Welcome cocktail drinkers! I'll preface this post by saying that I'm far from being a cocktail aficionado. That said, I had a life changing experience in 2014 that has inspired me to become one. Up until that experience, I knew there were good cocktails and some great bartenders out there. But I was totally unaware of the existence of a select group of "artists" who have set the bar so sky-high.

I don't know how to do this without plugging this specific bar, but I have no relationship with it. I was visiting a friend in Toronto, and he took me here:

http://www.thewhippoorwill.com/

I won't waste your time plugging the (delicious) food, but I will tell you about my cocktail experience there. I started with the Irish Santa. Seems pretty simple right? Jamison, ginger bread liqueur, cherrywood smoke. To this day, I've never had a better drink. The bartender makes the gingerbread liqueur himself. He mentioned it takes a couple of days. It arrived in a small pitcher already mixed with the Jamison. The smoke arrived in a sealed mason jar. I watched him burn the cherrywood with a torch, and he captured the smoke and sealed it inside the jar. I was then made to mix the contents of the pitcher with the smoke inside the jar. I can't even describe the taste, it was so complex. Sweet, smokey, extremely strong and yet somehow easy to drink.

When the bartender prepared every drink, he always started with a huge chunk of ice. I don't dare call these ice cubes, they're 3 times the size. On every one, he would take the ball of ice, and rotate it along the bottom of the glass about 15 times. I asked him why, and he mentioned that it would melt off just the right amount of water for what he needed. And he did it the same way, every time. He never skipped a step. This is the sort of cocktail art I'd like to be doing at home. So maybe we can talk a bit about what it takes to achieve this in a home setting.

I've also been to places like the Aviary in Chicago, which take mixology to a level that I don't really seek to reach at home. These places are really that special treat you have to go out for, although I wouldn't put it past anyone in here to achieve this at home (and hope some of you try and report back). Some links to the next level stuff they do:





even their ice is a science:




This is the Aviary guys again, but something I think could be achieved at home. It's one I'm trying this weekend:




So have at it! Where have you had some of the best cocktails of your life? Any recipes you'd like to share? Any must have accessories for home? My first purchase was this jumbo ice ball maker:




Enjoy. Looking forward to hearing your experiences.

The aviary is amazing. If you're interested in cocktails it's pretty important to familiarize yourself with the classics imo. Luckily most of them are pretty easy to make yourself....quality of ingredients is the most important thing. My current favorite drink is called a paper plane: equal parts (i do 3/4oz each) Rye whiskey, Amaro Nonino, Aperol, Lemon juice shaken over ice and served up......delicious. I have played around with a variant that subs the nonino fo a darker, less delicate amaro, and the aperol for gran classico and it's also very good.

I've just started infusing my alcohol also. This site gave me a few ideas. Anyone doing this at home?

http://boozedandinfused.com/

I haven't seen a better how to guide than this:

http://www.nwedible.com/2013/10/infu...d-liquors.html

Rafiki,

Lots of thoughts, recommendations, etc. on this topic. I'll get started with a few recommendations for anyone who is really into cocktails:

Watch this movie: Hey Bartender
Get these books: PDT Cocktail Book and Imbibe
Get this app: Speakeasy Cocktails

The new Death and Co book is really great also.....probably the best cocktail book I have seen.

Damn this sounds good. My go-to liquor store is out of Amaro Nonino and Aperol though

I haven't been to super high end cocktail bars like The Aviary, but The Patterson House in Nashville is the best I've experienced. We were only in town two nights, went the first night and then again the second night because it was so good. Highly recommended if you ever venture that way.

Delicious summertime low abv cocktail my buddy serves at his restaurant called an adriatic:

1 part aperol
1 part cynar
1 part lemon juice
1/2 part simple syrup

shake and serve on rocks.....a little out of season but it's delicious whenever and you can drink like 10 of them.

I had an old fashioned with maple syrup in it 3 nights ago. Wow. Highly recommend this slight edit for any old fashioned drinkers out there.

What bourbon you guys like using for an Old Fashioned? I Almost feel like any *really* good stuff is wasted in that mix. We can't get Pappy's here in Canada, but if I could I doubt I'd use it. The one this bartender made me was just with Jack and it still tasted nice. But I wondered how much nicer it might be with something a few steps up from that.

terrible thread. i want a cocktail now. or two.

Was this at a bar, or made at home? How much maple syrup? I'm intrigued.

Had it in a bar and then immediately made it at home. One advantage of being lol Canadian is always having good maple syrup handy at home. Looked like the bartender did about a tsp, but I'm sure my drink didn't have 2oz of bourbon. At home I did 2oz bourbon and 1/4 Oz maple syrup and it was awesome. Obviously that replaces whatever sweetener you would normally use. I suspect honey jack could also be a nice change.

Rafiki,

I feel completely the opposite to you wrt the liquor in an old fashioned. The drink (and really most classic cocktails) is all about the taste of the base spirit. My favorite is a good rye old fashioned using classic recipe with a little less sweetener than standard.

My favorite old fashioned variation is a Oaxacan old fashioned, which uses tequila and mezcal as the base spirit.

Speaking of maple syrup, one of my favorites is the maple rye fizz:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2...il-recipe.html

Tequila fans,

Here's a super simple one for you that's really great:

Tequila
1/4 oz st germain
Rhubarb bitters

All,

Here's a general formula that you can have lots of fun with:

1.5-2oz base spirit
.5 oz amaro or vermouth
.25 oz liqueur
Bitters

I'll post a few great combinations later starting from that template.

One of my favorite riffs on that classic formula is the Devil's Backbone, which turns that into a complex cocktail with amazing layers of flavor and balance: http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2012/1...francisco.html

To be honest I really don't know the answer, hence why I asked. I always found it to be a waste to use really good vodka and mix it with cranberry for example. So I was curious if people did that with something like an old fashioned. I bought more good stuff today, I'll report back.

What bitters you guys using these days? Right now I have Fee Brother's, Angostura's and Campari. Anything else that's incredible?

My buddy makes an italian sazerac at his restaurant that is basically exactly this. He just makes a sazerac and adds a 1/2 oz of nonino...its extremely delicious. I'm starting to think that you can just put amaro nonino in anything to make it better....it's like the bacon of the spirits world!

The vodka argument is irrelevant because a vodka cranberry is not a spirit heavy drink. Also, if you're drinking a vodka cranberry you probably dont really enjoy the taste of booze anyway. With spirit forward drinks, such as an old fashioned, you want to use something high quality thats not too precious. For bourbon, something in the $30-$45 a bottle range usually does the trick. The market is saturated with all sorts of fancy bitters these days. I have mostly resisted the urge to get into them because its just one more thing to hoard and spend money on. Campari isn't really bitters, but it is great....hard to beat a good negroni (or boulevardier).

also, maple syrup can be an awesome sub for simple syrup in a lot of cocktail recipes

rafiki,

"I always found it to be a waste to use really good vodka and mix it with cranberry for example."

Definitely a waste, since your vodka preferences are all in your head anyway and you can't taste the difference. As always, happy to put together a prop bet on this that you'd lose.

"So I was curious if people did that with something like an old fashioned. I bought more good stuff today, I'll report back."

For whiskey old-fashioneds, I have a strong preference for higher-proof liquors. I think 100 is ideal.

"What bitters you guys using these days? Right now I have Fee Brother's, Angostura's and Campari."

Fee's Brothers is a brand, not a type of bitters. Angostura is also a brand, but primarily refers to their flagship bitters version. Three standards you should have are Ango, Peychaud's and orange bitters (I currently have Regan's #5 orange). Other bitters I have include rhubarb, grapefruit, and chocolate. Those come in handy a lot. Fee's Brothers are decent and cheap. Lots of interesting stuff from Bitter Truth and Bittermens if you want to explore further. I'm a big fan of tobacco bitters, but they can be pretty hard to find (most I've had has been stuff made in-house).

Those are bitters, which you use a few drops of to flavor a cocktail.

Campari is not bitters like those. It's a bitter liqueur, similar to many Italian amari (I'm not sure if it's technically an amaro or not, but for all intents and purposes it is). You'll use anywhere from a barspoon to an ounce in cocktails. Campari is one of my least favorite in that category - the sweet element is too cloying and overall it lacks in complexity and balance. For negronis, Gran Classico >>>>>>> Campari. Other amari I enjoy include Cynar, Zucca, and Nonino.

Edit: The big trend out here lately has been cocktails using shrubs.

I tried 2 different bourbon's last night for my old fashioned, 1792 Ridgemont Reserve and Bulleit. I'd imagine Bulleit in Canada is considered more premium because of all the taxes they slap on it here. I can't get it for less than $38, but I conceded that in the States it's probably an average Bourbon. Anyway the 2 I made with those were both just on par with the one that was served to me with Jack the other night. That being said there's a pretty good chance all 3 weren't made exactly the same. I think I also lean towards a less boozy old fashioned myself, compared to a very traditional stiff one.

Trying my first Sazerac tonight, looking forward to that. Weird that two people in less than 24 hours mentioned that one to me.

Thanks for the advice Diablo.

All,

Some of you have prob had cocktails where they have a bowl of smoke over it or something like that to add a smoky element. Here's something a friend of mine has been playing with at his bar which is pretty awesome.



Mixes the cocktail, pours it into that flask, uses smoke gun w/ different wood chips for different flavors to fill flask with smoke, puts stopper in flask and depending on level of smokiness desired sometimes shakes and then leaves in flask for a few seconds to 2 minutes. Have had a ton of different great smoked cocktails.

Pretty badass there el d......personally if I want a smokey effect in a cocktail i just rinse my glass with laphroaig. A fun one I like to make once in a while is 3 parts gin, 1 part green chartreuse on rocks in a glass rinsed with islay scotch. I prefer ardbeg 10 for the rinse on this one, but anything super peaty works.

AA,

I'm a very big fan of cocktails with a peaty scotch rinse or float, but that's a very different type of smoky component than what actual smoke brings to the drink.

Was just looking for a gift for a friend that I'm visiting in Toronto end of Feb, and you just solved my quest. Bought him the Polyscience smoke gun for doing this, and since I was already paying for shipping, I tossed one in for myself. $125 for both shipped. Will review for you guys in a week when I have it. Guess I'm on the hunt for some cedar and a few other nice woods.

Rafiki,

Sweet! Yesterday I had a drink with cherry wood chip smoke that was awesome - had some noticeable cherry flavor just from the smoke.