copenhagen

1 part Bourbon
1 part apricot liqueur
1/4oz? Gammeldansk bitters

Ben came by while we were still waiting for seats at the bar with this drink for us to try -- apparently it will be on the menu this week. Very interesting drink, as the Bourbon intensity is tamed, making it a bit too easy for me to drink. I don't know what it is about Bourbon that kicks me so hard, I can only assume it's something to do with the higher sugar content of corn versus rye grains? A fine, fine drink.

Post Note 10/16/23: I found the recipe on DrinkBoston as such:

Copenhagen (Ben Sandrof, No. 9 Park)
1 1/2 oz Fighting Cock Kentucky Bourbon
1 1/2 oz Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot Liqueur
1/2 oz Gammel Dansk
Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass.

colleen bawn

1 oz Rittenhouse Rye
1 oz Benedictine
1 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1 Egg

Shake without ice and then with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with grated nutmeg and cinnamon.

Flippy goodness.

So, like, I met this guy at the bar Monday night, and he turned out to be a bartender at a restaurant we'd been meaning to check out. So for the second night in a row, I took the train down to Boston, met Husband, and spent my night hanging out at a bar! No 9 Park has a damn tasty menu, I have to say. The bar is sort of small but well-stocked and certainly seems to live up to its hype so far. There was an estimated wait of an hour to be seated at the bar (yes, at the bar), so I decided that something with an egg in it would keep my belly happy enough so I wouldn't have to eat the well-dressed leg next to me out of hunger.

Thanks to Miz Misty for pointing out my typo in the name, and the story behind this drink from The Cocktail Chronicles:

Oh, and the name? I don’t know where Spencer came across the drink, but the name is related to the notorious 1819 murder in County Limerick of a 15-year-old farmer’s daughter named Ellen Hanley — thereafter known, for reasons opaque to me, as “the Colleen Bawn” — by her newlywed husband, a well-to-do man named John Scanlan, and by his servant, Stephan Sullivan, who shot Hanley and dumped her body in the Shannon. The trial and subsequent executions of Scanlan and Sullivan, with their overtones of love, murder and class divisions, was the news item of the day, and spawned the publication of a bestselling novel, The Collegians, in 1829, and the even more popular Broadway and West End drama, The Colleen Bawn, in the 1860s, followed by the opera The Lady of Killarney, in 1862; the silent-film feature, The Colleen Bawn, in 1914; and the 1934 film, Bride of the Lake. (and not a speck of that’s from Wikipedia….) At the time of Spencer’s book, the story was still a hot number in London, so I’d venture to guess he or an acquaintance nabbed the name and stuck it to the drink.

charles de gaulle

Green Chartreuse
mug of hot cocoa
cream on top

I will have to check on the quantity of Chartreuse that went into this because it was awfully tasty. The herbal flavor plays nicely with the chocolate somehow. I bet Benedictine used in this fashion would be luscious, too. Great end to the evening. The party that sat next to us all had shots of Fernet, which put that idea into my head, though I can't quite remember if the Fernet came before Chas. or after... Regardless, light conversation ensued and our neighbor turned out to be Ben of no 9 Park, who would be tending the next night... Thus, even more entries to catch up on!

ES gin flip

Beefeater gin
simple syrup
rock candy syrup
almond syrup
egg
Grate nutmeg over the top -- with a Microplane, of course.


Okay, I so need to start making flips at home. This was a treat after dinner that was totally unexpected and ohmygod, why have I not had one before? So very yummy. We are talking dessert here.

Postnote: Frederic added on February 11, 2012

• 1 heaping barspoon Sugar
• 2 oz Beefeater Gin
• 1/2 oz Almond Syrup (a/k/a Orgeat)
• 1 Egg
Shake once without ice and once with. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

contessa

1 part gin
1 part sweet vermouth (*)
1 part Aperol
orange twist

i.e. a Negroni with Aperol instead of Campari. Extra points to Kit for pulling a variant of my favorite drink out of the ether for me without my mentioning it!

(*) Postnote: the recipe was created with dry vermouth, so this is a Contessa variation.

hearst

2parts Bluecoat gin
1part sweet vermouth
1dash Angostura bitters
1dash Regan's #6 orange bitters

stir well and strain into a rocks glass, lemon twist. recipe: Kit @ES

Doing our part to strengthen the cause, we met a friend at the bar at Eastern Standard for dinner Monday night -- after spending a huge portion of Thanksgiving talking about cocktails, I wanted to make sure he had the chance to be served by a real craft bartender. Kit is awesome and we had a great several-hours at the bar. In fact, I was able to muster some tolerance and got to have several drinks, each of which I'll detail in its own post.

The Hearst is what Kit made up for me approximately thirty seconds after we met for the first time. He said he'd gotten the recipe from no 9 Park. It was totally up my alley. Score one for the psychic bartenders of Boston.

A slight variation can be found here.

sazerac

1tsp simple syrup
3-4dashes Peychaud's bitters
2oz rye
absinthe rinse
lemon twist

Stir, serve in rocks glass. Recipe: Chuck Taggart

I've been lax about both trying new things, and blogging about them. We met up for a Friday night dinner at the Eastern Standard before a birthday party; Husband's been really stressed so I was the driver for the night, which is why I only had one drink. He, on the other hand, started off with two shots of Fernet and from that point on and with the tender ministrations of Jackson, he was in a much better mood quickly.

So, about that Sazerac: oh, yummy. A whole ton of Peychaud's bitters ended up in my glass which proved to be a Good Thing. A subtle, tasty drink. Sort of sweet but not in a tooth-hurty way.

nirvana cocktail

2oz Rye (I used Michter's US1)
1oz Amer Picon
1/4oz Maraschino
1/4oz Benedictine

Stir and strain, garnish with orange twist.

Source: spiritsandcocktails.com

I had such a crush on the pre-junkie Kurt Cobain... I am out of oranges so I skipped the garnish. This has a great rye-fuzziness to it, and the Picon is a nice sweet touch. Cool color, too.

-> Tiki tiki tiki!

http://www.waitiki.com/

WAITIKI presents An Exotic Beantown Sippin Safari featuring Beach Bum Berry! Pho Republique will host this exciting event, a tiki-filled evening which includes four amazing tropical concoctions available (and mixed by the Bum!), dim sum apps ala Pho, and a special photographic slideshow by the Bum about the history of these drinks. Br. Cleve to keep the beat going between sets and other surprises may follow! There will also be tiki raffle prizes given out!

For all you tikiphiles: drinks will be sourced from the original recipes of some classic cocktails found in legendary Boston tiki establishments of the past (Trader Vics, Kon Tiki Ports, etc.) Check out Beach Bum's 2007 Salon mag interview; a hoot!

RSVP today at sippinsafari@waitiki.com as there is limited seating for this free event. Or call (617) 262-0005.

flora vieja

From the Green Street menu:

2 oz El Jimador Blanco Tequila
1/2 oz St. Germain
1/4 oz Luxardo Maraschino
1 dash Angostura bitters

Fred had mentioned this one a while back to me: it was lovely, well-balanced and floral enough (but not too much!). Misty, you mix a mean drink. =) I don't know a hell of a lot about tequila, other than some horror stories that came out of uninformed drinking. Thankfully, I don't have any stories of my own.

I can't decide if having Green Street in its current incarnation transported back a few years to when I still lived in Central would be a good or bad thing... I'd be living there!

Fernet-Branca

I have never ever taken a shot of anything, until just now. For the past few hours I've had a tummyache because I had an entire pot of Assam over the course of an hour (but it was sooo good!). We went out, ate, and I still have a tummyache. Remembering that I'd just picked up a bottle of Fernet-Branca and that it's a digestif, I poured myself a half-shot. Having never taken a shot of anything before, I practiced with water! And then, down it went.

And I really sort of like this stuff. And I hope my tummy starts to feel the same too, and soon.