A Singular Taste: The Monkey Gland Cocktail

To kick off a new bottle of absinthe (Leopold Brothers) I decided to go for a classic cocktail.  I leafed through Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails and came upon an interesting drink called the Monkey Gland Cocktail.  It looked to be a distant cousin of the Bronx Cocktail, both being based on gin and orange juice, but where the Bronx Cocktail uses dry and sweet vermouth, the Monkey Gland employed grenadine and absinthe.

Ingredients
1.5 ounces of gin
1.5 ounces of orange juice
1 teaspoon of grenadine
1 teaspoon of absinthe

Outcome
Looking at the ingredients, it appears to be a pretty balanced cocktail featuring dueling tastes.  This is not the case, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  The absinthe cuts through everything else.  The orange juice and gin provide background and cut the absinthe, while the grenadine adds a bit a sweetness.  The star is certainly the absinthe, though the aftertaste doesn't linger too harshly.  Absinthe, much like Chartreuse, rarely plays a supporting roll and instead presents as the featured flavor.  All in all, this drink was enjoyable - a complex sipper.  How much trouble it is to make depends on whether you use homemade grenadine and orange juice or go for the store-bought.  I'm not sure whether this cocktail would go over well with everyone, but I certainly enjoyed it.

And the Theme is Orange: The Red Lion Cocktail

With both cooking and drinking, one of the things that I've been pondering is when like ingredients work well together and when they are redundant and a better choice would be dissimilar but complementary components .  I've not devised any sort of definitive rule on the matter but am starting to accumulate some specific do's and don'ts.  For instance, do mix vanilla rum and creme soda.  Don't mix lemocello and lemon juice.  Do pair Cointreau with orange bitters.  Don't pair it with Grand Marnier.  This brings us to today's cocktail, the Red Lion which combines both orange juice and Grand Marnier orange liqueur.

The Red Lion

Ingredients
0.75 ounce of Grand Marnier
1 ounce of gin (Plymouth)
0.25 ounce of lemon juice
1 ounce of orange juice (preferable no pulp)

Directions
Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  I first strained my pulpy orange juice through a sugar sifter.

Taste (flavor, balance, and clarity): 7
I would say that this drink is very clean in taste.  At the same time, I didn't find it terribly sophisticated.  The most interesting interplay was between the gin and the brandy of the Grand Marnier, but that was somewhat in the background.  Returning to the though above, the orange juice and Grand Marnier worked together, with the Grand Marnier adding a sweet but citrus element that was balanced by the lemon juice.  The flavors were all on the cool side and worked to make a crisp taste that accentuated the orange juice and tasted like a classy Mimosa.

Versatility (when and for whom the drink works):  8
I though that this drink was pretty accessible, as many drinks with strong fruit juice components are.  Even with the gin and the brandy, I think that a number of folks could enjoy it.  I'm not sure what the ideal setting for the drink is but I also can't think of when it wouldn't work.

Hassle (Cost and Time):  8
This drink isn't particularly expensive, with the Grand Marnier being the only sort of pricey spirit.  Juicing the lemon takes a bit of time but not too much.  Overall, this is a pretty simple drink to put together, especially since it lacks a garnish.

Overall:  7.5
This was one of those drinks that I can't really come up with anything wrong with.  Perhaps its because I've gotten a bit snobby and want to play with more exotic ingredients, nothing about the drink terribly excites me either though.  I think that its best and highest use is as a substitute for the Mimosa - though I'm not sure if a drink with this much booze is always the best idea at brunch.

Potential Improvements:
I think that next time I will take the orange juice down to 0.75 ounce and maybe take the lemon juice a hair as well to accentuate the gin and brandy a bit.  Another option is to jettison the lemon juice and try using orange bitters.

Burning Booze: Gimmicky or Geniousy?

Like a lot of guys, I possess an inner pyro.  At twelve, I was a terror to many a toy soldier, and grew into something of an aficionado of cheap firecrackers.  These days, the extent of my flame wielding is a gas grill and the occasional a fire in the fireplace.  I was thus intrigued when I watched a clip on the Small Screen Network of the making of the Rubicon, which is very similar to the Last Word, but with singed rosemary.  My bias is clearly towards burning stuff, but I wasn't sure whether the fire actually accomplished anything beyond burning off a bit of the alcohol.

Ingredients:

1.5 ounces of gin (Plymouth)

.5 ounces of maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)
.5 ounces of lemon juice
.5 ounces of Green Chartreuse
A couple of sprigs of rosemary

Directions:  Make a ring with a fresh rosemary sprig in the bottom of a chilled cocktail glass and pour 1/2 ounce of Green Chartreuse on it.  Swirl the Chartreuse and flip the sprig to make sure it is soaked.  Shake the other ingredients with ice in a shaker.  Light the Chartruse and rosemary on fire.  I've seen this done by using a mister with chartreuse and lighting the mist, but I just used a match.  Allow it to burn for several seconds before dousing with the contents of the shaker.  Add a large handful of crushed ice and garnish with a sprig of rosemary on top.

Outcome:  I simultaneously made one version where I lit the rosemary and chartreuse and one where I did not (the latter was largely consumed by my wife, who enjoyed it quite a bit).  I'm not going to go through my typical ranking of taste, versatility, and hassle because of the very high degree of similarity to the Last Word, which I've reviewed.  My goal was to compare the cocktail with and without fire.  The latter predictably was a hair stronger because I hadn't burnt off some of the Chartreuse.  I was pleasantly surprised that there was a discernible taste difference though.  The burnt one had a bit of a smokey taste, a slightly cloudier appearance, and a much stronger rosemary flavor.  The other tasted like the Last Word, with a hint of rosemary.

My conclusion is that for myself, I probably won't make this too often and will stick with the Last Word.  However, the Rubicon mixes things up and makes for a great drink to impress company.  I'm also not sure whether I like adding the crushed ice, which I had fun breaking with a hammer but intentionally weakens the drink.  That said, this is a sipping drink best enjoyed over an extended period, so a couple cubes might not be a bad idea.

Consuming the Shame Part 2: Green Creme de Menthe

Roughly 10 years ago, I acquired a bottle of Bols Green Creme De Menthe.  As a college undergraduate, I distinctly remember being pleased with how good an alcohol per dollar bargain it was.  Back then, I used it in a concoction that also included Baileys and vodka.  I remember being impressed with my ability to replicate the taste of an Andes mint - but not impressed enough to do so very often.  Since then, I've tried to employ it a few times, with disastrous results.  Thus, I conclude that if I own any spirit that is truly irredeemable, this is it.  White creme de menthe might be easier to use and has a less severe flavor, not to mention color, but to be honest, it's pretty far down on my booze wish list.

Inventing a drink with something like creme de menthe is really about using the process of elimination.  What base spirits work with this beverage?  Brandy, scotch, and tequila: gone.  What liqueurs or secondary spirits clash particularly violently with something that taste of mouthwash?  Maraschino, Amarula, Tuaca, Contreau, Pimm's, Sloe gin, and Campari (and others): gone.  From there you have a couple of choices.  The easy path is to essentially make a dessert, much like I did in college.  Some combination of creme, chocolate or chocolate liqueur, and a very neutral base spirit like vodka for instance.  I wanted to avoid this, mostly because I've grown an aversion to making such sweet drinks, though I considered putting ice cream, creme de cacao, and the green monster in a blender and making a proper dessert, but concluded that with the clean-up it probably wasn't worth the trouble.  Now for the efforts.

Frosted Tips

Ingredients:
1 ounce of gin
.4 ounce of creme de menthe
1 ounce of lime
.25 ounce of simple syrup

Directions:  Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

For both drinks, I settled on gin, because while relatively neutral it is not sweet like my subject.  This drink is passable, kind of a homeless man's Mojito.  The only thing better about it than a Mojito is that it is a bit less sweet.  I didn't originally include the simple syrup but added it because the creme de menthe and lime made for a very sharp taste just before the minty aftertaste.  Oddly, this drink started tasting better as it warmed up - or maybe I settled into it and lowered my standards.

Manly Mentos

Ingredients:
.25 ounce of creme de menthe
1 ounce of gin (Bombay Sapphire)
.5 ounce of limoncello
4 ounces of ginger ale 

Directions:  Stir spirits with ice and add cold ginger ale.

For my next cocktail, I wanted to use a lemon flavor which is strong and cuts against the sweetness of the creeme de menthe but sought to avoid the sharpness of the previous attempt from pure lemon or limes.  I thus used some limocello, which a former colleague had made and given to me.  The ginger ale accomplishes two things.  One, the ginger flavor "breaks up" the mint taste, so it doesn't quite dominate the drink.  It takes it from Listerine to some sort of candy mint.  Second, anything to hide the mint is good.  I also had learned to use this ingredient very sparingly.  Nonetheless, the drink is still bright green, a fact that makes me think that the alcohol is not nearly the most worrisome component of the creme de menthe.  All in all, it was kind of refreshing.  Not something that will scratch my regular drink rotation or that I'll be showing off, but something I could drink in a pinch.

Upon reflection and experimentation, my green creme de menthe, while not quite utterly useless, will be with me forever.  I believe that it is the longest-tenured drink on my shelf, a distinction that it will carry for the foreseeable future.  To the extent that I (very) occasionally employ this spirit, it will be in tiny portions.

Consuming the Shame Part 1: Ginja

As mentioned in my last post, I have a small bottle of a Portuguese liqueur called Ginja, perhaps the most unusual thing in my liquor cabinet.  It's 38 proof and taste very sweet, like the syrup in a bottle of maraschino cherries.  It isn't as strong a flavor as my Luxardo Maraschino liqueur and does not feature as complex a flavor profile.  Traditionally, it is either sipped as a dessert or taken in shots.  Further adding to my challenge, I think I bought a crappy brand.  I saw this particular brand in a lot of stores and picked it up pretty cheap, but looking at Google Images, there are some bottles that look nicer, though I really can't gauge quality on this type of drink at all.

Before getting to the drinks, a couple thoughts about trying to salvage "challenging" spirits. 

1. Don't be afraid to fail, because you probably will.
2. Feel free to throw away bad drinks.  If something taste bad, don't feel guilted into finishing it.  It will make such experimentation most unpleasant.
3. Don't use the highest end spirits to mix your first tries.  You will waste good booze.
4. Make half drinks.  Since you will probably make mistakes, make them smaller.
5. Start simple and work towards complex.  Before you understand the basics of how a spirit works with others, avoid more complex concoctions.
6. Find analogues and work from there.  For instance, if yours is a sweeter, tarter, stronger, or weaker version of a more common spirit, consider trying a variation on a drink using that spirit but adjust the ratios of all ingredients based on the special characteristics of your new spirit.

Onto the trials and errors.
My first attempt was a variation on the Boulevardier, which uses bourbon, Campari, and sweet vermouth.  The idea was to balance the sweetness of Ginja with the bitterness of Campari.  This drink, as I will discuss, deserves no name.

Ingredients:
1.5 ounces of bouron (Jim Beam)
.5 ounces of Campari
.5 ounces of Ginja

Directions:  Stir with ice and strain into a chilled glass and garnish with a lemon peal.

Outcome:  Utter failure.  Perhaps the ratios could have been a bit different (the Boulevardier uses more vermouth and Campari.  Really though, I don't think this had much of a shot.  The Campari overwhelmed the Ginja, which mixed with the bourbon to give a sickly, sort of medicine-like aftertaste.  I did not finish the drink.

My next attempt, which I will call The Slipper, was a variant on a martini.  This was not very ambitious but avoided the bad interplay between the bourbon and the Ginja.

Ingredients:
2 ounces of gin
.5 ounce of dry vermouth
.5 ounce of Ginja

Directions:  Stir with ice and strain into a chilled glass.

Outcome:  Surprisingly not bad.  Not particularly good, but certainly drinkable.  If anything, I probably could have added a bit more ginja, as it kind of get's lost behind the vermouth and the gin (I used Beefeater).  As pungent as Ginja is, the drink's nose was dominated by the gin.  The balance was relatively good and the contrasts in flavors worked reasoanbly well.  At a technical level there was nothing wrong with the drink, I just didn't particularly like it.  I think this is a personal thing that I have with cherries.  I like cherries - I just don't really like them in stuff. Cherry pie?  No thanks. Jam?  I'll pass. Garnish for a Manhattan? I'll go with the orange peal.

My last attempt took for inspiration a drink I found on Webtender I think.  I'm calling it Abe's Revenge. 

Ingredients:
2 ounces of orange juice
1 ounce of blended Scotch
.5 ounce of sweet (French) vermouth
.5 ounce of Ginja

Directions:  Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled glass.  Further recommendation, unlike what I did, strain the OJ through a sugar sifter to get rid of the pulp. It will make your drink look nicer and taste smoother.

Outcome:  Legitimately decent.  This drink was something that I might have again at some point.  The interesting thing is that the tastes seem to progress - from OJ, to scotch, to Ginja and vermouth.  The cherry gives the drink a pleasant smell and the flavors balance relatively well.  I'm still not in love with the cherry flavor of Ginja, but it works pretty well here.

Mixology Monday: Calm Seas Cocktail

This month's Mixology Monday, hosted by Spirited Remix, challenges participants to describe the "best drink you've ever created," one that you have been tweaking over time.  After some thought, the drink that of late I've been fiddling with the most with pretty good outcomes uses Jasmine Cocktail as the starting point.  The Jasmine combines gin, Campari, Cointreau, and lemon juice to create a drink that taste startlingly like grapefruit juice.  I liked this drink but thought I could take it a little further and make it a bit more complex.  I wanted it to be little less about the gin and more about the interplay between the Cointreau and the Campari so I increased their amounts a bit.  I then substituted lime for lemon to make it little mellower and less tart.  Finally, mostly for scent purposes, I added a bit of St. Germain Elderflower Liqueor and a twisted lime peal.  The result is the Calm Seas.

Ingredients
1/2 ounce of Campari
1/2 ounce of Cointreau
1 1/2 ounces of gin (Plymouth)
3/4 ounce of lime juice
1 teaspoon of elderflower liqueor (St. Germain)

Directions
Place ingredients and ice in a shaker, shake well, and poor into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime peal.

Final Thoughts
I'm pretty pleased with the drink.  I think it maintains the grapefruit taste of the Jasmine to an extent but adds some complexity and subtlety.  My wife tends to shy away from drinks this tart (including the original Jasmine) so for her I've added about 1.5 teaspoons of simple syrup.  I might in the future try using an edgier gin than Plymouth, which pretty much plays nice with everything.  Specifically, I might try using genever (Holland) gin or Bombay Sapphire, which would add a spicey element.

Let's Pretend It's Not Winter. Pimm's Cocktail!

This winter has been dragging on forever, though snow has given way to cold rain in basement-flooding amounts.  In an effort to make believe it is Spring, I purchased some Pimm's No. 1 and made Pimm's Cups.  For my wife, I made what I think is a pretty standard Pimm's Cup with 1.5 oz of Pimms, a squirt of lemon juice, a cucumber spear, and ginger ale, served in a large glass with ice cubes. For mine, I added a bit of gin, but the idea was similar.

Ingredients

• 1.5 ounce Pimm's No. 1
• .5 ounce of gin (Beefeater)
• squirt from lemon wedge (with remaining wedge in drink)
• cucumber spear
• 3-4 ounces of ginger ale

Directions:  Mix ingredients in large glass full of ice cubes and stir

Taste (flavor, balance, and clarity):  8
This drink taste as refreshing as any alcoholic beverage you will find.  The cucumber note gets stronger the longer you savor the drink.  If anything the gin is a distraction, and perhaps there is something to the original recipe.

Versatility (when and for who the drinks works):  6
This is clearly a warm weather beverage, my spring fantasy notwithstanding, and is best enjoyed outside.  I think a number of people would like this drink, though some dudes might blanch that it is pretty weak on the alcohol, even with the gin.

Hassle (cost and time):  7
The Pimm's Cup is pretty cheap to make, particularly if you end up not wasting the rest of the cucumber.  Although it doesn't take long to make, I don't tend to stay stocked in cucumbers, so some planning is necessary.

Overall: 7
This is an incredibly refreshing drink - one of the few alcoholic beverages of any kind that taste good enough that I'd have with no alcohol.  Although it's best and highest use might be to sip while reading on a hammock on an early summer day.  This drink is also a nice change of pace from some of the very boozy classic cocktails.

Potential Improvements:
I might play up the fresh tastes by adding a but of celery bitters and perhaps a dab of honey.  I've seen variants of this drink with grapefruit as well.

The Last Word Cocktail

In this space, I will rate drinks by several measures with the idea being to both figure out which drinks I like the best and to compare iterations of the same drink.  This recipe is courtesy of a Jason Wilson Washington Post column.

Ingredients:

• Ice
• 3/4 ounce gin (Plymouth)
• 3/4 ounce lime juice
• 3/4 ounce green Chartreuse
• 3/4 ounce maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)

Directions:

Shake ingredients with ice and strain, preferably into a martini glass.

The Grades

Taste (flavor, balance, and clarity): 9

This delicious cocktail deftly balanced the very strong notes of maraschino and chartreuse.  Previously, I’ve found lowering maraschino content in drinks because it overpowers the aftertaste – and not in a good way.  The Last Word, one of my first forays into green Chartreuse, twists between the Chartreuse and the maraschino from fist touch on the tongue to the aftertaste, with the lime as a backdrop and the gin providing weight.  As strong as the flavors are, the drink was pretty refreshing, probably from the lime juice.  Not quite my favorite drink but pretty close, the Last Word possesses a pleasing and unique taste.

Versatility (when and for who the drinks works):  8

My wife typically doesn’t like really strong drinks but she liked it quite a bit, though she thought the aftertaste was a bit funny.  I haven’t had the chance to let any friends sample the drink, but I think my buddies will enjoy it.  The Last Word works in a number of venues and isn’t seasonal.  I think that this drink is one that you want to sip and enjoy and perhaps break out on special occasions.  If it were music, it would be something that you played to listen to and not to serve as background.

Hassle (cost and time):  6

The Last Word is pretty expensive.  In addition to the limes, the expensive Chartreuse and Luxardo maraschino liquor can’t be substituted for.  I also used pricey Plymouth gin, which save for what I think of as more delicate drinks, using Beefeater or Bombay Sapphire for certain others.  On the plus side, despite juicing limes, it didn’t take too long to make.

Final Score:    8

I don’t think that the Last Word will be on my regular rotation or I’ll be serving when hosting too many parties because it uses top shelf stuff and takes a bit of time to make.  It’s somewhat wasted as a social lubricant.  However, when I’m feeling a thoughtful and in the mood for something a bit different from the typical Manhattan or Negroni or want to introduce a new drink to someone, I’ll break this out.

Potential Improvements:

No major changes come to mind. Next time, I might slightly lower the maraschino to bring out more of the Chartreuse.  Doing so would also require slightly decreasing the lime for balance.