Your favorite cocktails - a reference thread for the newish bartender

I will propose the Aviation tomorrow. I'm not sure how many folks will like it, however, as gin does not seem terribly popular with these Californians.

The maraschino kills some of the ginniness of the gin -- and you're on the west coast, you might be able to get Tanqueray Rangpur? which is even less piney. The trick is still getting people to try it, though, and people who think they don't like gin can be obstinate about it.

The Bijou is very good! 3 parts gin, 1 part green Chartreuse, 1 part vermouth, orange bitters.

Campari goes very well with Goya ginger beer, but I don't have a real cocktail there, I just fiddle depending on what I'm in the mood for -- lemon juice sometimes, grapefruit, orange, sometimes gin to cut the bitterness and sweetness.

I rarely drink cocktails, but I like a Cosmopolitan, which according to Wikipedia is made up of:

3 parts Absolut Citron or other vodka
2 parts Cointreau or triple sec
2 parts cranberry juice
1 part lime juice

The ingredients are to be shaken well with ice and strained into a cocktail glass. A wedge of lime, or a twist of orange or lemon peel, is used to garnish.

1 oz Gin
- 1 oz Sweet Vermouth
- 1 oz Campari
- Garnish: Lemon Twist

Manhattan:
1 3/4 oz rye
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 cherry

Jack Rose:
1 1/2 oz applejack (Laird's)
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz grenadine

Brandy Flip:
2 oz brandy
1 whole egg
1 tsp superfine sugar
1/2 oz light cream
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg

Do you make your own sour mix at M&S? Pretty much every cocktail made with fresh sour mix is worthwhile.

Even without brandy though = delicious.

i've been depressed that it hasn't gotten cold enough to bother making the annual batch of hot toddys (whiskey, lemon, sugar, clove), but i suppose that's moot in LA.

Terry Lennox is dead, Haikunym.

We do make our own sour mix. In each glass, even. Fresh squeezed citrus is one of the trade marks of our bar.

3 oz. chilled vodka
12 oz. ginger beer (soda)
1/2 lime

Juice the lime (to taste), add vodka & soda over ice. My goal is to try making these with Vernor's ginger ale, I'm sure your favorite specialty ginger soda would do as well.

Considering I love sours and manhattans, I got surprisingly fruity at the weekend.

Oh and I raise your Moscow Mule for an Appleton(Barbardos) Mule: swop the vodka for golden or dark rum (preferable Appletons).

not exotic, but the best gin & tonic:

Tanqueray (regular, because "10" is too smooth)
Schweppes tonic (a good bar always has bottled tonic on-hand for whiners)
lime
fresh mint

if you muddle the lime with the gin you'll get an even zestier product that some people won't even recognize as a gin & tonic

We only serve bottled sodas (tonic, soda, ginger, 7-Up, coke, sprite) at the bar. Makes for MUCH better cocktails.

but obv don't muddle the mint in the g&t or it'll be veering too close to a mojito. xp

2 oz Junipero gin
1 oz fresh lime juice
1 oz simple syrup
.5 oz pomegranate molasses
2 sprigs mint

I've made it with other brands of gin (in fact, only with other brands of gin) and it's been great -- haven't seen Junipero either here or in Indiana, but I'll check it out sometime. It ought to be called something else when made with another brand, but whatever.

Two fingers of Absolut Limon
Tonic water
One candy cane

hawaiian punch
vodka
garnish with half of a hostess chocolate-covered donut (they hang nicely over the rim, like a gargantuan brown fruit slice)

Very simple, very delicious, and very uncommon in the US.

Add several dashes Angostura bitters to a glass. Swirl to coat. Fill glass with chilled gin. Drink.

Angostura is good to add to club soda and Rose's lime for someone who's teetotalling. it has a trace of booze, but not enough to be a real drink but it tastes like a proper "drink". what the hell, throw some mint in there, too

But flavor-wise, yeah, it's a good combination -- Audrey's something of a genius when it comes to things like that, she's opened up the Pegu Club in New York now.

The gimlet -- not the vodka gimlet! all these perfectly good gin drinks being vodkized -- is the only reason I have Rose's in the house, though I've found that I actually dig it in a fast and dirty daiquiri, too.

Oh, and re: fruit and gin (sorry for seeming scatterbrained, I am on the telephone): grapefruit juice! The Greyhound and the Salty Dog may be vodka drinks in most places, but they're fantastic with gin -- as is, if you live somewhere that has it, Polar Half and Half, a grapefruit soda mixer that I drink with gin and/or Campari and often a lemon quarter to tart it up.

* 1 1/2 oz Frangelico
* 2 oz Lemon Juice
* 1/2 oz Lime Juice
* 1/3 oz Egg White

Shake over ice, strain into glass. No garnish.

i think gin is def great with any citrus...it's just the sweeter fruits that sometimes taste weird. but the juniperitivo looks tasty.

Add 1 sugar cube to the bottom of a flute, soak with Angostura bitters. Add a bit of brandy and fill with champagne. Garnish w/ an unwieldy orange slice.

French 75:

1 oz fresh lemon juice
2 tsp sugar (I prefer simple syrup, though)
2 oz gin
fill with champagne

Add a bunch of cherries (fresh or frozen), a couple whole star anise, some cloves, some nutmeg, and some cardamom to 2 cups simple syrup and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Drain half the liquid and save for other use (spiced cherry syrup!), add a cup or so of brandy so liquid covers cherries. Keep in an airtight container and these cherries will be a secret bartending weapon of awesomeness.

I used to put up sour cherries in bourbon and sugar, which were the best addition ever to an Old-Fashioned, but moving here meant giving up fresh sour cherries. I have Bings sitting in Laird's applejack, we'll see how they do.

Btw drinking a strong Tom Collins everyday is ideal

lol jewish bartender

I am so f-ing glad I don't work there anymore. Damn, I made no money there.

A sign of a bad bar is that they don't have ginger ale. A sign of a worse bar is that they don't know the seven-up/splash of cola/bitters sub trick.

what is that trick?

btw american bars always sound totally kickass

i was out with a friend once and her drink had cucumber purée, and her description was that it tasted too much like a face mask.

I'm glad this thread popped up actually cos we'll be at a swanky bar tonite for my best mate's annual wedding anniversary drinking get together. Think I might have myself a few classicks.

here was the inspiration for the cucumber thing http://www.overthehillandonaroll.com/2008/06/bringing-gin-back.html

but you can leave out tonic if not into it, or put it in. either works!

In that blog they say "I never understood how gin got a bad rap". Did/does it? Everyone I know drinks G&T as a go-to.

i would love to see someone put the nipsy russell on actual bar menu, especially since the only bartender i ever got to make them left his job u_u

― strongohulkingtonsghost, Thursday, November 12, 2009 8:47 PM (2 hours ago)

you have my full pledged support, we still drink those regularly, so thx dude!

Google search for "nipsy russell cocktail", and this thread was number FOUR!!! Awesome.

A friend of mine invented a drink - gin in Bud light lime - proportioned like a G&T but with the Bud instead of tonic and lime. No great shakes, but drinkable. Can't remember what he called it, something pornographic.

― nickn, Thursday, November 12, 2009 2:55 PM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
fuck are you kidding

― goole, Thursday, November 12, 2009 2:55 PM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
it was called "the unholy abomination" or "waste of gin" or something similar

― a Barbie-like nub where he provates should be (HI DERE)

Obviously we didn't use good gin, but it was more drinkable than I would have thought.

I've been seeing quite a few beer cocktails in the past year - had one last night with white ale, bourbon, lemon and a couple other things I can't remember. Delicious!

Fuck, I paid WAY too much attention to this and the whiskey thread yesterday. Three Old Fashioneds = LOOOONG Friday.

man i wanna nipsy russell tonight, i think

they are great!

Can you please tell me whats in a Nipsy Russell? I was unable to find the recipe yesterday.

John Justen and Fluffy Bear Will Drink It

i think i have only had them that one time

and i've never had it with that exact recipe, either. i though the juice ingredient was "whatever weird shit you can find"

The gin & Bud lime drink was called a Limey Fuck, btw.

nipsys are like being touched by the hand of god

wow, I guess I never made it to making them that weekend.

that thread will go down as one of the all-time greats. John Justin's threads are typically A+ grade. Currently LOVING the Henry the Puppy thread.

We had an 80s movie night and I made Blue Lagoons: curacao and vodka on ice, with lime.

I think The Sazerac should be in the repertoire of anyone who waxes romantic about 19th century New Orleans. I've only had one professionally prepared once, at Le Chat Noir on St. Charles, and didn't catch if there was some cognac in the mix. According to the Sazerac spirits company, its:

* Pack an Old-Fashioned glass with ice
* In a second Old-Fashioned glass:
* 1 sugar cube
* 3 dashes Peychaud's bitters, crushing the sugar cube
* 1½ ounces rye whiskey
* Empty the first glass, and swirl
* enough Herbsaint (or absinth, or Pernod) to coat glass, discarding remainder
* add the contents of the first glass
* garnish with a lemon peel

Of course, a modern drink will be a bit bigger, but the elements rye + anise + bitters + sugar should be in any rendition

who are you

C'est moi!

it is a mystery

I'm not sockpuppet of any current or older habitue on ILX or ILM (though some of you knew me by RL name on AMA), nor am I a public figure in any respect.

it was not an accusation! you just know so much...too much

That's about right for a sazerac. There are legitimate variations that use cognac instead of rye (the original version), both Peychaud's and Angostura bitters, different amounts of bitters, etc. I also don't mind substituting simple syrup for the sugar - just gets the drink a bit smoother since the sugar's so hard to dissolve.

oh have we discussed the WORLDWIDE ANGOSTURA BITTERS SHORTAGE?

http://www.slashfood.com/2009/11/06/angostura-bitters-shortage-shakes-up-cocktail-world/

been drinking lots of tequila old fashioneds and whiskey sours lately

I'm going to my old bar for dinner. I predict drinks. And more. Drinks.

so glad derelict brought up the sazerac recently! i impulsively bought herbsaint and peychaud to go with a really nice bottle of rye (present to myself with my year-end bonus) and am having a lot of fun making this drink. it's like a next-level old fashioned which is pretty damn tremendous imo

embarrassing admission -- whenever i am making simple syrup i picture myself in a gucci mane or clipse video. all the pyrex, y'know.

I have a question: What is sour mix doing in a margarita and do you need it? There's already lime juice, and surely sour mix is a disgusting chemical burn concoction?

I think sour mix should be avoided always -- there's no point in it. A margarita is tequila + lime juice + a sweeter element (which may or may not be alcohol-bearing), either triple sec or a splash of the jugo of your choice for a different-variety fruity margarita. That's how I do it at least.

I made a margarita recently that was tequila (1) + lime + ginger (0.5) liqueur and it was really tasty.

Good! That is solid advice and I will take it.

Revive!

I'm finding that my Old Fashioned preparation lately is perfect. Perhaps it is the Fee Bros. bitters. They are excellent.

What is everyone drinking lately?

I'm still a beer and wine guy, but I do follow the more active cocktail thread (it's not just for cad):

in the 2k10 i am learning to make cocktails. this is my mixology thread

3 oz lillet, 1 oz gin, shaken, up, dash bitters

kind of a dessert cocktail

does anybody know of a more detailed breakdown for liqueur shelf life (after opening) than this general guide?

http://cocktails.about.com/od/stockyourbar/f/liquor_storage.htm

pretty sure my cassis has turned, it's maybe a year or two old?

I've been drinking equal parts cynar, rye, and vermouth, like a brown negroni

I had an aperol/rye/soda a couple weeks back and it was more interesting than expected!

the general guide is basically it? i'm not ashamed/a little ashamed to admit that the liquors in my house aren't around very long so it's not a problem lol :C

does anybody know of a more detailed breakdown for liqueur shelf life (after opening) than this general guide?

i've never seen anything more specific, most liqueurs hold up fine but your cassis certainly could have gone south.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWeVRxR1qek

I was waiting for the moment where my jaw would drop

good video, caek!

"3 ounces of bourbon"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZbzB7pbVT0

this one has only two ounces of bourbon

I kind of wonder if their viral shtick was making heinous videos but I have been to bars that actually made drinks like that

why yes we can make uh classic cocktails *pulls out wrong glass*

Well, I was inspired...to make a double old-fashioned per my personal recipe. Cheers!

i can't believe i've been making old fashions so incorrectly for all these years

It's not crazy to wonder how many patrons have died on JaNee's watch