Out here in Nuevo Mexico I wanted to celebrate Mexican Independence Day by make margaritas with Mexican limons, which are hard to find Stateside, and remembered my take on Difford's Yuzu Margarita, which probably comes close. Difford had the stunningly good idea (why didn't I think of it?!) of making margaritas with Cointreau replaced by Ferrand Limited Edition Late Harvest Yuzu Curacao but replaced the lime with yuzushu liqueur, whereas I just use yuzu juice (see his page on Yuzu Margaritas).
Never seen yuzushu around these parts. I stuck closer to the original concept and got Japanese Shirakiku brand bottled yuzu extract at our local Asian market. It tastes like a sour version of a ripe Mexican limon, somewhere between American limes and lemons in flavor, maybe like a ripened Key lime, maybe with a hint of grapefruit (but not too much). Fresh yuzu may be available in-season (mid-winter). I used Difford's proportions (2:1:1), including the agave and saline, and I like adding 1/4 oz mezcal for a smoky "Mexican" complexity touch and garnishing with a lemon twist (or yuzu twist, if you got it). This yield a distinctive, orange-free variant that will not be confused with a "lemon juice margarita."
Assuming that orange eau de vie was unsweetened back in 1895, using 40% Cointreau is quite a bit sweeter. I steep orange zests in Wray & Nephew overproof white rum for drinks that need more orange but not more sugar, so I replaced 1/3 oz of the Cointreau with my homemade orange eau de vie. This was wonderful, plenty sweet, taming the rye in a manner one doesn't usually encounter.
24 hour steep was superb. Drew out some of the more savoury/vegetal flavours from the raspberries. Did a double measure of the liquid to roughly two tablespoons of raspberries smooshed up. Pure raspberry-sloegroni bliss! Payneful it certainly was not.
Could definitely batch this for summer parties. When you’re ready to serve, add roughly 10ml water per serving and pour straight over a Rock. I’m guessing that leaving undiluted for the steep will improve extraction.
5 raspberries, not 4.
Gin, not rye.
Shaken, not stirred.
Use a julep strainer to hold back the ice & raspberry mush when you pour it into a strainer over the old-fashioned glass. Outstanding negroni variant!
I don't normally make drinks with egg whites but we had a bunch of freshly separated whites so I tried this. Used 8 raspberries and Chambord instead of sugar syrup so it was really fruity. My wife liked the pink foam but all that shaking, pouring and straining makes tiki drinks look simple in comparison. Bartenders should charge extra for this drink!
To be clear, you can't actually patent a color per se. The patent Perkin got on mauveine was for the first (synthetic) aniline dye, which had a purple color he dubbed "mauve." If you'd prefer to celebrate mauveine's discovery with something drier than the Parma Violet Spritz, I recommend a variant of Difford's Flower Power Martini made with Empress 1908 Indigo Gin. As I point out in my note on the Flower Power, "The Empress 1908 Indigo gin gives the drink a much more shagadelic violet color...."
Went with Peat's Dragon to celebrate The Song of Fire & Ice by local author George R.R. Martin.
Use a peaty Islay rather than a Speyside for this. Orange cognac liqueur didn't sound right so I went with the more lemony Ferrand Limited Edition Late Harvest Moroccan Yuzu Curacao. And it should be shaken, not stirred, to incorporate the freshly ground black pepper into the drink. The pepper complements the peat and teases your palate all the way down without overwhelming the drink. A good choice to commemorate the start of The Song of Fire & Ice.
Gotta love a 'late night nipple' now and again!
Maybe that was the variation in Ensslin's 1916 edition. Whatever its pedigree, it's on my Wish List now.
Tried both spec and CB’s Valentino style. Reading the description for Martini rubino vermouth, I split the Campari with Select, actual vermouth was carpano. Two dashes of my favourite Bitter Truth orange bitters. Wonderful orange notes balancing the richness and bittersweetness of the other ingredients. I combined remy Martin and Camus cognacs to happy effect. A fitting celebratory libation for the end of my working year!
I should have referred to 2:1:1 proportions as "Boulevardier style" since Valentinos are nominally 4:1:1, which is quite lean. I finally got some Martini & Rossi Riserva Speciale Rubino Vermouth (while traveling in Portland Oregon!) and was able to pair it with their Riserva Speciale Bitter in an Independence Day Celebration using Braastad VSOP. What a combo: just the right balance of sweet and bitter with neither showing to excess, and the complexity of the vermouth and the bitter pair up like they were meant to be combined this way. Don't know if this was how D'Ercole originally designed it but this version alone merits another half star.
A daiquiri infused with basil and sweetened with honey sounded promising, and the herbal character of the basil suggested pairing it with a rhum agricole; I used Rhum J.M rhum agricole blanc. This worked *very* well (use lots of basil and muddle well) and makes for one of my favorite variations that doesn't stray too far from the standard daiquiri recipe. I used 10:3:2 proportions instead of the sweeter proportions given above. Playing with a local honey choice as suggested by G.M. Genovese adds another degree of freedom to explore; I used a 3:1 syrup of Colorado mountain flower honey.
A gin-based variant of the mint julep. My wife just planted a bunch of basil for the summer so we had to try this to celebrate World Gin Day. Next time I'll try serving it over crushed ice in our olde julep cups.
A very good drink to sip on the beach. Just had one in Grenada but garnished with a dusting of ground Nutmeg rather than banana wedge. A local touch and very good.
I second the ground nutmeg recommendation. Adds a very nice touch.
Delightful combination of ingredients not usually found together. Hamilton Jamaican Pot-Still Black Rum gave the rum some prominence in this mix, but the Carvalhas Tawny contributed its share. Not sure sweet white port would work as well; this doesn't need extra sweetener. I added both orange and lemon twists.
Nice to have more tequila aperitif cocktails that have some bittersweet herbal notes and bear no resemblance to a margarita. The Amaro Montenegro works well with the tequila in this. Kristi suggests adding a pink edible flower to the garnish for a little extra flair. Could use another drop or 2 of rose water; I had no idea whether we had any but Kristi went to the pantry and immediately returned with a bottle so I had to make it. No idea what the name means other than referencing the pink color. Highly recommended.
One detail: no fresh pomegranates to squeeze so I used pomegranate liqueur, which seems to have worked fine.
Nice to have more tequila aperitif cocktails that have some bittersweet herbal notes and bear no resemblance to a margarita. The Amaro Montenegro works well with the tequila in this. Kristi suggests adding a pink edible flower to the garnish for a little extra flair. Could use another drop or 2 of rose water; I had no idea whether we had any but Kristi went to the pantry and immediately returned with a bottle so I had to make it. No idea what the name means other than referencing the pink color. Highly recommended.
Needs plenty of dilution, especially if using Rittenhouse, as I was. Would be interesting to try with other and lower abv ryes. Was really enjoying the Woodford reserve recently, bottle now sadly finished. Hayman’s sloe gin.
Great Manhattan variation. Hayman's "slow" gin really mellows the spirituous Whistle Pig PiggyBack rye, which is only 96.56 proof according to the bottle but 100% rye. Difford's 3:2 proportions are about right with these ingredients. And as The Man Behind The Bar I was careful to use Nick & Nora's as you stressed; Kristi says we should watch "Thin Man" movies while sipping these.
Thank you Chris. Great advice. I did notice the recipe had changed. Now on to a Sloegroni.
I had good results making the Sloegroni with Ramazzotti Aperitivo Rosato in place of the rosato vermouth. You need to watch the sweetness on that one.
Yes, added more gin. Is there a 'navy strength' you recommend?
Simon Difford is the one recommending Navy Strength gin for this. If it was strong enough to ensure victory against the Spanish Armada, in the Battle of Trafalgar, and the Battle of Jutland then it's probably great in the Six Cylinder, but I find normal London Dry strength (~94 proof) to be plenty adequate. I'd rather just bump up the volume of base liquor in a Negroni-like drink by a quarter ounce or so to lessen the sweetness a little bit. Good dilution helps, too, especially when serving in coupes with no ice-cubes.
Fabulous! Found the bitterness from the Campari, Byrrh, and the vermouths effectively balanced the cherry sweet center from Luxardo's Cherry Sangue Morlacco. And just enough gin. Wouldn't change a thing.♡
Agree that Byrrh works well in this and that the full complement of Campari is appropriate given the number of other sweet ingredients. A touch more gin if you don't have "Navy strength." I also agree on your assessment (below) of the Complex Tipperary.
Also good bumping up the gin to 30ml, which may overcome reservations re excessive sweetness/Campari-ness.
No "Navy strength" gin so I snuck the Tanqueray up to 3/4 oz (22.5 ml), which was enough. No reason to cut back on the Campari; the bitterness and "extra" ingredients makes this a serious, cherry fruit-forward Negroni variant. I used Byrrh, which worked quite well with the gin & Campari. Used Cocchi Extra Dry & Storico rosso, but I'm thinking a little more bitterness from Dopo Teatro instead of Storico might work well, too. There's more going on here than in a Negroni; I can see why it won a competition way back in 1928.
The cognac in a Vieux Carre' lightens and softens the rye, but the armagnac in the Old Square also adds a layer of its own flavor and richness, especially if your bottle has been sitting around as long as mine has (Dartigalongue Hors d'Age, opened some time back in the late 20th century). Replacing some of the rosso in a Vieux Carre' by oloroso sherry adds another layer of complexity and richness as well without making it sweeter; the sweetness is about right as specified here. An excellent Vieux Carre' variant.
A new favourite negroni! This really made my cocktail evening. Created a couple of years after the Cornwall negroni and a definite improvement by evolution of it, in my opinion. Better balanced and integrated. Will definitely be having again.
Garnish instructions seem contradictory lemon vs orange flamed twist? I was half way through doing lemon when noticed the orange. Lemon non-flamed actually worked better with the Tanq 10 that I was using.
I, too, was confused by the specification of both lemon and orange flamed zest twists, so I used one of each. According to Death & Co.'s "Modern Classic Cocktails," which is probably as close to Phil Ward's original recipe as we're gonna get, the official garnish is a flamed orange "coin," as shown in Difford's photos. I've watched video of Dale DeGroff igniting flaming orange coins and it looks like you get just one good flaming squeeze per coin (don't burn your fingers). I don't do coins and can attempt several pyrotechnic squeezes out of a good-size zest strip. A great Negroni variation with more body than the standard recipe. And no, I haven't read the book.
Using a primary shot of overproof white rum makes it a nuclear daiquiri, adding a Smith & Cross secondary makes it thermonuclear. No idea why this was originally made with Yellow Chartreuse; just because it 's yellow (Strega??) it doesn't necessarily belong in a banana daiquiri. As others have noted, Creme de Banane (I had Tempus Fugit) works much better. I also think splitting the citrus between lime & lemon works better, and I didn't miss the Xanthan gum. I did add a couple dashes of pimento dram, though. Finally, this clearly belongs in a tiki mug.