pink puff

1/2 Whisky (2 oz Cutty Sark Prohibition)
1/2 Apricotine (1/2 oz Combier Apricot)
3 tsp Lemon Juice (1/2 oz)
1 Egg White

Shake once without ice and once with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass.

As a way to reward myself for packing for my trip to Kentucky, I treated myself to an egg white Sour from the 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book. That recipe was the Pink Puff with whisky and apricot notes; I knew that my version was not going to be pink, but perhaps with the Apricotine  (the brand name for the Garnier apricot liqueur) that was called for might generate something other than beige-orange I expected with mine. Vintage bottles of Apricotine look rather garnet red but that could be from decades of oxidation or it could be the answer to the drink's name. Regardless, apricot and Scotch are a delightful pairing, so I was game to give it a go.
The Pink Puff despite appearing like an Orange Puff was an attractive drink that proffered apricot melding into peat smoke and malt aromas. Next, creamy lemon and orchard fruit on the sip flowed into Scotch and apricot flavors on the swallow.

the lighter side

2 oz Bourbon (Four Roses)
1/2 oz Aperol
1/4 oz Peach Liqueur (Mathilde)
4 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with a lemon twist.
For the cocktail hour two Saturdays ago, I selected the Canon Cocktail Book to see if there was a passed-over recipe to make. The one that called out to me was the Lighter Side by Dustin Harstaad as a Bourbon Old Fashioned riff that reminded me a little of the Fancy Free. Once prepared, the Lighter Side met the senses with a lemon, orange, and peach nose. Next, malt and orchard fruit notes on the sip floated into Bourbon, peach, allspice, and clove flavors on the swallow.

birdman

2 oz Irish Whiskey (Teeling Small Batch)
3/4 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Falernum (Velvet)
1/2 oz Honey Syrup
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Whip shake with crushed ice, pour into a Tiki mug, and fill with crushed ice. Garnish with a mint sprig (paper umbrella).
Two Fridays ago, I spotted a drink on Bartender at Large's Instagram for Erick Castro's Birdman as a riff on Don the Beachcomber's Q.B. Cooler. With Irish whiskey as the base spirit, it made for a great hat trick of Irish Tiki for January's Tiki the Snow Away along with the Death in the North Atlantic and the Irish Magic. The Birdman began with a citrus, honey, and clove aroma since I lacked a mint sprig as garnish. Next, lime, grapefruit, and honey mingled on the sip, and the swallow flew in with whiskey, honey, ginger, and clove flavors.

irish magic

2 oz Irish Whiskey (Teeling Small Batch)
1 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Coffee Liqueur (Kahlua)
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1/4 oz Allspice Dram (Hamilton's)

Whip shake with crushed ice, pour into a Tiki mug, and fill with crushed ice. I garnished with freshly grated nutmeg and coffee bean.

The other recipe that I had spotted in my wrap-up post for Mixology Monday's Irish Wake was the Irish Magic. Like the Death in the North Atlantic, this was another Irish whiskey Tiki drink; here, it was a riff on the Mai-Kai's Black Magic that created by Mike Basista on his DrinksBurgh site.
The Irish Magic conjured up coffee, woody spice, and allspice aromas to the nose. Next, lime, grapefruit, and coffee roast on the sip transformed into Irish whiskey, allspice, and cinnamon flavors on the swallow.

north garden

1 1/2 oz Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy
3/4 oz Bourbon (Old Grand-Dad Bonded)
1/4 oz Peated Scotch (Laphroaig 10 Year)
1 tsp 2:1 Demerara Syrup (1/4 oz 1:1)
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a double old fashioned glass with ice.
Two Wednesdays ago, I delved into Amanda Schuster's New York Cocktails and spotted the North Garden created at Death & Co. in 2011. The recipe followed Death & Co.'s tendency to make three spirit Old Fashioned riffs like the Highwayman and Four in Hand, and I was definitely seeking a drink of that nature. Other sources such as Tasting Table specifically attribute the drink to bartender Jason Littrell circa 2009 at that bar. Once prepared, the North Garden donated a peat smoke and apple bouquet to the nose. Next, a rich pear-like sip led into apple, Bourbon, peat smoke, clove, and allspice flavors on the swallow.

bittersweet symphony

1 1/2 oz London Dry Gin (Beefeater)
3/4 oz Punt e Mes
3/4 oz Aperol

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.
Two Tuesdays ago, I reached for Gary Regan's The Negroni after having success finding unmade interesting recipes with the Negroni Futurista a few weeks prior. There, I was lured in by Jeffrey Morgenthaler's Bittersweet Symphony that he created at Clyde Common in Portland, Oregon. The combination of gin, Punt e Mes, and Aperol reminded me of a hybrid of the two riffs on the No. 9 Park Flight of Heraldry -- namely the Contessa with its Aperol and the Patrician with its Punt e Mes. Once stirred and strained, the Bittersweet Symphony greeted the senses with a lemon and orange aroma. Next, grape and orange notes mingled on the sip, and the swallow gave forth pine, bitter herbal, and citrus peel flavors.

run through the jungle

1 1/2 oz Appleton Estate Signature Rum
3/4 oz Averna
1/4 oz Aperol
1 1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a double old fashioned with a large ice cube (single old fashioned with two ice cubes).
Two weeks ago, I returned to the article on Jungle Bird riffs in the current issue of Imbibe Magazine after having made the Second Surfin' Bird. There, I opted for the Run Through the Jungle created by Jeff Baumann at the Great Northern in Burlington, Vermont; with its Averna component, the recipe reminded me of the Paul of the Jungle on the inaugural menu at Latitude 29. Here, the Run through the Jungle crafted a nose of rum, lime, and darker notes from perhaps the Averna. Next, lime and caramel on the sip slid into rum, pineapple, and orange-herbal flavors on the swallow.

mayor joe

1 1/2 oz Pig's Nose Scotch
1/2 oz Zucca Amaro
1/2 oz Honey Syrup (1:1)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Shake with ice, strain into a rocks glass, fill with ice, and garnish with a lemon twist.
As part of menu development at La Brasa, I was inspired by the honey-rabarbaro combination that worked so well in the Shipwrecked. Our bar's blended Scotch sadly gets neglected save for except at weddings, and I thus recalled how well rabarbaros like Zucca pair with Scotch such as in the Caustic Negroni. The rest fell into place as I used lemon juice to cut the sweetness, and Angostura and Peychaud's Bitters to donate darker and brighter levels of bitter herbal complexity and spice, respectively. For a name, I dubbed it after Somerville's mayor, Joe Curtatone, although Joe is more of an Averna guy from the times that I have served him elsewhere in town. Once prepared, the final iteration (*) of the Mayor Joe funded the nose with lemon, honey, and smoky aromas. Next, lemon, honey, and malt collaborated on the sip, and the swallow was an elegant presentation of Scotch and dark herbal flavors.

(*) One direction that I took was with cinnamon syrup instead of honey with the Zucca, but I found the original's honey to be more delightful with the Scotch.

old etonian

1/2 London Gin (1 1/2 oz Beefeater)
1/2 Kina Lillet (1 1/2 oz Cocchi Americano)
2 dash Crème de Noyau (1/4 oz Tempus Fugit)
2 dash Orange Bitters (Angostura Orange)

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with an orange twist.

In 2010, I became obsessed with the lost ingredient of crème de noyau and went as far as making my own (along with the cyanide risk of doing so). There were a few artificially-flavored bottom shelf examples out there, but nothing worth spending the money on. Drinks from Louis Fouquet's 1896 Bariana such as Louis' Saratoga Cocktail led me on a quest that year to ask around at Tales of the Cocktail. That search guided me to a Cognac blending seminar where I spoke to the producer of Noyau de Poissy. While I did get to attend a great talk for free, I was disappointed when I learned that their crème de noyau was not exported to our area. It was not until 2015 that I was able to get my hands on a bottle of Tempus Fugit's craft take on the liqueur.
Two weeks ago, I was flipping through the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book where I spotted the Old Etonian Cocktail. It had been easier to skip over recipes in the Savoy for there were so many that I could make that it was not such a let down by the ones I could not make given their lost or difficult to source ingredients like Caperitif and Hercules; however, Bariana called for a few ingredients in many of their drinks, and that book served as a greater motivator. Therefore, I felt it was time to give this Martini abstraction a go (although the lesser known Fairbank with its dry vermouth would fall closer to a Martini). In the glass, the Old Etonian proffered orange and nutty aromas to the nose. Next, a peach-like orchard fruit sip led into gin, nutty, and herbal flavors on the swallow.