Albemarle Fizz

Okay, second chance.

Abelmarle Fizz:

• 2 oz. Gin (Seagrams)
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon (3/4 oz.)
• 1 tsp. Sugar

Shake well and strain into 7 oz. Highball glass, and then top with club soda. Add 1 tsp. raspberry syrup.

I did it correctly this time. No ice in the glass, just chilled club soda to top. And I gotta say, I like it. The large increase in the amount of the club soda really increased the fizzy-ness and gave the drink a delightful texture. The bit of raspberry syrup (which is, in a nutshell, a few raspberries muddled in some simple syrup) added a bit of flavor and actually kept the drink fizzy. Of course, it sank immediately to the bottom and didn't incorporate into the drink, which may or may not have been due to the density of the syrup I was using, but whenever you do something like this, adding the syrup last, it's going to do that. But just by virtue of the drink being full of club soda, and the syrup making its way down to the bottom, there was a hint of raspberries imparted to the drink that was nice.

Audrey Assad

Okay, I figured I should put something music-related up here so that you don't think I've been doing nothing but drowning in booze for the last week. This probably would have been a lot more cutting-edge and "it's okay, I knew about her when she was indie" if I'd come out with this before she started making it to the main-stream of Christian music, but I did see her very recently. Kind of.

She came to one of my churches (I have so many...but this one was the one where I actually figured out that God likes me, specifically, rather than God likes me, in general. It's where I went to youth group, and I've still got so many ties and friends in that place.) and played a show with some chick named...Kerrie Roberts. Who has some pipes. But I digress. I Saw like four seconds of Audrey, and she still blew me away.

If you've figured anything about me, it's probably that I like artists who can be real with me. When they're singing or playing or leading worship, I know that they're actually worshiping. Karl had a really good post on this just recently. Point is, that's the vibe I got from Audrey. And I know how hard it is to worship, night in and night out, with an ever-changing group of people, on the road. And that's why I was so impressed. Here's her big song, called Restless.

Alaska Cocktail

Chartreuse is one of those great cocktail ingredients that has survived the ages and is a crucial ingredient in a lot of classic cocktails. I didn't own any before undertaking this project though, so this will be, for all intents and purposes, my introduction to Chartreuse. And it's a doozy.

Alaska Cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz. gin (Seagram's)
  
• 3/4 oz. Yellow Chartreuse
• 2 dashes Orange bitters

Stir and strain into 3 oz. Cocktail glass

Let me just say that 3/4 of and ounce is quite a lot. This cocktail is essentially a Martini with Chartreuse (an extremely potent, herbal liqueur) in place of the vermouth. It makes some sense, since both can be enjoyed on the rocks as an aperitif, but, well...Chartreuse is rather intense. Some of my friends tell me that they like to do a shot of it at a nice bar. That seems a bit crazy to me.

We'll see if this ingredient grows on me. This cocktail was just so far away from what I was expecting that I couldn't enjoy it. Super intense, and super herbal.

Alabama Fizz

Well, it figures. The first drink in the book that calls for a garnish and I can't deliver. Stupid winter months.

Alabama Fizz:

• 2 oz. Gin
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon (about 3/4 oz.)
• 1 tsp. sugar (2 tsp. simple syrup)

Shake and strain into 7 oz. highball glass. Top with club soda and garnish with two sprigs of mint.

There's a lot to like about this recipe. For one, it's really unfortunate that I don't have mint just lying around right now; one of the long-term plans is to get some kind of indoor herb garden with good mint, almost exclusively so that I can have cheap drink-making materials year-round. Or I suppose I could just move to San Diego. But the point is, fresh mint adds a lot to a cocktail, even if it's just in the nose. It would certainly add an interesting dynamic to what is essentially just a Tom Collins otherwise.

Also important: the specification of the size of the glass. The neat thing about this book is that it's really precise about what glassware to use. The shape isn't nearly so important as the size. When you're talking about putting a drink into a cocktail glass, in most cases it's mostly academic or a matter of presentation. When you're talking about a drink that gets topped off with something though (club soda, tonic water, ice, ginger ale, vodka...), size is extremely important. The difference between a 7 ounce Highball glass and a 12 ounce Collins glass is, get this, 5 extra ounces of club soda. That's the difference between a potent, flavorful cocktail and a light, refreshing one.

One final interesting note, as this is the first drink I've used that hasn't been put into a Cocktail glass. The actual wording of the recipe for this drink is "Shake well with cracked ice and strain into 7 oz. Highball glass. Fill with carbonated water. Add two sprigs of fresh mint." What you will notice about that is that it doesn't mention ice. I thought that was a whimsical missing piece, because of course you need ice in this drink, but then I thought about it and paged through the book to find some drinks that absolutely should have ice in them, and they did. In far smaller proportions than I'm used to. So, in actuality, no ice in this drink. which means that you get about 4 1/2 to 5 ounces of drink after the shake, and top the remaining 2 or so ounces with (chilled) club soda.

That's completely foreign to the modern American palate, where I've been trained to fill a glass to overflowing with ice and then add the drink, melting the ice as you go. What I need to decide is how closely I'm going to follow the book in this case. One the one hand, it's a very small difference (in this case) as the ice is going to be water eventually anyway, albeit less fizzy than club soda. On the other hand, the drink wouldn't dilute in the least if there were no ice in it, which has both positives and negatives. There is the option of just adding half of the ice that I normally would, which would seem like a fair compromise, except that there's a good, physics-based reason as to why I've been trained to consistently fill the glass with ice: The more ice, the less ice will melt and the more consistent the temperature (and dilution) of the drink from first sip to last.

I realize as I type that this seems to be a completely ridiculous detail. I likely wouldn't even be discussing it if it weren't for the fact that Old Mr. Boston was ridiculous specific on what he wants; the Gin and Tonic, for instance, requires one ice cube, whereas the Tom Collins asks for "several". I think that artistic integrity demands that I abide by the letter of the law, because I'm not adjusting any other cocktails for modern tastes, but if you'd choose to make this yourself, it would be legit to use a little ice. After all, it was good with ice. But don't miss the mint, if you can help it. I'm positive that that would add a lot of interesting depth. I'll have to try this one again in the summer.

Alabama Cocktail

This drink is really interesting.

Alabama Cocktail:

• 1/2 oz. Lemon juice
• 1 tsp. (or two barspoons) simple syrup
• 1 tsp. Orange curacao
• 1 1/2 oz. Brandy

Shake well and strain into 3 oz. Cocktail glass.

The very first thought I had at looking at this drink was "Sidecar", perhaps the finest drink known to mankind. The reason why I had that thought was that all of the ingredients are the same. What's really interesting is that this thing tastes nothing like a Sidecar.

It might be obvious, but I think that these two drinks can teach you everything there is to know about what makes a good drink and what makes a terrible one, and the importance of being precise in your measurements. The Sidecar is delicious. This is...not. Again, not undrinkable, but I wouldn't ever consider this one "good". It's like a sour glass of brandy. It's harsh. Same ingredients, different ratio, completely different outcome. Where the Sidecar is balanced and terrific, this drink is a mess.

After Supper Cocktail

Supper? Dinner? For people my age and in this part of the country, there isn't a difference though I can appreciate that one means "lunch" and one means "dinner", and it's not the one you think. So perhaps this one would more correctly be called the "Dessert Cocktail?"

After Supper Cocktail:

• 1 oz. Apricot brandy
• 1 oz. Orange curacao
• 1/2 oz. Lemon juice

Shake and strain into 3 oz. Cocktail glass.

So it's almost as if Old Mr. Boston himself heard my pleas for more lemon juice, and present us with a drink virtually identical to the one previous. Except with more lemon juice. As I suspected, that small change really brings a lot more balance to this drink. The result is that this drink is positively delightful. Still sweet, but like I said, balanced. This one's going on the list.

After Dinner Cocktail

First cocktail with Apricot brandy. I'll just say this: it is very difficult to pin down that particular ingredient, or even any of the various fruit brandies. There's something called Eau de Vie which is, I believe, apple brandy, then there's a pear brandy and a peach brandy. Then, in order to find what is considered to be Apricot brandy, I had to go to an apricot liqueur which is nothing more than Cognac (which is brandy, just from the Cognac region of France) and apricots. The French are oddly specific.

After Dinner Cocktail:

• 1 oz. Apricot brandy
• 1 oz. orange Curacao
• 1/2 tsp. Lemon juice

Shake well and strain into 3 oz. Cocktail glass.

As per usual with shaken drinks, I double-strained this concoction. To me, 1/2 of a teaspoon seems to be a very scant amount of lemon juice, which is evidenced in the still fairly clear complexion of the drink. I won't say it's unnoticeable, but I could have used more. The little bit does help cut the extreme sweetness of the drink slightly, though again, I could have used more balance. Perhaps a more fitting name would be the Dessert Cocktail with all of the sugar. Very sweet (though not undrinkably so, but some might disagree), and very delightfully fruity (I really like the way that the apricot and orange flavors play together), but probably not going to make my regular rotation.

Affinity Cocktail

So I know this looks really similar to everything else; I keep hoping to find the words "Garnish with...", but so far, nothing. But that's not really the end of the world, because I didn't really find this cocktail to be anything special.

Affinity Cocktail:

• 3/4 oz. Scotch
• 3/4 oz. Italian (sweet, red, whatever) vermouth
• 3/4 oz. French (dry, white, etc.) vermouth
• 2 dashes orange bitters

Stir with cracked ice and strain into 3 oz. Cocktail glass.

Scotch is hard to mix with because it has such an assertive, smoky flavor, but this isn't the way to do it, I don't think. Going 2:1 the opposite way with vermouths really does cover up the scotch, and the orange bitters makes things interesting at the end, but nothing shines here. It's very vermouth-y, which isn't really the end of the world (vermouth is delicious), but it didn't do much for me. I will say that, in most cocktails calling for scotch, you can save your money and just use a decent blend. No sense in pouring a $100 single-malt anywhere but into a highball with a little water or one huge ice cube.

What this cocktail does do is really illustrate what happens when you stir something vs. when you shake it: it comes out crystal clear. I'm not sure the picture really did it justice, but this drink did sparkle nicely.

New Gear - Squier Classic Vibe 50's Telecaster

So remember way back when I posted something about this guitar? Turns out that when Guitar Center gives you a 15% off coupon and you've had your eye on something for a while, there's no stopping the brutal impulse to spend that follows in the 12-24 hours after consuming turkey.


So after trading off my ASAT, I knew it was only a matter of time before I really, really wanted another telecaster. I actually did logic this one out a little bit though. I knew I needed that Tele sound, and that I really liked the versatility that comes with a Telecaster, but I wasn't getting it from my ASAT because, well, the pickups weren't Tele pickups. And a few other reasons. It was a great guitar with a nice sound, but it wasn't what I wanted, and it was expensive to boot.

I could have gotten a 52-RI tele like everyone else, but I just straight-up liked the way that this one sounds. It sounds like rock and/or roll.

I put on the white pickguard because the coupon made it free. Also free with the coupon: tax. Oh, and for some reason Guitar Center wanted to just give me a Fender gig-bag. Now if I could just get that damn "Squier" sticker off of the headstock...

Adonis Cocktail

I have another confession (it seems that all this drinking is making me confess an awful lot...). I know nothing (and I repeat, nothing) about wine. For all of my enjoyment of obscure and delicious liquors, nothing. My parents drink a lot of wine. They love it. I had a roommate in college who couldn't drink beer and very rarely went for the hard stuff, but he learned a lot about wine. Even my younger sister knows more about wine than I do. It just...isn't something I can get into.

So when I do drink wine, it's either something sweet and girly, or else it's vermouth, on the rocks with a twist. Because vermouth is delicious and will forever remind me of Italy. So when I saw that this cocktail calls for "dry sherry," I went to the liquor store and stared stupidly at the rows of racks of wine. I didn't know if it was white or red, or really anything about it other than that sometimes people cook with cooking sherry. So I asked the salesman for a "dry sherry", and he pointed me towards a really small rack with just a handful of bottles. I guess it's not something people drink all the time. And while I sought all of the wisdom that Wikipedia could tell, I just ended up picking a cheap bottle that's labeled "Dry Sherry", figuring I couldn't go too wrong. So while it may not be the best, it probably tastes like sherry. Hopefully. So here we go.

Adonis Cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz. Dry Sherry
• 3/4 oz. Italian (sweet) vermouth
• 1 Dash orange bitters

Stir with cracked ice and strain into 3 oz. Cocktail glass.

This is actually really pleasant and refreshing for something that's all alcohol. Granted, I'm used to cocktails like this being a bit more potent (this is basically a Manhattan with sherry instead of Whiskey, and this wine is only 36 proof, as opposed to the 80 proof of almost any liquor), so there's a lot more room for the flavors to play. The orange bitters round things out nicely, giving it a fruity finish. Traditionally, this would be an aperitif, or something you serve pre-meal to get your gastric juices flowing, and I could see it working well there.

I grow suspicious of websites that rate things and always give everything high marks, but so far everything has been drinkable and interesting. B+.