Tag: Angostura

Day 72: Improved Gin Cocktail

  • 4 oz genever
  • 1 tsp simple syrup
  • 2 tsp maraschino liqueur
  • 4 dashes Angostura
  • lemon peel for garnish

I was toying with the idea of adding another feature around here, and while I couldn’t come up with an alliterative title we’ve now got Classic Fridays. This gives me a chance to focus on revivals of classic and prohibition era cocktails.

Tonight I really wanted to make a Gimlet, but found I have no lime cordial in the house. That’s not particularly surprising, since I’ve almost completely moved to fresh juices when possible. Problem is that a gimlet requires cordial. So, instead I found this recipe. The name for this (like the Old Fashioned) strikes me as extremely funny. “Improved” from what? Just gin in a glass?

I was surprised that I liked this. Genever is kind of a strange gin to me, very malty and woody, but the maraschino brightened it up significantly.

Day 61: Corn & Oil

  • 2 1/2 oz rum
  • 1/2 oz Falernum
  • 4 dashes Angostura
  • squeeze of lime

Today William and I went to the grand opening of Isla, a new rum and tiki bar by the Péché team. I’ve been waiting for this bar to open for several months and was very excited! I was pretty much immediately in love with the place. Among the cocktails we tried was this one. It’s a great rum drink if you usually drink your rum on the rocks. The Falernum gives it some interesting sweetness and the little bit of lime gives it a fresh bite. I think this will likely be in heavy rotation at home.

Day 59: Dixie Cocktail

  • 2 oz rye
  • 1 oz orange curaçao
  • 1/2 oz simple syrup
  • 1/4 oz crème de menthe
  • dash Angostura

William was in San Francisco this week for work and brought back a bevy of new menus for me. I found this one on the Hard Water menu and got about halfway through making it before I realized I didn’t have any crème de menthe, so I just used some of a minty amaro I had. It turned out much nicer than I expected, very refreshing and boozy.

Day 45: Death & Co Fix Me Up

  • 1 1/2 oz sherry
  • 1 oz rye
  • 3/4 oz orgeat
  • 1/2 oz lemon juice
  • 1/2 oz orange juice
  • 2 dashes Angostura
  • 3/4 oz club soda (to top after shaking)

Every time I flip through the Death & Co book I find something that looks surprising and interesting. This time I was searching for something to use an orange, since Dane had completely peeled the rind off one when baking this (with my amazing new Y-peeler). The recipe says to pour into a “snifter over a large ice cube”, neither of which I had. I improvised with a red wine glass and it seemed to work just fine. I only have one kind of sherry right now, so my version had creme instead of amontillado. I’m guessing that makes mine a much sweeter version. Dane still enjoyed this one even so.

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.