Your signature cocktail.

[anon`]

I have three, though the first doesn't qualify as a cocktail:

1. Single malt scotch, neat but for one drop. Highland or Speyside.
2. Sidecar. 2:1:1, but without sugar (largely because I never bother to add it when I make them). As an aside, there's a place near my office that makes them with--I think--lime juice. Quite good.
3. Casablanca. The one with rum, not that egg-stuff.

A fourth (the G&T) is trying to make it's way into rotation for summer. Still undecided on this one.

 

[Max Slade]

A Perfect Manhattan, using Maker's Mark bourbon and Noilly Prat vermouth.

I have to agree with Tomasso, the Perfect Manhattan with Maker's Mark (I'm not as choosy about the vermouth),served up, is the best. It's ability to take tension away is magical. In fact, I have found that too many work as a memory eraser. All I know is I had a great time.

 

[Pina Bridgette]

My usual is vodka and tonic. Chopin Vodka is my favorite.

It may be a lousy thing to do to good rum but last week I drank the last of my kosher for passover (made with sugar not hfcs) coke in a cuba libre.

 

[birddog]

I had my local German gasthaus make a Manhattan using Maker's Mark. Boy, what a difference! Best thing that ever happened to a Manhattan. The owner was suprised, as she worked in the hotel & restaurant business for a year in the U.S. & only made Manhattans using C.C..

Thanks for the tip!

Birddog

 

[henderson field]

Good News!!

Check out this article on the BBC website: -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6569657.stm

it says that adding alcohol to strawberries enhances their healthy effects. Daiquiri anyone??

Actually my fav. tipple is a neat, malt whiskey - either Glen Morangie or Lagavulin. As for cocktails, I tend to go for a vodka martini. Incidentally, what is the difference between shaking and stirring a VM? Does it affect the taste or is James just being pretentious?

Yoursh ( hick),

HF

 

[Girl Friday]

Vodka!

Vodka tonic or Bloody Mary.

Martinis at 8!

 

[The Reno Kid]

Sidecars:

Juice of 2 fresh lemons
3 jiggers Triple Sec (or Cointreau, if you're feeling flush)
3 jiggers brandy

Shake with ice and serve neat in 2 chilled cocktail glasses lightly rimmed with (red) sugar. The perfect start to a weekend.

 

[Senator Jack]

What book did you get THAT recipe from, Reno?

 

[The Reno Kid]

I started with The Art of the Cocktail by Philip Collins (a lovely little book with some wonderful recipes) and adjusted to suit the taste of myself and Mrs. Reno Kid. Another favorite is the Aviation but we're nursing a somewhat hard-to-find bottle of Maraschino, so they're a fairly rare treat.

 

[anon`]

...but we're nursing a somewhat hard-to-find bottle of Maraschino...

So bloody true. I now detour out of my way when I run out of something, simply because I now know that one local liquor store stocks Luxardo; they've won my business forever (or at least until they stop carrying it).

 

[BegintheBeguine]

anon` what do you use Luxardo in and where is Stumptown?

 

[anon`]

anon` what do you use Luxardo in and where is Stumptown?

"Stumptown" is an affectionate local term for Portland, OR. Should clarify that.

Anyway, I typically use Luxardo in the rum-based Casablanca (apparently there's one that uses egg-stuff), but I find that it's not all that unpleasant by itself.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Thanks! (Never too early in the day to discuss cocktails. )

 

[anon`]

As the mysterious "they" are wont to note, it's always five o'clock somewhere in the world

 

[The Reno Kid]

When I was younger I made it a rule never to take strong drink before lunch.
It is now my rule never to do so before breakfast.
-Winston Churchill

lol

 

[Nic Charles]

Very Dry Gin( For the benefit of those who think you can actually make it with something else and still call it a...) Martini, shaken ,3 olives, please

I'm with Olive Bleu on this one, however, I use ONLY Tanqueray gin, with three drops of ONLY Gallo Vermouth, and two olives (Vermouth in a small spray bottle also works well), add ice, shake and pour into a vintage glass. This is always a challenge when going to a club, restraunt or bar. I usually find myself showing the bartender how to make it. It saves me from having to send it back three or four times.

Unfortunately, gin can give me heartburn, so I still go back to my old standby: Jameson's Irish Whiskey on the rocks in a tumbler (and don't be stingy with the whiskey!). If it's the 12 year old, I'll drink it neat with a glass of good ale on the side.

 

[jamespowers]

I'm with Olive Bleu on this one, however, I use ONLY Tanqueray gin, with three drops of ONLY Gallo Vermouth, and two olives (Vermouth in a small spray bottle also works well), add ice, shake and pour into a vintage glass. This is always a challenge when going to a club, restraunt or bar. I usually find myself showing the bartender how to make it. It saves me from having to send it back three or four times.

Unfortunately, gin can give me heartburn, so I still go back to my old standby: Jameson's Irish Whiskey on the rocks in a tumbler (and don't be stingy with the whiskey!). If it's the 12 year old, I'll drink it neat with a glass of good ale on the side.

Now you are talking my kind of drinks. I usually use Martini and Rossi vermouth but that small spray bottle really helps make the drink. Two or three sprays is about all it takes. I stir mine though---don't want to bruise the gin.
Jameson works for me too in a pinch. Neat.

 

[Mike1939]

Gin and Tonic is my favorite, it keeps me from getting Malaria, which is quite common here in California. So I must be sure to have my daily dose.

 

[jamespowers]

Gin and Tonic is my favorite, it keeps me from getting Malaria, which is quite common here in California. So I must be sure to have my daily dose.

Gee, I didn't know that. I'll have to commit that to memory.
Is it particularly common where we are?

 

[Martinis at 8]

Gin and Tonic is my favorite, it keeps me from getting Malaria, which is quite common here in California. So I must be sure to have my daily dose.

LMAO! You'd better take some Malarone with that Gin & Tonic