czech matador

1 oz Old Overholt Rye
1 oz Jelinek Fernet
1/2 oz Orange Juice
1/2 oz Cherry Heering

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a cherry.
For a second drink, I asked bartender Kyle Powell at Backbar for the Czech Matador off of the tradesman section of the menu. The name and ingredients suggested that it was a riff on the classic Blood and Sand, and I was intrigued for I know how well Fernet and Cherry Heering can pair such as in the Pinto and the Sainted Devil. Once in the glass, the Czech Matador waved its cherry-scented cape at my nose. The cherry continued on into the sip along with the orange notes, and the swallow began with rye and herbal notes from the Fernet and ended with a return of the Cherry Heering on the finish.

loneliest monk

1 1/2 oz Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy
1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1/2 oz Benedictine
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1 barspoon Absinthe
1 dash Mushroom Tincture (*)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.
(*) Might be shiitake. Recipe would work well even without this tincture.
After the Independent, I headed around the corner to Backbar where I got to sit at the bar of not a current but a previous Russell House Tavern co-worker, Kyle Powell. For a first drink, I asked Kyle for the Loneliest Monk, a drink of the day that I had spotted on Twitter three days before, and I assumed that the monk aspect refers to both the Chartreuse and the Benedictine liqueurs. Once mixed, the Loneliest Monk offered an apple and herbal aroma. A lemon and honey sip was followed by an apple and herbal swallow. Next, the swallow ended with anise, spice, and a lingering earthiness from the mushroom tincture. Overall, the cocktail came across like a citrussy Widow's Kiss with perhaps the balance of a Hoop La.

somerville 75

3/4 oz Gin
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Green Chartreuse

Shake with ice and strain into a flute glass. Top with cava and garnish with a lime slice.
Two Sundays ago, I ventured down to the Independent for brunch. While I don't usually do busy brunches, I wanted to visit my fellow Russell House Tavern bartender Hannah Moore for she works at the Indo on Sundays. After the brunch rush died down, I asked Hannah for the Somerville 75 off of the cocktail menu. The name, besides being a riff on a French 75, reminded me of Trina's Starlite Lounge's Pimm's Cup variation, the Somerville Cup. Once mixed, the Somerville 75 began with a lime aroma with hints of Green Chartreuse's herbalness. A carbonated wine and lime sip gave way to a herbal swallow and a lime peel-like finish. In essence, a Green Ghost meets a Champagne Cocktail.

[gambit]

3/4 oz Bols Genever
3/4 oz Pisco
3/4 oz El Maestro Sierra Oloroso Sherry
3/4 oz Kina L'Avion d'Or
1 small dash Salt Tincture (sub 1 pinch salt)

Build in a rocks glass and stir briefly without ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with orange oil. Note: This is a room temperature cocktail.

For a second drink at Spoke, I turned to bartender Lena Webb to see if she was game. When she asked for ideas, I suggested a four equal parts drink with split spirit and split wine (or aromatized wine). Lena thought for a bit then built the drink up off of her love of pairing pisco with Oloroso sherry which creates a grape nut effect. As she tasted the mix before dilution, she commented that it was drinkable as is, and I encouraged her to take the Scaffa route and eschew chilling and dilution. For a name, I considered the origin of the two base spirits and thought of the chess set up, the Dutch-Peruvian Gambit; shortening it to the Gambit seemed like a better place holder name.
The drink began with orange oil over a malty aroma that shared some herbal complexity. A grape and malt sip gave way to a funky, nutty, and sherry swallow that ended with a lingering sharp note from the Genever. Definitely very drinkable at room temperature and undiluted.

a season of faith's perfection

1 1/2 oz Bols Genever
1/2 oz Benedictine
1/2 oz Bonal
1/2 oz La Grange Muscadet
2 dash Peychaud's Bitters
1 dash Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Twist a lemon peel over the top.

Two Thursdays ago, I stopped into Spoke after getting dinner and beer at Flatbread. For a first drink, I asked bartender Sam Karachi if he had any cocktail ideas. Sam suggested on that he described as sweet, bitter, and malty called A Season of Faith's Perfection.
Once mixed, the lemon oil greeted the nose and helped to brighten the sweet, malty, and wine-laden sip. Next, the Muscadet wine softened the transition to Genever notes on the swallow, and this was followed by grape, herbal, and bitter notes. Moreover, as the drink warmed up, the Bonal began to take a large role in the flavor profile.

[search for the cure]

1 oz Zucca
1/2 oz Dolin Blanc Vermouth
1/2 oz Palo Cortado Sherry
3/4 oz Punt e Mes
1 barspoon Lemon Juice
1 barspoon Grenadine
3 dash Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain over a rocks glass with a partially salted rim and a large ice cube. Garnish with the oil from 6 lemon swaths.

After Trade, or technically after getting beers at Stoddard's and going to Trade, I made my way down Congress Street to Drink. There, I found a seat in front of bartender Will Thompson who offered up lower proof offerings. One curious one was a bitter wine-laden one that he based off of Kirk Estinopal of the Cure's Search for Delicious; he also mentioned that it was a hybrid idea with a drink called Three Inches of Blood -- a drink that I could find no recipe but only find the band that it was named after.
For a drink name, I honored the original drink name and an event back in 2009. When I became a finalist in a bitters competition at Tales of the Cocktail 6 weeks out, we made up our minds to go at 5 weeks out. At 4 weeks out, we decided that the Big Easy would be a great place to elope and by 3 1/2 weeks out, we were getting rings. Once in New Orleans on the Tuesday night before both Tales starting and our wedding vows, we wanted to go to the Cure; we commented that this was our bachelor and bachelorette party. We set off on foot from the French Quarter in a straight line to the Cure. What we did not expect was that this path would take us through the Magnolia Projects, one of the worst neighborhoods in New Orleans. It was also one of the hardest hit areas from Katrina. Between the cockroaches on the sidewalk that would fly up and smack you in the face when you disturbed them to the people on the streets trying to shake us down, it was an interesting walk. We later learned that if Katrina had not happened, we might not have made it out alive to the other side that night. However, we walked with driven bravery and without valence and made it to the Cure. When we got there, bartender Rhiannon Enlil was amazed, declared that we needed a drink, and admonished us to be more careful. A more full account of that first night at the Cure can be found here. Basically, nothing stopped us that night which is a pretty symbolic for our marriage that began the next day.

industry fav

1 3/4 oz Nolet's Silver Gin
3/4 oz Fernet Branca
1 oz Ginger Syrup
1 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a lemon wedge and add straws.
For my next drink at Trade, I asked bartender Tenzin Samdo for the Industry Favorite. The combination of gin, Fernet Branca, and ginger has worked before in recipes like the Midnight Elixir and the Restauranteur so I was definitely game to try this drink. Once mixed, the Industry Fav offered a bright and spicy ginger and lemon aroma. The lemon notes continued on into the sip, and the swallow offered Nolet's strong juniper signature along with Fernet's minty-menthol and the syrup's ginger flavors. Indeed, I could see this drink being perfect after a large meal or with some soda water as a hangover palliative the morning after.

volstead act

2 oz Bulleit Rye
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Lillet Blanc
1 oz Lemon Juice
2 dash Bitter Truth Orange Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Two Wednesdays ago, I ventured down to Trade to visit bartender Tenzin Samdo. I met Tenzin at the Brattle Theater a week before the showing of Hey Bartender a week or so before, and after chatting with him after the movie was over, I knew that I had to sit at his bar in the near future. Once there, I scanned the menu and selected the Volstead Act as my first drink; the libation only shares a rye whiskey base with the similarly named classic, the Volstead Cocktail from Harry McElhone's Barflies and Cocktails, and is a different recipe entirely. Both are a nod to the act that enforced the 18th Amendment to bring about Prohibition though.
The Volstead Act's lemon twist contributed greatly to the drink's nose. A semi-crisp lemon and citrus wine sip gave way to a swallow that began with rye and ended with Green Chartreuse flavors calmed by the citrus juice.

:: visit to tree house brewing ::

Two weeks ago, Andrea and I made a trip out to Central Mass. Wedged in between hitting the antique marts in Putnam, CT, and getting dinner at Paul & Elizabeths in Northampton, MA, was our real reason for going -- Tree House Brewing Co. in Brimfield, MA. I first learned of Tree House at the American Craft Beer Fest at the end of May. There, I had their Tornado, an American Pale Ale filled with grapefruit and pine notes, but I was blown away by their Space & Time, a new creation of theirs from April that hit me with dark fruits, molasses, and coffee flavors. However, after the brewfest, it was their Julius IPA that everyone was raving about. When I looked it up on BeerAdvocate, some people went so far as to declare it the best IPA in Massachusetts. Soon after, Julius IPA was entered into my wishlist on the Untappd beer app, and two months later when Andrea asked if I wanted to make a beer-themed road trip, Tree House was my reply.
Once we made it to Brimfield and traveled up the rural roads, we came upon the brewery. A brewery that looked more like a farmhouse with a barn albeit one with a yard-turned parking lot full of cars. Well, parking lot doesn't do the beauty of the place justice as I will explain in a bit. We wandered inside and were greeted by owner Dean Rohan. He was curious as to why we were here, and when I replied "for the beer," he shot off a few feet to ring a ship's bell to celebrate my good answer. I described trying his brews at ACBF, and he then gave me a overview of the brewery activities and explained how to get growlers filled. I was also there to see if I could wrangle a keg to put on as a rotator at Russell House Tavern where I work, but Dean explained that they were at capacity and there was a long waiting list. After viewing the brewing facility in the other half of the barn (photo below), I quickly understood their limitations. They had no clue of what sort of monster they had created -- all by high quality coupled with word of mouth.
Unfortunately, the wait to get growlers was long, but fortunately they make the time pass pleasurably. Before you leave the barn, there are couches to sit in and lots of bowls of snackfood to eat -- most notable was the housemade salsa. Outside, was a glorious koi pond with rather friendly fish. Although they might have been friendly since I was sitting on the footbridge where they probably get fed from a few times a day.
And yes, towards the back part of the property was the namesake tree house that was free to explore. Apparently, music and firepits are also common means of entertainment on the grounds although not while we were there. Eventually, our name was called and the three growlers we purchased were filled; they do limit growler sales per person to prevent unfair distribution of their product, but we were well under our maximum allotment. Besides the Julius IPA that I desired, I also got another Tornado APA and a milk stout called That’s What She Said. I do regret passing over their ESB, Old Man Special Bitter, in favor of retrying the Tornado, but that pale ale was rather good last time. Hopefully, it will be there again as one of the selections the next time.
So far we have only cracked open our growler of Julius IPA. My notes were, "Grapefruit, orange, floral, clean pine finish. Very drinkable." The comparisons to The Alchemist's highly sought after Heady Topper were understandable but there was a little more complexity here beyond the similar grapefruit that predominates Head Topper. We'll definitely be back once our three growlers are drained.