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

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 #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

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