Simon Sedgley

A luscious sour that we think is even more greatly improved by adding 5ml (or a bit more, if you wish) Giffard Ginger of the Indies.

For us, of the three, this is the one. Lovely balance. Rum, a star elsewhere, is a strange interloper here.

Ok its true its perfect. The salt is the 'money shot'. Quite different just 'cause this detail. And certainly to go religious with the proportions. Is not only cute is really outstanding. Smtimes the Edelflower is now a little corny, too sweet, too used (if I see another Edelflower sprits in a restaurant I cry). But this is a surprising combination and addition to the Last Words of the world and to the Edelflower.

We always say, if the drink isn't quite working just add a dash of Elderflower liqueur. Works every time.

How to make: Rawalpindi parts?

We suspect that he is simply saying not to fuss over precisely measuring the volumes...near enough is good enough. After all, it's a shot.

Very tasty. And it awakened the tinkerer that always lurks in our souls. So we went slightly spicier. Having no chilli infused Bourbon, we went with 45ml Elijah Craig Small Batch and 5ml Giffard Pimente d'Espellete. We kept the Elderflower as specified, added 10ml Giffard Ginger of the Indies and split the juice 15ml grapefruit and 10ml lime. We would have liked to incorporate pineapple juice, perhaps just 2.5ml, but had none to hand...maybe next time. We floated a dehydrated lime wheel as the garnish.

Forgot to say, we also threw into the shaker two whole cloves.

Very tasty. And it awakened the tinkerer that always lurks in our souls. So we went slightly spicier. Having no chilli infused Bourbon, we went with 45ml Elijah Craig Small Batch and 5ml Giffard Pimente d'Espellete. We kept the Elderflower as specified, added 10ml Giffard Ginger of the Indies and split the juice 15ml grapefruit and 10ml lime. We would have liked to incorporate pineapple juice, perhaps just 2.5ml, but had none to hand...maybe next time. We floated a dehydrated lime wheel as the garnish.

I feel like this a combination that Ive unconsciously been waiting to come along. The walnut and Benedictine are such natural pairings to scotch. Obviously the choice of scotch could radically affect the outcome. I had Glenmorangie and added an extra splash for booziness’ sake. Had enough bitterness to keep it interesting. Although not crazily complex as far as flavour matching is concerned, the opportunity for tinkering here is unmissable! 😉.

Maybe try a gentle dash of black walnut bitters ol' son.

Coming back to this one, we added a gentle dash of black walnut bitters. Lifted a bit an already lovely cocktail.

Nothing to complain about here except for the name of the cocktail. We think that names are important, at their best illuminating such things as ancestry or inspiration. Eeyore is the least bitter donkey ever to have clip-clopped. To be bitter is to have lived, failed, given up and resented doing so. Eeyore, being a pessimist, never even got as far as failing, let alone succumbing to his failure. He is a warning to children never to give up hope that the world can be made a happy and better place. "Grinch's Requiem" would have been a better name. Anyway, it's a really nicely balanced cocktail. Next time we might reduce the Fernet just a bit.

After preparing this cocktail to specification and enjoying it immensely, we took our cue from commenter John Hinojos and prepared a second, splitting the Rum 30ml Wray and Nephew overproof and 15ml Rhum JM Blanc Agricole. Exceptional. We just know that we're going to have a lot of fun experimenting with this, not just with the Rums but also with different splits of simple and fruit and spiced syrups...ginger, cinnamon, passionfruit, mango...? We suspect that a light touch will be called on for the syrups. We'll see.

Nah it already didn't taste as good after opening. I have no idea how long it'd been sitting on the shelf at the liquor store, the packaging was the original design though, with a cork, the newer ones just have a screw cap. No idea when they stopped using the cork.

Okay, so that does suggest a cork problem. The reason that wine racks exist is to keep the wine in constant contact with the cork when in storage. When that doesn't occur the cork can deteriorate and go off. Most retailers don't understand that when it comes to, for example, vermouths so they store and display them standing upright. And, as you say, there's no telling how long any bottle has been sitting on the shelf.

Thanks Simon yes that makes sense, it would be much easier if I had multiple wine fridges to be fair but alas not enough space. The bar fridge needs to hold wine, beer and soft drinks so really doesn't have much capacity for more than 1 or 2 other bottles. I might try putting a couple in there now though as it's unusually warm here. To be fair for at least 5 months of the year our ambient air temperature is probably 12 degrees or lower anyway so maybe that's why I haven't lost more bottles yet. Will definitely look at getting a couple in the fridge as and when possible though 👍🏼

Cheers Gareth. That bottle of Noilly Prat of yours is one that worries us a bit. Into the fridge, we say.

It's good but... slightly dial down the agave and serve it up. Oh my! :-)

Yes, up in a Coupe glass.

Tommy’s was trendsetting while Wiseman’s is a riff. The Curaçao Margarita is the future:
https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/39403/curacao-margarita
Don't skip the bitters!

And with Dry Curacao coming back to the fore, maybe there's a chance that the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club can see a revival (but perhaps the marketing folks can come up with a less Blue Blood name) . One of our all-time favourites.

No, this is just too sharp and strong for us. But substituting an amaro for the vermouth is an idea worth exploring.

We think that our good host is being a bit modest here awarding just four stars. For us, mango and chilli always dance very seductively together so we added two drops of Scrappy's fire tincture, just to raise the temperature a bit.

A few drops of Bob's Daiquiri Bitters certainly added interest here for us. A delicious, fruity sour.

Its delicious. always less suze, like everybody else says here. Now, the only -cherry- was Luxardo Cherry Sangue, and is very tasty . Ths Suze and the Y Chartreuse sparks here. but gives a lot of flavorS. My last word is that maybe this is not a last word but is lovely.

We do a variant of this whereby we substitute 25ml Nonino Grappa and 5ml Luxardo Cherry Sangue Morlacco for the eau-de-vie. That way, we can keep the Suze at 30ml, as specified. Nice and bold and luscious for us.

Straight up in a Coupe glass was lovely for us. Let it warm and it will lose its initial sharpness.

Really lovely balance and complexity here. We used Lagavulin 8yo and, having no other single malt, Monkey Shoulder blended. And we went with Tempus Fugit Gran Classico Bitter, just to add a subtle fruity note. As it warms, all the subtle notes in the whiskeys blossom.

So, maybe what we need here, is Kiwis, mashed and strained, add Spirit and Liqueur and Juice, shake with ice and see what we get! I love this website because it inspires. Truely.

We ran the Kiwi fruit through our electric juice extractor. It's a beast that will give you juice from a carrot or celery stick, maybe even a potato (we haven't tried that yet). No fuss and gave us 30ml juice for the cocktail. In which case we felt at liberty to go just with simple syrup. And we didn't worry too much about the straining...we don't think it is worth the faff. We love it and look forward to tinkering with a Tequila variant.

Mine looks a little bit like the blue milk from Star Wars ;)

I actually made this one to specs, but it seems a little dull for some odd reason. Added it to my wish list to retry.

Anyhow, the acidity and sweetness are tamped down in the cocktail. I feel that at least one needs to step up to complete this one for me.

For us, pineapple juice adds a wonderful flavour but can dull acidity and complexity. We think one can add a few drops of bitters to this cocktail to good effect. We usually go with grapefruit bitters but we're sure that others would work just as well.

We serve this straight up in a Coupe glass (to our minds prettier and we're not keen on the dilution that crushed ice imparts, even though it's fun on a warm Summer afternoon). Perhaps among the simplest of the Tiki cocktails, and virtuous for it.

btw if one doubles the volume of each ingredient in the recipe, this will give three snug servings in Coupe glasses...one for him, one for her and one, last but not least, for the mother in-law.