Happy Hour

Easing back in to posting, after settling in to Providence.

photograph by Jennifer Hess

This is simply an Aviation variant, with St.-Germain in place of the creme de violette. We sipped this in front of the television while watching Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, part of TCM’s Sinatrafest.

Nerd!

With apologies to the folks in this eGullet thread…

You know you’re a cocktail nerd when you move house, and one box contains nothing but bitters.

We’re in Providence as of yesterday afternoon, but we’re still digging out. Catch up with y’all soon.

Declare the pennies on your eyes

It’s not quite midnight anywhere in the States, folks. Are your taxes in? We had an accountant prepare ours this year, for the first time, and boy was that a load off!

In honor, I decided to prepare a special cocktail tonight … but not the one you’re thinking of. You’re probably expecting the Income Tax, of gin, two vermouths, orange juice, and bitters. Careful readers will remember that Jen’s allergic to orange juice, so that’s right out.

Next best? What else but the Scoff Law. I used CocktailDB’s ingredients, but Gary Regan’s proportions (his adaptation calls for grenadine, which I don’t currently have):

Scoff Law

2 oz. bourbon or rye (I used Wild Turkey Bourbon 101; for some reason, I can’t find Rittenhouse rye anywhere right now) 1 oz. dry vermouth 1/2 oz. lemon juice 1/4 oz. green Chartreuse Shake, strain, turn yourself about, etc.

On a personal note, I know I missed Mixology Monday this month. I feel rather stupid about it, and I apologize to hostess Anna. The fact is, I completely forgot. I have good reasons–we lost a much-beloved pet a couple of weeks ago, and we’re moving to Providence, R.I., next week. That aside, I enjoy MxMo, I haven’t missed many, and it gets me posting at least monthly.

I’ll probably be pretty quiet for a bit after the move, but I’m looking forward to exploring the liquor stores in the Providence area and possibly even reporting back on my finds. It may even give this blog a needed kick in the ass to get me posting regularly again.

Scummy scrapers

A website that I won’t name (I don’t want them to get the traffic) has been scraping and republishing my content without my consent. I think this is reprehensible, and it’s pissing me off. The very post I put up earlier today has already been scraped and republished. The site has Google ads on it, so I’ve already reported it to Google, following the advice here. I’ve also added a copyright header to my RSS feed so that it’s very clear that no one has the right to reproduce my material. Finally, I’m telling the scrapers right now to fuck off and die.

Tales of the Cocktail, 2008

As you’ve no doubt seen on other cocktail blogs, tickets for Tales of the Cocktail went on sale Tuesday, April 1. Click on over and have a look at the events. The talks that appeal to me most, at this point, are these:

• Research Drink Recipes and Collecting Drink Books (assuming I arrive on time for it)
• The green hour absinthe ritual and Musee de l’Absinthe (how louche!)
• Hausgemacht: A Look into Modern Nano-Distilling (led by Matt Rowley, whose book, Moonshine!, I reviewed back in November)
• Artisan Still Design and Construction (I may or may not have a personal interest in constructing a still, but I certainly want to better understand the processes that go on in distillation)
• Juniperlooza
• Molecular Mixology
• To Have and Have Another (I love Hemingway, so this merely requires me to be awake by 10:30 am)
• Cocktails with a Kick: Absinthe Returns to America
• Essential Guide to American Whiskey (the site says, “[t]he wit and banter of these presenters is sure to entertain you…”. Having met them both, I can well attest to that.)
• Jerry’s Kids: The Life, Drinks and Legacy of Professor Jerry Thomas
• Rye Nation (”It’s a beefsteak when I’m hungry, rye whiskey when I’m dry”)
• Sensory Perception in Mixology
• Cracking the Egg
• Regional Trends in American Cocktails
• The Cafes of Paris
• The Gentleman’s Companion
• Famous New Orleans Spirits

Some of these conflict with each other, unfortunately, so I might need to clone myself by then.

To the left, you should see a banner for the Tales blog. I will be contributing to that soon, so please add the RSS feed to your reader.

Some of you have asked whether Mrs. Bitters will be attending Tales with me. We’re not sure yet. It may be the case that she’ll arrive on Friday and stay until Sunday.

MxMo: Limit One

For this month’s Mixology Monday, I decided to highlight a cocktail called the Diamondback, which I first saw in the September/October 2007 issue of Imbibe magazine.

Our taskmaster, Rick, demands we tax our livers with drinks that “contain at least 3oz of 80-proof spirit or have less than 1/2oz of non-spiritness.” No Rick! Don’t throw me in the briar patch! Anything but the briar patch!

The recipe in Imbibe credited the Diamondback as Murray Stenson’s variant of a recipe that first appeared in the book Bottom’s Up, by Ted Saucier. Saucier’s volume calls the drink the Diamondback Lounge and credits it to the Lord Baltimore Hotel, in Baltimore, Md. The hotel itself is still around, but I see nothing about the Diamondback Lounge.

Saucier’s original calls for rye, applejack, and yellow Chartreuse. Stenson’s says rye, applejack, and green Chartreuse. (Don’t worry; I’ll list both recipes at the end.) You might see where I’m going with this. I chose bonded rye (100 proof), bonded applejack (100 proof), and green Chartreuse (110 proof).

That’s a lotta proof. When I first mixed this drink, I realized immediately that it had a strong bite and so I understandably assumed that both the drink and the lounge were named after this charming critter:

Turns out, I was probably wrong.

As I was researching this post, I learned that an animal called the diamondback terrapin is the state reptile of Maryland. Sports fans should recognize the terrapin as the mascot of the University of Maryland, and college-journo geeks (I know you’re out there) will remember that the U of M student publication is the Diamondback. So, the real culprit for my achin’ head? This beast:

Man, I thought it was a snake fucking me up. Turns out it was a freakin’ turtle. I’m so embarrassed.

Diamondback Lounge, Bottom’s Up

1 jigger rye whiskey (I used Rittenhouse bonded) 1/2 jigger applejack (Laird’s bonded) 1/2 jigger yellow chartreuse Ice Shake well. Serve over ice in old-fashioned glass. Decorate with sprig of fresh mint.

This is okay, although it’s a little mild, and I don’t think the mint adds anything.

Diamondback, from Imbibe

1-1/2 oz. rye whiskey 3/4 oz. applejack 3/4 oz. green Chartreuse Ice cubes Garnish: Cherry Stir ingredients with ice in a mixing glass. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish.

photo by Jennifer Hess

You’ll note from the photo above that I forgot the garnish. A cherry makes more sense to me here than mint does, anyway. This is a better drink than the version with yellow Chartreuse, since the green has more backbone and brings more botanical notes to the drink. Still, I think equal parts applejack and Chartreuse result in a drink that’s a tad too sweet for my tastes.

Hence, if you’ll forgive me…

Diamondback Terrapin

1-1/2 oz. rye whiskey 1 oz. applejack 1/2 oz. green Chartreuse Build in an old-fashioned glass over ice. Stir until chilled. Garnish with your own best wishes or deepest fears.

The Elks’ Own

Rye whiskey, port, lemon juice, simple syrup, and an egg white–from a small piece on egg-white drinks, by David Wondrich, in the April 2008 issue of Esquire. If you want the proportions, you’ll have to consult the mag, I’m afraid. (Photograph by Jennifer Hess.)

Everybody comes to Rick’s

From the why-hasn’t-anyone-thought-of-this-before department, Reuters ran a story last week about an American ex-pat entrepreneur in Casablanca who’s opened a new cafe…named Rick’s, after the gin joint in one of my favorite films, Casablanca.

I don’t know whether I’ll be in Morocco any time soon, but somewhat closer to home, anyway, is the Cocktail Film Fest in New Orleans, the weekend of March 21-22. Hosted by Cheryl Charming, the festival features three films, Casablanca, The Seven Year Itch, and Guys and Dolls, along with themed cocktails and meals. But alas, even that’s too far for me.

I had no such excuse on Monday, when Tales held a media reception at Manhattan’s Flatiron Lounge, just blocks from my office. Julie Reiner’s always graceful staff brought around several New York-themed drinks, including the Slope, the Southside Fizz, and the New York Sour. The Slope was a particular favorite of mine. Named for Park Slope (my first landing strip when I arrived in NYC in 2002), it’s a derivative of the Brooklyn cocktail. Jen and I couldn’t stay long, unfortunately, but we both thank Ann Tuennerman for the invitation.

I’ve made my hotel reservations for Tales of the Cocktail. Have you?

The Slope

2 ounces Rittenhouse Rye (preferably bonded) 3/4 ounce Punt Y Mes 1/4 ounce Bols Apricot liqueur 2 dashes Angostura bitters Garnish: cherries Stir and serve in a chilled cocktail glass. Add garnish.

Simple misadventures

Recently, I set out to make another batch of dark simple syrup. My go-to sugar for this is normally Demerara raw cane sugar, but my local Whole Foods was out. I did, though, find both dark and light Muscovado. Both varieties are similar to brown sugar, but instead of adding molasses to refined white sugar, as in the case of brown sugar, processors of Muscovado boil down cane-sugar juice to make the sugar.

I considered both but chose the dark. I knew from just looking at it in the package that it might be moister than most sugars, but I wasn’t sure how that would play out in the saucepan. So I took a chance on it.

When I got it home, I set to it with scissors and was surprised to find that it was even moister than I expected. I sampled a bit out of the bag. The mouth feel was supple and the molasses flavor, rich, sweet, and rounded. Imagine a simple Domino dark-brown sugar. The Muscovado was similar, but richer, deeper, and more complex.

It melted easily into simmering water, so I waited for it to cool and then I bottled it. The texture of the syrup was thick and smooth, and the flavor, very rich. I think it’s accurate to say this is a molasses syrup–more pourable than molasses, but thicker even than Demerara syrup.

I’ve worked with it for a couple of weeks now, and I’m not sure I’m satisfied with it. Because of its thickness, it doesn’t mix well and I have to finesse it. If I simply put it in a glass or shaker with spirits, other ingredients, and ice, and then stir or shake, the ice chills the syrup and makes it too think to mix. The solution (ahem) is to put the syrup in first, slowly pour in an amount of spirit (an ounce or two), and then stir–without ice!!–until the syrup dissolves into the spirit. Then I can add my remaining ingredients and then shake or stir.

To my palate, the Muscovado syrup seems a little strong for most ingredients. It works best with a punchy whiskey, like a bonded rye, so I’ve been saving it primarily for Old Fashioneds and other whiskey cocktails. It occurs to me, though, that I haven’t played with it in a daiquiri. With the right rum, that might be worth trying.

MxMo?

I have to bow out of this one, I’m afraid. Apologies and complements to Jimmy Patrick, who adulted up and chose to host this batch. Sad thing is, I knew what I wanted to do. I have the three Sazeracs at home–the baby, the 18, and the Thomas Handy. I wanted to compare them straight and in Sazeracs.

But we’ve had a busy month. In addition to the full-time day job, I’ve had two or three freelance jobs going at any time. And if that weren’t enough, we’ve been very busy trapping the nine stray cats in our backyard and getting them in to the ASPCA to be neutered. One of the nine has a broken leg and several are sick enough to need antibiotics before they can be neutered.

Our top priority right now is taking care of these cats. It’s one reason I’ve been so quiet here and it’s why Jen hasn’t been posing as frequently to Last Night’s Dinner. And last night, at the time Jen and I had planned to sit with straight rye and with Sazeracs, compare them, and take tasting notes–we were both just out of gas. And then, to spend an hour or so doing the write-up?

Sorry, kids, just not happening.