Monday, March 5, 2012

angry barista

2 oz Dewar's 12 Year Blended Scotch
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1/4 oz Fee's Falernum Syrup
1 dash Bittermans Tiki Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with an orange twist and add a straw.

Two Sundays ago, Andrea and I got dinner in Chinatown and then headed over to Stoddard's for drinks. For my first cocktail, I was drawn in by their new Tiki offering on the menu, the Angry Barista. The name reminded me of the Suffering Bar Steward (often called the Suffering Bastard); however, after the whiskey and lime juice, the two recipes diverged enough that the similarity was more in my head than in the glass. I was curious about a Tiki drink with a Scotch base; Beachbum Berry only offered a single Scotch-based drink, the Cocoanut Grove Cooler, in Remixed and the closest I can think of, Avery's Arrack-ari, only had a Talisker rinse.
The Angry Barista started with an orange oil aroma that later included cinnamon notes. The slightly sweet citrus sip led into a smoky Scotch swallow that ended drier with cinnamon and clove notes. The Scotch was not out of place here, and the smoke notes worked well as they have in other smoke-driven Tiki-like drinks like Esmino's Escape.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Trader Vic also had some whiskey sour variations, including the London Sour. I may be wrong, but I do believe this is also Scotch based.

Jordan said...

I've made one tiki drink with blended scotch so far and was pretty pleased with the results, so I'm glad to see another one. Might also be fun to see how a heavily sherried scotch plays off against falernum or allspice dram.

frederic said...

Jason, I checked and you are correct -- the London Sour is the Eastern Sour made with blended Scotch instead. It was only served at his UK location(s). I haven't gone through our early or late Trader Vic books to see if there are more yet.

Jordan, I am guessing probably rather well. The Avery's Arrack-ari uses one to good effect, and sherry seems to work great with rum, tiki spices/syrups, and various fruit juices.

Dagreb said...

Luckily the worst I've ever encountered is an Indifferent Barista...