A Well-Dressed Lush

[awelldressedlush]

So, in my last post, I detailed a few ingredients I made. I still had that satsuma, half zested, sitting in the refrigerator, so I juiced it and made a drink.

Juice of one small satsuma 1 oz home-made grenadine 1/2 oz orgeat syrup 2 oz gin Brandied cherries for garnish It's dark, syrupy and sweet. If I remembered to purchase club soda, it could definitely use a splash of that to cut it.  But overall, the flavors combine nicely and make a good late afternoon pick-me-up.

[awelldressedlush]

Cocktail Dressings

I had no idea what to call this post. So I settled on "Cocktail Dressings." The sort of thing you add a whisper of, or maybe a dash of to a drink.  More and more, I'm becoming less reliant on store-bought dressings. My ultimate goal is to have a fine selection of home-made bitters. Maybe when that tax return rolls around, I'll stock up on gentian and arrowroot and all those odd herbs and/or spices that go into a good bitters.

Today, I've made a few new ingredients. First up was yet another version of grenadine. I read somewhere that sometimes blackcurrant is used in grenadine. I decided to give that a try. My recipe was as follows: 1/2 cup pomegranate juice 1/2 cup blackcurrant juice 1 cup sugar Dash of orange flower water Satsuma zest Pinch of ground nutmeg The satsuma zest and nutmeg are entirely optional. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil and let simmer until you feel it's ready. It should have a syrupy-like consistency.   Next up was Spiced Almond Honey Syrup. In case you can't tell, I have a few ingredients I like to use often. Especially in the fall and winter, where a nice spicy kick is just the thing. I can't remember the exact proportions, as this was a test. I keep a little honey bear bottle full of honey syrup at all times. It's just half honey, half water. To this, I added a couple drops of almond extract, some grated nutmeg, and crushed allspice and cloves. I brought that to a boil and let it steep.  I also purchased some cranberries with the idea of making some cranberry syrup for Thanksgiving cocktails. I thought this might be too particular, so I instead turned it into a shrub. I used this recipe as my base: http://www.finecooking.com/drink-recipes/cranberry-lime-shrub-sparkler.aspx But instead of lime zest, I, again, used a bit of satsuma zest. We make a cranberry conserve for Thanksgiving, so I was basing this shrub off of that. The other change I made was that I used aged white wine vinegar. I also saved the sugary, vinegary cranberry pulp left over from straining. It'll be a delicious garnish for the slow-cooked roast we're having for dinner. The final ingredient I made was Orgeat syrup. I found this recipe, and as I am notoriously impatient, I decided to give it a try. http://craftcocktailsathome.com/2013/04/a-blasphemously-easy-recipe-for-the-best-homemade-orgeat/ I followed it to the letter, as I've never made orgeat. So, hopefully this will be a good start. From here, I can begin making it my way, once I find out how it should taste.

[awelldressedlush]

Good Ingredients

My weekend has finally begun. I'm celebrating this with a margarita to combat this cold front that seems to be slipping in. It's not a special margarita at all. Though, it's probably one of the best I've made. I followed the basic proportions: 1 1/2 oz Tequila 1/2 oz Triple Sec 1 oz Lemon Juice Shake it up, serve over ice.  It's a classic. And the trick to having those classics is good ingredients. Now, I don't mean to go all Barefoot Contessa, but good ingredients make the drink.

For the tequila, I used Familia Camarena Reposado, which a guest to one of our parties brought over. This is a good start. A nice liquor always helps. The triple sec was Cointreau. Now, I'm not sure how much of a taste difference there is between Cointreau and let's say Stirrings Triple Sec, in fact, you're using half an ounce, so you don't have to go for the toppest of top shelf here. The lemon juice was 100% lemon juice, organic, that I picked up at the local Publix. It's a pretty big bottle, and a little more pricey than the plastic green bottle stuff, but it's cheaper than buying lemons, and will probably last longer.  This combination turned out to be a bit more bitter than I wanted, so I splashed half an ounce of simple syrup in there and reshook the drink. So, if you crave more natural flavor and don't really dig the prebottled mixers (though Stirrings does make some good ones in a pinch), stock up on good ingredients. You'll also impress your guests when you're mixing. 

Good luck and drink safe this weekend, folks!

[awelldressedlush]

Orange Spice Iced Coffee

A while back, when Starbucks first introduced their Orange Spice Iced Coffee, I knew I had to try it. As I've said before, I enjoy spiced drinks. So, I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't enough orange or spice to this drink.  So I did what anyone would do in this situation. I grabbed the bag of dark roast coffee beans I bought in Arizona, threw a handful into a jar and filled it with whiskey. This will only need to sit for 24 hours. Twenty-four hours. So, do this the day before. Store in a cool, dark place and forget about it until the next day's cocktail time rolls around. For best effect, do this on a Thursday evening and enjoy the drink on Friday night. You now have Coffee-Infused Whiskey!  What to do with it. Should you add cream and sugar? NO. Well, maybe. If you do this and it doesn't curdle or taste horrible, let me know. This is what I did with it.

2 oz coffee-infused whiskey Half oz Cointreau Simple Syrup to taste (or if you want to be awesome, some of that Angostura Spiced Syrup you made for the Evander Old-Fashioned!) Angostura Bitters to taste Orange peel Fresh grated nutmeg Garnish with Orange wedge or wheel

Shake together coffee-infused whiskey, Cointreau, syrup and bitters. Pour into a glass over ice. Express the orange peel into the glass over the drink. Grate nutmeg into the drink. Garnish with orange wedge or peel.  If the drink is a bit too strong, pour it into a taller glass, top with club soda and stir gently.

[awelldressedlush]

Applejack. No well-stocked home bar should be without it. I've sung it's praises once already on this page, but I'll do it again.  I read somewhere to "try an Old-Fashioned made with Applejack." I love Old-Fashioneds. I love Applejack. It's pretty much everything I love. Though, I did take it to a new level. I made an Evander Old-Fashioned with Applejack.  If you aren't the biggest fan of whiskey, but enjoy apples, especially an apple spice, go ahead and make this.  The recipe is readily available elsewhere on the internet and a simple Google search will bring it up. Here's how I do it. With Applejack. 3/4 oz Gin (I used Death's Door. If I had them, I'd have used Cold River or Caorunn.) 1 oz Applejack (Which I may have poured a bit generously.) 1/4 oz Cointreau 1/4 oz Spiced Angostura Syrup (The recipe can be found on the same page as the original recipe for the Evander Old-Fashioned.) Dash of Peach Bitters. Now, I didn't have peach bitters, so I used a dash of homemade ginger vodka and some orange flower water. I also added two brandied cherries and a bit of the syrup that was still on the spoon.  Shake vigorously, serve over ice. I'm a fan of spiced drinks, and dark liquors, so this is basically what I'll usually make for myself in my down time. Which brings me to my post for tomorrow!

[awelldressedlush]

The Look: In an attempt to break away from the usual black skinny tie and collar bar I've been gravitating to lately, I decided to switch up my neckwear options. When you have a weird pompadour and a handlebar moustache, there's not much you can wear to be taken seriously. I embrace this. And with this, a string tie.  These are really easy to make. I used black bias tape, stitched the open side closed about 1/8 inches in, folded the ends in and sewed them closed as well. The trick to this is tying it. I did a basic bow tie knot and cheated the ends towards the back of the tie. It'll take a couple tries to get the ends even, which is an absolute necessity to get the look. I paired it with a black shawl lapel vest and a brooch of Maila Nurmi. Not seen: Wayfarers and black roper boots.

[awelldressedlush]

The Cocktail of Cthulhu - The perfect drink to accompany creeping madness and feelings of impending doom.

2 oz gin 1/2 oz ginger liqueur dash grapefruit bitters 2 kumquats 1/2 starfruit Muddle kumquats and half a starfruit with ginger liqueur and bitters. Add ice and gin and shake vigorously. Strain into an old fashioned glass and garnish with a slice of starfruit. Optional: Use a page of the Necronomicon as a coaster to summon the Old Ones back once more. One of these days, I'll get a new camera and have decent pictures.

[awelldressedlush]

I decided while out grocery shopping today to pick up the ingredients to make my own grenadine. I've always been massively disappointed in the store-bought grenadine that comes in the huge plastic jug, and desperately wanted a Jack Rose after purchasing Laird's Applejack. So, after weighing the price of unsweetened 100% pomegranate juice to the dissatisfaction of cheap grenadine, I came home with the necessary ingredients. The first batch I made was pomegranate juice, honey and brown sugar with a dash of orange flower water. The honey and brown sugar overpowered the pomegranate juice, so I made a second batch. For this one, I used regular ol' sugar, some autumnal spices (cloves, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg), and orange bitters. It turned out perfect for what I needed.  As soon as the sun was over the yard arm, I mixed up a Jack Rose, based on a recipe from 1948. It called for 8 parts Applejack, 2 parts fresh lemon juice, and 1 part grenadine. My recipe was 4 parts Applejack, 2 parts of bottled lemon juice (not from one of those plastic lemons, but an unsweetended, organic 100% lemon juice), 1 part spiced grenadine and a whisper of Cointreau. I garnished it with a brandied cherry. Next time cherry season rolls around, make these. You'll thank me later. This was a great success, and after numerous failed Jack Roses (Jacks Roses? Jacks Rose?), I've finally found what I've been looking for. This is a great companion to these chilly, Georgia evenings.