Lol, you can tell I had one too many already!

Vya >> nolly btw. Haven't tried dolin yet, got them unopened waiting to finish my vyas.

Bah. No VYA in my lovely commonwealth of PA. I'll keep an eye on it on my several trips a year to both NH and DE stores.

Nomad,

I am a relative novice when it comes to vermouths. My personal preference is to switch the Dolin and noilly in your rating. I get the cocchi because bartenders I like use it in cocktails that I really like. I'd say it's a little richer, chocolatier, with a little bit of bitter amaro-like undertones as compared to others. But it has been a while since I've tried them straight, so for you I will do a taste test now!

As for the beakers, I'm sure I'm not the first to do that, but I have never heard of anyone else doing it (though I'm sure a google search would return plenty). But I just wanted a Yarai glass then when I looked was like **** that $50, that is a lot for a ****ing glass beaker, hmmm wait a sec....

Nomad,

I'm willing to go through so much for my 2p2 friends! Ok, here's my take:

Dolin: milder, spicier, little lighter flavor - I like this stuff quite a bit.

Cocchi: sweeter, more syrupy, richer mouthfeel, chocolate notes, fruitiness really pops, and there's a tiny hint of herbal bitterness underneath. This stuff is like $12/375 $20/750 so a little more than your basic vermouth, but very affordable.

I'd say for cocktails where you want the vermouth to fade into the background or with lighter spirits, Dolin is maybe the better choice, but if you want it to be a major flavor component of the drink or if you're mixing with a spirit with a strong flavor, cocchi is a great choice.

El D,

Awesome! Thanks for the effort and input. I'll have to acquire some Cocchi. I'm certainly intrigued. Cheers!

Ditto. I really like my Fernet (even straight!) so that sort of flavor in some of my cocktails sounds divine. I do like the Toronto, which is basically a Manhattan with Fernet and simple syrup instead of vermouth.

ET,

If I'm a relative novice when it comes to sweet vermouths, I'm a rank amateur when it comes to dry vermouth. I use it in exactly two drinks - Martinis and Brooklyns. But you are a great contributor to this thread and deserve a taste test too!

Ok, Vya is better than noilly. Vya tastes more fruity and crisp and like wine.

Fitz,

I like fernet as well. And I like cocktails with fernet in them, but it can often be overpowering. See the amaro discussion a few posts above. I think you'll really enjoy gran Classico and cynar in cocktails (amaro liqueurs in the same family as fernet).

As far as vermouths go, I am sure you'd like cocchi, but if you like that bittersweet fernet flavor a lot, the right vermouth for your manhattans is Punt e Mes. Delicious but very much on the bitter herbal side of vermouths. Another good vermouth for you is Carpano Antica, which is sort of between cocchi and punt e mes on the vermouth spectrum. All of these are complex and delicious.

I'm not sure whether this fits better here or the whisky thread. I'm guessing here.

There's a cocktail I used to make at a speakeasy that I worked. I haven't seen much like it posted here. It was pretty fantastic.

We called it the "Clean Slate"

It was:
Rye whisky (our house was Wild Turkey)
Benedictine
Dry Sack Sherry
Angostura bitters (2 dashes iirc)
Stirred 40-50 rotations using XL ice cubes
Topped with nutmeg ground through a micro-plane

Very tasty drink. One I've been meaning to fool around with using different ryes. Particularly the recently released Knob Creek rye.

Nomad,

This is def the right thread and that sounds fantastic. I'm a big fan of Benedictine in cocktails. I've also enjoyed a few sherry cocktails a lot at bars but haven't played around with them at home since for home I like to stick with ingredients that will last a while.

Great stuff, Diablo. I'm a big fan of Vya, their sweet vermouth is really smooth and the taste is subtle. Sort of similar to what you were saying about dolin, it doesn't take over the drink, but it balances the stronger spirits nicely. Manhattans made with Vya are really fantastic.

Great to see 2013 starting with a bang on this thread! I hit the Islays up last night as it was Burns night - haggis and whisky, hangover Saturday.

Next week is Groundhog Day - so we're having a party themed to it; as the only two drinks in the film are 'sweet vermouth on the rocks with a twist' and 'jim beam..ice..water' we've also found this one online, which Ackyroyd named for Bill Murray:

"The Murricane"

2 ounces fresh watermelon
4 or 5 basil leaves
1 1/2 ounces bourbon
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
3/4 ounce St-Germain elderflower liqueur
Freshly ground black pepper and watermelon wedge, for garnish (optional).

Directions:
Combine the watermelon and basil leaves in a mixing glass or shaker and muddle until the watermelon is crushed and juicy. Add the bourbon, lemon juice and St-Germain, along with ice, and shake vigorously. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish, if desired, with a sprinkling of black pepper and a wedge of watermelon.

Sounds good - but I'll need to find watermelon/juice in Edinburgh..in January..hmm. If I succeed I'll put up a post.

Thanks to all for the tips on vermouth - I need to stock up on decent stuff, for my sins it's all Martini on the bar at the moment. I'd been thinking Punt e Mes for a while but Cocchi sounds great too! I have no excuse to buy more bourbon/rye at the moment, dommage, because that looks like a conversation we should all pursue!

The clean slate will 100% be getting a try next Saturday, thanks Nomad. And Fitz: what a suggestion for this summer. Get in.

Best,
Pete

All,

Cross post from Whiskey thread:

A friend is having a whiskey+chocolate party tonight. On the menu:

Bowmore Single Malt Scotch, Darkest 15 year
XOX Truffles' Noisette truffle (hazelnut, sprinkle of sea salt)

Compass Box Orangerie Scotch Whisky infusion
Socola Chocolatier Sriracha Flying Rooster

Rittenhouse Straight Rye Whisky, 100 proof
Godiva Chocoiste Milk Chocolate Pearls

Wild Turkey Russell's Reserve 10 Year Bourbon
[a surprise for you...]

I have to think something called the Sriracha Flying Rooster will be awesome

CQ,

Sriracha or "rooster sauce" is a popular Asian chili sauce.

Diablo,

I know. I'm saying a chocolate with sriracha sounds awesome.

CQ,

Sorry, gotcha. Agreed!

Sounds great - the first chocolate would also have gone well with a Highland like Old Pulteney, with its salty notes.

Another option would have been a lowland like Auchentoshan with a caramel truffle. I myself get a tone of maple off Rye so that could be paired to some effect too?

And of course for those who don't think it's a sin to blend, you can totally add some whisk(e)y to a ganache for boozy truffley goodness...

...and was the surprise with the bourbon something vanilla-y?

There's a popular food truck/restaurant where I live that specializes in korean/mexican fusion. They have a dessert named the Sriracha bar.

Ingredients:
chocolate crisped rice bottom, caramel, Sriracha ganache, spiced candied peanuts and dark chocolate.

It's pretty heavenly

Pete,

You can't get watermelon nor lemon in Edinburgh in January? That seems rather strange.

As for the groundhog day cocktail, I have a suggestion. Sweet vermouth cocktails are not very popular, but the Martinez could be a good choice. It is heavily loaded on sweet vermouth, and it has somewhat of a cool history as some people say it was a precursor to the Martini.

30ml Sweet vermouth
15ml gin
dash orange bitters
dash Maraschino liqueur
(Heck, even European measuring units for your convenience! )

I just made one and it tastes a bit too sweet, but that may be because I'm more used to the 2/1 ratio on spirit/vermouth. This drink could be a hit among the people who think that the Martini or the Manhattan are too strong for their taste.

As for the sweet vermouth, I'm having Vya right now but I imagine that would be hard to get in Europe as it's made in California. From the ones that I've tried, I think Carpano Antica is a fantastic sweet vermouth, and probably more widely available in Europe.

ET,

Yeah, standard Martinez is way too sweet for my tastes, but I like the flavor combination. A bartender made me this Martinez-inspired cocktail I really liked that was something like this (I don't remember exact quantities):

2oz Grouse
1oz Carpano Antica
.25oz Maraschino
Orange bitters
Laphroaig float

I had to google Grouse and it looks like the Scottish equivalent of the wild turkey. Which reminded me of the wild turkey hitting the windshield as we were driving back from skiing today, quite the sight.

ET,

Grouse is a cheap blended scotch that is great for cocktails.

Hey El D,

There's a middle eastern store 2 doors up which might have watermelon but it's well off season. I have sourced the juice from somewhere else as a backup. Lemons are no problem at least.

Will definitely do Martinez as a straight vermouth, shudder. I've definitely seen Antica around, too, thanks for the tips!

Being spoiled I use a single malt (speyside) for cocktails rather than a blend, but I would give a tip to J&B if one can find that too, another excellent blend. For my standard non-mixing malts I've got a calvados finished Arran and an unpeated Bruichladdich. Yum.

Best,
Pete

All,

Thoughts on the whiskey+chocolate party I mentioned earlier.

First off, it was an amazing idea for a party. I strongly recommend it. Also, turns out that if you put trays of chocolate next to whiskey, lots of women who normally would recoil at the idea of straight whiskey will gleefully pour and sip whiskey neat. Thoughts on the items/pairings:

"Wild Turkey Russell's Reserve 10 Year Bourbon
[a surprise for you...]"
Snickers was the surprise. This was a good simple combo to start with, and along with the Snickers, the bourbon went down pretty smooth.

"Rittenhouse Straight Rye Whisky, 100 proof
Godiva Chocoiste Milk Chocolate Pearls"
The Rittenhouse is one of my favorite cocktail ryes, but I wasn't a huge fan of it for sipping. These little godiva chocolate balls were ****ing delicious, though. Kind of mild next to this strong rye, though, not a great pairing.

"Compass Box Orangerie Scotch Whisky infusion
Socola Chocolatier Sriracha Flying Rooster"
This scotch was interesting. Very light, quite a strong orange flavor. I never would have pegged it as a scotch, tasted more like an armagnac or something. Not terribly into it. The chocolate was pretty impressive, but pretty blow you away levels of spiciness - definitely left your mouth feeling like hot Sriracha. But it also made the whiskey taste like nothing. Not a great pairing here - should have been w/ a cask strength whiskey with a strong flavor.

"Bowmore Single Malt Scotch, Darkest 15 year
XOX Truffles' Noisette truffle (hazelnut, sprinkle of sea salt)"
I like this scotch a lot. And this combo was amazing. He had this bourbon smoked sea salt to eat a pinch of along with the rich hazelnut truffle. Eating that along with this flavorful scotch really highlighted the flavors of both. This was a great glimpse into the great potential of a whiskey/chocolate pairing party. Of course, that would require tons of tasting of different whiskey/chocolate combos - tough job, right?

Overall, great party, everyone had a lot of fun and got pretty drunk.