Choker Cocktail

Choker Cocktail* (6 People)

4 Glasses Whisky (1 1/2 oz Binny’s Select Buffalo Trace Bourbon)
2 Glasses Absinthe (3/4 oz Lucid Absinthe)
1 Dash Absinthe Bitters (Angostura Bitters)

This Cocktail is to be very thoroughly shaken and no sweetening in any form should be added.

*Drink this and you can drink anything: new-laid eggs put into it immediately become hard-boiled.

With such a menacing quote, I think I would have trouble finding 6 people willing to share this one with me!

Never did resolve the “Absinthe Bitters” issue. No one I talked to was aware of any commercial bitters which might have been referred to as “Absinthe Bitters”. There have been a number of bitter wormwood based elixirs made through history. Purl(e), Malört, etc. It is possible that the recipe is meant to be made with those or possibly something like “Gin and Wormwood“. Would certainly get it closer to being a real “Choker” of a cocktail.

As in the Bunny Hug, I went with the Binny’s Select Buffalo Trace for this Cocktail, as it seems to have the Cojones to stand up to the Absinthe.

It’s not a cocktail I’ll be making again any time soon; but I think I did prefer the whiskey, bitters and absinthe of the Choker to the whiskey, gin, and absinthe of the Bunny Hug.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Chocolate Cocktail (No 2)

Chocolate Cocktail (No. 2)

The Yolk of 1 Fresh Egg
1/4 Yellow Chartruese (1/2 oz Yellow Chartruese)
3/4 Port Wine (1 1/2 oz Warre’s Warrior Port)
Teaspoonful of Crushed Chocolate (heaping teaspoon of Scharffen Berger cocoa powder)

Shake well and strain into medium size glass.

Yes, well, again, I am not sure what might be meant by “crushed chocolate”. I couldn’t imagine how crushing a chocolate bar would result in anything except a mess.

Extra equipment: 2 small bowls, rubber spatula, and a whisk or fork.

Alternative instructions:

Dump a generous teaspoon of unsweetened Cocoa Power into one of your bowls. Add a teaspoon of water and mix until it starts to form a paste. Add a little more water at a time and continue mixing until it reaches the consistency of melted chocolate. Separate the white from the egg and whisk the yolk into the chocolate. Measure the liqueurs into your mixing tin or glass. Pour in the egg and chocolate mixture. Add ice and shake well. Strain into cocktail glass.

While I enjoyed the Chocolate Cocktail (No 1) and I know port and chocolate are supposed to go together, this reminded me of that old reese’s peanut butter cup commercial: “Excuse me, you got Port in my Chocolate. Why, no sir, you got chocolate in my Port.”

Unfortunately, they don’t really seem like, “two great tastes that taste great together,” at least in a cocktail. I dunno, maybe white or tawny port would work better.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Chocolate Cocktail (No 1)

Chocolate Cocktail (No. 1)

1 Teaspoonful of Powdered Chocolate (heaping teaspoon of Scharffen Berger cocoa powder)
1 Egg
1 Liqueur Glass Maraschino (1 oz Luxardo Maraschino)
1 Liqueur Glass Yellow Chartreuse (1 oz Yellow Chartreuse)
(dash Pierre Ferrand Cognac)

Shake well and strain into large glass.

Now, I’m not sure if “Chocolate Powder” means something other than cocoa powder; but, if you’re going to use Cocoa Powder, it’s going to be a bit more complicated than the above instructions, unless you want a lumpy mess.

Extra equipment: 2 small bowls, rubber spatula, and a whisk or fork.

(Method: Dump a generous teaspoon of unsweetened Cocoa Power into one of your bowls. Add a teaspoon of water and mix until it starts to form a paste. Add a little more water at a time and continue mixing until it reaches the consistency of melted chocolate. Whisk up your egg in the other bowl and pour it into chocolate. Whisk together. Measure the liqueurs into your mixing tin or glass. Pour in the egg and chocolate mixture. Add ice and shake well. Strain into cocktail glass.)

Like the Cafe Kirsch Cocktail, I had no real hope that I would enjoy this. And like the Cafe Kirsch, I found it a really tasty cocktail. The Yellow Chartreuse and Maraschino combine in really interesting ways with the cocoa. Mrs. Underhill even enjoyed it.

The two ounces of liqueur might seemed like a lot. However, using unsweetened cocoa powder, that’s about what you’re going to need to balance the bitterness of the chocolate. It seemed on par or less sweet than most hot cocoa or cold chocolate drinks.

If you have a choc-a-holic friend, this might be a nice change for them from the usual “chocotini”.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Chinese Cocktail

Chinese Cocktail

1 Dash Angostura Bitters
3 Dashes Maraschino (1/2 bar spoon Luxardo Maraschino)
3 Dashes Curacao (1/2 bar spoon Senior Curacao of Curacao)
1/3 Grenadine (1, well 3/4, oz Home Made Grenadine)
2/3 Jamaica Rum (2 oz Appleton Estate V/X Rum)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

No idea why this is called the “Chinese Cocktail”. From the ingredients, it seems like the recipe must be old. Say, pre-1900. I know there was a “Japanese” cocktail in one of the versions of Jerry Thomas’ cocktail book.

The flavors combination is actually very good; but, the cocktail is rather too sweet, even with home made grenadine. I think changing it to 3/4 rum, 1/4 grenadine, and being a bit more generous with the bitters, would be closer to my taste.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Chicago Cocktail

Chicago Cocktail

1 Dash Angostura Bitters
1 Dash Curacao (Senior Curacao of Curacao)
2/3 Brandy (1 1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Ambre Cognac)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Frost edge of glass with castor sugar and fill with Champagne (Cremant de Limoux, J. Laurens Brut).

Probably a lot easier to frost the glass with caster sugar before you strain the cocktail in to it!

A very nice variation on the champagne cocktail. I’m not normally a fan of the sugar rim, as most cocktails are plenty sweet without the extra sugar. Plus, the sugar tends to make drinking the cocktail a sticky and goopy proposition.

However, in this cocktail, the sugar rim makes for an intersting construction. The liquid itself is somewhat dry, very nearly compelling you to go around the rim sucking the drink through the sugar to experience the whole cocktail. A very cool tension between execution and flavor.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Cherry Mixture Cocktail

Cherry Mixture Cocktail

1 Dash Angostura Bitters (Very Healthy Dash)
1 Dash Maraschino (Luxardo Maraschino Cocktail)
1/2 French Vermouth (2 oz Noilly Prat Dry)
1/2 Italian Vermouth (2 oz Carpano Antica)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass (Build over cracked ice in a double old fashioned glass, stir briefly to chill). Serve with cherry (3 Amarena Toschi Cherries).

A bit of a radical departure from the method.

I just find I enjoy these vermouth type “cocktails” more over ice than up, so there you go.

Quite enjoyed this formulation. A bit on the sweet side. A slightly less bitter Americano ? Maybe most appropriate as a digestiv?

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Underhill Punsch–Tales Version

Underhill Punsch–Tales Version

2 750ml Bottles of El Dorado 5 Year Demarara Rum
1 750ml Bottle Batavia Arrack van Oosten.
8 lemons, sliced thin and seeded.
750ml Water.
8 teaspoons Yunnan Fancy China Black Tea.
2 crushed cardamom pods.
4 cups Washed Raw Sugar.

Put sliced lemon in a resealable non-reactive container(s). Pour Rum and Batavia Arrack over lemons. Cover and steep for 6 hours.

Heat water and steep tea and cardamom in it for the usual 6 minutes. Pour through cheesecloth to remove tea leaves and cardamom pods.

Dissolve sugar in hot tea and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate.

After 6 hours, pour rum off of sliced citrus, without squeezing fruit.

Combine tea syrup and flavored rum. Filter and bottle in a clean sealable container(s). Age at least overnight and enjoy where Swedish Punch is called for.

—

A more traditional version of Swedish Punsch than the previous Underhill Punsch II.

(By the way, that El Dorado 5 is a really tasty rum for the price!)

We’ll be serving this during the Tales of the Cocktail panel I’ve somehow snuck on with the following esteemed gentlemen: Jamie Bourdreau(!), Paul Clarke(!), and John Deragon(!). Huh, that is odd, B, C, D, and E? Were they just going alphabetically? I’m not entirely sure what exact cocktails the other gentleman are making, but I’ve heard rumors of a new version of Jamie’s Amer Picon replica, some whispering from John about Bacon Fat Washed Bourbon, and Paul seems to be infusing enough Tequila por Mi Amante to make nearly the whole remaining population of New Orleans a drink.

Hope to see you there!

Making Your Own Cocktail Ingredients

BOTW–Malheur 10

Malheur 10 from Brewery de Landsteer, East Flanders, Belgium turned out to be an interesting beer.

The initial smells seemed to indicate that it was a going to be a sour Flanders style ale, but upon tasting, it was not dry in style at all. I guess more of a Belgian Strong Blonde Ale, according to google.

As the beer warmed slightly, it opened up and had a wonderful complexity. Sweet, but not cloying, with a lot of suggestion of spice and stone fruit. Really nice.

Cherry Blossom Cocktail

Cherry Blossom (6 people)

To a glass half full of cracked ice add a tablespoon of dry Curacao (dash senior Curacao of Curacao), one of Lemon Juice (1 TBSP fresh), one of Grenadine (Fee’s American Beauty Grenadine), 2 1/2 glasses of Cherry Brandy (1 oz Cherry Heering Liqueur) and 2 of brandy (1 oz Pierre Ferrand Ambre Cognac).

Shake thoroughly and serve very cold.

I’ll admit I increased the ratio of lemon here and decreased the Curacao, when re-doing the cocktail for 1 person.

It just seemed like it was going to be waaay too sweet if I left the ratio as is.

As made, it tastes pretty much like drinking a glass of cold cherry juice.

That’s not bad; but, it really doesn’t seem much like a cocktail. More like the missing link between the Sidecar and the Shirley Temple.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Cachaca Armazem Viera

Since trying Armazem Viera’s Esmeralda Cachaca, I’ve gotten a little obsessed with making a cocktail with it. I really enjoy the flavor of the spirit.

The other week I think I wasted probably a good 8 ounces of it trying to make my favorite kinds of drinks. That is, those involving vermouth and bitters.

The thing, though, is that the Armazem Viera Esmeralda has an interesting smoky and slightly bitter character.

When mixed with bitters and vermouth, sweet or dry, it just seemed to highlight unfortunate characters of either the vermouth, the bitters, or the cachaca.

When I asked some folks about it, they didn’t have many suggestions. The only real answer I got, aside from complicated drinks with more than one spirit, was, “how about a julep?”

Well, alright, how about a julep?

But, being the sort of person who can’t leave well enough alone and damn those peaches sitting on the kitchen counter smell good…

Peach Cobbler
(No, really, it is pretty much a kind of drink called a “cobbler“!)

1/2 oz Rich Simple Syrup (2-1 Simple Syrup made with Demarara Sugar)
3 oz Cachaca Armazem Viera Esmeralda
Zest of 1/2 lemon, peeled as an apple
1/4 ripe peach, sliced
Float Dark Rum (I used Inner Circle Green)
Sprigs Mint

In a stainless mixing tin combine Syrup, Cachaca, Lemon Peel, and Peach. If you’ve got some time, let it sit for a while and allow the flavors to infuse. Add crushed ice to fill about half way up the tin. Pour the ice and spirit mixture back and forth between the serving glass and the mixing glass a few times to chill, ending in the serving glass. Float on your dark rum. Spank a couple sprigs of mint above glass, and insert. Serve with a straw and/or swizzle stick.

By the bye, if you’ve got ripe peaches around you might want to also try local bartender Neyah White’s Grilled Peach Old-Fashioned. Either stop by NOPA, or check out the recipe in this great recent article by Gary Regan: The Cocktail Divide.