Rob Simpson avatar
Rob Simpson

Rob Simpson

  • Commenter #203
  • Appreciated Commenter #306
  • Conversation Starter #310
Stork Club
8 Comments
Rob Simpson

Balanced and tasty without actually being interesting.

This or a sidecar is my go-to for using up the inevitable couple of half oranges at end of shift.

Orange Blossom
9 Comments
Simon Difford

Agreed. I've updated the recipe and added balance with a regal shake.

Rob Simpson

Per Embury (rather sniffily as usual); "equal parts of gin and orange juice, with or without the white of an egg". Well you can drop me out of the egg thanks.

Rob Simpson

Can't get it to work in anything.
Seems dusty on the front end and totally lacking in the middle. Nothing much on the back end either, just loads of sweetness without any real kick. diabolical in an old fashioned, last thing it needs is dilution and sweetness.
Thought it might make a decent Manhattan with cocchi storico or antica formula, thought that pronounced corn sweetness could work well with the vanilla, it was ok but it wasn't great, still not enough body on the whisky.

French Martini
16 Comments
Rob Simpson

A lot of people these days like them frothed up (with egg white/aquafaba etc on top of the pineapple) and served in a coupe a la clover club. I am ambivalent about this, I think it's frothy enough with the pineapple. It's always fun to get a nice head on any drink though.
The drink itself is a bit sweet for me, lemon juice tempers it quite well if you like that sort of thing .
it's nice to have a creative use for Chambord

Orange Blossom
9 Comments
Rob Simpson

Don't like the triple sec at all here. Overpowers the fresh citrus.
Robert Vermier just goes for gin, oj, and orange bitters. Much prefer that. I'd rather bring the sweetness in with his suggested grenadine, still allows the fresh orange to shine through.

Rob Simpson

Wouldn't the "flat white Martini" mentioned properly be an espresso martini variant rather than a white russian? I feel like an actual shot of espresso puts it in e.m. territory immediately even before you consider it's served Up and doesn't even contain a coffee liqueur

Rob Simpson

To clarify, feel that it's possible to swap out the "sweetening agent" in an espresso martini and still keep the integrity of the drink basically intact but as a white russian is just a black russian variant, and a black russian is vodka+coffee liqueur by definition, seems to me it's possible to lose the kahlua in an espresso martini but not really in any kind of "... russian"

Rob Simpson

Wouldn't the "flat white Martini" mentioned properly be an espresso martini variant rather than a white russian? I feel like an actual shot of espresso puts it in e.m. territory immediately even before you consider it's served Up and doesn't even contain a coffee liqueur

Espresso Martini
46 Comments
Simone Chisena

Out of necessity (read: that's what I had in the house at the time) I made this with Borghetti rather than Kahlua or Galliano and boy, it did work well!

Rob Simpson

Borghetti is excellent for it, but the sugar syrup is a must in that case. We used to use Borghetti at work, but it was too bitter for general tastes (the public eh?) so we switched to Kahlua.

Last Word
76 Comments
Rob Simpson

One of my favourites. Right this moment drinking something like a cherry last word variation of such a thing can exist. 30 ml tanqueray, 30 ml maraska marachino liqueur, 30 ml lime juice, 15 ml dolin vermouth blanc, 15 ml de kuyper cherry brandy.