The Derby

Not to be confused with the delicious Brown Derby containing
grapefruit juice. This is pretty good however. I tried it with Dolin
Blanc instead of the sweet vermouth but should try the original as well.

1 oz bourbon
.5 oz sweet vermouth
.5 orange curaçao
.75 lime juice
Shake and strain and garnish with a mint leaf.

Park Avenue Cocktail

Meh.
I flipped through the brilliant "Vintage Spirits and Forgotten
Cocktails" for inspiration and this caught my eye. I haven't had much
luck with pineapple in non-tiki drinks. The Algonquin was a bust.
(rye, dry vermouth, and pineapple) I just made the mistake of opening
a gallon of juice because I needed 2 oz for the Jungle Bird #2.

2 oz gin
.75 oz pineapple juice
.75 oz sweet vermouth
2 tsp orange curaçao

PS As I'm writing this my opinions are changing slightly, but I think
that's the gin talking.

Egg Nog

Yum! This is by far the best eggnog that I've ever had. Not that I'm an eggnog expert, but I'm planning on being one by the end of the holidays! Anyway, this one is from the Jeffrey Morgenthaler website.

2 large eggs
3 oz (by volume) granulated sugar
½ tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
2 oz brandy
2 oz spiced rum (I use Sailor Jerry’s)
6 oz whole milk
4 oz heavy cream

Beat eggs in blender for one minute on medium speed. Slowly add sugar and blend for one additional minute. With blender still running, add nutmeg, brandy, rum, milk and cream until combined. Chill thoroughly to allow flavors to combine and serve in chilled wine glasses or champagne coupes, grating additional nutmeg on top immediately before serving.

Bijou

I'm drinking my way through the Anvil 100, and I'm still under halfway. This drink wasn't a winner for me, I wanted to like it because the Negroni is one of my favorites, but swapping the Campari for Chartreuse kinda takes away the magic. It also takes away the bitter that counteracts the sweetness of the vermouth, so the drink is really syrupy sweet.

I looked at some other blogs and some people changed the ratio to 1.5 gin, .5 Chartreuse, .5 Vermouth. That sounds more appealing to me, but I still don't think I'll be making the switch from the Negroni anytime soon.

Bijou:
3/4 oz Gin
3/4 oz Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
Dash Orange Bitters

Stir and Strain, Garnish with a cherry and lemon peel

Bijou

Still working on the Anvil 100... I'm less than halfway through still

Cuba Kula

This one has no Campari.

2 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz honey
1 oz orange juice
1 oz dark rum, the recipe calls for Myers but i used Coruba12
1 oz Lemon Hart demerara
1/2 oz Bacardi 151
Dash Angostura bitters
6 drops Herbsaint or Pernod

Dissolve the honey in the limejuice and then place it all in a shaker and shake with plenty of ice. Strain over highball with ice.

Jungle Bird #2

OK, it's not exactly tiki drink season but this one was pretty good. The Campari made it seem more appropriate for a cold November evening. I made it for Wendy but she is opposed to all things Campari.

0.75 oz campari
0.5 oz fresh lime
0.5 oz simple syrup
2 oz pineapple juice
1 oz orange juice
1 oz demerara rum
1 oz overproof demerara rum to float

Shake and pour into a highball filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a lime.

Scottish Breakfast

Lots of apple based cocktails lately. It's that time of year. I have some hard apple cider brewing in the basement. I sampled it last night and it's going to be great! In the meantime I'm using my calvados to tide me over.

Makes 1 serving

• 1 1/2 ounces Speyside single-malt scotch (I don't know what speyside means, I used Glenlivet)
• 1/2 ounce apple brandy
• 1 ounce cream (I used milk because I don't put heavy cream into my temple)
• 1/2 ounce Grade B maple syrup
• 1 dash simple syrup
• -- Fresh-grated cinnamon, for garnish

Instructions: Combine all ingredients, except cinnamon, in a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass.

Apple Cocktail

1 oz apple cider
1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz Brandy
1 oz Calvados
Shake with ice.
Strain into cocktail glass.

This tastes surprisingly like the hard apple cider I made a couple of
years ago. Very light and refreshing.

"Soak it in Cider"

Every fall I crave apple cider. Not any old cider, but fresh pressed,
no preservatives, no pasteurization, no nothing but apples. I've only
found the real deal a few times in my life. The family and I went on
the hunt today and found it.
On the advice of some friends we drove to Oak Glen up in the hills
before you get to Palm Springs. We tried a few places on the way up
the hill but found a place that let you press your own. I thought it
was just a tourist gimmick but when you do it your self you know
exactly what goes into your cider.
I drank my fill today and have plans for the cider that made it home.
I'm going to let it sit out for a couple months and see if the yeasts
present will make it turn into hard cider.
I did make some apple cider syrup, by reducing it down, then played
around this evening and came up with this!

1 1/2 oz gin
1/2 oz Dolin Blanc vermouth
1/2 oz apple cider
1/2 oz apple cider syrup
1 barspoon allspice dram
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with
a slice of apple.

Tart Gin Cooler

I got off nice and early this evening and was craving a big glass of
something cold. This usually means a beer or soda but the cupboards
were bare. I located some tonic getting dusty in the back of a
cupboard then found this recipe. I like a gin and tonic ok, but this
is really good! The addition of bitters is nice. I put a pretty
healthy splash in. I think the Stirrings blood orange bitters would
work as well.

2 oz gin
2 oz pink grapefruit juice
2 oz tonic
Peychaud bitters (to taste)

20th Century Cocktail

1.5 oz Gin
3/4 oz Creme De Cacao
3/4 oz Lillet Blanc
3/4 oz Lemon Juice

The Creme de Cacao really works well with the lemon. This one's a keeper!

The Last Word

3/4 oz Gin
3/4 oz Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz Maraschino
3/4 oz Lime Juice

Shake and Strain
This was delicious, but a it seemed a little too sweet, maybe less maraschino?

Devil's Cocktail

1/2 Port
1/2 dry vermouth
2 dashes lemon juice
Shake with ice.
Strain into cocktail glass.

Very light, low in alcohol, and a great name!

The Gin and Orange Bitters

Adapted from Kingsley Amis's "Everyday Drinking"

2 parts gin
1 part orange bitters ( Stirring's)
Stirred with ice and strained into chilled coupe.
I've finally found the perfect use for the Stirring's orange bitters.

Fourth Degree Cocktail

Working my way through the Anvil 100.

1/3 dry vermouth (Noily Prat)
1/3 gin
1/3 sweet vermouth (Dolin Blanc)
2 bar spoons absinthe
Stir with ice.
Strain into cocktail glass.

Manhattan (Perfect)

2 oz Bulleit bourbon
1/2 oz sweet vermouth (I used Dolin Blanc)
1/2 oz dry vermouth
8-10 dashes Matt's cherry vanilla bitters
Stirred with ice and strained into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish
with cherry.

This was really good. I like the addition of the dry vermouth. It
really lightens up the drink. However, I would like to try this with
the Carpano Antica or some other bold sweet vermouth.