I recently started drinking dry vermouth on the rocks–nothing else. It’s caused double takes when I order it at bars, with one bartender saying she’s worked for 15 years and never heard anyone order it before. What alcoholic cocktails or serving styles do you like but nobody else does?
Good vermouth (dry or sweet) is absolutely wonderful on the rocks, straight, with a little soda, whatever. It originally was meant for drinking on its own. Of course there plenty of bad vermouth out there, and good stuff stored poorly. It’s wine, after all and should be refrigerated after opening and used within a week or so.
I’m particularly fond of the Mommenpop blood orange vermouth. It appeared recently on the desert menu of one of our favorite places and it’s become a regular thing. I’ll usually sip it neat, no ice needed.
I often order Cynar neat, you know, the artichoke amaro. Also Chartreuse. Both of those seem to surprise waiters and bar staff less than I’d expect.
There’s a particularly good cocktail bar here in town where the bartenders are real pros; you cannot stump them. Last time in I ordered a Bijou; equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Chartreuse. The guy grabbed another bartender just to point out my order. Both knew the drink but neither could remember being asked for one in the last year or more. And it’s even printed on their menu! Wouldn’t seem so strange to me.
Seems a lot of people only drink Tequila in cocktails and never drink it straight. Don Julio Reposada was the latest one we bought for drinking straight.
And I’m a sucker for anything with Cynar. I’ll drink it straight as well, but if I see it as an ingredient in a list of cocktails, that’s probably the one I’ll get. And I won’t have to share.
Went to micro distillery in Pennsylvana and tried rye whiskey for the first time. Don’t know how unusual it is, but I’m really kicking myself for not bringing a bottle back, because they don’t ship.
Champagne cocktail. Cube of sugar, three drops of bitters, fill (carefully) with champagne.
Puzzles the heck out of bartenders.
“The (My first name).” One scoop of ice cream with one shot of Kahlua poured over it. I’m a legend at that one bar in Colorado.
Me, I like my vermouth straight.
Your name isDon Pedro?
A Don Pedro isnt close to the dish HH posted about. In fact, the Don Pedro isnt a dish.
A scoop of ice cream + a shot of liqueur (possibly with a half shot of cream) * is* a Don Pedro.
Are you presuming to lecture me about South African drinks?
Strange, isn’t it? That’s a Classic Champagne Cocktail. My wife ordered one at lunch when we were on vacation and the bartender got all excited because nobody orders those anymore.
My weird cocktail is a “fall” negroni in which I swap in Suze for the Campari and add a sprig of lightly smashed rosemary. As it gets cooler, Earl Grey Old Fashioned (I make a strong earl grey simple syrup), add a sprig of thyme.
Was the distillery in Homer City by chance?
My oddball cocktail is the pickle back. A shot of cheap whisk(e)y followed immediately with a shot of pickle juice. Mmmmm.
Corn and Oil. 2oz aged Barbados rum (anything from Foursquare or Mt. Gay) and 1/2 oz Velvet Falernum. Unless I’m at a rum-centric establishment I get confused looks from the bartender.
I keep looking at a bottle of St.-Germain Elderflower liqueur in the liquor store, it’s a pretty bottle and I love liqueurs. Kind of pricey, but one of these days…
Looks like I am. One drink is a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a shot of kahlua and is eaten with a spoon; the other is “a don pedro is a grown-up (read: boozy) milkshake, usually served in a stemmed glass. It calls for a splash of hard tack or sweet liqueur mixed into ice cream, with a bit of cream to make it sippable through a straw.”
The spoon (and dish) is *your *gloss (which may or may not be right.) **HH **didn’t specify.
My reading is that since we’re in a thread about cocktails, and he referenced a bar, **HH **was referring to something in a glass. And even if he wasn’t, “isnt close”[sic] is … just not accurate.
My bolding.
Or from my cite: “Basically, if it’s in a glass and contains ice cream and alcohol, you’ve got yourself a don pedro.” Cream is optional, hell, a straw is optional. And a don pedro usually comes with a spoon, too, anyway.
Either way, the ingredients can be* exactly the same*, so “isnt close”[sic] is *still *so much bullshit.
How many don pedros have you actually ever had? I’ve had more than I can count, in many different variations. I know what I’m talking about.
And by this point, my light throwaway joke has been pedant-jacked into the ground, so thanks for that.
Clamato Chiladas with a shot of Tequila, a dash of Worchester sauce and lime juice.
Think I’ll have some tonight with my Guacamole I’m gonna make for the football game.
My dessert cocktail of choice is a black coffee with a shot of kahlua and a shot of bailey’s.
It comes really close to a lot of what is offered on menus but (so far) not a direct hit, and whenever I order it the waitstaff person says they’re going to have to try one themselves.
I started drinking this after a trip to Italy, where it is a common aperitif, served in a tall, slender glass with one ice cube and maybe a strip of lemon peel.
I also like a good chilled dry sherry, preferably a manzanilla, but fino is very good too.
Neither of these are cocktails, by the way. A cocktail is a good jolt of icy booze flavored with a little bit of aromatic something or other, preferably served straight up in a chilled stemmed glass.
You know what’s good? A Bronx is good.
Used to be one of the most popular cocktails in America, but fell out of favor during the second half of the 20th century. Two parts gin, one part fresh squeezed orange juice, a dash each of sweet and dry vermouth, shaken with ice and strained into a frosty cocktail glass.
I consider this a breakfast cocktail, three or four of which to be consumed during a heavy and savory breakfast of eggs, sausages or bacon, fried potatoes, and buttery toast. A Bloody Mary or two is good if you want to be pleasantly tiddly after breakfast, but if you want to be gloriously smashed before lunch, breakfast with multiple Bronxes is the thing.
Not on a workday. Especially if you’re an electric lineman, heart surgeon, or a deep-sea diver.
I don’t know what to call it, but when I make Tiramisu, I reheat the dipping mixture and that is an awesome “cocktail”. Strong coffee with rum and sugar. I can’t believe its not a cocktail, but every rum and coffee drink I see has cream and I like this with just strong black coffee.
A dry martini on the rocks.
Sounds simple enough, but today’s crop of young bartenders seem to equate any drink ending in “-tini” with some sort of flavoring: cranberry, apple, chocolate, and so on; and served in a stemmed “up” glass, garnished with fruit.
No, it’s easy. Four parts gin (vodka is an abomination in a real martini), one part dry vermouth, in a shaker with ice–shake twice or stir three times–strain into a rocks glass with two or three ice cubes, garnish with olive. That’s it; that’s all. That’s what I like.
The recent apperarance of vodka in cocktails labelled “martinis” particularly irks me. I well remember the time when, in a restaurant that should have known better, I ordered a “Bombay Sapphire martini, on the rocks.” The waitress came back and said, “I’m sorry sir, we don’t have any vodka named ‘Bombay Sapphire.’” :smack: