“L.G.” Cocktail

1 glass Scotch Whisky. (2 oz Highland Park 12)
1 glass Beer as a chaser. (St. Ambroise Pale Ale, Brasserie McAuslan, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

My beer club notes describe the St. Ambroise Pale as follows:

The St-Ambroise Pale Ale pours into the glass with a crystal clear copper/amber color. The head is offwhite to beige in color, fairly light and frothy, and leaves a faint lace in the glass as it subsides. The nose shows crisp malt and toasted grains, with a strong citrus/hop note, and even a touch of grassiness. It is medium- to full-bodied on the palate, with pronounced nuttiness, toast, and hints of fruit. The hops are almost entirely missing from the middle of the palate, before returning in the finish with a pleasant bitter note, but very little citrus character.

Not exactly a cocktail, but a very enjoyable beer and a very enjoyable Scotch.

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.

Lemon Pie Cocktail

1 Glass Scotch Whisky. (2 oz Famous Grouse Scotch)
1 bottle Lemonade. (Fever Tree Bitter Lemon)

(Patrick Gavin Duffy: Stir gently with 1 ice cube.)

No instructions for this one, so initially I wasn’t sure if they were to be served separately or mixed together. Fortunately, Patrick Gavin Duffy included the above instructions in his “Official Mixer’s Manual”.

In the English vernacular, I’m told “Lemonade” refers to a carbonated beverage not dissimilar to 7-Up. Or perhaps those carbonated French Lemon Sodas.

In any case, I’ve wanted to try the Fever Tree Bitter Lemon for a while now, and this seemed like a fine excuse. As an experiment, I’d say it was a bit of a failure, as Scotch and Bitter Lemon didn’t quite work for me. The Scotch already has enough character going in and the bitterness kind of clashed with it. Would have preferred plain lemon soda or, to be perfectly honest, plain soda water.

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.

I was recently perusing Camper English’s article on Scotch in the most recent issue of Imbibe Magazine, when I ran across an appealing sounding cocktail:

Robin Wood

2 oz Auchentoshan 10 Year
1/2 oz Madeira
1/2 oz Aperol
1 tsp Grand Marnier
3 drops Orange bitters

Stir with ice to chill, strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with an orange twist and raisins.
Created by Humberto Marques for Oloroso bar in Edinburgh.

Scotch cocktails, aside from the Rob Roy, Blood and Sand, Bobby Burns, and Affinity are pretty rare, but this one sounded right up my alley, so…

2 oz Highland Park 12
1/2 oz Justino’s Rainwater Madeira
1/2 oz Aperol
1 tsp. Grand Marnier
3 drops Angostura Orange Bitters

Stir, strain, Meyer Lemon Zest, Port Plumped Cherry.

I don’t have a bottle of Auchentoshan, which is a Lowland Scotch, and am not entirely sure that substituting Highland Park, which is an Orkney Scotch, is a great choice. But I’m not about to run out and buy another bottle of Single Malt Scotch just to experiment with this cocktail.

They didn’t say what sort of Madeira to use, but the Justino’s Rainwater Madeira seemed appealing.

Aperol is an Italian bitter aperitif (or Amaro) similar to Campari. It’s a bit sweeter, milder, and more orangey than Campari. Some people describe it as a “gateway” Amaro.

Along with Cointreau, Grand Marnier is one of the grand old French Orange liqueurs. Because the orange perfume is blended with Cognac, it is often thought to be a more elegant spirit than the sharp, single noted orange of Cointreau. To my mind, they both have their places in the mixologists arsenal. Some suggest that Grand Marnier is the best choice when confronted with the term “Curacao”, especially in 19th Century cocktail recipes.

The Angostura Orange Bitters are only recently available in the US, and are a very fine choice.

I had meyer lemons around the house for something I was making for dinner, so they seemed like an interesting choice for the zest. Indeed, their piney funk combined intriguingly with the peaty flavors of the Highland Park Scotch.

I was making a Port and Cherry sauce for some duck breasts. I had combined about a dozen dried bing cherries with a cup of Sandeman Founder’s Reserve Port, a half cup of Cherry Heering, a half cup of Lustau Brandy, and a quarter cup of sugar. Reduced it by half. The sauce and cherries were hanging out on the stove waiting for the duck to be done. The cherries turned out to be pretty darn delicious, so in one went instead of the raisins. They were actually tasty enough, I might have to use them as house cherries going forward!

Also picked up these nice Fostoria glasses on our recent trip to Arizona. I’d really liked this pattern when Neyah brought out some similar glasses making Savoy Cocktails at NOPA, so I was particularly pleased to run across a few stems at an Antique store in Scottsdale.

This is a very nice cocktail! I think a slightly milder scotch combined with a more assertive Madeira might kick it up just a notch, but I liked it just fine as it is.

Flying Scotchman Cocktail
(6 People)

2 1/2 Glasses Italian Vermouth. (1 oz Martini & Rossi Rosso)
3 Glasses Scotch Whisky. (1 1/2 oz Compass Box Asyla Scotch)
1 Tablespoonful Bitters. (Generous couple dashes Angostura Bitters)
1 Tablespoonful Sugar Syrup. (1/2 teaspoon Depaz Cane Syrup)

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

A slightly sweetened and rather heavily bittered Rob Roy?

Perfectly enjoyable cocktail, as far as I am concerned.

“The Flying Scotchman” train running between Edinburgh and London, was, for a time in the 1800s, the fastest train in the world. It appears it was only bested in 1888 by a train called the “West Coast Flyer”:

FLYING OVER THE RAILS; THE FAMOUS “FLYING SCOTCHMAN” OUTDONE.A TEST OF SPEED ON TWO GREAT ENGLISH RAILROADS–ATTAINING A RATE OF 75 MILES AN HOUR.

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.

“Everything But” Cocktail

1/4 Whisky. (3/4 oz Compass Box blended Asyla Scotch Whisky)
1/4 Gin. (3/4 oz Plymouth Gin)
1/4 Lemon Juice. (3/4 oz Lemon Juice)
1/4 Orange Juice. (3/4 oz Fresh Orange Juice)
1 Egg.
1 Teaspoonful of Apricot brandy. (1 teaspoon Rothman & Winter Marillen Apricot Eau-de-Vie)
Powdered Sugar. (scant teaspoon caster sugar)

(Combine ingredients in shaker without ice and shake for 10 seconds. Add big ice…) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

Bunch of new technology here. First off, I finally scored a few 18oz cheater tins to top my 28 oz boston shakers. These are spiffy and seem nominally less messy when making egg drinks. Second we have the big sturdy tovolo ice cubes being employed instead of regular refrigerator ice. Third, I’m continuing my experiments with dry shaking. Fourth, given the size of this cocktail, I got to get out my bigger coupes.

Now, if the lovely texture of the egg in the first picture wasn’t enough, this second one with a clear half inch of delicious foam should indicate progress is being made.

Regarding ingredients, many of the cocktails calling for simply “Whisky” in the “Savoy Cocktail Book” are from Judge Jr.’s 1927 “Here’s How”. In that book Scotch is specified. I went with the Apricot Eau-de-Vie instead of liqueur, as there was already plenty of sugar here, and I like Eau-de-Vies in egg cocktails.

I kind of thought I was getting tired of sour cocktails, but this one is quite tasty and fairly complex. “Velvety,” would be a good word for it. I really enjoyed it.

Regarding the name, Judge Jr. sez, “This little drink is christened thusly because it contains everything but the kitchen stove!”

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.

Duppy Cocktail

Pour 4 1/2 glasses of Whisky (2 oz Asyla Scotch) into a large glass and soak in this a few cloves (for an hour or two). Add 5 or 6 drops of Orange Bitters (Healthy Dash Regan’s, Healthy Dash Fee’s), and lastly put in 1 1/2 glasses of Curacao (3/4 oz Brizard Curacao). Place the lot in the shaker; shake (stir, strain) and serve.

This is a cocktail that got a lot more interesting as it warmed. Chilled, it just tasted pretty much like cold Scotch. As it warmed, the clove and other spices of the orange bitters expressed themselves more fully.

Duppy, from what I can tell, in Jamaican folklore refers to, “restless spirits of the dead that are believed to haunt the living.”

Not sure what Jamaican ghosts have to do with Scotch, cloves, bitters, and curacao. I noticed no otherworldly effects resulting from consuming the cocktail. Perhaps it helps to get rid of them?

However, here’s an odd thing!

Over last years’ holiday I found a 1934 edition of Patrick Gavin Duffy’s “Official Mixer’s Manual”. In this book he gives the “Duppy Cocktail (6 People)” as:

Soak in 4 1/2 Glasses Whiskey; Few Leaves of Clover; 5 or 6 Dashes Orange Bitters; 1 1/4 Glasses Curacao; Shake well in ice, strain and serve.

Given that Mr. Duffy is often far more accurate with recipe transcription than Mr. Craddock, this does give me a bit of pause. From what I remember I didn’t think clover leaves have a great deal of flavor. The flowers, though, appear to sometimes be used to Flavor Syrups and other such things. Puzzling. Well, it appears to be fairly commonly available as an herbal remedy, so I will have to give the Duppy another try!

Red Clover: Herbal Remedies

Red clover also contains the blood-thinning substance coumarin. Coumarin is not unique to red clover; it is found in many other plants, including common grass. In fact, the pleasant sweet smell of freshly cut grass is due to the coumarin compounds. People on anticoagulant drugs such as Coumadin should be cautious of using red clover, as the blood may become too thin.

But, maybe not as crazy sounding as it seems. I mean, Buffalo Grass Vodka has some of these same substances.

So, I soaked a few red clover flowers and a couple leaves…

…in a half cup of wild turkey rye for 12 hours.

2 oz Clover infused Rye
1 oz Luxardo Triplum
generous dash fee’s orange bitters
generous dash regan’s orange bitters

Stir with cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass.

Unfortunately, that was the last of my Wild Turkey Rye, so no side by side comparison of clover vs. non-clover drinks was possible. But, it definitely changed the character of the Rye. More sweet herbal and vanilla-ish notes, I think.

All in all, I think I liked the Scotch/Clove Duppy a bit more. But, I dunno, there was something compelling about the flavors of the clover infused rye…

??

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.

De Rigueur Cocktail

1/2 Whisky. (1 1/2 oz Famous Grouse)
1/4 Grape Fruit Juice. (3/4 oz Fresh Squeezed Grapefruit Juice)
1/4 Honey. (1 teaspoon Jan C. Snyder’s Blue Curls Honey.)
Cracked ice.

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

Another cocktail ripped from the pages of Judge Jr.’s “Here’s How”.

Hark, ye lads! Here’s the very latest drink! Three of these will knock you for a row of aspirins:

1/2 scotch;
1/4 grapefruit juice;
1/4 honey;
cracked ice.

I first tried this with the usual Compass Box Asyla and California Buckwheat Honey. The California Buckwheat honey was a bit much for the Asyla.

The second version with the nominally milder Blue Curls honey and Famous Grouse was better. I’ve no idea about the ridiculous amount of honey this recipe calls for. A teaspoon was, if anything, still a bit too sweet for me. Oh yeah, “Wooly Blue Curls,” I just have to type that again, if there is a better plant name than, “Wooly Blue Curls,” I don’t know what it is.

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.

Bobby Burns Cocktail.*

1/2 Italian Vermouth (1 1/2 oz Carpano Antica)
1/2 Scotch Whisky (1 1/2 oz Compass Box Asyla)
3 Dashes Benedictine (Barspoon Benedictine)

Shake (stir, please) well and strain into cocktail glass. Squeeze lemon peel on top.

*One of the very best Whisky Cocktails. A very fast mover on Saint Andrews Day.

I am inclined to agree with the authors of The Savoy. Boy, I enjoyed this cocktail. The complexity of the Bitter Vermouth, the briny Scotch, and the slight sweet herbaceousness of the Benedictine, all highlighted with the brightness of the lemon zest. Just about everything I like in a brown liquor cocktail in a single glass. It really doesn’t get much better than this.

I always make this cocktail in celebration of Burns Night, a fine tradition celebrating the life and works of Scottish Poet, Robert Burns. I first learned about Burns Night a few years ago while listening to the radio shows of the late John Peel.

From Burns’ Poem “A Bottle and Friend”:

Here’s a bottle and an honest friend!
What wad ye wish for mair, man?
Wha kens, before his life may end,
What his share may be o’care, man?

Then catch the moments as they fly,
and use them as ye ought, man.
Believe me, happiness is shy,
and comes not aye when sought, man.

Now I’m not sure if this cocktail, or the similar “Robert Burns Cockail”, were actually named after the poet in question. And Burns probably would disapprove of sullying Scotch with water and other questionable materials. Still, on Burns night, we put on Camera Obscura’s album of Burns’ Poetry and raise a glass to the memories of John Peel and Robert Burns.

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.

Blood and Sand Cocktail

1/4 Orange Juice (3/4 oz fresh Blood Orange Juice)
1/4 Scotch Whisky (3/4 oz Compass Box Asyla)
1/4 Cherry Brandy (3/4 oz Massenez Creme de Griotte)
1/4 Italian Vermouth (3/4 oz Cinzano Rosso Vermouth)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

This one is supposed to be named after the 1922 movie of the same name featuring Rudolph Valentino. The movie is the story of a bullfighter rising from a poor background only to be defeated by his own ambition.

As far as the cocktail goes, I think the Asyla is a bit too civilized for this company. The cocktail probably could have used a more assertive a Scotch. Also, while not syrupy, the Blood and Sand, especially made with the Massenez Creme de Griotte, is pretty sweet. If you make it yourself, I’d recommend picking up some Cherry Heering, as it is drier and definitely superior in this cocktail.

My use of blood orange wasn’t really planned. We have a couple kinds of oranges in the fridge, and I picked a small one thinking it was a valencia. When I split it, I realized it was a blood orange. Well, “apropos,” I thought. Also, these are very early season blood oranges, so still quite tart. The berry/musk doesn’t really start to overwhelm the fruit until later in the year.

Blood and Sand is another of those cocktails that had been on my list to try for quite a while. I usually have all the stuff for it in the house. It had just has never made it to the top of the list. First there’s the short list of regular cocktails then there’s the cool ones I read about in Gary Regan’s column or on the Internet… Any of those always seem more appealing than the BandS.

It certainly is an odd cocktail. Fairly mild on the alcohol front, not as sweet as a dessert cocktail, and neither dry nor aromatic enough to qualify as an aperitif or digestif. In a lot of ways, I’ve come to think of it as the blueprint for a lot of the modern, middle of the road cocktails.

Oh, and oddly, Patrick Gavin Duffy instructs this cocktail should be stirred, not shaken.

Here are a couple more links to much better writers than I tackling the mystery that is the Blood and Sand.

Professor gets some Education, Gary Regan, in a SF Chronicle Cocktailian column from 2003

Naming Names, Paul Clarke, from his Cocktail Chronicles blog in 2005

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.

Barton Special Cocktail*

1/4 Calvados or Apple Brandy. (3/4 oz Germain-Robin Apple Brandy)
1/4 Scotch Whisky. (3/4 oz Compass Box Asyla)
1/2 Dry Gin. (1 1/2 oz Plymouth Gin)

Shake (it would be proper to stir, but it really probably doesn’t matter) well and strain into cocktail glass.

*What has Bruce Barton got to do with this?

Bruce Barton was an inspirational writer, Christian, Republican, Politician, and Madison Avenue Adman. His most famous creation was Betty Crocker. He also worked on high profile ad campaigns for General Electric and General Motors. I’m guessing the above smart remark above was made before it was revealed he had had an affair with a female co-worker and she was blackmailing him. Instead of giving in to her demands, (a second time,) he turned her in to the police.

In any case, if Barton did enjoy a Barton Special now and then, he certainly didn’t like anything getting between booze and his stomach.

It is remotely possible that there might be some magical combination of brands of these spirits that might make this flavorful. But, uh, honestly, this is a big glass of cold, straight booze.

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.