Because what the world needs now is more rye cocktails. Because what the world needs now is more Liberals. Because I don’t think a “Conservative Cocktail” would taste good. (I don’t stock vitriol in my bar, anyway.)

Liberal Cocktail

1-1/2 ounces rye whiskey.
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth.
1/4 ounce Amer Picon (Torani Amer).
1 dash orange bitters.
Lemon twist.

Combine with cracked ice in a shaker or mixing glass. Stir for no less than 30 seconds, then strain into a cocktail glass.

Express the oil from a lemon twist onto the surface of the drink and garnish with the twist.

This is a really good drink.

If you’re serious about cocktails, I once again highly recommend picking up a bottle or two of Torani Amer. It’s a wonderful product, and in its recent reformulation works well in cocktails that call for Amer Picon. It’s not exactly the same as the Picon of old was, but it’s close enough (and it it’s close enough for all those California Basques for their Picon Punch, it’s close enough for me).

Yesterday was Wes’ turn, and once again he came up with a classic that neither of us had ever gotten around to trying. This is a wonderful old chestnut, and back in the day it even called for its own glass, the Delmonico glass. They’re rare as dodo’s teeth nowadays, but a whiskey sour glass is pretty much the same thing. We didn’t have either, actually … a cocktail glass had to suffice.

The combination of the two main base spirits might sound unlikely at first, but it was really delightful. Make sure you get a nice lemon twist with lots of oil in the skin, and express that oil onto the surface of the drink when you twist — that flavor component is important.

Delmonico

1 ounce gin.
1/2 ounce brandy.
1/2 ounce dry vermouth.
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth.
1 dash orange bitters.

Combine with cracked ice in a shaker or mixing glass. Stir for no less than 30 seconds, then strain into a cocktail glass.

Express the oil from a lemon twist onto the surface of the drink and garnish with the twist.

This evening (after a nine-hour day of home improvement shopping and clearing crap out of the garage) we made Dave Wondrich’s recent recommendation, the 1920s-era Rose cocktail, as featured in last week’s “Cocktailian” article. Oh my. It’s exquisite. You simply must try it.

We find this drink to be far superior when you use raspberry syrup made by either Smuckers or Knott’s Berry Farm. We like the Torani product, but it’s blown away by the jellymakers’ products.

The Rose
(Johnny Mitta, Chatham Hotel, Paris, 1920s)

2 ounces Noilly Prat dry vermouth.
1 ounce kirschwasser.
1 teaspoon raspberry syrup (or red currant syrup if you can find it).

Combine with cracked ice in a shaker or mixing glass. Stir for no less than 30 seconds. Strain into a cocktail glass.

No garnish specified, although I’d use a washed organic rose petal.

 

Yum yum yum!!

As it’s April 15, I expect a lot of us might need one of these tonight. Or six. If it seems familiar, it is — it’s basically a Bronx Cocktail with bitters added.

Income Tax Cocktail

1-1/4 ounces gin.
3/4 ounce orange juice.
1/4 ounce dry vermouth.
1/4 ounce sweet vermouth.
1 dash Angostura bitters or other aromatic bitters.

Shake & strain, serve in a cocktail glass. No garnish.

Pour me another one …

My new issue of Saveur just arrived, the April ’04 one. In it you’ll find a nice little article about single barrel and high-end bourbons (with a tasting guide), plus another about the island of Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles, which lends its name to the orange-flavored liqueur also known as triple sec (Cointreau being perhaps the best, and certainly the most expensive, example). Curaçao suffers in reputation a bit from many brands being cloyingly oversweet, but now the island has its own line of liqueur. “Senior & Company is the only producer making curaçao from real Curaçao-grown [bitter] orange peels, and its version of the liqueur is now available in the United States for the first time.”

Dale DeGroff provided the editors with a recipe suggestion for showing off this liqueur, a mid-20th Century concoction named after the grandsire of the famous racehorse Seabiscuit. It’s tasty but a bit sweet for me; next time I’ll take the curaçao down to 3/4 ounce.

Man O’War

1-1/2 ounces Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon whiskey.
1 ounce orange curaçao.
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth.
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice.
1 orange slice.
1 lemon slice.

Place the orange and lemon slices in a cocktail shaker and add cracked ice to fill. Add the other ingredients and shake vigorously for at least 10 seconds, until very cold. Add a couple of ice cubes to a cocktail glass, and strain the drink into the glass. Garnish with a cherry and a fresh orange slice.

Senior & Co.’s line of curaçaos appear to come in a rainbow of colors, including orange, red, green and two shades of the ubiquitous blue. There’s also apparently a really nummy-looking chocolate curaçao as well. For more information, visit their distributor, Preiss Imports.