Side Trip #3 - Christmas Day at Dave's

Christmas Day!  Presents under the tree!  Aunt Judy passed out under the tree!

So this year, my mother-in-law was in charge of the cocktails.  She is usually a fantastic chef, so I was excited to see what she would come up with.

The first cocktail was something she called a Santa Stinger which had equal parts green crème de menthe and vodka.  My father in law mixed the drinks and we all started to sample them.

"This is terrible!" yelled my dad - we all turned to look at him and figured out that he was talking about Fred Claus that was playing on TV and not the cocktail - although, he could have been talking about either.

The Green Monster

My wife thought it tasted like Scope.  I'm not sure when she tried imbibing Scope, but it being Christmas and all, I thought I'd let that one slide and decided to ask her in the new year.  No one cared for this drink at all.  My mother-in-law confessed that its name actually wasn't a Santa Stinger, but a Vodka Stinger.  Upon further research, I found that a Vodka Stinger uses clear Crème de Menthe, so perhaps Mom DID come up with a new drink by using the green Crème de Menthe after all!  All - err - um - Scope - ... tasting - and everyth-...yeah, nevermind.....

The Orange Thrill!

 The next drink that she made was fantastic!  It's called an Orange Thrill and it was made with 3/4 parts Vanilla Liqueur, 3/4 parts Vodka, and 5 parts Orange Juice.  You really couldn't taste the alcohol in it, so it could really catch up on you.  We were verrrrry careful with this one!  I couldn't find any information on this cocktail, except on the DeKuyper website.

The next day, the next family meal.  It was my turn to come up with the dessert cocktail.  I decided to split the cocktail into three smaller ones - the Grasshopper, Brandy Alexander, and Pink Squirrel.  To my surprise, the Pink Squirrel was everyone's favorite - everything else tasted too boozy.  Personally, I'm still trying to decide which one's my favorite.

My son's hat keeping watch over the drinks

The Pepto-Bismol looking drink is actually the winning Pink Squirrel

Anyway, I hope you had a great Christmas, and a cool New Year's Eve!

Up Next - Cena para desayuno, or Tommy's Margarita vs. Tequila Sunrise

Side Trip #2 - In Over My Head, or Thanksgiving Dessert

What in the world have I done?  Ten people for Thanksgiving dinner and I've agreed to be in charge of desserts and cocktails.  Normally, this wouldn't be an issue, but this year?  With all of my national campaigning and Ohio being such an undecided state?  How could I say yes to desserts and cocktails for Thanksgiving?  Oh wait.  That wasn't me...

...just know that I've had a lot of personal stuff going on - after one pivotal episode, my family kept telling me that I needn't worry about desserts or cocktails, but I foolishly said everything was fine, and I would have everything there as expected.

Around noon on Thanksgiving day, I realized that I had taken on too much (stubborn much?)  - I mean I kind of thought that the dessert bit was too much, but I could have pulled it off...I was wrong.  Soooo...my wife called her parents, and delivered the news that Thanksgiving would probably be ruined because her husband couldn't deliver dessert.  They said as long as the booze would be there, all would be forgiven.  Good to see a family that has its priorities in order.

In all seriousness...how cool is my family?  They knew that  we've been going through  life-sometimes-throws-you-curve-ball-rough-patches-all-at-once-to-see-how-much-you-can-take-before-you-break for the past few months, so our cousins from L.A. bought desserts as backups...how cool is that?

Just a quick observation...so I titled this entry on November 13th, with every intention of making the dessert for Thanksgiving.  Maybe it was a self-fulfilling prophecy?  Maybe it was me making an announcement to the Universe, and the Universe providing what I announced?  If that's the case...hey Universe...let me pick a number...twenty seven million, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars....lay it on me, please!

Back to Thanksgiving - I had already bought the alcohol, so I told them that I'd bring everything up to the in-laws for the day.  One of the drinks was a Pumpkin Alexander.  I tried to get the recipe worked out at home - one that I found online said to have equal parts brandy, creme de cacao, and pumpkin puree.  After one swallow, I threw it out and went back to the drawing board.

Ingredients for the first drink

Another version was equal parts brandy, half and half, and pumpkin liqueur.  That was okay, but really didn't taste too much like pumpkin.  I then added pureed pumpkin...too much liqueur, so I backed it off a bit, and voilà!

Pumpkin Alexander

1 oz. Cognac

1 oz. Half and Half

1 oz. Pureed Pumpkin

1/2 oz. Pumpkin Liqueur

Dash Nutmeg

Combine all ingredients except nutmeg in a shaker with ice and shake until combined.  Pour into a chilled cocktail glass.  Dash nutmeg on top.

Overall, a good pumpkiny drink.  Will I make it again?  Ummmmmm....no.  I think I was hoping for pumpkin pie in a glass, and that's not anything like what I got  - oh well - there's always next year.

Pumpkin Alexander

The next drink turned in to be something unexpected. I was looking for something that was a fall cocktail, so I found the Apple Jack Rabbit.  The only thing I didn't like about it was the Maple Syrup that was in it.  I like Maple Syrup as much as the next Canadian born boy, but I'm not so sure that I want it in a cocktail.  Someone change my mind for that.   So I substituted Brown Sugar Simple Syrup for Maple Syrup, and it worked great!

So the recipe I had was:

Apple Jack Rabbit

2 oz. Apple Brandy

3/4 oz. Lemon Juice

3/4 oz. Orange Juice

1/2 oz. Maple Syrup

....and with the Brown Sugar Simple Syrup, the recipe looks like:

2 oz. Apple Brandy

3/4 oz. Lemon Juice

3/4 oz. Orange Juice

1/2 oz. Brown Sugar Simple Syrup

The men in the family really liked this drink - the women thought it was too sour, so I altered it to be:

2 oz. Apple Brandy

2 oz. Orange Juice

1 oz. Brown Sugar Simple Syrup

To me, this was overly sweet - I think that was true by the women in the family too because B. and C. suggested that we mix the modified Apple Jack Rabbit and the non-lemon drink together, and see what we got.  AH-HA!!!!  This was a good drink!  Personally, I think it needs a little more lemon, but I think that's just a personal preference thing.  I named it after the first initial of each family's last name.

The official family cocktail as decided by me

BDM Holiday Blast

2 oz. Apple Brandy

1 1/2 oz. Orange Juice

3/4 oz. Brown Sugar Simple Syrup

1/2 oz. Lemon Juice 

So there ya have it - my 2012 Thanksgiving.  No rabbits were harmed in the creation of this post, but two turkeys were cooked and we also almost ran over a squirrel on the way to the in-laws'.

The Ingredients

For the Pumpkin Alexander:

Cognac - Landy VS

Pumpkin Liqueur - Hiram Walker Pumpkin Liqueur

For the BDM Holiday Blast:

Apple Brandy - Laird's Apple Jack

Up Next - War Planes for Dracula, or B52 vs. Vampiro

Faces of Elmer, or Angel Face vs. Whiskey Sour

How do you decide between two outstanding cocktails?  I don't know because I haven't ran across that scenario yet.  One of these was good - the other was fantastic.

The first one I had was called an Angel Face.  Basically three one ounce portions of hooch shaken over ice and poured into an appealing glass.  I found this to be more of a shot than an all day cocktail...obviously, not a shot at three ounces (or maybe, depending on your mood), but  a shot nevertheless.  It was a fine drink - very enjoyable.  I would definitely have this one again.

Angel Face Ingredients

One word about the apricot brandy.  I did some research on this, and found that true apricot brandy wouldn't have worked in this drink.  True apricot brandy is a) too expensive and b) too dry - more of an eau de vie.  What this concoction calls for is a neutral spirit that's been sweetened and flavored by some artificial means.  You'll find several brands on the market that aren't very good (probably why apricot brandy's gotten a bad rap for so long), but from what I've read, the two brands to try focusing in on are Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot or Marie Brizard Apry.  For the Angel Face, I used the latter.

Angel Face

1 oz. Gin

1 oz. Apricot brandy

1 oz. Calvados

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Angel Face and Whiskey Sour

Now moving on to the Whiskey Sour.  This cocktail needs simple syrup.  They sell simple syrup.  They also sell UFO Detectors.  I like to make my own simple syrup, and because of their fondness of pop-by's, do my own UFO detectin' (aluminium foil, 2 inch speaker, magnet, some cashews, and a 9 volt battery - the blinky lights are entirely at your option).  I've never understood why someone would buy simple syrup - it's soooo easy to make - 1 part water, and 1 part sugar.  Boil until the sugar is dissolved, and let it cool.  That's it.  See?  Simple!  This will last about a month in your fridge - more if you add a little bit of vodka to it.  Personally, I leave the vodka out, and make smaller batches when I need it.

1 part sugar and 1 part water

Fire

Sugar and water mixed - notice the sugar isn't yet dissolved

Boiling - sugar is dissolved

The egg cooker on the right will not affect the finished product in the middle

Whiskey Sour

1.5 oz. Bourbon Whiskey

1 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

0.5 oz. Simple Sugar

Dash egg white (Optional)

Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well (If egg white is used, shake a little harder to foam up the egg white). Strain into a cocktail glass.

If served ‘On the rocks’, strain ingredients into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice. 
Garnish with half orange slice and a maraschino cherry.

The stars of a Whiskey Sour

I tried it with and without the egg white.  I found that adding the egg only added a foam to the drink, and perhaps a little bit of fullness to it - not enough of an advantage to go through the hassle for me.

Now the secret of a great Whiskey Sour is, of course, the whiskey!  I chose Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel Sour Mash Bourbon.  This stuff is fantastic, and at a great price.  It doesn't have the alcohol "burn" that some whiskeys have, and fills your mouth instead of being sharp...try it, and you'll see what I mean.  Nice spiciness too.  But we're not here to review whiskey, we're here to review cocktails, so...

For me, the Angel Face had too much alcohol in it - that's probably why I thought it was more of a shot.  It certainly wasn't something I'd want to drink all day because I couldn't!  The Whiskey Sour however, I could sip from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed, which I should really speak with the wife about trying one day...I'll let you know how that turns out...

Anyway...the winner of this match is...the Whiskey Sour!

The Winner!  Aww...looks like it's smiling at ya, doesn't it?

The Ingredients
For the Angel Face:
Gin - Citadelle
Apricot Brandy - Marie Brizard Apry
Calvados - Berneroy V.S.O.P. Calvados

For the Whiskey Sour:
Bourbon Whiskey - Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel 
Fresh Lemon

Up Next - TSA Pats Down 007, or Aviation vs. Vesper

Brandy, Birds, and Mother-in-Laws, or Alexander vs. Yellow Bird

Welcome to my first blog post!  I think I'm supposed to say somethin' like that, ain't I?  I'm pretty sure Google won't let me post if I don't put that first bit in, so...there it is Google people...relax...

Okay...for this first installment, I'm going to tackle the Alexander and the Yellow Bird.  I had never heard of the Yellow Bird, and I wasn't sure if the Alexander was the same as the Brandy Alexander.  I looked at the recipe on the IBA's site, and instead of it calling for brandy, it asked for cognac.  Cognac?  Why isn't it called Cognac Alexander instead of Brandy Alexander?  Oh wait...this is just called Alexander.  I got it - an Alexander isn't the same as a Brandy Alexander.  Look at me - learning stuff already!  

Well...wait...they actually are the same...sort of...I did some digging, and I found that cognac is brandy, but brandy isn't cognac.  For brandy to be considered cognac, it has to be from a region of France called, strangely enough, Cognac. So...a Cognac Alexander could also be called a Brandy Alexander, but a Brandy Alexander may or may not be called a Cognac Alexander depending on where the brandy is made, which is why...

...ready?

...they just call it an Alexander.

Yeah...I know...I was pretty excited too.

Alexander ingredients

I didn't have fresh nutmeg so I used the pre-ground -I'm not so sure how much of a difference the fresh ground would make.

Alexander 

1 oz. Cognac

1 oz. Crème de Cocoa (brown)

1 oz. Fresh Heavy Cream

Fresh Nutmeg

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Sprinkle with fresh ground nutmeg.

Ingredients in a Yellow Bird

Now onto the Yellow Bird - I had never heard of this drink before, so I really wanted to try it.  I've searched recipes on the net, and none of them look too much like the one from the IBA.  Most of them add fruit components like pineapple juice, or crème de banana.  I wasn't quite sure why they weren't closer to the IBA recipe until the actual night of the taste test.  The IBA recipe is pretty straight forward, so here it is:

Yellow Bird

1 oz. White Rum

0.5 oz. Galliano

0.5 oz. Triple Sec

0.5 oz. Lime Juice  

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.   

The Taste Test
I love the Alexander - what a great drink to unwind with (and zero calories too, I've heard).  I couldn't drink it all night, but after a meal or while watching a movie, it's fantastic.

My Mother-in-law was over and she wanted to try the Yellow Bird.  Once she took a sip, she made a face, shook her head, and blurted out, "cough syrup!".  My thought was that she normally has an impeccable palate, so she must just be exaggerating, or senility had finally settled in, and she was indeed, asking for cough syrup in addition to the cocktail in the hopes of reliving her teenage youth, and those cough-syrup-shooter filled nights in Alabama.  Ah, the stories she tells.


But back to the test - she didn't read it wrong - after tasting the Yellow Bird myself, I then knew why the recipes on the Internet included so many different fruit elements...it tasted like cough syrup (and not even the good kind).  I tried to alter proportions a little bit to see if I could get it less cough-syrupy and more want-to-drinky, but I really couldn't.  This was just not good - at least I didn't like it.

The two competitors

So the clear winner in the first edition of Drinking the IBA is - the Alexander!

The winner!

Ingredients  
For Alexander:
Cognac - Courvoisier VS
Crème de Cacao - DeKuyper
Organic Heavy Cream
Fresh Lime

For Yellow Bird:
White Rum - Don Q Cristal
Galliano - Ummm...Galliano
Triple Sec - Cointreau
Fresh Lime

Up next...The Drinks That Fun Forgot, or Americano vs. White Lady