Underhill-Lounge

Charles Cocktail

1/2 Italian Vermouth (1 1/2 oz Carpano Antica Vermouth)
1/2 Brandy (1 1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Ambre Cognac)
1 Dash Angostura Bitters

Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass.

This is the only known authentic Jacobite Cocktail.

Interesting! This seems to indicate that this cocktail was named for Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Silvester Maria Stuart (or Bonny Prince Charles.) I would expect whisky; but, maybe he was a brandy fancier.

I was a little trepidatious about formulating this one, being afraid the Antica would overpower the Cognac, so was going to use the Cinzano Rosso. At the last minute I decided to go with the Antica. Glad I did.

The Carpano Vermouth and Cognac do really interesting things together. It has some nice bitter elements; but, there are some cool almost flowery flavors that are brought out in both the brandy and the vermouth. Nice.

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.

This is the first of what I hope is an ongoing series on the Underhill-Lounge.

I experimented by asking the bartender at Montgomery Place to make me a Bombay Cocktail No. 2 earlier this year; but, this just seemed to result in a grumpy bartender.

To make it less of a shock, I thought I would contact some local bartenders and give them a choice of one of the 5 of the Savoy Cocktails that might be coming up in the next week.

Surprisingly, some actually seemed game.

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Victoria Damato-Moran’s Bio:

I was born and raised in San Francisco, North Beach, daughter of a bartender and craftsman.
Dancin’ Danny, they called him, the original bar top dancer !
We had a family bar called Damato’s on Broadway St, back in the 60’s, Dad was always tending bar, so I grew up in the business, watching him make the best Manhattans,
Side Cars, Pink Ladys, Grasshoppers, etc…….
At the age of 21, I thought that my Manhattans should be made in a bar legally, so in 1984,
I was hired by Jeramiah Tower as a cocktail waitress at Stars Restaurant and tend bar once and a while.
I really loved bartending and danced like my Dad, so I continued to work in the restaurant/bar biz.
I enjoy all forms of art, though creating cocktails in my art form now, in my spare time I make jewlery with vintage beads from my collection of beads from around the world.

Chanticle(e)r Cocktail

Juice of 1/2 Lemon
1 Tablespoon of Raspberry Syrup (Victoria made from scratch)
The White of 1 Egg
1 Glass Dry Gin (2 oz Plymouth Gin)

Shake well and strain into medium size glass.

This seems to be a variation on the Breakfast or Pink Lady Cocktail with Raspberry Syrup instead of Grenadine. As Chanticleer is a rather well known rooster, (Nun’s Priest’s Tale from Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”,) I suspect this particular cocktail’s DNA comes from the Breakfast Cocktail. I have to say, even if raspberry syrup makes this a bit girly-er than the Grenadine version, the flavor of the fresh raspberry syrup definitely made this cocktail a keeper. Now if I can only get her to give me the recipe for the syrup…

Champs Elysees Cocktail (6 people)

3 Glasses Cognac (3 parts Hennessy Cognac)
1 Glass Chartreuse (1 part Green Chartreuse)
1 1/2 Glasses Sweetened Lemon Juice (A little more than 1 part Sour Mixer)
1 Dash Angostura Bitters

Shake well and strain into cocktail glasses.

There was some discussion here about which Chartreuse to use. Victoria thought yellow would probably make a more attractively colored cocktail with the Cognac. Unfortunately, we only had green on hand. With Green Chartreuse, the herbal character is pretty out front, overshadowing pretty much everything else in the cocktail.

All the same, if you like Green Chartreuse, this isn’t a bad cocktail at all. If you don’t know if you like Green Chartreuse, it may not be the best place to start.

While I was there, she also made me a really tasty tequila and watermelon smash with a touch of cayenne. Mmmmm!

If you’re lucky enough to find Victoria behind the bar from you, ask for one of her original cocktails. She is one of the rare bartenders who brings both the people skills to make anyone feel comfortable on the other side of the bar from her and the taste to make truly outstanding original cocktails like the following Valentino, which won her a bartending competition at Rye.

Valentino

Makes 1 drink

INGREDIENTS:

1 ounce Aperol
1 ounce reposado Tequila
1 ounce rhubarb juice*
1/2 ounce Agave Pomegranate Ginger Syrup**
3 ounces grapefruit juice (Ruby Red or Texas)
1 fresh lime
Splash club soda
Grapefruit and lime garnish

INSTRUCTIONS:

Instructions: Pour the Aperol, Tequila, rhubarb juice, Agave-Pomegranate-Ginger syrup and grapefruit juice into a chilled tumbler. Shake and strain over ice into a chilled double-rocks glass (8 to 9 ounces). Add a slight squeeze of fresh lime juice. Top with a splash of club soda.

*To make rhubarb juice, cut fresh rhubarb into chunks, parboil, then steam, until the rhubarb is tender. Extract the juice by mashing the pulp through a fine-mesh sieve.

**Agave Pomegranate Ginger Syrup

2 cups agave nectar
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 large finger of ginger, sliced

Instructions: Pour agave nectar and pomegranate juice into a pot. Add ginger. Bring to a boil. Turn off and let steep until cool. Remove the ginger and store in a glass bottle in the refrigerator.

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.

C.F.H. Cocktail

1/6 Grenadine (1/2 oz homemade)
1/6 Cederlund’s Swedish Punch (1/2 oz Facile Swedish Punch)
1/6 Calvados (1/2 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy)
1/6 Lemon Juice (1/2 oz fresh lemon juice)
1/3 Burrough’s Beefeater Gin (1 oz Boodle’s Gin)

(Shake and strain into cocktail glass)

Oddly, this recipe has no method instructions and I couldn’t dig up anything on the name.

Anyway, it’s really quite tasty. A sort of more sophisticated Jack Rose.

Really enjoyed the interplay of the spice elements of the gin and Swedish Punsch with the Apple Brandy and Lemon.

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.

Cecil Pick-Me-Up Cocktail

The Yolk of 1 Egg
1 Glass Brandy (2 oz Pierre Ferrand Ambre)
1 Teaspoonful Castor Sugar

Shake well and strain into medium-size wine glass and fill balance with Ayala (Louis Bouillot, Cremant de Bourgogne Rose ”Perle d’Aurore”, a bit past its prime.) Champagne.

This is quite eggy.

It is tasty, and all. Still the first impression is a big taste of egg yolk.

Later the champagne and brandy make themselves apparent.

Weird, really. A breakfast drink, I suppose!

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.

Cats-Eye Cocktail (6 people)

1/2 Glass Fresh Lemonade (1/4 oz Lemon Juice, 1/2 teaspoon sugar)
1/2 Glass Water (1/4 oz water)
2 Glasses Gin (1 oz Boodles Gin)
1 Dessertspoonful Kirsch (Dash Trimbach Kirsch)
1/2 Glass Cointreau (1/4 oz Cointreau)
Not quite 2 Glasses French Vermouth (Not quite 1 oz Noilly Prat Dry)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glasses. Serve with an olive.

Skipped the olive.

A tasty cocktail. A bit like an Aviation crossed with a Martini. Certainly something worthwhile to try, if you enjoy those sorts of sweet tart flavors.

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.

One of the drinks included in “Food & Wine Cocktails 2008″ is Martin Cate’s version of the classic Trader Vic drink the Fog Cutter

Taking the opportunity of a friend’s band (The awesome Project Pimento!) playing at Forbidden Island, I stopped by to try the drink in question.

Le Fog Cutter. Tasty! I’d not tried one before. It was fruitier than I expected, with a good amount of the drink’s character coming from the Orgeat. I don’t have the book handy, but it has always struck me as an unlikely combination of ingredients, especially for a Tiki Drink. Most recipes include: Brandy, Gin, Rum, Sherry, Orgeat Syrup, and Orange Juice. Sometimes lemon. Somehow it all works!

*

I am such a bartender stalker! Anyway, Martin went on to explain how interesting it is to track the sweetness and different character of the Fog Cutter through the seasons. They’re on late season Navel oranges right now, giving the drink a sweeter character. He said pretty soon they’d be switching to Valencias, which would be quite tart in the early part of the season and then mellow as the summer went on.

*

Martin even brought in his old FGCUTTR license plate for photographic documentation.

*Humuhumu took these pictures.

Castle Dip Cocktail

1/2 Apple Brandy (1 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy)
1/2 White Creme de Menthe (1 oz Brizard Creme de Menthe)
3 Dashes Absinthe (1/2 barspoon Verte de Fougerolles Absinthe)

Shake (stir, please) well and strain into cocktail glass.

An interesting combination of flavors. Very much a dessert cocktail, however.

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.

It’s kind of bizarre when your opinions seem to cross over into the public sphere.

I’ve been privately airing my fears that San Francisco is turning into some sort of Theme Park for rich foodies and overseas investors for some time now.

Today the paper of record weighed in with similar concerns.

Exodus of S.F.’s middle class

“A kind of derogatory term for the city would be Disneyland for yuppies,” said Hans Johnson, demographer with the Public Policy Institute of California. “There is a legitimate public policy concern when a city that many people have lived in for many years and regard as their homes becomes so expensive they can’t afford to live there anymore.”

Which is all very serious and kind of outside of the subject sphere for this not very serious blog.

But to bring it back to the sphere of drinks and drinking, I do wonder what is the tipping point.

Lately, the trend has been to open very upscale bars.

Charge lots of money for drinks made with premium spirits.

I love a good drink and the service that these bars provide.

But I wonder how many of these bars even a seemingly “recession proof” city like San Francisco can support.

That’s one point.

The other point…

What seems to trickle down from upscale bars, it seems to me, is the wrong lesson.

What the average bars seem to take home from upscale bars is that if they serve drinks with premium spirits, they can charge more for their drinks.

You don’t see average bars controlling portions. You don’t see average bars with professional service. You don’t see well trained staff at average bars. You don’t see average bars realizing that the premium of fresh squeezed juice easily justifies the expense.

Here’s my question, not understanding much about costs for bars and where the price of the spirits fits in.

OK, you go to a place like say Slanted Door or Beretta. Drinks are, on average $10-15. At retail, most of the rail spirits are in the $20-30 range.

If you chopped $10 off the price of your rail brands, choosing carefully, could you run a similarly high quality drink program, with cheaper average prices and still turn a profit?

Or is it the premium spirit names, and not the quality of drinks or service which sells?

Casino Cocktail

2 Dashes Maraschino (2/3 tsp Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur)
2 Dashes Orange Bitters (generous couple splashes Regan’s Orange Bitters)
2 Dashes Lemon Juice (2/3 tsp Lemon Juice)
1 Glass Old Tom Gin (2 oz Junipero Gin and a dash simple)

Stir well and add cherry.

Skipped Cherry and am quite cheery about it.

An enjoyably odd cocktail. One of the better features of orange bitters I’ve tried.

On modern cocktail menus, you’ll often find this cocktail significantly reformulated. Moving it away from its roots as a true Cock-tail, and moving it towards a lemon and Maraschino heavy Aviation Cocktail variation. I have to admit I prefer the old-fashioned version.

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.

Another of of Dogfish Head’s beers which is now available in the Bay Area is their 90 Minute Imperial IPA.

Amazingly drinkable and balanced for its strength and hoppiness, it is among my favorites of the so-called “Extreme Beers” and possibly my favorite of the Dogfish Head offerings I have tried so far.

It’s even good with food!