Revisiting Ouzo

It was a while ago that I first tried Ouzo - see the Satanic Cocktails post about it here - and I have been slowly working my way through bottle after bottle ever since. Most often I drink a tall glass of it as I cook dinner.

Take a quick read of Kerasma.gr for good info

Following Zane's experience in the Episode on Lesbos (Yes, I know I've mentioned that episode already), I pour a half a glass of ouzo on a few ice cubes and then add a few dashes of cold filtered water until it starts to emulsify. If 'emulsify' means nothing to you, watch the darn episode already! If three or four shots of 80º liquor is more than enough to put you over the edge before dinner, stick to a smaller glass.

To try out my ouzo in a few different and faster ways, I went for a few of these ouzo-based shooters. Overall, I still prefer a straight glass of ouzo, but since I have been taking more shots than mixing cocktails the last few months, these certainly did the trick.

World Famous TKO

One shot into the list I knew I was in trouble. The TKO seems odd by ingredient, but is smooth and warm. The combination of strong and herbal tastes in the tequila and ouzo was offset well by the coffee liqueur. After four or five of these, I started to have a little trouble getting the proportions right, and the taste suffered.

TKO
1/3 Tequila
1/3 Kahlua
1/3 Ouzo

When I'm taking a shot of a liquor I like, I tend to give it ever the slightest swish in my mouth. Contrary to a stiff shot of shitty whiskey or warm vodka, I like to treat a shot of something I enjoy sipping just like a larger than average swallow from a rocks glass. Whenever I try this with shooters I am a little wary - if someone has gone through the effort of publishing a recipe that doesn't always mean they have the slightest clue about whether something tastes good. I can't be the only one who's ordered or received some dishwater shooters in the past.

The Vulcan Mind Probe Shot was next - well technically I didn't make it past the TKO the first night so "next" really means a few days later in this case. Due to my trouble mixing smooth TKOs later into the night, I hoped that a recipe that's 1/2 and 1/2 ouzo and rum would be easy enough for my thick fingers to pour.

Vulcan Mind Probe
1 Part Ouzo
1 Part Rum

This works well as a double shot, though I would say the taste is anything but easy to take down. The combination of the black rum and ouzo I used made for a powerful taste that stayed in my throat. It was not especially pleasant, so I went back for more TKOs afterwards. In the end, I didn't really mind the powerful taste of bitter chocolate licorice I got from this, since by the time I'd had two or three of these, I was deep enough into my drinking night that it was fine.

Good luck trying some Ouzo. It's well worth it.

Drink the Best Wine First - Or Just Stick to Cheap Wine. Your Call.

While I may heartily agree with Nanuchka, I also don't think the best wine has to be expensive. Given my past swilling break-even Welch's, I can honestly say I have enjoyed cheap wine on many an occasion.

Recently, however, I have fallen victim to what appears to be an American trend in wine purchasing: Almost every bottle I buy is $12-$18. While I sometimes plan on buying a cheap magnum of wine, I am seduced by the rack upon rack of wine and when my eyes are dragged to the sale bottles, I end up thinking "$11.99 down from $15.99, that's a steal" when I should really be thinking "If they can sell it for 3/4 the listed price, I could probably find something that tastes as good for 1/4 the price."

A recent Slate article prompted me to write on this topic. Also, according to Slate, one of the biggest complaints some people have (I've never really minded this) about cheap wine - the inconsistent quality - is no longer a factor because of "falling market share over the last 15 years."

So, here's to drinking cheap wine from large glasses and getting flushed without paying much.

A Day of Rosiness - Alpenglow

Brett did not turn up, so about a quarter to six I went down to the bar and had a Jack Rose with George the bar-man. Brett had not been in the bar either, and so I looked for her upstairs on my way out, and took a taxi to the Café Select. Crossing the Seine I saw a string of barges being towed empty down the current, riding high, the bargemen at the sweeps as they came toward the bridge. The river looked nice. It was always pleasant crossing bridges in Paris.

-Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises (1926)

 

 I saw this quote in Dale Degroff's Essential Cocktail, and it seemed to add the perfect connection to this cocktail. I always love retracing a literary giant's steps, and if I can somehow manage to do that while mixing a kick-ass cocktail, it's a good day. On to the Day of Rosiness...

You've made it this far. Don't stop now - finish that afternoon beer and move on towards the twilight of your day of drinking. Before it's time to get into some serious drinking later in the night.


Jack Rose
1.5 oz Applejack
.75 oz Lemon Juice
.75 oz Simple Syrup
.5 oz Grenadine Syrup

The Jack Rose is so surprisingly good it deserves its place among the cocktail greats, even though it is relatively unknown. I can't verify this, but according to Wikipedia several Washington Post writers got sloppy drunk attempting to order Jack Roses at 60 or so bars in DC. If I were those writers, I'd attempt to get an assignment researching as many cocktails as possible that way.

 I have always been a little puzzled that Applejack faded from its colonial glory. As you can see, our first president is "rumored" to have approved heartily of Laird's Apple Jack. When the alternative was Frontier Whiskey, you can imagine that he must have loved the slightly sweeter Apple-based liquor.
I have always carried a bottle of Applejack with any bar I set up, I think of its flavor addition as a welcome surprise in many cocktails. The apple finish it adds can smooth out a drink that would otherwise be too sour or have to much alcohol burn.

Other Apple Jack or Jack Rose resources:
Blog Post on Sloshed
Imbibe Article on Applejack

She was only a Whiskey Maker but he Loved her Still

Some drinks are meant to be sipped slowly. Full appreciation of these drinks requires attention to detail with drink ingredients and proper glassware.

Just in case you don't have time for all of that foofarah separating sober you and sauced you, there's always the one line jokes of drinking - shots. Not too much shakes your face like a nice stiff shot of high-octane ethanol. A good shot of whiskey down the hatch will tingle and burn up every limb. Toss back a few tequila shots and feel the now-rounded edges get slick.

While I do not usually drink shooters, I will mention the best one I have encountered in my time, the Liquid Cocaine Shot. A couple of these shots will get you a different brand of hosed than any traditional shot.

Liquid Cocaine
3/4 oz Jaeger
3/4 oz Goldschläger

Pour Jaeger into shot glass then slowly layer on Goldschläger. If done right the two will remain unmixed (don't worry, you don't need to be all that steady to get it to stay unmixed - if you have trouble, use the back of a bar spoon).

N.B. There are a bunch of other recipes for this, usually with Rumplemintz or º151, usually shaken with ice then strained into a shot glass. I only chose this one because it's the one I know, I can't honestly recommend any of the others having not tried them. Credit for the recipe goes to my friend Jake Itzkowitz.



I'm off to down a shot or two of Rye Whiskey. It's good to be back to Redfacery again.

Absinthe Revival on the way

I remember the first time I had absinthe very clearly. Wait, let me correct that. The first time I remember having absinthe is very clear:

Sitting in a bar in South Africa a large bartender with dreadlocks responded to my query for a good strong cocktail with "I'll make you my personal invention, a flaming goblin." He then proceeded to pour a shot of absinthe and a few dashes of a dark but aromatic high proof liqueur into a shot glass, light it on fire and toss it back - just to show me how it worked. Four or five hours and twice as many Flaming Goblins later, I had a new favorite bar in Jo'Burg.

A few years ago, when the laws in the US changed to make absinthe legal again (see this comprehensive Salon article), I investigated getting a bottle. But with prices what they are, I have no desire to buy a 60$ bottle lacking thujone.

In the end though, I think good absinthe is on the way soon. This week France finally lifted the last part of the 100 year ban and allowed Absinthe to be called Absinthe again. A dash of absinthe figures prominently in many historical cocktails, and for good reason. While a cup (even properly prepared) of absinthe can be difficult to approach, the depth and finish it can add to a carefully crafted cocktail is invaluable.


Redface Tip:
Check your local liquor store - I've only ever found this in one particular store in NJ - but if you are lucky enough it might be locally available. I know I pay $22-$24 for it.

Also, check out FKR's article on the Return of the Green Fairy

A Tribute Cocktail to the 1927 Mississippi Flood

As will typically happen given the reality of 24-hour news coverage, I got bored with stories about the Mississippi river flooding several days ago. Having lived through one serious flood in my life, I certainly empathize with those effected, but don't have any need to hear the same story thirty-five times in a row.
That said, Wednesday afternoon I heard a story with a different take on NPR - the music of the 1927 flood. What really caught me was when they played a section from Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy's "When the Levee Breaks". The legendary Led Zeppelin song - yeah - it was a cover of this song.

 

Inspired by the music of the 1927 flood, and in honor of the current flooding, I present to you my very own Muddy Delta Cocktail. 

Muddy Delta
1 oz American Honey (Wild Turkey Whiskey)

3 Tbsp Demerara Sugar

1/2 oz Dark Rum

Guinness

I know this recipe is in a funny format - I put them in the order you prepare and not the way I usually put things down. 

First pour the whiskey into a pony shot glass (1 oz glass). Set aside. Spoon the Demerara sugar into a wet ~10 oz rocks glass. Swirl the glass to make sure the sides are coated about 3/4 of the way up. Add the dark rum and then pop open your Guinness and pour it in. Before the Guinness has cleared, turn to whomever you are drinking with and say: "If it keeps on rainin'"- Eliciting the response: "Levee's goin' to break" - Drop the whiskey in and take a long slow drought.

A few notes about this cocktail: You may use brown sugar or raw sugar if you don't have Demerara laying around. Though a few bucks at a natural food market will get you enough Demerara to last you a year or two. There is (obviously) too much sugar in this cocktail. The intention is for you to have some sediment on the bottom and froth all down the glass when you finish.

Finally, here is the original recipe I started with, which got the response "Uck, it tastes like muddy water" from my taster.

Muddy Delta 1.0

2 Tbsp Demerara Sugar

3-4 Dashes Fee Brothers Bitters

Guinness

1.5 Oz Scotch

Beer Fast and Bacon

Ever since I came across the Modern Drunkard article on beer fasting, I have wondered what the experience would be like. I did a fast once - only 72 hours, but it was enough to go through a few of the thought processes that seem to go through fasters' brains and bodies. And no, this is not the part where I tell you about my bowel movements.

A recent successful beer fast by J. Wilson for lent was impressive. He brewed his own beer for the experiment, pictured above, and kept an inspiring blog throughout his fast. And, he finished it all off with a bacon smoothie.Check out his blog for the full details, but here is his video post for his 40th day.

Cheers to you J. Wilson.

Shackleton's Scotch Replicated

Stranded out in the cold - frostbitten and hungry. With nothing to eat but dried seal meat, few supplies and ambitions dwindling. Nothing to drink but delicious scotch. Sounds like a hell of a good life, huh?

As a follow up to my previous post, more on Shackleton's Scotch below:

According to tasters of Shackleton's 100+ year old scotch, the frozen whisky was far from swill. In fact, it was delicious enough that the Whyte and Mackay Distillery has produced 50,000 bottles replicating its taste.

The "new" scotch is "well-balanced, with soft fruity characters and a touch of smoke." While it sounds like he's reading a cheap wine label, and 'smoke' is code for 'metal carboys' I'd drop a fair amount of money on a bottle of that in the event that they make more of them.

A Day of Rosiness - Morning Effusion

In several parts, I would like to present to you a day's worth of cocktails that will keep you rosy. To start things off, we have the Morning Effusion, a Rosy Navel:

Morning Effusion:

Rosy Navel
4 oz Rosé Wine
1 oz Curacao
2 oz Orange Juice
Lemon-Lime Soda

Add the wine, curacao, and orange juice to a shaker half full with ice and stir languidly. Do not shake, as this will really mess up the taste from the rosé (unless you're throwing a party with this stuff and you've gone for box o' wine in which case who the hell cares if you shake it?) Pour into collins glass with some ice, then top with the soda. Garnish if you wish with a lemon wedge.

This cocktail is obviously light on liquor, which makes it perfect for an early start to the drinking day. A few glasses of this will add the requisite glow to the morning and get you ready for our Midday Tincture.

Barware - Citrus Squeezer

I recently bought my own hand juicer. For several years, I've always just used a knife and my hand to squeeze out the juice whenever I need fresh lemon or lime. I don't mind washing off the juice, and I enjoy the tactile aspect of squeezing fresh juice for a cocktail.

Recently, however, I have been using a borrowed glass juicer. While it is easier to get the juice out of the lemon/lime, in the end it works less well. I never used to worry about pulp - which is one requirement of not using a juicer, you must be okay with suspicious floaties in your final concoction. However, as I have played around some with the texture of various cocktails (see Demon of Destiny for example), I sometimes want to strain out all of the pulp.
With the glass one I am borrowing, that poses quite a task. I use the barspoon to lift out the bigger bits, and then try to strain it through the spoon as I pour into a shotglass to measure. I usually wind up with either a sticky counter or no idea how much juice I put in.

This hand juicer gives me the satisfaction of squeezing the crap out of something - and yet the juice just pours right out, free of pulp. I hold it right over my jigger, squeeze, and then pour into the mixing glass. It's as easy as that.

If you run across one of these and you don't currently have a juicer of any sort, it's a good purchase - I got mine for $10, not the $13.99 + shipping on Amazon. Happy mixing!

Blame it on the Alcohol

 

I don't normally tune in to Glee - I have watched a few episodes from each season, usually when I am in the mood for 40 minutes of pop songs actually sung and performed well - and I'm doing something else at the same time so Glee is just background. The most recent episode, S2 E14, is all about drinking, and I loved it. Anytime I get to hear "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer," I'm not complaining too loud.

I am not encouraging you become a fan of the show (and its crappy high school drama storyline), but if you have enjoyed music videos before, and like alcohol, you should check out this episode. It's on Hulu

The Wise Man's Fear

Patrick Rothfuss' second book came out today - The Wise Man's Fear

His first, The Name of the Wind, is a truly well written book.

You would do well to take a look at the first and pick up the second if you like it.

I don't drink but when I'm thirsty or when the wind's blowing

Page 578, The Name of the Wind

Midori Challenge

I bought a bottle of Midori in a weak moment a few months back - I'd heard quite a few recipes that used them, and though none of the recipes seemed like they were my type, I figured it had to have some redeeming qualities.
 When I got to the end of the Behind the Bar episodes I was interested in, I listened to some of the ones that didn't interest me at all - and since I can usually trust a Mr. Martini recommendation, I was unwisely swayed to buying Midori (Episode 27).  After several recipe tries, I can't yet find any that work - and this is in part because of its color.  It has that sickening sweetness of other products like sloe gin and Ecto-Cooler.  Ugh.  But worst of all, it's alien green.

One bad decision led to another - I took my first try directly from the little booklet that comes with a bottle of Midori. I figured, hey, that ain't a bad place to start...

And that leads me to the CHALLENGE:
Design and test a Midori drink that works.
Name it, post it here in comments, or send me an email with the details. I'll test it out if the ingredients aren't too hard to come by, and if I agree, I'll put it up.

Inaptly Judging a Drink - Color

In my opinion, too many drinks are judged by one of these three things, when they should be judged by their taste, liquor content, and history.

Color

Glassware

Name

I'll tackle color first - once you've made a few different types of cocktails, you start to recognize the colors and textures of different types - the telltale creaminess of a drink with egg whites, the (surprising) rosé of a whiskey cocktail, the silky-clear top to a gin drink. If you drink Manhattans often, you might have already had this conversation before:

You walk into the room or across the bar with a nice Manhattan in a cocktail glass
"Whatcha got there, girlie-man?"
"A Manhattan."
"What's in it? Unicorn tears and heartstrings, why not drink a real drink?"
"Whiskey. Vermouth. Bitters. A few of your teeth soon."

The problem is, even with the recent renaissance in the cocktail world, few people even know the history of the word cocktail, let alone the storied past of drinks ranging from the Pink Lady to the Papa Dobles. Here in America, the birthplace of the cocktail, a drink that isn't clear or silty brown comes with the presumption of feeble drinking abilities.

Now, sometimes it is appropriate to judge - or at least assess - a cocktail based on its color. However, you should first verify your suspicions by a hearty taste, and perhaps a request for a trial cocktail on the house. Once you know for sure that the yellow-green-neon concoction with a parasol and a fruit bouquet is indeed dreck, then go ahead and assume all the matching drinks on the premises are of similar quality.

All of this goes to the point that while a Duchess might look girly, it's 1/3 absinthe, and the other 2/3 vermouth, so back off you dolt.

Repeal Day

Image Source

While I'm sure it would bring you joy to hear I didn't post anything on repeal day because I was too drunk, sadly I cannot make that claim.  It was down in my calendar to celebrate - and celebrate it I did in the most appropriate fashion.  However, I did forget to finish my post and get it published at 21:00 hours.  Sorry about that.

Some of the best mixologists in the world attended the DC Craft Bartenders Guild Ball on December 4th to celebrate the 21st amendment.  Drinks were poured, good times were had, and all of it auspiciously legal.

A site respectfully about repeal day:  http://www.repealday.org/

A drunken dousing of history about the President who helped get the 18th repealed: FDR: Portrait of a Drinking President


A Dewars ad in repeal form:

Killing that Noxious Beast

You all know the feeling - a bottle of liquor, whether the choice was sweated over, or your typical brand was casually nabbed from your local bottle shop - sits on your shelf calling to you.  No, it's not saying your name in a frenzied attempt to draw you deeper into the sad world of alcoholism, it's just looking at you.

It's daring you, challenging you not to disappoint.  It is giving you a once over to see if you have what it takes to put up a real fight.  In the end, we all know if you go head to head with a bottle of booze, it takes at least as much from you as you take from it (I said this about martinis last week, and I repeat it again).  Instead, it works much better to sidle along, slinking from one glass to the next, offering a friend an ounce or two in between cups, perhaps quietly downing a shot in an obscure hour when there is no one to watch.

Once you have outwitted the noxious beast, it becomes less a test of wills, and more a defining of the inevitable.  As you turn the bottle up for its final pour, there is a blend of satisfaction and disapproval.  If only you'd sprung for the bigger bottle, the harder stuff, more of it, maybe the challenge would have been harder.  Yet at the same time, you have accomplished what you set out to do when you bought it.  With grim, if unsteady motions, you can put the bottle down and forget all about it now.  You are left as you were, with nothing more or less than yourself.  I just hope the guy at the bottom of the bottle has a healthy glow about his cheeks!

Palative Potables - Outraged

Now, to be perfectly honest, I turn to the Dry Gin Martini frequently, for a variety of reasons, and even when I have no particular reason.  However, there is at least one occasion in particular when I turn to the dry gin martini - when I am pissed off.

A dry martini doesn't mess around.  It doesn't compromise, and it doesn't hide.  A dry martini has few ingredients - and they are both easy to find.  You can make as many different dry martinis as there are gins, dry vermouths, and ratios between the two.  When you drink a dry martini, it takes about as much from you as you take from it.

A Martini Moment

When I am angry and need to clear my head, I often turn to a dry martini.  It's no-nonsense complexion demands my attention at the same time that it oils my gears.  No matter how sour the thoughts on my mind, the cutting combination of dry spiced wine and London Dry Gin will force me to grimace and grin in a way that only the martini-drinkers of the world will understand.

My personal dry gin martini recipe (I am playing around with the classic touch of adding orange bitters, give it a try)

Redface's Personal Dry Gin Martini
5 parts London Dry Gin
1 part dry vermouth

Place 4-5 ice cubes in shaker, 3-4 cubes in a small cocktail glass.  Add the dry vermouth (or add a full shot and then strain it, your call) and the gin.  Shake three times lightly.  Slowly and deliberately double strain the martini into the cocktail glass (discard the ice obviously from the glass).  Add no garnish.  Gripping the glass fervently by its stem, think angry thoughts and then snarl into the glass as you suck in a full first sip.

You Always Thought You Were Smarter For Loving Booze.... Now You Know

The beauty in this new report on "Why Intelligent People Drink More Alcohol" is that it defines things so methodically that I couldn't find a single hole in the logic in two full reads (one sober as a monk at matins, the other a few degrees in).  Evolutionarily speaking, smarter individuals try new things - and alcohol is new.

I love it!  Plus, that zinger that finished off the third paragraph had me laughing my ass off.

The final paragraph also had a tidbit of sense that I find refreshing: 

That such behavior [binge drinking and getting druuunk] is detrimental to health and has few, if any, positive consequences, is irrelevant for the Hypothesis.  [The hypothesis] does not predict that more intelligent individuals are more likely to engage in healthy and beneficial behavior.  Instead, it predicts that more intelligent individuals are more likely to engage in evolutionarily novel behavior.  

 Intelligent people are not, ceteris paribus, more likely to make good (healthy, moral, salacious) decisions, they are just more apt to do novel evolutionary things.  Brilliant!  This means I can still plausibly claim to be intelligent while also explaining why I am ombibulous and spent the whole day Sunday feeling like crap.

A Recipe For Success

It is very easy to fall into a rut when mixing drinks.  For me the rut is usually seasonal - in the winter I drink a lot of Bourbon neat, in the summer it is a lot of Lion's Head, etc...  However, flexibility in mixing drinks is key.

Nobody drinks the same drink year round, or at least if you do, get a life, you're boring the shit out of me.  Anyway, there is a time and a place for particular drinks.  Now, I don't really go for rigidity in determining what to drink - I'll take an aperitif for dessert as readily as I'll take a margarita for lunchtime - but keeping up with the season is an integral part of daily drinking.

With that in mind, I'd like to encourage one thing in particular today: no matter what the season or recipe, get yourself a juicer and use fresh lemons and limes.  As a man who has many times before made drinks with bottled juice when that's what available, I feel experienced enough to have an opinion.  And my opinion is buy a couple limes for a dollar or two; put them in the fridge; when you want to use one, take it out a hour before and let it warm up.  No matter what season it is or what drink is your potion of choice at the time, fresh citrus is the way to go.

One change always leaves the way open for the establishment of others.
-Niccolo Machiavelli

Mustard Slap

When I taste a new cocktail, liquor, or wine, there are always a bunch of different things that go through my mind.  I've never bought into the whole arrogant, dismissive vibe that a lot of oenophiles and cocktail enthusiasts and douches seem to like - that anything you are imbibing for the first time must inherently be worse than what you've already encountered.  Instead, the three things that often go through my mind as a checklist of the quality of the potable are:

1. If I got really really drunk on this shit, and this alone, what would it be like?  Do I need to have an especially large/heavy/small/carnivorous meal before I imbibe it in order to appreciate it the most?
2. How big is the quality gap between the Nicolai and the Grey Goose, the Pépe and the Patrón, for this particular spirit?  I bought a bottle (or two) of "Hawkeye" bourbon in Iowa earlier this year - it's 80% grain neutral and 20% 36 month-old whiskey.  I sit it right next to my W.L. Weller to keep me honest in my taste assessment.
3. What would this mix well with?  What would it utterly fail with? When can I try it out?

Patrón

Pépe

With that in mind, I ask you to consider this new addition to my cocktail repertoire, the Mustard Slap.

Born out of a desire to have a powerful cocktail taste like a powerful cocktail without any alcohol taste at the end, I chose the ever-effervescent absinthe to mix with a "perfect" vermouth combo.  It has an abrasive opening taste, but fades quickly from the mouth, leaving you wondering if you got the taste quite right.


Mustard Slap
1 1/2 oz Bourbon
1 1/2 oz Vodka
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
3/4 oz Absinthe
Juice of half a Lemon (1 oz)

Shake and strain into a rocks glass.  Garnish with a lemon rind lightly coated in spicy brown mustard.  Alternately if you don't have a fresh lemon, just drop a tiny ball of mustard into the glass - be aware it's ugly, and don't drink it at the end :-)