Coffee in Venice, or Black Russian vs. Spritz Veneziano

♪ I'm beginning to drink a lot like Christmas ♫

Oh, hello everyone!  I thought this entry would be pretty straight forward - I only like coffee flavor in coffee - not desserts, ice cream, or liquors, and I enjoy most orange flavored everything (except orange flavored tofu - don't even get me started), so I'm thinking that the Black Russian would lose, and the Spritz Veneziano would win with little problem.

The Black Russian is made with vodka and coffee liqueur.  Kahlua is often used as the coffee liqueur for this, but I decided to go a different route.

Two parts of the Black Russian

Black Russian

1.7 oz. Vodka

0.7 oz. Coffee Liqueur

Pour the ingredients into the old fashioned-glass filled with ice cubes.
Stir gently.

Next at bat was the Spritz Veneziano or, as my research would show, the Aperol Spritz.  Aperol is the little brother of Campari.  You all know how much I love Campari, so I was a little nervous about this even though it wasn't supposed to be as strong a flavor as Campari.

Spritz Veneziano Ingredients

Spritz Veneziano

2 oz. Prosecco

1.4 oz. Aperol

Splash of Soda Water

Build into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice.
Top with a splash of soda water.
Garnish with half orange slice. 

The Tasting

I was amazed how much I liked the Black Russian - again, I really dislike coffee flavor in anything other than coffee, so this really surprised me.  It was, really, almost like a dessert.  The sweetness of the coffee liqueur came through nicely - I think more than 0.7 oz. would be too much.  

Side by side cocktails

I loved the taste of the Spritz Veneziano while it was in my mouth - sweet, orangey, light.  Here's the problem; when I swallowed it, it was like swallowing tobacco.  That was wet.  Because it had already been chewed.  By this guy:

Yeah, so I'm not so sure how Aperol tastes really great before swallowing, but horrid after, but it freaks me out, so the winner in this post, to my utter surprise is the Black Russian!

Black Russian Winner!

As a side note; I tried Kahlua as the coffee liqueur as well - it had that alcohol "bite" that I write about and dislike so much.  The Café Granita was so much smoother, and sweeter.  It also had a "bigger" mouth feel too if that makes sense...try it yourself, and you'll see what I mean.

Have a fantastic Christmas everyone!!!

The Ingredients

For the Black Russian:

Vodka - Prairie Organic Vodka

Coffee Liqueur - Café Granita Coffee Liqueur

For the Spritz Veneziano:

Prosecco - Riondo Prosecco

Aperol - Aperol Aperitivo

Soda Water - Canada Dry

Up Next -  Side Trip #3 - Christmas Day at Dave's

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

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

Side Trip #1 - All Hands Man Battle Stations, or Torpedo IPA

Well, well, well - our very first trip away from the IBA list to focus on an IPA.  <Nigel Tufnel accent on>Just a clever little trip upwards on the middle letter <Nigel Tufnel off>

I would have considered myself a beer guy before I moved to California.  Now I know I knew nothing.  I grew up in Canada and, like most Canadian boys, grew up thinking that our beer was better than any other in the world - especially better than that watered-down 3% grog they call beer in the land to our south.  Every time my friends and I traveled to Detroit for a concert we never thought that the beer there would affect us as much as our home brew.  Funny thing is that it always did.

The beer I'm writing about is made in the Sierra Nevada foothills by a brewing company coincidentally called Sierra Nevada.  This is an India Pale Ale called Torpedo, and quite a departure from the suds I grew up with.  It's my "go to" beer if I'm unsure what to buy.  I'm not sure how I stumbled across it, except that I was trying different beer, and ran across IPAs, and really liked them.  Most of them are citrusy, and very bitter.

The bottle

I say most because I was in Canada about three months ago after being away for five years, and had to try one of their India Pale Ales.  I won't say which one, but its initials were Alexander Keith's - it was NOTHING like an IPA here.  Ya know what it tasted like?  Yup - a lager.  What's up A.K.?

Then I was in a club with a couple of my best friends - these are brothers who know their beer.  They live an hour away from Michigan and occasionally drive there to buy beer because they can't get the good stuff in Ontario.  One of them also started to brew his own beer - with his brother helping in the capacity as the quality control engineer (read drinks the beer).  We were sitting around, chatting about beer and drinking what I thought was a lager, and they pointed out to me that it was actually an ale.

Hmmm...an ale that tastes like a lager...hey Labatt's!  There's a new marketing angle for you..."Labatt 50 - an ale that tastes like a lager!"  Leave your email address so I can tell you where to send the checks...you're welcome...

Anyway, what's my point?  Oh yeah...this is a great beer at 7.2% ABV...try it if you have a chance.  Happy Thanksgiving!

The beer

The Ingredients
Beer - Sierra Nevada Brewing Company Torpedo Extra IPA

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

TSA Pats Down 007, or Aviation vs. Vesper

Catchy title, no?  I liked it - took me a while to think of, but we weren't busy at work, and I was all caught up on Facebook, so there ya go.

The Aviation was created in 1916 and the original recipe has crème de violette in it.  The IBA version doesn't include this perhaps because crème de violette wasn't available in the USA during prohibition.  Wait.  That doesn't make sense - the IBA is an international association, so crème de violette would have been available in other areas of the world during prohibition, plus the IBA wasn't even around during prohibition.  Why isn't this included in the IBA version?!?  I mean...it gives the drink such a nice blue color!  That's probably how it got its name!  This is an outrage!  I demand an audience with the IBA immediately!  [insert sounds of chirping crickets]

Okay, the best I can figure is that crème de violette, to some people, tastes and smells like soap and is too flowery in this drink.  That alone could be why it's not in the IBA recipe, but I'm not sure - if any one knows for sure, leave a comment.  I will say that I really wanted to try a version with the crème de violette in it, but didn't want to buy a full bottle for a dash or two, so I'll have to order one at a club sometime.

Aviation

1.5 oz. Gin

0.5 oz. Maraschino

0.5 oz. Fresh lemon juice

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Aviation Ingredients

The Vesper was invented by James Bond in the Ian Fleming novel Casino Royale:

"A dry martini," [Bond] said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet."

"Oui, monsieur."

"Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?"

"Certainly, monsieur." The barman seemed pleased with the idea.

"Gosh, that's certainly a drink," said Leiter.

Bond laughed. "When I'm...er...concentrating," he explained, "I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink's my own invention. I'm going to patent it when I can think of a good name."

—Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

Hmmm...I wonder if Mr. Fleming taste tested this before he wrote about it?  For the gin and the Lillet I didn't use the same brands as Casino Royale wanted - Kina Lillet isn't manufactured any more, and personally, I don't like Gordon's gin, so Citadelle it was.  Here's the IBA's recipe:

Vesper

2 oz. Gin

0.5 oz. Vodka

0.25 oz. Lillet Blanc

Lemon twist (garnish)

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Add the garnish.

The three bottles of Vesper

The Tasting
There wasn't anything special about either of these, I didn't think...honestly, neither were my "cup of tea" so to speak.  They weren't horrible, but weren't fantastic either - you know that feeling you have when you first have a drink and know immediately that you want another?  I'm not talking about when Uncle Simon comes over unannounced to say that he'll be crashing on your couch for the next "little while" because Aunt Gladys is trying to find her self by reuniting her Janis Joplin tribute band, I'm talking about the first time you try a drink, and know that it's so good that you'll have another.  Neither of these drinks had that for me.

The two side by side

I still had to choose a winner for this entry.  I'm thinkin' that James Bond is pretty cool, so Vesper is it!  Sorry - that's the only way I could pick between the two...you try them and let me know which one you like better...

The winner!

The Ingredients
For the Aviation:
Gin - Citadelle
Maracshino - Luxardo
Fresh Lemon Juice

For the Vesper:
Gin - Citadelle
Vodka - Prairie Organic
Lillet Blanc

Up Next - Side Trip #1 - All Hands Man Battle Stations, or Torpedo IPA

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

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

From the title, you can tell that there was no real winner in this installment, so let's just move on to the next.  Thanks for dropping by.  See you next time.




























Kidding.  I wish.  Man - how did these two drinks make it to the IBA list?  I know, classics and all, but wow these are scary bad!  Maybe I just built up expectations.  I hadn't tried either of these before, but was looking so forward to them.  I read that the Americano got its name because it was so loved by Americans visiting Italy - any drink that's loved by Americans has to be awesome, right?  Look at the Old Fashioned!  Coca-Cola!  Starbucks!  The Americano is not Starbucks worthy, my friends.

Americano Ingredients

Americano

1 oz. Campari

1 oz. Red Vermouth

Splash of Soda Water

Mix the ingredients directly in an old-fashioned glass filled with ice-cubes, add a splash of soda water and garnish with half orange slice.

Seriously you guys?  I've never eaten pencil shavings, but if I ever do, I would imagine that they would taste exactly like the Americano.  I tried adjusting portions of ingredients, but there was nothing I did that made this thing taste better except to leave all of the parts out, and adding gin, tonic, and lime to the glass - then it was truly a great drink, but something different altogether.

Things in the White Lady

White Lady

1.3 oz. Gin

1 oz. Triple Sec

0.7 oz. Lemon Juice

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

The competitors

The White Lady was okay, but nothing I'd order, or want to order - its sourness was over powering.  It wasn't bitter like the Americano-oh-no, but just sour.  If I want that, I'll suck a lemon and do a gin shot, thank you very much.  Anyway, another bust however, the White Lady wins because it wasn't quite as bad as the American-void-o.

The least worse of two

Maybe my ingredients weren't the best?  Let me know your thoughts!

Ingredients
For Americano:
Campari - Campari
Red Vermouth - Martini & Rossi Rosato
Soda Water - Canada Dry

For White Lady:
Gin - Citadelle
Triple Sec - Cointreau
Fresh Lemon

Up next... Faces of Elmer, or Angel Face vs. Whiskey Sour

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