luna de cosecha

1 1/2 oz Espolon Añejo Tequila (Reposado)
3/4 oz Cocchi Sweet Vermouth
1/4 oz Cynar
1/4 oz Creme de Cacao (Marie Brizard)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe. Garnish with a cherry.
After the Twin Six Cocktail, I decided to make a recipe that I spotted in the most recent issue of Chilled Magazine called the Luna de Cosecha. The drink was created by Justin Noel of 1534 in New York, and it seemed worthy of making since both Cynar and crème de cacao partner so well with tequila. However, I had not had them both paired with agave in the same drink; in fact, the only drink that combined forces of Cynar and crème de cacao that I can recall was Colin Shearn's Transatlantic Giant with rum and whiskey as the base. Once prepared, the Luna de Cocecha proffered tequila and cacao aromas. A grape like sip led into an agave swallow with a minty, chocolate finish.

twin six cocktail

1 jigger El Bart Gin (1 1/2 oz Tanqueray)
1/2 jigger Sweet Vermouth (3/4 oz Cocchi)
1 dash Grenadine (1/2 oz)
3 slice Orange
1 Egg White

Shake with ice and strain into a wine glass (a coupe glass with an orange twist).

Two Mondays ago, I began the cocktail hour by reaching for one of my older books, a reprint of Hugo Ensslin's 1916 Recipes for Mixed Drinks. There, I spotted the Twin Six Cocktail and was lured in by the orange slices in the shake as Sam Ross later did with his Too Soon?. The drink name most likely refers to the Packard Twin Six line of American luxury cars that were launched around the time the book was written, and the car also inspired the Packard Twins as found in the 1934 Angostura Recipes book. The Twin Six Cocktail once it hit the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book dropped the orange slices in the shake to regular orange juice though.
Once shaken and strained, the Twin Six Cocktail presented a bright orange aroma from the twist. A creamy sip shared candied orange flavors and almost berry-like aspect from the combination of vermouth and grenadine. Finally, the gin and bitter orange peel notes on the swallow were somewhat reminiscent of Campari.

night owl

2 oz Pierre Ferrand Ambre Cognac (Foret Brandy)
1/2 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz Lustau East India Solera Sherry
1/4 oz Batavia Arrack

Stir with ice and strain into a coupe glass.

After the Betty Carter, I turned to the Death & Co. Cocktail Book and spotted the Night Owl. The recipe was crafted by Alex Day in 2009 as a Manhattan riff that utilizes a touch of Batavia Arrack for complexity all without making it too funky. I think that I was drawn in by the combination of sherry and Punt e Mes to back the brandy base, and it seemed like the right time of the night to have a Manhattan-like drink.
Once mixed, the Night Owl presented a raisiny grape aroma that preceded the grape sip. Next, the swallow began with the brandy flavors and continued on to Punt e Mes' bitter notes and a funky and drying Batavia Arrack finish.

betty carter

1 1/2 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon (Bulleit)
3/4 oz Pedro Ximenez Sherry (Lustau)
1/2 oz Amaro Nonino (Averna)
3/4 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass.

Two Fridays ago, I turned to Talia Baiocchi's Sherry book for a recipe to begin the cocktail hour. The one that caught my eye was created by Natasha David and Jeremy Oertel for the drink list at Berlyn in Brooklyn (which is where one of my old coworkers Caleb Linton, the one that created the Poppin' Tags, works, and apparently one of David Wondrich's favorite hangouts in the City). Their drink, the Betty Carter, is their tribute to the American jazz singer as a Whiskey Sour variation. The two put the amaro in the mix to span the low notes of the sherry and Bourbon and the high notes of the lemon juice.
The Betty Carter proffered a raisiny aroma from the sherry that was brightened by the citrus notes. Next, a crisp caramel and raisin sip gave way to a tart whiskey swallow replete with herbal notes.

[sagarno scaffa]

1 oz Daron Calvados
1 oz Amontillado Sherry
3/4 oz Strega
1/4 oz Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur

Build in a cocktail glass without ice, and stir to mix. Twist a lemon peel over the top. Note: this is a room temperature cocktail.
For a second drink at Estragon, I spotted a room temperature recipe on Sahil Mehta's Instagram that was his drink of the day on December 8th. With apple brandy, nutty sherry, and spiced and herbal liqueurs in the mix, I was definitely game to try this Scaffa. Once built, it showcased apple, ginger, and spice aromas at first, and later it gave forth more lemon and grape notes. The apple and grape continued on into the sip, and the swallow began with Strega's herbal offerings and ended with a ginger finish. Still lacking a name, I dubbed this one the Sagarno Scaffa to pay tribute to the Basque country's long history of making delicious apple ciders. Sagarno literally means "apple wine" which seems fitting here since the drink contains an apple distillate and a fortified wine.

little sinner

2 oz Amontillado Sherry
1 1/2 oz Bonal Quinquina
1/2 oz Avèze Gentiane Liqueur
2 dash Orange Bitters
1 pinch Salt

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass pre-rinsed with absinthe. Garnish with an orange twist.
A few Mondays ago, we made our way down to the South End to have dinner at Estragon. For a first drink, I skimmed bartender Sahil Mehta's drink note book, and spotted the Little Sinner that was his drink of the day towards the end of November. Once mixed, the Little Sinner presented an orange, grape, and absinthe aroma. The grape continued on into the sip, and this was followed by a nutty swallow and an earthy finish with soft lingering gentian notes. The coldness and pinch of salt helped to mellow the flavors here, and as it warmed up, the bitter aspects of Bonal and Avèze that I find so alluring began to increase. Overall, the Little Sinner worked rather well as an aperitif.

pineapple project

1 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1/2 oz Laphroaig 10 Year Scotch
1/4 oz Maraschino Liqueur
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1 dash Absinthe

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass.

A few Tuesdays ago, I made my way to Ames Street Deli where I asked for the Pineapple Project from the menu. Bar manager Joe Cammarata attributed the recipe to Kyle Powell at Russell House Tavern which was his spin on the neo-classic Laphroaig Project from Bourbon & Branch. Kyle and Joe later worked together at Backbar where this drink appeared as a drink of the day. The drink was originally made with Russell House Tavern's peach bitters; since they lacked those, they honed in on the anise notes in the bitters and opted for absinthe as a substitute.
The Pineapple Project began with a smoky, pineapple, and herbal aroma. The sip was rather fruity from the lemon and pineapple juices, and the swallow shared smoky, fruity, and herbal flavors.

:: fred's picks for the top cocktails of 2014 (in) ::

I will complete my fifth annual trilogy of year end wrap up posts by picking out the best recipes we tried at our home bar this year. I used to also tack on the best of my own creations at the end of the post, but I think I covered that in the first part of the trilogy. Thus, this list is dedicated to the best recipes created by bartenders, living, deceased, and unknown, from around the world all brought to me at my home bar (where pants are optional).

January: The top two drinks of the month were Dee Allen's Bitter Stripper, a White Negroni variation from Gaz Regan's Negroni book, and Brian Summers' Chicago Typewriter, a Genever and rye tribute to the Thompson submachine gun that I spotted on the Bols Bartending Facebook page.

February: The month's nod goes to a drink that pre-dated the name for the Vodka Martini also known as the Kangaroo. This Kangaroo from Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933 is like a gussied up Puritan. For runner up, Erik Carlson's Primrose Hill (pictured below) that I spotted in Imbibe Magazine was a solid Martini variation that had aspects of the Martinez and Hanky Panky playing out (with dry vermouth instead of sweet though).
March: My mind returns to the West Indies Punch that I found in Trader Vic's Book of Food & Drink; guava paste brought out aspects of Jerry Thomas' Barbados Punch, and green tea and Madeira did no harm here either. For second nod, the sherry Negroni riff the Haberdasher from Josh Harris and Scott Baird as appears in The Art of the Shim book. Also for second nod, the quirky and intense Louis Special from 1940's The How and When equal parts the gin, Chartreuse, and Benedictine in a very modern style.

April: The hands down recipe for April is Meaghan Montagano's Persephone that I spotted on the ShakeStir website; it possessed a sparkling Seelbach-Lucien Gaudin sort of magic.

May: I went classic with my top choice of the month with the Fedora that sporadically gets ordered at work. Since I have never made one of these Sidecars with the brandy split with Jamaican rum and Bourbon for the blog, I went ahead and merged recipes from Harry Johnson's 1882 New and Improved Bartender's Manual and Stan Jones' Complete Barguide. Runner up was a sadly unattributed recipe from 75th Anniversary Edition of Mr. Boston called Count Camillo's Paloma (pictured below) -- yes, a tequila Negroni lightened with grapefruit soda!
June: A tough two to pick a winner, but the Bone Machine from Jeff Lyon via Liquor.com made for an elegant Manhattan variation with sherry and a pair of herbal liqueurs as accents. For a runner up in this tight race, Doff Your Hat from David Willhite via 75th Anniversary Edition of Mr. Boston combines genever, Cynar, and Grand Marnier rather well.

July: The nod for July goes to the Seelbach variation, Handbook for the Recently Deceased, created by Timothy Miner that I spotted on the OnTheBar app; the drink's name and movie allusion does not hurt its standing either. For second tier awards, Roman Milotivy's Visionary Cocktail from World's Best Cocktails was rather good with my gin-for-vodka substitution, but it might have taken the lead for July with a dark rum sub instead.

August: Another tough month to narrow winners down, but in the end the Lizard King from Carlos Garcia and CM Almeida via the OnTheBar app had alluring funky notes in Tiki format. For runners up, there was the more classic feeling Autumn Leaves, a Jeffrey Morgenthaler recipe I spotted in the 75th Anniversary Edition of Mr. Boston , and the modern eccentric riff Haji Sling (pictured below), Ian Loh's Angostura-heavy Singapore Sling variation from Gary Regan's 101 Best New Cocktails.
September: Two Tiki recipes got my attention this month. The winner was The Valdez from Parker Girard via the OnTheBar app that he describes as a cross between a Daiquiri, Jungle Bird, and Corn and Oil. Second nod goes to a classic Tiki from Beachbum Berry's Potions of the Caribbean, namely Joe Scialom's Sol y Sombra from 1957.

October: For top dog of October, I picked Amanda Elder's Midnight Matinee from this year's Vinos de Jerez Cocktail Competition due to its elegance and flavor complexity. For runners up, there was Eryn Reece's Broken Oath from the Death & Co. Cocktail Book with more sherry love -- this time with mezcal and espresso liqueur. And there was the Kentucky Island (pictured below), a Bourbon tiki number from Sanctuaria, the Dive Bar of Cocktail Bars book.
November: A quirky drink from Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933 called the Chauncy Depew caught my attention; the best way to describe it is a sherry Japanese! With the right nutty sherry-orgeat pairing, the idea is more solid than the Japanese Cocktail itself. The runner up for November stuck with the fortified wine idea with the Vermouth Cocktail from The Only William's 1891 The Flowing Bowl.

December: Tied for drink of the month are Erick Castro's hot toddy Boulevardier riff, the Babbo's Toddy via his Instagram, and Leo Robitschek's agave-sherry drink, the Repossession via Talia Baiocchi's Sherry book. For a secondary nod approval, I picked Theo Lieberman's Third Bird via the Amaro Montenegro Facebook page; this Tiki libation riffed on the Jungle Bird but added cacao and utilized a less bitter amaro in the mix.

:: fred's picks for the top cocktails of 2014 (out) ::

In December 2010, someone asked me the difficult question of what was my favorite cocktail of the year, and I was a little lost for words for there were so many. In working out a post for this, I decided to sort it out by dividing the list down by month and also by whether I had them out at a bar or in at home. My choices were influenced by two factors -- tastiness and uniqueness; it had to be both memorable and worth repeating. The drinks were organized by when the drink post appeared and not when they were had. Here is the fifth yearly installment with my monthly breakdown for drinks I had out on the town for 2014 with a runner up or two listed. If I had to pick recurrent themes, fortified and aromatized wines like sherry and Pineau des Charentes were rather big, as were Swedish Punsch, Tiki, lower proof aperitif-style drinks, and Manhattan variations.

January: For the best drink out, I will go with Barrel House in Beverly's Cooper; the combination of Pineau de Charentes and Averna made for an excellent complement to rye in this Manhattan variant. For runner up, the nod goes to another Pineau de Charentes drink, the Pinky Ring from Kirkland Tap & Trotter. While it was described as reminiscent of a Chrysanthemum, it looks more like a Pineau de Charentes-based Puritan.

February: My nod for February goes to a simple but elegant number with a strange name of numbers, the 11+2/12+1 at the Citizen Public House. Two ingredients that balance each other so well plus bitters and a twist; the post explains the bizarre name. For runners up, I was torn between the subtleties of the Hawthorne's Cardo Bendito's lightly herbal tequila Manhattan of sorts and Estragon's sherry Tiki, the Fangataufa.
March: A Swizzle with Madeira and Campari caught my attention for March, namely Brick & Mortar's Red Duster Swizzle (pictured above). For runner up, I chose another Campari libation, Eastern Standard's Mela Rose which smooths out the bitter Campari with egg white and fruit notes.

April: I narrowed the month down to three contenders, and I selected the Laughing Boy at Deep Ellum; Fernet and Meletti pair well together here and are softened over time with salt done Little Giuseppe style. For runners up, I chose a pair of Swedish Punsch drinks. Merrill & Co.'s Battle Over Dutch worked the punsch between sherry and cacao notes, and Russell House Tavern's Poppin' Tags worked the punsch into a Negroni-Americano hybrid of sorts.

May: My pick for May was also Tales of the Cocktail's pick for the year, Backbar's Hurricane Caesar; the drink prospered from the Campari-passion fruit pairing that integrated over time via a Campari float. The choice for runner up was tougher with Kirkland Tap & Trotter bringing a Tiki-Rum Corpse Reviver #2 mashup called the Tidbit.
June: Another challenging month to pick a winner, but Fairsted Kitchen's Giuseppe's Lady (pictured above) elegantly merged a a Little Giuseppe and a Pink Lady. The secondary honors go to the Baldwin Room at Sichuan Garden II with a tropical take on the Room With A View called the Mother of Turin and to the Barrel House in Beverly's equal parts number, Against the Strain.

July: Instead of choosing a winner, I'll give co-top honors to Sarma's riff on the Prizefighter called the Pugilist (pictured below) that successfully beats down Fernet Branca into an unsurly ingredient and to Estragon's complex and floral Hurricane-like Tempest.
August: The most notable drink of August was The Murder of Dutch Schultz at Stoddard's. This tribute to Murder, Inc. utilized sherry to great effect to tie together Genever and cacao-Curaçao flavors.

September: Torn between two for top pick. Estragon's Zaragoza paired Campari-cacao flavors that were de-bittered by a pinch of salt and Barrel House of Beverly's Manhattan variation the Killing Floor that vaguely reminded me of a Brooklyn minus the Maraschino. For runner up, another Negroni-Americano hybrid of sorts caught my taste buds, No. 9's Torino Retiree in a crushable summertime delivery.

October: My nod for October goes to a crafty room temperature cocktail at Backbar dubbed the Missing Link. As a second place for the month, I'm picking a Tiki drink that reminded me of a Mr. Bali Hai and a Pago Pago fused into one, Citizen Public House's Jungle Madness.
November: Honors for the month go to "Fall in a glass," also known as Alden & Harlow's Port of Call (pictured above) with apple, Madeira, and spice notes in the mix. For runners up, the quirky, earthy, and herbal Maximo Blue at Bronwyn and the Viale house Negroni riff, the Eldridge were notable.

December: Top honors for December go to the Baldwin Room at Sichuan Garden II with another drink that pairs passion fruit and Campari except here accented by yuzu in the Forbidden Fruit. The two runners up fall to the Independent's Rainy Dayz and West Bridge's Sinnerman.

So there are my 29 best drinks of 2014 that I had out spread out over 21 establishments across town. There were certainly ones that got edged out that I wish I could mention, but the scope of this post was kept tight (although not as tight as a top 12 would have been). I am looking forward to what 2015's list will bring. Cheers!