Here’s another from the Death & Co book. I think someone brought a bottle of navy-strength gin to our last party, and this had a cool enough name that I wanted to try it.
This is a hard one for me to describe. It’s pretty boozy, thought the sherry makes it sweet enough for me to enjoy.
…Huh. This one I found while randomly flipping open the Death & Co book. Since the Last Word is probably my current favorite cocktail I knew immediately I wanted to try it. Unfortunately I think using an Islay overpowers just about everything else. Maybe if I had more of a taste for Islays my opinion would be different.
This is a nice riff on an Aviation.
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.
Occasionally I like to try making something with a liquor I haven’t used in a while. This time I stuck my head into the cabinet and saw the bottle of Pisco.
This cocktail reminds me a lot of a Last Word, but the Pisco and tequila give it a slightly smoky flavor. Very easy drinking.
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’s been bugging me to make a Last Word for a while, since he thought I would like it. Problem is that I didn’t have any chartreuse anymore. Many years ago I had a bottle that lived in my cupboard and never got any use, until I finally gave it away. I grabbed a bottle on the last liquor store run. Turns out that it works super well in cocktails if you make anything that’s more than two ingredients.
I originally wanted to make a New York Sour tonight but we’re out of lemons, so I was looking at other red wine cocktails. The recipe I found for this used Dubonnet Rouge instead of Punt e Mes, but we do what we can with what we have. I might try this again with a slightly less bitter vermouth. I also really like the name.
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.
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.
