The Jet Pilot

June 7, 2011 //

Here’s my variation on one of the oldest tiki drinks on the books, and my current favorite. By most accounts, it dates back to the 1950s. It’s largely forgotten. Don’t even think of ordering it unless you know you’re dealing with a hero bartender. It’s a pain in the ass to make (like most tiki drinks). If you come over and I offer to make one for you, consider yourself on my good side.

The Jet Pilot

1.75 oz amber rum (I like Angostura 1919)
.75 overproof rum (think Smith and Cross or Lemon Hart 151)
.5 oz lime juice
.5 oz grapefruit juice
.5 oz cinnamon syrup (see earlier post for recipe)
.5 oz falernum (I like John D. Taylor’s Velvet Falernum)
Dash Angostura bitters
Dash absinthe

Go easy on that absinthe.

What you do next is a matter of taste. Tradition dictates that you shake it gently and pour it over crushed ice, more often than not in a rocks glass. However, I prefer it shaken gently and up in a cocktail glass. Jet Pilots taste so damned good, I don’t want crushed ice diluting the flavor over time. No garnish. There’s enough going on in there already.

If you’re subbing out the primary rum, you’ll want something that’s got a bit of a molasses edge to it, but not too sweet. Zaya and El Dorado are too sugary. I’ve used Ron Matusalem, Rhum Barbancourt, and even Appleton Estate 12. I swear I’m going to try Ron de Jeremy at some point. I don’t know how it will taste, but I’m betting the drink will be bigger and the bottle will last longer.

Categories Rum

Dat’s a Spicy Syrup

June 4, 2011 //

There are plenty of companies willing to sell you crappy factory-made sticky stuff made with high fructose corn syrup. Just say no. Spiced syrups are super easy to make and a fun way to experiment with drinks, with or without booze. Here’s the very basic recipe I use.

Basic Syrup
One part sugar (superfine sugar is best)
One part water
Dried herbs or spices to taste

Note that this method is only for dried herbs and spices. Fresh herbs and fruits are a totally different thing, which I’ll cover some other day.

Put everything in a saucepan on medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Just before it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to almost as low as it will go. Let it cook down, giving it a few occasional stirs, until about a quarter of the liquid has evaporated – maybe 45 minutes to an hour. Turn off the heat and let it come to room temperature. Strain and put it into a squeezy bottle (ideally) or another sealed container. Refrigerate.

If you’re not a fan of white sugar, turbinado works too – or Demerara, if you want to get wacky. Just a bit more of a molasses taste to it. The quantity of herbs or spices you use depends on how strong you want the syrup. I tend to use about five sticks of cinnamon with 1.5 cups of sugar and 1.5 cups of water. Personally, I like erring on the side of adding too much. Weak syrups suck.

I also make cardamom and rosemary syrups. Both of these ingredients need to be bruised with a mortar and pestle. If you’re willing to put in a little extra effort, toasting the ingredients for a minute or two in a hot skillet before you add them will bring out the flavor even more.

So what can you make with this stuff, aside from kick-ass tiki drinks? Some ideas:

Rosemary lemonade
Cinnamon and orange juice with club soda
Muddled basil, cardamom, with ginger ale
Grapefruit and rosemary with club soda

The best thing about these concoctions is that non-boozing friends can come to our cocktail parties and still have some delicous and special drinks.

And what about the kick-ass tiki drinks? Up next: the Jet Pilot.

Categories Mixers

Sergeant Pepper

June 3, 2011 //

Busy week. No time for cocktail concocting until today, but lots of time to think about what to try. So let me introduce to you…

Sergeant Pepper
2 oz Tanqueray 10 gin
1 oz lemon
.5 oz St Germain
.5 oz Canton ginger liqueur
Sprig of basil
Black pepper

Shake, shake, shake, shake the basil, gin, lemon, St Germain, and Canton. Twist and shout. Strain into a frosty cocktail glass. Grind some black pepper over a lemon wheel and float it on top. Work it on out.

I’ve been a big Beatles fan since… forever. I actually ran into Paul McCartney back in the 80s while living in London. There’s video evidence. See if you can spot the scruffy blonde with the bad mullet. Long story.

Categories Gin

Georgia Mint Julep

May 30, 2011 //

Another one from Ted Haigh’s wonderful book. This seemed perfect for a lazy holiday weekend, especially since the mint is taking over our garden again. The julep cups were a gift from a friend who knows us all too well, so we even had the right hardware.

Georgia Mint Julep

2 oz Cognac (I used Chalfonte)
1 oz peach brandy
Mint leaves
1 tsp sugar
Dash of water

You have to love any drink that calls for “a dash of water”.

Muddle the mint leaves, water, and sugar in a julep cup (or a rocks glass, if you don’t have generous julep cup-bearing friends). Add a bunch of crushed ice. Pour the Cognac and the peach brandy in and stir the hell out of it. Garnish with a right purdy sprig of mint.

This is pretty much three ounces of straight liquor. I’m slowly figuring out that vintage cocktails were all designed to knock the imbiber on his / her ass as efficiently as possible. I’m going to have to do some adjustment to these; I just can’t kick ’em back like Don Draper did.

Cheers, y’all.

Categories Brandy, Cognac

The Blackthorn

May 28, 2011 //

Huzzah! My copy of Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails arrived today! It’s a must if you’re into cocktail history / geekery, and beautifully illustrated with vintage posters and labels. I will be working my way through it, slowly. This looked like a good one with which to start. The earliest versions of it date to the 1800s.

The Blackthorn

2 oz gin (I used Martin Miller’s)
.75 oz Dubonnet Rouge
.75 oz Kirschwasser

Stir, strain, drop a cherry in it (I used a brandied one) and hang a lemon twist off the side. Getting one of your dogs to invade just as you take the picture makes it taste better.

I have to admit that this isn’t 100% to my liking. It’s a bit spirit-forward for me (read: Whoa! That gin is beating the crap out of my palate!) Maybe some Hayman’s Old Tom would be better next time. I added a couple more cherries and a little cherry syrup, but it’s still kicking my ass. Suggestions on how this might be adjusted are welcome.

Categories Gin

The Eastwood

May 27, 2011 //

Why do I name these things? So I can find the good ones in the database. I can’t remember anything. The Eastwood has been judged worth writing down.

Craig at SPUR has been making some killer Boulevardiers with oak chips and a sous vide machine. No. Seriously. Had one last night, and it blew my hair back. I wasn’t familiar with the drink. Turns out it’s basically a bourbon Negroni. So this is a variation on the variation.

The Eastwood
1 oz Bulleit rye
1 oz Antica Carpano sweet vermouth
1 oz Averna Amaro Siciliana

Garnish with half an orange wheel, find a good Sergio Leone film, and kick back.

Categories Rye

Blood and Sand and Squalor

May 25, 2011 //

I got a crazy idea while at Needle and Thread a few weeks ago. What would a Blood and Sand taste like if you crossed it with some potting soil and a used ashtray? Depending on how you swing, it’s either the worst idea since Olestra (look it up, young ‘uns), or it’s fecking brilliant.

I’m going with fecking brilliant. For lack of a better way to describe it, let’s call it…

Blood and Sand and Squalor
.75 oz Ardbeg whiskey (Caol Isla or Laphroaig works fine, too)
.75 oz Dolin sweet vermouth
.75 oz Cherry Heering
.75 oz orange juice

Garnish with a brandied cherry and man up.

I got Andras at the Bottleneck Lounge to make me one of these last night in honor of the final Tom Waits Cocktail Club night. I think Tom would dig it, if he still indulged. Tastes like a rough night out involving cigars, whiskey, a dancing midget, passing out in a graveyard, and waking up at Norm’s drinking orange juice at 6 am.

In a good way.

Categories Scottish Whiskey

Mambo Italiano!

May 23, 2011 //

This one is simple to make and seems to please many. Behold, the Mambo Italiano!

Mambo Italiano
2 oz amber rum (I like Angostura 1919, or something on the sweeter side)
1 oz Amaro Montenegro
2 dashes peach bitters

Stir it, strain it, give it an orange peel or twist, and put on some Dean Martin. I used to call it the Rumanegro for lack of a better name, but that didn’t take.

I made this up after work one day when I just couldn’t be bothered to get more complicated. Simple is often better. Now I’m splitting one with my sweetie as an apertif after a lovely dinner with lovely friends.

Categories Rum

The Joan Holloway

May 21, 2011 //

It’s spring in Seattle. I know. It says so on the calendar. So I’m looking for cocktails that defy the 60 degree weather and gray skies here. Screw you, Seattle. Spring has arrived in my liquor cabinet.

I’ve been enjoying a variation on the Corpse Reviver #2 that substitutes dry vermouth for the Lillet, so that was probably on my mind when I threw this together. You can’t go far wrong with St. Germain – I believe Phred at Elemental refers to it as “bartender’s ketchup”. This drinks kind of like a Corpse Reviver with lychee aroma and just a tiny bit of effervescence.

The Joan Holloway
1.75 oz Hendricks gin
.75 oz St. Germain
.5 oz lemon
.5 oz sparkling wine
Dash Luxardo cherry liqueur

Shake the gin, St. Germain, and lemon. Strain into a champagne saucer, then add the sparkling. Pour a little dash of the cherry liqueur in the middle and watch it slink to the bottom. Note that this isn’t the maraschino liqueur – I think that would be pretty nasty. If you don’t have the Luxardo cherry, some Cherry Heering would probably work just fine.

I asked friends what to call this one, and one Christina Hendricks fan suggested the name – her character on Mad Men. Works for me – curvy women of the world unite! Plus, if you look at the saucer from the top down, the drink kinda looks like a big pale boob.

Categories Bubbles, Gin

The Hurricanrana

May 19, 2011 //

I’m not a big fan of Hurricanes. They’re rarely made well, and even when they are, they’re a bit sickly sweet for me. One of our regualar bar-visiting friends is fond of them, but I’m always a bit ashamed when I make one for him. The recipe I’ve been using is just too cloying, and I hadn’t played around with adjusting it yet.

I was thinking about this, and also thinking about my days hanging out with pro wrestlers. Don’t ask. I always liked the high-flying lucha libre style, and the Hurricanrana is still one of my favorite moves. Watch it. It’s really cool. It’s Rey Mysterio Jr. Go on. I’ll wait.

What would a Mexican version of a Hurricane look like, then? Like a Hurricanrana, of course.

2 oz Reposado tequila (I used Cazadores)
1 oz orange juice
1 oz lime juice
.5 oz passion fruit syrup (Trader Tiki’s)
.5 oz cinnamon syrup

Shake ’em like you mean it, then garnish with a half orange wheel in a cocktail glass. I don’t think this would hold up to rocks.

The cinnamon, orange, and tequila are seriously well-matched. Might try dusting the orange with a little cinnamon sometime just for aroma. This one went on the house menu without delay.

Categories Tequila