mainland

2 twists Grapefruit Peel
2 oz Tanqueray 10 Gin (regular Tanqueray)
1/2 oz Galliano L'Autentico
1 tsp Simple Syrup
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Squeeze grapefruit twists over the mixing glass and drop in. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir with ice, and strain into a cocktail coupe.
Two Thursdays ago, I ventured into the Death & Co. Cocktail Book for a glossed over gem. The one that caught my eye was the Mainland, Thomas Waugh's 2009 riff on the Alaska from the Savoy Cocktail Book that called for the spice-driven Galliano instead of the herbal Yellow Chartreuse. The recipe called for expressed grapefruit peels in the mix, and I am not sure if that technique when stirred falls under the same category of Regal when the peels are included in the shaker tin. However, adding oil to the mixing glass is a technique I have frequently seen Maks Pazuniak utilize a few times such as in the Growing Old and Dying Happy is a Hope, Not an Inevitability. Once prepared, the Mainland greeted the senses with a grapefruit, vanilla, and star anise nose. Next, a richness on the sip became juniper, vanilla, star anise, grapefruit, and clove on the swallow.

king of the impossible

1 1/2 oz Cachaça (Seleta Gold)
3/4 oz Lapsang Souchong Tea Syrup (*)
1/4 oz Giffard Banane du Bresil
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with a grapefruit twist.
(*) A strong steep of a Lapsang Souchong (or other smoky) tea bag in 4 oz water (around double strength) for 5 minutes. Remove tea bag and mix in an equal volume of sugar, stir, and cool.
On Facebook, I spotted a call for participants for a Queen (the band) cocktail biopic on the Alcohol Professor site, and I was excited to participate. After picking a song and crafting a drink, I described my entry as:

While my childhood was filled with a wide variety of Queen songs from We Will Rock You to Bicycle Race, I connected most with the band's work through their soundtrack of the 1980 Flash Gordon movie. I do not know how many times that I watched that on HBO or video tape back in the day, but its campiness surely connected with me. Therefore, I selected the Queen song "Flash's Theme" and dubbed this one after one of the lyrics describing Flash Gordon -- namely King of the Impossible. One of the scenes from the movie that I immediately recalled was the wood beast scene on Arboria, and I tried to channel its woodsy and exotic feel. When I honed in on cachaça [as the base spirit], I was inspired by Ben Sandrof’s Esmeralda at Drink which utilized a hint of Scotch smokiness to complement the cachaça base. Instead of Scotch, I went with a smoked tea syrup, and the rest fell into place with a touch of banana for exoticism and a dash of Peychaud’s Bitters which work great with the Amburana-aged Seleta Gold Cachaça that I utilized (as I discovered in making a Cachaça Sazerac one night).

Once the recipe was finalized, the King of the Impossible welcomed the nose with grapefruit, banana, and cachaça funk aromas. Next, lime and tropical fruitiness on the sip gave way to funky cachaça, smoke, banana, and black tea flavors with lingering banana and a hint of anise on the finish.

Please go see the other Queen cocktail entries HERE.

old timer

1 1/2 oz Bourbon (Old Grand-Dad Bonded)
1/2 oz Cynar
1/2 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup
2-4 dash Angostura Bitters (4 light dashes)

Shake with ice, strain into a Collins glass with ice, top with soda (2 oz), and garnish with an orange twist.
Two Wednesdays ago, I was excited to utilize my new purchase of Nico Martini's Texas Cocktails for the evening's libation. There, I spotted a bitter whiskey number called the Old Timer from Peggy's on the Green in Boerne, Texas, that seemed like a good place to start. Once prepared, the Old Timer offered up orange oil and Bourbon notes to the nose. Next, a carbonated caramel, grape, and lemon sip slid into Bourbon and a rounded bitter flavor on the swallow with a funky herbal finish from the Cynar.

tammany

3/4 Rye (2 1/4 oz Michter's Straight Rye)
1/4 Italian Vermouth (3/4 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino)
1 dash Crème Yvette (1/4 oz)
1 dash Crème de Noyaux (1/4 oz Tempus Fugit)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass; I added an orange twist.

Two Tuesdays ago, I was perusing the American whiskey section of Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933 when I spotted an interesting Manhattan variation called the Tammany. Here, the Manhattan lacked bitters but contained a dash of Crème Yvette's like that book's Caboose and a dash of crème de noyaux akin to the book's Borgers. Tammany is most likely a reference to Tammany Hall that was a New York City political group founded in the late 18th century that lasted until the mid-20th century; it controlled both New York City and State politics especially during the mid-19th to early 20th centuries where it was heavily implicated in a slew of graft and corruption issues. I first became aware of the political machine during college where my dorm's coffee shop was named Tammany (Risley Hall at Cornell University) -- while it had its cliques, it seemed pretty non-corrupt save for the menu that contained puns like the Pizza Hegel (for the pizza bagel).
The Tammany as a drink led off with an orange, nutty, and berry-floral aroma. Next, grape and berry danced on the sip, and the swallow proffered rye whiskey, violet, and nutty flavors.

burlap & satin

1 1/2 oz Krogstad Aquavit
1 oz Pineapple Juice
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Aperol
1/2 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass with ice, and garnish with a pineapple quarter and a cucumber noodle (lemon twist flower and cucumber slice).
Two Mondays ago, I reached for my copy of Drinking Like Ladies for the evening's libation. There, I decided upon Rhachel Shaw's Dolly Parton tribute that she created at Los Angeles' Harvard & Stone called the Burlap & Satin. Burlap & Satin was Dolly's 26th solo album that she released in 1983 that contained two tracks from the movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Once prepared, the drink offered a cucumber, lemon, caraway, and star anise bouquet to the nose. Next, lemon with hints of pineapple and Aperol's orange on the sip slid into pineapple and caraway flavors on the swallow with a star anise finish.

cheapskate

2 oz Gin (Tanqueray)
3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi)
1/4 oz St. Germain (St. Elder)
1 tsp Absinthe (20 drop St. George)
1 dash Orange Bitters (Regan's)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Two Sundays ago, I began flipping through the Stir Your Soul recipe book that Tales of the Cocktail published in 2009 to showcase recipes being offered that year whether at seminars, during events, or on the Tales' blog. One that caught my eye was the Cheapskate by Paul Clarke of the Cocktail Chronicles; Paul crafted this recipe for Matt Rowley's Mixology Monday entitled "Hard Drinks for Hard Times" where I contributed a quartet of beer-for-Champagne cocktail recipe swaps. Paul even made his version cheaper by using more budget ingredients and dubbing that one the Unwanted Houseguest. I do not believe that Paul served this during Tales that year for it was listed in the book as part of the Tales' blog, but I had the privilege of being served his Dunniette by the man himself. The only modification I made on the original was to tone down the absinthe from 1/6 oz (1 tsp) to 20 drops (1/2 bsp) to give the other ingredients a chance to shine.
The Cheapskate welcomed the nose with floral aromas accented by juniper and anise. Next, grape and the fruitiness from the elderflower combined on the sip, and the swallow proffered gin, herbal, and floral elements that concluded with an absinthe's anise finish.

sharpie mustache

3/4 oz Dry Gin (Tanqueray)
3/4 oz Rye (Michter's)
3/4 oz Amaro Meletti
3/4 oz Bonal Gentiane-Quina
1 dash Tiki Bitters (Bittercube Jamaican No. 2)

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass, and garnish with an orange twist.

Two nights after getting distracted by the Drunken Helmsman, I decided to make the Sharpie Mustache which was the reason I bought my bottle of Amaro Meletti in the first place. The recipe was crafted by Chris Elford at Manhattan's Amor y Amargo circa 2011-12, and I sourced my recipe from Brad Parson's Amaro book (I have seen it in several of my books including Sother Teague's, but it was the first one that I grabbed). Elford described the name in Food & Wine: Cocktails 2015 as, "I first served it to an older woman. I imagined her going back to her senior-citizen sorority house and somebody drawing a Sharpie mustache on her" (due to it being so strong). Apparently at Amor y Amargo, the cocktail comes batched in a flask (replete with a mustache sticker) that is poured over an ice cube in a rocks glass before receiving the orange twist; house recipes seem to call for Rittenhouse 100 Rye, Beefeater Gin, and two dashes of Tiki bitters.
The Sharpie Mustache tickled the nose with orange, violet, and caramel aromas. Next, grape and caramel mingled on the sip, and the swallow showcase the rye, gin's juniper and other botanicals, and floral-herbal flavors from the Meletti and Bonal.

drunken helmsman

1 1/2 oz Plantation Dark Overproof Rum (Plantation OFTD)
1/2 oz Amaro Meletti
1/2 oz Falernum (Velvet)
1/2 oz Maple Syrup
1 oz Lime Juice

Shake with crushed ice and pour into a double bucket glass (shake with ice, strain into a Tiki mug, and fill with crushed ice. Garnish with a zigzag orange twist and a mint sprig.

Two Fridays ago, I convinced myself to purchase a bottle of Amaro Meletti since I was tempted to try the Sharpie Mustache from the Amaro and Sother Teague's books. In the process of looking up possible uses to sway myself to buy the ingredient, I uncovered Jason Alexander's Drunken Helmsman in a few places including the Inu A Kena blog and the Small Screen Network, and I felt that I had to make this one first! The recipe was one of Jason's Tiki wonders that he crafted at the Tacoma Cabana circa 2013, and like the Sunset at Gowanus a few nights before, this one had the magical New England Autumnal combination of dark rum and maple syrup balanced by lime juice. While the recipe was crafted before Plantation OFTD Rum was brought to market, some later recipes that I spotted called for it instead of the original's Plantation Dark Overproof.
The Drunken Helmsman greeted the senses with an orange, mint, and caramel rum bouquet. Next, lime and caramel on the sip slid into dark rum, maple, herbal, and clove flavors on the swallow with a violet floral finish. Indeed, the Meletti worked well here as it had in other dark rum Daiquiri-based recipes like the Tempest and the Daq in Black.

pax sax sarax

2 oz Glenmorangie Single Malt (Kavalan Whisky)
1/4 oz Peychaud's Bitters
1/4 oz Cherry Heering

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass pre-rinsed with absinthe (St. George), and garnish with 3 cherries (1 cherry).

Two Thursdays ago, I decided to make a drink by Jamie Boudreau that was a riff on Leo Engel's 1878 Alabazam; the idea had been spurred on by ones of Gary Regan's recent email newsletters. I was able to track down the recipe by searching Jamie's old blog, Spirits & Cocktails, where he wrote about this drink before Bobby Burns Night in 2009. That drink was called the Pax Sax Sarax, and like the Alabazam, it has a decent amount of bitters in the mix. Whereas Engel's had a teaspoon of Angostura Bitters to flavor the brandy, Boudreau's had a quarter ounce of Peychaud's to accent the Scotch. In his blog post, the drink name was depicted as a magic phrase during Elizabethan times to prolong orgasm.
The Pax Sax Sarax greeted the nose with anise, cherry, and whisky aromas. Next, malt with a fruitiness from the Cherry Heering filled the sip, and the swallow combined smoky whisky, dry cherry, and anise flavors. Overall, it came across as a more spiced and bizarre variation of Eric Alperin's Highlander (2 oz Scotch, 1/2 oz Cherry Heering) that Robert Simonson described in his book The Old Fashioned (I surmise they they were unaware of each other's recipes).