What are you drinking right now? - Page 759

Orange, cinnamon/clove, maybe port? Bourbon as a base I would think, though brandy could be an option.

Hang on, I'll play around a bit after I finish this gimlet. ish. Real lime juice and simple syrup with a dash of absinthe along with the gin, and I'm not sure if it's really a gimlet anymore.

Heh, I completely forgot about that experiment on the previous page and thought it was just a suggestion for a name with no intended drink. Alcohol, besides being tasty, has some side effects I suppose.

I was thinking something along the lines of 2.5 oz Bourbon, .75 port, .75 OJ, and aromatic bitters, to start. I'm unsure on how the interplay between the port and OJ would work, I suspect I'd have to do one at 1 oz and one at a half oz, but I'm unsure as to which would be which. I'd also be tempted to throw in a dash of cherry brandy, but that might be too much, especially as this thing is looking pretty sweet already.


Edit: It's good, but it's not enough of its own drink, it's really reminiscent of the Old Fashioned. It's dominated by the bourbon and the bitters, with a little citrus shining through and a flash of the port. I added too much on the bitters, that's clear, but I think I'd also play up the port in a future version of this drink, it's a unique note that would give the drink an identity of its own. Ginger could accomplish that too, but I'd prefer to do that with a liqueur rather than a syrup, and I don't have anything ginger related, my modest bar doesn't have the range to go in that particular direction. The similarity to the old fashioned already makes me reluctant to use the cherry note, and it makes me think that maybe moving to a scotch base might be helpful too.

If I try this again, the v0.2 drink might be something along the lines of:

2 1/4 oz scotch (measure and a half)
1 oz port
.5 oz OJ
dash cherry brandy
1 generous dash of aromatic bitters.

Might wind up doing that later tonight, we'll see.
Edited by cptjeff - 11/30/12 at 8:50pm

Had some excellent cocktails at The Patterson House in Nashville last night. A cool, classic speakeasy bar that seems to do everything the way it should be done. They have a few rules like no phone calls, only texting, you cannot approach a female unless you're being introduced by a friendly party, you must be seated to order a drink, and a few others. They obviously just want you to focus on the experience of a bartender crafting a drink. I'll post up some pics later today.


This guy has been there since they opened. You could pretty much sit there and talk with him about every possible type of drink.


Juliet and Romeo. Plymouth gin, lime, mint, cucumber, rose water.


Cannot remember the name of this for the life of me. It's only on their winter menu. Very similar to what you just made Pio. Bourbon, orange juice, bitters, some type of cinnamon and spice liqueur/flavoring.


Their take on an Old Fashioned with Bulleit.


Also had an Aviation and a Sidecar. Both were excellent. Apparently there is a normally a pretty long wait, as it is a smaller establishment and not meant for people to be crammed in, but we were able to get seated right away with a party of 2.
Edited by Pilot - 12/1/12 at 2:54pm

Recharging with Salon and mushroom risotto.

 

Santa Cristina bianco/rosso, pastis

Sounds like a great night, Pilot.

I've heard of the Patterson House -- it has a good repute with people I consider to have excellent taste.

'

Speaking of taste, I am drinking another PDT cocktail from their book, the Solstice.  Yes, I used Sazerac 6 instead of the Rittenhouse-Bottled-In Bond to make it (but honestly I've tasted both side by side and prefer the Saz) and VTR grenadine instead of their house, but it just isn't that good. I can't really think of any cocktails from that book that I've tried that I thought were excellent, and I have a big enough bar to usually have whatever esoteric brand of spirit or whatever to make most of his drinks, but leave uniformly underwhelmed. Quite frankly, I've been pretty underwhelmed by PDT whenever I have been there (if judged solely by the taste of the drinks). And I am underwhelmed by most of the cocktail bars I've been to -- from PDT/Flatiron/Pegu in NYC, to The Columbia Room/PX in DC, Violet Hour in Chicago, to Absinthe/Alembic in SF.

 

The only really solid cocktail bars I have been to are the Velvet Tango Room in Cleveland (my favorite bar and one that I am desperately missing these days), Franklin Mortgage and Investment in Philadelphia, Death & Company in NYC, and Wilson & Wilson in SF. The Gibson in DC gets an honorable mention, as does, I should add, Beaver's in Houston, though their bartenders have now moved on to found Anvil, which I expect is also very good.

 

Sometimes I am wondering what I am missing.

 

~ H
 

Roero Arneis

from whom?

This with some Pico Melero and Torta Oveja. Very enjoyable.

Chrysanthemum at the stroke of midnight to begin my repeal day celebration. It was the signature drink of the American bar on the SS Europa, which, as a brand new luxury liner during the late years of prohibition, did a nice trade in Americans who wanted to have a drink, or two, or three, on a cruise. Pretty simple if you're not familiar with it, though the ingredients aren't all found in every home bar (IMO, they should be, but I happen to love both absinthe and Benedictine):

2 parts Dry Vermouth
1 part Benedictine
generous dash of Absinthe.

Stir, strain, drink.

Just goofin' around and mixed:

2 oz. bourbon
1 oz. Patron Citronage
1/2 oz. lemon juice

Surprisingly, not bad at all.

Addendum: Note that I didn't actually say that it was legitimately good. Just surprisingly not bad.

I thought Wilson & Wilson was pretty good, but still prefer their original Bourbon and Branch iteration. The new(er) one, Tradition, was a travesty the one time I went. Comstock seems most consistently excellent, but Alembic is my fave. It is very "staff dependent" though. Sometimes you get some hungover, surly bartenders in there... mostly, it's epic-ness. Has the least-pretentious atmosphere IMHO. There is a fine line between this overdone speakeasy schtick and just a very good cocktail bar.
Edited by cocostella - 12/6/12 at 7:47am

Have just had Hennessy Fine de Cognac, VS and XO. Was really positively surprised with the last one. Quite complex, aeration profoundly changes the nose in time and the taste is very round and complex. To finish the first one though ... I had to refrain to my emergency chocolate to kill the blunt alcohol :)

Today I received a package with 600 tulip glasses hand-made by KROSNO with the logo of my blog on the goblet. Was very excited to test them and they did pass indeed :D Handmage glass is a different story than mass production! I enjoy every little thing that goes with it!