Liquor

[Road Hog]

I remain a beer guy. Liquor gets me into too much trouble.

[JayhawkCO]

Finished this bottle a week or two ago.  It's definitely a winner for drinking neat or in a Martini.  It also provides good balance in my more-gin-forward Negroni variations.  But there were a couple of cocktails in which I thought the juniper got lost in the mix.  I think what this means is that, when it comes to gin, I'm not quite the citrus lover I thought.  What I really desire more than anything is strong juniper.  And apparently other herbal botanicals as well, which kind of surprises me to learn about myself.

This time around, I went for Bombay Dry Gin–a very traditional London dry gin.  It has a similar flavor profile to Beefeater 24, which I loved, and it's easy on the pocketbook.

I'm just not a London dry guy. I need more aromatic botanicals. All I get is juniper in that style. To each their own of course. I forget if we've talked about this. Have you tried an Old Tom gin?

[achilles765]

I have gone through like phases over the years. For a while I drank gin martinis, then vodka cranberries, then it was scotch. For about the last eight years I've mostly just drank wine, or margaritas when I have a cocktail.

Now, however, I'm head bartender at work and so when creating new drink recipes, I have had to experiment and try different things.
I definitely like gin and tequila most. And also mezcal. But I like making cocktails with more than one ingredient, like gin and elderflower liqueur and hibiscus tea or tequila, elderflower, lemon and honey.
I never used to really like cognac but I've put together a few specials that are actually quite good.

Like my Remy Martin 1738 Old fashioned with honey syrup, grand marnier and a splash of luxardo cherry juice.
Or the seasonal cide car with apple cider and Cointreau

[kphoger]

I forget if we've talked about this. Have you tried an Old Tom gin?

Never have.

[JayhawkCO]

I forget if we've talked about this. Have you tried an Old Tom gin?

Never have.

Ransom is my favorite. Basically it's a barrel aged slightly sweetened gin. It's dellliiiccciiooous.

[Takumi]

When I was in South Africa I was turned onto Amarula, a liqueur made with spirit of the marula fruit. It's quite delicious, and it's available here, though a bottle is much more expensive than it was there.

[kphoger]

I tried a riff on a Paper Plane last night:

1 part blended whiskey
1 part brandy
2 parts lemon juice
2 parts Aperol
2 parts Cynar

It ended up being too sweet, which makes me think the original Paper Plane would be too sweet also.  I'll have to play with the ratios.

[JayhawkCO]

I tried a riff on a Paper Plane last night:

1 part blended whiskey
1 part brandy
2 parts lemon juice
2 parts Aperol
2 parts Cynar

It ended up being too sweet, which makes me think the original Paper Plane would be too sweet also.  I'll have to play with the ratios.

Just glancing, I'd go half part Brandy and 1 part Cynar.

[kphoger]

I tried a riff on a Paper Plane last night:

1 part blended whiskey
1 part brandy
2 parts lemon juice
2 parts Aperol
2 parts Cynar

It ended up being too sweet, which makes me think the original Paper Plane would be too sweet also.  I'll have to play with the ratios.

Just glancing, I'd go half part Brandy and 1 part Cynar.

The classic Paper Plane is equal parts bourbon, lemon juice, Aperol, and Amaro Nonino.  I subbed out half the whiskey for brandy, and the Amaro Nonino for Cynar.

I'll try your suggestion.

[kphoger]

I didn't plan this ahead of time, but I attempted having one cocktail each evening for all twelve days of Christmas.  My wife was actually getting a bit concerned, seeing me fix a drink on a daily basis.  I told both her and the boys that, if they saw me having more than just one or two drinks a week, to say something.  What ended up happening, though, was kind of the opposite of what they were thinking:  I got cocktail-ed out for a while, and I didn't even make it all twelve days before stopping.

[JayhawkCO]

I didn't plan this ahead of time, but I attempted having one cocktail each evening for all twelve days of Christmas.  My wife was actually getting a bit concerned, seeing me fix a drink on a daily basis.  I told both her and the boys that, if they saw me having more than just one or two drinks a week, to say something.  What ended up happening, though, was kind of the opposite of what they were thinking:  I got cocktail-ed out for a while, and I didn't even make it all twelve days before stopping.

As is probably evident from my alcohol discussions, I drink more than the average American, but think I keep it in check pretty well. I'd be cocktailed out too as I don't really make them at home. Pretty much a wine guy or a spirit neat guy.

[mgk920]

That great Chicago product - Malort!  ("When you want to unfriend someone in real life")



Mike

[kphoger]

That great Chicago product - Malort!  ("When you want to unfriend someone in real life")

I'd never heard of it until now.

I see Nora Rose Allen, a Chicago Sun Times reader, wrote in to say it tastes as "if shame and regret were left to ferment before being distilled through an old, sweaty shoe".

And now I'm reading farther down the list of write-ins...  Man, these are great!

https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment-and-culture/2021/8/25/22641237/what-does-malort-taste-like-chicago-liquor

Here's a great one:

It tastes like if you took a baby's soiled diaper after they've eaten a jar of cigarettes soaked in liquid smoke, ring it out and get the juices from the said diaper. Mix the juice with the yoke of a rotting egg and strain it through a dirty jockstrap soaked in liver and onions for no less than one year. Absorb the fluid from the mixture in a high school boy's sock following an August football practice. Bury the sock under the nearest chicken coop overnight. Remove one ounce of fluid with an eyedropper and place it under your tongue. That taste is just a little better than one shot of Malort.

[mgk920]

That great Chicago product - Malort!  ("When you want to unfriend someone in real life")

I'd never heard of it until now.

I see Nora Rose Allen, a Chicago Sun Times reader, wrote in to say it tastes as "if shame and regret were left to ferment before being distilled through an old, sweaty shoe".

And now I'm reading farther down the list of write-ins...  Man, these are great!

https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment-and-culture/2021/8/25/22641237/what-does-malort-taste-like-chicago-liquor

Here's a great one:

It tastes like if you took a baby's soiled diaper after they've eaten a jar of cigarettes soaked in liquid smoke, ring it out and get the juices from the said diaper. Mix the juice with the yoke of a rotting egg and strain it through a dirty jockstrap soaked in liver and onions for no less than one year. Absorb the fluid from the mixture in a high school boy's sock following an August football practice. Bury the sock under the nearest chicken coop overnight. Remove one ounce of fluid with an eyedropper and place it under your tongue. That taste is just a little better than one shot of Malort.

They actually make gift packs of that stuff, too.



Mike

[JayhawkCO]

Malort is normally the 6th drink in what is about to be a great or terrible night.

[kphoger]

I forget when it was, but I recently tried mixing three of my favorite things from the liquor cabinet.  I'd never found any recipe for the three of them together, so I hadn't tried it yet, figuring maybe it wouldn't be good.  But, I must say, I really enjoyed it.

4 parts gin
2 parts Aperol
1 part Cynar

[JayhawkCO]

I forget when it was, but I recently tried mixing three of my favorite things from the liquor cabinet.  I'd never found any recipe for the three of them together, so I hadn't tried it yet, figuring maybe it wouldn't be good.  But, I must say, I really enjoyed it.

4 parts gin
2 parts Aperol
1 part Cynar

Not toooooo far away from a Negroni, since Cynar has some sweet vermouth vibes to it.

[kphoger]

I've never really cared for a Negroni.  I enjoy gin or red vermouth on its own, and I enjoy Campari in various cocktails, but for some reason I don't like all three mixed together like that.  But, about a week ago, I had a variation that I enjoyed quite a bit more.

a typical Negroni recipe
1 part – gin
1 part – sweet vermouth
1 part – Campari

my take on a Cornwall Negroni
8 parts – Tanqueray N° 10 gin
4 part – Punt e Mes vermouth
1 part – Campari
1 part – Aperol
a few dashes – Fee Brothers orange bitters

This was substantially less bitter than a traditional Negroni.  Because it was 57% gin instead of only 33% gin, the flavor of the gin came through much stronger, above the flavors of the other ingredients, but the other ingredients were by no means missing.  The one thing I should have thought of earlier, but didn't until I was already halfway through the cocktail, is that the same size of this drink has 17% more alcohol.  Not a huge difference, but still noticeable.

I forget when it was, but I recently tried mixing three of my favorite things from the liquor cabinet.  I'd never found any recipe for the three of them together, so I hadn't tried it yet, figuring maybe it wouldn't be good.  But, I must say, I really enjoyed it.

4 parts gin
2 parts Aperol
1 part Cynar

Not toooooo far away from a Negroni, since Cynar has some sweet vermouth vibes to it.

Exactly!  And, as I've mentioned before, a proper Negroni tastes imbalanced to me, so I always amp up the gin content anyway.

[JayhawkCO]

So I kind of miss the restaurant industry, so I picked up bartending two nights a week at a chain high end steak house. I make the drinks to spec as per their recipes, but some of them are absolutely god awful. For the regulars at the bar, I make it properly and they always say it's the best version they've had. I'm not sure who gets these jobs creating cocktails that are terrible.

[Scott5114]

Management, probably. Who gets to call the shots because they're Management. Who gets to be Management because they're Management.

[abefroman329]

Management, probably. Who gets to call the shots because they're Management. Who gets to be Management because they're Management.

Yeah.  Never let a bean counter come up with your cocktail recipes.

a chain high end steak house

If it's the one that rhymes with The Schmapitol Schmille, I once had dinner there and they served me a Manhattan with a rather long hair in it.  Didn't help the taste of the drink, and I hope it wasn't in the corporate-mandated recipe.

[abefroman329]

Also, I'm sure management monitors how much liquor you use to make sure you're not sliding an excessive amount of drinks to your buddies, but are they also monitoring it to the level of, like, "well, you sold 20 Slippery Nipples and that should have only accounted for one fifth of Colonel Kwik-E-Mart's Kentucky Bourbon, but you used two, what gives?"

[JayhawkCO]

Management, probably. Who gets to call the shots because they're Management. Who gets to be Management because they're Management.

Yeah.  Never let a bean counter come up with your cocktail recipes.

a chain high end steak house

If it's the one that rhymes with The Schmapitol Schmille, I once had dinner there and they served me a Manhattan with a rather long hair in it.  Didn't help the taste of the drink, and I hope it wasn't in the corporate-mandated recipe.

See, I've been a GM and an F&B Director, so I was the bean counter and the manager, but I still like good drinks. I just charge appropriate prices for them. Not Capitol Grille. I'd just sling Stoli Dolis all day there.

[kphoger]

Lore has it that the Negroni came into existence when a certain customer requested the soda water in an Americano be subbed out for gin.  Which is to say, it was nobody's "job" to create the drink.

Now, whoever decided it was good enough to serve to others without further improvement...  That, I presume, would be bartenders.

[JayhawkCO]

Lore has it that the Negroni came into existence when a certain customer requested the soda water in an Americano be subbed out for gin.  Which is to say, it was nobody's "job" to create the drink.

Now, whoever decided it was good enough to serve to others without further improvement...  That, I presume, would be bartenders.

I think a Negroni is perfectly balanced for me, assuming you use good vermouth (that actually has flavor) and gin (that isn't only juniper).