It’s another Whiskey Wednesday! I picked up some Rittenhouse this afternoon and wanted to try it out. This cocktail seemed very familiar to me, though I can’t quite place it. (It does seem kind of like a Brooklyn.) The rosemary is essential here, as it really gives a wonderful nose to the drink. I might even be starting to enjoy Cynar under the right circumstances.
I expected this one to be too bitter for me, but the St Germain gave it a nice sweetness that I really liked. A great after-dinner sipper, plus it’s got a great name.
Dane and I were making this soup, so I ended up with a spare egg white. I knew immediately it was time to make a fizz or a flip for my drink tonight! This recipe looked like something Dane would like. It starts out sweet with a bitter end.
William went to Midnight Cowboy last week with some colleagues and brought me back a special menu from a guest bartender, which of course the cats promptly chewed up. I managed to salvage it enough to be able to read some of the recipes, and this one stood out immediately as something that Dane would like. It’s bitter and vegetal and earthy and he loved it.
When you read this I’ll be watching the effigy burn at Freezerburn, so I figured I’d do something in honor of the event. This is the first time I’ve made this drink at home, and the only substitution I had to do was Punt e Mes instead of Antica. Just reading the ingredients you know it’s going to be a bitter, bracing drink. It could work pretty well as an after dinner digestif.
I think that the proportions were off. Next time I may try equal parts of everything and see what I think.
Muddle cucumber slices, then shake over ice with all ingredients. Strain into a rocks glass and garnish with another cucumber slice.
Wait. Have I somehow made it a full two weeks without a rum drink? Tonight we fix that. Here’s another from the Death & Co book, and yet another reason for me to practice my shaking. (I am extra terrible at shaking drinks.) The recipe calls for Cardamaro, which of course I didn’t have. I was reading up on it and as soon as I saw “artichoke” I thought: CYNAR! LET’S DO THIS.
This reminds me a lot of a Pimm’s Cup. I’m also starting to get over my fear of heavy-handed simple syrup use after these last two drinks. Generally I only use one or two barspoons of syrup because I don’t want my sweet tooth to oversweeten drinks for other people, but both of these drinks were well-balanced. I will definitely start playing with more syrups in addition to the heavily-boozy cocktails I often make.
Shake all ingredients, then strain into a coupe glass and garnish.
This is the first time I’ve made this. Dane was making a Mexican-inspired salad for dinner and I wanted to make a Mexican-inspired cocktail that wasn’t just a Margarita. I found this recipe for a Devil’s Garden that includes a chipotle-infused mezcal. While that sounded interesting, I didn’t have time to wait for an infusion. Dane loves smokey drinks that aren’t very sweet, so I decided to up the tequila content and lower the agave in the recipe. He was very impressed with this one. I tasted just enough to know it wasn’t to my liking. Mezcal is often too smokey for me, while Cynar is too bitter.
I’m always on the lookout for drinks that include some of my more esoteric liqueurs, so this one is going in the file for Cynar.
