Category Archives: Cocktail Recipes

  • Mixology Monday Cocktail: Alone, Bitter at the Beach

    December 17, 2012

    36 Comments

    Alone, Bitter at the Beach

    Alone, Bitter at the Beach

    mxmologo-2It’s time for Mixology Monday, and if you couldn’t guess already, this month’s theme is “Humbug”. Firstly we want to thank JFL at Rated R Cocktails for hosting this month and Fred Yarm at Cocktail Virgin Slut for reviving Mixology Monday. Now lets get to the theme:

    Lets face it the holidays suck, yeah I said it. You put yourself in debt buying crap people will have forgotten about in a month. You drive around like a jackass to see people you don’t even like, or worse they freeload in your house. Your subjected to annoying music, and utterly fake, forced kindness and joy. Plus if you work retail your pretty much in hell, so don’t we all deserve a good stiff drink? So for this Mixology Monday unleash your inner Grinch. Mix drinks in the spirit of Anti-Christmas. They can be really bitter and amaro filled. They filled with enough booze to make you pass out in a tinsel covered Scrooge heap. They could be a traditional holiday drink turned on it’s ear. Or they could be a tribute to your favorite holiday villain. If you celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa then you still suffer through the holidays, so feel free to join in with your Anti-Holiday drink as well. Whatever it is add a hearty “Humbug!” and make your drink personify everything annoying or fake about the holidays.

     humbug6While “some people” here at the farm have similar crabby feelings about the holidays, some of us don’t (ahem), but we both immediately said “tiki” when we thought of “anti-Christmas” cocktails. And when you are in a long holiday line at the store and the items won’t scan, and the kids are starting to squirm, and nobody can find the manager, and the next person in line is sneezing on you and yapping about their sex life on the phone, and and now you will be late for dinner, and you just can’t listen to one more fu…..umm, you need a trip to the beach. And, if anything, a tiki drink is a trip to a beach. Far, far away…maybe by yourself.

    humbug3So now that we had a direction, we started in on our “anti-Christmas” cocktail. The Alone, Bitter at the Beach combines, light rum, golden rum, aged Jamaican rum and Lemon Hart 151 rum with lime juice, pineapple juice, passion fruit syrup, a dash of absinthe and a big dose of Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit bitters over crushed ice. Garnish with a lime wheel and the most cutesy, annoying holiday-themed item you can find. The Alone, Bitter at the Beach starts with pleasant notes of rum and citrus then you get the sweet / tart kick of the passion fruit and some heat from the booze. Standard tiki. But on the finish you get the herbal and anise flavors of the absinthe and a dry, almost tannic note of the hopped grapefruit bitters. We think the Alone, Bitter at the Beach fits the holiday season perfectly- too much good stuff that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth (literally and figuratively) and a bit of a headache.

    humbug1

    Our kind of reindeer.

    How did we get here? We stared with the Zombie as a template and then made sure to tune it to match the theme. Boozy? Oh yes. We took one of the booziest cocktails and added another ounce of aged Jamaican rum. Is that too much? Probably, but it is the holiday season, after all. Bitter? Medicinal? Well the absinthe and grapefruit bitters took care of that (and many tiki drinks do include grapefruit and absinthe, so we aren’t too far off the reservation). And we made sure to keep Falernum and allspice liqueur out of the drink- no pleasant holiday spices allowed. The garnish and cocktail napkin were our own special touches. Now if we only had a Grinch mug……

    humbugAlone, Bitter at the Beach:

    Ingredients:

    • 1 oz. light rum (El Dorado)
    • 1 oz. gold rum (El Dorado)
    • 1 oz. aged Jamaican rum (Appleton 12 yr.)
    • 1 oz. Lemon Hart 151
    • 1 oz. lime juice
    • 1 oz. pineapple juice
    • 1 oz. passion fruit syrup
    • 2 dashes absinthe
    • 6 dashes grapefruit bitters (Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit)
    • Lime wheel, for garnish
    • Christmas ornament, for garnish (optional)

    Assemble:

    1. Place all the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a large glass or tiki mug filled with crushed ice. Top with more ice if needed. Garnish with a lime wheel and something holiday-themed and overly cheerful. Serve with a loud “harumph!” or “humbug!”.
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  • Hanukkah Cocktail: The Bees Knees

    December 9, 2012

    102 Comments

    The Bees Knees.

    The Bees Knees.

    Since Hanukkah is the “Bees Knees” of holidays (“dude, eight nights of presents, not just one”), we figured it’s time for a celebratory cocktail. And the Bees Knees not only tastes good, you can make a kosher version of the cocktail….really. In all seriousness, we do have some Jewish heritage in the family and we host an annual Hanukkah dinner with homemade latkes, jelly donuts and now, this cocktail. And the Bees Knees does fit the Hanukkah theme.

    bees1bees3At first, we looked for Hanukkah cocktail themes and it was a challenge. It is a festival of lights (not that helpful, flaming tiki drinks?) and oil is a main theme (there are a few cocktails with oil, but we aren’t going there), but happily the promised land is “the land of milk and honey” so we found a theme to build from. And as it turns out, raw honey is kosher, and we have plenty of raw Putney Farm honey. Even better, you can get kosher gin from the No. 209, a San Francisco based distillery (we used Bluecoat gin in this post, but will have the No. 209 at Hanukkah dinner). And it looks like fresh lemons are kosher, and we have plenty of Meyer lemons. Hmmm…

    bees4bees5Well, guess what? You just read the recipe for a Bees Knees cocktail. The Bees Knees combines dry gin, lemon juice and honey syrup (1 to 1 very hot water and honey) and is served up or on the rocks. Created in the prohibition era, the Bees Knees is easy to make and very tasty. And if you prefer rum, a light rum version makes a Honeysuckle, a dark rum version makes a Honey Bee. Add some champagne to the Honeysuckle and you get an Airmail. If you use rye or bourbon you get a Daisy Black. So you do get four or five drinks out of the deal (it’s not eight, but five cocktails from one basic recipe isn’t too shabby).

    bees6While almost all cocktail writers have positive feelings about the Bees Knees, many describe it as “inoffensive”. But we will take some issue with that. If you use basic store-bought clover or orange blossom honey, the flavors are pretty light. But if you use raw “forest” or wildflower honey in the Bees Knees you get much deeper herbal and bitter notes. Putney Farm honey is a forest honey made mostly from wildflowers and herb blossoms, it has some herbal and minty notes with a slightly bitter and piney finish. Good stuff, and perfect with a dry earthy gin. Along with the sweet acidity of the Meyer lemons, the herbal notes of gin and forest honey make for a very substantial cocktail with layers of flavor. So we suggest you get some raw honey from a farmers market and then try the Bees Knees, it won’t be simply “inoffensive”, it will be a special cocktail and a fitting celebration of Hanukkah.

    The Bees Knees:

    Ingredients:

    • 2 oz. dry gin (No.209 kosher, if you like)
    • 1/2 oz. honey syrup* (a bit more if using Eureka lemons, rather than sweeter Meyers)
    • 1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
    • Lemon wheel, for garnish

    Assemble:

    1. Combine the gin, honey syrup and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, coupé or flute. Garnish with the lemon wheel. Serve.

    * To make honey syrup combine equal parts honey and very hot water in a sealable container. Shake until combines. Stores in the fridge for 3-4 weeks.

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  • Weekly Cocktail #38: The Rusty Nail

    November 30, 2012

    20 Comments

    nail1

    The Rusty Nail. Up.

    The rain is coming down in sheets, the wind is howling and it’s cold (at least for the Bay Area). Time to light a fire, relax, play some cards or read a good book. But what cocktail to have? This would be a good time for a toddy or old fashioned, maybe a Manhattan. But this is also a perfect time to break out that bottle of Drambuie gathering dust in the back of your bar, grab some blended Scotch and make the almost-forgotten classic, the Rusty Nail.

    nail4

    The Rusty Nail. On the rocks.

    The Rusty Nail combines blended Scotch, Drambuie and (sometimes) a lemon twist. It it one of the easiest cocktails to make and is served up or on the rocks. The only issue with the Rusty Nail is getting the Drambuie if you don’t already have some hiding away. Drambuie is one of the few Scotch-based liqueurs and it tastes like sweetened Scotch with notes of honey, heather, citrus and spice. Drambuie doesn’t always play well with other spirits, but it does go well with Scotch. The honey and citrus soften the hard, smokey edges of Scotch and make it sippable. To some degree, in the Rusty Nail the Drambuie modifies the Scotch in a similar way to dry vermouth with gin in the Martini, or sweet vermouth with whiskey in a Manhattan. The base spirit still leads the drink, but no longer punches you in the face. Kinder, gentler booze.

    nail5As noted, the Rusty Nail is very easy to make. The only question is the ratios. Some recipes suggest equal portions of blended Scotch and Drambuie, some 2 to 1 and some 4 to 1. We like a 4 to 1, but it will depend on your tastes and the Scotch you use. The cool thing is that you can just add more Scotch or Drambuie as needed. Some recipes also suggest using a single-malt Scotch for the Rusty Nail, and while it’s very good, we will save our single-malts to serve on their own or in toddies. And finally, some recipes use a lemon twist, some don’t. We like a touch of citrus in most drinks and this is no exception. The aroma of the lemon with the Scotch adds an extra dimension.

    nail2And then you have the history of the Rusty Nail. As Drambuie is only about 100 years old, the Rusty Nail is a somewhat recent creation. Drambuie and Scotch cocktails started showing up in the 1930s with various names. Cocktail historian David Wondrich mentions several names for this drink including the “B.I.F.” and, even better, the “Knucklehead”. We kind of like Knucklehead (having sometimes behaved like one). But, not surprisingly, the marketing folks at Drambuie backed the “Rusty Nail” and the name stuck. And the Rusty Nail was a very popular cocktail from the 1950s to the 1970s, but then its popularity faded as darker spirits lost favor.

    nailNowadays the Rusty Nail is having something of a comeback. Craft and classic cocktail bars are serving the Rusty Nail (or variations) and Drambuie started to market itself, and its classic cocktail, to new audiences. Drambuie still isn’t cheap, but if you like whiskey, particularly Scotch, it is worth finding. And if you are looking for a strong, sweet and boozy (but not too boozy) sip, the Rusty Nail is a very good choice and a welcome diversion from old fashioneds and Manhattans.

    The Rusty Nail:

    Ingredients:

    • 2 oz. blended Scotch (the Famous Grouse)
    • 1/2 oz. Drambuie
    • Lemon twist

    Assemble:

    1. Add the Scotch and Drambuie to a cocktail glass with some ice. Stir until well chilled and strain into an old fashioned glass with ice, or strain into a chilled cocktail glass or coupé. Twist the lemon peel over the drink, add the peel to the cocktail and serve.
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  • Weekly Cocktail #37: The Master Cleanse

    November 23, 2012

    19 Comments

    The Master Cleanse. And yes, that’s cayenne pepper on the rim.

    Thanksgiving is in the books. It was a lovely holiday and we are grateful for family, friends, food and football. But for many of us, the Friday after Thanksgiving is indeed “Black Friday”. And not because we are braving hordes of shoppers (haven’t these folks heard of the internet?), but because we might still be stuffed and even a bit bleary. So if you partook in a few more bites of turkey or a wee dram too many, how about a cleanse? Even better, how about a Master Cleanse?

    But before you say yes, probably best to tell you what’s in it. The Master Cleanse combines Bourbon (some recipes say applejack), lemon juice, maple syrup, sugar and a pinch of cayenne pepper. And yes, you do get a kick from the cayenne. And while you may or may not feel cleansed of the previous night’s festivities, it will make you forget them, at least for a moment. The Bourbon, maple and lemon combo is quite tasty, and you can make a case that the cayenne adds some pleasant pain zing (whether you want it or not).

    The specifics of the Master Cleanse cocktail recipe are a bit clouded, with the PDT Cocktail Book, Saveur and Joe Beef restaurant in Quebec all having recipes or variations. All recipes combine brown booze, maple, lemon and cayenne. We played around and came up with this version, but the basic recipe allows for varying proportions. We tend to like drinks a bit sweet when we are bleary…so we doubled down and used Bourbon as the spirit with a mix of maple and sugar. Extra sugar also blunts the heat of the pepper. But feel free to experiment.

    While the specifics of the cocktail’s recipe might be hazy, the origins of the name are very clear. The “Master Cleanse” was the name of a lemonade, maple and cayenne diet regimen created by Stanley Burroughs in the 1940’s. Like most (all?) fad diets, it is complete lunacy and has almost no nutritional value. But it does spike what is basically a starvation diet with some sour, sweet and hot notes. Yum. A few years ago Beyoncé’ Knowles used the diet to lose 20 pounds and the “Master Cleanse” basked in many minutes of tabloid adulation before fading back into obscurity. But the reemergence of the diet did give someone the inspiration to create the Master Cleanse cocktail. We will keep the cocktail, Beyoncé can have the diet.

    The Master Cleanse:

    • 2 oz. Bourbon
    • 3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
    • 1/2 oz. maple syrup
    • 1/2 oz. simple syrup
    • Cayenne pepper
    • Fine sugar (or maple sugar)

    Assemble:

    1. Combine a tablespoon of sugar with a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Then run the rim of a old-fashioned glass along a lemon wedge. Run the rim of the glass through the sugar and cayenne mixture. Fill the glass halfway with ice and set aside.
    2. Combine the Bourbon, lemon juice, maple and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly, until chilled, and strain into rimmed glass. Serve.
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