Always Bet On Novelty Bottles

Obviously I don’t go liquor shopping with copies of cocktail recipe books in hand. This is why I end up buying shit like Frangelico, which I feel like I remember seeing a lot in recipes in these books but which after I get home and look at the books realize that I’m actually wrong about that. Anyway, Frangelico is that thing that comes in a bottle that looks like a stylized Mrs. Butterworth’s, but which is supposed to look like a friar or something. I don’t know — there’s a rope belt there or something.

Frangelico is hazelnut, which is a flavor that is sort of kind of gross tasting to me, but which I’m trying to appreciate. I actually didn’t know what the fuck flavor Frangelico was before I got it.

The first cocktail I tried with Frangelico was something I found using Amaretto (someone somewhere said you can substitute it; I took it at its word). It was OK. I don’t remember what it was.

Then I found something called a Dolce Vita in Mr. Boston that uses four parts bourbon, two parts sweet vermouth and two parts Hazelnut liqueur. A ha! The nut is cracked! Look for “hazelnut liqueur” recipes. I substituted Punt y Mes for the sweet vermouth and mixed that with the go-to everyday bourbon (Evan Williams green label). This drink is good.

Is You Tweaking?

The Keegan (Mr. Boston, page 185) is four parts bourbon, three parts Aperol, two parts Yellow Chartreuse and three parts lime juice. We made it with Strega and lemon juice and it tasted good anyway.

Strega Anagram: “Greats”

I avoided getting a bottle of Strega because it looked expensive, but if you only use a 1/4 ounce or a 1/2 ounce at a time, it’s not that big a deal, right? Anyway, so the other day I just got a bottle and tried hard not to do the math (it wasn’t bad, actually: $35 or something). [Edit: this was from March 25 at 12:47 a.m.; meaningless gibberish deleted.]

Been using it a lot lately [writing this as of 5/12/16] and I can’t remember a whole lot about it other than someone someplace suggested substituting it for Yellow Chartreuse, which I definitely did because Yellow Chartreuse is definitely more expensive.

Tonight I happened upon this cocktail in the course of trying to figure out what we were served at Flatbush Farm last Monday; I’m pretty sure it was sort of like a The Last Word but with mezcal instead of gin or whatever they normally use (a recipe is here but we didn’t have a pepper in it).

Anyway, this cocktail has two parts mezcal, one part Yellow Chartreuse, one part dry vermouth and two dashes grapefruit bitters. I replaced the chartreuse with Strega. This was a good drink. I also want to try the The Last Word soon, too.

On Falernum

I came across Falernum a few times in the PDT book, I think; it was one of those things I never saw/looked for/assumed it was expensive (it’s totally not; under $20). So anyway, I finally got a bottle. Jen immediately tried something called a “Doctor Funk #2” in Mr. Boston: six parts dark rum, two parts Falernum, two parts grenadine, three parts lime juice, one dash absinthe, one dash Angostura bitters and club soda (we didn’t use the club soda). She made another round, then some more the next day.

I don’t really like rum, though I’m not really sure why; I just avoid rum drinks, in general. Maybe it’s the goofy names. Jen, on the other hand, very much likes rum, so this was in her wheelhouse/right up her alley/whatever.

A few weeks later I was searching for more Falernum drinks and found the ridiculously named “Satin Sheets” in Mr. Boston: six parts blanco tequila, two parts Falernum, two parts simple syrup and three parts lime juice. Now this was a cocktail; and it passed the guest test a week or so later. The other day I tried it with Mezcal and it was still good.

Now That We Found Tuaca What Are We Gonna Do With It?

I got a bottle of Tuaca thinking that I’d seen it in a bunch of recipes while flipping through whatever book I’d been reading and then it turned out that there weren’t all that many recipes that use Tuaca. Hmph. Go figure.

So then I just googled it and found nothing but recipes from the Tuaca website. Clearly, that’s a thing. So the most intriguing of the bunch was this Tuaca Manhattan, which is one part Tuaca to two parts bourbon, plus one dash of bitters. And, no kidding, it’s good.