The aroma of slowly-bubbling pork jowls, guanciale and confit tomato just hit my nose. The braise is for tonight’s dinner. Soon I’ll donate a potato and grana torte to the oven to get all craggly and crusted. I even threw a pig’s foot into the braise for good measure, and despite this, I’m just not hungry. When I told Derek Brown, SeanMike, and Marshall I was planning on doing two tasting menus in one night they looked at me as if I had resurrected Stan Jones from the grave and his corpse was mixing up tiki drinks two feet behind me.

Upcoming TDN – Apples and Pears

Before I dive into my culinary adventure, I want to announce this week’s Thursday Drink Night theme: Apples and Pears! We’ve reached the apogee of fall – summer produce is just beginning to fade out and the faintest hint of pumpkin pie is in the air. The harvest is upon us! Apple cider, hard cider, poire william, pear eau de vie, applejack, apple brandy, Apfelkorn, Granny Smiths, Honey Crisps, Boscs, Bartletts, or any other spirituous substance made with apples is fair game. The best cocktail of the evening will win a bottle of homemade Pear Brandy (details to come) courtesy of CocktailKingdom.

Join us in the chatroom!

Komi – Tasting Menu #1

The evening started at Komi, a “Greek” restaurant where Japanese, French, Greek, and Italian combined into a never-ending feast of foodie perfection. Komi is now my third favorite restaurant in the world. And for good reason – I have not experienced that many new flavors in one sitting for nearly five years.

Everything we ate was simple. But a simplicity that tells a story of techniques perfected, flavor combinations with a why-didn’t-I-think-of-that quality, and courses that left you wanting another 40 spoonfuls. Except you didn’t get them, as each new bite assaulted the table like a little array of soldiers waiting to get through a narrow door where you were waiting with a sniper rifle, your tongue.

The pacing was perfect. The endless barrage of single tastes was astounding: hamachi sashimi with a touch of cured olive, minced scallops in a tuna broth with a texture so fine it had to have been minced by a billion lasers, and probably my favorite, steamed brioche with crème fraîche and trout roe. Our pasta course was boulettas with chanterelles, blueberries, and guanciale. And how shameful would it be for me to neglect mention of the wine pairings, which were both exceptional and unique.

The main course was a goat-leg, slow-roasted for what had to be 6 hours – so tender, and the skin so crisp. To sop up juices were the fluffiest homemade pitas I’ve ever had, and a whole tray of fun items allowed you to tinker with each mouthful: the best tzatziki I’ve ever had, the best “baba ghanoush” I’ve ever had, a habanero sauce, and oregano salt. Dessert was donuts soaked in a caraway syrup and a mini chocolate milk shake. (Note, I am undoubtedly remembering some of this wrong, as I was too enthralled to keep notes.)

CityZen

“Oh God, we have to eat another tasting menu. Excitement!” Our waitress thought we were insane, and in that she would be correct. In comparison to Komi’s delicate flavors, CityZen is like a boxing match. Don’t get me wrong, nothing was over-seasoned, but instead salty, sweet, acidic, and the ideal follow-up dinner. My compatriot that evening commented many times on how the order of restaurants was perfect; Komi’s flavors would have been lost after getting our mouths slapped around by Eric Ziebold.

Homemade corn-infused scrapple, poached ribeye with parker house rolls which tasted like oozing balls of brioche served in a little cigar box, a treasure chest of cheeses, and … my memory started to fade with a second wine pairing and the 17th dish of the evening, but rest assured, I will return to CityZen.

The Gibson

The Gibson is easily one of my favorite cocktail bars in DC – or the country for that matter. And their new menu is an exercise in intensity, though I must admit I didn’t try more than a drink or two off of it as Derek continued to thrust new potions he had been working on in my hand. Toward the end of the evening, he just started pouring shots of Fernet (which were sipped), “We’re going to add a new drink to the menu: Kaiser Penguin’s Endless Glass of Fernet for $24.99. It’s a sure win, as no one will ever drink enough Fernet to make us lose money except you.”

Derek and Chantal just returned from a honeymoon in Japan, and he brought back a tart-as-hell, single-strained version of the White Lady. After he said he didn’t double strain it on purpose, he began to look at me quizzically. My expression must have transformed – you know, like Mumra into the Ever Living, “Just try it – really,” he tried to assure me. I did, and I was amazed. The little bits of ice perfectly cut the tartness and made me feel like I was sitting in a Kold Draft machine while drinking it.

White Lady

• 1 1/2oz gin
• 3/4oz Cointreau
• 1oz lemon juice

Shake with cracked ice and single-strain into a frigid cocktail glass.

Derek Brown via Japan

I’m not sure if the if the White Lady was friends with the Pink Lady, but they are both delightful lasses. Enjoy the addition of applejack and egg white!

Pink Lady

• 1 1/2oz gin
• 1/2oz Applejack (bonded if you can, or a good aged apple brandy)
• 1/2oz lemon luice
• 1/2oz grenadine
• 1 egg white
• lemon twist, for garnish

Shake with cracked ice until light and frothy and strain into a chilled cup topped with a lemon twist.

Proof

We made a brief stop at Proof to meet up with Derek, Chantal, SeanMike, Marshall, and their new bar manager, Adam Bernbach. The cocktail menu was inspiring and downright devilish. Several drinks with maple syrup caught my eye, but I couldn’t turn down the Light Watts after taking a sip of Marshall’s. I’ve done my best to recreate the recipe below – it’s not exact, but it’s definitely fricken tasty.

Light Watts

• 2oz del Maguey crema de mezcal
• 1/2oz Campari
• 1/4oz Chartreuse
• 3/4oz lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled vessel of imbibement.

Rick via Adam from Proof

The Rest

Our trip took us to Palena, 2Amys (omg cured meat and pizza), ACE Beverage (my favorite booze stop in the country), El Pollo Rico, and to the hospitable abodes of SeanMike and Marshall, but I’ll have to save those details for another time. Cheers to everyone in DC who makes it so damn fun to visit – you’re all excellent hosts.

KP Question

• What are your favorite gob stuffing and tippling spots in DC?

Since I last wrote about how to make orgeat syrup my coffers have been oozing with the stuff. It was a good product, completely functional, and better than anything you could buy. But it had two faults:

1. It was annoying as hell to make.
2. The almond flavor just wasn’t punchy enough.

The old recipe had a Thomas Kellerian complexity and a Sandra Lee taste. Ok, perhaps that’s a bit of a stretch, but when you compare it to the new recipe, it seems to harken from the dark ages. The new recipe, however, is so streamlined even Chris Kimball would cock an eyebrow. And it tastes as if Joël Robuchon just cast the equivalent of Nailed to the Sky on my orgeat syrup.

Old Wive’s Tales About Orgeat

• Almond Skins make it bitter. FALSE. In comparison to what? Girl Scout Cookies? Almond skins add delicious almond flavor, especially when toasted.
• You must carefully cut your almonds. FALSE. This is often suggested to keep the mixture from getting cloudy. Just bash the hell out of them and make sure you strain properly.
• Add a 2nd batch of sugar and reheat the next day. What? Who came up with this time-waster of an idea, and why did I think it necessary the first time?

How to Make Orgeat Syrup

I’ve increased the amount of almonds, decreased the amount of sugar, and omitted a whole batch of annoying from the recipe. (12oz of almonds and 5lb of sugar? The penguin was obviously confused.)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2lb whole, raw almonds
• 4c sugar
• 2c water
• 3 dashes orange flower water
• 3 dashes rose water

Directions

1. Toast almonds. (oven at 400F for 10-15 minutes, tossing once or twice)
2. Add to a double-ply ziplock and bash the living hell out of them with a rolling pin. (you’ll have a few whole pieces left, some crumbs and everything in-between)
3. Add almonds with sugar and water to a pan and bring to a simmer. Simmer for two minutes. Remove from the heat, cover, and let sit for at least 12 hours.
4. Strain through two layers of cheese cloth. Add the rose and orange flower waters. Bottle.

Orgeat Giveaway

Like last time, I’ll be giving away a bottle of the new formula to a random commenter on this post – all you need to do is answer the KP Questions below!

I couldn’t leave you without a potion! Blood orange are in season again and there was a new rum at the liquor store, whose label was apparently designed by a Cthulhu disciple.

Cthulhu Punch

• 1oz Appleton V/X
• 1oz El Dorado 3-year
• 1oz Kraken rum
• 1oz Kummel
• 1oz blood orange juice
• 1/2oz lime juice
• 1oz orgeat syrup
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• blood orange slice, for garnish

Shake with ice and a touch of fear. Sacrifice to a glass filled with Antarctic crushed ice.

Rick from Kaiser Penguin

KP Questions

1. Have a different orgeat recipe? Post it in the comments!
2. What’s your favorite cocktail that uses orgeat?

Upcoming TDN – Clear Spirits

Itching to use that bottle of Oronoco? What about a favorite gin or blanche absinthe? And you know everything is improved with a little JWray floated on top. Join us Thursday Night to mix up original libations featuring the see-through spirit of your choice.

The best original potion will win a bottle of Greylock gin courtesy of CocktailKingdom.com.

Curious, but haven’t stopped in yet?

Swing by anytime – we’re always chatting about booze!

TDN Kahlúa Cream Wrap-Up

Kahlua brings back lots of memories of my early days of drinking, and it was a treat to get to work with a soon-to-be-released ingredient. We had a live contingent at Malo in LA consisting of Marleigh and Dan, Chuck, Matt, and a whole host of other cocktail fanatics. And many of the best drinks of the night came from the city of angels.

The Winning Cocktails

The Caffè Flip

• 2oz Kahlúa Cream
• 3/4oz Fernet Branca
• 1 whole egg
• 3 dashes Fee’s Old Fashioned Bitters
• 3 dashes Fee’s Aztec Chocolate Bitters
• nutmeg, for garnish

Separate egg and dry shake the white. Add other ingredients and the yolk. Shake/strain into wine glass, nutmeg grate on top

Chuck from Looka!

Featured Cocktails

For the whole list of tippling eccentricities, observe Twitter. But here are the few that will elongate your Sword of Omens:

San Juan

• 1 1/2oz rye whiskey
• 1oz Kahlúa Cream
• 1t cinnamon syrup
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled coupe.

Rick from Kaiser Penguin

Stamos Gin Fizz

• 1 1/2oz gin
• 1 1/2oz Kahlúa Cream
• 1t cinnamon syrup
• 1 egg white
• club soda, to top
• coffee beans, ground, for garnish

Shake with ice, strain into highball. Top with soda water. Dust with coffee bean and garnish with stamos.

Fred from Cocktail Virgin Slut

Black Bulldog

• 2oz Kahlúa Cream
• 1/2oz bourbon
• 1/4oz creme de cassis
• 3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
• club soda, to top

Shake, strain over rocks, top with club soda.

Matt from RumDood.com

Dirty Old Man

• 1 3/4oz scotch
• 1oz Kahlúa Cream
• 1/2oz sherry
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• orange peel, for garnish

Shake, strain over ice. Flame the orange peel.

Marleigh from Sloshed!

This week we’ll be mixing original cocktails with Kahlua’s new offering: Coffee Cream. Being a huge fan of cream-based spirits, I’m excited to work with it and wondering what will happen when people try to mix it with citrus. On top of the usual cocktail slinging in the chatroom, we’ll have a fairly big live contingent at Malo Restaurant in LA, including Marleigh from Sloshed, Chuck from Looka, Matt from RumDood, and many other local cocktail luminaries.

If you’re looking for the wrap-up of last week’s Anniversary TDN, it’s coming next week. But in the mean time, vote for your favorite cocktails from the event and…

Join us in the chatroom!

I love the Bloody Mary. (ed note: I added this statement so I don’t get thousands of fire-spewing comments from fellow bloggers, lovers of Clamato, and prostitutes of chewing their drinks.)

More than one person has raved about the Bloody Mary at Attiki in New Orleans. But I haven’t. Wait! crrrunk… claaaank… thwop thrapp And with the final leather strap in place, my full-plate mail is now donned. I am burly. Yes, I said the Bloody Mary at Attiki isn’t all that jazz. I love when my lips tingle from fiery cuisine, and I can gnaw through a bushel of vegetables like a rabbit on speed. But I don’t like drinking gritty baby food.

But what if you could transmogrify all that pulpy, straw-jamming flavor and refine it into a a pure liquid as smooth as Camper’s head? Would it replace your guttural love for a wood chip and tar Bloody Mary? Never. But what it would offer is something completely new.

Tomato Water Bloody Mary

• 2oz lemon vodka or gin
• 4oz tomato water, chilled
• tomato, for garnish

Stir vodka with ice and strain into an ice-filled collins glass. Top with tomato water and garnish.

Rick from Kaiser Penguin adapted from Todd Thrasher’s PX recipe

Tomato Water

• 3lb very-ripe, in-season, local tomatoes
• 1 shallot
• 1 serrano
• 1 stalk lemongrass

1. Halve tomatoes, shallot, and serrano. Smash the lemongrass and puree everything in a blender.
2. Donate to a large, wet kitchen towel set in a bowl. Bring the ends in and tie to make a little satchel, like Huck Finn, and figure out a way to suspend the sack over the bowl. Refrigerate overnight.
3. Remove from the fridge. Do not squeeze the sack. Discard all but the clear tomato water.

KP Question

• What’s your favorite Bloody Mary recipe?

A year ago, this week, the revelry began. And if my sundial displays truth, the Mixoloseum has hosted 50 Thursday Drink Nights since that first mixological day. In that time, cocktail enthusiasts, writers, and bartenders have created over 500 original cocktails using everything from Fernet Branca to buttermilk. Guests who once came in fear of all the homemade syrups and bitters being slung about like fool’s gold in the chat room now make their own cinnamon syrup, have two local sources for Ting (in case one runs out), and don’t bat an eye when someone calls yellow Chartreuse instead of green.

TDN Anniversary – Tiki

We’ll be celebrating with rum, rain gods, and back scratchers this week, and Jeff Berry and Martin Cate will be making an appearance to sling potions and generally be jealous that we have more homemade syrups than they do. The prizes are profuse, and the last tiki torch won’t be doused until the first rays of light creep across my sundial.

The Prizes

Best Original Tiki Drink – 50cm gold Japanese bar spoon (pictured at right)

Best Gin Cocktail – Bottle of Port of Barcelona gin signed by the distiller.

Best Absinthe Cocktail – Bottle of Obsello absinthe signed by the distiller.

Best Spiced Rum Cocktail – Bottle of Old New Orleans Cajun spiced rum

Last One Standing – If you close the doors on our party, you will get yourself a pick of one of Mud Puddle’s six new cocktail book releases.

First two newcomers who submit a drink – More books! Pick from Mud Puddle’s line-up.

We’ll also be giving out Annual Awards throughout the night (e.g. Person who consistently submits the worst drinks).

Log in to the chat room!

Sherry Wrap-Up

Maybe your Grandma has a nip of Sherry every night before bed, but I doubt she’s mixing fine cocktails with it. A shame too, as it’s surprisingly easy to work with.

Featured Cocktails

For the whole list of tippling eccentricities, observe Twitter. But here are the few to OM NOMNOMNOM.

PX Swizzle

• 2oz Pedro Ximenez
• 1oz Lemon Hart 151
• 1t pimento dram
• 1oz lime juice
• 1 dash Jerry Thomas bitters (sub Ango)

Swizzle!

Rick from Kaiser Penguin

Trellis

• 3/4oz Sloe Gin
• 3/4oz dry sherry (oloroso)
• 3/4 oz Lillet Blanc
• 1/4oz Galliano
• 1/2oz lemon juice
• 1 dash orange bitters
• nasturtium flower, for garnish

Shake, strain, cocktail glass.

Fred from cocktail virgin slut

The Dirty Vicar

• 2oz dry sherry
• 1/2oz maraschino liqueur
• 1oz lemon juice
• 1oz apricot nectar

Shake, strain. Yell “Phhwoaarr!” and elbow people in the ribs when you drink.

Michele

Conquistador’s Helm

• 1 1/2oz reposado tequila
• 1oz dry sherry
• 1/2oz sweet sherry
• 2 dashes celery bitters
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir with cracked ice and strain into a chilled vessel of imbibulation.

Nathan from PLCB Users Group

Cereza

Upcoming TDN – Sherry

Sherry is one ingredient we have yet to explore for Thursday Drink Night, perhaps because it rarely finds its way into modern cocktails. Sure, dig up some dusty old tomes and you’ll be drowned in it, but what about some new potions? Join us for this week’s TDN ( What’s Thursday Drink Night? ) and help bring Sherry back.

Which Sherries should you bring? Fino, Manzanilla, Amontillado, Olorosso, and Pedro Ximenez. Though if you want to be nice to your wallet, get one somewhere in the middle. Lustau, Bodegas Dios Baco, and Hidalgo are all good brands.

The prize for the best original cocktail will win a copy of Modern American Drinks by George Kappeler, courtesy of CocktailKingdom.com.

Log in to the chat room!

Herb and Bitters Wrap-Up

The past couple of TDNs have been a blast. Like watching back-to-back episodes of the A Team – yes, truly that awesome. Some great potions were formulated and nary a drop donated to the drain.

The Winning Cocktails

Lemon Stinger Swizzle

• 2 ounces gin
• 10 lemon balm leaves
• 1oz lemon juice
• 1/2oz falernum
• 1/2oz simple syrup
• 1 dash Fee’s lemon bitters (optional)
• 4 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Muddle 10 lemon balm leaves with simple. Add falernum, gin, lemon, optional dash Fees lemon bitters. Shake with ice,strain onto new crushed ice, top with several dashes Peychauds.

Camper from Alcademics

Kilmacope

• 1 1/2oz Islay scotch
• 1/4oz Cherry Heering
• 1/4oz Cointreau
• 1/4oz Dolin Blanc or Lillet blanc
• 1 dash celery bitters
• 1 dash Bitter Truth aromatic bitters

Stir with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Greg Boehm from CocktailKingdom

Featured Cocktails

For the whole list of tippling eccentricities, observe Twitter. But here are the few that can accompany T-Payne on his boat:

Sailor’s Salvation

• 1/2oz Clement VSOP
• 1/2oz Appleton Extra
• 1/2oz Lemon Hart 151
• 1/2oz lemon juice
• 1/2oz lime juice
• 1/2oz cinnamon syrup
• 1/2oz vanilla syrup
• 8 drops Root (sub absinthe)
• 4 leaves basil
• 4 leaves mint
• 1 dash Bitter Truth aromatic bitters (sub Angostura bitters)

Shake to the rolling of the waves and serve in your best grog cup.

Craig from Colenel Tiki’s Drinks and Rick from Kaiser Penguin

Salvatrix

• 2oz rye whiskey
• 2t Benedictine
• 1t orgeat syrup
• 2 dashes Fee’s Whisky Barrel-Aged bitters
• 2 sage leaves

Lightly muddle leaves, add ice, stir. Serve in a chilled coupe.

Ryan

Early Evening Cocktail

• 1 spring thyme
• 1/2oz simple syrup
• 1/2oz honey mix
• 1 small drop pimento dram
• 1oz lime juice
• 2oz El Dorado 3-year

Muddle, shake, pour over crushed ice.

Tiare from A Mountain of Crushed Ice

Mestizo

• 2T cilantro leaves
• 2 cardamom pods
• 1 sugar cube
• 3/4oz lime juice
• 1 1/2oz reposado tequila

Muddle cilantro, pods, and sugar in lime juice, add tequila, shake with vigor, strain into cocktail glass.

Sylvan from Tasty Libations

Mnemonic Device

• 2oz vanilla-infused rye whiskey (sub rye whiskey and 1t vanilla syrup)
• 1/2oz amaro montenegro (sub Ramazzotti)
• 1/4oz Fernet Branca
• 1/4oz Benedictine
• 2 dashes Xocolatl Mole bitters

Stir with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Pantagruel

Torch Ginger Fizz

• 2oz Peychaud’s bitters
• 1oz Aperol
• 2 gin
• 1/2oz lime juice
• 1t strawberry syrup (sub simple)
• bitter lemon soda, to top

Shake with crushed ice and donate to a cup. Top with soda.

Tiare from A Mountain of Crushed Ice

The Cavalcade

• 1″ grapefruit peel
• 3 dashes Bitter Truth aromatic bitters
• 3 dashes celery bitters
• 1/2oz grapefruit juice
• 1/2oz yellow Chartreuse
• cava, to top

Muddle grapefruit with bitters and grapefruit juice, add Chartreuse and stir with ice. Strain into a champagne flute and top with cava.

John from The Bastard’s Booze Blog

Photos of Non-Featured Drinks

Satan’s Fingers

Ancestral Myrrh

Aztec Hummingbird

Alright bitters collector. This is your time to shine. Think you have more bitters than your neighbor? Well of course – your neighbor probably doesn’t even have Strega. Gosh. But what about another cocktail enthusiast – one who seeks out new bitters like a rum collector who thinks his collection of 120 bottles simply won’t due.

The quest for bitters is like nothing I’ve seen before in the world of cocktails; sure, we all collect hard-to-find spirits, but bitters is a dirty fetish – like being a “Whedonite.” For example, if I were to take the label off of a nondescript bitters bottle, design a completely new label and call it Sherry Cask-aged Umami Bitters, I could sell them to 100 people in about three hours. Hell, I’d buy them.

What does this teach us? Well, that bitters are awesome and magical. They transform one-note cocktails into bouquets of intensity. Imagine a Sazerac without Peychaud’s bitters or a Manhattan without aromatic ones. I know, I cringed too.

What Bitters Do You Have?

I’m pretty confident in the large stack of leather gloves that will be tossed onto the ground in the comments section. One-upmanship will be grand (well, at least until Jay adds his list), but can you also pick your two favorite bitters?

Kaiser Penguin’s Bitters

• Angostura
• Angostura Orange
• Bitter Truth Aromatic
• Bitter Truth Celery
• Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas
• Bitter Truth Lemon
• Bitter Truth Orange
• Bitter Truth Repeal Day
• Bittermens Xocolatl Mole
• Fee’s Cherry
• Fee’s Grapefruit
• Fee’s Lemon
• Fee’s Old Fashioned
• Fee’s Orange
• Fee’s Peach
• Fee’s Rhubarb
• Fee’s Whiskey Barrel-aged
• John’s Celery
• Marshall’s Moonshine
• Peychaud’s
• Regan’s Orange #5
• Stirring’s Orange
• TraderTiki’s Falernum
• Vidiot’s Fig

Fernet Flip

• 2oz Fernet Branca
• 1/2oz simple syrup
• 2 dashes Bittermens Xocalatl Mole bitters
• 1 egg white

Add all ingredients to your shaker and dry shake. Then add cracked ice and shake again like a hamster running on a wheel, for at least one full minute. Double strain into a delicate chilled cocktail glass.

Rick from Kaiser Penguin

I couldn’t leave you without a cocktail! I crafted this sly harpy the other night as a riff on my Fernet Old Fashioned which I’ve probably consumed more of than any other potion this year. You know how absinthe turns into a fluffy cloud of joy when put into a suissesse? Well, imagine nodding off onto a pillow of Fernet – kind of like sleeping on Grandpa’s knee.

KP Questions

1. What bitters do you have?
2. What are your two favorite?

Upcoming TDN – Beat the Heat

For some folks on the west coast, the heat has been sweltering. Not unlike a deep-fried bowl of crisp pig ears. No, wait – wrong kind of hot. The sun has been beating down on our whining PNW brethren like Thor’s Wondrich’s Hammer on a block of ice. And barring A/C, what better way to cool off than with an ice-crusted tipple? Refreshing potions will be the theme for this week’s TDN ( What’s Thursday Drink Night? ). And only one rule this time: create a refreshing cocktail you’d crave while gazing into the peeled, flaming cantaloupe in the sky.

We’ll be giving away two jars of Colonel Tiki’s Cinnamon Syrup this week. One to the the best original cocktail and one to the newcomer who participates with the most intensity.

Log in to the chat room!

Equal Proportions Wrap-Up

This turned out to be one of the most fun themes in a while, and the cocktails were great! The winning libation is the first victor to include Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka, which I happen to love.

The Winning Cocktail

Ginger Belle

• 3/4oz Firefly Sweet Tea vodka
• 3/4oz Domaine de Canton
• 3/4oz lemon juice
• 3/4oz simple syrup

Shake like you’re riding on a B-17, double strain, drink.

Marshall from Scofflaw’s Den

Featured Cocktails

For the whole list of tippling eccentricities, observe Twitter. But here are the few that we admitted into the Landsraad of mixological genius:

The Anaheim Foot Vibrator

(pictured at the top)

• 1oz Pimm’s #1
• 1oz Partida Blanco
• 1oz Fever Tree tonic water

Stir with vigor, serve with ice.

Bonzogal

Morgenthaler Gets Paid

• 1oz cachaça (used Boca Loca)
• 1oz Chartreuse
• 1oz bianco vermouth
• 1oz lime Juice
• 2 dashes orange bitters

Shake with JMo elan, strain, garnish with lime wheel float

Gabe from cocktailnerd

Corpse Reviver 1A

• 1oz rye whiskey
• 1oz applejack
• 1oz sweet vermouth

Stir while wearing a jaunty hat, strain and sip.

Rocky

Bitter Smoke

• 1oz mezcal
• 1oz Campari
• 1oz Fever Tree tonic water

Build with great concentration over ice.

Tiare from A Mountain of Crushed Ice

Animalito

• 3/4oz añejo tequila
• 3/4oz bonded apple brandy (substitute applejack)
• 3/4oz yellow Chartreuse
• 3/4oz lime juice
• 2 dashes grapefruit bitters
• 2 dashes Angostura orange bitters
• 3/4oz grapefruit soda
• grapefruit twist, for garnish

Build first 4 ingredients in an Old Fashioned glass with bitters, add ice and stir 20 secs, add soda and stir again briefly. Garnish with grapefruit twist.

Chuck Taggart from Looka!

Featured Photos

Tomoka

The Last Drop

The latest issue of Mutineer Magazine includes a spirits feature written by a fun-loving, booze-swilling penguin. I was at once joyous and befuddled to see that my article went through the editorial process with minimal editing, leaving in all the brand recommendations and geek-out cultural references – everything from Lord of the Rings to Over the Top.

How to Make Great Cocktails with Only a Few Ingredients

The story focuses on building up a Fallout-era bar, not with more booze, but with a few simple items from the grocery store. Such as:

• Citrus
• Simple syrup
• Mint
• Bitters

A few of my original potions and snapshots found their way into the article, and I bet even the 18th level bibulous wizards of the cocktail world may glean a few runes from it to put in their next spell. Here’s one of the recipes that finds its way onto my cantrip list more often than most:

Rum Old Fashioned

• 2oz rum (your favorite, preferably aged – try Appleton Extra, El Dorado 15, Ron Zacapa, Mount Gay XO)
• 1/4oz simple syrup (or less if you like)
• 1 dash Angostura bitters (Fee’s and Bitter Truth aromatic work well here too)
• orange twist, for garnish

Pour ingredients over a few cubes of ice in your favorite rocks glass. Stir for about thirty seconds and spritz the oils from the orange peel on top.

Rick from Kaiser Penguin