Underhill-Lounge

Ante Cocktail
1 Dash Angostura Bitters.
1/4 Hercules. (1/2 oz Spiced Dubonnet Rouge)
1/4 Cointreau. (1/2 oz Cointreau)
1/2 Calvados or Apple brandy. (1 oz Clear Creek Apple Brandy)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.
Building on the previous cocktail calling for “Hercules” I am again using the Spice infused Dubonnet Rouge for this one. I have to admit [...]

When we discovered that the Packers would be playing in the NFC championship, as good expatriate Wisconsinites, we, of course, had to stay home and watch.

Pot roast seemed like a fun idea. Football games take three or four hours to play themselves out, and so does a pot roast.

Pot roast reminds me of Sunday [...]

Since we were off to some friends’ house for Cocktails & Canapes last evening, I made a pretty simple Saturday night dinner.

Salad with little tomatoes and a Sherry Vinegar Vinaigrette.

Fish Pie is one of those odd English comfort foods that really doesn’t sound all that appealing, but is in fact quite delicious. Make mashed [...]

A couple years ago the wacky folks at Lagunitas Brewing Company noticed that the 40th Anniversary of the release of the Mothers of Invention’s first record, “Freak Out!” was coming up. They contacted the Zappa family and asked for permission to release a beer in tribute of that record. What developed was a [...]

Angler Cocktail
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters.
2 Dashes Orange Bitters. (1 dash Regan’s Orange Bitters 1 Dash Fee’s Orange Bitters)
1/3 Hercules. (3/4 oz Spice infused Dubonnet Rouge)
2/3 Dry Gin. (1 1/2 oz Beefeater Dry Gin)
Shake (stir, please) well and strain into cocktail glass. (Garnish with a lemon twist.)

Embarrassing cocktail geekery: In his book, “Cocktails: [...]

OK, last Holiday Beer, I promise!

I just have nice feelings about the beers of Brasserie Dupont. When we first moved to San Francisco, and the Slanted Door first opened on Valencia, we used to have a great time there. We would order ourselves a big bottle of Saison Dupont and pig out on [...]

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Cherry Bomb
1/4 Cherry Brandy (Massenez Creme de Griotte)
1/4 Cointreau
1/2 Aged Rum (Rhum Barbancourt 5 star)
Use liqueur glass and pour carefully so that ingredients do not mix. Serve with 1/6 lime on top and squeeze into glass before imbibing.

When I was making all those Pousse-Cafe type “Angel” cocktails, I was trying to think of some version [...]

Angel’s Wings Cocktail
1/3 A Raspberry syrup. (Monin)
1/3 Maraschino. (Luxardo)
1/3 Crème de Violette. (Benoit-Serres Liqueur de Violette)
Use liqueur glass and poor ingredients carefully so that they do not mix.
If the girl does not like it, do not drink it, but pour it quickly into the nearest flower vase.
Strangely, this was my favorite of the layered “Angel” [...]

Angel’s Wing Cocktail
1/2 Crème de Cacao. (Bols)
1/2 Prunelle Brandy. (Home made Sugar Plum Liqueur)
Use liqueur glass and pour ingredients carefully so that they do not mix. Pour a little sweet, cream on top.
Even this one wasn’t so bad, really. I think it was just shoe horning that violette in with the darker flavors of [...]

Winter In California
2 oz Germain-Robin Fine Alambic Brandy
3/4 oz Hachiya Persimmon Puree*
Juice 1 Satsuma Mandarin
1/2 oz Orgeat
1/4 oz Pimento Dram
Shake in an iced cocktail shaker to chill. Strain into cocktail glass.
I was looking through the search terms folks were using and happened to notice that among the more predictable terms, (”Absinthe!” Surprise, surprise!) that a [...]