AMERICAN BEAUTY .75 oz. brandy (Pierre Ferrand cognac) .75 oz. dry vermouth (Dolin) .75 oz. orange juice .25 oz. white crème de menthe (Tempus Fugit) 1 oz. port (Taylor Fladgate 10-year-old Tawny Porto) A few drops of grenadine Brian: Check out this laundry list of ingredients: vermouth, brandy, orange juice, port, grenadine! Eric: That sounds…
KITCHEN SINK: A PLAY IN FOUR ACTS ACT III “AMERICAN BEAUTY” A cold feeling of hopelessness descends upon the two men in the kitchen. Or maybe it’s just the advancing chill of night as the sun retreats behind the earth. The counter is littered with bottles and spent fruit. One man recites the next recipe…
AMER PICON COOLER 1.5 oz. Amer Picon (substituted Amaro CioCiaro) 1 oz. gin (Bombay Sapphire) .5 oz. cherry liqueur (Cherry Heering) 1 tsp. sugar syrup 1 tsp. lemon juice Club soda Combine with ice; shake well. Strain. Add ice and club soda. Eric: Amer Picon is no longer available so we’re using a substitute, Amaro CioCiaro….
A warm summer afternoon. A kitchen. Two men in early middle age make cocktails while their wives consort in the living room. One man, Brian, consults a bartender guide. A recipe awaits. AMBROSIA FOR TWO 3 oz. brandy (Pierre Ferrand cognac) 3 oz. apple brandy (St. George California Reserve) Several drops of raspberry syrup (DIY) Champagne…
KITCHEN SINK: A PLAY IN FOUR ACTS ACT II “AMER PICON COOLER” Passage of time. The sun clicks downward in the sky. The two men in the kitchen, Brian and Eric, address the next recipe in the ancient bartending manual. This is what it says: AMER PICON COOLER 1.5 oz. Amer Picon (substituted Amaro CioCiaro)…
You’ve just boarded a plane. Maybe you’re off on that trip you have always wanted to take to Bali—or maybe you’re on your way back home from that horrible business trip with Ashton from marketing. Whatever it is you just want to sit back and relax, but there are few things on a plane that…
AGGRAVATION 1 oz. Kahlua 1 oz. Scotch (Monkey Shoulder) Milk Fill glass with milk, add ingredients and two ice cubes, stir slowly, and serve. Brian That’s weird, but it’s not bad. It’s the scotch. The scotch is weird. Eric Why is this called the Aggravation? Brian I don’t know. I am in no way aggravated…
In Part 1 of the After Dinner Aggravation, Brian, Eric, and Guest Taster Jason tried out two separate “After Dinner” drinks with unprecedentedly positive scores, while still kind of hating them. We pick up where we left off, with Rituals crew building the AGGRAVATION: Next up we have a drink that uses Kahlua and of…
AFTER DINNER SPECIAL .75 oz. cherry brandy (Cherry Heering) 1.5 oz. Swedish Punsch (homemade) 1 oz. lime juice Combine with ice; shake. Strain over ice. Brian It’s good. Lime and Cherry Heering. I can’t taste the punsch. Not overpowering lime. Jason The bitter part is the punsch. This is a citrus bomb. Brian Ladies will…
AFTER DINNER 1.5 oz. apricot brandy (Rothman and Winter Orchard Apricot) 1.5 oz. curaçao (Ferrand Dry Curaçao) 2 oz. lime juice Combine with ice; shake. Strain. Add a twist of lime and ice. Drop in the peel. This week we recorded our tasting notes so we could remember all of the good points. Eric It’s…
I hop in the Lyft I requested minutes ago. As I sit into the front seat bottles can be heard clanking and clinking. “How’s your day going,” the driver asks. To which I reply, “It’s about to get better. Heading to a friend’s to have some cocktails.” This is how most of my Lyft rides…
36 HOURS OF MAYHEM “I’m scared, Brian.” This is not the first time I have uttered these words and it probably won’t be the last. But it is a very real fear this time and it is potent. We are attending our first liquor convention, the San Francisco Craft Spirits Carnival, and we have no…
Finally, a drink that isn’t swimming in citrus—but it uses a sweet wine. Don’t get me wrong I like a good sweet wine and Tokay (Tokaji) is one of my favorites, but mixed with bourbon? Pineapple juice? Lemon juice? Okay. Let’s taste what we’re stirring. ADMIRAL HIGHBALL 1.5 oz. Bourbon (Grass Widow) 1.5 oz. Sweet…
ADMIRAL COCKTAIL 1 oz. Bourbon (Grass Widow) 1.5 oz. Dry Vermouth (Dolin) .5 Lemon Combine with ice; shake. Strain. Squeeze in the lemon’s juice, stir, and drop in the peel. Add ice. Why is this a drink!? You cannot taste the booze. I might as well eat a lemon and take a shot of booze….
We have all had bad liquor at some point in our lives. When you were young what was the first booze you tasted? Peach schnapps? Communion wine? In college you didn’t go out and buy Jewel of Russia vodka or Bambu rum to make jungle juice. No you went and bought whatever was the cheapest….
ADDINGTON 1.5 oz Sweet Vermouth (Carpano Antica) 1.5 oz Dry Vermouth (Dolin) Club Soda (Q) Combine everything (except the club soda) with ice and shake. Strain; add ice and club soda. Add a twist of lemon plus the peel. To look at the recipe you would never know the complex subtlety of this drink. At…
Last week was Negroni week—a week of Negronis, Negroni variations, and charity brought to you by Imbibe and Campari. Bars across the United States that participate in Negroni week donate a portion of their proceeds to a charity of their choice. Negroni week is a wonderful reason to drink up and give back. I recently…