This is one of those drinks that's hard to really comment on because so many of us have made it and there's not a lot to say. It's peach-forward and the quality of the overall drink is heavily determined by the quality of your orange juice.
I usually trim down the peach schnapps to 20ml for my own tastes, as I prefer the orange juice to be a little more involved, but again, it heavily depends on quality of oranges. And mine are often sad.
It's a great cocktail to break out when you've friends over and need to use up that bottle of peach schnapps that has been hiding in the back of the bar!
What a blend of tart and sweet! Much like the cocktail's namesake. I think the real Mae West would have approved.
The Amaretto and cranberry create the chocolate flavor profile and the splash of Midori gives it just a hint of cherry. I think next time I'll up the Midori to 10ml and see if it brings a little more sweet to the mix, since I was using a sweetened but non-blended cranberry juice. If it were my usual cran-cherry blend, I probably wouldn't.
Without Midori, I still think this would be a tasty drink. Substitute a little sugar syrup as the extra sweetener and lose a bit of the fruit undertone, but still have a chocolate treat. This is going to be a cocktail I bring out on select occasions.
This cocktail is like an onion in that it has many layers but in all other respects is nothing like an onion. I cry while the onion is in front of me, but I cry when this cocktail is gone.
The heavy dose of blackstrap rum gives it a heavy molasses base that is radically altered by the absinthe (green magic!) lending a healthy dose of licorice to the mix. But the use of both sours gives it a refreshing tartness that I liked. I'd also argue that the crushed ice is essential and not to skip and use plain cubes, because they dilute differently and change the flavor profile heavily.
An absolutely delicious drink that will be made many a time in my household. Although if using cheap, bottled grenadine, I'll tick it up to 15ml.
I like the “exponential decay” sidecar 2 oz brandy, 1 oz triple sec, 1/2 oz lemon juice. The best part is that you never run out of this drink…. (Sorry, bad math teacher joke)
I'll have to give that a try sometime! Depending on the brandy, a Sidecar can vary so much that small changes to the trimmings turn it into a new drink.
It's one of the reasons it's such a classic!
So I was gifted a bottle of Midori and was immediately turned off by the sweet, cloying aroma. But hey, free liqueur is never bad liqueur and I came to this site to find something to make with the stuff. This version of the Japanese Slipper is what I tried and it was good!
I worried about it being too sweet with both Triple Sec and Midori, but the lemon juice soured it up nicely and despite not thinking much of it at first, the glass emptied before I realized it.
Simple, but tasty. I'll be making this a few more times to deplete that bottle! The only problem is...I might grow fond of it and decide to keep one on my shelf!
I played by the recipe on this one as opposed to doing what I usually do with my Manhattans, which is swap bourbon for rye, earning me plenty of side-eye from some bartenders.
Overall, I liked it. My primary reason for the rye swap is because I don't typically enjoy bourbon's inherent sweetness, and this tempered that nicely with the dry vermouth. Which, uh, I maybe pushed a bit harder by using a Tribuno Extra Dry. I felt it was good and balanced.
...but I'm going to be a heathen and try it next time with rye.
I was a little on the fence with this cocktail the first time I made it, but a gentle increase in the Schnapps (mind you, I used a low-cost Mr. Boston Peach Schnapps as it was all I had access to) and I discovered a delicious sipper. The bourbon needs to be forward, yes, but the peach should not be too subtle. In a cocktail as simple as this, it needs to share the stage in my opinion. Not an equal amount, certainly, but I upped the dose to 17ml with a mild, Jim Beam bourbon, and it was heavenly.
I love it when my mint is fresh and ready for plucking for things like cooking or, more importantly, cocktails! But this cocktail wasn't quite what I expected.
Let's be up front, your mileage with this cocktail is going to hinge on the quality and flavor of your mint and the quality of your grenadine. I highly recommend better than the bottled grenadine I used.
I over-fed this drink mint leaves, but never got a lot out of that. It ended up a tasty whiskey sour with the edge trimmed way down. It was gorgeous to look at, which is rare in my personal dive bar, but just a notch above average in flavor profile. I think better grenadine would have made it exquisite. And maybe my mint is weak.
It's definitely weaker than my whiskey!
I'm going to retry with some improved ingredients. As it stands, very good, looks perfect for guests, needs something more for my palate.
I am not a big tequila fan, so the fact that there are a lot of factors at play in this breezy, casual sipper is a big plus for me. I found there to be just enough tequila in the stock mix and worried that the Campari would be too weak, but I was wrong. Just the right amount of bitter, with delicious herbal notes and a fruitiness that would make this a poolside favorite if I had the disposable income for a pool. This one will be coming out again!
I am desperately trying to find cocktails to use up a local Averna-esque Amaro and this turned out pretty good. I'm not rating it until I get back to it with a proper Averna, because the local blend has maple syrup and a super strong cinnamon taste. The rye finish is precisely right for a Manhattan though, so I suspect I'll like the proper cocktail once I can make it. I just need to finish this dang local stuff so I can clear it out of my cabinet...
Okay, finally have some REAL Averna in the cabinet and remade this cocktail, adding a couple extra dashes of orange bitters. And I dig it!
It's a great riff on the classic Manhattan with heavy emphasis on the spice, which in the classic cocktail is corralled a bit by the vermouth, but it settles well. Using real Averna instead of the local nonsense I'd bought helped removed the heavy maple syrup taste. Great sipping cocktail.
It's really not a complex drink, but it is a good one. I appreciate the gin adding more herbal qualities as opposed to a vodka and, yeah, it's got the citrus layer thanks to the double-dose of triple sec and curacao. Simple. But you know what? It was a hot, humid, summer day, and this capped it nicely. And it was blue. What more could we ask for?
I was craving something new with Elderflower liqueur and this sounded unique. And unique it was!
The Elderflower dominates, as should be expected, and I mixed to the ratios given because that was what I wanted. I wouldn't have bothered if I wanted only a hint of Elderflower. This cocktail is strong, herbal, very sweet, and like nothing else I've had. I fully agree with Yuri Beloti's comment below that controlling the absinthe is key. I ended up at 2ml and it was perfect. Just the right amount of tone. You catch the aniseed on the nose and it plays in the back adding character.
This is a mix of sweet and spicy on my palate. It has a warmth imparted from the herbal liqueur (I used Luxardo Del Santo), a little tang from the Triple Sec, some notes of spice from the bitters, and a sweet base from the cognac. It's got a lot going on with the feel and maybe too much for some, but it grew on me nicely. Would be the perfect drink in the midst of winter, by a roaring fire, in my imaginary country estate.
I just wanted a vodka cocktail that wasn't a straight-up Martini or doused with cranberry and this sounded good! I took John Hinjos advice below and added three or so dashes of orange bitters, and I think that gave a little extra punch to a cocktail that has a surprisingly mellow quality, despite the quantity of vodka. I used Effen vodka and Luxardo's Del Santo for the green charteuse-alike. Very easy to sip.
Truth be told, until today, I hadn't kept a bottle of absinthe in my bar. Most cocktails are very delicate about using it. The Duchess is a gem because there is a resounding confidence in putting 15ml of absinthe into a cocktail. And it works! With the duel vermouths, the absinthe creates a velvet texture and a very pleasing feel. I used an extra dry vermouth but how could that really matter when we are talking about such an absinthe-forward drink? The Green Fairy is strong in this one!
I had fresh watermelon, which is unusual, so as a responsible adult human the first thing I sought to do was add liquor. This was the cocktail I decided to try and...and it's fine? It tastes like an infused vodka. I muddled a couple of pieces because one didn't seem to be enough and then I added ice to my glass because the initial flavor wasn't appealing to me. As it mellowed with the ice, the watermelon flavor took charge and I enjoyed it a bit more. It was novel, for sure. Next time I might skip the sugar syrup and add a bit of grenadine.
Masterful! The switch to rye appeals to me hugely, even though I used a budget rye for this one (a George Dickel chill filtered). The rye keeps spice in the profile and the maraschino and herbal liqueur (I used Luxardo Del Santo) blend deliciously to create a bittersweet cocktail that I think is making it into my shaker on a regular basis. The mix just seems to work for my palate without making me consider any changes.
I like my Martinis dry but I never expected a splash of scotch to elevate the proceedings so nicely! Anything more than that little dose would be too much, but in these proportions it left me with a very pleasant, extremely tasty cocktail, even with the more basic Beefeater gin I had on hand.
I bought a bottle of Luxardo's herbal green liqueur to try out and this is the first cocktail I've made with it. I enjoyed it! A pleasant martini that I found utterly balanced. I did use an extra dry vermouth, but I don't think that harmed the herbal melody the gin and liqueur created. Also, a shoutout to that little dash of orange bitters; it pulled its weight in holding it all together. Instant favorite.
This is very, very Maraschino forward, which surprised me as I use Lazzaroni Maraschino and that tends to be a more subtle Maraschino liqueur. The brandy seemed drowned out amidst the gin and Maraschino, but that could be because I used an E & J VSOP (though I do enjoy it as a budget brandy!). I may try without the sugar syrup next time to see if that increases my enjoyment at all.
Far more moderate than I expected for a drink that is literally 1/2 Campari. The Montenegro softens the bitterness very nicely. I am a heathen who often will forgo the garnish if I don't have it to hand, but having tried this with the orange I fully agree that it is a required ingredient to this cocktail's odds of success.
I uttered a very dirty word sipping this cocktail for the first time.
Such a simple combination and yet so, so, so good! As a whiskey lover, this has catapulted into my Top 5. This has the perfect proportions, with the equal whiskies and the halved Amaretto. Balanced to a tee. Nothing fights, everything compliments.
My only disappointment was discovering that I had no almonds in the house. Which, I suppose, is just an excuse to buy some and make this again!
Oddly, this is a cocktail which I think would be better shaken and stirred. It seems to benefit from getting more air and being very cold.
I just tried this cocktail according to the recipe and loved it, but after reading your comment, John, I think I'm going to try it shaken and stirred next time! Cheers!