reviver (¾ oz Gin, ¾ oz Cointreau, ¾ oz Lillet, ¾ oz Lemon Juice, dash of Absinthe).
Orange and Peach Blossom (1½ oz Gin, ½ oz Orange Juice, ½ oz Cointreau, ½ oz Peach Liqueur, Juice of ½ Lemon, Dash of Orange Bitters). Peach Liqueur added instead of Simple Syrup made for an Orange Blossom variation.

Morning Sex and Keep the Doctor Away

Morning Sex (X-Rated Cocktails p154) was 3oz Rum, 1oz Lemon Juice, 1oz Orange Juice, 1/2oz Grenadine and 1/2 Orange Curacao (makes enough for two), shaken and poured into a glass with a sugared rim. Very nicely sweet and fruity with still plenty of alcoholic kick.
Keep the Doctor Away (consumed while watching a couple of Doctor Who episodes) had to be made without the apple, as I didn't have one. And I had to substitute Campari and a little Orange Liqueur for Aperol, so it was rather more bitter and orangey than intended. I like Campari a lot, but it does tend to dominate. Still a lovely after dinner drink and a beautiful colour.

Queen Eleanor

We finished the evening on the balcony with the Queen Eleanor, a delicious extension of a Martini. The added Crème de Pêche and Celery bitters gave a lovely combination of fruity and herb, bitter and sweet. I forgot to add the lemon garnish (it was late and we had already had Pimms and split a bottle of Sake), but the cocktail was still a winner.

Dark Rum and Carpano Antica

I was looking for something with Carpano Antico in it, and I ended up doing a variation on this recipe on the Cocktail Virgin blog, because I don't have any Bénédictine. I used Grand Marnier instead, so mine came out much more orange-y. Still very drinkable though. And my photo is better than theirs!

Red Dwarf

Still getting most of my cocktail ideas from the Cocktail Virgin blog. This one was very pleasantly bitter, and the with the lovely pastis flavour underneath.

Black Cadillac

We had one spare egg left over from the the weekend's recipes, so I wen looking for a cocktail with egg in it and found the
Black Cadillac. Naturally, I had to substitute a different dark beer, as well as a different scotch, a different rum and a different syrup. Oh and different bitters. But the egg was as specified!
I discovered that shaking a cocktail with a lot of beer in it leads to some rather explosive results, and that it is important to pour out the result properly if you want to keep the frothy head.
This had a fairly strong coffee taste, which I can only assume came from a combination of the beer and the Mole bitters I used. But it was not too alcoholic and nice, quaffable alternative to the powerful after dinner drinks we've been having.

Gooseberry and Elderflower

We saved some juice from the Gooseberry Pie, to use in a cocktail, and I made one based on this recipe. I tried the initial mix and found it a little too sharp, so I added a very small amount of simple syrup, which rounded it out nicely. Lovely combination of fruity and floral.

Bourbon Belle

Bourbon Belle
I've never really like scotch as a drink, so I have also tended to be wary of Bourbon and Rye. But now I am discovering just how well these work as the base for a cocktail. I didn't get much of the peach taste in this one, but the overall combination was rich and satisfying.

Root of all Evil

A rather harsh name for a rather smooth cocktail. Nice combination of sweet, orangey Grand Marnier, with the bitter but rich Fernet Branca, and the Orange Bitters covering both bases. Very drinkable late at night sitting on the balcony.

Black Feather

Still trying to make sure there are no unopened bottles, so this time we cracked the Brandy and tried a Black Feather.
It came out wonderfully clear, thanks to stirring rather than shaking, and had a lovely rich, orangey flavour, with a nice touch of bitterness.

More sampling.

Jack Rose - a little too sweet for my taste.
Something Blue - Apart from Blue Curacao I can't recall what went into this.
Meant to Be - nicely minty but I overdid the Pastis.

The Sprightly Herring

We wanted a clear, schnapps-y cocktail with our starter of Matjes Herring, but I could not find anything that seemed right. So this is one I made up. 2oz Vodka, 1/2oz Dry Vermouth, 1/2oz Monin Original Triple Lime, 2-3 dashes of celery bitters. Stirred with ice and served with a slice of lime.
Wonderfully named by Monika, this went very well with the Matjes, but was less exciting on its own. Gin may have been a better spirit, or it needed something else in it, to round out the flavours.

The Brother Cadfael

Looking to try something a bit less intensely alcoholic and with some Pimms in, we found the Brother Cadfael.
After mixing the liquors, I completely forgot to add the grapefruit bitters, but it still came out very well. Less fruity than we expected and not dominated by the cherry, as I had feared. Mostly very rummy at first, although it mellowed over time.

Two classics and one inspired by.

Starting with the "inspired by..", the Battle of New Orleans. I didn't have Peychaud's so I substituted Spanish Bitters, hence my version doesn't have the same red colour. Still, as the man says, a "pretty agreeable companion". I enjoyed the way the different flavours of lemon, bitter, Bourbon and Anisette were all distinguishable.

Then a Dry Martini, long one of my favourite cocktails. Nothing unexpected here - a very little Noilly Prat vermouth and quite a lot of The Botanist gin. Stirred with ice and garnished with a single olive. The Botanist is an artisanal gin from Islay, made with 9 classic botanicals and a further 22 from the Islay itself. It is indeed a very enjoyable gin and makes a great Martini.

Then a Perfect Manhattan, made with 2oz Rye, 1/2oz Dry Vermouth and 1/2oz Sweet Vermouth. As I'm no fan of maraschino cherries, I decided for a twist of lemon. I've been unable to find any Sweet Vermouth in Köln apart from Martini Rosso, which I don't really want. But in Rum Kontor they do have Carpano Antico, which is an older style of vermouth with a more rich and complex taste. It certainly did make for an excellent Manhattan and I'm looking forward to trying it in a Negroni.

Two for the weekend

Firstly, a Maiden's Blush - 2 oz Gin, 3/4 oz lemon juice, 1 tsp Absinthe, 3/4 oz Simple Syrup, a few dashes of Grenadine. The original calls for more syrup but I have learned I prefer my cocktails with less. Nevertheless, it was then too sour for Monika and she added more Grenadine. The Absinthe came through nicely and the overall flavour was nicely balanced.
Then a Home Wrecker - 1 1/2 oz Rye, 1/2 oz Averna, 1/2 oz Elderflower liqueur (homemade), 1/2 oz Lemon Juice. The Elderflower got lost in the powerful Rye flavour, with the lemon and a slight bitterness from the Averna coming through. Very good to end the evening on.
While cooking I'd had a very nice Gimlet (Gin, lime juice and simple syrup) and with the meal a couple of glasses of wine, so I slept very well.

More cocktails

We started the week off by adding a few more ingredients to the cocktail cabinet. One trip to the local specialist Rum shop Rum Kontor, which carries a lot of other high-class spirits as well. Then another to the supermarket to fill in some gaps. Still lots of things left to get, such as Creme de Cacao, Sweet Vermouth, Pastis and Arrack.
In the spirit of experimentation, we tried a grappa-based Chocolate Truffle Martini, substituting chocolate liqueur for the creme de cacao. Nice and chocolately, but not entirely successful as the powerful grappa came through very strongly.
Later in the week I relaxed after a long day with a Bennett, very nice indeed but a little too much syrup. I would have preferred more of the lime. Looking forward to trying some of the others on that page, especially the Debutante.
After the weather got a little hot and sticky I enjoyed a Witchy Woman. I like campari a lot, but the rum got lost somehow.
And the next day a Cold Blooded Fashion, which was an excellent way to enjoy the special flavour of Geneva. However, I need to get a proper measure, since I just based all the proportions on the amount of juice I got from squeezing one orange... so that meant I had a heck of a lot of Geneva.
Nevertheless, my lesson of the week was - go easy on the syrup.

A Weekend in Cocktails

My partner and I have just returned from visiting and old friend in Boston and benefitted from his newly rediscovered enthusiasm for making cocktails, We also visited several excellent bars where they made them for us.
In a few short days we covered the Citizen, Eastern Standard, Drink and Green Street. All excellent and, although Drink would get my vote for idiosyncrasy (no menu, just tell them what kind of drink you want), Green street was my favourite as a place to go for an evening.
Including the cocktails whipped up at home, I counted 19 different ones for myself, so I guess that's probably 60 different cocktails we had between the four of us in that time.
Perhaps even more dangerously for my liver and my wallet, the trip rekindled my own interest in making cocktails at home, so I've been looking at what I can do with what I have, and what I need to bring the drinks cabinet back up to standard.
With what bottles I have and the help of the excellent Cocktail Virgin blog, I was able to concoct these three and one other (with no picture).
First was Theresa No 4., a nice balance of sweet and bitter, alcohol and refreshment. I had that one on my own on Thursday (bad habit!).
On Friday, my partner and I enjoyed a Veritas cocktail, quite limey (good for me), and again a lovely combination of flavours without the cassis overpowering everything.
After a Saturday evening out with a fair bit of wine, we sat on the balcony into the small hours and had a Toto, (no photo) very alcoholic but totally delicious.
And on Sunday we had variation on a Ménage à trois, to which I added a little chocolate spirit and some grated chocolate. Nice, but this was the least satisfying of the four for me, with not much flavour coming through the cream, I felt.