I know I’ve mentioned that since the office Christmas party, Vieux Carré cocktails are my new favourite drink. I had three at the party, and then didn’t have another until a few weeks ago at a ‘Cajun’ restaurant in Bellingham. Discovering a $50 gift card I got a few years ago, and using $34 off of another $50 gift card my boss gave me for Christmas, For a total of about $140, I bought the ingredients Saturday. I had five Saturday night, and five Sunday night. (Mrs. L.A. had nine over two nights.) Curiously, they didn’t make me drunk. Or not so curiously. They’re so good it takes a while to drink them, savouring every sip.
Too bad I can’t afford them regularly. Nice for a splurge, though.
And the proportions are changed as well. It sure doesn’t taste like a Manhattan, that’s for sure.
FWIW, a lot of cocktails of similar vintage use sweet and/or dry vermouth with all sorts of base spirits. Personally I’m kind of partial to the Bijou, which is similar to the Vieux Carre, being:
1 oz Chartreuse (green)
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 oz Gin
1 dash orange bitters.
Johnny LA, what cost you so much? I’d have thought you could get everything for a solid Vieux Carre for a little more than half what you quote (maybe $80).
Bulleit Rye, $34 including taxes
Courvoisier cognac, $33 plus spirit tax and sales tax
Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth, $11 plus sales tax
DOM Benedictine liqueur, $25 plus spirit tax and sales tax
Peychaud bitters, $7
Figure about $7 or so for the spirit taxes, and sales tax is just under 10%. Total expenditure might have been closer to $130 for those ingredients; but I did buy Angostura bitters (Mrs. L.A. likes it in soup) earlier, and it was like $12 for a four ounce bottle from the supermarket. So right around $140 in all.
Bénédictine is a fun liqueur. I’ve played with Old Fashioned-like recipes, and tried a side-by-side comparison of one with a tsp of it and the other without. While I’ probably couldn’t definitively identify the taste of the Bénédictine, the one with it has a lot more going on and just tastes better.
When Washington started allowing spirits to be sold at other than state liquor stores, the deal was that there would be a tax on spirits.
[quote] Spirits sales tax is based on the selling price of spirits in the original package.
[ul][li]The rate paid by the general public is 20.5%.[/li][li]The rate paid by on-premises retailers such as restaurants and bars on purchases from distributors and distillers is 13.7%.[/ul][/li]Spirits liter tax is based on the volume of spirits being sold in the original package.
[ul][li]The rate paid by the general public is $3.7708 per liter.[/li][li]The rate paid by on-premises retailers such as restaurants and bars on the purchases from distributors and distillers is $2.4408 per liter.[/ul][/li][/quote]
The rye was taxed; but I bought it at Trader Joe’s, which was cheaper than Bevmo! I happen to have the receipt from Bevmo!, but no longer have the receipt from Trader Joe’s. That’s why I listed it as ‘including taxes’.
