Two At The Most » Mixoloseum

San Martín Cocktail

Stevi — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:31:10 +0000

I’m eagerly looking forward to this week’s Thursday Drink Night. Our sponsor is Beefeater Gin. I’m expecting there will be a lot of fun and interesting drinks invented based on this London dry gin, which is one of my favorites because it brings high quality at an affordable price.

San Martín Cocktail

To get into the spirit, I wanted to try a a new-to-me gin cocktail. I picked up my copy of David Wondrich’s Killer Cocktails, and happened upon the San Martín. Wondrich expanded upon the drink’s history in Esquire Magazine. He quotes from Charles H. Baker’s The South American Gentleman’s Companion, which will soon be reprinted by Mud Puddle Books.

Named after José de San Martín, this was a popular drink in South America at one point. What caught my eye is that it is a natural progression from the Martinez, one of my favorite cocktails (and one I will post about soon). Here yellow Chartreuse stands in for maraschino liqueur and orange bitters. And it’s a great change. There’s just a teaspoon, and I seriously thought about adding more when I first tasted it. But as I sip the cocktail, I find this is a case where more would have been too much of a good thing. There’s just enough for a hint of the herbal richness, while leaving this cocktail, already sweet with vermouth, a great apéritif.

San Martín Cocktail

2 oz London dry gin (Beefeater)
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 tsp Yellow Chartreuse

Stir ingredients over ice until suitably chilled, strain into cocktail glass, and garnish with lemon peel.

In Killer Cocktails, Wondrich calls for two ounces of gin and one ounce of vermouth. In the Esquire article, he keeps to a basic 3 ounce cocktail, but goes 1:1 on gin and vermouth.

In this case, I prefer the 2:1 gin:vermouth version. It makes the final drink a little drier, and gives more room for the yellow Chartreuse to work its magic.

Be sure to join us this Thursday (and every Thursday!) at the Mixoloseum bar for TDN Beefeater!

Thursday Drink Night goes Video

Stevi — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:41:33 +0000

I’ve mentioned Thursday Drink Night at the Mixoloseum Bar a few times. But what really goes on?

Now you have a chance to see! Our recent TDN sponsored by Mata Hari absinthe had a special live event. Several folks, including Rick from Kaiser Penguin, SeanMike and Marshall from Scofflaw’s Den, and Samantha from the Brand Action Team, showed up to the Tabard Inn, Washington, D.C. There bartender Chantal Tseng gracefully withstood being handed brand new recipes, and mixed them up on the spot. A videographer was on hand to record the fun.

The rest of us had to mix (and occasionally sink) our own drinks at home, but hopefully some day there will be a live TDN event in your neck of the woods! Check out the writeup of some of the best drinks.

Celebrate the New Year with The Étourneau

Stevi — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:41:46 +0000

Friends on the other side of the International Date Line have already celebrated the arrival of 2009. I will be meeting up with friends later tonight to ring in the new year with laughter and great drinks.¹

In looking for some ideas, I came across one of the drinks I invented for Thursday Drink Night, Gin Edition.

Étourneau Cocktail

Étourneau

1.5 oz London dry gin (No. 209)
0.75 oz Yellow Chartreuse
0.5 oz Calvados
sparkling wine to top (Cristalino Brut)

Stir all but champagne over ice. Strain into a cocktail flute. Top with sparkling wine. Make a resolution to have more fun in the New Year.

I like how the calvados tones down the sweetness of the yellow chartruese while not masking the wonderful herbal blend. Adding a dry sparlking wine such as a cava brut lengthens the drink in a pleasant way that makes it easy to drink despite the high level of flavoring.

The new year is looking like it will be a fun one here at Two at the Most. Several new liquors have arrived, waiting to be tasted. I am also planning on reviewing several cocktail books in the coming year. I look forward to you joining me in the coming year!

[1] Always in moderation; I don’t like starting the year with a hangover!

Leblon Cachaça and the Caipirinha

Stevi — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:28:07 +0000

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 liquor in general.

Cachaça is a distillate of sugar cane juice. While classified more generally as a rum, it is different than most rums, which are usually distilled from molasses.

Leblon is produced at the Maison Leblon in Patos de Minas, Minas Gerais, by Master Distiller Gilles Merlet, a native of Cognac, France. Leblon says the special microclimate and high altitude results in taller and juicer sugar cane, which is hand harvested and pressed in less than three hours.

After a 15 hour fermentation using proprietary yeasts, the must is allowed to decant, and is then distilled in small batches in artisanal copper alambique pot stills. The cachaça is then aged for up to 6 months in vintage XO Cognac casks, blended, and triple filtered before bottling in wine bottles.

The result is a very accessible cachaça. The nose is very fresh and fragant, less aggessively grassy than other cachaças I’ve tried. The smoothness of the nose belies the power of this 80 proof liquor. There is a bit of a burn on the tongue and even in the throat, which is not too surprising given it’s only aged about six months.

But as usual, I’m not looking to sip this straight, I want to mix with it. I’m saving my ideas for new drinks for TDN, but in the meantime, I had to make a caipirinha. Given it’s the time of year where I’m starting to go to work and return home in the dark, this sunshine in a glass is a welcome respite.

Caipirinha

1/2 lime, quartered
1/2 oz simple syrup
2 oz cachaça (Leblon)

muddle the lime and simple syrup in a rocks glass. fill glass with ice, pour in cachaça, and give a good stir.

I like using either simple syrup or superfine sugar in my caipirnihas. Regular grained sugar doesn’t fully dissolve and leaves an unpleasant gritty feeling. Adjust the sugar to your personal taste. On occasion, I like to add soda water as well to lengthen the drink.

Leblon is excellent in a caipirinha, and I’m looking foward to seeing what new drinks we can invent using it. Pick up a bottle and join us this TDN!

Bellringer Gin and the Bitter Apricot Cocktail

Stevi — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:26:12 +0000

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 many premium and moderately priced gins as possible. I admit I was afraid I might have to face the dreaded lower shelves.

Then I remembered Bellringer Gin. It’s a moderately priced gin, in the $10-$15 range.

At first taste, this is a nice gin. It’s got a full flavor profile; It does not shy away from being a gin. It is 94.4 proof, and the high proof burn is noticeable, but not intolerable.

I’ll be experimenting more with this gin in the future. Given it’s excellent price point I’m hoping it can play a role as a reliable house gin.

Gin in hand, I needed to invent a drink. My eyes fell upon my bottle of Orchard Apricot. This would bring a nice sweetness. To balance, I thought of Campari, which packs a lot of punch. I started with 1.5 oz gin, 0.5 apricot brandy, 0.5 Campari. While there was some sweetness, there was no apricot flavor at all. I upped the apricot to 0.75 oz, which let the apricot flavor shine through without being too sweet.

However, it was all a little boozy. I was going to try some sparkling wine to lengthen it, but then I remembered Lillet blanc. This quinquina helped meld the apricot and Campari flavors. At first I added only 0.75 oz, but the drink was still a little strong. At 1 ounce, the drink was well rounded.

Add one dash of rhubarb bitters or orange bitters, and you have a cocktail.

Bitter Apricot Cocktail

1.5 oz gin (Bellringer)
1 oz Lillet blanc
0.75 apricot brandy (Orchard Apricot)
0.5 oz Campari
1 dash rhubarb bitters (or orange bitters)

stir over ice until good and cold, strain into cocktail glass, relax in a comfortable chair, and sip with joy.