Bermuda Highball

Bermuda Highball

• 3/4 oz. dry gin
• 3/4 oz. brandy
• 3/4 oz. French (dry) vermouth

Build in an 8 oz. highball glass. Add an ice cube (or three) and top with Ginger Ale or Club Soda. Garnish with a lemon twist, if you wish.

Not sure why this one's named after Bermuda, though it is rather tasty. I chose to go with Ginger Ale, which, as I've said in the past, can cover a lot of a cocktail's sins, and it definitely made for a refreshing cocktail with a hint of sophistication. That's pretty much what you get when you add dry vermouth to something, though there's definitely a chance that I need to update my stock of vermouths; it's starting to taste a bit flat. That said, I do really enjoy any drink that calls for multiple base spirits, since it adds a lot more complexity than this drink would have with simply 1 1/2 oz. of either gin or brandy. This is definitely a good one.

Bermuda Bouquet

Bermuda Bouquet:

• Juice of 1/4 orange
• Juice of 1/2 Lemon
• 1 tsp. powdered Sugar (2 tsp. Simple Syrup)
• 1 1/2 oz. gin
• 1 oz. apricot brandy
• 1 tsp. Grenadine
• 1/2 tsp Curacao

Shake and strain into 8 oz. Highball glass.

This one is interesting, and it once again brings to mind, just how much ice did people use in the Old Mr. Boston Cocktail Book days? The recipe calls for none in the glass, which I started with, and quickly noticed that we were left with about 5 oz. of liquid in an 8 oz. glass, which left a lot to be desired for presentation. I chose to drop in two large ice cubes, both to keep things cool and also to raise the liquid level. I chose large ice cubes (perfectly 1 in. square!) to minimize dilution and ice melt, which worked through the duration of the drink. It's so foreign to me to not just fill the glass in question with ice and strain the drink over the top. I think going forward, unless the recipe calls for something specific, I'm going to just put in a few large ice cubes. Agreed? Good.

Also assumed, mostly because it's getting annoying to have to continue to write out an oz. measurement, is that when something calls for 1/2 of a lime or some such thing, I'm just going to do that. I usually convert it to oz. and then add that much, which is good and precise, but I'm finding that sometimes it makes me over-think the drink. With this one in particular, I used my standard "1/2 of a fruit" measurement of 3/4 oz. of Lemon juice, and the drink came off too sweet. I made it a second time through, simply using half of a lemon, and it was perfectly balanced. So from here on out, for drinks from the Old Mr. Boston DeLuxe Official Bartender's Guide, I'm going to use medium sized Limes, large Lemons, normal sized Oranges, and so on. Basically, whatever seems to be the normative fruit size will be the one I use. It's not as precise, but I think it should suffice.

Anyway, on the actual drink, it's a nice mix of flavors, but as I said, using too little Lemon juice created a drink that was a bit too sweet. The Apricot Brandy was very forward, which may have contributed to the overall sweetness, but adding back in the correct amount of Lemon juice fixed that right up. Very nice and tropical, as the name would suggest. With the correct balance, this one is really quite delightful! Recommend.

Bennett Cocktail

Here we have a nice twist on a gin sour. Kind of like a Gimlet with some orange bitters.

Bennett Cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz. gin
• Juice of 1/2 a lime (about 3/4 oz.)
• 1/2 tsp powdered sugar (1 tsp. simple syrup)
• 2 dashes orange bitters

Shake and (double) strain into 3 oz. Cocktail glass.

For this cocktail, I got to use a new vial of Bittermen's Orange Cream Citrate bitters. Somehow I've managed to keep myself to just two different kinds of Orange bitters, and these are a good one. They come with a dropper, which is boss, though I haven't decided how many drops is in a dash just yet. Maybe it's one. I put five or six drops in this one, approximating two dashes, and the flavor really came through. It was like drinking a dreamsicle.Which is, by the way, delicious.

I was struck by how few drinks up to this point had used sugar or simple syrup. Most of the drinks in this book (so far) use a liqueur, or a flavored syrup like grenadine or raspberry syrup, to get the sweetness to balance out, rather than overpower, the sour elements. Just one very, very different aspect, as compared to modern flavor palettes. 

As for the overall balance of the drink, I liked it. It's not to difficult to get a good drink when you use the time-honored combination of spirit, sour and sweet with a dash of bitters, and this one just tasted...right. It's like a Gimlet with a twist, which I can very much appreciate.

Belmont Cocktail

Well, time to get back on the wagon. What's first on the list? Something with Scotch? Maybe a new kind of bitters? A....a pink cocktail? Great.

Belmont Cocktail:

• 2 oz. Gin
• 1 tsp. Raspberry syrup
• 3/4 oz. sweet cream

Shake and (double) strain into 4 oz Cocktail glass.

This is a pretty simple one, but it does call for Raspberry syrup. There was at least one other drink that I've come across in the book (the Albemarle Fizz) that called for the syrup, so I decided it was time to bite the bullet and make some. The process wasn't overly difficult, either, and I just kind of winged it, adapting one way that I've made Grenadine in the past. I took three cups of sugar and two cups of water, brought it to a boil, stirring it so that the syrup was clear. Then I added a 6 oz. package of Raspberries and lowered the heat so that it was simmering uncovered, like so:

I let that go for about half an hour, then double strained out the bits of fruit and let the whole thing continue to simmer to reduce it down to a syrup. I let it go for about 15 minutes, but you should be able to tell because it will start to get thick. Then I just cooled it, and voila. Raspberry syrup.

The whole thing took about an hour, which really isn't too bad. And the product we're left with is nice and raspberry-y.

And so then there's the drink. I'm not sure what is up with people from the turn of the century, but I can't get behind Gin + cream. Cream has such a weird texture/mouthfeel that doesn't jive well with the bitterness of the alcohol and botanicals that make up Gin, and I really can't understand why someone would do something like this to such a good spirit. On the other hand, I have had the Ramos Gin Fizz which was just sublime. Maybe this is just a bad cocktail? Can't get over it. Next.

New Speaker, Old Cocktails

In the course of cycling through gear, some guy offered me a trade involving an Eminence Cannabis Rex, and I thought, sure! I'd been tentatively thinking about replacing the speakers in both of my amps, more so to see what kind of a difference it would make than anything else, and this was one of the "good" ones on the list for the Blues Jr., so I decided to go for it. So I opened that puppy up, made the swap (which was way easier than I'd been expecting, if not a little tedious) and also messed around with my reverb tank, while I was in there. The reverb tank repair didn't take, but the new speaker sure did...

I've been using my Blues Jr. a bit more than my Valve Jr. for when I've got my big-boy electric guitar rig going, mostly because I've found that some of the things that I do to add clarity and punch also add a little bit of harshness to the signal. The combination of my buffer, compressor and BBE Sonic Stomp all make for a crystal clear clean tone, despite the endless effects pedals around, but with all of that clarity, I had to start turning my brightness and sparkle controls all the way down to keep my ears from falling off. I haven't had a chance to run my new speaker through my big rig just yet, but in plugging it in to make sure things worked, this speaker definitely delivers. It's just mellowed things out a bit. Not detracting from the high end or anything like that, but everything just sounds so much more pleasing to the ear. The speaker has also been broken in, which is good, and it's got plenty of bass, which I always appreciate. I've got some more testing and tweaking to do, obviously, but I think it's fixed the issue, which is a great feeling!

I also recently got an e-mail from a prominent cocktail blogger saying very nice things about my site, which was awesome but at the same time made me realize it's been months since I've posted about anything non-guitar-related. Not that that's the end of the world, but things have been a bit one-sided. So to update that side of my personality, I've been drinking about as much as usual, but not really anything exciting or new. I see a huge upswing in the abilities of bars to accommodate the drink snob like me, but it's still probably going to be years, if ever, before we get back to the bar, circa 1957. Not that it's the bar's fault; that lies mostly in the hands and tastebuds of my peers, who would still rather have alcohol be a means to an end, rather than an experience for the palate. Call me old-fashioned, but if I'm going to have an adult drink, I'd prefer it didn't taste like something a kindergartener would enjoy.

But to that end, my time spent drinking out almost always gravitates towards the safe choices. It's impossible to mess up a Gin and Tonic, the old liquor on the rocks takes literally no thought on the bartender's part, and the varieties of craft beer available in the St. Louis area make me wonder if I could ever make it through every beer in existence. My opportunities to drink from the comforts of my own home bar have been more limited, too, though more due to my own laziness than anything else. My liquor collection is as impressive as ever, and I now have access to 7 different bitters, orange flower-water, Allspice Dram and Falernum, but have yet to really experiment with a lot of it. Part of it is, after a night of work, I just prefer the ease of a beer or a scotch, rather than rattling up the shaker. Part of it is that I'm less than satisfied with my ice-making capabilities. I think I'm getting old and crotchety. And still only 26!

Perhaps I'll get back to a place where I'm drinking something exciting more regularly. Everything is a cycle, as they say.

Drink Spotlight: Champs Elysees

...it's not exactly like I haven't been drinking. I mean, it's been the holidays! I've just found not very much drive to continue in my quest for making every drink ever. I'm sure someday I'll come back to it, but in the mean time, I thought I'd feature a few more drinks. The first one is this: the Champs Elysees.

It's funny how drinks come in and out of style. I mean, here in St. Louis, there really aren't many craft cocktail bars around. Unfortunately, it's still way, way easier to get a delicious craft beer in this town than anything resembling an exquisite cocktail. That is, of course, unless you're at my house! But supposedly, this may be one of the next big cocktails get revived, so I thought I'd give it a shot. And I've been looking for something to do with my Chartreuse....

The Champs Elysees:

• 1 1/2 oz. brandy or cognac
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• 1/2 oz. Chartreuse
• 1-2 dashes aromatic bitters

Shake and strain into cocktail glass.

If you're looking for an analog, this cocktail is quite similar to the Sidecar. It's built very similarly, but where the sidecar uses triple sec as a sweetener, the Champs Elysees opts for equal parts Chartreuse and simple syrup. The Chartreuse is an herbal liqueur, so it has a very definitive sweet component, and it makes for a fairly balanced cocktail. The cocktail is definitely tilted slightly towards the "sweet" side, but not overbearingly so. The herbal nature of the Chartreuse offers a lot of complexity to the Sidecar, and the dash of bitters, just a bit of spice. It's a good thing, too, as brandy is good but not particularly assertive, so it makes a good base for more intense flavors.

I'd highly recommend this one. It's a good introduction to Chartreuse and it's delicious!

Beauty Spot Cocktail

Another twist on the Bronx.

Beauty Spot Cocktail:

• 1 oz. Gin
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
• 1 tsp orange juice

Shake and strain into 3 oz. cocktail glass with dash of grenadine in the bottom.

A few things to learn from this one. First, it's maybe my favorite variant of a Bronx, being basically a "perfect" Bronx cocktail with some grenadine thrown in. Here, "perfect" is shorthand for having equal parts dry and sweet vermouth, rather than one or the other. As you'll probably see if I ever get around to it, it's a pretty common term. But the dash of grenadine is a nice touch, adding both in terms of presentation and flavor profile.

Next, and I can't stress this enough, fresh orange juice. The difference between just taking an orange, cutting it in half and squeezing out a bit of juice, versus using the preservative-and-sugar-laden store-bought stuff or the stuff from concentrate is, well, incredible. Something gets lost in translation when you use the frozen concentrate stuff, and the juice from a carton tastes like an approximation of orange juice. What it lacks in flavor, it makes up for in sweetness. Both of which are not strong qualities in a cocktail ingredient. So use fresh juice whenever you can swing it, which, in North America, is pretty much year-round.

And lastly, you'll find the Bronx is fine. It's not my fave, as I tend to find a drink that includes orange juice to be somewhat lacking, but this one came together nicely. Probably a 4 out of 5, if you'd like an arbitrary ratings system....

Beals Cocktail

Here we have another scotch-based cocktail, but this one is a bit more balanced.

Beals Cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz. scotch
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth

Stir and strain into 3 oz. cocktail glass.

I've often heard that if you want to take a dominant ingredient and make it play well with others, you have to introduce an equally dominant ingredient. Fight fire with fire, if you will. Well, there's not much to dry vermouth, but sweet vermouth has a bit more...character. Dry vermouth is understandably more refreshing and light, whereas sweet vermouth is, well, sweet. And deeper in flavor. Simply adding a bit of sweet vermouth really does do a lot to balance things out. It's still very, very heavy on the flavors in the scotch, but it's bearable. Not my favorite, but yeah. Bearable. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but then, there really aren't a lot of "good" classic scotch cocktails. For a reason.

Beadlestone Cocktail

Beadlestone Cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz. scotch
• 1 1/2 oz. French (dry) vermouth

Stir and strain into 3 oz. Cocktail glass.

Man...scotch is hard to mix with. I know I keep saying that, but even I, who happen to love scotch, had a rough time with this one. Granted, the old half-and-half isn't exactly the golden ratio of mixology, and with something as mild as dry vermouth, it's no wonder that this didn't quite work out. Not sure what else to say, other than "no."

I tried to get cutesy with the picture, though. So I guess that's something....

Barton Special Cocktail

Barton Special Cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• 1/2 oz apple brandy
• 1/2 oz scotch whisky

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

Oof. This is one of those cocktails for someone who likes alcohol. I've kind of touched on it before, but there are a few things that put a "cocktail" apart from a "drink", as commonly imbibed by your typical sorority sister. One of the more....uncompromising detail is that, if you're drinking, you should taste the alcohol. This one definitely passes that test.

A few potential reasons for it. The obvious is, it's alcohol mixed with more alcohol and a bit of water. But besides that, the scotch I'm using definitely isn't the smoothest. Granted, that's 100% by design. Scotch is really hard to mix with in general since it's such a stringent spirit, but great scotch is incredibly smooth. It's also hundreds of dollars. Decent scotch, like what I'm using, is a pretty good middle-ground between taste and dollars, but again, when you're mixing, it's often....fussy. In cocktails. Otherwise it's straight-up manly.

But yes, an intense cocktail. I'm not going to give it full marks because it's a little too much, which is saying something when you've had as much experience with alcohol as I have. But the combination of the smokiness of the scotch and the apple from the apple brandy is really nice, so maybe there's something there, waiting to be discovered....

Baron Cocktail

Two in a row! Alright.

Baron Cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. French (dry) vermouth
• 1/2 tsp. Italian (sweet) vermouth
• 1 1/2 tsp. orange curacao

Stir with cracked ice and strain into 3 oz. cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist.

Here we have a rather delightful twist on the Martini. Actually, it's more than delightful. I've had probably a hundred Martini's over the last few years, with probably twenty different variants, and it's not much of a stretch to say that this might be my favorite. The good thing about a Martini (I mean a real one, not one with chocolate liqueur or passion fruit syrup or UV Vodka) is that it's familiar. Comforting, even. I've had a lot of bad cocktails in a lot of bars, but as long as you watch the bartender and let them know that a Martini is a cocktail with an appreciable amount of vermouth in it, you're going to get more or less what you had in mind.

And that's what's so delightful about a slight twist on an old favorite. Because sometimes the simple gin/vermouth/olive combination gets a bit....tired. Always good, always strong, always welcome, but sometimes I'm not looking for that. This twist reminds me (for good reason) very much of my previous favorite twist, which was a Martini made with half gin, half vermouth, a few dashes of orange bitters and a twist. In a drink as simple and subtle as the Martini, you really discover just how much flavor the lemon twist imparts on the drink. This, in turn, opens your eyes to how much of an effect any ingredient can have, no matter how small. This drink is huge, because a few dashes of orange curacao and a dash of sweet vermouth, and you get a drink that's exceedingly familiar, yet where the Martini has the dry botanicals of the gin and a hint of brine off of the olives, this one sings with fruity flavors from the orange and lemon peel, and the splash of sweet vermouth gives you something a bit more complex. Rather than dry and brisk, you get a drink that is flavorful and refreshing, all while still being, at it's heart, a Martini.

I can't recommend this one highly enough, though I suppose one caveat is that I do, in fact, love a good Martini. If you're not really into them, then I guess it might not be for you, but this is far and away the best Martini I've ever had.

Barbary Coast Cocktail

Having gone exceptionally long (almost all of June....) without a post, I thought I'd start drinking again. I know, twist my arm, right?

Barbary Coast Cocktail:

• 1/2 oz. rum
• 1/2 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. scotch
• 1/2 oz. Creme de Cacao
• 1/2 oz. cream

Shake and strain into 4(ish) oz. Cocktail glass.

You can see my generic, "well" brands in the picture up there, though there shouldn't be anything there that surprises you, at least not if you've been reading for any amount of time. Once again, a cocktail calls for a decent amount of creme de cacao, and once again, the Marie Brizard disappoints with it's awful nose and chemically aftertaste. I really, really need to find a drink that will mask that ingredient and then drink it all down in that fashion, and move on to another brand, because I feel like this has been a lot of cocktails that could have been passable with another cacao.

As far as the drink itself, it's sort of an everything-Alexander, which is interesting. Sidenote: it is a brave barkeep who decided to pair scotch with creme de cacao. It kinda works, though. Man, I need another creme de cacao.....any volunteers?

Bamboo Cocktail

Bamboo Cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz. Sherry
• 3/4 oz. French (dry) vermouth)
• 1 dash orange bitters

Stir and strain into 3 oz. Cocktail glass.

Interesting cocktail. As a wine-based cocktail, it's very light and easy to drink. Also as a wine-based cocktail, I honestly have no idea how old my Sherry/vermouth is, so I'm positive that it's past it's prime. I have no idea how to get around this: wine oxidizes, and it is not pleasant. All alcohol oxidizes, but high-proof alcohol does so extremely slowly, to the point where it's shelf-stable for years after being opened. But I don't drink very much wine in general, and wine-based cocktails are few and far between. As a result, this is probably better than my current example of it. I wish I could buy wine in 1 oz. bottles.

Baltimore Bracer Cocktail

A bracer cocktail seems to be one that has Anisette or some other Anise-flavored liqueur in it. This one is apparently from Balitmore.

Baltimore Bracer Cocktail:

• 1 oz. brandy
• 1 oz. Anisette
• white of an egg

Double shake and strain into 4 oz. Cocktail glass.

This is a pretty good cocktail. Egg really adds a whole other dimension of texture to drinks, and here it mellows things out. I really like the combination of anisette and brandy, and the egg draws it all together. If you're still afraid of raw egg in a cocktail, I think you're missing out on a lot...

This is definitely a keeper. A good, quick drink for when you need, well, something bracing.

Bachelor's Bait Cocktail

...wow. What an incredible name.

Bachelor's Bait Cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz. gin
• 1 dash orange bitters
• 1/2 tsp. grenadine
• white of one egg

Shake and strain into 4 oz. Cocktail glass.

This really is quite delicious, though I think I probably put closer to two dashes of orange bitters in than one. But I love the egg white, as it really mellows out a drink that otherwise is all alcohol and doesn't taste at all like it. Which makes me laugh even more at the name, as I'm sure it could very well have been the Appletini of the 1930's. Definitely one for anyone who likes tasty things and would recoil a bit at a strongly alcoholic drink. Like a beautiful young lady. Or pretty much anyone today. But the lots of gin plus the hint of orange and grenadine really meld well with the frothy egg white to make this a really delightful drink with a (presumably) wonderful back-story.

Also note, since it's a drink with egg in it, I employed the dry-shake method first with the spring from a Hawthorne strainer to whip it up nicely and emulsify the egg, after which I put in the ice and shook it to chill. While it's definitely possible to get the same great texture without using this method, it takes literally ninety seconds or so of good, hard shaking which will really wear you out. Use this little trick and enjoy the benefits of technology.

Bacardi Cocktail

Here we have a cocktail that shows us evidence of just how old (and actually distinguished/legit) Bacardi is as a company. Interestingly enough, they started out in Cuba and the recipe and/or process hasn't really changed much, so when you're looking for a good Cuban rum (say, for your Daiquiri or your Mojito), Bacardi is not only a cheap brand, but it's actually very stylistically faithful.

Bacardi Cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz. Bacardi rum
• Juice of 1/2 of a lime
• 1/2 tsp. Grenadine

Shake and strain into 3 oz. Cocktail glass.

Taste-wise, it's very like a Daiquiri, by which I mean, the cocktail invented long, long ago, and not just the fruit syrup mixed with rum that you get today. The main difference is that it's much more tart, in that the only sweetening ingredient is the grenadine, and there's not much of that. But it does contribute a nice, cheerful pink color.

Not super well-balanced from a sweet/sour perspective, but this is also a classic, so maybe that's okay. Maybe not. I'd just go for a bit more balance.

Drink Spotlight: Le Matin

Looking for a nice update for the Old Fashioned? This, like the Sazerac, is a fancy update.

Le Matin:

• 2 1/2 oz. Rye whisky
• 1/4 oz. Benedictine
• 1/4 oz. Maraschino liqueur
• 3 dashes Peychaud's bitters

Build in rocks glass full of ice, and stir.

Good. Just good. Takes a little bit of time for the ice to mellow things out, but it's just great. The Maraschino and Benedictine add few complex, but still well-blended, flavors that really define the drink. It's still very rye-centric, and since my stock rye is Rittenhouse 100 proof, it's got some kick to it, so you definitely have to enjoy cocktails like the Old Fashioned, or even just be a fan of whiskey in general, to appreciate this cocktail, as otherwise you might not be able to get over the burn of the alcohol. But then, what were you expecting from a drink composed of just over 3 oz. of alcohol and some ice cubes?

I'm a little surprised that there's no garnish; a Maraschino cherry seems like a no-brainer, given the Maraschino liqueur within. It would definitely help overcome the extreme rye-ness of the whole drink. It's quite good, but then, I love whiskey....

Babbie's Special Cocktail

Babbie's Special Cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz. Apricot brandy
• 1/2 oz. sweet cream
• 1/4 tsp. gin

Shake and strain into 3 oz. cocktail glass.

I think I'm finding that I'm not a huge fan of cream in cocktails. Not that it's bad, or doesn't serve an important purpose; it definitely does! Cream adds a huge textural element that would just not be present without it. It's just so...heavy.

That said, in this drink, it kind of works....at least as well as the rest of the cocktail works. The gin probably might as well not even be there. It probably would work with a slightly less assertive Apricot brandy, where the little hint of gin would actually add something, but it's pretty lost here. This cocktail isn't awful, I just think it could be improved with a bit more gin.

B & B

B & B:

• 1/2 oz. Benedictine
• 1/2 oz. Cognac or Brandy

Layer the brandy on top of the Benedictine in a Cordial or shot glass.

That one warms the cockles....and saying things like that makes me feel fifty. Oh well. This is a classic drink that was apparently popular enough that you can buy B & B in a bottle, which I believe is mixed 50/50. But then it's possible to change it up and fix the ratios to something you prefer, though this is fine.

I think I really like Benedictine. It's sweet and spiced and wonderful, and when mixed with a little bit of brandy, it mellows it out. I will say that I'd probably prefer this drink on the rocks or something like that, but that's mostly because I just don't really like shots.

Atty Cocktail

Here we go, last "A" cocktail! Hooray!

Atty Cocktail:

• 1 1/2 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. french vermouth
• 1/2 oz. Creme Yvette

Shake and strain into 3 oz. Cocktail glass.

Once again, I don't have Creme Yvette, but I do have Creme de Violette, which is, theoretically, the same. What we get is a cocktail that's got the botanicals of the gin mixed with the smooth, sweet, floral character of the Creme de Violette, and that's rounded out with the vermouth. I like it, though I'm not sure I love it. Not because it's not good; it's actually rather exquisite, which isn't a word I use often. I'm just still getting used to the Creme de Violette. But it's a really well balanced and put-together cocktail. It's on the list.

What does not show up is the really pretty, jewel-like violet color.