Sorry, chocolate haters, here’s another nice little dessert drink.
The Chocolate Brownie
1 oz. vodka
1 oz. chocolate liqueur (I use Godiva)
1/2 oz. walnut liqueur (I use Nocello)
1/4 oz. Licor 43
1/4 oz. butterscotch liqueur
Add all ingredients with ice to a cocktail shaker, strain into a coupe glass.
Tastes just like a brownie. You’ve got chocolate, walnuts, vanilla, and a little butterscotch kick.
If you haven’t tried St. Germain’s Elderflower liqueur yet, run, don’t walk, to your nearest liquor store and buy a bottle. Or rather, ask them to order you a bottle, because chances are it won’t be on hand. I lucked out and found some last week and have been enjoying experimental cocktails with it ever since. It’s got a strong taste of lychee, but also peach, apricot, and other fruits plus herbal notes, which makes it more intriguing than Soho lychee liqueur.
Here’s my favorite concoction to date:
Grand Elderflower Cocktail
2 oz. vodka
1 oz. St. Germain elderflower liqueur
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
dash Grand Marnier
Shake with ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange wheel.
Be careful. These go down easy but will knock you out in short order.
To make a simple Elderflower Martini just mix 2 oz. vodka with 1 oz. St. Germain and shake. Simple, and also delicious.
Here’s a fun holiday cocktail, courtesy of Blue Ice Vodka, which I’ll be reviewing in the near future.
Pumpkin Pie Martini
1 oz. vodka
1/4 oz. Da Vinci Pumpkin Pie Syrup
Rim a cocktail glass with cinnamon sugar. Shake ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and strain into glass. Garnish with an orange wheel.
I forgot the garnish. Also, you can find the Pumpkin Pie Syrup at Barista Pro Shop.
The flavor is very clean, not chemically, and quite a lot like pumpkin pie. Don’t skip the cinnamon sugar rim; it really makes the cocktail!
OK, let’s say you want to make something vaguely tropical, but you don’t have any tropical juices, coconut cream, or little umbrellas. Here’s a quick and dirty way to get a little tropical flavor into a glass with stuff you have on the shelf.
The Ghetto Mai Tai
1 oz. white rum
1 oz. dark rum (or spiced rum)
splash Malibu (if you have it)
ginger ale
Build over a Collins glass filled with ice. Add rums, then fill with ginger ale. Garnish with whatever’s handy.
I tossed some marinated pineapple in for my garnish (you can sort-of see them at the bottom of the glass). You can use maraschino cherries, an orange wedge, lemon, lime, or any other fruit, to be honest. Maybe drop in a dash of grenadine for color. Sub in Soho lychee, Chambord, Alize, or Maraschino liqueur for the Malibu, if you like. Knock yourself out. No, it won’t get you to Hawaii, but at least it’ll get you to Haiti.
My wife was having heartburn so I mixed up this as a curative: Ginger ale, bitters, and aromatics are all good for the stomach. The other stuff just tastes good.
The (Indian) Summer Tonic
1 oz. gin
3/4 oz. creme de cassis
1/2 oz. melon liquer (or Midori)
2 dashes orange bitters
ginger ale
Add the first four ingredients to a tall highball glass over ice, fill with ginger ale. Stir to blend or leave it separated for a nifty color effect. Garnish with an orange wedge or wheel. (I used a Grand Marnier-soaked orange slice.)
Use ginger beer for a stronger spice kick.
The drink is exceptionally light and is perfect for afternoons and hotter days. It’s also great for your less tipsy friends who don’t want something too alcoholic, but it’s also not super sweet like so many “girly” drinks. Don’t be afraid of the Midori, people.
As part of my blueberry kick, and largely by happenstance, the good folks at Beefeater sent along some recipes for what they’re trying to kick off as “sharp’ners,” defined as “a London term for a quick, social drink that allows friends to connect without committing an entire evening.” The idea is that “getting a drink” has come to mean having four or five drinks and getting smashed out of your gourd. With a sharp’ner, you’re meant to have just one and then split for the door, because you have a life apart from your drunk friends.
This one caught my eye and I tried it out for you:
The B.B.C. (Beefeater, Blueberi, Cranberry)
2 parts Beefeater Gin
1 part Stoli Blueberi
3 parts Cranberry Juice
Pour ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into martini glass. Garnish with a lime twist.
I had no limes and no Beefeater (I used Plymouth), and used a cranberry-pomegranate juice blend, but the whole affair came together nicely. It’s fairly sweet but not too sweet, and indeed you really feel like you’ve had “enough” after one. Though I do not mean that in a bad way at all. It’s sharp!
You can add your name to Beefeater’s petition to have dictionaries recognize the new term if you’d care to at www.houseofbeefeater.com.
Recently I read that the blueberry was the healthiest of all fruits. Number one, baby! So I immediately set my mind to thinking about cocktails to take advantage of the humble berry of blue. It’s harder than you’d think; blueberry doesn’t play well with others. Eventually I hit on it. Here’s my concoction, and darned if it isn’t a smooth, sweet sensation.
The Violet Blue
2 oz. blueberry vodka (such as Stoli Blueberi)
1/2 oz. Soho lychee liqueur
1/4 oz. Parfait Amour (Marie Brizard makes a fine one)
Shake with lots of ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a fresh blueberry.
The trick is not to totally overpower the blueberry with the lychee, so feel free to tone down the Soho to taste. My wife downed one of these in a minute flat, and although I’ve got less of a sweet tooth than she does, I’m really enjoying this too. Did I mention it’s got blueberry in it (however minimal)? That means it’s healthy, people! Healthy! Plus, the lightly violet, shimmering look to the cocktail (courtesy of the inimitable Parfait Amour) makes it look way more sophisticated than, say, a Cosmo. Check the picture if you don’t believe me.
Note, the Stoli people had their own little contest to come up with a good use for their vodka. Some of the submitted recipes are quite intriguing (my favorite: Put 4 cups ice in blender. Add whole bottle of Stoli Blueberi. Blend until slushy. Serves one…). Check out the winners here.
About the name: Violet Blue is a local writer and “sex educator” here in San Francisco. I stole her moniker for the drink primarily because of the applicability of the two colors to it… but as with Ms. Blue, and as with all my concoctions, this is also strictly for the over 21 set.
By now you know the saga of Tay Zonday’s “Chocolate Rain.” Well, the best way to listen to “Chocolate Rain” is to have at least two of these under your belt beforehand.
This recipe didn’t take much experimentation and it came out great. Plus, it’s appropriate for either an aperitif or a dessert drink.
The Chocolate Rain
1 1/2 oz. bourbon
3/4 oz. chocolate liqueur (I use Godiva’s)
1/4 oz. Licor 43
Shake in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with brandied raspberries. Maraschino cherries will work, too.
My wife, who’s not a whiskey drinker, but is most certainly a chocolate drinker, even enjoys it. Give it a spin.
Licor 43, by the way, is a Spanish liqueur with a pronounced vanilla flavor. It works perfectly with chocolate-based drinks and very well with coffee liqueurs as well. Many liquor stores are stocking it now, and it’s well worth grabbing a bottle of if you’re trying to build up a home bar.
Long one of my favorite drinks, you’ll be lucky if you visit a bar that can make a proper Casino. A full three of the ingredients are uncommon to rare in all but the swankiest of establishments… but if you find one on the specialty menu of that fancy restaurant you’re dining at, try one. You won’t be sorry.
The Casino is a lot of gin with some subtle but crucial flavorings. Maraschino (cherry liqueur, mainly from Croatia) gives it a well, cherry bite. Lemon juice makes it tart, cutting the alcohol very well. Orange bitters add a little je ne sais quoi, and a brandied cherry provides the perfect way to polish the thing off.
The Casino
2 oz. gin (I prefer Plymouth or Bombay Sapphire)
1/4 oz. Maraschino liqueur
1/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
4 dashes orange bitters
Shake all the ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a brandied cherry (a maraschino cherry will work in a pinch, but it’s not the same). (Add a tiny bit of the brandy liquid from the cherry jar into the drink to give it a nifty pinkish tone.)
You can find Maraschino in most liquor stores and orange bitters are becoming more common these days. Fee Brothers can tell you where to get their fine product in your area if you email them. I found brandied cherries at my local upscale market, in the preserves aisle, but you can even order them from Amazon.
Some notes: This cocktail is also called an Aviation, typically without the bitters or the cherry. You’ll also see the proportions vary wildly: Many online recipes will say you should put 1/4 teaspoon each of lemon juice and Maraschino in the drink, but that’s way too little to counter a full 2 ounces of gin. 1/4 ounce (about 1 1/2 teaspoons) is far more appropriate and makes a much tastier drink.
I’ve also tried this drink with lemon-infused vodka, but it doesn’t taste as good. The aromatics in the gin really make the Casino sing. Use a gin that doesn’t have too much juniper in it: Tanqueray is awful in a Casino.
When people see my home bar their eyes tend to glaze over. I have everything you could want, which leaves people too overwhelmed to figure out what they really want to drink. When they ask me to surprise them, I make a Sazerac.
Since it doesn’t require any fresh ingredients like lemon juice, the Sazerac is easy to make in a pinch if I haven’t been to the grocery store recently. It is also fairly simple and has a story behind it. The one I tell is that it’s one of the oldest cocktails ever made (dating back to 1859, though the recipe has evolved). It originated in New Orleans, where they say the tourists drink Hurricanes, but the locals drink Sazeracs. I like that.
Here’s how I make it:
The Sazerac
1 tsp. Absinthe liqueur (preferably Herbsaint)
1 1/2 to 2 oz. Rye Whiskey (preferably Old Overholt)
1 sugar cube
several dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Coat the inside of a cocktail glass with the Herbsaint and pour out the excess. Shake the remaining ingredients in a cocktail shaker with lots of ice. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Caveat: You have to like absinthe (that is, licorice) to enjoy the Sazerac, but it’s not overpowering in the drink. A good Sazerac has that classic rye kick, balanced by the sweetness of the sugar. If you like an Old-Fashioned, you ought to love a Sazerac.
I’ve seen this made with numerous variations. Chenery Park restaurant, a local haunt, makes it with, of all things, Crown Royal. Canadian whiskey in a Sazerac is about as heretical as it comes, but the drink isn’t bad. It’s perfectly palatable, but lacks the rye spiciness that makes the cocktail so memorable. You may not use Old Overholt (though it’s so good and so cheap I don’t know why you wouldn’t), but for Pete’s sake don’t use foreign whiskey in this all-American drink. Some also serve the drink in an old-fashioned glass, but I like the way the residual sugar pools at the bottom of a cocktail glass. If you don’t like that rush of sweetness at the end, sub in simple syrup instead of granulated sugar.