Breaking Bad (Blue Magic)

One of the cocktail sites I like to peruse is www.gastronomista.com it’s filled with over the top cocktails that are beautiful but not always accessible. Who really drinks out of a nautilus shell? But this cocktail was do-able for me so I gave it a shot and modified it ever so slightly. The blue curacao is usually gross (may be the brand “bols”) so I toned it down and used it mostly for coloring. Oh and yeah it’s named after TV show about meth, what can go wrong?

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Gin
• 1 oz White Rum (or half ounce white and a half 151 rum)
• ½ oz Orange Liqueur (gran Gala) and ¼ ounce of Blue Curacao
• ½ oz Lime Juice
• Tonic Water
• 1 spoon St. George Absinthe
• grated nutmeg

Shake the first four ingredients, strain into a glass with ice. Add just enough tonic water to give it a little sparkle, maybe an ounce or two. Stir gently then float the absinthe on top and add a pinch of grated nutmeg.

L.I.I.T!!!

The Long Island Iced Tea. The name alone evokes memories of dares you shouldn’t have done, things you shouldn’t have said and the porcelain god that you bowed down to. It’s a strong drink and goes down easy, too easy. But after a long day when your nerves are shattered its a good way to level out/pass out. Making this drink you basically go across the main spirits with a few splashes of this and that. Just go slow on drinking it please.

Ingredients:

• 1 ounce Vodka
• 1 ounce Gin
• 1 ounce Rum
• 1 ounce Tequila
• 1 ounce Orange liqueur (gran gala here)
• 1 table spoon of sugar
• Juice from half a lemon 
• 1 ½ ounce cola (I used throwback pepsi, It doesn’t have hi fructose corn syrup)

Add all ingredients except for the cola into your cocktail tumbler, shake it and pour into a tall glass. Add ice and leave some room for the cola, pour the cola in and garnish with a lemon wedge and a straw.

Cool down

So I went to this “speak easy” bar in Chinatown NYC, had some great drinks and snagged a menu as inspiration. You don't get the ratios, you don’t have all the weird ingredients but you make it your own. After some tweaking you get something really good. I’ve done this a couple of times and I sometimes even like my drink better. This drink is great for a warm day in the summer when you just want to relax, then have another one.

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ ounces of Vodka
• 1 drop of vanilla extract
• 2 dashes of Dram “hair of the dog” bitters
• ½ ounce of agave nectar
• ½ Lime
• 3 slices of cucumber
• 3-4 mint leaves

Muddle the cucumber and mint then add the rest of the ingredients. Shake it like crazy then double strain into your glass with a big ol Ice cube. garnish with a slice of cucumber a mint sprig or both.

Smoking Sazerac

I love me a Sazerac. Its one of those drinks that I don’t get tired of. That being said, I decided to experiment with the recipe but not too much. I’m glad I did because this one is a keeper. Traditionally a Sazerac is done with a wash of absinthe but I did a wash of the smokiest scotch I ever tasted “ardbeg corryvreckan”. It gives such a nice fragrance when you dip your nose in to drink and since it has scotch I thought it would be best served neat. 

Ingredients

• wash of Scotch (Ardbeg Corryvreckan)
• ¼ - ½ ounce Absinthe (St. George)
• 2 ½ ounce Rye Whiskey
• brown sugar cube
• 2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
• orange peel.

Coat the inside glass with scotch, you should only need a half teaspoon to do this (use a clean finger to get it all covered). Then put the sugar cube at the bottom of the mixing glass dash it with bitters then muddle it down. Add the absinthe and whiskey and stir with ice. Then strain the drink into an old fashioned glass and twist the orange peel over the drink and drop it in.

Sweet-n-Smoky Mezcal cocktail

So, I ordered a drink in a restaurant and went home and replicated it but its been years and I don’t remember the restaurant anymore. I do that sometimes and sometimes I snap a shot of the menu (or take one home) to fiddle with it till it tastes right. It’s a good way to teach yourself balance. This drink is great. The mezcal is smoky the salt is smoky and the lemon/honey balance brightens it up.

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ ounces mezcal (I used Monte Alban)
• ½ ounce honey or to taste
• ½ of a lemon
• Smoked sea salt (Alder Smoked Sea Salt from “India Tree”)

Add the lemon, mezcal and honey into the mixing glass then stir with a barspoon. The reason I do this is because honey is really hard to mix when cold so just shaking it up would cause clumps to form. Then shake it with ice in your, um, shaker, yeah. Rim the glass with the smoked salt* and pour the drink in. I like to double strain it to get the small crunchy ice flecks out and drop a few fresh cubes in.

*The smoked salt that I used is really coarse so I need to grind it in a mini pestle and mortar that I have.

Corpse Reviver #2

This is one of those “hair of the dog” cocktails that have given a new life (no pun intended, ahh maybe intended) beyond a just a hangover cure.  There are a couple of versions of this drink hence the “#2” but this one looks the best. Its typically equal parts Gin, lemon juice, Cointreau and Lillet and a dash of absinthe  but I altered the proportions a little bit to give it more Gin Umph. This drink will animate your moldy corpse or zombify you depending on the number of drinks you consumed.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ ounces Gin
• ½ ounce Lillet blanc
• ½ ounce orange liqueur (Gran Gala used here) 
• ½ of a lemon (hold on to the peel for garnishing)
• 1 teaspoon Absinthe (St. George Absinthe)

Add all ingredients into a mixing glass and stir with ice. Before pouring add the Absinthe to your martini glass. Swoosh it around so that the interior has fully been covered with Absinthe. Then strain the drink into a martini glass and twist the lemon peel over the drink and drop it in.

-To quote an ancient zombie philosopher “Grrrhuuuhhhh”

Singapore Sling

Ever since I heard “shore leave” from Tom Waits I have wanted to make this drink. The combination of finding the recipe in a 70’s (really groovy) cocktail book and buying some Benedictine allowed me to give it a whirl. It’s a refreshing drink born in South-East Asia and it has a very “Tiki” quality but I did employ a few modifications here. Traditionally it has pineapple juice but I’ve omitted it because: 1.) I didn’t have any. 2.) My girl is allergic to fresh pineapple. 3.) The recipe I  from didn’t include it! Also, it calls for Heering Cherry Liqueur but again I didn’t have any so I got a unique replacement! Vișinată! It’s a homemade Romanian cherry liquor that some friends made for me and it fit perfectly in this drink.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces Gin
• 1 ounce Cherry Liquor (Vișinată)
• ½ ounce Benedictine 
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ of a lemon
• A couple dashes of Angustora bitters
• Soda water
• Lemon peel 
• Mint sprig

Add everything except the soda water, Lemon and mint into your shaker with ice. Shake it until it’s nice and cold then strain into a tall glass with ice. There should be a little room to add the soda water on top and then stir it slightly. Garnish with a lemon peel and mint sprig and you are done. When you are drinking it you can push the garnishes in to get a hint of their flavor.

And I’ll leave you with some lyrics from Tom Waits:

Well I was pacing myself

trying to make it all last

squeezing all the life

out of a lousy two day pass

and I had a cold one at the Dragon

with some Filipino floor show

and talked baseball with a lieutenant

over a Singapore sling

and I wondered how the same moon outside

over this Chinatown fair

could look down on Illinois

and find you there

and you know I love you Baby

Vieux Carré

New Orleans is the birthplace of many great classic cocktails. This is one of them. Pronounced voh-care-eh it means “Old Square” referring to the French Quarter. Although it’s one of the classics akin to the Manhattan it’s not as well known, probably because its more complicated but worth it!

Ingredients:

• 1 Ounce Rye Whiskey (Redemption Rye)
• 1 Ounce Cognac (I used E&J Brandy as a substitute)
• 1 Ounce sweet vermouth (Carpano Antica Formula)
• ½ Ounce Benedictine
• 1-2 dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters
• 1-2 dashes of Angostura Bitters
• Lemon twist (some people use a cherry, I didn’t)

Add all ingredients into a mixing glass and stir with ice.   Strain into a martini glass and twist the lemon peel over the drink to express some of the oils then use it as a garnish.

Viola! 

It’s Fig Thyme!

Seasonal fruit are always a welcome ingredient in my cocktails. As I mentioned before I love the herb fruit combination. I think a good cocktail has layers. The base being the spirit then sweetness in the fruit in this case then a bitter or herbal element. A well rounded cocktail is a thing of beauty, an oasis in the otherwise banal everyday life, it is an, er, well… You aren’t here for me wax poetic. Here is the recipe!

Ingredients: 

• 2 ounces Rum
• ½ ounce Orange liqueur
• ½ ounce Lime or half of a lime
• 2-3 figs depending on the size & sweetness
• ½ ounce Thyme syrup*
• Garnish of thyme & fig

Muddle the figs in the glass part of the Boston shaker.

Add the rest of the ingredients. Shake vigorously then double strain the mix into a glass using your Hawthorn Strainer and a Conical Cocktail Sieve.

Garnish with a fig slice or thyme sprig, or both!

*Thyme syrup is really easy to make and totally worth it. It even smells good when you make it.

• 1 Cup sugar
• 2 Cups water
• 5-6 Sprigs of thyme (the more you put the stronger the taste).

Simmer for about 20 minutes strain it, then let it cool. Store it in the fridge.

The Martinez

So, I’ve been wanting to try this cocktail for a while but didn’t have a decent vermouth to use with it. My martini and rossi vermouth was pretty terrible. Found a few good recipes that call for Carpano Antica Formula but since I still only have Punt E Mes (which I love) it worked well and I feel added some depth. The Martinez is one of the classic cocktails predating and contributing to the creation of the martini. It’s elegant, it has a deep color and a rich taste. It’s a keeper.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces Gin (Bombay sapphire)
• ¾ ounce Punt E Mes Vermouth
• ½ ounce Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
• 2 dashes of Orange Bitters (Regan’s)
• Orange peel sliced long

Add all ingredients into a mixing glass and stir with ice.   Strain into a martini glass and twist the orange peel over the drink to express some of the oils then use it as a garnish.

Peach and Sage Cocktail

July is a great time of year for so many reasons but one of them of course is… PEACHES! A ripe juicy peach is something that is just amazing to eat. But they are also great in a drink. Going with the Herb and fruit mix that I love so much sage is a great compliment.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounce Brandy
• ½ ounce Orange Liqueur (Gran Gala)
• ½ Fresh Lemon
• 3-4 sage leaves
• 2 slices of fresh peach
• 2 dashes peach bitters

Muddle the sage and peach slices in the glass part of the Boston shaker

Add the rest of the ingredients. Shake vigorously to homogenize everything together then double strain the mix into a glass using your traditional cocktail strainer and a “Conical Cocktail Sieve”.

It’s going to look like sludge in the sieve so you may need to use your muddler to help it along. Don’t worry it’s worth it.

*Because the peach I used was so sweet, there wasn’t any need to balance the lemon juice with simple syrup or agave nectar. But if all you have is a tart peach (they are hit and miss sometimes) you may want to add some sweetness.

Last Word / Gypsy

Last Word / Gypsy

Seeing double? Nope not yet. Before you are two cocktails with one ingredient that changes them slightly. Both are strong, sour and floral but it’s the sweet element that changes them slightly. It’s great to have a replacement ready in case you run out of an ingredient to one of your favorite cocktails. Both are great, I think the Gypsy is a little sweeter but after having both I can’t remember.

Last Word
Ingredients:

• 1 ounce gin
• 1 ounce chartreuse
• 1 ounce lime juice (or a half or more of a large lime)
• 1 ounce maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)

Gypsy

Ingredients:

• 1 ounce gin
• 1 ounce chartreuse
• 1 ounce lime juice (or a half or more of a large lime)
• 1 ounce Elderflower liqueur (St-Germain)

Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. After shaking vigorously, strain into a martini glass.

Dark Post Road

Recently I went to the Culinary institute of America in the Hudson valley and ordered this drink in the American Bounty restaurant. It was really great. I spoke to the bartender afterward and asked him about the vermouth he used since all the drinks with vermouth I had been making ended up tasting like medicine. He told me he used Carpano Antica Formula “Its a little pricey but makes the difference” then he was nice enough to write down the recipe. Unfortunately I still haven’t found a liquor store that sells that particular vermouth. I did however find its bitter counterpart “Punt E Mes”*. This along with the fact that I didn’t have the 12 year rum that it included begged for a variation on the drink. Because of the dark rum and bitter vermouth I just added “dark” to the name #creative.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ ounces Blackwell Dark Rum
• ½ ounce Punt E Mes Vermouth
• ½ ounce Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
• 1 dash Angostura Bitters
• 1 Dark Morello Cherry

Add all ingredients into a mixing glass and stir with ice.   Strain into a martini glass and garnish with the cherry.

Original Ingredients for “Post Road”

• 1 ½ ounces Zaya 12 year rum
• ½ ounce Antica Sweet Vermouth
• ½ ounce Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
• 1 dash Angostura Bitters
• I think they added a brandied cherry but can’t remember.

*Punt E Mes is also made by Carpano but it has a deep bitter grapefruit taste. A hundred times better than the Martini & Rossi I had.

Vesper

If you want a sophisticated cocktail that will kick your butt, this is the one. It’s the famed James bond drink invention from Casino Royale. I like this a lot better than the “Vodka Martini, shaken not stirred.” As he is known for, which I find so boring.

Ingredients

• 3 ounces Gin (I used Bombay sapphire since it’s all I have left)
• 1 ounce Vodka
• ½ ounce Lillet Blanc
• Lemon peel for garnish

Pour all ingredients into an ice filled cocktail glass and stir, straining the drink into a martini glass. Garnish with a large lemon peel, twisting it as you drop it in.

WAIT, you said stir?!? According to James Bond the drink is made like this.

“A dry martini,” [Bond] said. “One. In a deep champagne goblet.”

“Oui, monsieur.”

“Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?”

Yes, I know, I know. But here is where the spy and I differ. The rule that I follow is:

If all of the ingredients are alcohol then there is no need to shake.

Why? Mostly for clarity, when you shake a drink it gets cloudy and there are little ice particles that float on top. The only reason to shake a drink is when there are juices or other ingredients that need to be homogenized. This drink has no juice, syrup or egg, therefore… stirred.

Strawberry Rhubarb Cocktail

Found this recipe in the the book “Shake - a new perspective on cocktails”. I tweaked it slightly by using a different jam and then made a second one without the seltzer. I think the seltzer takes away from the flavors so if you do use it for that “fizzyness” I would recommend just a small splash, you don’t want the drink watered down.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Strawberries depending on their size. And a slice for garnishing
• 3-4 slices of Rhubarb and one sliced lengthwise for the garnish 
• heaping tablespoon of jam. I used raspberry, you can use strawberry too.
• ½ Lemon
• 2 ounces of Vodka
• *Optional* seltzer water

Muddle the rhubarb and strawberries then add the rest of the ingredients in your Boston shaker except the seltzer. Shake it well and then double strain it into your glass.

*Tip* it may take a while for your drink to drain from the cocktail sieve so I ussually use the muddler to help it along, mushing it up and down. 

after adding the ice and garnish you can splash in some seltzer if you so desire.

Grapefruit Margarita

So you want to make a margarita that tastes nothing like the gross day-glow swill they serve at Dallas BBQ?

Well here you go!

Ingredients:

• 1/8 of a grapefruit
• ½ lime
• ¼ to ½ ounce of Agave Nectar (I just eyeball it)
• ½ ounce of Orange Liqueur (Gran Gala)
• 2 ounces of silver tequila  (Hornitos)
• Coarse salt like “Maldon Salt” & Ground cayenne pepper mixed together in a small container (don’t go too heavy on the pepper)

 First squeeze the grapefruit and lime into the mixing glass then add the agave, orange liqueur & tequila. Fill the metal tumbler with ice and shake that money maker!

Prior to straining your drink use the lime (that you squeezed) to wet the rim of the glass and drop it on to a little pile of the salt/pepper mix. 

Add a fat ice cube in the glass then strain the delicious mixture in.

Mi aerodeslizador está lleno de anguilas!

Spicy Orange Daiquiri

Daiquiris have been drunk by manly men such as Earnest Hemingway but I could never get over how girly they seemed. This one has a bit more bite because of the hot pepper yet it’s still girly looking. Oh well.

Ingredients:

• 1/8th of a Orange
• ½ lime
• ¼ Ounce Agave Nectar
• 2 Ounces of Rum (sometimes I put 1 ounce white 1 ounce Dark Rum for more depth)
• ½ ounce pepper Vodka *see recipe below

Squeeze the Orange and Lime into the glass part of your Boston Shaker then add the rest of the ingredients (I usually eyeball the Agave Nectar because its so sticky) and shake vigorously with ice. Double strain into your glass of choice and garnish with a sliver of orange.

*Pepper Vodka Recipe:

Put one yellow pepper, one jalapeno pepper sliced it (removing seeds) into a Bell Jar. Add a good quality Vodka (no need for high end) into the jar to the top. Close the jar and shake. leave the ingredients in for about a day then strain into a bottle.

You can do this in a larger jar with more alcohol but just make sure it infuses for a long enough time. The above recipe is for a quick batch.

I’ll make a detailed larger batch post in the future.

Basil-Strawberry & Balsamic Vinegar Cocktail

This is a great cocktail for the summer. Lots of things going on but all the notes complement each other.

Ingredients:  

• 2-3 Strawberries
• 3-4 Basil leaves
• ½ of a fresh Lime or ½ ounce of Lime juice
• ¾ ounce Caramel Balsamic Vinegar Syrup (see previous post)
• ½ ounce Orange Liquor (I use Gran Gala)
• 2 ounces White Rum (or Cachaça which is even better!)

Muddle the strawberries and basil in a Boston shaker

Add the rest of the ingredients

Shake vigorously to homogenize the ingredients

Double strain into a glass using your traditional cocktail strainer and a “Conical Cocktail Sieve”. The strainer gets the big chunks and the sieve takes care of all of the little bits of basil and ice that can interfere with your drink. Definitely needed for this drink.

I like to use a large square ice cube and garnish it with a slice of strawberry and a basil leaf.

Enjoy!

Caramel Balsamic vinegar syrup:

Balsamic vinegar in a cocktail? Gross! Why would you do this?
Because it is amazing!!!

Seriously, this is a wonderful syrup that can add another level of complexity to certain cocktails. I found the idea in the book “The Art of the Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the Classics” along with a number of other syrups. This is probably the most complicated syrup that you can do, but it is worth it.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups of sugar
• 1 ½ cups of water
• 1 ½ cups of balsamic vinegar

Cook the sugar and water in a pot on a low/medium boil until it becomes a good caramel amber color. As it cooks use a rubber Spatula to wipe down the sides that stick and regularly mix it. You want it cooked down because you will be adding the vinegar later and you don’t want it too watery (its syrup!). It could take a while 30-40 minutes.

In the meantime, cook the vinegar in a small saucepan on a low simmer.

Once its done combine the two and let it cool and store it in the fridge *tip: turn your head when combining, the fumes from the vinegar are intense*

Recipes that include this syrup to come…

First!

Alchemy: A process of transmuting a common substance, into a substance of great value.

Alcohol: A yummy substance that makes mortal man rejoice.