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!!

The Maple Froth

A few weeks back I played a small but pivotal role in turning a relaxed picnic-dinner party for 35 into a 2AM affair. I overheard the host talking to a deputy host about how the wine was running low but he didn't have time to go get more. When the deputy replied with "We'll just wait to put out the last bottles, one per table with the main course" I cut in to offer my services on a liquor run.

Forty-five minutes later I returned with enough bottles of wine for the party to remain in full swing. With me also was the reason for this post, a bottle of maple rye. While the bottle was greeted publicly with derision by other guests, and privately by myself as well, I waited to open it until I got home. After a few drinks, I must confess I've added it to three or four different cocktails and found it to be an excellent rye whiskey variation.

Unlike the cheap-ass ginger brandy I bought earlier this summer, this is "not too sweet, ridiculously smooth." I couldn't describe it better than the Cabin Fever Homepage

The Maple Froth
5 oz Cold Black Coffee
5 oz Cold Milk
1 oz Cabin Fever
1 oz Coffee Liqueur
2 tbsp Ovaltine Powder

Fill a shaker halfway up with ice. Do not overfill. Pour ingredients into mixing glass - do not overpour these, as the cocktail will froth up and explode all over your mixing surface. Shake for a generous 20 seconds and then strain into a pint glass. I haven't yet mastered the pour on this one, I end up wiping the glass down with a wet rag before drinking because it bubbles up as you pour.

This delicious (and odd as hell) cocktail doesn't fit a category easily. It has a light flavor - with the ovaltine, liqueur and maple syrup all providing sweetness. The coffee and rye bite is offset by the sweet ingredients and the milk. I am a long time fan of a Redface White Russian, which this drink loosely resembles.

Redface White Russian
6 oz Vodka
2 1/2 oz Coffee Liqueur
24 oz Milk

Pour vodka and coffee liqueur into (clean) tall vase.  Add a few ice cubes for looks and fill with the milk. Suck it down like it's a glass of chocolate milk and you are a 7 year-old who just came in from playing outside all afternoon. Repeat.

Try a few of these with bourbon instead of syrup....

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.

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

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!

Davie Crockett's Speech Tactics

The ruse worked perfectly.  The crowd roared with laughter, and that gave him confidence to go on to other rough stories that only won the listeners even more.  Knowing that his opponent would get to speak after him, though, and worried that the man would show up the complete lack of substance in his speech, Crockett concluded by saying that he felt keenly thirsty and suggested that the voters join him at the whiskey stand.  Most of them did, leaving his opponent speaking to a largely empty field while Crockett continued his storytelling at the liquor barrel.  In the entire episode Crockett sold himself to the voters, while never risking alienating one of them with an unwelcome opinion on the subject of the county seat.

-William C. Davis, Three Roads to the Alamo

 

Drunk Calculus

Hello, and welcome back to Redfacery.  I know it's been a long time, but I've been busy adventuring.

Back to the matter at hand:

Drunk Calculus:

Whenever you're planning on getting drunk, it's important that you have enough booze - there's nothing worse than having a place, and the time, but no more liquid joy.  

As I mentioned above, I just got back from adventuring.  Since I've been gone so long, I'm sure you could imagine that there was a considerable amount of planning that went into that there adventure; and you'd be right.  From the 3 calories in each Altoid, to the stashes of book matches littering the gear, everything had a purpose and a place.

But we screwed up our Drunk Calculus. 

We figured two strapping young men out in the woods for four weeks would be more than happy with the luxury of three bottles of whiskey.  Two high proof ones, and one crap bottle to finish first.

We could not have been more wrong.  175 beers and 6 bottles of ethanol later, we'd moistened our trail-dusted throats sufficiently.  Carting around 12 pack after 12 pack of unspeakably bad beers, it occurred to me that there is a certain mathematics that goes into drinking.  There are particular numbers for everything in the wide world of drinking: 17 shots in a fifth, 9 ingredients in a Slickheel Lemonade, 12 ice cubes in a tray, and even unknowable ones, like how many ice cubes Justin Bieber puts in his drinks. 

What's important to learn here is that you should follow this simple equation in the future when calculating how much booze you'll need to achieve the desired level of drunkenness:

Number of people is straightforward, but drinks per person can be a little tricky.  I suggest you think about how many beers a healthy 25 year old could pound in an evening, add how many appletinis a slim girl could drink and divide by two. I find that 6-8 is a pretty good number when I'm throwing a party, but 12-15 is much more reliable when it's just a few pals shooting the shit.

The drunk factor is the party index more or less - if you want a rager, then make it huge, just be sure to have adequate blankets + puke boxes for people who tap out without making it home.  I suggest here that you make it somewhat proportional to the number of people expected.  If there are only five people there, and you want a calm night, make it 5-10, but if you expect 25, and you want the party to take off around 1am and not look back until pepper vodka smells like roses, make it 35-50.

Humanity I love you because when you're hard up you pawn your intelligence to buy a drink.

  - E. E. Cummings

Your Inner Monkey

There are many sayings about people and drinking - From Homer Simpson to Winston Churchill, most of the world's movers and shakers have had something memorable to say about alcohol.  I have always held the loosely defined belief that there is a good reason that alcohol has been around as long as it has - it serves a significant purpose. 

Your inner monkey - that guy inside you that so many people are afraid of - if you take the time to find out what kind of liquor makes you tick, well, he appreciates it.

Anyway, take the time to realize that the inner you expresses itself in many ways, but never so purely as when you drink alone.  Notice yourself in company, and if you're anything like me, you tend to keep the same overall qualities, but cater your language, posture, diction, and general behavior to the social norms to the company at hand.  This makes it hard sometimes to slow down long enough for a personal tuneup,  Well.  Take that time.

One whiskey at a time,
Redface

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.

Wise men take hearty quaffs, sing

Hail to thee, amber King of booze.

Indolent waifs sip dainty straws,

Stare vapidly at fruity hues;

Katzenjammers find everyone.

Erode sobriety with class,

Yaw home each night with empty glass