Category: drinks

Day 38: Aviation

  • 2 oz gin
  • 3/4 oz lemon juice
  • 1/2 oz Maraschino liqueur
  • 1/4 oz Crème de violette

The Aviation is the first cocktail that really got me into gin, and it’s because Lisa made me one with Hendrick’s many years ago. My only previous experience with gin was with Tanqueray, which is heavy on the juniper and fairly unpleasant to me. Hendrick’s has a wonderful cucumber flavor that makes it very versatile in drinks for people who don’t care for heavy juniper flavors. I’ve since been branching out and trying other gins, and the Uncle Val’s is a new favorite, so of course I needed to try it in an Aviation. It is glorious in this cocktail! It’s a fresh, floral flavor profile.

Day 37: Between the Sheets

  • 1 1/2 oz dark rum
  • 1 oz cognac
  • 1/2 oz lemon juice
  • 1/2 oz curaçao

This is one that I saw on a menu and didn’t even realize that it was a classic with an established recipe. So I took a stab at at it on my own, and it’s definitely a bit off. Even with the dark rum it mostly tastes of citrus. The recipes I found also use light rum, so I’ll try and follow an existing recipe next time.

Day 36: Beachbum’s Own

  • 1 1/2 oz light rum
  • 1 1/4 oz gold rum
  • 3/4 oz lemon juice
  • 3/4 oz pineapple juice
  • 3/4 oz orange juice
  • 3/4 oz passion fruit syrup
  • 3/4 oz Licor 43

Here’s another sweet, easy drinker. This called for Demerara rum, which I don’t have, so I substituted the gold Angostura rum instead.

I also had the good fortune to visit Adrift last night,a tiki bar in Denver. I had an excellent Scorpion Bowl and a fine Mai Tai. I have now decided that I need one of those tiki punch bowls at home.

Day 34: Queen’s Park Hotel Super Cocktail

  • 1 1/2 oz gold rum
  • 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
  • 1/2 lime juice
  • 1/2 oz grenadine
  • 4 dashes Angostura

I tried to order the tiki book I’ve been borrowing from my coworker but they were out of stock on Amazon, so I decided to go ahead and pick up the newest one from Beachbum Berry. It’s a lot more storytelling than recipes, but it’s super interesting and does have a fair amount of punch recipes. I saw this one while flipping through it and the record four dashes of Angostura drew me in. It’s a fairly sweet drink with a nice tart mouthfeel.

Day 33: Martinez

  • 2 oz gin
  • 3/4 oz sweet vermouth
  • 1/4 oz maraschino liqueur
  • lemon twist to garnish

I’m out of town this week for work, so some of the recipes may not have pictures. I had a frenzy of cocktail making on Saturday when we had people over but forgot to take pictures of a lot of them!

The Martinez is a predecessor of the Martini. I haven’t made this one before, and from my reading using an Old Tom gin was recommended. I thought it worked well, giving a botanical flavor without too much bitterness that a lot of gins can impart.

Day 32: Rum Swizzle

  • 1 1/2 oz dark rum
  • 3/4 oz lime juice
  • 1/2 oz falernum
  • 3 dashes Angostura

I was searching online for recipes that used falernum and found this one. The recipe actually calls for Velvet Falernum, the alcoholic version. I’ve only found the non-alcoholic so far, so this is not quite as strong as intended. I found it to be very close to a Daiquiri. It was good, but I might up the falernum and maybe even the rum if I were to make it again.

Day 31: Whisler’s Brooklyn

  • 2 oz rye
  • 1 oz dry vermouth
  • 1/2 oz Averna
  • maraschino cherry and orange peel to garnish

This afternoon William and I introduced some friends to Jodorowsky’s Dune, a documentary that we saw at Fantastic Fest 2013. It’s a really amazing film about when Alejandro Jodorowsky tried to make Dune into a film in the late 70’s. The film was never actually made, but it influenced many films for years after even so, and many of the creatives on the project went on to continue working relationships to make some of our favorite films. (Alien, in particular, would probably not have existed in the same form if Dan O’Bannon, H.R. Giger, Chris Foss, and Mœbius had not worked together on Dune.) We had some great discussions on the creative process and how the film landscape of America might be completely different had this film been made.

Afterwards we went for drinks at Whisler’s in East Austin. Whisler’s bartenders are famous for their “three questions” on slow nights, where they ask you three questions and then custom make a drink. It being a Saturday night it was far too busy for that, so we ordered off the menu. I had a classic Zombie, but another friend had their version of the Manhattan called a Brooklyn. I made sure to make a note of the ingredients and as soon as I got home I knew I wanted to recreate it for tonight’s drink. I think I did a decent job of it! You might increase the Averna if you want a more fragrant drink.

Day 30: Aquadisiac

  • 2 oz gold rum
  • 1 oz lemon juice
  • 1/2 oz Orgeat syrup
  • 1/2 oz blue curaçao

My brother was having a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy themed birthday party tonight, so I offered to make Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters for the event. All the recipes I found online for this fictional drink looked absolutely awful, so I decided to find something in the tiki book. I figured blue curaçao would be apt, as well as something that included lemon. I found the Aquadisiac. It turned out mostly ok. I specifically asked that my brother pick up a gold Barbados rum, and this one was not my favorite. I don’t have a ton of experience with Barbados rum, so maybe next time we’ll try something different.