What The Spanish-American War Hath Wrought

Another daiquiri bastardizing, this time the Benjamin Barker Daiquiri (Mr. Boston, page 105) except replacing rum with bourbon, so: eight parts bourbon, two parts lime juice, two parts simple syrup, two parts Campari and two dashes absinthe (here, pastis). Was good.

Where Have You Gone, Audrey Fanning?

I don’t think “Audrey Fanning” actually refers to anyone in particular but it is a cocktail in Mr. Boston: five parts gin, two parts sweet vermouth, one part Cherry Heering and two dashes Peychaud’s bitters. It’s a good cocktail: someone online (just saw it on the Google result, and didn’t actually read the post itself — which happens like all the time, when you think about it) mentioned it’s like a modified Negroni, which is perceptive, in retrospect. It’s good; tastes like a cocktail. A few days later, I think it could even use a lemon twist.

Tonight, I substituted Dubonnet for the sweet vermouth; this tasted even better. Still think it could maybe use a lemon twist. Or an orange twist maybe.

On a somewhat related note, a drop of Peychaud’s landed on the counter and I thought to taste it on its own: it’s like an elderly man’s cheap cologne.

File Under: Stuff With Gin, Limes, Rum And Crème De Cassis

Latest cocktails tried . . .

Solomon Sling (Mr. Boston, page 95): six parts gin, three parts lemon juice, two parts simple syrup, two parts Kirschwasser, one part Cherry Heering, one dash Angostura bitters. Good.

Angel’s Share (Mr. Boston, page 171): six parts bourbon, two parts Amaro, one part crème de cassis, one dash orange bitters. Overlooked this recipe in the book for a while because I don’t know why. We used Amaro CioCiaro and this old cassis sort of forgotten in the liquor cabinet. This was good, too; worth returning to.

Junior (PDT, page 154): eight parts rye, three parts lime juice, two parts Benedictine, two dashes Angostura bitters. We had a bunch of limes in the fridge so I put them to use. Was OK, if memory serves.

Romeo y Julieta (PDT, page 228): eight parts rum, two parts sweet vermouth, two parts Campari. Like a Left Hand but with more rum. Definitely didn’t add the four spritzes of diluted Aftel Tobacco Essence, though, so who knows.

Like Fucking Robert Palmer Or Something

Jen’s been on a rum kick — last night we didn’t have cocktails at the Tiki-themed Chinese restaurant, so we resolved to have them at home. Now I don’t know the first thing about festive tikiness, and I much prefer the tang of bourbon to the treacle of rum, but I’m assuming I just haven’t had the right cocktail. Last night it was the time capsule cocktail the Unisphere. Not very tiki. Tonight it was the Irresistible (Mr. Boston, page 117): Six parts white rum (I was told this rum was probably not white), two parts sweet vermouth, one part Benedictine and one part lemon juice. It was complex tasting — the secondary ingredients melted into each other in a pleasant way.

As sweet as this tasted, it was surprising there wasn’t any sugar. Must be the the rum. I mean, I guess? I’m determined to make a month’s worth of rum cocktails, just as a challenge.

Invented By The Hair Of My Chinny Chin-Chin.

So after coming with this intensely Fernet-Brancatious cocktail, the next day I was tasked with something a little less Brancatious. My first thought was to go for something gin-based, mostly because I think I get really sidetracked by bitters in bourbon. Gin’s a little out of my comfort zone, so it becomes a fun challenge.

Mr. Boston has a lot of good gin cocktails. One I’m surprised I hadn’t already tried because it has a few ingredients I’d been trying to mix into stuff is the “Solomon Sling” (page 95), I guess a variation on a Singapore Sling. It’s six parts gin, three parts lemon juice, two parts simple syrup, two parts kirschwasser, one part Cherry Heering (or the knockoff I used) and one dash Angostura bitters.

It was really elegant, I don’t want to say “surprisingly” so but definitely elegant, like a cocktail you’d get at a cocktail bar.