cavalier

1 oz Rittenhouse Rye
1/2 oz Calvados (Morin Selection)
1/2 oz Bushmills Singe Malt Irish Whiskey (Knappogue Castle)
1 1/2 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth (Giacomo Sperone)
1/2 tsp Cane Syrup (Sirop JM)
2 dash Peychaud's Bitters
2 dash Orange Bitters (Regan's)
2 dash Celery Bitters (Bitter Truth)

Stir with ice, strain into a coupe, and garnish with a lemon twist.Two Wednesdays ago, I was listening to Vinepair's Cocktail College podcast on the Fourth Regiment with bartender Chris Lemperle of the Crane Club in Manhattan. I first tried the Fourth Regiment, a Manhattan with a trio of bitters including celery, when it appeared on Anvil's 100 Drinks List back in 2013. Chris also covered a bonus recipe, the Cavalier, which was the bar's three spirits riff on the Fourth Regiment perhaps to mirror the three bitters in the mix, and I decided to make one that night. In the glass, the Cavalier offered up lemon, grape, herbal, and anise aromas to the nose. Next, a grape-driven sip flowed into rye, apple, nutmeg, anise, orange, and celery flavors on the swallow.

surfing valhalla

1 1/2 oz Aquavit (Linie)
1 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Pineapple Syrup
1/2 oz Cynar

Shake with ice, strain to a coupe, and garnish with a lime wedge (omit the garnish; also it was not observed in a Yelp drink photo in 2018).Two Tuesdays ago, I returned to the online recipe flashcards for Rosewater in Houston and spotted their Surfing Valhalla that seemed intriguing. The restaurant's website describes it as "A sort of Nordic-inspired Daiquiri variation. We introduced this one in the Spring of 2017, and it's long been a favorite of the owner, but he's obsessed with aquavit and Genever." The obsession of aquavit and Genever reminded me of Vandaag in Manhattan which I had the chance to visit back in 2011. Once prepared, the Surfing Valhalla paddled out to the nose with caraway, lime, and herbal aromas. Next, lime and pineapple notes on the sip crested into caraway, grapefruit pith, and herbal flavors on the swallow.

mane of needles

2 oz Bulleit Rye (Rittenhouse)
3/4 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi)
1/2 oz Campari
1/4 oz Benedictine
1/4 oz Fernet Branca
1 dash Angostura Orange Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with an orange twist.Two Mondays ago, I spotted an interesting recipe on Difford's Guide called the Mane of Needles, and I tracked down the unadapted recipe to the Drinks & Drinking blog. There, Jason O'Bryan described how he created the drink at URBN in San Diego in 2012 after getting inspired by The Violet Hour's Autumn Negroni. His blog is where I found that 2011 Negroni riff, and I noted in my blog post how it bears resemblance to The Violet Hour's Eeyore's Requiem with the Fernet Branca. The Mane of Needles was named after a lyric in Cassandra Gemini's song Frances the Mule, and once assembled, it gave forth an orange, grape, and herbal bouquet. Next, grape and a hint of caramel on the sip led into rye whiskey, bitter orange, and menthol flavors on the swallow.

mexico city blues

3/4 oz Mezcal (Peloton de la Muerte)
3/4 oz London Dry Gin (Beefeater)
1/2 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz Amaro Braulio
1/2 oz Benedictine
2 dash Mole Bitters (Bittermens)

Stir with ice and strain into an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube. Two Sundays ago, I got inspired by recalling the mezcal-gin combination which made more sense to me once I saw juniper trees growing in the agave fields in Oaxaca in January 2023 and had Gracias a Dios Agave Gin from Oaxaca on the Josephine bar shelf a few months later. That duo had me finding the recipes and mashing up the Kerouac with Benedictine and the Thieves in the Night with Braulio. I originally tried a 1:1:1/2:1/2 structure akin to the Big Spender, but that turned out a little thin. I then added a little sweet vermouth to the mix which helped, but it came together more with Punt e Mes when I started again fresh. For a name, I dubbed this one Mexico City Blues after one of Jack Kerouac's short stories. In the glass, the drink showcased caramel, pine, and chocolate aromas. Next, caramel and grape notes mingled on the sip before flowing into vegetal, pine, chocolate, grapefruit zest, herbal, and smoke flavors on the swallow.

fireside

1 1/2 oz Jeppson's Malört
1 oz Bombay Gin (Beefeater)
3/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1/2 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into an old fashioned glass with ice. Two Saturdays ago, I was perusing online recipe flashcard sets when I spotted the Fireside that reminded me a little of the Wake Up Call that I had in Colorado with the Malört, cinnamon, and citrus elements; the Fireside was created at the now closed County Barbeque in Chicago circa 2015. Once prepared, the drink began with cinnamon, juniper, and herbal aromas on the nose. Next, lemon notes on the sip gave way to grapefruit, gin, bitter herbal, and cinnamon flavors on the swallow. Like the Wake Up Call, the Malört's aggressive bitterness was tuned down, but not to the same extent here.

scorched earth

1 oz Del Maguel Mezcal Vida (Peloton de la Muerte)
1 oz Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur
1/4 oz Agave Syrup
2 dash Fee's Chocolate Bitters (Bittermens Mole)

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube, and garnish with a flamed orange twist (unflamed).When I got home a little after 1 am from my flights from Colorado Springs, I was tired but not sleepy. Therefore, I sought out a nightcap and selected the Scorched Earth from Ward 8 in Boston that reminded me of a Oaxacan Old Fashioned with roasted vegetal, dried fruit, and pepper spice notes from the Ancho Reyes in place of the neo-classic's aged tequila. The Classic Recipes Boston blog seemed to attribute this to Rob Haberek in 2015 and confirmed the recipe from my online flashcard source. Once prepared, the Scorched Earth gave forth an orange, vegetal, smoke, and dried fruit aroma. Next, roasted vegetable notes on the sip flowed into smoky, vegetal, spice, and dried date flavors on the swallow.

wake up call

1 1/2 oz Jeppson's Malört
3/4 oz Fruitful Grapefruit Liqueur
3/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup
3/4 oz Grapefruit Juice
3/4 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with a dehydrated cinnamon-dusted grapefruit quarter slice. Two weeks ago, I was in Colorado Springs to give a talk on the intangible heritage of cocktails at the Colorado Preservation group's conference. When I got into town on Wednesday, I was smart enough to only visit brewery taprooms in the area so I could be in somewhat decent shape for my talk on Thursday afternoon. During a practice run on Thursday morning, I did not expect what being over 6000 feet above sea level can do to a speaker (I live closer to 60 feet); I was used to the air dryness' effect from having been in Denver for the USBG conference back in June, but I did not anticipate the lower amount of oxygen in the air changing my ability to fit in as many words per breath. After the talk, I had a bartending shift at the happy hour where I made two drinks that I covered in my session – Brother Cleve's Ninth Ward and Ben Sandrof's 1919 Cocktail. A pretty intense four hour stretch between the talk and producing over 90 cocktails that had me in need of dinner and drinks of my own. After dinner, I headed into downtown to go to Shame & Regret that I had scoped out the week before by its name and the drink menu. Bartender Emily Kindt told me that I needed to go to Chiba, a Japanese cyberpunk anime bar that the bartender at the Burrowing Owl where I had dinner mentioned, but first, I needed to go to Cocktails After Dusk. In fact, Emily walked me over there to introduce me to the bar team there before doing a shot and heading back to her bar. My night ended at Chiba with a Carthusian Sazerac (no recipe acquired but listed on the menu as rye, Boomsma Cloosterbitter (to replace the Green Chartreuse they used to make it with), Angostura Bitters, Leopold Absinthe spritz) and also later bumping into one of the bartenders from Cocktails After Dusk after his shift. It was really touching how the bar scene took care of me from dinner until last call. Also, it probably helped that I was wearing a Fernet Branca t-shirt, or as I told my co-worker when I got home, "Tell me you're industry without telling me." Backtracking to Shame & Regret, the cocktail I had prepared by Emily was the Wake Up Call (not her recipe though) with Malört. She described how "Malört sums up shame and regret" before pointing out their wall of Malört-face photos and mentioning that the bar is the largest Malört account in Colorado. The Wake Up Call's Malört, grapefruit, and lime combination reminded me of the Tragedy Plus Lime but without the mezcal and sherry though. In the glass, the drink donated a cinnamon and grapefruit bouquet. Next, a semi-sweet and full bodied citrussy sip led into grapefruit, cinnamon, and herbal flavors on the swallow. Overall, the juices, syrup, and liqueur all helped to soften Malört's bitterness which made for it being a delight to drink!

:: the cultural significance of cocktails ::

Two Thursdays ago, I gave a talk entitled "Cheers to Heritage: The Cultural Significance of Cocktails." The whole thing came about when bar guests from the hotel next to Josephine came in one night back in June 2023 and we talked about cocktails. One of them mentioned that she inherited her parents' signed copies of a cocktail book and the associated cooking book published circa 1910. When she described how her parents got them signed at Harvard, I figured that the Boston connection and the time frame could be author Louis Muckensturm. That night I went home and made the Fernet Cocktail from Louis' Mixed Drinks 1906. When they came in the next evening, I showed them the photo of the drink with the Cocktail Kingdom reproduction book in the background, and that cover triggered a lot of excitement. I was soon asked if I would be interested in giving a talk for a historic society in Colorado, and I said sure and handed them my card. At Drink, I frequently was asked if I would be willing to bartend their bachelor party in California or similar, and I would always hand them my business card knowing that I would never hear from them again. However, the preservation society contacted me in January 2024, and we honed in on a topic by June. The talk I gave at the Colorado Preservation conference in Colorado Springs was on cocktails being a vital part of our intangible heritage akin to cultural dances, historical buildings, Belgian beer styles, architecture, and certain foods like labneh. This talk included cocktails as a tie-in to culture, community, tradition, and history that are passed down from generation to generation, how this was almost lost during Prohibition and the Dark Ages, and three figures that helped record to preserve cocktail history or restore cocktails and bartending professionalism to their rightful place (Charles H. Baker Jr., Dale DeGroff, Brother Cleve). One of the cocktails that I discussed was the Saratoga – actually two cocktails both published a year apart in the 3rd edition of Jerry Thomas 1887 and the 2nd edition of Harry Johnson 1888 (but not in the 1876 and 1882 editions, respectively). I looked into the development of cocktail culture by way of horse racing and gambling at this mineral springs resort town north of both Manhattan and Albany that was built up due to the North choking out horseracing venues in the South during the Civil War. I also talked about characters that brought this about like John Morrissey, the bare-knuckle boxer who got involved in gambling through being a casino bouncer that led him to open the race track in Saratoga plus casinos including the one where the Jerry Thomas Saratoga was created; Wondrich points out that Thomas and Morrissey knew each other from their time in Manhattan. I also covered the rather colorful King of the Dudes, Evander Berry Wall, who won an epic dude-off that had 40 outfit changes between breakfast and dinner in Saratoga in 1888 – the same year that Harry Johnson’s Saratoga recipe was published. I also covered modern drinks that looked back at historical moments that tie into a community and sense of history and place like the 1919 Cocktail created by Ben Sandrof at Drink about the Great Molasses Flood that happened at another stretch of Boston Harbor a mile and a half away. And ice cream drinks created in Colorado for Temperance (the Black Cow) and in spite of Prohibition (Aspen Crud or boozy milk shakes) that are still enjoyed today. If you would like to view the slidedeck and read about this and other details, I uploaded a PDF of the 44 slides on my Google Drive.

bobcat's tail

1 1/2 oz Rye Whiskey (Old Overholt 86°)
1/4 oz Smoky Scotch (Laphroaig 10 Year)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Maple Syrup
1/2 oz Allspice Dram (Hamilton's)
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe.Two Tuesdays ago, I was inspired by the maple-allspice dram combination that I recently had in the Fireside Chat. The allspice dram component got me riffing on the Lion's Tail, and maple boils made me think of smoke, so a touch of Islay whisky fit the bill. Moreover, the maple syrup made me wonder what wildcats live in syrup producing areas, and naming this after a cat with little or no tail seemed ironic. Once prepared, the Bobcat's Tail pounced on the nose with peat smoke and allspice aromas. Next, a lime and maple sip landed on rye, maple, allspice, and smoke flavors on the swallow.