Mmminty Cocktails

Before the bottom of my first bottle, Creme de Menthe has become an ingredient I should have bought long ago. After drunkenly adding it to a shot of brandy a few nights back because I wanted a stinger to go, I decided I should go ahead and try out a few good looking recipes that make different uses of Creme de Menthe.

First off is the Consolation Cocktail. I chose this to start because of my love for gin and the simple ingredients. With ingredients only a step removed from a Gin Cocktail or a Gin Sour, the Consolation does a great job of smoothing over a bunch of pretty strong tastes.

Consolation Cocktail
1 1/2 oz Gin
1/2 oz Creme de Menthe
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
Dash Angostura Bitters

I thought the lemon was a little too much, so I lowered it to only 1/4 oz the second time around. I think this is a better balance of the four, but whatever you prefer. The refreshing quality of the mint goes well with the juniper taste of good strong gin. I'd drink one of these again!

Image from Absolut website recipe

Although I'm fairly certain it is not a problem too many men encounter, I'm sure there are times when your ladyfriend needs to be reminded not to be a bad girl? Anyway, I can't seem to find any information on where this cocktail comes from or what gives it its name. The base of brandy and sweet vermouth is such a palate pleaser that there are dozens of variations you can add to them to make a suave-tasting cocktail.

Lady be Good
1 1/2 oz Brandy
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Creme de Menthe

The Lady be Good did not surprise me. It tasted like a Stinger with sweet vermouth, and I'll gladly try this one again.

The Irish Settler

This one is a straight cocktail recipe. I was after a boozy concoction that used Creme de Cassis a few nights ago and could only find a few recipes I had the materials for on hand. So I did what anybody in my situation would do - I adapted one of the ones I couldn't make to have my own invented cocktail.

The Settler (or Settler Highball)
2 oz Brandy
1 oz Creme de Cassis
Seltzer

Shake brandy and Creme de Cassis, then pour into a highball glass and add the seltzer

Not having any unflavored seltzer around, or any unflavored brandy, I opted instead for an Irish version. The result, the "Irish Settler," is delicious, aromatic, and definitely a keeper.

Irish Settler
2 oz Irish Whisky
1 oz Creme de Cassis
1/2 oz Orange Liqueur

Shake and pour into a small brandy snifter. The cocktail is purple, smooth, and has the botanical flavors of the elderberry and orange. Put another way, it tastes dandy, packs about 2 drinks worth of alcohol into a cup, and gets a nod of approval from my hardest-to-please taster.

Enjoy!

Cocktail - Stinger

While this cocktail is listed as a nightcap, I find it has a lot of potential in other situations as well. The thing about how your mouth tastes late into a night of drinking is that you're too drunk to care that your barbecue chicken tequila rum beer milk breath is gross. Luckily, I recently came across the Stinger. It's simple to make and uses ingredients that will (at least for me) stick around for a while. Plus, when you're done, your mouth is fresh and your belly cool and settled. 

Stinger
1 Part Brandy
1 Part Creme de Menthe

Shake hard with five or six ice cubes; err on the side of less ice in the shaker. The sloshing, foaming consistency you want requires a harder shake and less ice. Pour into any rounded glass, ice and all.

Was reminded of this from The 10 Manliest Cocktails. I didn't like their recipe as much as I like an even proportion, but as Cocktail DB says, "NOTE: Vary proportions to alter sweetness level"

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

Bobby Burns

Over the last month and a half or so, I must apologize for my lack of posts - its been a busy few months, and I have been reduced mostly to swilling liquor neat or quaffing Stellas.  I know, life is hard, right?  Today, however, I'd like to pull out an old classic I've had a few times before, and in the last few days have made a bunch of times:  The Bobby Burns.

I can't find a recipe online that is quite what I've been using from Dale Degroff's paragon of drinking insight, The Essential Cocktail.  I won't reprint his here, but I will say, he favors more Scotch than vermouth or benedictine - most recipes online seem to favor either splitting it three ways, or keeping the scotch and sweet vermouth even.

Bobby Burns
Scotch
Sweet Vermouth
Benedictine

Add to shaker, stir, pour, and sit back and enjoy.

This one is obviously a close cousin to the Manhattan, so if you enjoy a silky, cool Manhattan at the end of the day, try out a Bobby Burns.  With the woody/oakiness of the scotch, and the tangy finish of the Benedictine, this drink differs from the Manhattan in its finish.  Usually on my first sip, it has a taste nearly indistinguishable from a Manhattan. It is often not until the second or third taste that I can pull out that it's scotch, and has the telltale bitter finish of benedictine. 

Since I recently ran out of Benedictine, I've been making the last few with B&B, which mellows the flavor a little.  I like it better without the brandy, but it's pretty good either way.

Bubbly Cocktails

Picture Source

A glass of champagne gives you a feeling unlike any other beverage in your hand.  It is full of potential, full of airiness, and full of energy.  Whether you are enjoying a mimosa in the morning with friends, or celebrating an important event with a loved one, a glass of bubbly can liven things up in a way no other drink can.  Take a look at the Three Sheets episode on champagne.

I remember reading somewhere that it was too bad that champagne in America is only consumed on special occasions and for particular celebrations like New Year's Eve, and I agree with that.  A bottle of champagne is a perfect companion to many evenings, and can certainly be to good effect on almost any night when a few people gather.

I've never been a mimosa drinker - usually when it's mimosa time for others, I feel the orange juice is way too thick for my stomach.  Often for me, mimosas have been the staple for a morning after a long night of drinking, so I am in favor of a light drink that doesn't linger.  Suffice it to say I am no orangeman.


To circumvent the problem I have with orange juice in a cocktail in the morning, here's my take on a champagne cocktail with orange:



Orange Angelus
1/2 oz cognac
3/4 oz contreau
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz vodka
1 dash orange bitters
Champagne



Combine everything but champagne and stir.  Add champagne and sip, sip, sip.  The orange flavor comes out strongest from the bitters on the nose, but you can feel the warmth of the vodka for the finish fighting with the classic tickling of a sip of champagne.

Instead of the cognac and contreau, I use this French brand of orange liqueur and cognac that comes at 40% abv.  If you're doing that, find a comfortable ratio - for me it's 1oz "La Belle Orange" instead of the cognac and contreau.  Also, many champagne cocktails you will find will have some sweetener in them, I don't like sweet cocktails, so this is not sweet.  If you would like a sweeter cocktail, add 1/2-3/4 oz simple syrup.

Black Feather

Robert Hess is one of the big names in cocktails.  When he suggests a drink, I find myself inclined to believe it is very good.  So it was with the Black Feather.  After watching his video about it some months ago, I put it on my list to try out.

The Black Feather certainly does not disappoint - in fact, it is a surprising blend of flavors that is at once light on the tongue and yet flavorful!  With a unique taste, and a dryness that does exactly what he says (the vermouth sets the perfect balance between the brandy and the triple sec), it is quite a tasty cocktail.  Tasty enough in fact, that I had three or four before I even stopped for a breath.

Black Feather

4 Parts Brandy
2 Parts Dry Vermouth
1 Part Triple Sec
1 Dash Angostura

Stir with ice and strain

Yum.

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.

Satanic Cocktails, Diabolo Part I - Orgeat

It always slightly embarrasses me when I think an ingredient I've been reading about but have never used is something totally different than it ends up being.  I'd always had this nebulous impression that orgeat was just another orange flavored liqueur, but with some kind of nutty twist.

Well, after I promised that the next Satanic Cocktail would be the Diabolo, I was a little chagrined to be unable to locate orgeat at any local liquor establishments, or in the supermarket.  Four or five online recipes later, I was not at all excited about the idea of steeping crushed almonds in hot water for hours on end.  So I put off the Diabolo.

That is, until my mom asked me if I had any need for the organic almond butter she'd just gotten for my dad.  So now I had the impetus to make some orgeat without the tired process of steeping and draining.  What follows is my first attempt at making some orgeat liqueur. 


Redface's Orgeat Liqueur #1

2 cups water
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup organic almond butter
4 oz Vodka
2 oz Brandy

Heat 1 cup water to boil, add the sugar and reduce heat  Once sugar is fully mixed, add almond butter.  Simmer, adding 1/3 cup water every 15 minutes for 45 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool 30 minutes.  Add vodka and brandy, strain thoroughly (and repeatedly).

The taste was quite surprising in the end.  I opted for vodka and brandy to minimize the possibility of brandy taste overpowering almond.  Probably could have added only brandy, but the result was satisfying.   With a mild but persistent almond flavor, the orgeat didn't overpower the taste buds, but certainly has a distinct profile.

I also saved the leftover almond butter mixture.  It tasted smooth, with a distinct alcohol aftertaste.  It seemed like something I should try on crackers or something with a drink.  

Coming next - Bringing together the Diabolo Cocktail, and a Redfacery take on the recipe.