Two At The Most

Not quite a Broadway Smile

Searching for more drinks to make with my Swedish punsch, I found yet another entry in Erik Ellestad’s ongoing stomp through the Savoy. This one is the Broadway Smile.

Broadway Smile Cocktail

1/3 créme de cassis (Briottet)
1/3 Swedish punsch (homemade)
1/3 Cointreau

Use liqueur glass and pour carefully so that ingredients do not mix.

I have never attempted … Continue Reading

Leblon Cachaça and the Caipirinha

Thursday Drink Night (TDN) at the Mixoloseum is becoming a favorite part of my week. I’m especially looking forward to the upcoming TDN (November 20), when the event is being sponsored by Leblon Cachaça. We will be joined by Leblon representatives, whom we can bombard with questions about their product, and Brazil’s unique … Continue Reading

Over at Art of Drink, Darcy O’Neil has come up with a drinker’s response to the Omnivore’s 100. I thought I’d fill it out and keep it around for ideas of new things to try.

Instructions:

1. Copy this list into your blog, with instructions.
2. Bold all the drinks you’ve imbibed.
3. Cross out any items that you won’t touch
4. Post a comment here and link to your results.

OR

If you don’t have a blog, just count the ones you’ve tried and post the number in the comments section.

List of Drinks … Continue Reading

It’s Mixology Monday again. This month, Doug Winship at the Pegu Blog has declared the theme to be “Made from Scratch.” We are to make at least one of our own ingredients and decide if it’s worth the effort.

I have written about Swedish Punsch before. This mix of Batavia arrack, neutral spirits, sugar, water, and various flavorings is common … Continue Reading

Bitter Apricot Cocktail

Every Thursday night, starting around 7 pm EST (00:00 GMT), we meet in the Mixolseum chat room and make up drinks. Usually we have a theme centered around an ingredient that we try to experiment with.

The theme for November 6 was gin. Participants were asked to find a gin they haven’t previously purchased.

This was a big challenge for me. I’ve made an effort to try as … Continue Reading

Believe it or not, I still have a little bit of my bottle of Swedish Punsch left. Tonight I decided to find a recipe to appreciate it. I hit a real prize with the Pooh Bah cocktail.

Pooh Bah Cocktail

3/4 oz gin (Bombay)
3/4 oz light rum (Flor de Caña 4 year Extra Dry
3/4 oz Swedish punsch (Carlshamns Flaggpunsch)
1/4 oz apricot brandy (Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot)

stir over ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass, sip with a smile.

This is really a delightful cocktail. Yes, it’s a sweet cocktail, but not overpoweringly so. In this case the … Continue Reading

I love ginger. Ginger ale, ginger beer, gari, gingersnaps, gingered mashed potaotes, you name it, I will presume I’ll love it if it’s flavored with ginger.

Back in my homebrewing days, I flirted with making my own ginger beer, but never followed through. I did make my own ginger syrup, and found that when mixed with soda water, it make a very tasty, and very affordable, version of ginger beer.

After several recent Thursday Drink Nights featured high usage of ginger syrup, I realized it was time to try making some of my own again. Naturally I’ve lost … Continue Reading

One of the real joys of cocktails as a hobby is comparing recipes and discovering what you like best.

Last time I wrote about the Blinker, I used a recipe that called for 2 parts bourbon, 1 part grapefruit juice, and 1 part grenadine. Before trying the recipe, I worried that the grenadine would be too much at that level, but was happy that the sweetness balanced the grapefruit in a way that convinced grapefruit-phobic people that it could be used to good effect.

This time, I decided to try using rye, and dial down on the … Continue Reading

It’s time to review the fun that was Mixology Monday 32, Guilty Pleasures. I asked you to share with us your shameful confessions, those drinks you love although they’re so, so bad for you.

Turns out, our mixologists are, by and large, fairly shameless. Sure, like going to confession, some of us gave the pro forma statement about how bad we know these drinks are, but mostly we proclaimed that what makes a good cocktail is that we like … Continue Reading

My name is Stevi. I play a cocktail ingenue on the intarwebz. I try to educate my friends about the glories of gin and cocktails that actually taste a little bit like the alcohol that’s in them. But I have a deep dark secret, one I will finally share for this month’s Mixology Monday, Guilty Pleasures.