Manhattan (Dry)

Another warm delightful day.

  Our drink was a 'Manhattan (Dry)' from page 119 in the Bartender's Guide.

The recipe:

3/4 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1 1/2 oz Blended Whiskey (I used Jim Beam instead)

Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Serve with an olive.

The cocktail was good, the whiskey taste predominant. We were pleased with the drink. It's one to repeat.

Cheers.

Ethel Duffy Cocktail

I don't know who 'Ethel Duffy' was, but the cocktail named for her is very sweet.

I found one reference to an Ethel Duffy:

In 1912 a series of murders drew public attention to the situation in the South End and led to the closing of most houses of ill repute. During that summer a rare interview with a 14-year old girl appeared on the front page of a Portsmouth newspaper. Ethel Duffy was kidnapped while staying with friends in Dover, apparently drugged and brought to a Portsmouth bordello.

Anyway, the recipe for the drink of the day (from page no. 77 in the Bartender's Guide):

3/4 oz Apricot Brandy (LeRoux)

3/4 oz White Créme de Menthe (LeRoux)

3/4 oz Triple Sec (LeRoux)

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. I garnished with a lime twist in an effort to tone down some of the sweet taste. The drink actually tasted good, although quite sweet. Not a winner in my book but for one desiring a sweet cocktail, it would be worth a try.

Boomerang Cocktail

Had a great Saturday. Went to 2 grandsons' basketball games and then to the LSU women's tennis match.  LSU lost but we came home to a good cocktail; a 'Boomerang Cocktail' (on page 45 of The Bartender's Guide).

1 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1 1/2 oz Gin (Booth's)
1 dash Bitters
1 dash Maraschino (Luxardo)

Stir with ice cubes and strain into cocktail glass
Add twist of lemon peel.

The drink was good, not as good as some but well worth trying again. The weather was good (aka warm) also, which helps a lot.

Cheers.

Beauty Spot Cocktail

This worked out to be an after dinner drink tonight, after joining neighbors for an afternoon libation.  Our cocktail tonight was a 'Beauty Spot Cocktail'  from page 38 of our Bartender's Guide.

The recipe:

1 teaspoon orange juice
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1 oz Gin (Booth's)

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass, with a dash of grenadine in bottom of glass.

This drink was pretty good, not too sweet and quite tasty. Definitely a candidate for a redo.

I think that 75 - 80 degree temperatures make everything better!

Cheers.

Lawhill Cocktail

Thursday's drink was a 'Lawhill Cocktail' (from page 113 of the Bartender's Guide). The cocktail had more ingredients than most drinks but it worked out ... had a very nice taste with the Absinthe and Whiskey components lending identifiable flavors. it was a good drink.

The recipe:

3/4 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1 1/2 oz Blended Whiskey (Jim Beam Bourbon instead)
1/4 teaspoon Absinthe Substitute (La Fee-real stuff)
1/4 teaspoon Maraschino (Luxardo)
1 dash Bitters (Angostura)

Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Deep Sea Cocktail

The cocktail today was a 'Deep Sea Cocktail'. It was good, just enough Absinthe to know it was there. It still is in a lower tier of favorite drinks.

The recipe (page no. 71 from my Bartender's Guide):

1 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1/4 teaspoon Absinthe (La Fee)-real thing
1 dash Orange Bitters
1 oz Gin (Booth's)

Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glass. I garnished with an orange slice (I like oranges, which may explain my plentiful use of them!).

Cheers.

Margarita Cocktail

Today I went fishing with some friends. Since I got home late, we decided to have dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. Since I had missed our usual cocktail hour, I decided to have a 'Frozen Margarita', which was very good. I will definitely have another of them in the future.

I won't attempt to guess their recipe but will have one later from our Bartender's Guide.

Salud.

Stanley Cocktail

Today we tried a 'Stanley Cocktail' (page no. 164 from the Bartender's Guide). Although the drink was very attractive, both Olga and I found the cocktail less than memorable. It was drinkable but had little taste, other than lemon.


The recipe:

Juice of 1/4 lemon
1 teaspoon Grenadine
3/4 oz Gin (Booth's)
1/4 oz Rum (Ronrico)

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. I garnished with and orange slice.

Flamingo Cocktail

I fixed my 182nd different cocktail tonight.  I started this journey last year (7/29/2010) after finding a Boston's Bartender Guide that we had somehow acquired around 1985 or so.

The drink of the day was a 'Flamingo Cocktail' (on page 81 of the Bartender's Guide). It was a really good cocktail, tasty with all the flavors melding nicely. This one is a favorite.

Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 oz Apricot Brandy (LeRoux)
1 1/2 oz Gin (Booth's)
1 teaspoon Grenadine

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. I garnished with an orange slice.

Cheers!

Napoleon Cocktail

Today we had a 'Napoleon Cocktail' (page 128 in the Bartender's Guide). It was quite good and well worth having again. And the weather was wonderful  (again) today!

The recipe:

2 oz. Gin (Booth's)
1/2 tsp Curcao (Marie Brizard)
1/2 oz Dubonnet

Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glass.
.
Cheers.

Vanderbilt Cocktail

Today I selected a 'Vanderbilt Cocktail' (from page no. 177 from Mr. Boston's Bartender's Guide, 1985).

The drink was pretty good, on the sweet side but good, overall. It is a "keeper", if you like a sweeter rather than a tart drink (I think both Olga and I prefer a touch of sweet).

The recipe:

3/4 oz Cherry Brandy (LeRoux)
1 1/2 oz Brandy (E&J XO)
1 teaspoon sugar syrup
2 dashes bitters

Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glass. I garnished with a cherry.

Bentley Cocktail

Another beautiful day. I could get used to this! We even got to pick up and keep 3 grandsons this afternoon. So much fun with 5, 7 and 9 year old boys!

At the stroke of 5, I fixed a 'Bentley Cocktail' (page 38 of my Bartender's Guide).

The recipe:

1 1/2 oz Apple Brandy (Laird's)
1 oz Dubonnet

Stir with cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass
Add a twist of lemon peel.

The drink was very tasty and worth having again (unless I forget to!).

Sante.

Whole Wheat Bread

Forgive this diversion into the culinary world but Olga and I want to share a bread machine recipe with those who are interested. Please skip this posting, otherwise.

We bought an Oster Bread Machine after Christmas (on sale, naturally) and started making bread. White bread proved little challenge; we were successful from the get-go. Whole wheat bread, on the other hand, required some experimentation and departure from standard recipes we found; loaves were generally short and dense.

One issue we identified quickly was that volumetric measurements were quite variable and a source of inconsistency in the recipes. We came up with a standard weight of a cup of flour and converted ounces or cups of water to mass weights as well. We also decided to use weight measurements in grams rather than ounces (our kitchen scales do both English and metric weights).

Therefore; 1-cup of flour is 126.5 grams and 1-cup of water (8 ounces by volume) is 8.33 weight ounce or 236 grams (we assumed standard temperature and pressure for the conversion). Flour and water
are the two critical ingredients in our bread making.

The recipe for 100% whole wheat bread:

383 grams of Water
1 TBSP Olive Oil  (11 grams)
558 grams of Whole Wheat Flour (Gold Medal or King Arthur brands work for us)
32 grams Vital Wheat Gluten Flour (Bob's Red Mill brand)
1/3 cup packed Brown Sugar (78 grams)
1 1/2 tsp Salt (we use Kosher Salt)
3 tsp Yeast (we use Fleischmann's Bread Machine Yeast)-store in refrigerator

Put into bread machine in order shown. Place pan in bread machine before adding yeast and make a shallow "well" for the yeast. Select "Whole Wheat" cycle (#3), "medium" crust color, and "2-Lb" loaf. Push start to begin the bread making cycle. Look into the pan after it has mixed for a few minutes and use a spatula to scrape walls if needed.

Good luck if you try it. Don't forget to remove from bread machine after 3 hours and 48 minutes!

Emerson Cocktail

Today, as well as yesterday and the next week, were, or are, expected to be great, weather-wise (mid-70's!).

We sat outside to enjoy our drink of the day; an 'Emerson Cocktail.' It was very tasty and definitely worth repeating. I only added about 1/2 oz lime juice for two drinks and did a taste test to get the amount right (for our taste). One lime actually yielded over an ounce of juice so be judicious when mixing drinks that call for fruit fractions.

The recipe (page no. 77 from the Bartender's Guide):

1 1/2 oz Gin (Booth's)
1 oz Sweet Vermouth (Dolin and Noilly Prat)
1 teaspoon Maraschino (Luxardo)
Juice of 1/2 lime

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. I garnished with an orange slice.

Cheers! I hope your weather is as nice as here in south Louisiana.

Temptation Cocktail

The drink today was a 'Temptation Cocktail' (on page 168 of the Bartender's Guide).

 The recipe:


1 1/2 oz Blended Whiskey (Old Forester Bourbon-didn't have blended whiskey)
1/2 teaspoon Triple Sec (LeRoux)
1/2 teaspoon Absinthe (La Fee)
1/2 teaspoon Dubonnet

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass.
Add twists of lemon and orange peel.

The drink was much better than the one last night and is worth repeating.

Cheers!

Bronx Terrace Cocktail

Tonight we had dinner with friends at the Palmetto Restaurant at Copper Mill.  Our cocktail was a 'Bronx Terrace Cocktail' (page 52 of the bartender's guide) mixed by the bartender at the restaurant.

 The recipe:

1 1/2 oz Gin
1 1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
Juice of 1/2 lime

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass.
Add a cherry.

 Unfortunately, lime was the dominant taste, as too often seems the case. I think fractional lime or lemon measures are too inexact to use and expect consistent results. I will test-taste and try to quantify the measures we use in the future! Otherwise the drink was not remarkable, probably not to be repeated.


Salud!

Swiss Family Cocktail

My daughter (and family) were with us today and presented us with some new cocktail glasses, one of which is shown at the left. They are lovely and appreciated (I am pretty rough on cocktail glasses as it turns out!).

Today we had a 'Swiss Family Cocktail' (page 167 in our Bartender's Guide).

The recipe:

1/2 teaspoon Absinthe Substitute (I used Absinthe)
2 dashes Bitters
3/4 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1 1/2 oz Whiskey (Old Forester)

Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glass. I garnished with an orange slice.

The drink was good; just a hint of the Absinthe taste came through. Although not in our "favorites" list (if we had one), it was quite drinkable and enjoyable.


Salud!

Russian Cocktail

Tonight we had a 'Russian Cocktail'. The drink was very drinkable but unremarkable, otherwise; slightly sweet with the gin and vodka not showing up much. Probably will not repeat.

The recipe is on page 152 of the Bartender's Guide.

3/4 oz Créme de Cacao- White (LeRoux)
3/4 oz Gin (Booth's)
3/4 oz Vodka (Absolut)

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. I chose to garnish with an orange slice.

Cheers!

Polynesian Cocktail

The 'Polynesian Cocktail' we had tonight sounded like a wonderful drink, evoking thoughts of warm weather: however it tasted a lot like lime juice. Maybe there was too much added. A wonderful color though!

The recipe (page no. 138 from the Bartender's Guide):

1 1/2 oz Vodka (Absolut)
3/4 oz Cherry Brandy (LeRoux)
Juice of 1 Lime

Rub rim of cocktail glass with lime and dip into powdered sugar.
Shake ingredients with ice and strain into prepared glass.

I only dip one half of the glass into the sugar so you could take your choice when drinking (suggestion from the book "In the Land of Cocktails").

Sazerac Cocktail

Olga and I enjoyed a birthday celebration today for our son-in-law at Juban's - a great restaurant in Baton Rouge. My daughter was there as well so it was a fun event.

I ordered our cocktail of the day (at lunch this time); a 'Sazerac Cocktail'. The drink was excellent, the hint of licorice was very nice and added to the good taste. The cocktail was garnished with a twist of lemon. My goal is to learn how to do twists like the one served in this drink.The picture didn't come out real well but it is the dark-colored glass on the right, not to be confused with the Chardonnay on the left!

The recipe from my Bartender's Guide:

1/2 tsp Pernod (Absinthe Substitute)
1 1/2 oz Rye Whiskey (Sazerac or Old Overholt)
2 tsp Sugar Syrup
3 dashes bitters

In an old-fashioned glass, swirl Pernod until inside
of glass is completely coated. Mix remaining ingredients
in cocktail shaker and strain into coated glass. Add a
twist of lemon.

Delightful!

Amber Dream Cocktail

Today was another cocktail from the Drink Up New York web site blog; an 'Amber Dream Cocktail'. We had neighbors who joined us for the cocktail and we all enjoyed the taste; it was quite good. It was so good that I mixed another 'Last Word Cocktail' that we had tried last night. We all preferred it versus the one for tonight.

The recipe (DrinkUpNY.com):

1 1/2 oz Gin (Booth's)
3/4 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Both these drinks are keepers.

Cheers.

Last Word Cocktail

Tonight was the time for a 'Last Word Cocktail' !  I left the Bartender's Guide behind for a night to make a cocktail from a blog site at DrinkUpNY.com. They are the merchants I buy much of my more "exotic" liquors and liqueurs from.

The recipe:

1/2 oz Gin (Booth's)
1/2 oz Maraschino (Luxardo)
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. I garnished with a twist of lime.

The drink was very good; the Maraschino taste was evident but not overwhelming. The overall taste was excellent!

Cheers.

Opera Cocktail

Today the cocktail of choice was an 'Opera Cocktail'.  It was on page 131 of my Bartender's Guide. The drink featured both Dubonnet and Maraschino. If you're not familiar with these two beverages, the former is a fortified wine from France and the latter is a Maraschino Cherry Liqueur (the one I have is from Italy).

The recipe:

1 Tbsp Maraschino (Luxardo)
1/2 oz Dubonnet
1 1/2 oz Gin (Booth's)

Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glass. I garnished with a twist of lime.

The drink was OK but the Maraschino taste was predominant and not altogether as tasty as I would have liked; not a "keeper".

One interesting observation about the recipe is the mixed volumetric measurements. A tablespoon is 1/2 ounce but maybe the bartender is just trying to confuse his audience!

Cheers.

Snyder Cocktail

Today was very nice; 64 degrees and sunny. And, my son-in-law brought me a gift of Wild Turkey "Rare Breed" so I am all set for some new cocktails.

The drink for tonight is a 'Snyder Cocktail' on page 162 in the Bartender's Guide.

The recipe:

1 1/2 oz Gin (Booth's)
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1/2 oz Triple Sec (LeRoux)

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass.
Add a twist of lemon peel.

This drink was good; worth having again.

Cheers!

Baron Cocktail

Tonight I selected a 'Baron Cocktail' as the drink of the day. 

The recipe from  page 37 of the Bartender's Guide:

1/2 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1 1/2 oz Gin (Booth's)
1 1/2 teaspoon Triple Sec (LeRoux)
1/2 teaspoon Sweet Vermouth (Dolin)

Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glass.  Add a twist of lemon peel.

This was a very nice drink.

Cheers!

Bushranger Cocktail

Mardi Gras is approaching - slowly. But, we are ready!

Tonight we had another Dubonnet cocktail; this one was good and worth repeating.

The recipe for a 'Bushranger Cocktail' (page 53 in the Bartender's Guide):
 
1 1/2 oz Rum (Ronrico)
1 oz Dubonnet
1 dash Bitters

Stir with cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Cheers!

Coronation Cocktail

Still cold, still winter, still depressing. It must be February!
The cocktail of the day was a 'Coronation Cocktail' from page 67 of the Bartender's Guide.

The recipe:

3/4 oz Gin (Booth's)
3/4 oz Dubonnet
3/4 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)

Stir with ice and strain into cocktail glass.

I used an orange twist for garnish.

The drink was just OK; nothing special. The drink last night was much better. The Dubonnet dominated the taste tonight which neither Olga nor I found to be very pleasant. Will not repeat this one.

Cheers and stay warm.

Ante Cocktail

Winter in south Louisiana is really here; it was 27 degrees last night and is supposed to be below freezing for the next 3 nights with a chance of a "wintry mix" precipitation tomorrow. Plus, most schools have cancelled classes for tomorrow already.

I guess temps in the 30's means I should forego golf!

The cocktail for this cold evening is an 'Ante Cocktail'.  It turned out to be an improbably good drink (at least for what I was expecting). I'm not a fan of Dubonnet but it melded very well with the other ingredients in the drink and produced a very tasty concoction.

I recommend it and will repeat it in the future!

The recipe (page no. 32 in the Bartender's Guide):

1 oz Apple Brandy (Laird's)
1/2 oz Triple Sec (LeRoux)
1 oz Dubonnet

Stir well with cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

I garnished with an orange slice and a twist of orange peel (had to use my new channel knife!).

Cheers and stay warm.

Thunderclap Cocktail

A stormy day and a very cold night...

I found this 'Thunderclap Cocktail' on page 172 of my bartender's guide.

It was quite a good drink.



Recipe:
3/4 oz Gin
3/4 oz Whiskey
3/4 oz Brandy
Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass.