My technique involves cutting up 3/4 or so of a lime into small pieces. Place the pieces in a tall glass and add a couple teaspoons of sugar. Use a pestle (or anything vaguely pestle-like) to crush up your lime pieces. Fill glass with ice. Pour in Cachaca, filling the glass. Now dump all ingredients from glass into a shaker and shake with vigour. Then dump back into glass. Done correctly there will be a little foam from the shaking, and each sip will deliver some lime pulp.
lee…you might wanna plant a little mint (with care…it can be an invading pest…sorta like my sister’s husband’s parents).
You could make the mint-sugar-water in advance, I think it’s better when it ages overnight anyway. I keep it in the refrigerator, but I must confess, I’ve no idea what the shelf life is because it tends to move pretty quickly in our house! But a few days, certainly. I’ve always thought the fresh mint garnish was just that, a little garnish, because the real minty taste comes from the bruised mint in the sugar water.
I took most of the remaining mint and muddled it in simple syrup. I think I will try another julep in a few days made with that with the mint fragments strained out.
I’m ashamed to admit I like terrible things like Black Russians (topped with a Guinness head) and Long Island Iced Tea.
Personally, I’m not sure if drinks with two ingredients really count as cocktails, but if they do then my favourites would be:
Brandy and Ginger beer
Rum (either Bundaberg or Morgan’s Spiced) and Coca Cola
Gin (Bombay Sapphire) and Tonic
A drink that works well, but sounds like a hangover cure is whiskey and milk, with a little sugar to taste. It’s nice as a nightcap with warm milk too. Obviously it’s best not to use your best single malt. In my family there’s a bottle of Bushmills single malt for the whiskey drinkers, and some Coleraine Whiskey for those of us who like hot whiskeys and whiskey and milk. No point wasting the really good stuff.
A martinie only has 3 ingredients if you count th olive, so two ingredient cocktails do count.
How does one make a long island iced tea? I have seen as many different recipes as I have seen recipes for this drink. I finally found Trader Vic’s recipe for a Mai Tai so I have a recipe for that to try.
I am such a geek. I am working on a database for cocktails. Not easy. It needs to know things like Armagnac and Cognac are both brandy and either will work in a recipe that calls for brandy.
Ok… my alcohol Larder currently consists of a small bottle of Smirnoff, and a thingy of cheap Brandy.
What would you consider the basics of a decently stocked home bar? Keep in mind, and this is gonna sound terrible, that Tequila isn’t allowed in the house. Ick!
I’m gonna have to look up some of these drinks though. I loves me a tasty alcoholic beverage!
Although I usually just get a Vodka and Cranberry, with an occasional shot of Stoli.
I put * by the essentials. I did not want tequila in the house, but 1800 Silver is a bottle too pretty to pass up and it makes decent cocktails. Beefeater is a decent gin that is not too expensive. You should have a couple of liqueurs in flavors you and your guests like. I highly reccomend Godiva Chocolate and Cappuccino Liqueurs. They have intense but smooth flavors that blend well. I have never found a creme de cacao that I like so I use Godiva instead.
Spirits
[ul]
[li]Gin*[/li][li]Whiskey, preferably a bourbon*[/li][li]Brandy[/li][li]Vodka[/li][li]Scotch[/li][li]Light Rum[/li][li]Dark Rum[/li][li]Tequila[/li][/ul] Liqueurs
[ul]
[li]Triple Sec*[/li][li]Peach Schnapps*[/li][li]Melon Liqueur*[/li][li]Creme de Menthe[/li][li]Liqueurs of your favorite flavor[/li][/ul] Wines
[ul]
[li]Sweet Vermouth*[/li][li]Dry Vermouth*[/li][li]White Wine[/li][li]Red Wine[/li][li]Champagne[/li][/ul] Other Ingredients
[ul][li]Angostura Bitters*[/li][li]Ice*[/li][li]Grenadine*[/li][li]Olives*[/li][li]Cherries*[/li][li]Limes*[/li][li]Lemons*[/li][li]Oranges and Juice*[/li][li]Cranberry Juice[/li][li]Cocktail Onions[/li][li]Club Soda[/li][li]Tonic[/li][li]Cream[/li][li]Sugar [/li][li]Salt[/li][li]Ginger Ale[/li][/ul]
Liquour stores often have inexpensive glassware for sale. They get promotional items in to sell as well as stocking some normally. I bought wonderful blue stemmed cocktail glasses, whiskey sour/short champagne flutes, and various other glasses for a quarter a piece at my local Binny’s and have seen other similar deals at other stores. Sometimes they will have logos, but many times they are just clear glass. Dominics had nice large cocktail glasses for $3 each. IKEA often has decent plain glassware at a good price. Target has decent prices on some items.
Just after New Years, Bed Bath and Beyond had martini sets on sale. Linen and Things online has 7 piece bar sets (shaker/jigger etc.) for about $5 each right now.
I am a big believer in not drinking out of plastic and having the right glasses for the right drink. Glass can be nearly as inexpensive as disposable glasses and it is the better deal in the long run. I tend to buy plain clear glass so that it all goes together.
That is quite an image, wonderwench! Tonight I had an Algonquin. Bourbon, dry vermouth, and pineapple juice, shaken with ice adn served in a cocktail glass. The dry vermouth keeps it from being too sweet. It really is quite amazing.
Bumping this, because I just made couple of damn fine Manhattan cocktails.
Not sure of the exact measurements, but it was something like:
3 dashes of Fee Brothers angostura bitters
1.5 oz Basil Hayden’s bourbon
3/8 oz King Eider vermouth
3/8 oz Stock maraschino (for the first drink, I used it straight out of the bottle; for the second, I dug out a jar of cherries that had been macerating in maraschino for a few years)
3 or 4 ice cubes
Dump the ice cubes in the glass, add the bitters, then the bourbon, then the vermouth and maraschino. Stir (don’t shake), add a cherry, and serve on the rocks (it’s okay to have the ice add a little water as it melts–just drink it fast enough so it doesn’t melt too much).
A couple of other good cocktails that I’ve had recently are as follows (recipies are from the Savoy Cocktail Book, but I suspect the bartenders made them a bit differently):
Pegu Club Cocktail
1 dash angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters (do a search for Fee Brothers)
1 tsp fresh lime juice
1 part Cointreau
2 parts dry gin
Aviation Cocktail
1 part lemon juice
2 parts dry gin
2 dashes maraschino
(I know the bartender put in more maraschino than that)
French 75 (this is possibly my favorite cocktail–it’s great on a hot day)
2 parts gin [I’d use dry gin]
1 part lemon juice
1 spoonful powdered sugar
Pour into tall glass with cracked ice, and fill up with champagne
…and then try making a Manhattan according to the above recipe, but substitute Cruzan Single Barrel rum for the bourbon. Having just spent waaaay too much time poking through a cocktail recipe book, it appears that this concoction doesn’t have a name. Jeez, I thought somebody woulda come up with this before I did.
[ul]
[li]2 oz. Brandy[/li][li]1/2 oz. Triple Sec[/li][li]1/2 oz. Lemon Juice[/li][li]1/2 oz. Maraschino Liqueur[/li][li]Dash of Bitters [/li][/ul]
Moisten the rub rim of glass with lemon peel and juice. Dip in sugar. I used multicolored sugar from my ice cream sprinkle shaker mixed with granulated sugar for a confetti look. Add a long spiral lemon peel. Shake ingredients in cocktail shaker and strain int a cocktail glass.
That one goes back a ways. I think brandy is more commonly used than gin (champagne plus gin would probably be a waste of both drinks to many modern palates, plus it must be about a 9.5 on the hangover index). There’s also a variant with Cointreau instead of the lemon juice.
There was a champagne/gin cocktail called the Duke Ellington in the '30s, but no recipe seems to survive. I’m a great fan of Duke’s so I’d love to find one.
One of my former favorites (in pre-diabetes days) was a rum punch called the Silversmith, as made at the Century Club in New York. The actual recipe is a club secret, but I used to mimic it this way:
Silverplate
2 parts brandy
2 parts white rum
1 part lemon juice
Combine in pre-chilled metal goblet. Fill with soda water. Optional garnish: lemon twist.
I also used to enjoy a sidecar now and then. (Link shows the evolution of the drink.)
FWIW, both French 75 and sidecar get their names from WWI…the 75 being a famous artillery piece.
We had Mai-Tais last night after making the simple syrup. BTW the homemade mint syrup is now going to be a stock item in our fridge. It is great for sweetening tea.
