WineLovers Discussion Group

This may be my most favorite thread ever. I'm inspired to up my drinks skills. And I'm going to take a look at Imbibe too.

I started reading To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion after this thread and this interview http://eater.com/archives/2013/10/31/david-wondrich-interview.php

I'm working on drinks that use absinthe.

James Dietz wrote:This may be my most favorite thread ever. I'm inspired to up my drinks skills. And I'm going to take a look at Imbibe too.

I started reading To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion after this thread and this interview http://eater.com/archives/2013/10/31/david-wondrich-interview.php

I'm working on drinks that use absinthe.

That's exceedingly kind of you, Jim. I can see that folks are reading, but it's always nice to hear from specific people. Thanks to you can everyone who's taken the time to post a comment.

Also, before this thing wraps up tonight, I would be remiss in not thanking our generous host, Robin, for both providing a venue and permitting me to post so much non-wine content in the forum. Does the Bellini count?

That's a neat interview; I hadn't heard of the upcoming Oxford Companion but they make great bedside reading.

wnissen wrote:permitting me to post so much non-wine content in the forum. Does the Bellini count?

If it is an adult beverage, it counts, Walter! I've loved this thread as much as everyone else.

Day 25: "Zombie" - The late Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt was the "founding father" of Tiki, though wouldn't you have changed your name to Donn Beach, too? His signature drink was Zombie Punch, which the aforementioned "Beach Bum" Berry claims to have tracked down after years of dedicated drinking and research. The original recipe is complex. The secret "Don's mix" starts with cinnamon-infused simple syrup, which is one of the prettier shades of pink I've seen in the kitchen:

It's then mixed 1:2 with grapefruit juice to complete the Mix.

Then there's the Falernum. Mercifully, it's not the amphora-aged Roman wine (the 223 A.D. vintage is terrific, by the way), but rather a liqueur of rum, lime, and spices that is also used in the "Corn 'n Oil." Paul Clarke's recipe is on the last page of this PDF, which also contains recipes for other libations that were lost to various extents in the mists of time: http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/pdf_f ... pirits.pdf The finished Falernum is delicious, a musky herbal concoction despite the ginger and lime zest. I'm a little surprised you don't see it used more often. In any case, here's the ingredients:



Finally, the rums: dark Jamaican, gold Cruzan and Lemon Hart demerara from Guyana. The last was unknown to me, but it's apparently the linchpin of the drink. It would have to be, at 151 proof! One of my favorite stories of both cocktails and marketing is that Donn Beach famously would sell no more than two to a customer. Now, if you add up all the spirits (including the six drops of Pernod), just one Zombie has 3.3 shots of 80-proof liquor. It's hard to imagine someone wanting more than two. But as David A. Embury's Mixing Drinks notes, "Everyone except Caspar Milquetoast, of course, comes back for a third just to pit his personal prowess against the allegedly devastating power of the drink." That is some clever reverse psychology there. For the full recipe, some history, and an alternate recipe that doesn't involve as much fuss, see this 2007 article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/dining/28tiki.html

Without further ado, the ingredients, with the cinnamon syrup on the left and the Falernum on the right:



After mixing everything together, I had the final cocktail sitting in front of me. I'm happy to say it was very good. As befits such an elephantine drink, I don't think you can taste the whole thing all at once. You see different parts of the elephant with different sips; a hint of anise, the tang of grapefruit, or the warmth of cinnamon. If I had to quibble I'd point out that the three rums, with everything else going on, are hard to pick out. With the Mai Tai I can taste what the rhum agricole brings versus the aged Jamaican, but not here. Still, it's something I'm happy to keep sipping until it's gone.



For those who have been patient enough to read to the end of this thread, I have a treat for you. Paul Clarke has posted a complete PDF of the article on his blog. Have a look at the gorgeous photographs and detailed recipes, and maybe you, too, will get inspired to make all 25.

http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/pdf_f ... ential.pdf

Cheers!

Wow! Thanks for that final link! Frosting on the cake!!!!

Standing ovation here, Walt!!! Nicely done. Thanks for going through all 25 and posting your photos, recipes, and impressions.

On the Lemon Hart, we love that stuff. It adds a lot of good rum flavor to a variety of drinks. I use it in the hot buttered rum that my wife requires when she has a cold. 1 oz. of white rum, 1/2 oz. of a dark rum (both of these vary based on what we have around) and a half oz. of the Lemon Hart go in with a teaspoon of brown sugar, some cinnamon, clove, allspice, a squirt of lemon juice, and a cup of boiling water. It gets topped with a pat of butter and a grating of nutmeg. The Lemon Hart punches up the rum flavor and makes the drink. (Just don't drink shots of it!)

This post is costing me beaucoup bucks in books, booze and bar supplies!!!

James Dietz wrote:This may be my most favorite thread ever. I'm inspired to up my drinks skills. And I'm going to take a look at Imbibe too.

I started reading To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion after this thread and this interview http://eater.com/archives/2013/10/31/david-wondrich-interview.php

I'm working on drinks that use absinthe.

We've been similarly inspired. I've been ordering cocktails I've never had before (game for anything that doesn't require vodka, egg or cream), and Bob now wants to learn to make a Sazerac at home!

Thanks, Walt.

Jenise wrote:

James Dietz wrote:This may be my most favorite thread ever. I'm inspired to up my drinks skills. And I'm going to take a look at Imbibe too.

I started reading To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion after this thread and this interview http://eater.com/archives/2013/10/31/david-wondrich-interview.php

I'm working on drinks that use absinthe.

We've been similarly inspired. I've been ordering cocktails I've never had before (game for anything that doesn't require vodka, egg or cream), and Bob now wants to learn to make a Sazerac at home!

Thanks, Walt.

Love Sazerac, and I have been making that for a while, but I'm going to be a bit more meticulous now, after reading Walt's terrific notes. And, man, do I want to make that Aviation!!!!

I also love Corpse Reviver No. 2. Too bad it's not on the list, but I'm going to learn to make it right.

wnissen wrote:Yeah, I felt like I wasn't quite doing it right since I didn't have a celery stalk nor a complete hamburger to stick on it!

My wife had some killer Bloody Marys in New Orleans in this bar near Jackson Square. They put pickled okra in it. OMFG good..

wnissen wrote:Day 25: "Zombie" - The late Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt was the "founding father" of Tiki, though wouldn't you have changed your name to Donn Beach, too? His signature drink was Zombie Punch, which the aforementioned "Beach Bum" Berry claims to have tracked down after years of dedicated drinking and research. The original recipe is complex. The secret "Don's mix" starts with cinnamon-infused simple syrup, which is one of the prettier shades of pink I've seen in the kitchen:

IMGP0938.jpg

It's then mixed 1:2 with grapefruit juice to complete the Mix.

Then there's the Falernum. Mercifully, it's not the amphora-aged Roman wine (the 223 A.D. vintage is terrific, by the way), but rather a liqueur of rum, lime, and spices that is also used in the "Corn 'n Oil." Paul Clarke's recipe is on the last page of this PDF, which also contains recipes for other libations that were lost to various extents in the mists of time: http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/pdf_f ... pirits.pdf The finished Falernum is delicious, a musky herbal concoction despite the ginger and lime zest. I'm a little surprised you don't see it used more often. In any case, here's the ingredients:

IMGP0935.jpg

Finally, the rums: dark Jamaican, gold Cruzan and Lemon Hart demerara from Guyana. The last was unknown to me, but it's apparently the linchpin of the drink. It would have to be, at 151 proof! One of my favorite stories of both cocktails and marketing is that Donn Beach famously would sell no more than two to a customer. Now, if you add up all the spirits (including the six drops of Pernod), just one Zombie has 3.3 shots of 80-proof liquor. It's hard to imagine someone wanting more than two. But as David A. Embury's Mixing Drinks notes, "Everyone except Caspar Milquetoast, of course, comes back for a third just to pit his personal prowess against the allegedly devastating power of the drink." That is some clever reverse psychology there. For the full recipe, some history, and an alternate recipe that doesn't involve as much fuss, see this 2007 article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/dining/28tiki.html

Without further ado, the ingredients, with the cinnamon syrup on the left and the Falernum on the right:

IMGP0994.jpg

After mixing everything together, I had the final cocktail sitting in front of me. I'm happy to say it was very good. As befits such an elephantine drink, I don't think you can taste the whole thing all at once. You see different parts of the elephant with different sips; a hint of anise, the tang of grapefruit, or the warmth of cinnamon. If I had to quibble I'd point out that the three rums, with everything else going on, are hard to pick out. With the Mai Tai I can taste what the rhum agricole brings versus the aged Jamaican, but not here. Still, it's something I'm happy to keep sipping until it's gone.

IMGP0996.jpg

For those who have been patient enough to read to the end of this thread, I have a treat for you. Paul Clarke has posted a complete PDF of the article on his blog. Have a look at the gorgeous photographs and detailed recipes, and maybe you, too, will get inspired to make all 25.

http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/pdf_f ... ential.pdf

Cheers!

End of thread, all 25, as soon as I translate War & Peace into Ancient Greek.

Lou Kessler wrote:End of thread, all 25, as soon as I translate War & Peace into Ancient Greek.

But, but, you haven't even seen the Grenadine recipe yet!

James Dietz wrote:

I also love Corpse Reviver No. 2. Too bad it's not on the list, but I'm going to learn to make it right.

What's in a Corpse Reviver? Great name!

Jenise wrote:

James Dietz wrote:

I also love Corpse Reviver No. 2. Too bad it's not on the list, but I'm going to learn to make it right.

What's in a Corpse Reviver? Great name!

http://imbibemagazine.com/Corpse-Reviver-2-Recipe

I'm kind of an Absinthe slut, so my dash is more than the atomizer spray that lots of mixologists use.

Apparently, the Corpse Reviver was a class of cocktails from pre-Prohibition times, all used as "hair of the dog" hangover therapies (at least, according to Erik Ellestad.) The #2 is something you can get at better cocktail bars these days. I made the Corpse Reviver #1 for Halloween night. (It's the one linked to above, with vermouth, brandy, and apple brandy.) It's a decent drink, but IMO the #2 is much more distinctive and interesting. The #2 is equal parts gin, Cointreau, Lillet, and lemon juice with a dash of absinthe.

Mike Filigenzi wrote:Apparently, the Corpse Reviver was a class of cocktails from pre-Prohibition times, all used as "hair of the dog" hangover therapies (at least, according to Erik Ellestad.) The #2 is something you can get at better cocktail bars these days. I made the Corpse Reviver #1 for Halloween night. (It's the one linked to above, with vermouth, brandy, and apple brandy.) It's a decent drink, but IMO the #2 is much more distinctive and interesting. The #2 is equal parts gin, Cointreau, Lillet, and lemon juice with a dash of absinthe.

Thanks for the background info!

And I corrected my link above. As I said, I follow it exactly, which is as Mike notes, except for a heavy hand on the absinthe.

I'll chime in here to thank Mr. Nissen for creating and following through on this thread. Good reading and so many interesting takes on cocktailia.

A note on the Lemon Hart: Just finished attending Portland Cocktail Week wherein I listened to the story of Lemon Hart in the USA.

Some time ago, Lemon Hart got pulled from the USA market. Ed Hamilton, one of the great aficionados of rum in this country, persevered mightily to get it back into importation and distribution. Seems the Lemon Hart guy is a premier dickhead to deal with (the kind of guy that makes you put up with a lot of stuff and alienates all your best potential customers with his attitude, behavior and comments), and on top of that Lemon Hart never achieved great attention or volume in the US market. But Hamilton continuing to fight the good fight and managed to get it back in with the LH Overstrength 151----and all the good bartenders and rum nuts thanked him for it.

So Hamilton went back to LH and asked for an 80 Proof version---with all sorts of pushback from the same Lemon Hart guy, who didn't want to do it.

This is one of those cases, very common in the world of the 'small brand' champion importers, folks such as Eric Seed (Haus Alpenz) and the aforementioned Hamilton, who put up with a massive amount of obfuscation, frustration and annoyance to get the premier products into the country.

God bless 'em, sez I.

Thanks, Hoke, that certainly goes a long way toward explaining why something that is the sine que non of an important drink
has such limited distribution. There's only a few stores in the whole SF bay area that stock it, though with shipping within
California it's still obtainable.

I'm curious to water it back to a more reasonable proof any try it neat; it's hard to smell anything over the alcohol when
poured straight.

Treating this thread now as a sort of Cocktail Open Mike (perhaps we ought to institutionalize that?) I had an interesting cocktail last night at El Camino, a hip new spot on one of our hipper strips, called a La Rosita ... it was basically a Negroni made with blue agave tequila in place of the gin. It worked for me ... they made it strong, and I nursed it all through a really good meal of ironic Cali-Mex surfer fare.

Robin Garr wrote:Treating this thread now as a sort of Cocktail Open Mike (perhaps we ought to institutionalize that?) I had an interesting cocktail last night at El Camino, a hip new spot on one of our hipper strips, called a La Rosita ... it was basically a Negroni made with blue agave tequila in place of the gin. It worked for me ... they made it strong, and I nursed it all through a really good meal of ironic Cali-Mex surfer fare.

I think it's a good idea to expand and institutionalize the idea, Robin. I think there are enough cocktail aficionados around here (and with you being one of them) to sustain it. Heck, Walt and Mike F. and I alone could sustain it, with a jump in traffic with absinthe sluts whenever that comes up.

Hoke wrote:

Robin Garr wrote:Treating this thread now as a sort of Cocktail Open Mike (perhaps we ought to institutionalize that?) I had an interesting cocktail last night at El Camino, a hip new spot on one of our hipper strips, called a La Rosita ... it was basically a Negroni made with blue agave tequila in place of the gin. It worked for me ... they made it strong, and I nursed it all through a really good meal of ironic Cali-Mex surfer fare.

I think it's a good idea to expand and institutionalize the idea, Robin. I think there are enough cocktail aficionados around here (and with you being one of them) to sustain it. Heck, Walt and Mike F. and I alone could sustain it, with a jump in traffic with absinthe sluts whenever that comes up.

+1 on the institutionalization of a cocktail forum, speaking as an absinthe slut. It would be a good place to share info on products, like some new Gins that Chambers Street recently wrote about.

I'd be happy to see that happen, Robin.

wnissen wrote:I'd be happy to see that happen, Robin.

Well, it's no big deal! I'm not talking about a separate forum now, but just an ongoing thread - like a lot of others we have. One of you guys could start it. No special Magick is required. Just post something like "Open Mike: Cocktails" and then as long as it stays active, it will keep bouncing up to the top. If you'd really rather have me start it, though, let me know and I'll let 'er rip.

[quote="Hoke"

I think it's a good idea to expand and institutionalize the idea, Robin. I think there are enough cocktail aficionados around here (and with you being one of them) to sustain it. Heck, Walt and Mike F. and I alone could sustain it, with a jump in traffic with absinthe sluts whenever that comes up. [/quote]

Well to be fair, most of my posts would involved yet another couple of Manhattans made for my wife and me.

I'll start off with something slightly different, though. When in Portland a month or so ago, we picked up (among others) a bottle of Calisaya. This is a somewhat bitter orange liqueur with a really delicious and complex set of flavors. I think it may be available at Bev Mo and/or Total Wine. I've taken to making the following drink with it:

1.5 oz rye (or brandy, if you're making it for a Wisconsin native)
0.75 oz. Calisaya
0.75 oz. sweet vermouth
2 dashes Fee's orange bitters

Build it in a rocks glass. Add ice and stir very well. Garnish with a good wide strip of orange peel, being sure to twist the peel over the drink and rub the rim of the glass with it before dropping it in.

This comes off as something of an orange Manhattan. The orange flavor is significant but the bitter edge of the Calisaya along with the spice of the rye keeps it from being too sweet or fruity. I do recommend a fairly restrained vermouth (something more along the lines of Martini and Rossi than Carpano Antica) as well as a rye with lots of character. I've been using the James E. Pepper 1776 rye and it manages to come through loud and clear.