mackinnon

1 1/2 oz Drambuie
1/2 oz Old Monk Rum
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Top with soda water, and add straw.

On Monday night, Andrea and I headed over to Rendezvous for some dinner and drinks. It turns out that Mondays are their tapas night which is a supplement to their regular menu. For drinks, bartender Scott Holliday let me peruse through the house cocktail book for a selection. The one that stood out was the MacKinnon, an interesting highball that uses Drambuie liqueur as the primary spirit in a John Collins sort of way. The drink is named after the captain who gave Prince Charles Edward Stuart sanctuary back in 1746. The lore is that Captain John MacKinnon was rewarded by the prince with the recipe for Drambuie for his efforts, although some write off the tale as marketing ploy to sell more product. Either way, the recipe honoring the good captain first appeared in the 1938 Esquire Drink Book.

Scott and I bandied about what rum would work best. Apparently, the original recipe calls for a white rum; however, his recipe only lists "rum" and we figured a richly flavored one like Old Monk might give the drink a little bit more body. The MacKinnon proved to be a worthy highball with the Drambuie's sweetness being balanced quite well by the citrus and soda. The nose was filled with the citrus and the rum aromas, and the sip was rich, sweet, and Scotchy. The swallow contained the citrus crispness along with a cinnamon sort of flavor. When Scott straw-tasted the drink, he commented that the MacKinnon was his "new favorite Tiki"-esque drink.

punchius pilate

My friend Matt called upon me again to make a punch for his party. The last time he made that request, I assembled the classic Xalapa Punch. This time it was for his 10th Annual Easter Party which every year has a tequila theme. Not sure how tequila relates to the Easter story -- perhaps agave look like a crown of thorns (*) -- but who am I to question this tasty tradition? The problem was that he wanted a tequila punch, and both the classic and more modern books in my library are surely lacking in this sort of recipe. So it was time to improvise and channel my punch-fu. Furthermore, he asked for it to be refreshing, so a challenging flavor profile was out of the question.

Thinking of what would go well with tequila, I was drawn to the idea of a smokey tea, and Lapsang Souchong was one that we had in the house. The tea concept evolved into a tea syrup that was spiced with clove, cinnamon, and ancho chili powder. For citrus, I decided to soften the flavor by using mainly grapefruit juice with a half part of lime juice to add some crispness while leaving the drink refreshing. I had been toying around with using a liqueur to add some more flavor to the mix with ideas for Drambuie, St. Germain, or Maraschino. Instead, I opted for a tawny port for some richness besides adding a little Sangre de Cristo symbolism to the punch. My original idea was for soda water to lighten up the mix; however, in the testing stage, the drink was a little too dry. Instead, I switched the soda water to ginger ale to work double duty to donate bubbles and sweetness.

750 mL Reposado Tequila (Lunazul)
8 oz Spiced Lapsang Souchong Tea Syrup (**)
8 oz Grapefruit Juice (Pink)
4 oz Lime Juice
6 oz Port (Sandeman Tawny)
500 mL Ginger Ale

Chill syrup and ginger ale in refrigerator and tequila in the freezer. Mix in bowl, add ice ring (***), and add gingerale. Stir gentle, and serve.

(**) Lapsang Souchong Tea Syrup
1. Boil water and measure out 6 oz. Add Lapsang Souchong tea (I added 3 tea bags to 12 oz for a double batch) and let steep for 5 minutes.
2. While the tea is steeping, muddle 1-2 cloves (I used 3 for a double batch), add 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8th tsp ancho chili powder, and the half the zest of a grapefruit.
3. Measure out 6 oz (by volume) of sugar. Add an ounce or two to the zest/spice mixture and muddle to extract the zest's oil.
4. After the tea is steeped, add in all sugar, zest, and spices. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Cover and let sit for a few hours. Strain through a tea towel and store in refrigerator. Makes around 8 oz of syrup.

(***) Ice ring: Use a metal bundt cake pan, add a centimeter or so of water and let freeze. Add citrus slices and add enough water to cover the slices and let freeze. Add another centimeter or so of water and let freeze. Repeat layers until pan is full. I used a layer of orange (rings cut in quarters) over a layer of lemon (rings cut in quarters as well).

Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of the punch and by the time I thought of it, it was mainly gone. Yes, it went quick -- a double portion of the recipe above. Moreover, the ice ring garnered a few Martha Stewart comments thrown my way. The popular name for the punch ended up being Punchius Pilate which kept with the holiday theme. I do regret not getting organized sooner and ordering plastic crucifixes or other to freeze in the ice or to use as garnish.

In retrospect, the spice mixture could have been augmented. Perhaps doubling the cinnamon, ancho chili powder, and grapefruit zest might have added more flavors on the swallow. The clove seemed at the right level to me though. Then again, no one complained that the punch was boring or flavorless so perhaps the levels were just right.

(*) I apologize in advance if any of this offensive to your religion. I know only enough about Christianity to be dangerous, so there is a decent chance that some of it strayed from the intended light-hearted holiday humor into something else. And after 2 or 3 glasses of this punch, I would hope that bygones would be bygones.

sabath cocktail

3/4 oz French Brandy (Château de Plassons VSOP)
3/4 oz Port Wine (Sandeman Tawny)
1/2 oz Black Coffee
1/2 barspoon Sugar
1 Egg

Stir the sugar and coffee until the sugar is dissolved. Add rest of ingredients and shake without ice. Add ice, shake, and strain into a claret (wine) glass.

On Saturday night, I was flipping through Jacques Straub's 1914 Drinks when I was finally lured into making the Sabath [sic] Cocktail. Overall, the recipe was very much like the Coffee Cocktail, except that the Coffee Cocktail unlike the Sabath Cocktail, well um, strangely lacks coffee. With recent java-containing successes such as No. 9 Park's Orinoco and the coffee-infused pisco-containing Zambito, I was curious to see how well the Sabath Cocktail would fair.
The beginning of the sip contained the brandy's heat coupled with the coffee's roastedness, and this was followed by the coffee's pleasantly bitter aftertaste on the swallow. I was surprised at how well the port complemented the coffee perhaps through their respective richnesses. As the Sabath Cocktail warmed up, the coffee and port flavors became more apparent and the drink reminded me of a lot of coffee syrup.

crepuscule

1/2 oz Cognac (Château de Plassons VSOP)
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1 barspoon Raspberry Syrup (Homemade)
1 dash Orange Bitters (Angostura Orange)
1 drop Bitters (Abbott's)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Four raspberries muddled in a spoon of simple syrup can substitute for the raspberry syrup.
Our second drink on Friday night came from the 1934 edition of Boothby with the curious name of Crepuscule (meaning twilight). The drink had a rather attractive color that reminded Andrea of tangerines. The smell also reminded us of citrus as it had a spicy orange aroma due to our bitters choices. The Crepuscule had a dry fruit flavor and would probably make for a better aperitif cocktail than our attempt at a nightcap. Moreover, with the dash of Angostura Orange Bitters complemented by the dry vermouth, the drink was surprisingly much more orange flavored than it was raspberry.

white wine punch

2 oz White Wine (Cantarutti Ribolla Gialla)
1 oz Arrack (Batavia Arrack van Oosten)
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a highball glass filled with ice cubes. Fill with soda water, and decorate with a slice of pineapple an a slice of orange (orange slices and a Luxardo Maraschino cherry). Serve with straws.

On Friday night, Andrea had opened a bottle of wine to go with dinner. Later, to use the remainder of the bottle, I found a recipe in our 1947 edition of Trader Vic for White Wine Punch which seemed alluring due to its inclusion of Batavia Arrack. Being frugal with the glassware, I used the wine glasses already on the table instead of fetching the proper highball glasses. The result ended up being a little stronger than the recipe intended.
White wine flavors were on the front of the sip with lemon and arrack on the swallow. The drink was rather crisp from the lemon coupled with the soda water, and it had a pleasant degree of sharp funkiness from the Batavia Arrack. Overall, it was a refreshing drink that would have been more refreshing had I made a tall drink out of it. However, the recipe seemed like it was missing something. The drink would definitely benefit from a barspoon or two of liqueur; perhaps some Maraschino, Cointreau, or St. Germain might elevate this punch to something rather elegant and noteworthy. Although I could see this recipe sans liqueur working quite well in much warmer weather.

joe's fashion

1 oz Gin (Bombay Dry)
1 oz Applejack (Marquis de Saint-Loup Calvados)
1/2 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Five Spice Simple Syrup (recipe)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. I added a lemon twist.
One of the drinks that stood out in Green Street's cocktail book was the Joe's Fashion. Since I was not sure whether or not the Green Street bar had five spice syrup made up, I decided to make this one at home last Tuesday. The drink was invented by Misty Kalkofen back in 2007 for a James Beard Taste America event; moreover, it was served that night along side cocktails by Jackson Cannon and John Gertsen. Our Joe's Fashion was rather apple at the beginning of the sip especially since we upgraded to Calvados from the recipe's call for Laird's Applejack (which weighs in at only 35% apple distillate). The apple was followed by the lemon in the middle, and spices and gin on the swallow. In addition, the Punt e Mes' botanicals meshed with the five spice simple syrup rather well. We were left still clueless as to Joe's identity, but we were quite delighted by the tribute.

Postnote 10/22/10: Joe's identity was revealed in a LUPEC Boston post.

Joe’s Fashion is named after the filly that Joseph Laird Sr rode in the 1840′s. Widely hailed as one of the greatest filly racers and top money winners of all time, Fashion’s abililties and winnings made it possible for the Laird’s to move their distillery to Scobeyville NJ.

le sime

1/4 jigger Rum (1/2 oz Zacapa 23)
1/4 jigger Orange Juice (1/2 oz)
1/4 jigger Cherry Brandy (1/2 oz Cherry Heering)
1 barspoon Simple Syrup
1/2 Egg White

Shake one round without ice and one round with; strain into a cocktail glass.

On Monday night, I was flipping through Boothby's 1934 edition of World Drinks and How to Mix Them when I spotted the Le Sime. The orange juice coupled with the cherry brandy made me think of the Blood and Sand regardless of there being no Scotch (or sweet vermouth) in the recipe. Andrea gave the thumbs up for an egg white drink and I decided that this curious recipe needed to be tried.
For a rum, we decided to go richly flavored and splurged on the Zacapa 23. I think Lemon Hart 80 would have worked splendidly here, as would almost any flavorful rum. Our Le Sime started with dark rum aromas coupled with a little bit of cherry and some woody notes. The beginning of the sip was full of rum and spice with some sort of fruitiness on the swallow. This fruitiness was not distinctly orange or cherry but it definitely complemented the taste of the rum.

burnt fuselage

1 oz Pierre Ferrand Ambre Cognac
1 oz Grand Marnier
1 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
For my second drink at Green Street, I pulled a recipe from their cocktail book (an even larger set of recipes than the 6 page big cocktail menu) and ordered the Burnt Fuselage from Derric Crothers. This equal parts recipe can be found in the 1927 Barflies and Cocktails book, and Paul Clarke did a decent job of describing its history over at the Cocktail Chronicles. The drink had a rich orange nose from the Grand Marnier; when this was combined with the fresh lemon oil, the aroma smelled very much like Derric had used an orange peel as a twist instead of lemon. The Grand Marnier provided a robust orange flavor as well, and its sweetness was partially countered by the equal part of dry vermouth; still, the balance was a bit on the sweet side for me. The Cognac donated a vanilla aftertaste which followed the vermouth and Grand Marnier spice on the swallow.

kingston

1 oz Berkshire Mountain Distillers' Ragged Mountain Rum
3/4 oz Gordon's Gin
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
2 dash Grenadine

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.
On Sunday night, Andrea and I ventured down to Green Street where bartender Derric Crothers was behind the stick. For my first drink, I requested the Kingston off of the big cocktail menu. The Kingston's aroma smelled like a very dark rum cocktail with hints of lemon; surprisingly, it was more of a molasses note than one would expect from an amber rum like Ragged Mountain. The lemon and gin flavors appeared on the swallow where their sharpness balanced the rich rum and sweet grenadine flavors at the beginning of the sip.