Tag Archives: vermouth
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.
Embittered
Exhausted but looking for something other than episodes of Buffy to bring fun to an otherwise dreary, rainy day, I rather spontaneously decided to read up on making cocktail bitters. Bartending guru Jamie Boudreau posted a blog article on making bitters about two years ago. In particular, his recipe was for cherry bitters. Having never tried my hand at this before, I opted to try something along those lines.
So into an old kombucha bottle (thoroughly cleaned, obviously) went about 8 ounces of bourbon and a bunch of tart, dried cherries. In another bottle, I combined a mix of dried black walnut leaf, dandelion, hawthorn, fennel, milk thistle, and burdock — in total about a tablespoon of crushed, dried herbs — with 4 ounces of rye. In yet another, I mixed 8 more ounces of rye with additional walnut leaf and milk thistle with cracked allspice, 5 or 6 whole cloves, a bit of vanilla extract, and a big chunk of cinnamon, cracked up into a couple chunks. In a final bottle, I combined the zest of one lemon with 4 ounces of vodka.
Per Boudreau’s instructions, I’ll be moving the heavily concentrated herb mix out first — after about 5 days of exposure, most likely. Then after another 5 days, the other herbs and lemon. Then after another week, the cherries. My total time is going to be less since I’m using a slightly higher concentration of herbs in less liquid. (Also because I’m impatient.) From there, my steps will be largely the same as Boudreau’s — diluting, aging, and bottling.
I’ll give them a taste as I combine them and will write an update then as well as when they’re finally ready. More over the coming months…
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On a related note, I bought some peach bitters on a whim last week. I made a drink called a Royalist, which apparently uses dry vermouth but which I’ve also found recipes that call for sweet vermouth. I decided to try sweet given the other ingredients, so perhaps this is no longer really a Royalist. Whatever it was, it was a little sweet but very rich in terms of fruit, caramel, and herbal flavors.
1.5 oz bourbon
3/4 oz Dolin sweet vermouth
3/4 oz Benedictine
2 hefty dashes of peach bitters
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.
A Bronx Tale
I don’t know what Chazz Palminteri drinks, but tonight, I drank three variations on the same drink: The Bronx cocktail. Before I get ahead of myself, here’s the basic recipe:
The Bronx Cocktail
- 2 oz dry gin
- .75 oz sweet vermouth
- .75 oz dry vermouth
- .75 oz orange juice
The first of the evening was courtesy of The Forest Grill in Birmingham, Michigan. Served to me on the rocks with an orange wedge, it was, in a word, weak. I don’t know if the juice was simply out of a fountain spray nozzle, if it was from watery oranges, and/or if he used too much OJ, but the ice didn’t really help matters as it melted. Anxious to save the fleeting flavor from its ostensibly inevitable watery grave, I consumed the rest in short order.
Arriving home a few hours later, I decided to make one myself, using the recipe above. But as I opened my fridge to fetch the vermouth, I realized I had both Stock and Carpano Antica on hand. Generally, Carpano Antica makes any drink better — but I thought it wouldn’t really be fair to compare a restaurant drink using well vermouth to something more precious than an autographed nude photo of Natalie Portman. So I constructed one drink using Stock and one with the Antica.
And to be honest, I’m not sure which I preferred. Initially, the sweet, somewhat flabbby orange juice seemed to clash with the herbs in the Antica, whereas the similar sweet, somewhat flabby Stock just melded nicely with the rest of the drink. But 20 minutes into the Carpano-laced drink, I noticed that I rather enjoyed the herbs and orange together. Perhaps the drift toward room temperature had an effect. Perhaps I just got used to it. Perhaps it doesn’t matter.
Regardless, the homemade Bronx proved to be what it always ought to be: a fairly sweet but never cloying orange cocktail that puts many others to shame. Do yourself a favor: Put away the vodka and peach schnapps. Forget that Fuzzy Navel or Screwdriver or Hairy Fuzzy Navel or whatever the kids call it these days. Make yourself a Bronx instead.
A Jewel and a Jasmine
Several days ago, I had a discussion about a recipe for the “classic” sweet martini made with gin, sweet vermouth, and orange bitters. A friend had a poor experience with the cocktail, and I asked what gin and vermouth he used. In that case, all that was available was Tanqueray and Stock, both fine products that I use regularly — but never together. The gin has too much juniper and not enough nuance in the vermouth to stand up to it.
- 1.5 oz dry gin
- .75 oz lemon juice
- .5 oz Campari
- .5 oz Cointreau
- Garnish with a tightly wound lemon twist
- Shake and pour into a cocktail glass
The Bijou
- 1 oz dry gin
- 1 oz greeen chartreuse
- 1 oz sweet vermouth (I used Carpano Antica)
- 2 dashes orange bitters
- Garnish with a long lemon twist wound around a cherry
- Stir and pour into a cocktail glass
