Two At The Most

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

Here in the United States, we have a day for everything. There’s a national pound cake day, national pecan day, and even something on a stick day.

August 16 particularly appeals to me because it’s National Rum Day. Just how this designation was set I haven’t been able to ascertain, but who cares? It’s an excuse to make a delicious rum cocktail!

One of my favorite rum-based drinks is the El Presidente. I first discovered it in Wayne Curtis’s article … 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