Other Drink Blogs - The Drunken Moogle

Just a quick shoutout to a super-geek drinking blog I just discovered, the Drunken Moogle.

Just the two most recent (currently) posts get me all tingly, I will definitely be making the Vera. I've watched Firefly through, and love Castle, so a manly-ass drink named after a sweet Space Cowboy Gun sounds great.

Anyway, check out the Drunken Moogle, it's fun, and while you're at it, check out some of the other drinking blogs on the right side of Redfacery

Cheers,
Redface

Kentucky Colonel

Sometimes I feel like all of my mixing and drinking cocktails has given me some kind of power to predict what a cocktail will taste like before it's mixed. That's part of my strategy for getting through undesired meetings (and worked well back in college too!). As I try to invent new cocktails, I imagine the taste combination. I could never have predicted the spicy, up front taste of the Kentucky Colonel.

from Dale deGroff's book:
Kentucky Colonel
2oz Bourbon
3/4 oz Benedictine (not B&B)
Dash Angostura Orange Bitters

Stir and serve either up in a cocktail glass or on the rocks in a whiskey glass.

This cocktail is delicious. If you've got set in your mind that "whiskey burns," then you are in for a surprise with this one. It doesn't burn even a little bit. I couldn't taste the orange bitters specifically until like the third sip, when the aroma of orange took over.

Put some color in your face,
Redface

Stormy Whiskey

I'm a sucker for a bourbon drink. This cocktail packs an old-fashioned soda taste and seems to get refilled far more often than an afternoon libation really should. A Stormy Whiskey is a simple whiskey variation on a Dark and Stormy. I've put in some Creme de Cassis for a sweet floral counter-taste to the bitter ginger and the warm and tangy Wild Turkey. Kick-Ass way to finish off an afternoon after work in the spring!

Stormy Whiskey
2oz Bourbon Whiskey (Wild Turkey 101)
1oz Creme de Cassis
4-5oz Ginger Beer (Reed's is what I had on hand)

Fill Collins Glass halfway with ice, pour in ingredients and give it a quick stir with a barspoon. Sit back, sip, and get sloshed!!

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.

The Preakness

Sometimes it startles me how lost I was in drinking before I found the Manhattan. It is such a quintessential part of drinking in the United States.  I know that I'd heard about it many times - maybe it's my contrarian nature, maybe it's the fact that when you're in college, anything more complicated than a screwdriver or a whiskey sour (using sour mix) is out of the question. 

Anyway, as I've delved into Manhattans, I've found a few fantastic variations along the way.  Tonight's cocktail is one of the many drinks in the fashion of the old standby.

The Preakness (Or The Bull Manhattan)

A couple ounces Bourbon
Around an ounce of Sweet Vermouth
A pour or two of Benedictine (or B&B if it's what you have)
A dash of bitters

Stir and serve in a manly-ass glass.

This will not overwhelm you with fine taste, surprise you with unexpected depth, or disappoint you by skipping the alcoholic punch.  It's a straightforward bourbon drink, and it will taste similar to a Manhattan.  Personally, I prefer it without the bitters, and with a heavy helping of B&B, but if you put too much in, you run the risk of creating a new bourbon-brandy cocktail, and not really following the flavor of the Manhattan. 

The Fiery Dog

Inspired by a recipe I came across on CocktailDB while looking for variations on a Manhattan to try, the Fiery Dog is a complex and powerful cocktail.  With its odd set of ingredients, I doubt you'll be trying it out anytime soon unless you come on out to NY to visit your friendly Redface.

The Fiery Dog
1 oz White Dog Whiskey
1 oz Italian Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Absinthe
1/2 oz Benedectine
1 Dash Peychaud's Bitters


Shake and strain into a rocks glass.  Please don't put any White Dog in a cocktail glass. 

I've been trying to figure out Benedictine for a few months now, and this is the first time I've been able to add it to a cocktail and not have to choke it down.  Every ingredient has quite a powerful taste, which leads to a shifting feel in your mouth and down your throat as you drink a Fiery Dog.  The 62% White Dog makes itself known, but is unable to overpower the other ingredients.

Enjoy!

Palative Potables - Paying the Bills

Today I would like to start a new Redfacery regular: Palative Potables.  In these entries, I will discuss various potables I take for everyday tasks.  Palative Potables will cover beverages I currently employ at various times in the week, or perhaps new ones for new occasions.

Today's entry, in honor of payday, is my Palative Potable while paying the bills.  Bear with me, the alliteration will not stay this agonizing.  Whenever I sit down to work out the next month's budget, pay any bills, or sign a check, there is one drink in particular I go for - cheap bourbon neat.  No water.

The Part you can't see says "80% Grain Neutral Spirits"

There is something about a glass of undiluted ethanol burning your mouth, your throat, and your gut before driving that tingle through your limbs that feels just like sending away your hard-earned cash.  Just don't breath through your nose.

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 :-)

A Derby Cocktail

After reading the Cocktail Hacker post on the Derby mash-up drink, I was intrigued enough to want to make a few.  They fit his billing exactly - close enough in flavor to a whiskey sour that it would be tough to call out the vermouth without knowing it was there.  With the ingredients he listed, however, I think you would be hard pressed to list any flavors but lime!  Maybe it was because I used my well bourbon, or maybe it was because the drink was 40% citrus flavor, and only 40% whiskey.

The Derby Cocktail (Cocktial Hacker)                  Derby # 2
1.5 oz Bourbon                                                          1.5 oz Bourbon
.75 oz Sweet Vermouth                                           .75 oz Sweet vermouth
.75 oz Lime Juice                                                      .5 oz Lime Juice
.75 oz Triple Sec                                                       .75 oz Triple Sec

Either way, the drink satisfied its purpose - cooling me down on a hot afternoon/evening.  After a sweaty afternoon, I was wishing hard for a cocktail to cool me down, and the Derby did just that.  But since I wasn't satisfied, I did what I usually do, I tweaked until I got to the cocktail I liked best.

It might just be that I recently made orgeat, but I felt the need to try out the Derby with a little nutty (and more importantly, non-citrus) flavor added.

Derby # 3 
1.25 oz Bourbon
.25 oz Applejack
.75 oz Sweet Vermouth
.5 oz Lime Juice
.75 oz Triple Sec
.5 oz Orgeat

My first response to this one: "Wow"
The applejack brings out just a little apple flavor, and the orgeat allows the complexity of the vermouth to come through.  All without losing the dark and sour complexion of the whiskey and sour.  I don't think I can honestly call this a derby though, so if I end up having a bunch more of these in the next few weeks, I'll have to give it a new name.

A Night of Vermouths

Last night was a night of exploring different recipes - I decided to drink only drinks that had both sweet and dry vermouths.  I expected it to be an interesting limitation in ingredients, and it did not disappoint.

My first drink under this rule was an Alfonso Special.  I'm not knocking it, and I'd totally drink it again, but it was far too bland to get a 'special' attached to its name.  I had planed on starting with a Beachcomber's Gold, but seemed to have misplaced my bottle of rum in my stomach - I'll have to get a new one before I can try that recipe.

Next came the Duchess.  As a 8:1 or more gin martini guy, I have been shocked recently to enjoy cocktails with strong dry vermouth components.  Though I will still not be increasing my vermouth ration in the martini, I do begrudgingly accept that dry vermouth can add significantly to a cocktail.

The Duchess

1/3 Dry Vermouth

1/3 Sweet Vermouth

1/3 Absinthe

(Use Redface's "Shake and Twirl" method for reddest results)

Next up came the Honorable Cocktail.  Finishing up the before-dinner cocktails, this was a solid pick.  I think I put a touch too much dry vermouth in it, but that could just be my sensitivity to the dry vermouth.  After a bland cocktail (Alfonso) and a complex if muddy cocktail (Duchess), the familiar warmth of bourbon was welcome.

The Honorable Cocktail

1 1/2 oz Bourbon

1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth

1/2 oz Dry Vermouth

(Shake and Twirl, then strain)

The Honorable Cocktail was surprisingly smooth, I'm beginning to buy into the whole mixing the sweet and dry vermouths.  Though they both have very powerful tastes, they seem to consistently allow their liquor companions to shine through. 

To finish it off, I came across a recipe that filled the gap I've been having for quite some time.  I haven't had a whiskey sour in a while, and the Manhasset more than fixes that.  

Manhasset

1 1/4 oz Bourbon

1/2 oz lemon juice

1/2 oz dry vermouth

1/4 oz sweet vermouth

Without any of the throat-sticky-sweetness of most bar's whiskey sours, and without the sugar component, the Manhasset does away with most of what makes me get tired of whiskey sours after one or two.  Instead, this one packs the bourbon taste down to make room for the vermouths, and finishes with the way sour lemon aftertaste.  It's not until after the lemon that you get the whiskey heat, and even then, it's fully tempered by the sour, sweet, and dry ingredients.

Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey

Drink wine, drink beer, drink scotch and drink'ye whiskey

Keep flask in hand it will be vital aid,

So Whiskey in your veins will ne'er fade.

Satanic Cocktails

Last week's newest cocktail:  The Satan Cocktail found on cocktaildb.

I was looking for a recipe that used Peychauds and the new bottle of Ouzo I just got, and I wasn't having any luck.  Since I'd never heard of Pastis, I didn't think the Satan would be something I could make.  However, with a name like the Satan Cocktail, how could I not give it a look...

Turns out the suggested substitute for Pastis is "Ouzo or other anise-flavored liqueur"  My immediate response was - how quickly can I whip one of these up?  After trying several less-than-spectacular variations on a cocktail starring Ouzo the night before, I was up for it playing a supporting role instead.

For those not in the know on Ouzo (and I count as one of these) a fun intro would be to watch the Lesbos episode of Three Sheets.  Ouzo is a anise flavored liquor, and if that doesn't help describe it, think absinthe- and if that still doesn't help, think peppermint mixed with christmas trees mixed with jaegermister.  Or something like that.  It's a powerful taste, and hard to shove aside.  Something I would like to really work with, since I had no luck whatsoever coming up with a cocktail that didn't taste like pungent dishwater.

Anyway, to the Satan Cocktail!

I used the handy-dandy glass size meter to increase the proportion in this drink, so it doesn't quite match the basic version in the database.

2 1/4 oz Bourbon
3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
1/4 oz Ouzo
2 Dashes Peychaud Bitters

Pour all ingredients over ice in a shaker, shake twice, then twirl shaker and strain into cocktail glass (I like Whiskey glasses, but choose your own)

I found it to be a little harsh with just hardy stirring, and like it much better with the shake and twirl.  Your Smilage May Vary.

Coming next in the Satanic Cocktails section:  Diabolo Cocktail

Horsefeather

Mmmmm...
That's the ticket on a warm day, a cold Horsefeather.  I have A.J. Rathburn to thank for this gem.  I seem to like my Horsefeathers with at least 3 generous dashes of bitters, but you can choose your own amount.

Approximately Mr. Rathburn's recipe:

3 oz Bourbon
3 Dashes Bitters
Ginger Ale

Fill tall glass three quarters full with ice, add bourbon and bitters, then fill with ginger ale, stir and smile.

Surprising on the palate- the Horsefeather packs a much more complex taste than you would expect given it seems like mostly soda.  Don't be fooled by it's cooling and restorative first glance though, it packs quite a punch and by your third or fourth, you'll feel like it should be called "Lead-Footed Horse" or something more pithy than you care to think of.