Tailgate!

I mixed up some bloody mary mix on Saturday night in preparation for a Sunday morning tailgate for the DC United game. It was pretty damn good. I can't quite remember exact proportions, but the 46 oz bottle of V8 contained V8 (obviously), Worchestershire, A1, celery salt, Texas Pete hot sauce, minced garlic (one clove), horseradish, and fresh cinnamon basil from my garden. We also had beer and mimosas. It's always a fun Sunday when you can say you stopped drinking at noon.

That's right, stopped. Fun times. It was DAMN hot, though.

Bleccch.

This one looks pretty, but doesn't taste good. I'd been experimenting with some basil-infused vodka made with the "cinnamon" basil growing on my patio and some Smirnoff. The vodka tasted decent on its own, so I thought I'd combine it with some tomato flavor. I muddled a few cherry tomatoes in a mixing glass, added the basil-infused vodka and a bit of dry vermouth, and strained into a chilled glass.

I didn't finish it.

Hey, at least it looked pretty, right?

Summer Drinks

I discussed a list of summer drinks with pals James Poulos and his beautiful wife at Bar Pilar several weeks ago. I agree with most of the selections on his do list and several of the don'ts, but I have some additions:

1. The Dark & Stormy. A Bermudan concoction of rum and ginger beer. Delicious. For more details, see the previous post.
2. An Aviation Cocktail, bitterly cold. Gin and lemon juice, a perfect summer combination, made even better with the addition of maraschino liqueur. I make mine without the creme de violette.
3. REAL Margaritas. On the rocks, never blended, and always with fresh lime juice and decent tequila. Never, never, never with Jose Cuervo. Jose is not your friend.

If James ever returns from his globehopping long enough for a drink, I will force these libations on him and make him see the error of his ways in not including these on his list. Maybe I'll start by winning over his wife...

Dark & Stormy

I love a Dark & Stormy on a summers' day, and after I got my hands on some Barritt's Ginger Beer it's an even better treat. It's an excellent way to prepare for my trek over to RFK for the D.C. United game this afternoon, I think.

• 2 oz. Gosling's Black Seal Bermuda Black Rum
• 6 oz. Barritt's Ginger Beer
• lime wedge

Mmmm, tasty.

Grapefruit bitters, part one

I've been getting packages from the US Postal Service all week, and today it was time to start putting them to good use. I rode my bike up to Giant to pick up the last of the remaining pieces, a grapefruit and an orange, and put some ingredients for grapefruit bitters in a jar to steep until tomorrow. I used:

• zest of 1 ruby-red grapefruit (some pith, I used a zester to peel)
• zest of 1 small lemon
• zest of half an orange
• 10 whole cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon milk thistle
• 1 teaspoon wormwood
• 1 oz. fresh ginger, julienned
• 1 inch piece of calamus root
  
• 375ml Everclear

I plan to let this steep overnight... well, probably until tomorrow night when I get home from work. Photos and taste updates to come.

UPDATE: I put some of this in a medicine dropper with a little superfine sugar and a touch of water. Verdict = pretty damn tasty. I've been using this in a few cocktails, and I really like the touch of grapefruit flavor.

Home Cookin'

I finally got around to starting my first batch of falernum last night. I'm running low on the Velvet Falernum and bought some jars and bottles at The Container Store to hold my experiments. Last night, I also picked up a bunch of limes and some toasted almonds at Trader Joe's and it was time to start it up. I put about six ounces of Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum into a jar with 40 cloves and a wee bit of crystallized ginger. I'm letting it sit until I get home this afternoon, when I'll add the lime zest and toasted almonds.

Mixology Monday: Bourbon -- Kentucky Kernel

This week's Mixology Monday is bourbon, and is being hosted by the guys over at Scofflaw's Den. I got this cocktail from a book I picked out of the bargain bin at Borders, called The Bartender's Companion to 750 Cocktails. I didn't expect much out of it, but the book does have pretty pictures and it only set me back $4.99. Anyway, this drink takes its name not from the kind of colonel in KFC but rather from the apricot kernels that make apricot brandy. That, and Kentucky is the home of bourbon of course. I tinkered with the recipe in the book just slightly, using a little more bourbon and a dash of Peychaud's Bitters.

• 2 measures Bourbon (I used Bulleit)
  
• 1/2 measure apricot brandy
  
• 1 measure grapefruit juice
  
• 1 tsp. grenadine
  
• Dash of Peychaud's Bitters
  

The bitterness of the grapefruit juice kept the grenadine from making the drink too sweet. In the original recipe, which called for 1 1/2 measures of bourbon, I felt that the other flavors overwhelmed the bourbon a bit. With the added bourbon, this problem is gone.

Update: The Kentucky Kernel is also the name of the University of Kentucky student newspaper. Coincidence? I have no idea.

The Sazerac

Another classic cocktail that I've started introducing my friends to is the Sazerac. I ordered one at Bar Pilar for a group of friends a couple weeks ago, and they were sold. I'm excited that P. has starting asking if I think some other bars will be able to make her one... even if she did spell it "Sazamarack."

She never spells well on IM anyway. She also usually drinks scotch, neat.

I made a batch at home on Friday night while three of us were watching a movie on fast-forward and doing dramatic readings of the subtitles.

• 2 oz. Rittenhouse 21-year old Rye Whiskey
• 3/4 oz. simple syrup
  
• 1 tsp. Kubler absinthe
• Couple dashes Peychaud's Bitters
• Lemon twist

I rinsed pre-chilled glasses with the Kubler absinthe and discarded the extra. The rye, simple syrup, and bitters were put into a mixing glass with ice and stirred with a bar spoon, then strained into the glasses. Lemon twist for each glass, and we were happy. I'd usually make this with one of my other ryes, but what the hell.

El Floridita No. 1

I've been drinking a lot of Aviations lately (without the creme de violette, since I have none), especially since the weather has been hot lately and an Aviation screams "SUMMER!' to me. However, the tropical weather also says "rum" (and I'm out of lemons) so I thought I'd make up an El Floridita No. 1 as found in Gary Regan's The Joy of Mixology.

• 2 ounces light rum (I used Scarlet Ibis for this one)
• 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup (I have a 50/50 cold method bottle in the fridge)
• maraschino liqueur (Stock brand, I used 1 tsp.)

This was very enjoyable with Scarlet Ibis, but I plan to try this with other rums in my stash to determine a favorite. I just need to decide what's next: 10 cane or the Cruzan?