royal smile cocktail

3/4 oz Apple Brandy (Marquis de Saint-Loup Calvados)
3/4 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Grenadine (Homemade)
1 Egg White

Shake once without ice and once with ice. Strain into a claret glass.On Sunday night, I flipped through Jacques Straub's 1914 Drinks that I purchased from the newly opened Boston Shaker store in Davis Square, Somerville. I was in search of a use for the egg whites left over from the Almond Molasses Flip and I found the Royal Smile Cocktail. The drink could be considered a hybrid of a few Pink Lady recipes; for example, one recipe in Boothby uses dry vermouth instead of gin, and another lime instead of lemon. Moreover, the Royal Smile Cocktail is less booze forward than most Pink Lady recipes; besides the vermouth instead of gin exchange, the Royal Smile's equal parts recipe makes the nonalcoholic ingredients play a greater role in shaping the drink. The Royal Smile Cocktail started with a lime nose and a sweet pomegranate-apple taste. The flavors were modified by the lime's crispness and vermouth's botanicals on the swallow; both of these elements functioned to dry out the drink on the swallow. In addition, the egg white probably played a role in mitigating the grenadine's sweetness.

almond molasses flip

2 oz Amber Rum (Lemon Hart 80)
3/4 oz Cream
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
2 tsp Almond Butter
1 barspoon Pimento Dram (St. Elizabeth)
1 Egg Yolk

Shake with ice and strain into wine glass. Garnish with grated nutmeg.

On Sunday night while waiting for the pizza dough to finish rising, I gave one of my ideas a try. During the nut-themed Thursday Drink Night at Mixoloseum, I chatted with Kaiser Penguin about the concept of using muddled nuts as a flavoring. At the time it was whether I could use walnuts muddled in spirit to give a Nocino Liqueur-sort of flavor. While that experiment failed, it got me thinking of nut butters and how delicious the Peanut Malt Flip was. In contemplating a variant, the idea for using almond butter to work akin to orgeat popped into my head, and in paralleling the Peanut Malt Flip, the pairing with rum seemed to make sense.

The recipe's result was a rich rum-flavored sip, allspice notes on the swallow, and almond on the aftertaste. The almond flavors blended in well with the cream and were a lot more subtle than the peanut flavors in the other drink. Unlike the peanut butter once shaken, the almond never fully entered the liquid phase with a lot of particulate matter settling out after the drink was poured. With the sediment was perhaps a lot of flavor. I have no clue if it had to do with how well ground the almond was or whether it is a problem inherent with almonds (i.e.: impossible to make something as creamy as peanuts can). Perhaps using a less flavorful rum, dropping the Allspice Dram level, decreasing the cream amount, or increasing the nut butter might help sway the balance a bit. The Almond Molasses Flip was tasty; however, it was not as big of a win as the Peanut Malt Flip.

pinto

1 oz Cherry Brandy (Cherry Heering)
1/2 oz Fernet Branca
1 dash Lemon Juice (1 tsp)
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a small cocktail glass. I added a lemon twist.

On Friday night, I desired a nightcap and remembered the Pinto from Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933; the drink intrigued me for it used Fernet Branca in a liqueur-based cocktail. The main ingredient was "cherry brandy" which I interpreted as the rich and spicy Cherry Heering that seemed like it would best match up with Fernet Branca. Kirsch seemed too subtle, Luxardo Maraschino too funky, and other options were lacking on my shelves. On paper, it was hard to determine whether the drink would be delightful or a nightmare with the Fernet perhaps veering the drink off into a strange place; however, luckily, the former was the case which is not too surprising since the book has yet to steer me wrong.Menthol and lemon oil aromas started off the Pinto. The Cherry Heering donated a thick, rich mouthfeel to the drink and served to temper the Fernet Branca considerably. The Fernet's menthol did appear on the swallow along with a variety of lingering bitter notes; however, it was not as potent as the recipe's ratio would suggest. Much respect for the Heering for accomplishing this feat. The lemon gave a nice hint of crispness to the drink and worked well with the Heering to give a slight sour cherry flavor. Surprisingly, the flavors gelled into a rather nice cocktail and the Pinto would probably serve as a great digestif as well.

bourbon belle

2 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon
1/2 oz Mathilde Peches Liqueur
1/2 ounce Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass garnished with a brandied cherry. Recipe is a hybrid of the one from LUPEC Boston's Little Black Book of Cocktails and what I was served.For my second drink last night at Joy Richard's "Whiskey-Infused Birthday Bash" was the cocktail Joy's LUPEC name is based on, the Bourbon Belle. The Bourbon Belle is one of her creations and she described its origins as a Manhattan variation in this LUPEC Boston blog post. With the addition of some peach flavor, her twist on the whiskey classic takes on an unique identity. The rich Carpano Antica sweet vermouth flavors were the first detected on the sip. Trailing that were the peach fruit and Angostura bitters on the aftertaste along with a slight burn from the whiskey. At times, the vermouth's grape and the liqueur's peach flavors seemlessly flowed together in the sip.

kentucky

1 1/2 oz Eagle Rare Bourbon
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1/4 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist. Recipe is a hybrid of CocktailDB's plus the one I was served.

Last night at the Franklin Southie was bartender Joy Richard's "Whiskey-Infused Birthday Bash," and on the menu were Joy's favorite whiskey drinks: five Bourbon and two rye cocktails. The one I started off with was a Kentucky variation. The Kentucky I was more familiar with was one that Andy McNees made for us at Eastern Standard one night using equal parts Bourbon and pineapple juice. Andy's secret was to use George T. Stagg overproof which worked amazingly well with the house's pineapple juice. Joy's preferred recipe for the Kentucky adds a bit of flavor complexity to the two part one with the addition of lemon juice and Maraschino liqueur.The drink started out with a Bourbon, lemon oil, and a vague fruity nose. The Maraschino enhanced the drink by adding some bitter notes; however, it did not carry enough sugar to balance the portion of lemon juice added to the mix. The lemon and pineapple fruit flavors mingled on the first part of the sip, while Bourbon heat appeared on the swallow along with a lingering Maraschino taste which built up with each sip. The flavor combination that was surprising was how well the pineapple and Maraschino played together in this drink.

flora's own

1/4 Drambuie (3/4 oz)
1/4 Dry Gin (3/4 oz Beefeater)
1/2 Dry Vermouth (1 1/2 oz Noilly Prat)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.Last night's book perusing brought me back to the Café Royal Cocktail Book for another Drambuie recipe. The last one I made from there was the rum and sherry-rific Golden Heath and it was a success, so I was confident to try another of their recipes. While I had the Flora's Own as a nightcap, the half portion of dry vermouth would suggest that it would make an excellent aperitif cocktail. The only variance I made with the recipe was the addition of a lemon twist. The drink looked lonely without it and besides, citrus oils generally complement gins and vermouths. The drink's nose was filled with Drambuie's honey which worked rather well with the lemon oil. On the sip, the honey sweetness mixed with vermouth's wine flavors reminded me a lot of a bianco vermouth. Following that, botanicals from the gin, vermouth, and perhaps Drambuie appeared on the swallow. I was surprised at how magnificently the Drambuie and Noilly Prat dry vermouth paired up especially with that sharp note that is present in the "new" Noilly Prat opposed to the old American version they discontinued. The best way to describe the Flora's Own would be placing it in half way between a Martini and a Manhattan (or Rob Roy) assuming you left out the bitters for some reason. Thus, it might be the perfect cocktail suggestion for when a drinker cannot decide which classic to drink.

[rumbustion flip]

1 1/2 oz St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout
1 oz Old Monk Rum
1/2 oz Allspice Dram
1/2 oz Demerara Simple Syrup
1 Egg

Shake once without and once with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Garnish the foam with Fee's Whiskey Barrel Bitters.On Sunday night, Andrea and I went to Drink in Boston. For one of my cocktails that night, I asked bartender Misty Kalkofen for something with rum, and after a moments thought, she asked if egg was okay. With my affirmation, she set to work improvising a flip. I was pleased when I saw her reaching for a bottle of oatmeal stout to add to the mixing tin. Wayne Curtis in And a Bottle of Rum goes into great detail about the origins of flips using rum, beer, molasses, and a red-hot loggerhead and how things later evolved into the egg-laden drink we know today. Perusing the web, PDT in NYC has a similar recipe to the one Curtis described (minus the heated iron) and to Misty's but with a lot less spice notes:

Black Flip
• 1 oz Cruzan Blackstrap Rum
• 3 oz Brooklyn Chocolate Stout
• 1 Egg
Shake with ice and strain. Recipe did not specify glass or garnish, so a cocktail or rocks would work, and feel free to garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

Misty's concoction added the spice notes from the Allspice Dram, the vanilla in the Old Monk rum, and the aged bitters with a loss of the blackstrap molasses notes. The bitters added more to the drink's nose for it donated a glorious cinnamon smell which did bleed into the first few sips. The drink proved to be rather rich from the rum, stout, and egg, and the demerara sugar helped to cut the dryness of the oatmeal stout. Moreover, the allspice from the dram appeared at the end and gave the drink a rather flavorful swallow.

sunray

1/4 Bourbon Whiskey (3/4 oz Eagle Rare 10 Year)
1/4 Grand Marnier (3/4 oz)
1/4 Lillet (3/4 oz Lillet Blanc)
1/4 Orange Juice (3/4 oz)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

On Saturday night, I was flipping through the 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book and found the Sunray which seemed like it would be an intriguing Bourbon-based Hoop La variant. Surprisingly, the Sunray was relatively rather spicy and assertive especially compared to the Hoop La. The spice notes we attributed to the recipe's call for Grand Marnier instead of Cointreau or another orange liqueur, and for the strong barrel and mash notes in the Bourbon instead of the Hoop La's smoother Cognac. The drink's assertiveness stunned us for orange juice usually acts to smooth over flavors unlike the Hoop La's lemon; perhaps it did smooth over the first part of the sip but definitely not the latter half.

tom dempsey

1 oz Dark Spiced Rum
1/2 oz Rye
1/2 oz Benedictine
1 dash Peychaud's Bitters
1 oz Stout Beer

Stir all but the beer with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Top off with an ounce of stout, and garnish with a coin-sized piece of lemon peel twisted over the top and then floated.

This weekend I submitted my entry for the Superbowl Sunday "Drink Like a Saint" contest. The contest's description and rules were as follows:

This week, everything must be black and gold. That includes our drinks. Think you have what it takes to create a cocktail that's a champion? Enter the Times-Picayune/Tales of the Cocktail "Drink like a Saint" competition. The rules are simple. Only amateur bartenders can enter. Each drink must celebrate the Saints. And, of course, it must taste great, or it wouldn't be worthy of our team.

When I gave some thought about the Saints, I returned to one of my early memories of the team. As a kid, I loved to read our copy of Guinness Book of World Records and I remembered the photo and story of the longest field goal. The fact that the kicker not only made the record-breaking 63 yard field goal but did it even with a physical handicap to bring victory against substantial odds was rather inspirational. Therefore, I named the drink the Tom Dempsey.I knew that the drink had to be manly and reasonably strong akin to the horse racing-themed Suburban, and spiced rum and whiskey popped into my head (perhaps to parallel the Suburban's rye and dark rum). The spiced rum element was a good excuse to try out our newly purchased bottle of dark Kraken Spiced Rum. For the other spirits, I used Sazerac 6 year Rye and local Ipswich Stout. Moreover, Abita's Imperial Stout and Old New Orleans Cajun Spice Rum would make fine New Orleans-appropriate substitutions. The rum, Benedictine, and bitters add a nice level of spice to the rich malt flavors donated by the beer and whiskey. The Benedictine, once made by Monks, was the first spirit that popped into my head when I thought about saints. And the black drink with the golden garnish floating on top reminded me a bit of the Saints' helmet. The Tom Dempsey cocktail might even be appropriate if you choose to watch the Puppy Bowl on Sunday instead.