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

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