Two At The Most

This month’s Mixology Monday is being hosted by Tristan at The Wild Drink Blog. He’s put forth the following challenge:
This month’s Mixology Monday is all about twists on classic cocktails, that for one reason or another do an even better job than the drinks upon which they are based.

This could be as simple as a classic Margarita with a dash with a special touch that completes it, or maybe … Continue Reading

By modern standards, the Astoria is a very wet martini. I was telling the owner/bartender of the Three Lions Pub that the Astoria was my current favorite take on the martini, and he nearly fainted when I told him it was a 2:1 gin to vermouth ratio. He makes his martinis by rinsing the glass with vermouth and then shaking the gin separately over ice.

I’ve been experimenting with different gins in the Astoria. I had been using Vya extra dry vermouth, although I find it a little too spicy and, well, dry. Using … Continue Reading

Over at Kaiser Penguin, Rick has posed a challenging question:

If you could only have 10 bottles of alcohol, what would they be? You have to name brands, and you must include vermouths if you want them. They are, at least, infinitely replenishable.

I tried to focus on my favorite cocktails, and favorite categories of cocktails, as I made my decisions. I must have at least one scotch, mixable or not. I have to have my Manhattans. And I give up the ability to have something approximating a mai tai in order to have Pisco sours.

So here’s my … Continue Reading

The Knickerbocker is one of those cocktails you must first clarify which you mean. In this case, I’m referring to the rum-based version that David Wondrich lists in both Killer Cocktails and Imbibe!.

The more common recipe I see online (including the CocktailDB) is for a semi-perfect martini – gin, dry vermouth and a dash of sweet vermouth. Naturally, Wondrich’s appears to have greater claim to the name by sheer weight of history. In Imbibe!, he says the recipe … Continue Reading

It’s time for Bourbon this Mixology Monday, thanks to the fellers at Scofflaw’s Den. This was one MxMo that Bryan, my chief taste-tester, was very eagerly awaiting.

As always, I used MxMo as a justification to buy a nice bottle. This time it was Ridgemont Reserve 1792. This is a very smooth bourbon, a definite rival to Woodford Reserve, which is currently my favorite mixing Bourbon. Named after the year of Kentucky statehood, this is an 8 year Bourbon that comes in … Continue Reading

I picked up a bottle of Aperol at Washington State Store #101, which for those in the know is the store to know about, since it’s the most likely to have interesting items on the shelf.

Tonight I opened the bottle of Aperol, and on first taste new I was going to like this “little sister” of Campari.

I knew I’d seen something about it one one of the many cocktail blogs i read, but when I went to find a recipe, I found it wasn’t even listed as an ingredient in the CocktailDB. A quick search, however, revealed … Continue Reading