Tag Archives: liquor
Some Things You Should Know About Booze
- Corona does not contain urine from Mexican factory workers, it just tastes that way.
- Old wine is not necessarily better. The vast amount of wine produced is meant to be consumed within a year or two after bottling. Also, if you have a habit of sniffing corks at a restaurant, there’s a 98.6% chance that most people think that you’re a douchebag.
- Drinking absinthe will likely cause hallucinations if you drop a hit of LSD prior to imbibing.
- Mixing beer, wine, and liquor does not get you more wasted. Drinking excessively gets you more wasted. It’s science!
- Bock beer does not come from the bottom of a barrel, it is a traditional German high gravity lager (not to be mistaken for Steel Reserve, St. Ides, Hurricane, or Olde English).
- Pink wine (rosé) is not just for girls, unless it’s Sutter Home White Zin.
- A martini is the name for a cocktail made with gin and vermouth. A vodka and vermouth cocktail is called a Kangaroo. A vodka and Sour Apple Pucker cocktail is called bad judgment.
- “Liquor before beer, never fear. Beer before liquor, never sicker.” – You get wasted, you puke, nothing mysterious about that. Though frankly, I’d rather puke beer, so perhaps there is some wisdom there.
- Cold is not a flavor in beer. It is a description of something that has little or no warmth, like a Coors ad campaign.
- Bonus fact: Drinking Skinnygirl™ Margaritas will cause legwarmers to sprout from your shins.
Rye Tasting
Distilling rye has a history in America that extends back into the 1700s, a practice that was regularly undertaken by eastern settlers with surplus grain. George Washington was even among those who made whiskey from his rye, a fact which certainly must qualify it as one of our country’s classic spirits. Hence, Gourmet Underground Detroit felt it was our duty as Americans to taste through an assortment of this chronicled beverage.
Equal parts stout patriot and mad genius, my dear friend John thus organized a small group of folks — he and I were joined by Karla and Noah — to gather at his apartment in Northville to taste through a half dozen rye whiskeys.
Unfortunately, Sazerac brand rye, which is generally one of the commonly available ryes in Michigan, is in short supply at the moment, or so we were told by several store clerks in western Wayne County. But we had the other notable state-sanctioned products — Jim Beam, Wild Turkey, Russell’s, and Bulleit — as well as two ryes that are among the most popular across the counry in the form of Old Overholt and Rittenhouse 100.
None of these are terribly expensive, and we intentionally ignored products like the $200 aged Rittenhouse product or the “Ri” whiskey from Jim Beam, which at $40+ on the retail shelf isn’t something with which most people would be interested in mixing.
Setting aside our observations and opinions for a couple of paragraphs, it’s worth mentioning a few basic facts about rye, especially considering that it has a pretty limited following in the metro Detroit area.
Whiskey of all sorts is essentially just a distillation of a rudimentary beer. Most whiskey we drink has been aged in barrels for some length of time. Bourbon, arguably the more familiar whiskey to most Americans and certainly to most Detroiters, contains at least 51% corn in that grain mixture. Rye, by contrast and by law, must contain at least 51% rye. The remainder of the grain bill can be just about anything, though in the case of rye whiskey, those grains are generally corn, wheat, and/or malted rye.
Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia were all states noted for their rye traditions, with unique characteristics ascribed to each. After WWII, many of the notable bottlers were bought up and shut down or sold again, and those that stayed open were gobbled up by larger companies. Indeed, Pikesville, a perfectly pleasant drink with a nice fruity nose and smooth flavor, is a whiskey long associated with Maryland. But it’s now manufactured in Kentucky, “rescued” by Heaven Hill distilleries. The same applies to Rittenhouse, a brand in our tasting that represents Pennsylvania rye.
Indeed, as with most spirits, the landscape changed considerably after Prohibition. Bourbon gained favor with whiskey drinkers, and vodka seemed to catch on with everyone else.
Fortunately, we’re in the midst of something of a rye renaissance. In addition to the large-scale products that are enjoyable – like Rittenhouse or Overholt – producers like Tuthilltown, Anchor, and Whistlepig are creating new, smaller batch products that seem to be catching on for drinking straight or use in particularly high end cocktails.
In that spirit of renewal, here are our notes from the tasting. We drank the whiskeys blind, and the notes below are presented in the order in which the ryes were consumed.
Jim Beam Rye
The initial reaction from the entire crowd was that the whiskey didn’t taste like much of anything. There’s a slight sweetness with just a bit of vanilla barrel flavor and a mild spiciness. Very mild body. But beyond that, the Beam was inoffensive enough to be passable for cocktails but rather uninspiring otherwise.
Russell’s Reserve 6
As Noah immediately mentioned, this was lighter in color than our first blind entry: Russell’s 6-year was more of a yellow-ish color than most whiskey. Aromatically, this was simply weak – not much there. On the palate, it was so bland as to be insipid. Karla didn’t get past two sips before passing hers off. There was barely a spiciness to it, something that one commonly expects in a rye, and it ended with a strange bitterness that, while mild, was off-putting. I’ve mixed Russell’s in plenty of drinks and not been too upset about it, but in this naked setting, it was clearly outmatched.
Bulleit Rye
Standing in stark contrast to the first two, this screamed with unique flavors and smelled of honey and herbs. I was somewhat alone in thinking that it had a thyme-ish quality in the nose. The spiciness was prickly but only accompanied by the most mild alcohol burn, and a light honey sweetness with a bit of toffee bitterness in the finish continued throughout the drink. It lasts a long while with that herbal, woody, toffee flavor making for a fairly savory rye. Of course, rye is the grain responsible for those flavors and for spice, so it should come as no surprise to newcomers to this product that it contains 95% rye, an unusually high percentage.
Rittenhouse 100
Arguably the most powerful of the ryes, this was obviously a 100 proof whiskey from the get go. In terms of complexity, it suffered coming immediately after the Bulleit. But as the most potent beverage in the tasting, spiciness and booze shone through with a mild, grassy finish. This is a clean, edgy whiskey that manages to be quite dry and full at the same time.
Old Overholt
Sort of a middling option from the first whiff, this had a bit of spice, a bit of sweetness, a bit of vanilla, and a bit of maple on the nose and honey on the palate. Lower in alcohol, it was immediately characterized as being rounder and while not widely rejected by our group, it wasn’t beloved either. Of course, this is still a value: It’s less than 15 bucks just about anywhere you can find it (not in Detroit), and in a pinch, it gets the job done. In the price range, it’s clearly a better option than Beam.
Wild Turkey
This is the most well-rounded whiskey. It had some body and some mild spice, but despite its higher proof, it’s not at all hot. And however it’s aged, it results in a pleasant, mild vanilla flavor. This whiskey also ranked highly with everyone, and considering the price and the fact it’s readily available in Michigan, it would arguably be our “go to” rye in the state.
* * * * * *
The Manhattan Project
Drinking straight whiskey is fun. No one would deny that. But in the interest of scientific exploration, we elected to make some Manhattans with the top three ryes from the tasting. If it wasn’t obvious from the notes, we chose to use Bulleit, Rittenhouse, and Wild Turkey.
John and Noah preferred the Bulleit best, whereas Karla preferred the Wild Turkey, and I preferred the Rittenhouse. The Bulleit certainly had a lot of flavors going on, though in my mind, it clashed a bit, adding a spicy smoke flavor to a drink that might not best carry those particular sensations. What one man considers complex might be another man’s confused, and vice versa. Wild Turkey carried its round, pleasant qualities through to the Manhattan and blended seamlessly. Rittenhouse created, for me, the most interesting drink: pleasant but not simple, complex but not awkward, spicy but not hot.
A certain someone hosting the tasting disagreed with my assessment and offered this unkind gesture:
It’s hard to lose with any of these three whiskeys — either for drinking straight or for drinking in a cocktail — but for Michiganders not looking to ship from out of state, Wild Turkey is the clear winner.
Starting a Home Cocktail Bar: A Tutorial
This article was originally posted as a guest piece on Noelle Lothamer’s food and cooking tome, SimmerDown (a food lover’s blog)!
My first “cocktail” was bright green, probably a mixture of Apple Pucker, Midori, and some sort bottled juice. That first drink was also my last for many years, with only the occasional gin and tonic passing my lips. Then a few years ago, I was handed a cocktail glass containing gin, fresh lemon juice, and maraschino liqueur.
Life changed.
Now I order boxes of spirits from across the country to make drinks with names like Lucien Gaudin, Captain Handsome, and Lion’s Tail. There must be four dozen different products in my home bar now, and I’ve traded the Chernobylesque green of Midori and Pucker for the hazy purple of Crème de Violette and fresh citrus. And at the risk of sounding completely arrogant, the resulting drinks are pretty damn awesome.
Friends will occasionally ask how to start a decent home bar without having to initiate a raid on the local party store or buying up the entire shabby chic liquor cabinet collection at the local Pottery Barn. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy.
The “Essential” Spirits
I suppose there really are no truly essential spirits, but making a few classic drinks and having flexibility to experiment a little do require that you own some basics.
Consider acquiring these eight (only 8!) to start:
| Spirit | Recommended Brands | Notes |
| Dry Gin | Beefeater, Bombay, Tanqueray, Plymouth | I usually keep more than one gin — something clean like Plymouth for martinis and something more robust for mixing like Beefeater. If you’re going with only one, Beefeater is great for the price. |
| Bourbon | Buffalo Trace | The best value in base spirits might be Buffalo Trace. A near unanimous winner in our blind bourbon tasting. Eventually, you may find that you’ll use more rye whiskey than bourbon, but bourbon is cheaper and easier to find in Detroit, and for starting out, it covers all your basic drinks. |
| Rum | Mt. Gay, Appleton, Bacardi | I like Mt. Gay white rum. Like Bacardi but cheaper. |
| Tequila | El Jimador, Xalixco, Sauza | Start with a blanco tequila. A lot of folks go with a reposado or anjeo (aged) tequilas because they’re smooth, but when you’re using tequila mostly for margaritas, I actually prefer a bit of an edge, and a 100% agave blanco like El Jimador is both dirt cheap and delicious. |
| Triple Sec | Cointreau | It’s pricey, but Cointreau has more orange flavor than other triple secs and the right amount of sweetness for mixing. Plus it’s easy to find. Never substitute Grand Marnier as it has a brandy base that adds way too much caramel flavor. |
| Maraschino Liqueur | Luxardo, Maraska | Maraschino is a delicious cherry liqueur used in several classic cocktails. There are only two brands readily available; both are good. |
| Dry Vermouth | Noilly-Prat, Dolin | Detroiters can’t get Dolin, but since reverting to their European recipe for sales in the US, Noilly-Prat is perfectly good. |
| Sweet Vermouth | Carpano Antica, Punt e Mes, Dolin, Boissiere | If you gag when you think of sweet vermouth, you’re not alone. Martini & Rossi has killed the reputation of this absolutely necessary class of fortified wines. Antica Formula and Punt e Mes are made by the same producer but are drastically different with Antica showing an intense herbaceousness. Boissiere is a good inexpensive option. |
You’ll note that there’s no vodka on my list. Vodka’s a good spirit to have, and it’s necessary for some classics like the Moscow Mule. But since vodka wasn’t popular in the United States until late 40s, there aren’t a lot of classic recipes calling for it. Besides, it’s a neutral spirit, and we’re all about flavor, so stick to the big four base spirits to start – gin, whiskey, rum, and tequila.
Additional Ingredients
| Ingredient | Notes |
| Angostura Bitters | A few dashes of bitters can really change a cocktail. Angostura is the most widely used aromatic bitters product and an absolute necessity. |
| Orange Bitters | Orange bitters add a great note to a lot of classic drinks. Brands include Angostura Orange, Regan’s, The Bitter Truth, and others. |
| Fresh Citrus | Fresh lemons and limes are a must both for the juice and to use the peel as a garnish. Oranges and grapefruits should be added to the rotation eventually as well. |
| Tonic Water | You really only need this for gin and tonic when starting out. After all, your guests may expect it. But tonic can be used in other clever ways with more ingredients. Try buying Q or Fever Tree tonic instead of Canada Dry or Schweppe’s. |
| Cola of Good Quality | High fructose corn syrup dulls taste buds and tastes like crap. Buy good cola — I like Fentiman’s Curiosity Cola, but even the Mexican version of Coke which uses cane sugar is good. |
| Grenadine of Good Quality | Grenadine is supposed to be pomegranate syrup. You’d never know it if you taste Rose’s Grenadine. Buy a better brand (there are lots, but Stirrings has become the most readily available) or learn to make your own. |
| Cherries of Good Quality | Look for cherries without artificial coloring. Nothing natural and edible is colored like Ronald McDonald’s hair. |
| Egg Whites | Egg whites are a “must” for a lot of classic drinks, and I like to use them in my whiskey sours. Shake them with the other ingredients but no ice to form a nice frothy emulsion and then shake with ice to finish the drink. Pour it out and drink a nice full-bodied, frothy cocktail. Egg white is the texture king! |
| Simple Syrup | Make your own and put it in any bottle or jar you have around the house. Equal parts sugar and water, heated, cooled, and stored should do the trick. You can make sweeter syrups later by using more sugar, but this works to start. |
| Fresh Ice | Ice can ruin your drink if it’s handled improperly. Old ice tastes of freezer funk. Ice that’s too small or too cracked can dilute your drink prematurely. Try to use ice that’s only a few days or maybe a couple weeks old at worst. I’m partial to ice made in silicone trays that create perfect cubes. Find them at Sur la Table |
With the spirits and mixers above, you will become a hero – a hero in a world of restaurants and bars that serve only sugary neon drinks that end in -tini. Among the many classics you’ll be able to concoct are Aviations, Bourbon Crustas, Margaritas, Martinis, Manhattans, White Ladies, Mojitos, Daiquiris, and Martinezes. And Clover Clubs, Pegus, Ward 8s, Gimlets, and Whiskey Sours. And plenty of others.
Tools
To make decent drinks, one really only needs a shaker, a strainer, and a spoon. After all, you can stir or shake a drink with the bottom half of a shaker, and a basic strainer gets most of the undesirable bits of ice and fruit pulp out of a drink. But to make great drinks, it gets a bit more elaborate.
- Cocktail shaker
- Mixing glass
- Spoon
- Hawthorne strainer
- Jigger / Measuring cup
- Vegetable peeler
- Juicer
- Muddler
Here are some general rules for the above equipment:
- Measuring: No matter how good you are at eyeballing amounts of spirits, never, never, never skip a proper measurement when making a drink. It doesn’t make you look talented; it makes you look like you enjoy bad drinks. If you have a traditional jigger, the big end (actually called a jigger) should be 1.5 oz and the small end (called a pony) is 1 oz, make sure the measurements are accurate. I had a jigger that was actually 1.75 oz on one side and 1.25 on the other, which I discovered after a week of strange drinks. Measure out some water in a measuring cup and see if your jigger is accurate. Or better yet, get a tiny measuring cup like this awesome one from Oxo.
Shaken vs. Stirred: James Bond couldn’t order a drink to save his life. Shaking is a faster, more efficient way of chilling a drink because of the intense contact between the ice and the drink. But it also makes your drink cloudy. So only shake drinks that are already going to be cloudy, including anything with citrus juice and egg whites. Martinis, Manhattans, and other all-spirit drinks should always be stirred – unless you’re a British spy with a license to kill. Then you apparently do whatever you want.- Shaking: A lot of bartenders recommend that people buy a “three piece” shaker to start. You’ve seen them: It’s a large metal tin with a strainer that snaps on the top and a lid that covers the strainer. And if you have one, go ahead and use it. No sense spending more money on a new shaker. But the built in strainers tend to form ice dams and can make pouring the drink a pain. They also tend to be on the shorter side, which means that there’s not as much room for the ice to move around with your drink. A “Boston Shaker” (a large metal tin with a smaller metal tin or pint glass on top) or a Parisian shaker (a bullet-shaped two piece metal shaker) makes a much better drink in my opinion. Regardless, when you shake, use whole ice cubes, especially if you have a larger shaker with plenty of room for the ice to move. As the ice bounces around, it’ll chip and help dilute and chill the drink. When the shaker is frosty and really, really cold, you can strain your drink.
- Stirring: Because stirring whole ice cubes takes forever before achieving proper dilution (you want some water in that drink!) and proper temperature (warm martinis suck), feel free to crack your ice before adding it to your mixing glass. The added surface area will help melt the ice faster without clouding your drink like you would by shaking it. If you have a good steel bar spoon, use the back to whack a cube. If you don’t, put the ice in a clean towel and smash it.
- Straining: A really nice, totally optional piece of equipment to have is a small mesh strainer. Like a standard kitchen strainer but with a diameter of only 2 inches or so. That way you can strain the tiny bits of ice and fruit pulp that can still slide through a Hawthorne strainer and into your drink. But it’s a luxury rather than an essential tool, and if you have a bigger mesh kitchen strainer, you can always use that too.
- Garnishes: The essential oils in citrus rind will add a distinctive note to your drinks. A peeled garnish is known as a twist, and there are a lot of ways to prepare it. The easiest, though, is to use a standard swivel veggie peeler from your kitchen drawer, draw the blade across the rind hard, and create a large swath of citrusy real estate to add to your cocktail. You’ll want to twist the peel over the drink to spray some of the oils into the cocktail, and you can rub the lip of the glass as well to really get all the aromatics in the glass. Later, you can invest in a channel knife and make long, pretty, spiraling strips of peel, but for now, save the 15 bucks.
- Muddling: Firmly tapping or striking a citrus peel will help release some of those oils, which is a key component in a caipirinha or a mojito. Similarly, muddling mint adds a lot of flavor to a mojito or julep. When you muddle mint or other herbs, though don’t muddle it so hard as to break the leaf into lots of pieces. Doing so can make your drink bitter as the leaf releases chlorophyll, not just the oils in the herb.
Glassware
Great cocktail bars will sometimes have three or four kinds of glasses in which to serve their various drinks – cocktail glasses (or martini glasses or “coupes”) in which drinks are served “up;” rocks or old-fashioned glasses for short drinks; tall or Collins glasses for carbonated drinks, swizzles, and other long drinks; and sometimes specialty glasses for other cocktails.
So what do you need for starters? Anything that gets the booze to your lips.
Any small rocks glass can hold a drink served up and a drink served on the rocks just fine. So chances are you already have what you really need, but if you want to branch out, start with some cool cocktail glasses. They add a really nice touch to a drink and make even an ungarnished cocktail look swanky and well-executed. If you have a good antique/vintage store nearby, look for cool mismatched cocktail glasses. And as a bonus, older glasses tend to be the right size. I have some really neat looking martini glasses from Crate & Barrel, but they’re big enough that they could be mistaken for the cups at 7-11. And while I admit there’s some appeal to an alcoholic Big Gulp, I’d rather be able to taste three well-proportioned and distinctly different cocktails on my way to inebriation than have to choke down the warm remnants of an eight ounce martini.
Recipes
Some of you were undoubtedly smart, skipping all my preachy cocktail soliloquies and leaping straight down here to the good stuff. While my recipes obviously work for me, they may not be to your liking. If something is too tart, try making it differently, keeping notes on what you enjoy. Even legendary bartenders have their drink recipes altered, and you should feel confident in doing so. In addition to the specific recipes listed below, you should peruse the internet for other drinks to try making. A good place to start because I tend to agree with a lot of the proportions in his drinks is with Robert Hess’ semi-defunct DrinkBoy website. Check out the list of cocktails or search the site by spirit so you can see all the drinks he has using a particular ingredient. Some of the drinks also have corresponding instructional videos that show you how to make them.
Anyhow, here are eight great, easy cocktails using the ingredients I listed earlier. Since most people I’ve spoken with who are new to cocktails tend to view gin with a sinister glare, I’ve listed more gin drinks than anything else. Play around with them and fall in love.
Dry Martini
- 2 oz gin
- 1 oz dry vermouth
- Two dashes of orange bitters
- Stir with cracked ice and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish, if you’d like, with a lemon twist.
Martinis are made with gin, not vodka. The first martini was most likely made with sweet vermouth, and the dry martini is thus made with dry vermouth. Vary the proportions to your liking, but ignore the recent trend to just rinse the glass with dry vermouth and then pour in the gin. That’s a glass of gin, not a martini.
Manhattan
- 2 oz bourbon (or rye whiskey)
- .5 – 1 oz sweet vermouth to your taste (I prefer more vermouth than other folks, I think, especially when using a great vermouth like Carpano Antica)
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- Stir with cracked ice and strain into a chilled glass. You can serve it on the rocks with a cherry if you’d prefer, but with good ingredients, you may not want to dilute the drink by having it on ice.
White Lady
- 2 oz gin
- 1 oz lemon juice
- 1 oz Cointreau
- Optional: 1 egg white
- Dry shake to emulsify the egg. Shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass.
Clover Club
- 1.5 oz gin
- .25 oz grenadine
- .75 oz lemon juice
- 1 egg white (definitely NOT optional)
- Dry shake to emulsify the egg. Shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass. I’ve seen this garnished with a raspberry floating on the egg foam when served in a champagne flute. Kind of cool, but not at all necessary.
Margarita
- 2 oz tequila
- 1 oz Cointreau
- .5 oz lime juice
- Big pinch of salt
- Shake all ingredients with ice, strain, and pour over ice into a glass. I prefer not to salt the rim, but you can if you’d like.
Cuba Libre
- 2 oz white rum
- .33-.5 oz lime juice to taste
- Cola
- Add the rum and lime juice to a glass with ice, top with cola to taste, stir to integrate the ingrediants, and garnished with a lime wheel or wedge. With good cola, you will never again in your life be able to tolerate another Bacardi and Coke.
Daiquiri
- 2 oz white rum
- .5 oz lime juice
- .25 oz simple syrup
- Shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with a lime wedge or wheel. Experiment a bit: Adding grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur makes this a Hemingway Daiquiri, which is an amazing drink.
Aviation
- 2 oz gin
- .5 oz lemon juice
- .25 oz maraschino
- Shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass. This was first served to me with a cherry at the bottom point of the cocktail glass, which creates a really red haze at the bottom of the glass. But some folks garnish with a lemon twist floating in the drink. I greatly prefer the former. This drink is also often made with another ingredient called creme de violette. It’s not currently found in Michigan, but if you get your hands on any, it turns the drink sky blue and the name becomes much more understandable.
For me, the psychosis started with the last drink on that list, the Aviation. After trying one, I needed to learn more about cocktails, and that’s what sent me looking for obscure ingredients and recipes for my own infusions and bitters. If you’re so inclined, you can end up with 30 or 40 spirits and a nearly endless array of cocktail combinations worth exploring. But even if not, just picking up those eight basic spirits and a few accessories and mixers will go a long way toward ensuring you’re able to drink well and drink often.
Live Blog: Saturday Night Fever Tree
Somehow, people got the idea that it’s bad to drink alone.
It’s definitely bad to drink because you “need” to. It’s bad to drink too much too often. It’s bad to drink and pass out on your couch at 8pm. But it’s bad to do any of those things if you’re with people too, right? Last night, I had the good fortune of eating and drinking with friends. Most of the night centered on wine, but for a brief while, we chatted about Fever Tree tonic water, which got a ringing endorsement from Putnam Weekley. Tonight, I’m flying solo. But really, it’s kind of fortuitous since solo drinking nights mean the freedom to explore.
A few hours ago, I literally ran into a ginger beer/root beer/tonic shelf at Holiday Market that was full of Fever Tree products. Having decided that it was kismet given the previous night’s discussion, I picked up some Fever Tree tonic and ginger beer (I’m guessing this recent addition is courtesy of GU Detroit member Jefferey Mar, though I can’t say for certain). It was then that I decided tonight would become a study in cocktails. So for the zero people who will be reading our blog on this particular Saturday night, I will be live blogging these drinks as I go.
Drink #1: Using Fever Tree Tonic (7:45pm)
Gin and tonic is great, but I wanted to try something a little different. Fever Tree’s tonic has great citrus fruit flavors and a bright acidity in addition to all the bitterness in the finish, so I thought there might be some potential to try something in a Caribbean-inspired vein. Here’s what I ended up with:
- 1 oz white rum (I used Mt. Gay)
- 1 oz aged rum (I used Angostura 1919, 8 year)
- .5 oz fresh lime juice
- .25 oz Cherry Heering
- .25 oz simple syrup
- Fever Tree tonic
I shook this briefly, without tonic, poured it into a tall glass with ice, and topped it with probably 4-5 oz of tonic. This starts with a pretty big fruit flavor and then has a wash of tonic bitterness through the finish. Somehow it tastes like vanilla in the mid-palate. Kind of awesome, though I might use a little less tonic next time.
Drink 2: Bittered Rye Sling w/ Fever Tree (8:30)
I’m a big fan of this rye-based drink that I had at The Gibson in Washington, DC. I’ve been making it with Fentiman’s, but I wanted to give the Fever Tree a shot.
- 2 oz rye whiskey (I used Russel’s because I’m out of Rittenhouse)
- 1 oz sweet vermouth (Dolin)
- .5 oz lime juice
- Assload of Angostura bitters
- Fever Tree ginger beer
I shook everything except the Fever Tree with a couple ice cubes just briefly to mix and slightly chill the ingredients then poured it over ice in a tall glass and topped with the ginger beer. Good drink, but I prefer this one with Fentiman’s, which I think has a much stronger spice quotient.
Drink 2 Redux (8:42)
This is getting better. As it’s melting and warming, there seems to be more ginger spice. Fever Tree could totally work its way into my ginger beer rotation — and since I still have 3 little bottles left, I’d say there’s a good chance of that happening.
Drink 3: Keanu Reeves Says “Woah” (9:30)
Last night, a good friend texted me from my favorite cocktail bar, Vessel, located in Seattle. He and his wife were enjoying a few drinks, and he sent a list of ingredients with no commentary other than “Awesome.” The text read, “creme de violette lillet blanc egg white club soda citrus.”
I didn’t have any club soda, so I did the following:
- 1 oz creme de violette
- 1 oz lillet blanc
- Half an egg white
- 2/3 oz lemon juice
Dry shake, shake with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. And I have to agree with my buddy. Awesome.
If you’re a creme de violette fan, this is a great drink. The egg white gives it body, the lillet kills a bit of the intensity, and the lemon just makes for a nice, bright, balanced drink. Low alcohol brilliance inspired by the finest cocktail bar I’ve been to.
Drink 4: Mystery! (10:24)
I made a fourth drink. I had an idea the other night while drinking a Ramos Gin Fizz. If it went well, I would have posted more. But it only went OK, so further tinkering is in the cards for the next couple day/weeks. But in the meantime, I’m done experimenting (both with alcohol and how many calories I can ingest before bed) for the evening. I’d encourage Detroiters to stop by Western Market in Ferndale or Holiday Market in Royal Oak and pick up some Fever Tree products.
The Extra Delicious Sour
Perusing my copy of Ted Haigh’s “Forgotten Cocktails” book, I came across The Delicious Sour, a recipe which called for a lot of Laird’s Applejack and peach brandy. Having neither, I used Laird’s aged apple brandy, likely a similar flavor but maybe a little rounder, and Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot liqueur.
Whew. Damn tasty.
Here’s the whole recipe as I made it:
2 oz Laird’s Aged (7 1/2 Years) Apple Brandy
2 oz Orchard Apricot
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon sugar
1 egg white
Dry shake, shake with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, top with a splash of soda water, and marvel. This drink as made tonight is nothing more than a vehicle for amazing apricot flavor. There’s a hint of apple and a general fruit flavor, but the apricot shines through without being too terribly sweet. Definitely a winner.
A Dry Martini
I haven’t always been a fan of martinis. In fact, until recently, I pretty much thought they were terrible.
Then I had good vermouth.
At first, it was just sweet vermouth in the form of Carpano Antica Formula. That helped open up an entire world of classic cocktails. But my real education began with the entire line of Dolin vermouths, which aren’t as of yet available here in the Detroit area.
Dolin Dry is absolutely delicious on its own as an apertif. But it shines in a dry martini, that formerly dreaded drink that I’ve come to appreciate if not love. With light citrus flavors and hints of herbs de provence, it’s drier, more spicy, and more nuanced than any other dry vermouth I’ve ever tasted, and it illustrates why a classic dry martini isn’t made with a splash of vermouth and a bucket of gin as has become the fashion today.
If I had to settle for Martini & Rossi in my gin, I suppose that I’d only want a sprinkle of vermouth in my martini as well.
Fortunately, there’s Dolin.
So in my dry martinis, I’ve been working with 2 1/4 oz gin to 3/4 oz vermouth or even a half-and-half mix. Why not showcase the flavors of all the ingredients if they’re worth showcasing?
The Red Wings just won the fourth game of their first round playoff series as I was polishing off the last sip of my martini. I think I’ll have something else that features Dolin Dry to celebrate.
Five Bourbons Blind
Leading up to last year’s holiday season my inbox was flooded with tacky booze marketing emails and I lashed out with this rant against Old Forester Bourbon and a few others. Though I did disclose the fact I have never tasted Old Forester before, and my issue was with the marketing, a few folks in the business felt they should defend the brand. Svend Jansen, public relations manager for Old Forester, saw this as an opportunity to send Swigs a sample. And who are we to refuse free booze?
Since we figured to be in full evaluation mode when tasting Old Forester it only made sense to put it into some context. So we collected the various bourbons we had laying around, which turned out to be a decent cross section of the market, and with fellow booze bon vivant, Steve Kirsch, decided to find out how Old Forester compares to what we’ve been drinking. To neutralize any preconceived notions we might have had about the brands, we tasted all of the bourbons in a blind format diluted with a small amount of water. What we determined might surprise you.
Susannah Nichols was on-hand to arrange and pour the samples. All prices are Michigan minimum shelf price for a 750ml glass bottle.
Buffalo Trace ($23.96)
Todd: With a nose full of pecans, peaches, driftwood and marshmallow this was the clear champion of the tasting. Sweet in the middle with a slightly dry finish it would make both a nice sipping whiskey and a killer cocktail.
Evan: Big vanilla, nut, and even creamy aromas. There’s a bit of bitterness in the mid-palate, but it’s hardly displeasing, and it’s washed away by a silky textured finish. For the money, this is an absolute killer value. Notably better than anything above or below its price point in our tasting.
Woodford Reserve ($34.96)
Todd: Less intensely aromatic than Buffalo Trace but a bit fruitier, Woodford Reserve is smooth throughout a draught and plenty good for sipping.
Evan: Noticeably darker in the glass, the Woodford has quite a bit of vanilla both on the nose and the palate. I agree with Todd’s assessment that this is fruitier, though I’d add “caramel” to the mix as well. This might be a bit intense for precisely measured Manhattans and the like.
Old Forester ($16.98)
Todd: Good middle-shelf bourbon. Though it’s unlikely that I would ever use this as a sipping bourbon under normal circumstances, there is no doubt that it would perform well as a cocktail base without emptying the wallet. Flatter than the previous two with more sensation of wood and just the slightest hint of plastic
Evan: I’ve always liked surprises. If there’s a Crayola crayon called “Humble Pie,” color me up with that, because this was markedly better than I expected. Noticeably less vanilla on the nose than the previous offerings, it nonetheless showed more of the vanilla on the palate. That said, aside from a bit of Band-Aid and Booze Burn, there’s less going on here than the clear winners in our test, but of the five we tasted, this stood head and shoulders above the bottom two. If one has the means to buy a better product, I can’t recommend leaning down to the lower shelf to grab this. But if not, this is as fine as one can get in the price point. So surprises? Yeah. I got as much of a chuckle out of Todd’s previous Old Forester rant as anyone, and the marketing for the product is still a cliche, but this works.
Maker’s Mark ($26.99)
Todd: Especially considering the price, I have always considered Maker’s Mark an inferior whiskey. Tasting it blind in comparison confirmed this notion. Medicinal alcohol fumes overwhelm the diminutive bourbon aromas. There are far too many superior bourbon brands at this price level to waste your hard earned coin on Maker’s Mark.
Evan: When I decided to wholeheartedly re-enter the whiskey universe, the first bourbon of which I purchased a whole bottle was Maker’s. It had a pretty sterling reputation, after all, and who isn’t a sucker for a waxed top bottle? Our blind tasting set me straight, however: Big sugar sweet and plastic aromas overwhelm any sense of natural grain alcohol, and while there’s a bit of a spicy characteristic to the drink, the finish is weak, over-run by a rank bitterness. On one hand, the flavors are long, carrying through to the finish. On the other hand, those flavors suck.
Evan Williams Black Label ($11.77):
Todd: This bottle was brought to (and left over from) a party last Halloween. While decent for swilling directly from the bottle around a backyard fire in autumn it’s not something we normally keep around the house. With powerful aromas of rubbing alcohol, burning plastic and oily wood pulp it’s cheap and it shows. That being said, its more refined brother, Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage bourbon, is my house whiskey for sipping and cocktails.
Evan: This was the one bourbon we unanimously guessed: It lives up to its price point as an appalling, offensive creation that makes one wonder how humanity ever decided that the distillation of alcohol was a worthwhile activity. Foul on the nose, it displays very pungent aromas of trash heap and salt lick, neither of which carry through to the palate. Lest one think that’s a good thing, it’s replaced by a grassy, burnt, bitter sensation over over-brewed tea and aggressive alcohol. Dilute this. A lot.
We had originally planned to evaluate the lesser bourbons as cocktail base booze and actually did mix Old Forester with bitters and Stock sweet vermouth for a Manhattan cocktail but a few circumstances diverted our attention: 1) Since Carpano Antica sweet vermouth made it to the Detroit market it’s difficult to drink a Manhattan crafted with anything but, and more importantly, 2) we had a slew of blended Irish and single malt Scotch whiskeys to taste through. This particular Manhattan had no chance under these conditions.
Dinner for Two
People with birthdays between December 10th or so and New Year’s Day tend to share one minor complaint: Their emergence into this world is ignored amid the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. My wife’s birthday is in mid-December, and while we don’t really do the “present thing,” we ensure the occasion doesn’t pass unmarked. I make a dinner each year — something fun, reasonably unique or elaborate — and we have some quality drinks.
We started on some scallops with a cilantro gremolata and served over a lime beurre blanc, a recipe I found on Epicurious. With it, I mixed up and served a Captain Handsome, a cocktail created at Vessel, the bar in Seattle.
- 1.5 oz gin
- .5 oz lime juice
- .5 oz creme de violette
- .25 oz limoncello
- Shake w/ ice and strain the drink into a chilled cocktail glass rinsed with absinthe. Garnish with a cherry.
Its lime juice base made it ideal with the lime zest in the gremolata and the citrus in the reduction used to make the beurre blanc. Vessel has a fantastic device that carbonates any drink without dilluting it. And while our version lacks the delightful prickliness of Vessel’s original, it’s an excellent, elegant drink with a nicely cohesive floral and citrus flavor that’s accented really nicely by the absinthe rinse. Doesn’t get much better, and it’s an excellent drink to showcase the Creme de Violette I’ve come to love.
For the main course, I served another recipe I found online, albeit tweaked here and there: pork stuffed with a morel-based mixture and generously drizzled with a demi-glace and morel stock-based sauce.
Part of me thought a fresh Joseph Swan pinot noir, which I’ve written about here previously, would do the trick of combatting the rich morel and veal flavors, but I wanted something more refined and nuanced. I had a gut feeling that a 20-year-old burgundy I’d been holding on to would do the trick. And indeed it did.
More specifically, the wine was a 1988 premier cru from Les Vaucrains (in Nuits St. Georges), produced Robert Chevillon. It was surprisingly vibrant with plenty of berry fruit and tannin left, but the real pleasant surprise was just how well this worked with the pork: Hints of leather, game, and even a Fernet-Branca-ish herbal quality evolved as we drank through the botttle.
The meal closed with a raspberry mousse. We elected not to pair it with any specific drinks, but afterward, I gave my new bottle of Plymouth Sloe Gin a try. I made Sloe Sambas for both of us, a fruity, pink, frothy concoction that I’ve approximated from a drink of the same name made at Nopa, a San Francisco gastropub.
- 1.5 oz white rum
- 1.5 oz sloe gin
- .5 oz lemon juice
- .25 oz Scotch
- A quick squeeze of simple syrup
- Egg white
- Dry shake to get a good emulsion and foam
- Add ice, shake, and strain into a chilled glass
The Walnut Experiment: Trial #2
Day two. Trial two.
I added another half ounce to the previous night’s first drink, which means the final recipe is:
- 1.5 oz bourbon
- 1 oz nocino
- .5 oz amaretto
One still gets the sweet almond nose from the amaretto, but the drink itself is even more balanced, and there’s a bit more walnut flavor on the finish. It’s a rich, boozy cocktail to be sure, but on a winter night with a stack of work and a series of episodes of 30 Rock queued up in Netflix, it seemed hard to beat.
Now it needs a name. Suggestions?
