Tag: Cocktails

Cocktails

Margarita

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Margarita was the first tequila based cocktail I made. I really liked it. The earthy notes from the tequila, the sweetness from the orange liqueur and the citrus acidity from the lime works really well together to make a balanced and sophisticated cocktail.
For the tequila I used El Tesoro Bianco which is considered to be one of the best tequilas. My previous experiences with tequila was mostly with shots and the occasional glass of añejo. El Tesoro was indeed fantastic, although I think I still prefer sipping single malt to tequila bianco.
Either way, try to use an 100 % agave bottling to give your Margarita that extra smoothness.
When it comes to the salted rim, personally I don’t like it since I think the salt is too aggressive in taste and distracts from the cocktail. I will make my next Margarita without it.

This recipe is enough for one martini glass.

Ingredients for the Margarita:
45 ml tequila
30 ml orange liqueur (I used Cointreau)
15 ml freshly squeezed lime juice

Lime wheel for garnish

How to prepare the Margarita:
Put the Martini glass in the freezer for a bit to make it cold. Salt the rim of the glass if desired.
Shake ingredients with ice, fine strain into the chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the lime wheel.

Cocktails

Between The Sheets

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Since I really like the Sidecar cocktail it’s not surprising that I also really liked Between The Sheets cocktail. This is a bit like Sidecars little brother and also a member of the sours family.
The addition of rum makes it a bit more suitable for summer drinking and gives it a little hint of Daiquiri.

This recipe is enough for one martini glass.

Ingredients for Between The Sheets cocktail:
30 ml cognac (I used Courvoisier VSOP)
30 ml light rum (I used Havana Club 3 year old light rum)
30 ml triple sec (I used Cointreau)
20 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

How to make a Between The Sheets cocktail:
Put the Martini glass in the freezer for a bit to make it cold.
Shake ingredients with ice, fine strain into the chilled Martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Cocktails

Daiquiri

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daiquiri
This recipe is enough for one martini glass.

Ingredients for the Daiquiri:
60 ml light rum (I used Havana Club 3 year old light rum)
20 ml freshly squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon caster sugar

How to make the Daiquiri:
Put the lime juice and sugar in a cocktail shaker and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the rum. Add plenty of ice and shake for a good 10 seconds.
Fine strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add a wedge of lime for garnish.

Cocktails

Sidecar

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Wow.
This cocktail was amazing. One of the best of the ones I made so far.
I read that the choice of cognac was important so I opted for a semi expensive Courvoisier VSOP. It was a good choice.
The Sidecar reminded me a little bit of sour candy. It starts of with the sweetness of the sugar on the rim of the glass, then the sourness of the lemon and some sweetness from the triple sec and kind of finishes with the warmth of the cognac to make it a grown up elegant cocktail.
Since cognacs of course vary in style it’s hard to give exact measurements. I read that if you use a drier bottling like Hennessy you have to use more triple sec and a bit more lemon juice to make a balanced cocktail. I think the measurements below worked really well with the Courvoisier, which is a rather fruity cognac.

This recipe is enough for one martini glass.

Ingredients for the Sidecar:
45 ml cognac (I used Courvoisier VSOP)
30 ml triple sec (I used Cointreau)
15 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

Superfine caster sugar

Lemon twist for garnish

How to make the Sidecar:
Put the Martini glass in the freezer for a bit to make it cold. Meanwhile put some caster sugar in a pester and mortar and grind it finely. Put the sugar on a flat saucer for dipping the glass in later. Fill your cocktail shaker with ice and add the cognac, then the Cointreau, then the lemon juice. Shake well.
Dip the chilled Martini glass in the fine sugar to coat the rim with sugar.
Fine strain the Sidecar into the glass.
Garnish with the lemon twist.

Cocktails

Bronx Cocktail

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bronxThe Bronx Cocktail is basically a perfect martini with orange juice added.
Legend has it it was created by the bartender Johnnie Solon after a waiter named Traverson challenged him to create a new cocktail. It’s named after the Bronx Zoo which Solon visited a day or two before making the cocktail.
It’s similar to another popular drink of the time, The Duplex, which is composed of equal parts sweet and dry Vermouth and two dashes of orange bitters.

I quite liked The Bronx Cocktail. It reminded me a little bit of The Aviation but with orange instead of lemon. The orange adds a freshness and a little bit of sweetness that is nicely balanced by the sharp dry gin. The vermouths add a bit off a spicy note and the orange bitters a bitter, orange zesty note that adds another dimension. All in all a nice, refreshing, easy to like cocktail.

Ingredients for one Martini glass:
60 ml gin (I used Plymouth)
30 ml fresh orange juice
8 ml sweet vermouth (I used Martini & Rossi Rosso)
8 ml dry vermouth (I used Martini & Rossi Bianco)
Dashes of orange bitters to taste (I used Angostura Orange bitters)

How to make it:
Fill your Martini glasses with ice. Fill your shaker with ice and add all the spirits to it. Shake for around 30 seconds. Discard the ice from the Martini glass, rub the edge of the glass with the cut end of an orange peel then strain your cocktail into the glass.
Garnish the edge of the glass with a twisted orange peel.

Cocktails

Negroni

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negroniI continue my cocktail adventures with the Negroni cocktail.
Legend has it that the Negroni was invented when Count Negroni asked for gin instead of club soda in his Americano somewhere in Italy circa 1919.

This cocktail was quite a surprise for me.
Being a relative Campari virgin I was not quite prepared for the very, very bitter taste of the Campari. However somewhere in between all the bitterness was a quite nice cocktail but I think that Campari and Negroni is quite an acquired taste that you have to work your way up to.
I have to try it some more times to build up a fondness for the bitter Campari in this cocktail.

Ingredients for one old-fashioned glass:
45 ml Campari
45 ml Gin (I used Plymouth)
45 ml Martini Rosso

How to make it:
Pour the spirits in any order into an ice filled old-fashioned glass. Stir for a bit. Garnish with a quarter of an orange slice.

Cocktails

Martinez

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martinezMy cocktail adventures continues with the Martinez. It was probably invented in the 1880s and the recipe I used was adapted from Jerry Thomas’s 1887 book The Bar-Tender’s Guide.
The drink came after the Manhattan (basically change the whiskey to gin) and is the father or so to the Dry Gin Martini.

So what about the taste? Wow… quite powerful!
Having this drink on a balmy early autumn night in London was not quite right. This cocktail reminds me of the cold of winter and more especially Christmas. Quite smooth at first but then something of a spice explosion from the gin, vermouth and bitter with the Luxardo rounding of the flavors somewhat.
Think orange, molasses, Christmas cake…
However, at the right time (coming in after a long winter walk and sitting in front of the fire) I suspect this would be a very nice cocktail indeed. I will have to wait until Christmas to try it again and see if I am right.

Ingredients for two Martini glasses:
60 ml Gin (I used Plymouth)
30 ml Martini Rosso
8 (or so) ml Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
Dashes of Angostura bitter to taste

How to make it:
Fill your Martini glasses with ice. Fill a large glass (or your shaker) with ice and add all the spirits to this glass. Stir slowly (stirring fast will “bruise” the spirits and make your cocktail cloudy) with a bar spoon for around 20 seconds. Discard the ice from the Martini glass, rub the edge of the glass with the cut end of an lemon peel then strain your Martinez into the glass.
Garnish the edge of the glass with a twisted lemon peel.

Cocktails

Manhattan

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manhattan_2I’ve always been a big fan of Manhattan. So far my experiences have been limited to Manhattan being served in bars (the late Polka Bar in Soho, London did a particularly good one) and quick Manhattans made with bourbon and Martini Rosso.
So, I decided to do some research around the web and finally decided to do my Manhattan with American rye whiskey, 50/50 red and white vermouth, a dash of Angostura bitter and two dashes of Luxardo Maraschino liqueur.
Why the liqueur? Well, I’ve never been a huge fan of the cherry in the bottom of the Manhattan glass, so substitute the cherry for Maraschino cherry liqueur and problem solved.
So this is almost the original Manhattan recipe.
The result was quite surprising. Much more subtle than a lot of the Manhattans I’ve had to date. I think this is because of the Rye whiskey which is a lot more subtle than bourbon.
Very interesting though, and delicious! Next time I will try making it with only Rosso instead of a Perfect Manhattan with equal parts Rosso and Bianco. I think Perfect Manhattan works better with bourbon.

Ingredients for two Martini glasses:
100 ml Rye whiskey (I used Rittenhouse Straight Rye Whisky)
25 ml Martini Rosso
25 ml Martini Bianco
One dash of Angostura (or more than one dash if you want your Manhattan more bitter)
Two dashes of Luxardo Maraschino liqueur

How to make it:
Fill your Martini glasses with ice. Fill a large glass with ice and add all the spirits to this glass. Stir slowly (stirring fast will “bruise” the spirits and make your Manhattan cloudy) for around 20 seconds. Discard the ice from the Martini glass, rub the edge of the glass with the cut end of an orange peel then strain your Manhattan into the glass. Garnish the edge of the glass with a twisted orange peel.

UPDATE:
I recently made Manhattan with Woodford Reserve bourbon. I used the same recipe as above but with a few dashes of Angostura Orange bitters instead of the normal Angostura bitters. It was very nice and smooth.

Cocktails

The Aviation (Modern)

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aviation2Inspired by the great Ruhlman I decided to mix up The Aviation after a wonderful dinner at home. I loved this cocktail, perfect mix between the sour lemon juice, the vegetable notes from the gin and the sweetness of the Luxardo Maraschino liqueur. I omitted the Creme de Violette so it was actually a Modern The Aviation.

Ingredients for two Martini glasses:
120 ml gin (I used Hendrick’s)
30 ml Luxardo Maraschino
30 ml lemon juice (about 2 small lemons)

How to make it:
Fill your Martini glasses with ice. Fill your cocktail shaker with ice as well and add the spirits and lemon juice.
Shake well and strain into the glasses (discard the ice in the glasses first). Garnish with a bit of lemon peel if you want.

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UPDATE:
Since this post I also tried Modern The Aviation with Plymouth London Dry Gin. Personally I think Hendrick’s Gin makes a smoother Aviation less heavy on the typical gin flavours. Some people would say the total opposite though, that the smooth subtle flavors of the Hendrick’s get lost in a cocktail like this. It doesn’t really make sense that Hendrick’s would work in a The Aviation since the makers of Hendrick’s themselves advocate using a slice of cucumber for a Hendrick’s G&T instead of the ubiquitous wedge of lime but there you go.
In the end it’s like so many things in life – totally up to personal preference. When I get a bottle of Tanqueray No 10 I will try the Aviation again with this gin.