A Subtle Champion: The Prado Cocktail

I was recently in the mood to use some fresh farmers market eggs in a cocktail.  I looked at a couple books including the Playboy Bartenders Guide (don't laugh, it's actually pretty useful) that my mother-in-law of all people bought me.  I found an interesting cocktail that I'd heard of before but never tried:  the Prado Cocktail.  Much like the Hotel Haute Savoie Cocktail, it has a lot going on. containing five ingredients plus garnishes.  Typically my rule of thumb is that less than three and a cocktail isn't terribly complex but more than four and it's parts start to blur more than complement each other.  Nonetheless, I gave it a try and I'm glad that I did. 

Ingredients

1.5 ounce of blanco tequila (Milagro)
0/75 ounce of lime juice
1/2 an egg white (regular size)
0.5 oune of maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)
1 tsp grenadine (shamefully... store bought)

Directions
Shake ingredients without ice to mix  the egg white and then with ice.  Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry and lime wheel.

Outcome

The cocktail looks pretty has an interesting appearance.  The grenadine, which I might reduce next time, gives it a pink look, while the half an egg white adds a bit of a frothy look and taste without the milkshake look a full egg white would give.  As for the taste, it's quite good.  Somewhat reminiscent of the  Last Word Cocktail due to the mix of maraschino (probably the dominant flavor in this drink) and the lime.  Unlike the last word, this is not a particularly intense or challenging drink, as blanco tequila is much more subdued  that Green Chartreause.

I found this drink quite enjoyable, with all of the other ingredients holding the maraschino licqueur in check.  It's a hair above my optimal sweet spot, so I might lower the grenadine a smidge.  Nonetheless, this was a tasty cocktail that I'll recommend for my more adventurous guests.

Centering a Cocktail Around Maraschino: The Glass House

Conventional wisdom relegates some spirits to the back of the bus.  They might provide a nose or an aftertaste for a drink, maybe help balance other flavors, but seldom provide the dominant flavor.  Examples of such liqueurs that come to mind include creme de menthe, Gran Marnier, and elderflower liqueur.  At best they tend to share the stage.

Maraschino liqueur fits into this group.  With its very strong flavor profile, it tends to add a bit of complexity to drinks or balance other strong spirits like Green Chartreuse, which it dances with in the Last Word.  I've been wary of this spirit in the past, having been less than thrilled with the way that it seemed to knock certain cocktails out of balance.  I don't particularly care for the Martinez for this reason (and yes, I used actual Old Tom Gin).  Recently, I decided to try to build a cocktail around this maraschino and devised the Glass House.

The Glass House

Ingredients
1.25 ounces of Old Tom Gin (Ransom)
0.33 ounce of maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)
0.75 ounce of fresh red grapefruit juice
1 dash of angostura bitters

Instructions
Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Taste (flavor, balance, and clarity): 7

I think it worked pretty well.  The cherry flavor is still a bit bracing, not exactly sweet but very strong.  I think that the grapefruit juice succeeded in largely offsetting the sweetness of the maraschino and Old Tom Gin, which I used instead of conventional gin because of its louder herbal background.  If anything, I might in the future reduce the maraschino amount.

Versatility (when and for whom the drink works):  6
I would also put this drink firmly in the camp of cocktails to be slowly sipped with some contemplation.  While good, it is not an easy drink and not a casually refreshing one.  Sort of the equivalent of watching Mad Men or Breaking Bad (though not to say this cocktail should be as well regarded as they are - perhaps Boardwalk Empire is the better comparison.)  Further, I think a lot of people aren't real big on cherry flavor in anything other than cherries.  Such people, including my wife, might struggle to enjoy this cocktail.

Hassle (Cost and Time):  6
The drink was fairly expensive, using both Old Tom Gin and Luxardo and took a moderate amount of time to make with the juicing.

Overall:  6.5
This is an interesting drink and one that features some unusual flavors and combinations to reasonably good effect.  It is challenging and not accessible to everyone. 

Potential Modifications
I might lower the maraschino a bit.  I also think that white grapefruit juice, with a stronger and more bitter taste might better balance the cocktail.  Such balancing would essentially change its nature of the cocktail to one that balances two strong flavors instead of one that surrounds one strong one.

A Taste of Mint: Drinking by Produce

There are a lot of reasons to drink specific cocktails.  I've I've discussed, sometimes cocktails should match an occasion.  Other reasons  include wanting to try a new spirit, drinking whatever is local when on the road, and needing to please others with specific tastes.  This time of year, I'm reminded that, as with my dinner table, whatever produce is fresh can dictate my drink menu.  For instance, June might be the best time to drink something with strawberries.  July is the time for a Pimm's Cup with fresh cucumber.

Well, via the bounty of a friend's CSA (local food share) we have some fresh mint.  That combined with a beautiful mild Friday night and my wife's suggestion had me looking for new cocktails with mint.  As a general matter, there are three, somewhat related, types of mint cocktails.  One is the bourbon-based mint julep.  Two is a tiki drink/daiquiri and three is tequila-based drinks.

Primo Trace Smash

Ingredients
2 ounces of bourbon (Buffalo Trace)
1 dash of maraschino liqueur 
3 lemon wedges
1 ounce of simple syrup
5 mint leaves and a spring for garnish
1 raspberry or strawberry

Directions
Muddle mint and lemon and pour with other ingredients into an old fashioned glass with ice and garnish with berry and mint.

Outcome
This was a pleasant but generally unmemorable drink.  It was really all about the bourbon with the maraschino and lemon adding a bit of nuance and balance around it.  Next time, I might tweak it a bit by using more lemon and less simple syrup.

Mexican Mojito

Ingredients
2 ounces of blanco tequila (Tres Generations)
1 ounce of agave nectre
1/2 a lime in wedges
1/2 a lemon in wedges
splash of club soda
10 mint leaves plus a sprig for garnish

Directions
Muddle lemon, lime, and mint, add tequila and agave, stir, and pour into a glass with ice.  Add club soda, stir gently, and garnish with a mint sprig.

Outcome

As the name implies, this taste a good deal like a Mojito.  However, the agave and tequila gives it a nice twist.  My wife drank this one and thought it was "awesome" and it "got her over her aversion to tequila."  I thought it had a little more going on than the normal Mojito, as I consider decent blanco tequila a more complex spirit than white rum.  Overall, although not the most adventurous cocktail, this is an excellent drink, particularly for those who like their drinks on the light side.

Booze Pairings: Cocktails with the Game

A couple of posts ago I wrote about pairing cocktails with specific activities.  I noted that some such pairings were more intuitive than others.  As I was watching the NBA playoffs the other day, it dawned on me that I don't really have any association with sports viewing and cocktails, save the mint julep and the Kentucky Derby.  This seems strange.  A lot of people watch sports.  I'm sure some of them drink booze.  Yet I can't remember any commercial or pop culture reference of any sort linking cocktails and watching sports.  Historically, this might have had something to do with most stadiums only serving beer, but far more people now watch sports at home or a bar, where booze is available.

Thus my contemplations started.  There are times, perhaps at home or at a bar where the taste of the drink is paramount despite any ongoing conversation.  When I get certain cocktails, particularly more complex or challenging ones, much of my concentration is on the drink.  Conversely, when watching sports, the game gets the bulk of my attention, leaving the remainder for talking to others and paying attention to the drink.  That doesn't mean that the taste is irrelevant, only that perhaps simpler is better.  Particularly for home viewers, it might also be nice if the drink wasn't too much trouble to make - relatively few ingredients and little juicing, muddling, or use of eggs.  The drink should also be one that you can milk for a bit while watching, where even a commercial break is sometimes not enough to make a cocktail, so something with ice makes sense. 

The And One

Ingredients
2 ounces of bourbon (Jim Beam)
0.75 ounces of lime juice
a bar spoon (healthy splash) of maraschino liqueur (Luxardo)

Directions
Shake ingredients with ice and pour into cocktail glass with ice cubes.

Outcome
I was pleased with the drink, which is a variant on the whiskey sour. Despite the juicing, it wasn't too much effort to make.  As with the Last Word, the lime and maraschino liqueur mix well and the bourbon works with both.  The taste starts with what I'd described as a the peanut flavor of Jim Beam Black and transitions to the lime, with the maraschino adding flavor and a hint of sweetness latter in the swallow.  I think that the drink was traditional, and kind of many befitting sports with the bourbon, but had a bit of flair from the maraschino.  Further, because of the ice cubes, I was able to nurse it for most of the first half of the game, where normally I feel compelled to finish cocktails before they warm up too much. I'm sure there are other cocktails that work for watching sports, so I and hopefully readers will come up with a some other ideas.

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.

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.