Category Archives: Mixology

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.

Bitters Class, 13 June 2012

I just attended a great course on bitters mixology.  The class was put on by Jesse Dean of Libations Bar School and hosted by the Spice and Tea Exchange in Georgetown…both of which I would encourage you to check out.  The Libations Bar School has some interesting courses, including an advanced mixology and molecular mixology offerings (who wouldn’t want to try working with liquid nitrogen behind the bar??)

After going over some of the background behind tinctures, extracts, and bitters, teacher Jesse Dean had us put together our own mix of bitters from the stock of the Spice and Tea Exchange.  The concoctions will be steeping for the next several weeks, at which point we’ll be having a cocktail night with the better mixtures.

Some people may think that making bitters is too complicated for them, but it can be as easy as taking a small, sealed container of over-proof liquor, adding a small amount of fruits, herbs, or other flavorings, usually including one ingredient categorized as a bittering agent, then allowing it to steep for a couple of weeks.  Make a few of these at a time and figure out which recipes work best for you.  Just make sure you label the jars with what you used…that way it can be reproduced later in larger quantities.

I’m going to keep the recipe for my group’s bitters under wraps for now, but it included a spice, a flower, some pepper, and a bittering agent.

Here’s a couple of shots from the evening:

Cinnamon and Grains of Paradise…just to show how easy it is to develop bitters.

A few varieties of bitters developed by Libations Bar School. I was a fan of the second one from the left…reminded me of allspice dram (or Christmas).

I’ll provide an update when we have the cocktail night…I’m looking forward to trying out the winners.

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Spice and Tea Exchange – Georgetown
1069 Wisconsin Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-4540
http://www.spiceandtea.com/dc-georgetown-ezp-31.html
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Libations
1734 Wisconsin Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 642-1256
http://www.libationsbarschool.com/

Cocktails, Early June 2012

Sorry for the hiatus…was tied up with some professional stuff.

Here’s a few cocktails that I’ve made in the last couple of weeks:

El Diablo:

Ingredients for the El Diablo…

  • 1/2 lime
  • 1 oz tequila (I used 1800 Reposado.)
  • 1/2 oz crème de cassis
  • Ginger Beer (I used Fever-Tree, which is excellent.)

Squeeze the lime and drop the shell in the glass, then add the tequila and crème de cassis.  Stir, then top off with ginger beer.

(Based on recipes from The Webtender Wiki)

I tried this a couple weeks ago at The Passenger…thought I’d try making it myself.  Came out pretty well…I’d throw it together again.

El Diablo…

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My version of Alex’s Sour from The Passenger:

The ingredients for my version of Alex’s Sour…

The Passenger’s version calls for white whiskey, lemon, and Yellow Chartreuse…I went off this and used the following:

  • 2 oz Johnnie Walker Black
  • 1 oz Yellow Chartreuse
  • 1/4 oz lemon juice (and being out of lemons, I used the type from concentrate…meh.)

Shook the ingredients together with ice, strained over fresh ice in a rocks glass.  Not bad.  I’d say it’s better than a whisk(e)y sour.

Alex’s Sour #2…

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Bully Boy:

Ingredients for my take on the Bully Boy…

I was looking for some ideas for my brand new bottle of Fernet-Branca and came across this page.  Naturally I had to try out the award winner for best Fernet cocktail, so I threw together the Bully Boy.  From the site:

  • 1oz bourbon
  • 1/2oz Fernet Branca
  • 1/2oz Canton ginger liqueur
  • 1/2oz lemon juice
  • 2t simple syrup
  • lemon peel, for garnish

Select dodecahedron shaped ice cubes out of your freezer (be very selective, the shape is important), and bash them with a baseball bat. Now shake it all up and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Of course, I am not yet fancy enough to have dodecahedron-shaped ice cubes (nor a bar baseball bat), so I did not follow some of the directions.  I used Woodford Reserve bourbon, and swapped out the plain simple syrup for my homemade ginger-habanero variety.  Because of the new flavors that my simple syrup lends to this drink (and because I didn’t have any real lemons…) I garnished this with an orange twist.  This came out great…very tasty.  You don’t get much of the medicinal taste associated with Fernet, but you can still tell it’s in there.  This one was definitely a winner.

The Bully Boy. Good cocktail…

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Consolation Prize:

The ingredients for Consolation Prize…

I was looking for a good Chartreuse cocktail for this evening, and came across Last Frontier at both cocktail virgin slut and The Passenger.  Using this as a base, I made the following:

  • 2 oz Hendrick’s Gin
  • 1.5 oz Yellow Chartreuse
  • 3 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake and bruise all ingredients with ice, then strain into a martini glass (keep small ice shards) and garnish with orange peel.

The Passenger’s version called for unknown proportions of Tanqueray, Green Chartreuse, and (unknown) bitters, while cocktail virgin slut called for 3 parts Beefeater, 1 part Green Chartreuse, and lemon oil.

I blew an interview earlier in the day, so I’m naming this one Consolation Prize.  Cheers.

My Consolation Prize…

Bacon Cocktail?

This was so good that I have to repost it here…just came across the photo on my phone and was reminded of it.

Founding Farmers in DC has a cocktail called “Bone”, made with Knob Creek Bourbon, fresh lime juice, Tabasco, and a Bacon Lolli garnish.  This garnish makes the drink.  Bacon Lollis, also on FF’s appetizer menu, are cinnamon-brown sugar glazed thick-cut slices of bacon.  So good.  I show it to you here, in all its glory.  Enjoy.

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Founding Farmers
1924 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20006
(202) 822-8783
http://www.wearefoundingfarmers.com
Book on OpenTable
 

New Additions…

The latest additions.  I’ll try a couple recipes for each over the next week.

The latest additions to the collection…

Allspice (Pimento) Dram – Makes me think “Christmas”.  Goes into one of my favorites – the Lion’s Tail.

Cynar – Italian artichoke liqueur with other plants and herbs.  Has a sweet start, bitter finish.  Less bitter than Campari (and interestingly is manufactured and distributed by the same company).

Fernet-Branca – another bitter liqueur with a medicinal taste (and from the 1840’s to at least the 1960’s it was used as a medicine).  This has seen a rise in popularity…I’ve noticed it in a number of cocktails at the more creative bars in town.

Creme de Violette – A sweet liqueur made from alpine violets.  A main ingredient of the Aviation cocktail and a few other classics.

Yellow Chartreuse Cocktails, 31 May 2012

“Chartreuse, the only liqueur so good they named a color after it.” – Warren the bar owner, Death Proof

Yellow Chartreuse is a 40% liqueur which contains 130 herbal extracts (like a more complex version of Jägermeister?).  The 55% variety, Green Chartreuse, is used in the classic cocktail The Last Word.

I mixed up two cocktail recipes from The Passenger which utilize Chartreuse – “Monk’s Mule” and “Walk of Shame-Rock” – using Yellow Chartreuse.

My ingredients for the Monk’s Mule…

Here’s the Monk’s Mule:

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Gin

Green Chartreuse

Lime

Ginger Beer

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I changed out the Green Chartreuse in the recipe with the yellow variety.  Since I didn’t know the proportions involved, I went with 1 oz Hendrick’s gin, 1 oz Yellow Chartreuse, and juice from 1/2 a lime.  Shook these ingredients together, strained into a rocks glass over ice, then topped it off with Fever-Tree ginger beer.  This came out as a nice, light cocktail…good with these steamy DC evenings.

The finished Monk’s Mule…

Next up was a variation on the Walk of Shame-Rock.

Ingredients for this variation on the Walk of Shame-Rock…

Here’s the ingredients for this one from The Passenger:

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Jim Beam Rye

Green Chartreuse

Lemon

Cream

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I changed out Jim Beam for Bulleit, swapped in the Yellow Chartreuse, and used coconut milk instead of cream.  1 oz of the rye, Chartreuse, and coconut milk, and the juice from 1/2 a lemon, all shaken with ice.  Tangy and different.  I’ll try the original at a later point to compare/contrast.

Here’s what this version of the Walk of Shame-Rock looked like…

The switch from Green to Yellow Chartreuse makes these drinks a little more sweet and less spicy than they would otherwise be (yellow has honey added, has citrus notes, and other accents, while the green is more floral/herbal).  I’ll try making these drinks again with the green variety after I pick up a bottle.

Beer Cocktails, 30 May 2012

Tonight I put together a couple of beer cocktails from recipes I’ve obtained.

The first of these was a version of Black-White & Tiki, which I got hold of at a LivingSocial 918 F Street mixology course put on by Gina Chersevani (formerly of PS 7’s and now with Hank’s Oyster Bar, DC).

The ingredients for this version of the Black-White & Tiki…

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1 oz Chairman’s Reserve Rum

1 oz coconut milk

1 oz sugarcane syrup

3-4 oz Maui CoCoNut Porter

1 pinch of cinnamon

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Combine the rum, coconut milk, and sugarcane syrup, shake with ice until frothy.  Pour over crushed ice into a collins glass and top with the CoCoNut Porter.  Garnish with a pinch of cinnamon and serve with a straw.

I used Sugar in the Raw syrup and Pyrat rum for this rendition.  The cocktail comes out nice and chocolatey thanks to the beer…it’s like a beery mudslide, and quite tasty.

Tasty and chocolatey (sans chocolate?)

Next up was a drink I had at Mie & Yu in Georgetown called the “Gaarden of Babylon”.  The name comes from the use of Hoegaarden in the recipe.

My ingredients for the Gaarden of Babylon…

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St. Germain elderflower liqueur

Blackstrap syrup

Lemon

Hoegaarden

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I wasn’t sure of the measurements for each of the ingredients, so I went with 1 oz St. Germain, 3/4 oz molasses (replacing blackstrap syrup), and juice from 1/2 a lemon.  Shook those ingredients vigorously with ice – especially important with molasses as it takes a bit for it to mix in.  Top off with the Hoegaarden.  Comes out as a nice, tangy beer cocktail.

If anyone is tracking on a beer cocktail that utilizes Duchesse de Bourgogne, let me know.

Cocktail Night, 28 May 2012

Made an evening out of trying some cocktail recipes.  Here’s two of the ones that stood out:

The Sour Hass cocktail is based on the recipe from Las Canteras Peruvian restaurant in Adams Morgan.

Replaced plain simple syrup with homemade habanero-ginger syrup

Having enjoyed this drink a couple times at Las Canteras, I went searching for the recipe.  I located this recipe for it over at the Connect to Peru blog, courtesy of Las Canteras:

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4 tsp ripe avocado

8 mint leaves

2.5 oz Pisco

2 oz pineapple juice

2 tsp simple syrup

Muddle the mint and avocado together, then add the pisco, pineapple juice, and simple syrup.  Shake with ice and strain into a glass.  Garnish with a mint sprig.

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I changed up the recipe slightly by adding my homemade habanero-ginger syrup instead of plain simple syrup.  Came out smooth and spicy.  Goes great with Peruvian food.

It even looks smooth…

Next up is the Gunshop Fizz, created by some folks at Cure New Orleans, and posted at the Shake & Strain blog.  I learned about this one while researching the recipe for the Trinidad Sour (my current favorite).  Both drinks use bitters as a base (2 oz Peychaud’s and 1.5 oz Angostura, respectively), making them unique in the mixology world.

This one is a little complex…

This cocktail is complex:

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2 oz Peychaud’s bitters

1 oz lemon juice

1 oz simple syrup

2 strawberries

3 cucumber slices

3 swaths of grapefruit

3 swaths of orange

San Pellegrino Sanbittèr apéritif

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Muddle everything but the Sanbittèr.  Set aside for two minutes, then add ice, shake, and strain (recommended to double strain through a cocktail strainer and a tea strainer – liquid should be thin).  Top with Sanbittèr.  Garnish with a slice of cucumber.

For one of the versions I made, plain simple syrup got itself replaced by that of the habanero-ginger variety, and Sanbittèr apéritif got replaced with Campari and club soda (essentially the same thing, just with alcohol).

I tried this four ways with another guinea pig tester.  The first used the Campari and soda…very complex flavors between the bitterness of the Campari, the sweetness of the strawberries, the citrus of the orange and grapefruit rinds, and the freshness of the cucumber.  The second just used club soda…this wasn’t bad either, and if you are not a bitter fan it might be the way to go.  Third method replaced the Campari and soda with Schweppes tonic water with quinine…this was the favorite.  The quinine bitterness is lighter than Campari and goes very well with the citrus notes of the drink.  Fourth method was with nothing added after straining.  This was a little sweeter than I’d prefer, but I can see some people liking it.  I could also see this being good blended with ice, and that would lighten up the sweetness.

A tasty and complex drink. You put in some work for this one, but it’s worth it.

James Beard Foundation Cocktail Roundup

On 24 May 2012, the James Beard Foundation put out a cocktail recipe roundup that featured four unique cocktails, including:

Donaji (Julian Cox of Rivera Los Angeles) – this cocktail includes chapulines, or grasshoppers.  Those who have been to José Andrés’ Oyamel in DC may have encountered these buggers in taco form, and apparently they’re popular in some parts of South America.  Besides including bugs (okay, the bugs are just on the rim mixed with the salt), it’s a fruity mezcal cocktail.

Paddington (David Slape of PDT NYC) – a citrus rum cocktail with white rum, Lillet Blanc, grapefruit juice, lemon juice, orange marmalade, all shaken together and poured into an absinthe-coated class, garnished with a grapefruit twist.  I made this one tonight, with the modification of Bacardi Gold for the recommended Banks 5 Island white rum (and sadly no grapefruit twist).  Tasted great…I’ll attempt it again soon when I have the full recommended ingredient list.

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My version of the Paddington, sans some recommended ingredients.

Turf (Thad Vogler of Bar Agricole San Francisco) – Gin cocktail with dry vermouth, Maraschino, absinthe, and orange bitters, garnished with a lemon peel.  Sadly, while I wanted to pick up some Maraschino liqueur this afternoon, the Virginia ABC does not currently stock it (one of the very unfortunate parts of living in VA versus DC or MD is the lack of some types of alcohol due to the nature of state-run liquor stores).  I’ll make this cocktail as soon as I can get my hands on a Maraschino bottle.

Hush and Wonder (Toby Maloney of The Violet Hour Chicago) – Rum-based cocktail that includes Crème de Violette and grapefruit bitters (which are two more bottles on my list that VA ABC won’t stock – as far as bitters goes, it’s Peychaud’s or bust there), lime juice, and simple syrup.  This cocktail is also on my production list once I have the requisite ingredients…it sounds fantastic.

JBF is great…make sure to check them out if you’re a mixologist or gastronomist.  There are some excellent recipes stored in their database.

Flavored Simple Syrups (Ginger-Habanero)

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One habanero (I used a red one this time – it’s all I could find that was of good quality), and about 2-3 ounces of ginger, depending on how gingery you want the mixture to be.

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Color is a little darker (orange/tan) than the straight habanero syrup was.

I used the same recipe as in the previous post on flavored simple syrups, but changed the flavoring inputs.  I used one large red habanero and about three ounces of ginger.  I peeled most of the ginger root and cut it into slices to maximize the surface area, then added both the peppers and the ginger once the sugar was fully absorbed into the water mixture, and brought it to a boil.

I tasted a few drops of the final mixture.  Great ginger taste with a nice burn.  This is going to go great in some cocktails.

I’m going to try reproducing a favorite of mine from SEI in DC called Liquid Wasabi.  This one uses unfiltered sake, vodka, lime juice, and today’s syrup.  It’s one of my go-to drinks at that establishment, besides the daily rotating cocktail (Evening Truth) and the Silver Samurai (shōchū, cucumber, plain simple syrup, crushed pink peppercorn).