amour cocktail

3/4 oz Sweet Sherry (Lustau's East India Solera)
3/4 oz Dry Vermouth (Dolin)
2 dash Angostura Bitters (1 dash Angostura + 1 dash Regan's Orange)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist. Can substitute the Angostura for orange bitters.
After watching Kinsey on DVD last night, Andrea was in the mood for a light cocktail. Therefore, I flipped through the wine section of our newer edition (1972) of Trader Vic's Bartender's Guide and found the Amour Cocktail. The drink is basically a sweeter version of the Bamboo, a drink which features a Fino sherry -- one of the driest sherry types and rather pale and nutty. The sweet sherry we used, East India Solera, was not as sweet as the Pedro Ximénez, the other end of the spectrum from Fino, but was a 50-50 mix of PX and a dry Oloroso. Overall, the Amour Cocktail had a vibrant orange nose and the orange notes carried over into the sip. The orange flavors co-mingled with the botanicals in the bitters and vermouth, and this was followed by the oxidized wine flavor of the sherry. The orange flavors from the bitters, twist oils, and peel notes in the vermouth worked quite well with the sherry. While the drink could function decently as an aperitif, it seemed like the Amour Cocktail might be better if served with a dessert pairing.

As an interesting side note, the 1934 edition of Boothby's World Drinks And How to Mix Them contains a very similar drink called the Armour:

Armour
• 3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
• 3/4 oz Sherry
• 2 dash Orange Bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

I have no clue if the etymology of the drink name is distinct or whether it is a typo or misheard drink name. Given the oral history of drink names being like a game of Operator at times, it is possible that the Armour is an Amour Cocktail variant. I assume that the sherry to be used in the Armour is a drier one. And perhaps the sweet vermouth plus a dry, pale sherry is about equivalent to a dry vermouth plus a sweet, dark sherry in balance.

pattaya punch

Last night at Drink was the Pol Roger Champagne and Chartreuse Punch Party. A few weeks ago, we were contacted by John Gertsen of Drink to contribute a recipe for the event which required the use of the Pol Roger Champagne and either green or yellow Chartreuse as ingredients. The top six recipes were to be taste tested and the top three would be served.

Andrea and I decided to give the contest a go despite knowing that we were going up against "punch creations created by the best Boston bartenders". We each brainstormed on our own for a bit and then sorted out a recipe. I came up with the idea along the lines of a Pisco Punch with pisco, pineapple, and yellow Chartreuse as ingredients, while Andrea's idea incorporated tamarind, rum, and green Chartreuse. She was against the idea of the pisco, so I swapped it to another grape product and made the base spirit an equal part mix of amber rum and Cognac akin to the Fish House Punch. As the recipe was shaping up, the yellow Chartreuse seemed too subtle and I agreed that green Chartreuse was the way to go. To complement the tamarind, I included my pineapple juice idea as well as some lime juice for crispness. And for a little extra complexity, Oolong tea was added to the mix. Since the tamarind made me think of Thai food, I came up with the name of Pattaya Punch after the city in Thailand which is home base for my old Muay Thai academy, Sityodtong, where a lot of punches were had of other varieties.

Pattaya Punch

1 bottle (750 mL) Pol Rogers Brut Reserve
8 oz Green Chartreuse
12 oz Cognac
12 oz Amber Rum
8 oz Tamarind "Syrup" (*)
6 oz Pineapple Juice
4 oz Lime Juice
8 oz Oolong Tea
8 oz Simple Syrup

(*) Take a 4 inch x 2 inch x 1/2 inch block of dried tamarind and add 12 oz boiling water. Let sit for 15 minutes using a spoon to break up tamarind while steeping. Strain to yield approx. 8 oz tamarind "syrup".

Mix ingredients in a bowl with a large ice block to cool. Add Champagne before serving. Serve cold in 4 oz punch cups. No garnish.

We opted for reconstituting dried tamarind blocks (available at Indian markets and elsewhere) instead of juice since most of the more common tamarind juices like Goya are only a small percentage tamarind and a large percentage sweetener (most likely could be used in this recipe though with an increase of juice and a decrease of simple syrup). We submitted our recipe and hoped for the best. And we waited, and by Sunday night, we assumed that we had lost. In fact, we did not hear anything until the morning of the event. At that point, we learned that not only did we make the top six recipes that were tested, but we made the cut for the event!

The punches last night were in bowls labeled 1, 2, and 3. We later learned that Drink bartender Josie Packard made the first recipe. It featured Old Overholt Rye, a Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal, yellow Chartreuse, Champagne, and an orange twist as some of the ingredients. It had a delightful smokey note from the Mezcal and Andrea favored this (not-ours) one. The one I favored was the second one by Corey Bunnewith, ex-Drink soon Jamie Bissonnette's new restaurant Coppa. Corey's punch had an amazing earthy note to it; people associated that flavor to everything from licorice to peanut butter. The secret to that note turned out to be roasted pumpkin seeds. The other ingredients that I recall were rye and a sarsaparilla-root infusion. Ours was bowl number 3 but we assumed it was actually bowl number 2 before tasting it since it was more brown (Corey got confused as well in the opposite way). The punch in Drink's hands turned out more dry and tart than ours either due to scale up in citrus not being linear or due to the lime we used in our micro-punch experiments (we experimented with 1/24th sized versions) being different from theirs. I do not recall which rum they used (Andrea thinks it was an aged Rhum Barbancourt) but the Cognac was Pierre Ferrand Ambre. Moreover, they were apparently more aggressive in extracting fluid by squeezing out the reconstituted tamarind.
Throughout the night, people sampled the punches at their leisure and had a chance to vote for their favorite punch. We were quite surprised when they announced the winners at midnight and we did not hear our names read for third or second place. Woah, our punch won! Thanks to all who came out and tried the punches and to Drink for hosting this event!

elk's own cocktail

3/4 oz Rye Whiskey (Rittenhouse 100)
3/4 oz Port Wine (Ramos Pinto Ruby)
Juice of 1/2 Lemon (3/4 oz)
1 tsp Sugar (1/4 oz Simple Syrup)
1 Egg White

Shake once without ice and once with. Garnish with a slice of pineapple.
Last night we decided to stay in and hang out with our sick kitty, Sadie. Sadie insisted that we open up the Trader Vic's 1948 Bartender's Guide and pick out a drink. Well that's more of a back story than we could find on the drink that we eventually selected, the Elk's Own Cocktail. Despite my searching, there was no history for it such as it being created at an Elk's Lodge bar or other. The Elk's Own recipe fell somewhere between a classic Manhattan and a Rye Sour, and it made good use of the egg whites and partially zested lemon we had left over. The drink itself had a pretty ruby color underneath a frothy white head; flavor-wise, it was sweet and lemony with the balance shifting more toward tart on successive sips. The egg smoothed out the rye and citrus notes, and it and the port provided an elegant richness to the Elk's Own Cocktail.

bonita applebum

1 oz Laird's Applejack
3/4 oz Fernet Branca
3/4 oz Drambuie

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass. Twist an orange peel over the top and drop in.

On Thursday, Andrea and I attended the Fernet Branca Industry night at the Franklin Southie co-hosted by DrinkBoston. On the menu, besides shots of Fernet in ice shot glasses, were 6 cocktails created by bartenders across town. The one that caught my eye was the Bonita Applebum created by Emma Hollander of Trina's Starlight Lounge. Joy Richards was one of the two bartenders behind the bar that night and was the one who made me this drink. The bright orange nose led into a rather nice late autumn cocktail. The Drambuie's honey flavor and mouthfeel balanced the sting and bite of the Fernet Branca and it worked well with the light apple notes. At the swallow was the Fernet's lingering menthol herbalness. Without seeing the proportions, the drink had an Old-fashioned cocktail feel to it, although after later receiving the recipe, it does not appear as such. My one complaint was that the apple flavors were not rich enough for me. Laird's Applejack is only 35% apple-derived (the rest is grain neutral spirits), while Calvados or Laird's Bonded, both 100% apple spirit, would have worked better with this recipe to give a more fall feel to the drink.

See the other recipes served that night at the DrinkBoston blog!

beaux arts

1 oz Dry Gin (Aviation)
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth (Dolin)
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth (Dolin)
1 tsp Pineapple Juice
1 tsp Orange Juice
2 dash Anisette (Herbsainte)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Note: this recipe is double the original volumes.
On Wednesday night, I found the scrap of paper that I had written the Beaux Arts Cocktail down on, and decided that it was time to give it a try. The recipe was from our 1948 Bartender's Guide by Trader Vic and seemed like an interesting variation on the Income Tax or Bronx cocktail. I also found the Beaux Arts in Stan Jones' book (which is where CocktailDB acquired their recipe) that ups the juices slightly to a 1/4 oz each (1 tsp is 1/6 oz); however, I decided to go with the older recipe. When tasting the cocktail, the vermouths were detectable first on the sip followed by the orange and pineapple juices. Next, the gin and then the Herbsainte's anise notes rounded out the swallow. The pineapple came across more as an aroma than a flavor; moreover, it donated a nice lacy froth over the top of the drink. The Beaux Arts would make an excellent pre-dinner drink -- while it is light, there is a lot going on flavor-wise to prepare one's palate.

oriental

1/2 Rye Whiskey (1 1/2 oz Sazerac 6 Year)
1/4 Sweet Vermouth (3/4 oz Dolin)
1/4 White Curacao (3/4 oz Curacao of Curacao)
Juice of 1/2 Lime (~1/2 oz)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Earlier in the week, I realized that I had been neglecting the Anvil's 100 Drink list and my goal of goal of completing it by the end of 2009, so I scanned the 13 remaining drinks and picked out the Oriental for I was in the mood for some rye. I opened up the Savoy Cocktail Book and found the recipe which I scaled to 3 oz (plus 1/2 oz juice) pre-melt. Perhaps back in 1930, scaling to 2 oz might have been more proportional to the size of that era's limes, or would make for a slightly drier drink with today's limes. The Savoy gives a brief history of the drink, "In August, 1924, an American Engineer nearly died of fever in the Philippines, and only the extraordinary devotion of Dr. B-- saved his life. As an act of gratitude, the Engineer gave Dr. B-- the recipe of this cocktail." I have no clue how anecdotal that story is, but I was game for trying such a drink of thanksgiving.
On the nose, Andrea picked up a lot of the rye aromas whereas I focused more on the citrus. The spice of the rye and the bite of the lime were decently balanced by the sweetness of the curacao and vermouth, although the precise intended ratio of citrus to sweet is unknown due to the imprecise ratios in the recipe besides the variability in lime size. Our chosen ratio was in the medium range for our taste buds and was not overly sweet. Perhaps I needed a Dr. B, for while drinking the Oriental, I kept detecting phantom orgeat notes. Overall, the Oriental was a bit more intriguing than your average rye sour although not a superlative cocktail in my book. Perhaps it would be more enjoyable and refreshing on a warmer night reminiscent of the Philippines instead of a chilly November one.

helen the pacific

3/4 oz Lemon Hart 80 Demerara Rum
3/4 oz Neisson Rhum Agricole (*)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
1/4 oz St. Elizabeth's Allspice Dram
1/4 oz Velvet Falernum
1/4 oz Grenadine
1/4 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a Tiki mug filled with crushed ice. Add straw and garnish with a lime twist and a cherry.

I eventually did acquire a Tiki drink at Drink's Tiki Sunday night. When Cali Gold came by to discuss drink options for our second round, I asked for her for a Tiki drink that I have not had before. She replied that Sam Treadway just made one with rhum agricole and asked if that would be acceptable. And how could I say no to rhum agricole?

The drink, Helen the Pacific, was created by Tiki enthusiast Randy Wong who was sitting behind us at the center bar. Randy's Tiki interests go beyond the libation as he leads an exotica band, the Waitiki 7, which we had a chance to see at the Beantown Sippin' Safari Tiki fest held at Pho Republique two years ago. I could not confirm if the drink's name was a take on the 1968 World War II movie, Hell in the Pacific starring Toshiro Mifune, but it seems likely.

Helen the Pacific had the citrus, allspice, and clove flavors from the lime, dram, and falernum in the front part of the sip. The Maraschino notes became more evident in later sips and followed the citrus and spice wave. Surprisingly, the rum flavors were more elusive which is odd since rhum agricole is often not that subtle. Overall, it was well balanced and a delight to drink although I wish the rum flavors were a little stronger. However, many drinks of the genre shoot to mask the flavor of the alcohol so perhaps it was more authentic that way.

(*) Post note: I emailed Sam and asked which rhum agricole he used, and he replied, "I used the blanc... but Randy Wong believes that the Gold makes it infinitely better".

leathercoat

2 oz White Horse Blended Scotch
1 barspoon Roxbury Russet Apple Butter (see text below)
2 dash Fee's Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters

Stir in a rocks glass with a large ice chunk. Garnish with a sage leaf.

Two nights ago, Andrea and I went to Drink and sat at the ice bar where John Gertsen was tending. Although it was Tiki Sunday, the drink that John suggested that I try first did not follow the night's theme. However, it was one that Misty Kalkofen recently created for a dinner at Eastern Standard in honor of Jill DeGroff's new book, Lush Life: Portraits from the Bar. The star ingredient of this Fall cocktail was apple butter made from Roxbury Russet apples which are believed to be the oldest cultivar of apples grown in the United States. The apples originated not too far from the bar in Roxbury, now a suburb of Boston, during the mid 1600s. The drink is named after the cultivar's nickname of "leathercoat" due to the apple's rough, russeted skin. As for the apple butter recipe, John seemed to suggest that Misty followed a standard recipe and used shredded apples, sugar, cider vinegar, and some salt and cooked it down to the consistency of maple syrup. John stated that they used the peels which are rich in flavor but left out the cores which contain a large part of the pectin. And note, there are commercially available apple butters on the market if you do not feel like making your own batch (although you will have less choice in the apple varietal).
The Leathercoat had a rich Scotch and cinnamon nose with hints of chlorophyll from the sage leaf garnish. The apple butter contributed a considerable mouthfeel to the drink and worked rather well flavor-wise with the Scotch and cinnamon (from the bitters). Overall, the Leathercoat was a delightful Old-fashioned style cocktail with a pleasant degree of smokiness, spice, and tart apple goodness which worked well with the autumn night.

golfer's special

1/3 Cherry Brandy (1 oz, Trimbach Kirsch, see text)
1/3 Dry Gin (1 oz, North Shore Distillers No. 6)
1/6 Lillet Blanc (1/2 oz)
1/6 Lemon Juice (1/2 oz)
1 dash Orange Bitters (Angostura Orange)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
On Friday night, I flipped through the 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book looking for a drink to make; the Golfer's Special seemed rather intriguing with the cherry brandy and Lillet so we decided to give it a go. The identity of "cherry brandy" was a little confusing but I figured it meant kirsch instead of a cherry liqueur such as Cherry Heering or Maraschino since an eau de vie better matched the subtlety of Lillet in my mind than the other forms. Indeed, the Golfer's Special was delightful with kirsch and gin flavors up front and lemony and Lillet flavors on the swallow. The drink was rather dry and tart over all, and while it was enjoyable to drink, it made me wonder if I had made the proper choice. Therefore, I made the drink with Cherry Heering and switched the gin to a hardier one, Beefeater. While the drink was no longer sharply dry, the Heering was too dominant and it donated a syrupy, winey component to the mix and made my mind think that there was Dubonnet in it. Although I did not try Maraschino liqueur, I did add a barspoon of simple syrup to my first drink which seemed to split the difference in sweetness without masking the more subtle flavors. The touch of sugar made the drink a bit less sharp and might be a good addition to the Golfer's Special for many people when making the recipe with a dry eau de vie.