What's Up Doc?

I love Cocchi Americano. I also love Plymouth Gin. Aperol?  Love it. And I can't get enough of Meyer lemons. They make winter more tolerable. What can I make with all 4 ingredients?

What's Up Doc?
1.5 oz Cocchi Americano
1 oz Plymouth Gin
0.5 oz Aperol
0.5 oz Meyer Lemon juice
Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

The color is a beautiful cloudy apricot. The flavor starts out with a hint of sour, pungency, slight sweetness, and ends with a significant bitterness. This, my friends, is cocktail magic.

Cheers! ~Dr. Cocktation

 

Irish Dinner

It's a cold and rainy Thursday evening nearing the end of a hard week. While I typically avoid drinking on "school nights", the recipe for a Complete Irish Meal cocktail passed before my thirsty eyes on Facebook via Liquor.com. A few years back, in 2009, Bushmills held a contest asking someone to create a Bushmills and egg drink. One of the entries was the Complete Irish Meal by Anthony Malone. I'm both hungry, but not too hungry, and thirsty. Oh, what the heck. I'll try one, but with my own twists.

Luckily I have a few free-range eggs laying around in the fridge, but no Bushmills, and which cherry liqueur should I use? Also, for reasons unexplainable, I despise the word meal, so...

Irish Dinner
1 oz Paddy's Irish Whiskey 
1/2 oz Cherry Heering
1/2 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
1 fresh egg

Dry shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker for 20 seconds, the add ice, and shake to chill. Strain into a coupe glass. 


The whiskey is present, but not overbearing, and the texture is like a thinned eggnog. The flavor has a hint of cherry, orange, and nuttiness interwoven with the hint of Irish whiskey and bound together with the creaminess of the egg. A lovely dinner indeed!

Cheers! ~Dr. Cocktation

The Doctor Is Out

To compensate for the grievous faux pas of missing the birthday of a new friend, I offered to make her a birthday cocktail.  She likes lemony things, gin, and bitter stuff, so here's what I created:

The Doctor Is Out
1 oz Boomsma Genever Jonge 
1 oz Cardamaro 
2.5 oz San Pellegrino Limonata  
Build over ice in a short glass and garnish with a slice of lemon.

It's refreshing, a hint bitter, and bracing. Just like Kate. ;-)  

Valentine Sour

2 oz Maker's 46
1 oz Meyer lemon juice
1 oz Toschi Vanilla syrup
1/2 oz Joseph Cartron Pomegranate liqueur

Shake with ice and strain into a short glass filled with ice. Happy Valentine's Day!

Bernheim Sweet Tea

Today I went to a CEU conference. Those things are expensive! And the main difference between a $119-a-day conference fo 6 CEU's and a $189-a-day conference for 6 CEU's is a continental breakfast. Said continental breakfast typically consists of fruit, pastries, bagels, coffee, and tea. It's good tea--Tazo Tea. But is it worth the $60 price difference? Hardly.

So today, trying to eek my money's worth out of the anger management conference, I tried the Tazo Green Ginger tea with lemon grass. Delicious! As I sipped my tea and listened to the Southern gentleman speaker, I started daydreaming. "This tea would be really good with some sugar and Bourbon," I thought.

Tonight, I was asked to make a cocktail that would pair well with a BBQ dinner, ordered from Bandanas. My cocktailian mind started to process. What does BBQ pair with well? Sweet tea! I ran to my purse and grabbed the 3 packets of Tazo Green Ginger tea I had snagged at the end of the conference (trying to fully make up for that $60 price difference). I quickly decided on Bernheim Wheat Whiskey as I believed the soft, sweet, wheat character would pair best with the sweet citrus tea.


Bernheim Sweet Tea
(for two cocktails)
3 oz of Tazo Green Ginger tea (made with 2 cups hot water to 3 tea bags, steeped 3-4 minutes)
1/2 oz Scrappy's Sirope de Gomme
2 oz Bernheim Wheat Whiskey
Stir with ice and strain into two short glasses, each with one large ice cube or ice ball.
Garnish with a long strip of Meyer lemon cut over the glass.


Cheers! ~Dr. Cocktation

Edelster Aventinus Cocktail

So I've been getting more into beer as of late. Thanks to a cool new audio blog, Expert Drinking hosted by Dr. Bill (Bill Sysak) and his ever-faithful side-kick and drinking companion, Stephen Johnson, I've been learning about the history of beer. 

As usual, once I begin learning more in depth information on a new aspect of the world of delicious booze, I cannot resist jumping in with both feet in terms of tasting. Schneider Aventinus is one of the few 100 point beers on ratebeer.com, and as such, I couldn't resist, inspired by my new-found beer "expertise", trying it. With it's rich, deep brown color and sweet pumpernickel bread meets over-ripe banana nose, this is one 100 point beer I can get solidly behind.

Along side the eminently recognizable purple-labeled Aventinus beers at my favorite liquor store, I noticed a 375mL clear bottle with the same label. What was this? Beer liquor? In a sense, yes. It is actually distilled Aventinus beer, and according to reviews, it tastes strikingly similar to the beer from which it comes. Tonight I bought a bottle and brought my new discovery home. First I sampled it neat to discover that the critics were correct--the taste is entirely recognizable as a distilled form of Aventinus beer. But could a cocktail be made with this already delicious and complexly flavored spirit? A quick internet search revealed nothing. So it was up to me. I wanted to create something that didn't mask the signature Aventinus flavor, but rather brought it forth even more so...

Aventinus Cocktail
2 oz Edelster Aventinus
1/2 oz Scrappy's Sirop de Gomme
3 dashes Regan's Orange Bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a spiral of Meyer lemon peel cut over the glass. 

While Edelster Aventinus is very drinkable on its own, mixed with the gum syrup, it gains a slight sweetness and weight, which when paired with the orange bitters and lemon oils, make it into a wonderful cocktail that allows all of the inherent complexities of the spirit shine through. 

Cheers! ~Dr. Cocktation 
 

Beer Haikus

I've been listening to the history of beer on Expert Drinking's new website. Good stuff! As a result, I've written two haikus about beer...

Fermentation is
Civilization. If so,
Please pass me a beer.

The spontanous
Fermentation has begun.
God is good! Let's drink.

I think the second is of higher quality than the first, but I'm relatively new to poetry so cut me some slack. ;-)


Cheers! ~Dr. Cocktation