Category Archives: Mixology

Cocktails, week of 10 December 2012

Cachaça Sour

Cachaça Sour

3 oz. Pitú Cachaça
1 oz. lime juice
1 oz. simple syrup
1 egg white

Shook everything but the cachaça without ice.  Added the ice and cachaça and shook, then strained.  Nice and smooth.

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Strawberry's Revivial

Strawberry’s Revivial

1  1/2 oz. Bulleit Rye
3/4 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. strawberry simple syrup
1/2 oz. Lucid Absinthe
2 dash Angostura bitters

Shook all but the bitters with ice.  Double strained into a glass.  I think I’d like this better with a little less absinthe, although it grew on me…anise taste at the front, finishes with the strawberry.

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Fresa Catrina

Fresa Catrina

2 oz. Grand Patron Platinum Tequila (this is overdoing it, but it was the only silver I had)
1/2 oz. lemon juice
3/4 oz strawberry simple syrup
10 black peppercorns

Muddled the strawberry simple syrup and the peppercorns, then added the rest of the ingredients and shook over ice.  The Fresa Catrina was tasty…the pepper and the sweetness went really well together.

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King Vittorio's Cobbler

King Vittorio’s Cobbler

2 oz. Averna Amaro
3/4 oz. lemon juice
3/4 oz. strawberry simple syrup

Shook all over ice, double strained into a glass.  The strawberries mellowed out the bitterness of the Averna (which is already relatively mellow as far as Italian bitter liqueurs go).  I liked this one.  Simple and tasty.

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Lion's Tail

Lion’s Tail

2 oz. Bulleit Bourbon
3/4 oz. St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
1/2 oz. lime juice
1/2 spoonful of simple syrup
2 dash Angostura bitters

Shook all ingredients over ice, double strained into a glass.

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These cocktails were based on the recipes found at Cocktail Virgin:

Pisco Sour

Strawberry’s Revival

Fresa Catrina

King Vittorio’s Cobbler

The Lion’s Tail recipe was posted by Derek Brown of The Passenger and Columbia Room over at The Atlantic.

New Additions…

I’ll be having one of these tonight while I see how many restaurant posts I’m behind on writing up.  The Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen appears to be a top-notch brew.  I had the Schlenkerla Weizen at LivingSocial for the Churchkey beer tasting back in July, and it was great…tasted of delicious bacon.  I picked up this brew, and a few others, over at Norm’s Beer and Wine in Vienna…good selection over there.

 

Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen

Tonight’s Cocktail…

I liked the cocktail I made tonight so much that I figured I’d put it up here for all of you.

Legion

I wanted to make something tonight with Fernet, so searching throughout Cocktail Virgin, I found this gem.

I wouldn’t usually be a fan of a drink with this much Sweet Vermouth, but the other ingredients (I believe especially the Fernet) really brought out the grape…I have to say I was a fan.

As posted on Cocktail Virgin:

2/3 Sweet Vermouth (2 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino)
1/6 Brandy (1/2 oz Pedro Domecq Fundador Solera Reserva)
1/6 Curaçao (1/2 oz Senior Curaçao)
1 dash Fernet Branca (1/4 oz)

I replaced the brandy with Armagnac, and the Curaçao with triple sec (which provided a dryer taste, I’d expect), while utilizing the same measurements.  I’ll make this one again.

Dinner at Fujimar, 1 August 2012

I’ve been seeing a lot of recent e-mail traffic about Fujimar, the restaurant upstairs from Lima (formerly just known as Lima).  I wasn’t sure what to expect, being that I had always heard Lima talked of as a nightclub rather than a restaurant.  After reading Tom Sietsema’s April review of the restaurant in The Washington Post, I decided to give it a shot.

The restaurant interior is über trendy.  Around the wall is a line of monitors showing images of fish, giving the place an aquatic look.  On a few of the monitors is a top-down view of the sushi chefs doing their craft, which I found to be a nice touch.

Trendy styling inside. This is the back room.

A view of the monitors, including the fish (left) and the sushi chefs (right).

Longest. Fork. Ever. Fujimar was going for the chopsticks look with their utensils. A little awkward to use, but you’ll get over it.

To get as much of a sample of the restaurant’s offerings as I could, I started with a Ceviche Sampler – four ceviches, including the Ahi Tuna and Ginger (my waiter’s favorite) and the Red Pepper Barramundi (my pick out of the four – although all were excellent).

The Ceviche Sampler…

I also got two orders of sushi, including the Volcano Roll (hot king crab salad on top of a shrimp tempura and avocado roll), and the Lime Garden Roll (avocado, garden vegetables, and lime-cilantro oil).  The Lime Garden Roll was surprisingly good for a vegetarian roll…I wouldn’t overlook it for the lack of fish.

Volcano Roll…

The Lime Garden…

The mixology program at Fujimar is quite creative, and continues the asian-fusion theme of the restaurant.  For my first cocktail, I picked up an Eastern Promise, with U’Luvka vodka, Yellow Chartreuse, yuzu, tamarind nectar, Sauternes foam (Sauternes, rose syrup, egg white), and violet salt.  My second one, The Yamazaki Cobbler had Suntory Yamazaki 12 year Scotch (because for relaxing times, make it Suntory time), apricot liqueur, lemon juice, and apricot-mint nectar.  Both went well with the food.  The other options were also unique recipes that sounded excellent as well.

The Eastern Promise…

The Yamazaki Cobbler…

Don’t be turned off by Lima’s nightclub vibe.  They have a solid dining and mixology option upstairs in Fujimar which I’d encourage you to check out.

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Fujimar (formerly known as Lima)
1401 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 789-2800
www.fujimarrestaurant.com

Book on OpenTable

New Additions…Elderflower Edition…

My new bottle…Thatcher’s Elderflower Liqueur (left), vs. St. Germain.

I stopped by the liquor store today to replace my bottle of St. Germain.  Inquiring into the lack of bottles on the shelf, the ABC employee asked if I’d be interested in Thatcher’s brand Elderflower liqueur.  This was the first time I had heard of it, and seeing that a bottle of Thatcher’s was a bit cheaper than St. Germain (about $20 for Thatcher’s versus $38 for St. Germain), I figured I didn’t have much to lose by trying it out.

Thatcher’s has lower alcohol content (30 proof vs 40 proof) than St. Germain.  Thatcher’s smells a bit lighter…St. Germain has a more intense smell (and taste) that reminds me of lychees.  The taste of the Thatcher’s is more floral than St. Germain, and I’d say a little more refreshing.  I pick up more of a berry taste with the Thatcher’s in the aftertaste as well.  I could also see taking Thatcher’s straight or as a shot (although cocktails are where this would be best for me), whereas the St. Germain is a little too sweet/thick for that.  The flavors are different enough that I’d consider having both of these in my bar, though.

Also, I’d recommend checking out the elderflower liqueur taste test that this blogger did (way more interesting than mine was).

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Other Elderflower liqueurs I’ll need to try:

The Bitter Truth Elderflower Liqueur

Bramley & Gage Elderflower Liqueur

Chase Elderflower Liqueur

Pür Likör Blossom Elderflower Liqueur

More on elderflower/elderberries here.

Tiki Mixology with Jon Arroyo, 10 July 2012

On Tuesday I went to yet another great LivingSocial 918 F Street mixology course.  Jon Arroyo, chief mixologist of Founding Farmers, went over the basics of tiki cocktails, followed by a tasting of four drinks from the genre.

The LivingSocial 918 F Street Bar…decked out with tikiness.

Arroyo did a great job of explaining the cocktails and the history behind them, as well as some other useful cocktail bullets:

  • Cocktails are spirit, water, sugar, bitters.
  • Mojito is a swizzle vs a tiki (see also Queen’s Park Swizzle).
  • Pour sweet, sour, then spirit so if you mess up and have to pour out you won’t waste spirit.

On to the evening’s cocktails.

  • Zombie – a cocktail with eleven ingredients invented by Don the Beachcomber.  This one had 3 different rums, Falernum, bitters, absinthe, grenadine, fruit juices, cinnamon syrup, and was topped off with a mint sprig.
  • Mai Tai – one of the best known tiki cocktails…this one created by Trader Vic.  Rums, curaçao, orgeat, and lime juice.
  • Scorpion – A smaller version of the scorpion bowl….rums and brandy (or cognac) with triple sec, lime, and orange juice.
  • Painkiller – a creamy tiki cocktail that includes coconut milk (Arroyo makes his own), orange juice, pineapple juice (in this case we used pineapple syrup – I’ll have to try making that) and, of course, rum.  The drink was garnished with nutmeg.

Fantastic class taught by a master mixologist.  Definitely worth the while.  I’ve been very impressed with the two mixology classes that I’ve attended thus far at 918 F Street, and I heard good things that night about others that I, unfortunately, missed.  I’d encourage others to attend if they’re in the D.C.-area.  See below for some more photos of the evening.

Zombie

Mai Tai

Scorpion

Painkiller – the other drinks were prepared by Arroyo and his team, but we made these ourselves.

Queen’s Park Swizzle – they made one of these to demonstrate how to make a swizzle utilizing an actual wooden swizzle stick (not the plastic straw most are familiar with).

Jon Arroyo (center) and team. They certainly set the tiki mood that evening. Apologies for the blurriness.

NH Cocktail Party, 30 June 2012

My friends hosted a cocktail party the other night in New Hampshire where I got to put some recipes (tried and true and a couple new ones) to the test.  Sources for the recipes included Andres Aleman (Dragon’s Kiss), Gina Chersevani (Black White and Tiki, Beety Bastard), and The Passenger (Hot as Girl on Girl, Monk’s Mule, Obamacare Sling, Milton’s Stapler).

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The menu isn’t fully correct – we made it up at the last minute – but it’s close.

We whipped up several different types of simple syrups that we hadn’t tested out before, including strawberry syrup (great stuff – see Andres Aleman’s recipe for that one here), mint, cinnamon/nutmeg (really good – I think I used one large stick of cinnamon and a few dashes of nutmeg, then strained through cheese cloth), habanero, ginger (used my recipe from before, minus habaneros, and plus a little more ginger), and beet.  I need to work out a good recipe for the beet syrup…mine was not beety enough for what I was gunning for.

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Some simple syrups being prepped.

Most of these cocktails came out pretty well…I wouldn’t do the last item on the menu larger than a shooter though.  Way too sweet.  I’ll also need to tweak future menus a little bit..too little variation in the drinks (e.g. too many gin drinks, and too many with ginger beer – oops).

This was my first time being the bartender for a group this size (15-20).  It was definitely an experience that I’ll need to repeat…I need more opportunities where speed is important and stress exists (I don’t get that mixing drinks at home, obviously).  I’ve certainly got a ways to go to get out of novice status.

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My office that evening.

New Additions…

The latest additions to the collection, including a few more bitters.

Here are the latest additions…an extract, a few bitters, and some liqueurs.  Most of these acquisitions were chosen because of cocktails I’ve tried at The Passenger, so a hat tip to them.

Bittermens Orchard Street Celery Shrub – Celery, apples, and as it’s a shrub there’s vinegar as well (more on what shrubs are here).

Bittermens ‘Elemakule Tiki Bitters – I discovered this one in an unnamed cocktail at The Passenger that included Green Chartreuse, gin, aperitif wine, and said bitters…great cocktail.  I’m a fan of allspice dram, and the tiki bitters endeared themselves to me with their flavors of cinnamon, allspice, and other spices.  Besides “tiki” it also makes me think “Christmas” (a la mulled cider), so that opens up some other drink options.

Regans’ Orange Bitters No. 6 – Great orange bitters, and it’s pretty popular in the D.C. mixology scene.  The nose is heavy on the cardamom and carraway, which I’m definitely a fan of…the orange peel is in the taste combined with the cardamom.  This should definitely be in your collection as your go-to orange bitters.

The Bitter Truth Creole Bitters – Initial smell I get on this one is fruit with anise.  Major flavor in this one is definitely the anise.  This review mentions fennel as well, which I get at the finish.  Both that last review and this one mention it as a replacement for Peychaud’s, which I’d go along with.  I’ll probably save my bottles of Peychaud’s for drinks that call for large proportions of it, while using this one in dashes.

Ilegal Mexcal Añejo – I bought this one with a specific cocktail in mind (The Beety Bastard by Gina Chersevani), but they’ve got a few others on their website that sound promising.  This is a small batch production (I’ve got bottle #840 of 1350)…more on that here.  I haven’t cracked it open yet, but based on the review here this may also be good as a sipping mezcal (the price also lends itself to that at $100/bottle).

The Beety Bastard – this one calls for Ilegal Mezcal Anejo, red beet syrup, pineapple cardamom soda, citric acid, and heavy cream. Awesome drink with so many great flavors.

Luxardo Maraschino – A bittersweet, cherry-based liqueur.  I primarily bought this one to make the Aviation and Martinez, but there are many other good options.  Founding Farmers has one called “Nice Coat!” with Bluecoat Gin, Maraschino, basil, lemon, and orange bitters.

Amaro Averna and Gran Classico – I’d compare/contrast these two together and with Cynar (which has a sweet start and more bitter finish than Averna).  The Gran Classico starts more bitter and less sweet but ends slightly less bitter than the Cynar.  I’m not a huge fan of bitter for bitters sake, so I’d go with the Averna as my favorite of these three…when mixed right though, all three have great potential.  Recently, I had Averna at The Passenger in the “Mother of Dragons” (it was Game of Thrones night).  Averna, grapefruit, Canton, orange bitters, garnished with FIRE…tasty.

The Targaryens would be proud.