Cocktails, the libationary art!

It might look like dirty sewer water with the dark Averna Amaro, but it's still tasty.

• 1oz Bourbon
• 1oz Aperol
• 1oz Amaro
• 1oz Lemon Juice

This article got me thinking - I don't go out for great drinks, I make great drinks and go out to go out. I wouldn't buy a $45 cocktail, I'd buy the two expensive bottles and recreate it if I wanted it! I like a good drink but beyond good I don't value a better one more somehow.

But at a restaurant I generally expect great food; I don't go out to eat just to go out, I value the great food and will pay more for better.

What do you expect at a cocktail bar, and would you pay $45 for something that was 'worth' $45 in some way?

Dont know anything about the olympic fencer but his namesake cocktail is quite good. Im not a huge campari fan but its quite approachable with the cointreau balancing it out

I am out of bourbon, cognac, vodka but have tequila and a lot of amaros/liqueurs so tried yesterday: Fernet, tequila, Giffard Banana & a little lime, NOPE. Right down the drain with that. Ended up with another pineapple variation; tequila, Heirloom Pineapple Amaro, a little of the banana liqueur, a little of roasted pineapple syrup, and some lime. More of a margarita variation, it was much better but not what I was aiming for.

I think the banana liqueur maybe needs to be saved for pancake batter or banana bread, it's not bad I just can't make it work in a drink.

What are you drinking this weekend?

I found this article informative; don't usually like red sangrias but the history of this was interesting. Often the contributions of black chefs and bartenders is minimized here (U.S.) and it's nice to see it casually mentioned here that someone at least was recording these recipes at the dawn of the 20th century.

Running out of things!

1oz bourbon (end of the bottle)

1oz Cognac (end of the bottle)

1 oz Amaro Nonino

0.5oz Aperol

0.5oz Campari

1.5 oz fresh lemon, squeezed in press right after squeezing some orange juice, so hint of orange.

Really good but sort of like making soup, just using up ends of bottles! I do recommend adjusting Paper Plane though, it's so much better with twice the bourbon and I find I also like it better with that half-Aperol, half-Campari.

I have made bourbon and cherry Heering sour, and the inverted Amaretto sour with 2x bourbon 1x amaretto. Both so delicious, cherry and bourbon do have an affinity. But reading this made me want to start a cherry ferment, that sounds so good! Also the idea of lightening with a little sparkling wine sounds good but I don't drink enough wine for it to be practical, might try with limonata soda.

We can get great coffee in walking distance, grocery, drugstore, restaurants but no very local bar. Obviously don't want to go in a car to drink and occasionally (today) it would just be so nice to have a local place. Not for, like, a night of partying and not for a fancy dinner. Just one or two drinks and walk home.

Do you have a local bar and do you ever go there?

I'm definitely most interested in trying out the 50/50 shots

50/50 shot: A shot featuring two ingredients measured in equal parts. Damon Boelte kick-started the trend with the Hard Start (Fernet-Branca and Branca Menta) at New York’s Grand Army, and it’s since evolved to cover just about every imaginable combination of booze and bitter, including the aforementioned Ferrari, M&M (mezcal and Montenegro), Bro-Nar (bourbon and Cynar) and the Maserati (mezcal and Ramazzotti).

Hey all,

Anyone ever experimented with alternatives to a citrus twist that is more shelf stable? Can you simply get an atomizer of essential oil as a replacement? I drink infrequent enough that I end up throwing away dried out or rotten citrus when I go to reach for it.

Interested in people's solutions for this.

Felt like something desserty this evening and wanted to figure out something new to try. I couldn't find any good recipes with peach juice so ended up improvising. Final recipe was 2 parts peach juice, 2 parts white chocolate liqueur and 1 part rum. Reminded me of one of those chocolate coated fruits or some good peach ice cream; girlfriend suggested calling it a frosted peach since I didn't see anything like it online

I don't remember who was looking for cocktails to accompany stir fry but these look so interesting. Fair warning, you will want an ad blocker, but this one page has the recipes included no clicking through to other sites.

If you know, you know

Based off this TikTok recipe, I adjusted the ratios a bit and use simple syrup instead of Sprite to sweeten it for that perfect "bath water" look and consistency. Not my favorite drink but I thought it turned out pretty good, but one other reviewer wasn't a fan so I guess it depends how much you like margaritas and want to get adventurous

• 1.5 oz tequila
• juice of half a lime
• 1/4 oz cream of coconut
• 1/4 oz simple syrup
• pinch of salt (optional)

Yes, again. Tepache and bourbon have such an affinity. Irish or Canadian whiskey also so good with tepache. This one is one shot of Even Williams bottled-in-bond, 7 oz tepache, juice of one lime (my tepache is finished and fizzy but still quite sweet).

Closing out the weekend, back to work tomorrow.

Lemmy doesn't like the picture, I will try to add it later.

This started out as a Sother Teague recipe and got progressively further off base as I persisted through a series of substitutions 😂

• 1 ½ oz Amaro Montenegro
• ½ oz overproof Jamaican rum
• ½ oz aquafaba
• ½ oz Cane Sugar Syrup
• ½ oz mango nectar
• ½ oz lemon juice
• 2 dashes Bitter Queens Thai Spice bitters

That’s how it was written. Well, I didn’t have amaro but did have a related herbal liquor, I used more normal rum instead of overproof rum, Demerara syrup instead of cane syrup, passion fruit instead of mango, Sichuan bitters instead of Thai… but overall everything was in the right ballpark and ended up being surprisingly balanced while still quite refreshing.

I found this an enjoyable read.

Welcome to February, and congratulations to our January winner, @[email protected] !

For February, the challenge is to make a red drink that relates in some way to Valentine, the day, the martyr, whatever.

The rules remain the same - at least three ingredients, a novel recipe, a photo, directions on making it, and your review or impressions of the drink.

Winner gets glory and the chance to pick ingredients or theme for April's challenge.

MARCH challenge will be a novel cocktail of any sort that includes Irish Whiskey. Dust off that bottle of Jameson!

Topped with a sprinkling of cocoa

This turned out to be the perfect drink to exactly finish off both my Bailey's and my vodka before I restock my bar cart.

I used this recipe (halved of course) but added two maraschino cherries and their syrup for a bit of cherry flavor. Since I didn't have any chocolate shavings my girlfriend also suggested topping it with some cocoa which turned out to be a wonderful addition that added extra chocolate flavor with every sip. The cherries on the other hand weren't that noticeable until I started getting closer to the bottom, not a bad addition but I guess that's what happens when you have so many strong flavors in a drink.

Fun fact, the cocoa I used is actually the namesake for the Droste effect, where the subject of the art holds a miniature version of the art that depicts them creating a recursive loop.

Still needs a name, and a couple of adjustments I'll mention but wow. When I get a final recipe will post that too, or if you make it and have a recommendation let me know.

This is:

2 parts cognac

1 part Heirloom Pineapple Amaro

1 part roasted pineapple syrup from this drink

1 part fresh lemon

And because it was too sweet, 1 part Topo Chico.

I shook together the first 3 ingredients and it was mightily delicious but too sweet for my palate today, so I topped it with the fizzy water to dilute.

My thoughts - that roasted pineapple syrup is ridiculous, so sweet but so good, if you have a pineapple, make it. I should have increased the amount of pineapple when browning it and pulled some out for garnish, that would have made more sense both visually and taste-wise. I liked the mouth feel better without the Topo Chico, and not convinced it's really too sweet for most so definitely try first. Don't want to reduce the syrup it's so much of the flavor and texture. I won't do another round today, this is a one and done, but if doing again would chill the glasses, shake with less ice for more dilution, float the lemon slice in the glass, or maybe a lemon wedge, and most importantly, brown the pineapple for the garnish.

The Spaghett. What a weird drink, but it works. If you like bitter and it's hot, campari and pilsner somehow works. But it's January so let's try again.

1.5oz ghia n/a herbal

12oz n/a pale beer

1 dash orange bitters

2 dash angostura bitters

Express an orange peel

Maybe add a dash of campari if you just want to bump the flavor up a notch with almost no alcohol in the final drink.

Definitely very citrusy and herbal. Way less bitter than the original, I mean campari is very bitter, so. Tasty and refreshing.

I have a bunch of mojito mint in the garden but don't feel like a mojito! What else do you make with mint - I have a reasonably full cabinet of stuff so recommend away.

This one is from a great cocktail spot in NYC called Little Branch. It’s two strong liquors, but the apple brandy with a touch of simple combine to make it a pretty approachable aperitif.

• 1 oz Rittenhouse bottled-in-bond rye
• 1 oz Laird’s bottled-in-bond apple brandy
• ¼ oz simple syrup

Shake with ice, strain into a Nick & Nora glass, and garnish with an orange twist.

This is an interesting list and does have recipes for all of them.

I had a Friday cocktail of an adjusted paper plane:

2oz bourbon

1oz Aperol

1oz Amaro Nonino

1 spoonful Campari

1.75oz lemon (this was too much, the lemon was quite juicy and I wasn't drinking anything else tonight so put in all the juice of one whole lemon. I'd recommend a generous 1 oz.)

I always think I don't like Campari, it doesn't taste good. But a little bit into something already complex can improve it.

I am glad to see Jarritos won this taste test, that's hands down my favorite grapefruit soda for a Paloma.

Since they do not recommend any particular recipe:

I fill pint glass most of the way with ice, get out a cup measure (the kind you can pour from), measure 2oz tequila, one ounce fresh lime, fill the rest with the soda (about 4 oz, there's more room in there than exactly 8oz) and pour it over the ice. Delicious.

I do often make something like this too, wouldn't call it a Paloma but grapefruit and mezcal are fantastic together.

"Paloma" from bon appetit