Fellows,

As it's autumn, and I'm Anglo, it's apple season over here. Time for appley cocktails, imo. Here's a few bourbon/whiskey/whisky, my beloved spirit, combined with apple and things it goes well with (lemon and/or ginger). Special thanks to Mrs. Harris who sourced these recipes. For a dame who don't drink more'n a glass of fizz on her birthday, she does support my drinking habit.

1.5 s whiskey/whisky
1/2 s dry vermouth
1 dash peach bitters (others will do of course)
5s sparkling apple juice
Garnish: 1 slice apple, cut in half lengthwise

Add whisk(e)y, vermouth, and bitters to shaker. Shake with ice.
Strain into chilled glass. Top up with sparkling apple juice and garnish with apple slice.


2.5s soda water
2s bourbon
1s fresh lemon juice
1s sparkling apple juice
0.5s Sugar Syrup
3 spoons (3/8 shot) amaretto

Garnish: lemon slices and Maraschino cherries

Combine bourbon, juices, syrup, soda and amaretto in a mixing glass. Add ice, stir and strain into ice-filled collins glass. Garnish.


Stone Fence
Serves 4

2 cups apple juice
1/2 cup rye or bourbon
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
4 teaspoons maple syrup (Grade B, preferably, says Ray Zee in an old 2+2 Magazine article from February 2008, sorry I can't find the link to it)
8 thin slices peeled gingerroot
1 cup soda water

1. In a medium saucepan, over a high heat, boil the juice until it has reduced by half to 1 cup; about 20 minutes. Cool until at room temperature.
2. Combine the reduced juice, bourbon, lemon juice, maple syrup in a punchbowl.
3. Divide among 4no 8oz glasses, add a few ice cubes, and top each glass with a splash of soda water. Garnish with ginger slices.

Was walking the dog around the Meadows this evening as the leaves were falling. That's the time for apple juice.

Wookie-style taste test!!

Guys,

Yesterday I tried this, which worked out v well:

2 oz rye
.5 oz sweet vermouth (cocchi)
.25 oz gran classico
.25 oz maraschino
orange bitters and orange peel

I actually hadn't seen those threads, looked them up though, fun.

I may actually do this if I can find enough interesting kinds of high-proof rum locally. I have some friends over every Tuesday for cocktails/beer and semi-pot-luck dinner so it's good timing.

(tomorrow's dinner is "breakfast" - I'll be doing omelettes with fresh eggs and somebody else is doing belgian waffles, other guys are on sides/appetizers/whatever. Yeah, rum drinks don't really fit, but we don't care, we'll all drink anything )

Can I just say I love this thread? My first positive thread-related experience was ordering a negroni from a talented bartender this past fall. Have popped in here a few times since for cool recipe ideas/things to order. Nothing has disappointed. Thanks to Clare and to everyone else who has contributed.

Sounds good. I'm not a bloody mary fan really so breakfast drinks are a tricky one to navigate

Anything big on grapefruit I guess leaps in there.

Glad to hear you ordered a gin based drink. Nectar of the gods Keep drinking!

Great thread!

Zaya is the sipping brown rum of choice. I feel strongly about this. Its only $20 at costco.

Drinkers,

Suggestions for a decent reasonably priced brandy for mixing in cocktails? I'll mainly be mixing it w/ $25-35 bourbons and ryes.

Diablo,

My favorite is Remy Martin VSOP, which I usually get for $35-40. Makes a difference if you're going to be using it for old fashioneds. Maybe not as much of a difference for saratogas, since you're mixing it with sweet vermouth.

****ing liquor stores in this town. Went to three different places (all different chains) and the *only* strong rum available anywhere was Bacardi 151, so that's what I've got. Will report on the Nuclear Daiquiri after this evening anyway.

ET,

I plan on trying it in pretty much every whiskey cocktail. Here's one someone made for me recently that was really good:

1.5 oz rye
.5 oz brandy
.25 oz benedictine
Ango

I've been using a bottle of Remy 1738 someone gave me. So I bet I'd prob like Remy VSOP just fine.

Was thinking of trying one of these, I've had good Ferrand cognacs before, just not sure what they were:
Ferrand Ambre Grande Champagne 1er Cru du Cognac
Ferrand 1840 Formula 90 proof Cognac

Diablo,

Never had those, the Cognac selection where I live is very subpar (or overpriced).

Don't forget to pick up a bottle of Hipnotic!

El D -

A friend's wedding had the Premier Cru as the bar Cognac, and it was way better than the price would have you (or at least me) believe. I would not be surprised if the 1840 is quite good as well.

Food from my Tuesday semi-potluck this week is in the "Cooking a good everything else" thread: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...&postcount=773

Drink report: I tried the Nuclear Daiquiri. Awesome. Everybody else agreed. The high proof rum adds an alcoholic bite, which the Falernum (basically syrup) is a leveling touch too. The chartreuse easily shines through. I used an old lime for the first batch, and I think it was a little tart, easily fixed in the glass with a bit more Falernum. I'd cut back on the lime (as I did for the second batch) next time.

Next up was some Mimosas, fairly standard but quite good with the breakfast food. Organic oranges, juiced instead of fresh squeezed. I added orange bitters to mine because the oranges seemed a bit sweet.

After that, with the omelettes, was bloody Mary's, which sucked. I tried to use a garlic/hot pepper infused vodka I made a couple of years ago, which was too garlicky at the time. It's better now, but still not quite right. I should either throw it out or use it sparingly in other things. Also, since the two of us that have a lot of experience mixing drinks were cooking (omelettes and waffles) we were trying to direct a third party while doing everything else. Oh well. We drank them anyway.

Finally, made a batch of Torontos (see above, basically a Manhattan with Fernet and simple syrup instead of vermouth) while we ran down. Since I didn't get waffles earlier, I had mine with waffle and syrup, which made me realize it's a pretty good match for dessert.

El D,

I'm partial to a 50/50 sazerac, myself. Bought a bottle of Hine VSOP (UK shopping link) which was pretty tasty, also got the Royal seal so Queen Liz drinks it. She is (and her mum was) a regular boozehound, Dubonnet and Gin was one of their staples (yeesh), so I'd recommend Hine.

Lemme know what else you mix bourbon and brandy with? I am intrigued.

Imbibers,

Just stopped off at Demi-johns, a place with a smart business model, selling booze in 100ml measures at rather inflated prices, then charging for the glassware it comes in. Let's just say I don't shop there often.

But today I did, coming away with 100ml of 'wild bullace liqueur', this basically a trumped up version of damson gin when you get down to it. Also for me, 250ml of Somerset Pomona, an apple liqueur which at 20% is somewhere between cider and calvados in strength but definitely more in the sour-sweet appley vein than the knock-your-socks-off world of apple brandy.



Suggestions for use? I was thinking the bullace, being plummy, may pair with sake...? And I'm kind of stuck on the Pomona, which could be drunk on its own or maybe paired with something in place of sour apple/apple sourz, which seems like a waste really.

Revisiting this topic, my local 7-11 equivalent was running a promo on the new Remy Martin VSOP output, a "Mature Cask Finish", where 20% of the eaux-de-vie is 20yo or older, and it's casked for a year. It was reduced in store to £25 (instead about about £37), so about the $40 mark. Picked up a bottle as I'm out of cognac full stop. Link here to some site talking briefly about it.

It's not bad - it's definitely more woody (they must be targeting the global whisky market) from the casking, but still with the nice grapey sweetness in cognac. I am not sure how it'll hold up in mixed drinks, so will do a TR next time drinks are on. However, as I like casking, and don't mind a character in a drink I'd recommend it, having had a dram on its own - if you like cognac and the flavour notes you won't mind mixing it or drinking it alone. I won't bother getting a separate bottle for mixing in drinks as I think it'll sidecar up better than a blander version.

I just bought a bottle of Amaro Nonino and I'm enjoying on the rocks as an aperitif. Great stuff, nice recommendation Citanul. I'll make a paper plane after dinner and report back.

Diablo, did you buy the 1840? I'm thinking about ordering a bottle on klwines, read that it's great for mixing.

Report on the paper plane: Thumbs up.



Reminded me of the Keegan cocktail, which has bourbon, Aperol, yellow chartreusse, and lime juice. I guess the lemon juice/amaro makes for a similar combination as the lime juice/chartreusse.

Aaaand I found a recipe for a Nonino sour:
1.5oz Amaro Nonino
0.75oz Rye whiskey
0.75oz lemon juice
0.75oz simple syrup
egg white



Fourth drink of the night and I'm kind of getting drunk now. I'll have a Reanimator and go to bed.

iPhone owners,

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/GetTheDownload

This is pretty cool. $10 app for free.

Speakeasy Cocktails
Enjoy our favorite mixology app for raising holiday spirits. Discover 200 interactive recipes and 40 bartending videos. Plus the history of the Prohibition’s secret speakeasy bars.

The app took FOREVER to download for me, but it looks pretty sweet.

Once again the second hand Android leaves me trailing in the wake...

All,

Picked up some cocktail supplies:


Eagle Rare 10 is solid and a great value at ~$25. I like drinking that neat or on the rocks as well as in cocktails.

They were out of the 1840 cognac, so I went w/ the Ambre, which is great. It's sweet and fruity and generally delicious. Definitely great for cocktails. Made a Vieux Carre with it. From the descriptions, I think I might like the 1840 even more.

The Compass Box blend sounded really interesting, but is pretty light and there's not much going on. But it's definitely very good for cocktails. I made a Bobby Burns with it. I think I'll just stick w/ Black Label and Grouse for mixing scotches, though.

The Balvenie 17yo Doublewood was a present for a friend, and delicious. Wrote about that in the EDF Whiskey thread.

El D,

Looks delicious. I have only had Eagle Rare a couple of times and enjoyed it. Buying good bourbon over here is a bit of a struggle, a lot of shops only stock Jim Beam / Woodford Reserve, sigh.

The cognac isn't a brand I've ever seen here before, but it looks gorgeous and light.

Any particular distillery/company's blended output, the Compass? I've never seen it. That said I can't tell if I'm spoiled living in Scotland as I usually just use a mild Speyside to mix cocktails instead of buying blended.

Am about to hop to EDF and see your Doublewood review!