I spent all of today biking around town for an Ingress anomaly event. By the time I was finished with the after party (and the after after party) and made it home I had little time to spare before midnight. I found this while looking up whiskey cocktails. Despite it’s silly name it’s a decent drink, slightly sweet but with a nice rye bite.
Tonight I wanted something medicinal since my throat is sore, but I left all of my lemons at a friend’s house after a party last night so I couldn’t make a toddy. This comes from a menu for a local Italian place. The recipe calls for Campari and Carpano, but I subbed Aperol (because Campari is so bitter) and Punt e Mes (because I don’t have Carpano). This turned out less bitter than I was afraid of, with a nice bite that is soothing on my throat.
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.
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.
I wanted to start a new feature, so welcome to whiskey Wednesday! Unfortunately we are starting off with one that I did not quite get right. It’s another recipe from Garage, and one that I haven’t tried making yet. This try was definitely too heavy on the gin. I think next time I’ll add more rye and decrease everything else, except for maybe the brandy.
Oh, god. I had cocktails at Peche tonight to celebrate a friend’s new job, and they had a special called The Uptight. I can’t quite remember exactly what was in it, and I think I may be combining two different drinks in my head, but I’m pretty sure I was close. (Rye and Amaro Montenegro for sure, though I only had Averna to use.) I was mixing at William’s tonight, so he always has Lillet that he’s added quinine to for some old-fashioned Kina Lillet. I was almost done when I accidentally unscrewed what is actually a flip top lid on the orange bitters and dumped a huge amount into the drink. I figured I’d try it anyway.
Boy, that was a mistake. They can’t all be winners, I suppose. I’m going to see if I can get the actual recipe and redo this sometime soon. Always check your lids, folks.
Here’s another from Midnight Cowboy. I’m not entirely sure I’ve gotten the proportions right, but I think I’m getting close. The Byrrh gives this a medicinal bitterness that Dane absolutely loves.
I had some difficulty this time with the flamed orange. I think my orange was getting a little dried out. I did still manage a very small flame at least.
