What are you drinking right now? - Page 776

I would go for green first. If not for the general variety of cocktails that call for it, then simply because a The Last Word is that good.
I sometimes miss the yellow for a Widow's Kiss, so I think I'll get some soon. It's not that expensive around here anyway.

Let me know what you think of the dry Curacao. It has caught my interest of late. Btw, will send you that recipe today.

Thanks, and yes, I will.
The riesling isn't bad per se -- it has some interesting acidity and fruitiness -- but it somehow lacks much body. Overall disappointing for the money, definitely better stuff out there.

 

I don't like using the Ferrand Dry Curacao in cocktails with a gin base; I feel that the distinct brandy note clashes. I have a bottle, and I've had cocktails out with it, but have not yet been impressed' it reminds me very much of a rougher Grand Marnier Centenaire. No reason not to make the Pegu Club with Cointreau. Using it in a cocktail with brandy just seems redundant, as in a Sidecar. Might be good in a rye, bourbon, or Calvados cocktail. Where it really might shine is as the base for a cocktail, but I've not gotten that far with it.

 

The first time I saw it, I was in a very high-end cocktail bar in DC, and when I asked for bartender's choice with it, they made me a Savoy CR#2; I was like, really?  It wasn't very good in that role.

 

For my taste, I've been finding more and more that I do not like mixing really fresh, herbal things with brown spirits; thus, green chartreuse with rye, bourbon, etc. The Widow's Kiss for instance, I think is quite awful with green; but incredible with yellow. Likewise with the Champs Elysses. The reverse is not true;however, and I have no problem mixing Yellow with gin. The Last Word, however, is a sublime cocktail, but that is the only thing that I use Green for consistently at the moment, though I've tried a number of cocktails with it (edit: Songbird, which combines gin, lemon, St. germain, and Green Chartreuse is worthwhile). Here's my favorite Yellow recipe: My version of the Smoke And Chartreuse, with credit to the originator of the cocktail (it may be Felten, not sure, the article has disappeared from the Web) and ESR, wherever life finds her:

 

1.25 oz Yellow Chartreuse

0.5 oz Dolin Blanc vermouth

0.25 oz Lillet Blanc

0.25 oz Laphroaig 18

 

Stir over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Float a barspoon Laph 18 on top.

 

~ H

Edited by Huntsman - 2/3/13 at 5:12pm

Thanks for the heads up. I have a high opinion of your judgements, so I will tell you this: I won't get a bottle of the Pierre Ferrand tomorrow (sorry, Kyle). I won't have access to my liquor stock for the next two months, so I'll probably get some Dolin dry tomorrow. Also need to restock bourbon (see below). Maybe Cointreau as a mixer.

Just made myself an xxl-Manhattan (the breaks at the Superbowl are annoying, and they're just a tad too short for making a new cocktail), even for Piob standards ( I guess). Was a tad too too generous with the bitters. So I mixed 4 oz of Four Roses, 2oz of Cinzano rosso, 1 drop of Angostura orange, 4 drops of Hella Bitter's aromatic bitters (thanks again, indesertum). The bitters were much too strong, so I added another 1.5 oz of Four Roses and .75 oz of Cinzano rosso. Still a tad too bitter. Anyhoo, I ran out of Four Roses, so it'll have to do. I'm thirsty, so it's ok.
BTW, why do the halftime show artists mostly suck at Superbowls? I mean, Cee Lo Green was proably the best in the past years, and he wasn't even the main artist.

The Smoke and Chartreuse sounds very good, though if I ever do it, it'll probably be with Laphroaig 10. Love me some Scotch cocktail.
BTW, I'm a little puzzled about the Blood & Sand at Le Lion. As mentioned before, they always served it to me without orange juice, which is a must in the standard recipe. I even asked if they added orange juice, and the one bartender (whom I respect, he's quite good.. others not so much) declined. Then I read a blog post by Jeffrey Morgenthaler from 08 or so where he posted abou the night he spent at Le Lion. He wrote about the Blood & Sand, which was refined by Gonçalo De Sousa Monteiro (a bartender that doesn't serve at Le Lion anymore, unfortunately). And yeah, he definitely mentions orange juice in it. Next time I'm at Le Lion, I'll inquire about it.
Edited by b1os - 2/3/13 at 5:23pm

During and pre-game:

Noble Ale Works "Mucky Muck" black lager.
Avery Brewing "New World Porter" american porter
Marin Brewing Co. "Mount Tam" pale ale
Ballast Point "Sculpin" IPA
Bear Republic "Cafe Racer 15" double IPA
Alesmith "My Bloody Valentine" amber/red ale

Gimlet

wow, this one is a keeper folks. was curious about cocktails that had Fernet Branca in it. came across this website:

http://www.kindredcocktails.com/cocktail/root-of-all-evil

Root of All Evil
Description
Bourbon, Orange liqueur, Maraschino Liqueur, Fernet Branca, Orange bitters, Orange peel
Ingredients
2 oz Bourbon
3⁄4 oz Grand Marnier
1⁄2 oz Fernet Branca
1⁄2 oz Maraschino Liqueur
2 ds Orange bitters, Regans' orange bitters
1 twst Orange peel (as garnish)
Instructions
Shake, strain, straight up, cocktail glass, garnish

made it exactly as above. one of the comments talked about dulling the sweetness with a 1/4 oz lemon juice so I did that as well.

freakin' great!

-Jeff

(and on a completely random note...how freakin' awesome is the pour spout on a bottle of Luxardo? love the control)
Edited by gamelan - 2/6/13 at 7:44pm

Fantastic. I now know what I'm going to be drinking tomorrow night.

Apple Brandy fallowed by Pierre Ferrand Cognac.

Opened my bottle of Dunkeld Atholl Brose. It is a scotch based liqueur made with honey, oats and herbs by Gordon and MacPhail.

I wish I was able to describe the nose on it, but the taste was redolent of honey, heather, might have been notes of thyme, the earthiness from the influence of the oats, and followed up by the smokey/peaty notes of the base scotch. Extremely tasty, although a touch sweet for my palette. A little will go a long way with this. All in all, glad I picked up the bottle.

I also recently bought a bottle of Mozart Dry. Normally wouldn't have, but it was on sale, and I'm a sucker for sales. As all Mozart products are, it is chocolate flavoured. However, it isn't a liqueur where a base spirit has been infused with chocolate. It is a spirit, where Mozart has figured out how to distill actual chocolate without burning it. It is clear, dry (no sweetness at all) with a wonderful heady chocolate aroma and taste. I am looking forward to using this in cocktails.

Black coffee with some kahlua.
 

Fillioux XO reserve. If you guys are cognac fans, this is worth a taste!