sherry cobbler

2 1/2 oz Lustau Los Arcos Dry Amontillado Sherry
3/4 oz Rothman & Winter Apricot Liqueur
4 dash Smoking Ban Bitters (sub Angostura or other aromatic)

Build on crushed ice in a rocks glass, add a straw, and garnish with mint sprigs, strawberry slices, and an orange slice.

On Friday night, I headed over to Lineage to get dinner. For my first drink, bartender Ryan Lotz had an idea for a Cobbler which sounded great despite having had a Cobbler a few nights before. Wait, one cannot have too many Cobblers, and hopefully, this increased Cobbler presence in Boston is the new hot trend. The drink was a Sherry Cobbler that was a different take on the classic than the one that Cure made me last summer. In fact, with the dry sherry, liqueur, and mint sprigs, it reminded me a little of the Platonic Julep we had last year.
The Cobbler's strawberry and mint garnishes paid dividends in the aroma department. While the sip was mainly the sherry's grape notes, the swallow was a combination of the apricot liqueur and the Amontillado's delightful nuttiness. I was quite impressed by how both the sherry and apricot liqueur flavors were complemented by the strawberry's aroma. Overall, this light drink made for a great aperitif!

sbagliato grosso

1 Strawberry (hulled)
1 1/2 oz Cognac (Martell VS)
1 oz Campari
1 oz Sweet Vermouth (Vya)
1/2 oz Pastis (Henri Bardouin)
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Place strawberry in a rocks glass and gently press to crush and extract juice (do not muddle). Add rest of ingredients and ice, stir, and garnish with a lemon and an orange twist.

On Wednesday, to utilize the strawberries I purchased to garnish the Manischewitz Cobbler, I made the Sbagliato Grosso from Left Coast Libations. I had been holding off on that recipe until I had strawberries in house, and the Cobbler certainly gave a good excuse to buy some. The cocktail was created by Damian Windsor of the Roger Room in Los Angeles, and the best I could translate the drink's name was "fat blunder." A similarly bungled Negroni was written up in the New York Times yesterday under the name Negroni Sbagliato; that one uses sparkling wine and orange slices instead of the Cognac, strawberry, and bitters here.
Once assembled, the dual citrus twists contributed greatly to the drink's aroma. The sip contained fruit notes from the sweet vermouth and the crushed strawberry, while the swallow possessed the herbal complexity of the Campari and pastis. Indeed, those two liqueurs did a good job of balancing each other so that neither one took over the drink's flavor.

cynar fizz

2 oz Cynar
1 oz Lemon Juice
1 Egg White

Shake with a Hawthorne strainer spring without ice to froth up the egg white. Add ice and shake again. Strain into a Champagne flute and top with 1 - 1 1/2 oz soda water.

For my second drink at Rendezvous last week, I asked bartender Scott Holliday if he had any ideas with egg or egg white. He replied that he had been tinkering with a rather simple Cynar Fizz -- solely the liqueur, lemon juice, egg white, and soda water. I was intrigued so I nodded with approval.

In the Fizz, the Cynar contributed greatly to the aroma. The sip was smooth from the egg white as well as citrussy and crisp from the lemon juice. Next, the swallow presented the Cynar herbal flavor that had been mellowed out considerably by the egg white. While I did not mind the drink's tartness, maybe a quarter to half ounce of simple syrup might shift the drink to something more accessible to those who like moderate to sweeter drinks, respectively.

[french derby]

3 oz Citadelle Gin
1/4 oz Matilde Pear Liqueur
2 dash Fee's Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters
2 sprig Mint

Muddle mint in other ingredients and let mascerate for a few minutes. Remove mint, add ice, stir, and strain into a rocks glass.

Two Tuesdays ago, I met Andrea at Rendezvous for dinner. For my first drink, bartender Scott Holliday said that he had been playing around with the mint and gin-based Derby cocktail (for a historical overview of the classic, see Doug Ford's post) and asked if I would like to try it. His modifications took the drink in a French direction for he used Citadelle gin from the Pierre Ferrand distillery in Cognac and he switched the peach bitters to pear liqueur from Anjou. The French actually do have a derby called the Prix du Jockey Club that is run every year in early June, although I am not sure what their official drink is.
This Derby variation provided a glorious mint bouquet. The sip was sweet with a hint of pear and was followed by mint, gin, and spice on the swallow. The liqueur, beside adding a bit of sugar to the drink, donated some body as well. Overall, the drink made for a refreshing but potent crushed ice-free Julep.

dunbar

1 3/4 oz Douglas XO Blended Scotch
1 oz Lustau Dry Amontillado Sherry
1/4 oz Benedictine
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Angostura Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a glass pre-rinsed with Laphroaig Scotch. Twist an orange peel over the top.

For my next cocktail at Drink, bartender California Gold mentioned that she had a riff on the Bobby Burns. She explained that she woke up with an idea for a Scotch-sherry drink a few nights before, and it morphed into a variation of said classic. For a name, she asked for assistance from poet Jill McDonough who dubbed it the Dunbar. Luckily, she meant the town in Scotland and not the crappy college bar in Ithaca, NY, named after it. Moreover, the Dunbar seemed like a good segue from the mezcal and sherry-containing Tobacconist with a less smokey and more sherry offering.
The drink greeted me with a fresh orange oil aroma coupled with the smoke most likely from the Laphroaig rinse. On the tongue, grape and malt notes were on the sip, and these flavors were followed by nuttiness, smoke, spice, and a hint of orange from the bitters on the swallow. Indeed, the sherry took the drink in a different direction than sweet vermouth does in the Bobby Burns for it donated more grape and nutty elements to the flavor profile.

tobacconist

1 1/2 oz Del Maguey Mezcal Vida
1/2 oz Galliano Ristretto Coffee Liqueur
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Lustau Pedro Ximenez Sherry
1 barspoon Allspice Dram
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Fee's Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a goblet filled with crushed ice. Float a 1/4 oz Del Maguey Chichicapa Mezcal and add straws.

Two Mondays ago, taxes were due and for the first time in years, we cut it pretty close to the deadline. Luckily, we have a 24 hour post office here in Boston, and after getting our envelop successfully postmarked, we hopped to the other side of the channel to celebrate at Drink. There, we found seats at the center bar where bartender California Gold was stationed. For my first beverage, Cali suggested the Tobacconist that she created and Ryan, one of the Sunday regulars, named. The agave, coffee liqueur, and sherry line up reminded me of Eric Alperin's Bebida de Puebla. While Eric's drink was straight spirits, Cali's incorporated citrus and utilized much more smoke-driven spirits.
The Tobacconist presented itself with a dark roast and smokey aroma from the coffee liqueur and mezcal, respectively, that was perhaps evocative of a Padron 1964 series. The sip was rather rich and full of raisin and coffee notes, and the swallow contained a good amount of smoke and spice. As the ice melt diluted the drink over time, the sip became more grapefruit flavored with a lemon crispness that was somewhat masked by the other ingredients earlier in the drink.

cloister

1 1/2 oz Hendrick's Gin
1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist (grapefruit twist is an option, but not the way Green Street makes it).

For my last cocktail at Green Street two Sundays ago, I asked manager Mark Young to make me the Cloister. Robert Hess' site has been tracing back the history of the drink with the earliest reference they could find was in a 1970's Playboy bar book. While Robert was introduced to the Cloister at the Zig Zag Café in Seattle, I, like many Bostoners, was introduced to the recipe on Green Street's A-to-Z cocktail menu.
The Cloister greeted me with a fresh lemon oil and gin aroma. Next, a sweet citrus flavor on the sip was followed by the gin and yellow Chartreuse on the swallow. Overall, the drink was surprisingly well composed, especially how the grapefruit notes balanced the botanical bitterness in the Chartreuse.

bohemian

1 oz Beefeater Gin
1 oz St. Germain
1 oz Pink Grapefruit Juice
1 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Two Sundays ago, Andrea and I stopped in at Green Street for dessert and cocktails. For my first drink, I asked bartender Derric Crothers for the Bohemian. The drink was created there back around 2008 by then bar manager Misty Kalkofen; while I believe that Andrea had ordered one there shortly after it appeared on the menu, I realized that I had never had one myself. I figured that the drink could do no wrong for St. Germain and grapefruit juice make excellent partners such as in the Sam Treadway's Agony and Ecstasy and Emma Hollander's One-Armed French Hooker.
The pink grapefruit dominated the aroma of this drink and contributed to the sip along with some of the St. Germain's floral notes. The bulk of the St. Germain liqueur, however, arrived on the swallow and was chased by the gin and Peychaud's Bitters' crispness at the end. The pink grapefruit made for a softer, sweeter drink than yellow grapefruit probably would have, but I could see it working equally as well in the recipe.

winter

2/3 glass Jamaica Rum (1 1/2 oz Smith & Cross)
Juice of 1 Lemon or Lime (1 oz Lime Juice)
Sugar to taste (1/2 oz Simple Syrup)
1 tsp Ginger Brandy (Domaine de Canton)
1 tsp Pimento Dram (St. Elizabeth's Allspice Dram)
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Two Saturdays ago, I was flipping through the Jamaican Jollifiers section of The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book and I spotted the Winter. The drink was an interesting variation on a Daiquiri that seemed like it would make a great segue from the previous evening's Nuclear one. For a Jamaican rum, I opted for Smith & Cross for it worked rather well in a similar drink that Hugh Fiore made for me at Eastern Standard.
The Winter's aroma was dominated by the Smith & Cross rum. While the sip contained the lime's flavor and rum's richness, the swallow contained the spice from the allspice dram and Angostura along with the funkiness of the rum. As the drink warmed up, the ginger flavors became more potent on the swallow. Indeed, the Angostura Bitters here helped to take the drink away from a classic Daiquiri similar to their effect in the Hugh's Smith & Cross Punch; moreover, the ginger liqueur and pimento dram probably aided in that as well.