Your signature cocktail.

[Matt Deckard]

My signature coctail is whatever she buys me.

 

[Senator Jack]

Posted by Mojito:
When I was in my late teens/early 20s it was daiquiries - classic

Thank you Mojito - someone who knows! Daiquiri = no ice.

Posted by Scotrace:

Senator Jack has awakened a huge love of scotch in me, for which I am grateful!

Only the best for my friends. Glad to be of service.

On the suffix 'tini'

Kinglsey Amis wrote that he wished he could banish the suffix 'athon' as in Laughathon and Saleathon. I feel the same way about 'tini'. It really has got to go.

Signatures: Sidecar, Bourbon Cocktail, Daiquiri, Paris Cocktail

 

[pretty faythe]

Passs me a screwdriver

 

[Tomasso]

Passs me a screwdriver

With fresh squeezed juice.

 

[Lady Day]

Or leave the juice out


LD

 

[vonwotan]

Weather/season, mood, and the company all influence my decision. Most of the time it's a Knob Creek Manahattan, but occasionally sours, Campari and soda, Gin and tonic or Negronis. Recently I picked up a copy of Esquire's Handbook for Hosts. We are currently working our way through the classics and searching for some nice tart warm weather drinks.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

(snip) It turned out to be a tray of sugar-rimmed Sidecars, which I had never actually encountered in real life before (snip)

I knew sooner or later it had to come up...the Senator must still be mourning the late Doctor Pepper...I'm sure he'll weigh in soon.

 

[Senator Jack]

Why must they ruin a perfectly good cocktail? Why...why...why...?

 

[Chanfan]

I tend to change my cocktails with the seasons. A Winter cocktail to me is a Manhattan, while a Summer cocktail would be a Julep or Mojito. Does anyone else drink along seasonal lines? I always think it's like switching out your wardrobe.

Most certainly. Winter seems to go well with the warmth of Scotch, so cocktails using that would be nice. Summer's for things like Mojito's, coolers and such. Weather driven, I would think.

 

[Elaina]

I should point out that I don't drink all that often. Me ordering alcohol in a bar/restaurant usually makes my entire family ask me if I'm ill. I'm not a teetotaler, but there you go.

So, the local bar I went into, I have no idea if they serve good alcohol much less MY alcohol.

When I drank alot, I ordered what I wanted, and could/would drink whatever I wanted. The sours ame about from having to drink for a job social settings, and I drank with men who liked it fast and hard.

 

[RAF Man]

At home it's got to be a G & T, preferably Bombay Sapphire, with a twist of lime. The only exception to that is a Mai Tai, when holidaying in some warm tropical country.

 

[Kimberly]

Absolute or Tanqueray and tonic with lime. There is something about tonic water that prevents a hangover for me and after I hit 30 I get hangovers a lot so stick with the tonic water.

 

[RAF Man]

That's true about the tonic. Just don't get a hang over with G & T, even if drunk to a little over excess, but stick with the drink. Don't ever mix with beer or wine

 

[Chanfan]

When I was younger, and had not yet quite developed a taste for Gin, G&T's always amazed me. It was like an astounding thing from chemistry class - take one thing that tastes like pine-sol cleaner, one thing that's bitter nasty soda, and lime as a catalyst - and voilà - something tasty! It was like a little miracle in a glass. Come to think of it, it still is.

As for sidecars, what's the Senator's preference? I know he has a particular ratio that's different from the classic, and was the comment on ruining the drink about the sugar rimming?

I just tried one - mixing at home - and wow, these things are good! I'm following the "standard" recipe, 1 (fresh squeezed lemon juice) to 1 (Cointreau) to 2 (brandy), and a sugar (well, splenda for me) rimmed glass.

 

[John in Covina]

Depends on the situation:

Dining out- Gentleman Jack Manhattan

At my friends- Tanquerey Ten and Ketel One Martini

At the Tropical drinks bar in the Imperial Palace- Pina Coladas

 

[Chanfan]

Right - the search function discovers he's not a fan of the sugar rimming. I'll try one without, but I think I like it with (possibly because I like things sweet, and I can get away with this version)

Wikipedia sez (as in another thread, he asked who started the ridiculous practice of rimming the glass with sugar):

Both MacElhone and Vermiere state the recipe as equal parts Cognac, Cointreau, and lemon juice, now known as "the French school". Later, an "English school" of Sidecars emerged, as found in the Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), which call for two Cognac and one each Cointreau and lemon juice .

According to Embury, the original Sidecar had several more ingredients, which were "refined away". Embury also states the drink is simply a Daiquiri with brandy as its base rather than rum, and with Cointreau as the sweetening agent rather than sugar syrup. He recommends the same proportions (8:2:1) for both, making a much less-sweet Sidecar.

The earliest mention of sugaring the rim on a Sidecar glass is 1934, in three different books: Burke's Complete Cocktail & Drinking Recipes, Gordon's Cocktail & Food Recipes, Drinks As They Are Mixed (a revised reprint of Paul E. Lowe's 1904 book).

 

[Senator Jack]

I go by Embury's ratio for nearly all of my three-ingredient cocktails. You can't believe how many more cocktails are palatable just by reducing the amount of liqueur.

As we know, courtesy of The Volstead Act most of the cocktails we have today were concocted to disguise the foul taste of bathtub gin; thus the heavy use of sugar, eggs, and syrups. After repeal, no one except Embury thought to adjust the proportions of these cocktails so that the true flavor of the spirit stands out. In a 2:1:1 Sidecar you have the equal parts lemon and Cointreau fighting with the equal part Cognac. To my taste, this is a heavy, syrupy drink. The same goes for The Stoplight. I found this cocktail in a book by Anthony Dias Blue and tried it out with his given proportions of 2 oz Sloe Gin: 1 oz Gin : 1 oz lemon juice. Well, Sloe Gin, nor any liqueur, makes a good base because of all the sugar in it, so I took a few sips and dumped it out. Thinking about Embury's ratio, I made it again but with gin as the main ingredient (followed by the lemon and then the sloe gin) and now it's one of my favorites.

According to Embury, the original Sidecar had several more ingredients, which were "refined away". Embury also states the drink is simply a Daiquiri with brandy as its base rather than rum, and with Cointreau as the sweetening agent rather than sugar syrup. He recommends the same proportions (8:2:1) for both, making a much less-sweet Sidecar.

This is information is wrong. For a daiquiri, Embury suggests 8:2:.5, which cuts down on the simple syrup. (the rum is sugary enough). If I correctly recall, somewhere in his book he suggests 3:1:.5 for one of his daiquiris which I adopted for the classic daiquiri.

There are many decriers of Embury, and even I can't agree with his take on tiki/polynesian drinks, but you can tell that the guy was passionate about mixology. His book should be on every cocktailian's shelf.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[vonwotan]

Senator Jack - What is the title of Embury's book? I have recently purchaesed some "new" books searching for tart refreshing drinks of recipes. Esquire's Handbook for Hosts is the one I'm working my way through now. But, as you mentioned, many rely on sugar, simple syrup or tend to be rather sweet. Too many of today's drinks (and food recipes) are sweet. I prefer tart a drink in the warm weather and a judicious use of various bitters the rest of the year.

The Handbook mentions Ph.D's (philosophers of drinkology), a degree to which I can aspire. Like the mavens of style they break the "rules" - "artful Ph.D's have discovered make-or-break secrets you'll seldom find in recipes." With a line like that in the second paragraph of the cocktails section I have to keep on reading.

 

[Senator Jack]

'The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks' You can find it on Ebay for about $5.

 

[vonwotan]

Thank you. I guess I'll need to be patient. I did a search and found one copy currently available, with a starting bid of $50. Over the years I've done business with quite a few good book dealers. I'll have to see what they have picked up in recent estate sales. They are ususally quite anxious to rid themselves of anything that is not fitting in to their rare and antiquarian catalogues.