Monday, January 25, 2010

Bombay's Take

I read a post on the blog Cocktails with M about gin-based cocktails like the The Savoy, The Sapphire Savoy, The Communique, The White Lady, and The Pink Lady. The blogger addresses, consequently, the difficulty of naming a cocktail with slight changes in recipe. This topic is worth discussing and I hope to tackle it one of these days.

However, I was more interested in the recipe of Bombay’s Take on the Communique or as I call it:
Bombay's Take. I reproduced this little ditty and got a good result – that is to say, the people I served it to enjoyed it. Here’s the recipe with a few of my own adjustments:

Bombay’s Take (on the Communique):

- 1 ½ oz of Bombay Sapphire Extra Dry Gin
- 2 oz of grapefruit juice
- ½ oz of orange liquor (I used Gran Mariner)
- 2 dashes of Fee Brothers Grapefruit Bitters

- Grapefruit rind

Glassware: Chilled martini glass

Chill down a martini glass. Add ice to a shaker and pour 1 ½ oz of Bombay Sapphire Extra Dry Gin into it. Add 2 oz of grapefruit juice. Add ½ oz of orange liquor and 2 dashes of Fee Brothers Grapefruit Bitters. Shake vigorously and pour straight up into a martini glass. Shave off a piece of grapefruit rind over the mixture for zest. Twist the rind and drop into glass. Serve.



Next Song for the Jukebox

The Tamarind Rickey

I stole the idea for this drink from Dan Searing and Rico Wisner. Dan is the Bar Manager at Warehouse Theater and Rico is the Bar Supervisor at Poste Brasserie. Dan's drink is called the Rickey-Tikki-Tavi and Rico's is called the Papa Joe (both great names!).  They entered their respective cocktails into the DC Craft Bartender's Guild Rickey contest this past summer.  Here's the variation I came up with:

The Tamarind Rickey

- 2 oz of Hendrick's Gin

- Jarritos Tamarind Soda
- Slice of lime

Fill a rox glass with ice. Pour 2 oz of Hendrick's Gin into the glass. Pour Jarritos Tamarind Soda on top. Squeeze the lime wedge on top of the mixture and stir.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Tonic at Mount Pleasant donates to Haiti


Today, Sunday Jan 17th Tonic in Mount Pleasant will be donating 50% of their PBR sales to helping the earthquake victims in Haiti. This is a great cause and it's wonderful that Tonic is trying to do a little to help the relief efforts. Go and have a beer.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Summer Drinks in the Winter Time

As you can tell it's a Friday night and I am bored. I'd be out at the bars embarrassing myself but I'm trying to conserve my money after the holidays. Not only that, I figure it‘s winter. It's cold. It's windy as hell. Do as the animals do. Hibernate – or stay in your habitat and experiment with some cocktails at the very least.

I saw a post on the blog
A Thirsty Spirit about a summer drink called Please Don't Go (Summer). The picture in the blog was enticing enough to make me try it. It turned out to be very refreshing. Definitely worth a revisit after the snow has finally melted away, the trees are green again and it gets so hot your balls stick to your leg. No? Not you? Just me? Ok let's see the cocktail.

Please Don’t Go (Summer)

- 2 oz Gin (I used Seagram’s primarily b/c it’s the only gin I have. I'd like to experiment with Hendricks next time)

- 1 oz St. Germaine Elderflower Liqueur

- 5 1 inch squares of cantaloupe

- Juice of 1/2 a lime

- A pinch of salt

- Club soda

Cut a slice of the cantaloupe into 1 inch squares and place them into a tall glass.

Add juice from ½ a lime. Add a pinch of salt. Muddle the ingredients.

Add ice. Cover the glass with a shaker (or pour contents into a shaker). Shake.

Strain the mixture into a rocks glass filled with ice.

Top the drink off with club soda.

Enjoy.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

"Willy Wonka Cocktailing"

I’m a sucker for stuff like this. The Liquid Lab in the Bronx is doing "Willy Wonka Cocktailing." I love it. I want to go there as soon as possible. Who's comin with me?

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Derek Brown on The Rachel Maddow Show

Apparently, Derek Brown served cocktails at the White House just recently (shocker! this guy is like DC's bartender laureate). Rachel Maddow picked up the story. She’s been trying for almost a year to get a menu from one of these cocktail parties the POTUS has been hosting. 3 drinks that were featured at this particular White House event which Maddow attended are listed below with their ingredients.

The Emerson

- Old Tom Gin

- Sweet Vermouth

- Lime juice

- Maraschino Liqueur

Stone Fence

- Laird’s Applejack

- Apple cider

- Fee Brothers Aromatic Bitters

- Mint

The Robert Frost Cocktail

- Sherry

- White Port

- Bourbon

- Sugar

- Orange Bitters

Stone Fence's ingredients reminds me of Veritas created by Todd Thrasher from PX which I described in an earlier post. Thrasher served up his version of a Laird's Apple Jack based cocktail with cider at the Repeal Day Ball we attended this past December. Derek's drink has mint which seems to me to be a very slick addition and probably was that "wow" factor in this drink when people first drank it. God I wish I could have been at the White House to try this stuff.



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Friday, January 1, 2010

New Years Eve - Twenty10th Street Punch

I made a punch for New Years Eve. It was delicious and got us plenty drunk. I call it the Twenty10th Street Punch. Happy New Year!

- 1/2 bottle of Canada Dry Ginger Ale


- 1 bottle of Bacardi Gold Rum


- 1 bottle of Andre's Sparkling White Wine


- 5 bottles of Jarritos Tamarind Soda

- 1 cup of Gran Marnier


- 1 cup of lime juice


- 3 limes

Combine ingrediants into a punch bowl. Cut the limes in halves and drop into punch. Mix. Add ice.