As Familiar as a Tetnus Shot, or Cosmopolitan vs. Rusty Nail

Hello from Michigan!  Where roads are rough, winters are rougher, and where you need a GPS and a note from mommy to turn left on a main street.  What in the world is with the roads here?  Locals tell me that once you get used to the potholes, the road construction, the tailgating, the no-fault insurance, and the Michigan Lefts, you'll be fine.  Michigan Lefts?  What in the world are Michigan Lefts?  I had to look it up, so click on the link to find out Wikipedia's explanation: Michigan Lefts.

Basically, you have to drive past the road you want to left on, then do a U-turn and drive back to the road you wanted to turn left on and turn right on to it.  They're.all.over.the.state.  What genius thought of these?  Proponents say that the collisions aren't as bad as they would be if left turns were allowed.  What they fail to recognize is that people are spending longer times on the road, which makes them more susceptible to collisions.  Plus it takes you twice as long to get anywhere.  Who can I call to point this out to?  Anyone have the Governor's number?

Anyway - back to the cocktails!  This challenge has two fantastic drinks!  By the way - if you ever have any questions about the title, don't be afraid to ask - my wife did about this one, so I told her what it meant.  Speaking of my wife, Cosmopolitans are one of her favorite drinks (these segues are getting smoother, no?).  I've actually witnessed her send one back because it wasn't mixed right - they redid it, and everything was fine.  I've also seen her call a restaurant a couple of days after having a Cosmo and asking for the specific brands that restaurant used because she enjoyed their version so much - yup, my girl knows her some Cosmos!

Cosmo without the shake

I was actually nervous when she tried this - I wasn't sure why, but I was.  She really enjoyed this version - I've already contacted the IBA, so they can announce to the masses, her pleasure with their recipe through print in their next newsletter.  I'm waiting for a thank you letter from them - I can only assume that it has been lost in the mail.

The Two Condenders

Here `tis:

Cosmopolitan

1.4 oz. Citron Vodka

0.5 oz. Cointreau

0.5 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

1 oz. Cranberry Juice

Place all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake.  Strain into a chilled glass garnish with a lime slice.

Now onto the Rusty Nail - a completely different drink from the Cosmo - but how good!

About to be one of my favorite cocktails

I remember thinking that it tasted like my childhood doctor's office smelled...perhaps my childhood doctor had a problem that my parents and I weren't aware of.  I have read that Scotch can sometimes be described as "mediciny", so I guess I know what is meant by that now.

The Rusty Nail is a fantastic drink that if you haven't tried yet, you should...here's the recipe:

Rusty Nail with a Spherical Ice Ball

Rusty Nail

1.5 oz. Scotch Whisky

0.8 oz. Drambuie

Pour liquors over ice.  Gently stir and enjoy.

So here I am again, as I was when I left California with two phenomenal drinks.  There was a tie when I left CA, and here I am with our first entry in MI - I'm thinking this should be a tie too.  So....the winners are....Cosmopolitan AND Rusty Nail!!!

The Winners!

The Ingredients
For the Cosmopolitan:
Citron Vodka - Svedka
Cointreau - Cointreau
Fresh Lime Juice
Cranberry Juice - Ocean Spray

For the Rusty Nail
Scotch Whisky - Buchanan's 12 Year
Drambuie - Drambuie

Up Next...Azov.  Or, Sea Breeze vs. Russian Spring Punch

Direct Flight from New York to New Orleans, or Clover Club vs. Sazerac

I did the Clover Club and Sazerac competition with a little bit of sorrow, and a whole lot of excitement.  It was the last duel done in California.  I had landed my "dream job" in Michigan, so the family and I have since packed our bags and moved on.  Lots of changes for us.  We actually moved in March, and I've been making entries from the past few weeks from duels I had back in January and February.  With the move and new job, it's been really hard to focus on my blog drinking...

So...Clover Club is first up to bat.  This drink, while not mentioned in the recipe, really should be dry shaken.  Dry shaking means to shake all of the ingredients without ice.  After a while, ice can be added to cool the drink.  This is done to add a foam to the top.  Now - having said all that - I didn't do this - but I should have - and so should you - and I will next time - seriously.

No dry shake = no foam =  dull Clover Club

What a great drink!  I could drink these for a while.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

Clover Club

1 1/2 oz. Gin

1/2 oz. Raspberry Syrup

1/2 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

Few Drops of Egg White

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

Alright next up is the Sazerac - a classic drink that sailed to the USA directly from Hungary back in the year of 895 A.D. when the ancient Saze's came across with this drink, which contained a green ingredient that was made by magical pixies.  Either that or I've had too much of the magical green ingredient already tonight...

Sazerac things

The Sazerac is a fantastic drink - I can't help but think of the history behind it - it's sometimes referred to as America's oldest cocktail and is the current official cocktail of New Orleans.

Sazerac

1.7 oz. Cognac

0.4 oz. Absinthe

1 Sugar Cube

2 Dashes Peychaud's Bitters

Rinse a chilled old-fashioned glass with the absinthe, add crushed ice and set it aside.
Stir the remaining ingredients over ice and set it aside.
Discard the ice and any excess absinthe from the prepared glass, and strain the drink into the glass. Add the Lemon peel for garnish.

Sazerac

So I have a serious situation.  Two great drinks - what am I to do?  Because this is our last week in CA, I'm thinking we should have a tie - they really are both fantastic drinks - try them when you have a chance.

Lemon twist in the Sazerac

The winners!

 The Ingredients
For the Clover Club:
Gin - Citadelle
Raspberry Syrup - Torani
Fresh Lemon Juice

For the Sazerac:
Cognac - Courvoisier VS
Absinthe - St. George Absinthe Verte

Up Next...As Familiar as a Tetnus Shot, or Cosmopolitan vs. Rusty Nail

Two Differently the Same, or Champagne Cocktail vs. Mimosa

I've read that the hip and new thing in mixology is adding beer to cocktails.  One of the reasons people like to do this is for the effervescence.  Champagne's been doing this to cocktails for years and years.  Today's entry is about two of the champagne cocktails...one, coincidentally enough, is named...the Champagne Cocktail.

Champagne Cocktail Ingredients

 Champagne Cocktail

3 oz. Chilled Champagne

1/3 oz. Cognac

2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

1 Sugar Cube

Orange Slice for Garnish

Add dash of Angostura bitter onto sugar cube and drop it into champagne flute. Add cognac followed by pouring gently chilled champagne.
Garnish with orange slice and maraschino cherry.

The Champagne Cocktail is unusual.  I'm not sure what was happening, but there was something I couldn't put my finger on.  It's not that I didn't like it - it just wasn't my thing.  I can see why the drink could be appreciated, but I can also see why people can appreciate Obama.  Or eating frog's legs.  Or Obama eating frog's legs.

Anyway - speaking of bridal shower breakfast foods, this leads us right into the Mimosa!  Equal parts orange juice and champagne.  How can you go wrong?  You can't.  Mimosa wins.  You're welcome.

Mimosa and Champagne Cocktail

 Mimosa

2.5 oz. Champagne

2.5 oz. Orange Juice

Pour orange juice into flute and gently pour Champagne. Stir gently.

Winner

The Ingredients

For the Champagne Cocktail:

Champagne - Gloria Ferrer

Cognac - Courvoisier VS

For the Mimosa:

Champagne - Gloria Ferrer

Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice

Up Next - Direct Flight from New York to New Orleans, or Clover Club vs. Sazerac

Brazil for Spring Break, or Caipirinha vs. Sex on the Beach

Hello and welcome to this rendition!

 I'm reminded of waiting on a gift for a birthday for a long time, and then getting it, and wished I hadn't.  The Caipirinha is a unique tasting drink that I had looked forward to - it's the national cocktail of Brazil. No offense to my Brazilian friends, but...really?   I'd rather drink something non-alcoholic than the Caipirinha (did I really just type that?). To me, it's obviously the Leblon I dislike, so perhaps a different type of cachaça would change my mind on at the Caipirinha...a very acquired taste. Wow...any suspense on which drink won this round?

The two contenders

Caipirinha

1.7 oz. Cachaça

half fresh lime cut into 4 wedges 

2 teaspoon sugar

Place lime and sugar in old fashion glass and muddle.
Fill glass with ice and Cachaça

Ingredients for Sex on the Beach

And now onto Sex on the Beach.  <Insert your own joke here.>  One of my favorite drinks when I was younger was the Fuzzy Navel - this has some of the ingredients in it, and some people put vodka in their Fuzzy Navels (maybe to try and cure the fuzziness..haha...ha. Ha.  Sorry.)

Sex on the Beach

1.4 oz. Vodka

0.7 oz. Peach Schnapps

1.4 oz. Cranberry Juice

1.4 oz. Orange Juice

Build all ingredients in a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with orange slice.

Sex on the Beach <viewer discretion advised>

From its name, you'd think it was a shot, but it's not.  I enjoyed Sex on the Beach <Insert your own joke here.>, so the clear winner this round is Sex on the Beach!

The Ingredients
For the Caipirinha:
Cachaça - Leblon
Fresh Lime juice

For Sex on the Beach:
Vodka - Prairie Organic 
Peach Schnapps - DeKuyper Peachtree
Cranberry Juice - Store Brand
Fresh Orange Juice

Up Next -  Two Differently the Same, or Champagne Cocktail vs. Mimosa

Side Trip #4 - Gin & Tonic vs. Cuba Libre

Hi there!  So remember in the Bacardi vs. Cuba Libre challenge, I mentioned that the Cuba Libre was "Gin & Tonic" refreshing, and that I'd have to A/B them sometime to see just how refreshing it is?

Well this is that A/B test. I'm glad I did it.  I planned this one out, and did it after working an eight and a half hour shift, and getting off work at 11:30PM .  I came home and set up shop. They were both incredibly - and equally - refreshing.

 I really couldn't discern which was more refreshing.  So ultimately, the answer is....do ya want sweet refreshment or sour refreshment?  The Cuba Libre will give you sweet, and the Gin & Tonic will give you sour...I'm sure you figured that out already though :).

Both equally as refreshing

Gin and Tonic on the left, and Cuba Libra on the right

Gin & Tonic

2 oz. Gin

3 oz. Tonic

1 quarter of a Lime

Combine gin and tonic over ice cubes in an old fashioned glass and stir.  Squeeze a quarter of a lime into the glass and drop it in.

Cuba Libre

1.7 oz. White Rum

4 oz. Cola

0.3 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

Build all ingredients in a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with lime wedge.

The Ingredients

For the Gin & Tonic:

Gin: Citadelle

Tonic: Schweppes

For the Cuba Libre 

White Rum: Don Q Cristal

Cola: Coca Cola (Coke)

Up Next - Brazil for Spring Break, or Caipirinha vs. Sex on the Beach 

Passengers to the Republic, or Sidecar vs. Singapore Sling

Passengers to the Republic - wasn't that a movie with Jimmy Stewart?  No?  What am I thinking of?  Hmm...

Okay, so you know from the last match that the Sidecar loses by default.  Sorry - I just don't like Sidecars.  I know there are the cocktail elite out there that have probably discounted my blog because I said this (wait - haha - they probably did that the first time they read my blog - hahaha), but it's just too bitter for me.  So here's the recipe:

Sidecar

1.7 oz. Cognac

0.7 oz. Triple Sec

0.7 oz. Lemon Juice

Pour all ingredients into cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into cocktail glass.

Sidecar Ingredients

Now with that all behind us, this next cocktail is a real treat. This is why I started the blog.  The Singapore Sling is a perfectly balanced drink - nothing over powers anything else in it.  Not too much alcohol, not too much fruit juice - everything is balanced.  What I don't know is why mine wasn't quite as red as ones I've seen in pictures.  If anyone has a suggestion, leave a comment.

Singapore Sling

1 oz. Gin

0.5 oz. Cherry Liqueur

0.25 oz. Cointreau

0.25 oz. DOM Bénédictine

4 oz. Pineapple Juice

0.5 oz. Lime Juice

0.3 oz. Grenadine

1 dash Angostura Bitters

Pour all ingredients into cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes. Shake well.
Strain into highball glass.
Garnish with pineapple and cocktail cherry.

Singapore Sling Things

The drink calls for pineapple juice.  I don't have a juicer, but I read online that you can juice a pineapple with a blender, so I assembled everything together, and got to blendin'.  It worked great! 

Pineapple

Pineapple in a blender

Pineapple through a sieve to separate the solids from the juice (an incredibly lengthy process)

Pineapple through the sieve, in the process of yielding about six ounces

 It took me about an hour to juice 1 pineapple, and yielded about 6 ounces, but yes, you definitely, and without a doubt, can juice a pineapple with your blender.  Will I ever do it again?  Absolutely not!

Pineapple on the edge

Winner!

 

The obvious winner is the Singapore Sling!  I would order (and have since) ordered this in a club.  A friend of mine ordered it, and the bartender used Maraschino instead of Cherry Liqueur - BIG difference!

By the way, did you get the title reference?  Singapore is a Republic unto itself - I didn't know that until I did this blog - look at me learning and everything!

Ingredients

For the Sidecar

Cognac - Landy VS

Triple Sec - Cointreau

Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice

For the Singapore Sling

Gin - Citadelle

Cherry Liqueur - Luxardo Cherry Liqueur

Cointreau - starring as itself

D.O.M. Bénédictine - starring as itself

Freshly Blended Pineapple Juice

Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice

Homemade Grenadine

Up Next - Bushes for the Ghost, or Bramble vs. Bloody Mary

Lounging with the Scorpian, or Between the Sheets vs. Stinger

Hello and how are you doing?  What can you say about these two cocktails?  Both are made with a base of Cognac.  Both are golden in color.  Both are pre-World War II drinks.  Both are pretty average cocktails if you ask me.

C'mon IBA - give up the love!  Where are the wow drinks?!?  Where are the drinks I'll want to write about? (oh. um. nevermind)  I mean, look - these aren't horrible or anything, just not as good as I was hoping.  Maybe I'm expecting too much?

The Between the Sheets is a version of a Sidecar (spoiler alert) - I don't like Sidecars either.

Ingredients that are between the sheets - hahahaha!

Between the Sheets

1 oz. White Rum

1 oz. Cognac

1 oz. Triple Sec

0.7 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

Pour all ingredients into shaker with ice cubes, shake, strain into chilled cocktail glass.

Moving right along to the Stinger...remember the Vodka Stinger my in-laws prepared on Christmas day that tasted like Scope?  Yeah, well this is pretty much the same only not green.  It did certainly have a stronger alcohol taste and less mint than the Vodka Stinger did, but still just not my thing.

Unassembled Stinger

Stinger

1.7 oz. Cognac

0.7 oz. Crème de Menthe (White)

Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice. Stir.
Strain into a cocktail glass.

Between the Sheets and Stinger - Stinger is on the left

Okay, so I wasn't a fan of either of these, but I have to pick a winner - Between the Sheets it is [insert sounds of party horns and videos of confetti].

Winner - because the other was worse

Next challenge has to be better....doesn't it?

Ingredients

For Between the Sheets:

White Rum - Don Q Cristal

Cognac - Landy VS

Triple Sec - Cointreau

Fresh Lemon Juice

For the Stinger

Cognac - Landy VS

Crème de Menthe - DeKuyper Menthe White

Up Next - Passengers to the Republic, or Sidecar vs. Singapore Sling

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

Fishing in Sicily, or Barracuda vs. Bellini

 Riiiight?  So you get the fishing reference but what about the Sicily one? I thought I was so clever! Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Opera composer in the 1800's from...Sicily!!!  Ha-HA-hahaha!  The drink wasn't named after him, but a toga on a saint in a painting done by 15th-century artist Giovanni Bellini. Thought I'd throw a curve ball in there.

I wasn't sure how the Barracuda was going to be - the Galliano intimidated me - I think that was one of the main reasons why I disliked the Yellow Bird so much, so I was a little apprehensive to try it.

The Uncaptured Barracuda (get it?  It doesn't have a glass around it...aww...nevermind...)

Barracuda

1.5 oz. Gold Rum

0.5 oz. Galliano

6 oz. Pineapple Juice

1 dash Fresh Lime Juice

Top with Prosecco

Stir all ingredients except Prosecco with ice in a mixing glass.  

Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and top with Prosecco.

Now onto the Bellini - did you know how it was named?  Oh yeah.  This was truly a great tasting cocktail - I really enjoyed it. - great great tasting cocktail.

The Two Parts of the Bellini

Bellini

3.4 oz. Prosecco

1.7 Fresh Peach Puree

Pour peach puree into chilled glass and add sparkling wine. Stir gently.

The Tasting

My Barracuda fears were unfounded - this was a great drink...a little heavy for me, but overall, a really good drink.  The Bellini was a fantastic tasting drink.  I just couldn't get past the mouth feel of the peach puree.  It was really thick, and stuck around for a while - hey...kind of like my wife's meat loaf....ummm....only in a bad way....(nice save Dave - I don't think she reads this blog anyway so...hmm...note to self - remember to delete this and put something more clever in later...just.in.case...)

The Challengers

The recipe does say to use fresh puree, but it's December so it's obviously unavailable - I'd like to revisit it sometime with fresh puree, but the Bellini won't be moving onto Round Two, so the winner for this match is the Barracuda!

Barracuda

The Ingredients
For the Barracuda:
Gold Rum - Pusser's British Blue Label Rum
Galliano - Itself
Pineapple Juice - Dole (I know I always said to use fresh, but I don't have a juicer yet - stay tuned)
Fresh Lime
Prosecco - Riondo Prosecco

For the Bellini:
Prosecco - Riondo Prosecco
Peach Puree - Finest Call Peach Puree

Up Next - Coffee in Venice, or Black Russian vs. Spritz Veneziano

The Pirates Smoked my Cigars! or, Bacardi vs. Cuba Libre

I let you down.

I let myself down.

I let the entire cocktailian community down.

This is pretty bad folks.  I can't apologize enough.  It happens to everyone at one time or another, I suppose.  I just didn't think it would happen to me so soon.  See, there's been a lot of stress in my life lately, and I know it's not an excuse, but I guess that's all I have.  Please forgive me.  I can't believe I'm saying this myself, but here it goes - I bought grenadine instead of making it.  I told you it was pretty bad.  I just simply didn't have enough time to juice the pomegranate, let alone time for it to cool properly.  I will say that the brand I bought - Stirrings - is the finest manufactured version I've ever had.  It's not that red colored sugar water that's passed as grenadine so often today.  So - whew! - I feel much better now!  Next time I need grenadine I will make it, and show how I do...

...our first drink is the Bacardi!  The only drink recipe that's protected by copyright law.  "Is that true?", I wondered.  "Maybe." I answered.  "You're being incredibly liberal in your use of punctuation and grammar.", I added.   Sorry - wow - see?  A lot of stress...

Well, yeah, it's true, but only because of the name Bacardi.  If it were called "Rum Cocktail" it couldn't be copyrighted.  So - this was a fine drink - just a little too harsh/sour for me.  I think it was the rum, and you'll see why I think that at the bottom of this entry.

Bacardi

1.5 oz. Bacardi White Rum

0.7 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

0.3 oz. Grenadine

Pour all ingredients into shaker with ice cubes, shake well, strain into chilled cocktail glass.

The three parts of a Bacardi

Now we move on to the Cuba Libre.  I was surprised by this - I've had it before and really didn't care for it at all.  I had it this time, and...well..."Free Cuba!"  Hold on - if you're reading this, and part of Homeland Security, I'm not in any way saying that the US should lift any part of the embargo on Cuba.  I'm just saying that I really enjoyed this drink, so please don't deport me back to Canada...Free Cuba is what Cuba Libre means in Spanish.

Bacardi on the left and Cuba Libre on the right

Cuba Libre

1.7 oz. White Rum

4 oz. Cola

0.3 oz. Fresh Lime Juice

Build all ingredients in a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with lime wedge.

Toss these in a glass for a Cuba Libre

Now the key to this, that I think is missed a lot, is that the directions say to build the cocktail - don't stir, just build.  Much like you'd build a pousse-café (see the B52 entry) - one ingredient at a time, and no mixing.  I'll tell you, this drink was very refreshing - it even bordered on Gin and Tonic refreshing for me.  I should A/B them one day...I'll put it on the to-blog list.

Cuba Libre!

The winner in this round was easily the Cuba Libre.  So I think the big difference was the rum brands.  I've drank Bacardi before, and I think they have a decent product, but when I compared it with Don Q's Cristal, it was night and day.  Bacardi had that nasty alcohol bite, and Don Q was smooooooth and had that nice easy-drinking mouth feel to it.  I'm glad I only bought a small bottle of Bacardi for this entry...

The Ingredients
For the Bacardi:
Bacardi White Rum - Bacardi Light
Grenadine - Stirrings

For the Cuba Libre:
White Rum - Don Q Cristal
Cola - Coca-Cola (Coke)

Up Next - Fishing in Sicily, or Barracuda vs. Bellini

If You're Gonna Bet, Is Penguin the Best Choice?, or Casino vs. Tuxedo

The titles are seriously starting to stress me out.

The Casino cocktail isn't that far away from an Aviation that you'll remember from a previous post, except it adds orange bitters and uses a different type of gin.  Actually, both drinks in today's match use a different type of gin - Old Tom Gin.  The question is - what is Old Tom Gin?  So maybe there was a neighbor of mine, let's say old Tom Finklestein (or was it stine?) that used to drink gin all the time.  Maybe I used to think Old Tom Gin was just a saying around town for normal, everyday gin.  So maybe I would have been right, if I lived in the pre-prohibition era.  Then again, I'd be writing this on an oil powered computer too.

Old Tom Gin was the gin behind every bar pre-prohibition.  The production at that time was unregulated, so a lot of the gins were quite harsh and had impurities in them - the attempt to hide the harshness resulted in the addition sugar.  Basically, Old Tom could be considered Dry Gin's (today's "typical" gin) softer, sweeter, subtler relative.   It's alcohol bite isn't as sharp and it's a little sweeter than Dry Gin, although its mouth feel was pretty heavy in the Old Tom brand I picked up.  I've heard that some people have tried to add simple syrup to gin to get Old Tom, but that just doesn't work.  Until recently, you couldn't find Old Tom in the US, but there are a couple of brands being marketed now.  What I will try at some point, is a Gin and Tonic with both a Dry Gin and an Old Tom and report back here in a future post.  I'm tingling with excitement already...

Back to the Casino - I didn't enjoy the Aviation too much, but I did really enjoy the Casino - I think the big difference was the Old Tom Gin.  I would definitely order this drink in a club...or in a casino!

Casino Ingredients

Casino

1.4 oz. Old Tom Gin

0.3 oz. Maraschino Liqueur

0.3 oz. Orange Bitters

0.3 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

Pour all ingredients into shaker with ice cubes, shake well, strain into chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon twist and a maraschino cherry.

The Contenders

Now the Tuxedo was good, but I just didn't "get" as the IBA describing as an All Day Cocktail.  It's just too heavy to drink more than one of.  Ya know, too much booze in one drink for me (for those of you who know me well, you can pick your jaws up off of the floor now please).  I mean I can appreciate it, but I just wouldn't drink it again.

Tuxedo Ingredients

Tuxedo

1 oz. Old Tom Gin

1 oz. Dry Vermouth

1/2 bar spoon Maraschino Liqueur

1/4 bar spoon Absinthe

3 dashes Orange Bitters

Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into cocktail glass.
Garnish with a cocktail cherry and a lemon zest twist.

The clear winner for me is the Casino!

My bet is on this one...

 As a side note - both of these drinks have Maraschino Liqueur in them, so in my research, I was watching a video, and the bartender pronounced Maraschino with a hard k sound...so Mar-a-skee-no.  I thought the guy was off his rocker, so I had to check it out.  All of these years, I've been pronouncing Maraschino incorrectly!  It IS pronounced with a hard k!  Take that English language!  Wait....it's Croatian, isn't it?  Anyway - don't take my word for it - turn on your speakers, and check it out:  Maraschino @ Webster's.  Oh.  You already knew that?  Never mind then.

The Ingredients

For the Casino:

Old Tom Gin - Hayman's

Maraschino - Luxardo

Orange Bitters - Stirrings

Lemon Juice - Fresh

For the Tuxedo:

Old Tom Gin - Hayman's

Maraschino - Luxardo

Absinthe - St. George Absinthe Verte

Orange Bitters - Stirrings

Up Next - The Pirates Smoked my Cigars! or, Bacardi vs. Cuba Libre

War Planes for Dracula, or B52 vs. Vampiro

Welcome back!  This was an interesting match - one drink was a shot, and the other was a tall one.  The IBA recipe for the B52 says that it should be lit - I tried to light it, but I couldn't get it to flame, so this was an unlit B52.  Actually, upon further research, I've found that a B52 that's lit is called a Flaming B52...something quite different...okay, not quite different, just a bit flamier.

So the title's a little incorrect, because in my research, I found that the B52 wasn't named after the plane, but a band; a bartender in Banff, Alberta created the drink, and named his drinks after his favorite bands - so this drink was named after The B-52s.  Come to think of it, the drink really was named after a plane because the band got its name from the plane. See? Mixology can be so confusing...

B52

1 oz. Kahlua

1 oz. Bailey's Irish Cream

1 oz. Grand Marnier

Layer ingredients one at a time starting with Kahlua, followed by Bailey's Irish Cream and top with Grand Marnier.

B52 divided by three

I really enjoyed this shot - it's coffee, cream, and orange all rolled into one.  It's a type of drink called a pousse-café, or layered drink.  You build the drink one ingredient at a time.  The specific gravity of each type of alcohol is different, so one will sit upon another, making it look pretty cool.  I could see these getting sneaky on you and causing a pretty bad hangover...

...speaking of pretty bad hangovers, the Vampiro was introduced in at the 2009 New Orleans Tales of the Cocktail conference, at the session called "Paying the Piper: Your Hangover and You." (Nice segue, Dave!  My writing teachers would be so proud)!

The multitude of Vampiro ingredients

B52 and The Vampiro

It's reminiscent of a Bloody Mary, or for you Canadians, a Caesar, only with much more spice, prep work, and clean-up.  The orange juice was a nice touch.  I really couldn't taste the tequila at all, but I'm thinking that's the idea behind all of the tomato based cocktails - if I'm mistaken, chime in and let me know.

Vampiro

1 3/4 oz. Tequila (silver)
2 1/2 oz. Tomato Juice
1 oz. Orange Juice, Fresh
1/3 oz. Lime Juice, Fresh
1 tsp. Clear Honey
Half slice finely chopped onion
Few slices fresh red hot chili peppers
Few drops Worchestershire sauce
Salt

Pour all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice. Shake well, to relaese the flavour of the chili. Strain into a highball glass, filled with ice. Garnish with a wedge of lime and a chili (green or red).

It was good - the problem is that it wasn't great.  In all fairness, I think that the Bloody Mary will lose it's match too (wait, spoiler alert....oh....too late.....sorry about that....).  I'm just not that into tomato juice based cocktails I suppose....c'est la vie (for those non-francophones, I'm pretty sure that c'est la vie means "no-tomato-juice-based-cocktails-for-me-please-and-thank-you-very-much").

The Winner!

The Ingredients

For the B52:

Coffee Liqueur - Kahlua

Irish Cream - Bailey's

Orange Liqueur - Grand Marnier

For the Vampiro:

Silver Tequila - Espolon Silver Tequila
Tomato Juice - Store Brand
Fresh Orange and Lime Juice
Clover Honey

Up Next - If You're Gonna Bet, Is Penguin the Best Choice?, or Casino vs. Tuxedo