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Toddy's Cocktail

Sep 082010

Toddy’s Cocktail
Dissolve 1 lump of Sugar in water (1 tsp. Small Hand Foods Gum Syrup). Use 1 glass of any Spirit desired (2 oz Old Forester Birthday Bourbon), 1 lump of ice. Use medium size glass and stir well.

If you believe David Wondrich in his book, “Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to “Professor” Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar,” formulations similar to this, Spirit, Sugar, Water, and maybe a garnish, were one of the most popular drinks in the early years of this country.

Interestingly, as he puts it, even though Toddies and Slings are pretty much synonymous, it has certainly become more common to think of Toddies as hot drinks, and Slings as cold drinks. But it wasn’t at all uncommon, as here, for Toddies to be cold, or Slings Hot.

As I am a bit lazy, and here we are in the 21st Century, I have skipped a step by using Gum Syrup, instead of the whole muddling a sugar cube business. I discarded that during February’s Sazerac exercise and just am not going back. I was also a bit lazy about choice of spirits. I was down in the basement, thinking of “any spirit desired”. What a hard question! Initially I thought I would make the Toddy with Mezcal or Tequila, then this little bottle of Old Forester called out to me. A friend gave it to me a few years ago, and I so rarely have an excuse to drink Bourbon…

A little nutmeg or a lemon peel wouldn’t kill anyone, but it is perfectly satisfactory without.

Whether you call this a Sling or a Toddy, it is quite tasty, and perhaps my new favorite drink. Try it with some other spirits or sweeteners, and let me know how it comes out.

Swizzles Cocktail

Savoy Cocktail Book No Responses »

Jul 242010

Swizzles Cocktail
The Juice of 1 Lime. (Juice 1 lime)
1 Dash Angostura Bitters.
1 Glass of Gin. (2 oz Tanqueray Gin)
1 Teaspoonful of Sugar. (1 tsp Caster Sugar)
Stir with swizzle stick until it foams.

Well, that certainly is interesting!

I had thought the Swizzle was primarily the domain of Rum drinks like the Queen’s Park Swizzle, but here we have a Swizzled Rickey.

Sadly I am lacking in proper swizzle sticks, so I shall have to do this my own way…

Fill glass with ice. Pour ice from glass into blender or food processor and top up with a few more cubes. Add all ingredients except angostura bitters, and pulse until well frappeed. Pour into glass and top with dashes of Angostura Bitters. You may want to do some additional swizzling.

I can. I have. And it is good. Refreshing even! I dare you to try it!

No, I don’t think so, but now that you mention it, this would make quite a tasty sorbet. “Hello, is this the Humphry Slocombe flavor suggestion line?”

Sazerac Cocktail (Bitter Truth Creole Bitters)

Savoy Cocktail Book 2 Responses »

Apr 012010

Bonus Sazerac!

I challenged myself to post 28 Sazeracs in 28 days for the month of February, but I’m not quite done. We’ve got a few bonus Sazeracs coming up that didn’t fit into the month of February.

I’ll try some different spirits, try some out at bars, and have some friends make them for me.

Sazerac Cocktail.
1 Lump of Sugar.
1 Dash Angostura or Peychana Bitters. (Or even better, Bitter Truth Creole Bitters!)
1 Glass Rye or Canadian Club Whisky. (Or Cognac)

Stir well and strain into another glass that has been cooled and rinsed with 1 dash Absinthe and squeeze lemon peel on top.

The Bitter Truth is working on approval for the sale of a new product in the US called “Creole Bitters”. Based on a sampling of a pre-prohibition version of Peychaud’s, it is similar to Peychaud’s but distinct. To my taste, it has a stronger herbal component, and less bitter almond/cherry than modern Peychaud’s.

I guess the primary genesis for the product was that Peychaud’s, while fairly easy to come by in the US, can be quite difficult to find outside the country. And while the number of cocktails that call for Peychaud’s bitters is not particularly long, many of those that do are true classics: Sazerac, Vieux Carre, and Pendennis Club Special.

When I heard that Stephan Berg and Alexander Hauk were going to be bartending for a special event sponsored by Cask at Bourbon and Branch and that they would have their new Creole Bitters with them, how could I not stop by and ask for a Sazerac?

The proprietors at Bourbon and Branch, even bent the rules, and let me take a photo!

From my taste of their product in a Sazerac, I certainly hope it makes it through the approval process quickly. My bottle of Peychaud’s is getting a bit low and after tasting the Creole bitters, I know which bitters I would like to buy next.

HFCS (NOT!) Fun

Sugars 4 Responses »

Mar 242010

You’d think I’d have learned by now, especially after that Agave Controversy post, not to post about Science stuff.

A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain

Working at a University, I’ve met a lot of scientists who say things like, “Calories are Calories, if you’re fat, you’re just eating too many calories and not getting enough exercise.”

Personally, I’ve always thought that a pretty simplistic way of looking at things as complicated as diet, culture, and metabolism.

Interestingly, it appears that some Scientists are seeing further evidence from animal based experiments that High Fructose Corn Syrup, even in water solutions with similar calorie contents to those with sucrose sugar solution, may be far more likely to cause obesity and other fat related illnesses.

And again, I’ll point out that while Agave Nectar is nowhere near as ubiquitous as HFCS in the American diet, it shares many chemical characteristics with that substance. Some brands of Agave Nectar may actually contain more fructose than High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Sazerac Cocktail (Pikesville Rye)

Savoy Cocktail Book 10 Responses »

Feb 012010

Sazerac Cocktail 1 out of 28.

I have challenged myself to post 28 Sazeracs in 28 days for the month of February.

I’ll try some different spirits, try some out at bars, and have some friends make them for me. Hopefully, if I can get my act together we’ll have some video.

Sazerac Cocktail.
1 Lump of Sugar. (1 lump demerara sugar)
1 Dash Angostura or Peychana Bitters. (a couple dashes Peychaud’s Bitters)
1 Glass Rye or Canadian Club Whisky. (2 oz Pikesville Rye Whiskey)

(Soak sugar cube with bitters, muddle in mixing glass and…) Stir well and strain into another glass that has been cooled, add l dash Absinthe and squeeze lemon peel on top.

This is the first Sazerac, and I followed the Savoy recipe to the letter.

Interestingly, I was reading somewhere or another about sugar. It always seems semi authentic to muddle a sugar cube, but in point of fact, it’s not very 19th century at all. In Olden Tymes, sugar would have been cut or ground from a loaf, not formed into sugar cubes. Odds are, most bartenders in the 19th century would have been using some version of gomme or simple syrup. Possibly finely ground sugar. Sugar cubes would have been the province of tea parties and the upper class, not most bars.

In fact, according to the wikpedia article on Henry Tate, it was not until 1872 that, “he purchased the patent from German Eugen Langen on a method of making sugar cubes, and in the same year built a new refinery in Liverpool.” Langen may invented his patented method for forming sugar cubes a bit earlier than this, but as far as I know cubes were not widely distributed before Tate’s introduction. Yes, the same Henry Tate whose name now graces a rather nice art gallery in London.

Pikesville and the muddled cube make for a somewhat average, if not spectacular, Sazerac. Interestingly, I’ve recently heard rumors that Pikesville and the 80 proof version of Rittenhouse Rye Whiskey are the exact same whiskeys, just packaged in different bottles. Hmmm. Perhaps a side by side blind tasting is in order. Though this Sazerac did actually kill my bottle of Pikesville.

Opal Cocktail

Savoy Cocktail Book 3 Responses »

May 272009

Opal Cocktail
(6 People)

3 Glasses Gin. (1 1/2 oz Plymouth Gin)
2 Glasses Orange Juice. (1 oz Blood Orange Juice)
1 Glass of Cointreau. (1/2 oz Cointreau)
A little Sugar. (very little caster sugar)
Add a little Orange-flower water. (drop orange flower water)

Shake and serve.

Of course, re-doing this for one by dividing 2 oz Glasses in half and then dividing in half again. Hey, I can enjoy a drink and a half.

The Opal is not entirely unpleasant, though far more ginny and a bit harsher than would be popular in a modern cocktail. I think part of it might be the heat of the Cointreau.

No idea why it is called the Opal, as even with regular orange juice this would bear no resemblance to those gold-green gems.

Old Fashioned Cocktail

Savoy Cocktail Book 1 Response »

May 152009

Old Fashioned Cocktail.

1 Lump Sugar.
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters.
1 Glass Rye or Canadian Club Whisky.

Crush sugar and bitters together, add lump of ice, decorate with twist of lemon peel and slice of orange using medium size glass, and stir well. This Cocktail can be made with Brandy, Gin, Rum, etc., instead of Rye Whisky.

I’ve covered the Old-Fashioned a number of times before on the blog: Brandy Special, King Cole Cocktail, Wisconsin Old-Fashioneds, and Make it Another Old-Fashioned, Please. Whew!

Is there anything I haven’t said about them?

Well, one thing I have noticed is that graduates of the American Bartending School are often a bit confused about which end of the muddler goes into the cocktail and which end they should be holding.

Let’s be clear, in the photo above, grasp the top rounded end.

The flat end of the muddler goes into the cocktail to crush your sugar, bitters and what have you.

Also, if you buy a varnished muddler, it’s best to sand the varnish off and soak it in mineral oil. If you don’t, flakes of varnish will eventually end up in the cocktails. Varnish is never an appropriate garnish. Now the above muddler is OK for things like Juleps and Old-Fashioned which are built in normal size glassware. For those drinks which are muddled in pint glasses, and the like, you might want to think of something with a bit more heft.

For example you might talk to Chris Gallagher and get yourself one of his extremely attractive PUG! Muddlers. The one above is made from Mexican Rosewood. Also, the slanted top end of pug muddlers makes them nearly impossible to hold the wrong way. Or drop a note to David Nepove, aka Mr. Mojito, who also sells quite an assortment of muddlers and other bar equipment.

Which version did I make this time, with all those options, “Brandy, Gin, Rum, etc.”? Well, I’m supporting the home team, of course!

Genevieve Old-Fashioned.

1 lump Demerara Sugar
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
2 oz Anchor Genevieve Genever Style Gin

In a medium size heavy bottomed glass, with a muddler, crush sugar and bitters together with a splash of water. Add Genevieve and stir to combine. Add ice and stir well. Decorate with twist of lemon peel, a slice of orange, and serve.

Nicolaski Cocktail

Savoy Cocktail Book 4 Responses »

Apr 252009

Nicolaski Cocktail

2/3 Brandy. (1 1/2 oz Dudognon Cognac)
1 Slice Lemon with a little castor sugar spread over it.

Drink Brandy through the prepared lemon.

I have to admit the method here has puzzled me for a long time.

But during one of the opening parties for Heaven’s Dog one of the waiters came up and asked me if I knew what a Nicol-something Cocktail was. He described it a bit and told me the customer said it was a traditional cocktail. I said, well yes, as a matter of fact I did know the cocktail, but I’d never made one, so I’d do my best. I dredged a lemon in sugar, put it on the plate with a shot of Armagnac and sent it out.

The server came back, the patron wanted instead, a slice of lemon, a pile of sugar, and a shot of brandy.

So there you go.

I’m still unclear on the exact method of imbibing the Nicolaski.

Do you take a sip of brandy and then suck on the lemon, like old school Vodka Lemon Drops? Put the sugar coated lemon in your mouth and then suck the brandy through it? Dredge the lemon in sugar, float it in the brandy and drink it through the lemon?

I tried all three and the first seemed the most sensible to me.

New York Cocktail

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Apr 212009

New York Cocktail.

1 Lump Sugar. (1 Demerara sugar cube)
The Juice of 1/2 Lime or ¼ Lemon. (1/4 lemon squeezed into tin)
2 Dashes Grenadine. (1 tsp homemade)
1 Piece Orange Peel.
1 Glass Canadian Club Whisky. (2 oz Rittenhouse Bonded)

(Muddle sugar cube in lemon juice and grenadine. Squeeze orange peel over drink and drop in. Add Whiskey and…) Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. (If you feel inspired, add a cherry.)

Similar method and ingredients to the Mr. Manhattan Cocktail. Even though sources indicate this cocktail is from Hugo Ensslin, it makes me wonder if they might originally have come from the same source.

A perfectly delightful and “old-fashioned” preparation of a Whiskey sour.

Nevada Cocktail

Savoy Cocktail Book 1 Response »

Apr 092009

The Nevada Cocktail

1 Hooker of Bacardi Rum. (1 1/2 oz Montecristo White)
The Juice of 1/2 Grapefruit. (Shoot, should have measured.)
The Juice of 1 Lime. (Juice 1/2 lemon)
Powdered Sugar. (Scant teaspoon caster sugar)
1 Dash Bitters. (1 dash Angostura)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

This is another one from Judge Jr.’s prohibition era tome, “Here’s How!”

Actually probably the best drink of any from that book so far. Really highlights the floral flavors of the rum, grapefruit, and bitters.

About all I’d say is it’s a bit too large. Divided in two, this would be a good appetizer cocktail. Bittersweet and tart. This large and it gets a bit acid-ey on the stomach by the end.

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