Drinking in NYC

I recently returned from a visit to NYC where I visited my brother and attended a friend's wedding in the Boston area. Good times were had, especially on the drinking front.

The first night I was in New York, I went out with my brother, his girlfriend and one of her friends. It was happy hour at the Boxcar Lounge, which means two-for-one drinks. I noticed a bottle of Hendrick's gin on the shelf. As it's something I had wanted to try for a while, I ordered a G&T. Turned out to be incredibly tasty. The drink was almost perfectly balanced, with the cucumber notes pleasantly highlighting the other elements. I got another one for my second drink and ended up spending $15 including tips. The space is fairly narrow, though there is also a small patio behind the main part of the bar. While it was a nice place to sit and chat, I can imagine that it would get crowded fairly quickly on a busier night. If you're in the East Village during happy hour, I highly recommend this bar.

Another fine establishment that I visited, this time a little closer to my temporary home base in Greenpoint, was The Richardson. This bar is set up Prohibition-style, going so far as to have all the bartenders properly attired. Thankfully secret passwords aren't needed to get in. They made me some rather solid daiquiris, which let me try a couple of new rums. The Mt. Gay XO in particular was good enough that I bought a bottle the day after getting back to Portland. The service was excellent and the prices were perfectly reasonable, by NYC standards. Another place that I would highly recommend if you happen to be in the Williamsburg area and fancy a drink.

Having heard of the place some time ago, I was really looking forward to drinking at Painkiller. The place has a really solid reputation, despite the fact that it's a pretty new bar. And hey, tiki drinks! I ended up going by myself, but it was still a nice place to sit and read while I filled up on rum. I took a chance and ordered the swizzle flight. Only one of the three really tickled my fancy, but some of that may have been due to the swizzling, which can dilute the drinks a bit more than necessary. Following that, I settled in to a very tasty Jet Pilot. To make it work even better, this one was served with an ice cone rather than being blended, so it stayed very cold without much dilution. At that point I'd had rather a healthy amount of rum, so it was a good thing that I was getting home by subway. With all that said, I did have a few quibbles with the place. The biggest is that the prices for drinks aren't terribly obvious. There's a little chalkboard sign by the bar, but it's pretty easy to overlook. Secondly, the menu doesn't really list the drinks. The bartender and waitress are more than happy to explain things, but it doesn't seem like an efficient system. I was pretty O.K., but only because I could look at the more comprehensive list of drink recipes on their website. Still, it's a place that I'd probably go back to. Though I'd probably call it good after one drink. Instead of four.

The last place I drank at in NYC was the Roneria Caracas. This is a rum bar that's part of an arepa place. The focus is definitely on the rum and there's an extensive list of rums to sample. The decor was interesting, evoking a place that had been hastily thrown together from found materials, but everything was comfortable and well put-together. The daiquiri I had with El Dorado's 5 year-old rum was interesting (enough that I'm looking to get a bottle for myself), though it was a bit tricky to tell exactly which flavors were due to the rum and which were due to the sugar cane syrup that the bar used in place of simple syrup. Either way, it was tasty and not overly hard on the pocketbook. I didn't sample any of the other drinks, but the menu looked interesting and tasty. Additionally, the arepa I had was also tasty, so this is a good spot, whether you're hungry or looking for a drink.

All said and done, I had a pretty good time drinking in NYC. The prices were a little rich for my blood, but that seems to just be a matter of the different cost of living in the city. But I was on vacation, so whatever. If any of you are ever in the city, give any or all of these spots a try. I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Heading South

As the weather has warmed up, it seems like a good time to return to my old friend tequila. While I began, as so many do, with the lackluster José Cuervo, I saw the light last year and picked up a rather tasty bottle of Corralejo Reposado that's seen some good use since then. It has a fairly strong flavor that needs to be balanced by the other ingredients in a cocktail, but used properly it'll make for some really tasty drinks.

In an effort to get some new inspiration for drinks, I've been poking around the menus of various bars to see what's been made these days. The Eclipse from Eleven Madison Park struck me as a rather good looking combination of flavors, so I decided to tweak it a bit using the ingredients I have on hand.

Equinox Eclipse
1.5 oz reposado tequila
0.25 oz Cherry Heering
0.25 oz Punt et Mes
0.75 oz lemon juice
0.5 oz simple syrup

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

I'm really pleased with how this drink turned out. The somewhat acerbic nature of the tequila played off of the sweetness of the the Heering, the bitterness of the vermouth and the acid of the lemon juice. The wine from the Punt et Mes intruded a bit more than I would have liked it too, but I'm not sure it was totally out of place with the cherry flavor. It also had a really nice orange and magenta color that reminded me of a sunset. Or maybe the corona of an eclipse (surprise, surprise). Overall a nicely balanced cocktail that I'd make again and be happy to serve to others.

Recipe Roundup

It's been a little while since I last posted, so I thought I'd just throw up a list of the drinks I've made over the last couple of weeks. The instructions for each recipe should be the same: combine all ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

Guyanese Squirrel
1.5 oz ED15 Demerara rum
0.75 oz amaretto
0.5 oz Meyer lemon juice
0.5 oz lemon juice
0.3 oz demerara syrup

After futzing around with the Scottish Squirrel, I thought the smoky flavor of Demerara rum might also work with this formula. Thankfully, it did!

Queequeg's Harpoon (Hip-Hop remix) - modified from Dr. Bamboo's recipe
1 oz ED15 Demerara rum
1 oz ED3 Demerara rum
1 oz homemade chocolate spiced rum #1
0.75 oz lime juice
0.75 oz Queequeg's Blood
0.5 oz simple syrup

Recipes have be modified from their creator's originals pretty frequently. Though I have a pretty decent rum collection at this point, I'm a long way away from people like RumDood, so substitutions have to be made.

Caribbean Clouds
1 oz Jamaican rum
0.5 oz ED15 Demerara rum
0.25 oz Allspice Dram
0.5 oz lime juice
0.5 oz grapefruit juice
0.5 oz Demerara syrup
0.25 oz orgeat

This was an off the cuff drink, but it turns out to be a hop, skip and a jump away from Beachbum Berry's Ancient Mariner. The drink can also work out well by swapping out the lime juice for 0.75 oz of lemon juice, the Demerara syrup for simple syrup and eliminating the orgeat.

Tidal Wave (a modification of the Golden Wave from Beachbum Berry Remixed)
0.75 oz lemon juice
0.5 oz grapefruit juice
0.5 oz simple syrup
0.3 oz orange-tangerine-kumquat liqueur
0.25 oz falernum
0.5 oz ED3 Demerara rum
0.5 oz Appleton V/X

This one was an experiment to see if I could sub in grapefruit juice for pineapple juice in tiki drinks. Between the drop in juice content (0.5 oz grapefruit vs. 1 oz pineapple) and the higher proofs of the orange liqueur and falernum I have, this ended up being a punchier drink than the original, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, so the experiments will definitely continue.

The Caldera
0.5 oz Appleton V/X
0.5 oz homemade chocolate spiced rum #2
0.5 oz Clement Creole Shrubb
0.5 oz lemon juice
0.5 oz grapefruit juice
0.5 oz simple syrup

I just filtered a new batch of spiced rum and it turned out to be a lot spicier than the first batch. Not a bad thing at all, but it made for a cocktail with a distinctly lingering taste. Imagine this being made with New Deal's Hot Monkey and Mud Puddle vodkas with a rum base and you'll get an idea of what I'm talking about.

Hopefully I'll be able to keep a more regular update schedule in the near future, but for now it's time to buckle down and get ready for finals.

The Joy of Cocktail Chemistry

As someone who loves chemistry and cooking, making my own ingredients was a natural step once I became more interested in cocktails. Basic elements like simple and ginger syrups were early first steps. Then came lemon, cranberry and grapefruit tinctures, followed quickly by orange-kumquat liqueur. Some of the recipes ended up being tweaked, such as using cachaça due to a lack of brandy and subbing some tangerine peel for orange peel in the orange-kumquat liqueur, Waiting while these various concoctions steeped on my hallway shelf was almost excruciating:

While I haven't always been thrilled by the results (limoncello was a bit less exciting than I hoped it would be), I've so far continued to make or start a new item every couple of weeks or so. The list so far includes:

•Chocolate bitters
•Falernum
•Cold process grenadine
•Hot process hibiscus grenadine
•Orgeat (almond milk)
•Spiced rum
•Home-aged rum

I'll probably do posts on these various ingredients some time in the future, as they each deserve their own story.

Saturday Night Cocktail Challenge

Last night I hosted a "Bring Your Own Ingredient" cocktail party. The idea was that everyone would bring something unique that I would then try to integrate into a cocktail without drowning it out. A lot of what got lobbed at me had a pretty strong flavor, ranging from the peaty smokiness of single malt whiskey to peppermint schnapps. With one exception, I managed to roll with the punches. When asked to make a savory cocktail, I stumbled. Savory tequila, aquavit, rye vodka, olive brine and old-fashioned bitters somehow canceled each other out, resulting in a mostly-tasteless but generally off-putting drink. But it was a learning experience. Here are the ingredients I had more luck with and the resulting cocktails:

Scottish Squirrel (from Gary Regan's The Joy of Mixology)
1.5 oz McCarthy's Single Malt Whiskey
0.75 oz amaretto
0.75 oz lemon juice

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

While this drink had potential, the smokey flavors were still too dominant and the drink was rather dry. Adding honey syrup helped a bit, so I think the drink could be turned into something rather tasty with a bit more work.

Rhub Rum
1.5 oz El Dorado 3 year rum
0.5 oz lime juice
0.5 oz grapefruit juice
0.3 oz simple syrup
0.25 oz rhubarb liqueur

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

I was much more pleased with this one. The ED3 has something of a savory character, which played well with the rhubarb liqueur. The grapefruit juice also kept the sourness of the lime from dominating. Another one that I can see making again.


Nth Degree
1.25 oz Aviation gin
0.25 oz Krogstad aquavit
0.3 oz honey syrup
barspoon lemon tincture
barspoon cranberry tincture

Stir with ice for 30 seconds then strain into a chilled glass.

Due this drink being almost pure alcohol (the tinctures are ~190 proof), I chose to stir this one a bit longer than normal. The results were fairly good and it had a wonderful opalescent pink hue. Not exactly my cup of tea, but others enjoyed it and the aquavit managed to play a role without taking over the drink. The tinctures also added both color and smell without being too assertive.

Christmas in St. Croix
1 oz Cruzan ESB
0.5 oz amaretto
0.25 oz peppermint schnapps
0.5 oz grapefruit juice
0.25 oz lime juice
0.5 oz honey syrup

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

This one is in a similar mold to the first cocktail, though I was aiming for a way to utilize the spiciness of the Cruzan and schnapps with the nutty flavor of the amaretto rather than savory bitterness. Almost everyone agreed that it reminded them of Christmas. Perhaps a good one for celebrating the holidays in warmer climes.

I also whipped up a margarita and a Fernandito Cocktail with mango puree that ended going down well. For some reason the mango seemed to be introducing grassy notes to those drinks, but that fit well with both.

Last but not least, I finally got to try out my mai-tai variation:

Spai-Tai
1 oz Jamaican rum
1 oz chocolate spiced rum
0.5 oz amaretto
1 oz lime juice
0.5 oz orgeat
0.5 oz honey syrup

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

This worked out just as well as I hoped it would. The chocolate and spice flavors from the rum work perfectly with the nut flavor of the amaretto while the honey syrup and orgeat smooth everything out. Another drink that I'll be making again.

Overall, it was a good night for me. I was a bit exhausted by the end, but it felt really good to be able to come up with new drinks on the fly. There's always more to learn, but it means that I have a decent grasp on how different flavors will work with each other and can combine them in a pleasing fashion. Just to really cap everything off, I had incredibly gracious guests who left me with a lot of the new liquor I had been using over the course of the night. I'm now ahead a bottle Single Malt Whiskey, a bottle of Krogstad aquavit, a bit of rhubarb liqueur, some Don Eduardo tequila and some homemade tonic syrup. I'm looking forward to making new drinks with all of these ingredients and hopefully sharing some of them with friends as well.

Especially with summer coming, I foresee many more cocktail parties in my future.

Running on Rum

Time to turn to the spirit that currently occupies much of my attention: rum

I will admit to having a bit of an ulterior motive here. Over at one of my favorite drinks blogs, RumDood is having a contest to write about our favorite rum experiences. And I can't do better than to describe my entry into the world of rum.

I arrived here by something of a circuitous route. For many years I avoided rum after a less than thrilling experience at a rum tasting class held at my alma mater. While I don't remember exactly what was served, I'm pretty sure they were decent aged rums. But straight spirits have almost never done much for me and the unfamiliar flavors left me swearing off rum entirely.

However, after discovering a love for cachaça, I found myself willing to give rum another chance. While there are distinct differences between cachaça and rum, they both come from sugarcane bases. To help the process along, I serendipitously read about a new-ish rum on the market, Oronoco, which is produced primarily from fresh sugarcane, much like cachaça. To put a twist on that basic formula, it is also blended with a touch of aged Venezuelan rum. This sounded like an excellent compromise. After picking up a bottle, I found that it has hints of the vegetal notes usually found in cachaça, but they are subdued by the aged rum. There are also very strong vanilla presence and a fair bit of molasses sweetness as well. While vanilla is a fairly common flavor element in rums, I find that Oronoco reminds me strongly of baked goods. This is in contrast to other rums such as El Dorado's 3-year aged white rum, which has a much more savory vanilla character. So while Oronoco can make for a mean daiquiri, these days I find that I prefer to place it in a supporting rather than a leading role as the vanilla can become a bit overwhelming.

Now that I had come around to the idea of rum a bit, I plunged all the way in and went for an aged rum. Again, primarily on the basis of good reviews, I decided to buy a bottle of Cruzan Estate Single Barrel rum. This really is a different beast. The ESB is a blend of rums aged from 4 to 12 years (the single barrel nomenclature refers to a large mixing vat in which the blend is married for another year or so) and has fairly strong oak notes. So much that when I got my roommate to try some her first response was that it smelled like whiskey. While my first impression was of an overwhelming woody smell, revisiting the ESB has revealed that the oak comes along with a gob of spices and a hint of alcohol and vanilla. The taste is much spicier, overwhelming some of the more delicate flavors in the nose. The more aggressive wood and spice flavors took some work to properly enjoy, but under the right circumstances it can really hit the spot.

Well used and well loved.

Both of these rums were great introductions to the rum world. The Oronoco is excellent for anyone scared by funkier rums and the ESB should hit the spot for whiskey drinkers. In honor of the first three varieties of rum that I genuinely enjoyed, here is a drink that joins them together into a glorious whole:

RUMGBIV
0.5 oz Cruzan ESB
0.5 oz Oronoco
0.5 oz Boca Loca cachaça
1/3 lemon, cut into wedges
1/3 lime, cut into wedges
0.5 oz simple syrup
Several slices of ginger
2-3 dashes grapefruit bitters

Muddle ginger, lemon and lime pieces with simple syrup. Add rums and bitters, shake with ice and double strain into a chilled glass.

The sourness of the lemon and lime, the bite of the ginger and the flavors of the various rums all play well with each other. The ESB works with the Oronoco, reinforcing the aged rum element. The Oronoco and cachaça bring out each others grassier notes, with all three bringing sugarcane and molasses along. Quite an enjoyable little drink.

Next time, the adventures of making my own cocktail ingredients.

Friday Night Frights

It's a cold, rainy Friday night, which means that it's an excellent time to stay home and try new cocktails. First up, a small tweak on the Bacardi Cocktail:

J. Wray Cocktail
0.6 oz Appleton V/X
0.5 oz J. Wray & Nephew Overproof
0.75 oz lime juice
0.5 oz hibiscus grenadine

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

Since the first time I cracked the bottle, I've been a little bit terrified of the J. Wray. While I've read paeans to it's incredible versatility, even once diluted into a cocktail, there's something about it that smells off to me. The taste is just fine, even kind of interesting, but there's something tickling my nose unpleasantly that I can't quite put a name to. Some days I think it's a bit like off dairy products (how's that for an appealing description), but other times I think it might just be the liquorice and grass notes that other people have found. Either way, I'm now determined to forge ahead and find ways to integrate this unique rum into cocktails. I will not be deterred!

On a more pleasant note, I was flipping through Gary Regan's The Joy of Mixology looking for rum drinks when I stumbled upon the Fernandito Cocktail. It calls for a healthy slug of spiced rum and seeing as I filtered a batch of homemade chocolate spiced rum earlier this week (I'll post a recipe for this spiced rum soon), it seemed like a good one to try. While I didn't want to use the full 2 oz. the recipe calls for, a little bit of substitution and a drop in the amount of liqueur resulted in a rather pleasing drink.

Fernandito Cocktail (Modified)
1 oz. Appleton V/X
0.5 oz El Dorado 3 year
0.5 oz chocolate spiced rum
0.25 oz blackberry liqueur
0.5 oz orange juice
0.5 oz lime juice
0.5 oz simple syrup

Combine all ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

While I think I shook this cocktail a bit too long, resulting in a too-dilute drink, the overall flavor was still pretty good. The chocolate and spices from the spiced rum played well with the vanilla of the ED3 and berry sweetness of the liqueur with the V/X providing a nice base for it all. Once I've made more spiced rum, I might try this with a 1:1 ratio between the V/X and spiced rums, but this less potent mixture was still a pleasure. Definitely a drink that I will be making again.