Spa

It's shaping up to be a decent day today, hopefully yours is the same.  The weather looks fairly good.  The weekend is nearly upon us.  And, the new Arcade Fire album "The Suburbs" drops next Tuesday.  It will no doubt be the Soundtrack of the Week come Monday.  If you want an advance listen to the album, it can be found streaming here.

Today, we drink the Spa cocktail.  This is an extremely light cocktail, taste-wise, befitting of its name.

Spa, available at the New Amsterdam Gin website, here.

Mix this delectable cucumber martini on a summer day or as a complement to a soothing spa treatment. Smooth sailing.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 1/2 oz New Amsterdam Gin
1 oz spring water
1 teaspoon sugar
3 slices English cucumber
A splash of vanilla essence or violet liqueur
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Muddle the cucumber with sugar until the juice is extracted. Pour mixture into a cocktail shaker with all other ingredients. Add ice. Shake vigorously for about six seconds. Strain contents into a martini glass and garnish with a cucumber flower.

This is a particularly interesting cocktail because it's so light in flavor.  You'll taste the gin, and you'll certainly taste the cucumber and the small amount of sugar.  As a cocktail, it tastes like lightly sweetened water.  The name of the drink in many ways describes the experience you'll have with the cocktail - refreshing, clean, almost rejuvenating (insofar as you'll feel like a new person after 4-5 of these).

I'm trying to think of the occasions in which this cocktail makes sense.  I think it's too delicate for very hot weather, or a BBQ.  I think it'd likely make a great aperitif, because the subtlety may awaken the taste buds.  I suppose it would be a solid cocktail at a spa, but unless you have one at your home or you carry alcohol when visiting a spa, it's like out of the question.

The Spa cocktail is a bit of a surprise to me because I did not expect to like something quite so light in flavor.  Compared to something like scotch, this cocktail is light as air.  Give it a go if you want to try something a bit different.  Also, you may have noticed that I have Crème de Violette in the arsenal now.  In the near future, we'll be revisiting one of my favorite cocktails, the Aviation, to see if there is a discernible difference between using Crème de Violette and Parfait Amour to finish the drink. 

Have a great weekend!  We'll see you on Monday!  Salud!

Aviation Cocktail

So, how about that LeBron James fellow?  He sure does love attention.

This whole ordeal has been so drama-filled, and so utterly unnecessary.  It reminds me of LeBron's basketball games to date in some ways: at times riveting, but in the end, unfulfilling.

What all of this drama tells me is that LeBron is not in the mold of Jordan and Kobe.  He is sadly different.  LeBron seems to be more interested in posing after the final shot than he is in actually taking or hitting it.  Jordan and Kobe want(ed) to kill you.  Maybe not literally, but they certainly want(ed) to figuratively kill their opponents.  Their drive was founded upon a need to win. 

LeBron, it seems, either knew he did not possess that type of drive to win, or, perhaps knew he needed others to shoulder some of the burden of winning.  I feel as though his capacity for greatness is now smaller; his passing ability apparently not limited to the basketball court, but also to passing off the large responsibility of team leadership to at least 2 others. 

So now we have a "super team" - a team comprised of exactly 3 players as of right now, and only one that I actually genuinely like (D. Wade).  Quote Macbeth here with the sound and the fury and all, because by the end of the hour special, it was entirely anti-climactic.  The one thing I did learn is that LeBron is as hollow an individual in front of the media as Tiger Woods.  How incredibly sad, and boring.

And why Jim Gray, ESPN?  Jim Gray is the best guy you could come up with?  He is universally loathed, and his voice equals nails on a chalkboard turned up to 11.  I wish Pete Rose had been in attendance and just walked up and punched Gray in the face.  That would have been drama I would have enjoyed.

With LeBron flying to Miami, we fly the Aviation cocktail today!

Aviation Cocktail

Adapted from Samuel Kinsey's recipe by the NYT, available here.

2 ounces gin

1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 teaspoons maraschino liqueur, preferably Luxardo

1/4 ounce Crème de Violette

Lemon twist, for garnish

Combine the first three ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake to chill well, then strain into a cocktail glass. Drizzle the Crème de Violette into the glass and garnish with a lemon twist.

For this cocktail, I'm using New Amsterdam Gin, Luxardo maraschino liqueur, and Parfait Amour in the place of Crème de Violette.

I love this cocktail.  This is one of my go-to cocktails, when I can find a place that serves them.  In Chicago, I get it at The Bristol.  In Indianapolis, I go to the newly opened pre-prohibition era cocktail bar, Ball and Biscuit.

First, it's worth noting a couple things about the recipe.

It is incredibly difficult to find Crème de Violette.  Don't let its absence discourage you.  It is primarily meant to impart color into the cocktail.  I subbed in Parfait Amour in its place, as even the finest liquor stores in my area do not carry Crème de Violette without a specialty order.  The flavors of the two liqueurs may differ, but not so substantially so as to significantly change the Aviation's taste or your enjoyment of the drink.

The other issue worth noting is that maraschino liqueur is not nearly as sweet as you might expect.  Sure it is sweet, but not syrupy sweet.

This is such a balanced cocktail, and so enjoyable.  The first taste I get upon sipping the Aviation is a slight bitterness, followed by a wonderful mix of the lemon and cherry flavors.  Balance.  It is excellent.  I'd drink this as an aperitif, or perhaps as an after-dinner drink.  I probably would not drink it with a meal, as it has a flavor profile that should be savored on its own.

Have an excellent weekend, enjoy the Aviation, and we'll see you next week!

Salud!

Bee's Knees

Last night, I had a soccer game that started at 10pm.  I don't know about you, but by 10pm, the last thing I want to do is sprint and run around.  Perhaps the worst part is the brief opportunity to cool-down before trying to go to sleep.  It never quite works.

Some friends have recommended drinking a beer before heading to bed.  That might work for someone else, but it doesn't sound too appealing to me.  If the game were earlier, a beer might go over well, but just before turning in, I'd just assume pass. 

Today's drink though, doesn't sound half bad. The Bee's Knees is the drink, named after a phrase that is meant to describe something that's top shelf.  Also, it's a nice little allusion to the use of honey in the cocktail. 

The Ultimate Book of Cocktails page 129

Bee's Knees

1 1/2 oz gin
1/4 oz honey
1/4 oz lemon juice

Shake the ingredients very well with ice to integrate the honey, and strain into a cocktail glass.

For this cocktail, I'm using New Amsterdam gin, Nellie and Joe's Key West Lemon Juice, and locally produced honey.

This is a very easy, very good cocktail.  If you like gin, this is an especially good cocktail that yields good gin flavor, while also leaving the door open for the rest of the ingredients to enter the mix. 

The drink will sometimes taste like a strong alcoholic lemonade, but for the most part there is exceptionally clean gin flavors that are both refreshing and at times, lip-smacking.

I'm a big fan of this cocktail, and would pair it with something spicy, as it would be the perfect cocktail to counterbalance any heat.  And, if you have a late night soccer game, think of it like the alcoholic version of orange wedges you used to get after Little League games. 

See you on Friday!

Venus

Today we are drinking the Venus cocktail.  And thankfully too, I will not be discussing anything on television, or my DVR!  Yay!  Small victories!

Before proceeding to the drink, I do want to list out some events worth checking out, depending on your area:

NYC: The Manhattan Cocktail Classic, May 14 to 18.  From the NYT listing, it is "a series of tastings, gatherings and seminars covering topics like absinthe drinks, craft spirits, vermouth, rum, gin, traditional punches, sherry and single malts, as well as how to photograph cocktails, the best glassware to use, the art of distillation and cocktail myths and legends."

San Francisco: CUESA's farmers' market cocktail tastings at the Ferry Building next week.  Learn more about it here.  And, grab lunch at The Slanted Door while you're at it.

Also in San Fran, check out this list of Top 10 sandwiches in the city.

Sydney: It's world cocktail week, and throughout the city, there are places to go imbibe.  And, if you are a kind soul, please forward me a 6 pack of VB, it's not available in my neck of the woods - all we have is Cooper's and random other offerings.  And I miss it so!!  I can forward you my address, if you're one such kind soul.  :)

Alright, three major cities - hopefully to the benefit of some of you readers.  Now, we drink the following:

Alright, I'll be the first to admit that this cocktail isn't the most appealing looking drink, at least not to me anyway.  Raspberry bits don't make for a quality look (full raspberries are a different story).  But lest we judge too quickly, or on aesthetics alone, let's look at the recipe.

The Ultimate Bar Book, page 206

Venus

2 oz gin
1 oz Cointreau
1/4 oz simple syrup
Dash of Peychaud's bitters
8 fresh raspberries

Shake the liquid ingredients and 6 of the raspberries vigorously with ice.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with the remaining 2 raspberries.

For this cocktail, I'm using New Amsterdam gin, Cointeau, Simple Syrup, and in the place of Peychaud's I am using Angostura bitters.

Unfortunately, for all the raspberries in this drink, the overwhelming flavor is that of an orange.  In many ways, this cocktail tastes like a shaken orange flavored vodka, with a couple raspberries thrown in as a garnish.  Obviously, the Cointreau is a big reason for a prominent orange flavor, though I am surprised that the other ingredients do not impart their own flavors into the mix.

This is a good but not great cocktail.  It's not easy to pull together all of its ingredients, and the end result is an orange flavored drink with little nuance.  I expected more raspberry notes, but they never arrived until I ate the actual raspberries at the bottom of the glass.  This cocktail may require some tweaking to make it something special, but in its current incarnation, I'd give it something like a 6 out of 10.

Until next time, have a great day, and drink one for me!

French 75

Today we're drinking the French 75, a gin, lime juice, and champagne combination that is an outstanding cocktail choice for any occasion.  But first, I want to quickly talk about a television show that wrapped up its season on Sunday.

There are only a handful of television shows that I watch, and try to pimp out to my friends.  The only reality show in the bunch is the Amazing Race, which finished its season on Sunday evening.

For those who don't watch, the Amazing Race features various teams of two people traveling all over the world performing tasks that tie into the local culture.  It's a great show for anyone who enjoys travelling and foreign culture.  And, there is far far less reality show gimmickry on the Amazing Race, compared to other shows that play up the melodrama.  As always though, the real reason to watch are the surroundings. The teams traveled to some really interesting places, like the Seychelles, Singapore, Chile, and Malaysia.

This season featured one of my favorite teams of all time, the cowboy brothers, Jet and Cord.  They were always in a good mood, even under the most trying of circumstances.  They came in second, next to another set of brothers, Dan and Jordan.  I liked Dan and Jordan up until the finale, when they started playing ruthless with Jet and Cord.  Aside from the last episode, they were likeable. 

The real drama this season was between Caite and Brent (dating models, and Caite by the way is the infamous Miss South Carolina of YouTube fame) and Carol and Brandy.  These two teams hated each other.  Brandy, the alpha dog on her team, seemed to find reason to dislike everything and everyone on the Race, at one point or another.  She was, at times, unwatchable.  She made a point, time and again, to make statements and utterances that could be boiled down to: "Look at me, I like fancy things."  It was rough to witness, and embarrassing.

Caite and Brent were no angels either.  They bordered on verbal domestic abuse frequently, and Caite tried a bit too hard to make the Amazing Race her chance to show "the world" that she's smart.  On the one hand, I empathize with her because she went through a horrible public experience.  On the other hand, she still needs a few more years of maturity.  Case in point: I think she said to Brent "Shut up before I hit you in the face" maybe a dozen times on the show.  Not classy.

Congrats to Dan and Jordan for winning this season's Race.  Looking forward to the next go-round, which likely begins in the summer. 

In honor (not really) of their victory, we drink the French 75!  I found an excellent recipe in a recent Wine Spectactor:

Wine Spectator Magazine, May 31, 2010, page 83

French 75

3 oz gin
3 oz fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon sugar
8 oz Champagne

In a shaker, dissolve sugar in the gin and juice.  Add ice, shake hard, and strain into chilled flutes.  Add Champagne to top.  Serves 2.

For this cocktail, I'm using New Amsterdam gin, Korbel California Champagne (don't buy something fancy, this is $8/bottle, and will do just fine), and Nellie and Joe's Key West Lime Juice.

The French 75 is an excellent sparkling wine cocktail.  It's sweet, but not too sweet.  The gin adds just enough spice to the mix so that it's not a sugary mess. 

You can taste the lime juice, to be sure, but it balances itself well with the other ingredients.  At times in fact, this drink tastes like many other sours, as well it should because under most definitions of the sour family, the French 75 would make the cut.  It has a base liquor, lime juice, and a sweetener in the sugar.  Surprising that the French 75 might be grouped in with the Sidecar or Daiquiri, but so it is.

Notice too, that the recipe is intended to make 2 cocktails - this is a drink meant to be consumed with friends or better-halves. 

I'd suggest this cocktail under any occasion.  I mean that - truly any occasion.  This could be a brunch cocktail, and wedding shower cocktail, an aperitif, a post dinner cocktail, and any other moment deserving of celebrating the good life.

Tomorrow, we're going to try the Ring of Kerry, named after the southwest coast of Ireland - a beautiful and scenic area that I hope, due to its namesake, means good things to come for this cocktail.

Beauty Spot

Ever heard of this cocktail?  Me neither.  Like every other cocktail invented, this one has a few different recipes swimming about the ether.  Some contain a few juices here or there, but we're leaving those ingredients out of the mix, as the one we're drinking today contains egg white.  That's right, raw, uncooked egg white.

Still reading?  Nice!  I like you, you're an adventurous soul.  Good on you, lad. 

Funny thing about this drink - it's called the Beauty Spot, and it contains some rather delicate flavors - which, if I were a guessing man, would put this drink squarely in the relm of being a bit of a lady's cocktail.  Except, that it has RAW EGG WHITE!! 

Not to malign my loyal female readers, but I think it's safe to say that males are more inclined to consume such bizarre ingredients like raw egg white at a greater clip than the females.  Perhaps, among other reasons, it is because women are smarter than us gents!  "Delicious drink v. possible salmonella poisoning?  I'll let you take this one Bruno."

It does make a lovely picture, no?

The Ultimate Bar Book, page 175

Beauty Spot

2 oz gin
1/2 oz white crème de cacao
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon grenadine

Shake the gin, crème de cacao, and egg white vigorously with ice.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Drop the grenadine in the center of the drink; do not stir.

For the Beauty Spot, I'm using:

- New Amsterdam gin (one of the better bargins out there gin-wise - around $12-14, and very good gin);

- DeKuyper Crème de Cocoa (if you're at all inclined to read a nice sidebar on the differences between the word cocoa and cacao, read here);

- Rose's Grenadine; and

- An organic cage-free egg from Fresh Market (even my cocktails gotta be cage-free eggs homey).

This is the first cocktail I've made with an egg white.  I'm a little cautious, admittedly, about consuming uncooked egg.  I figure though, that if Rocky can do it, so can I. 

And it turns out to be a good drink.  The gin pairs nicely with the crème de cacao, giving it a light chocolate aroma and taste that is rather delicious.  Thus far, a couple sips in, I have not reached any grenadine.  The grenadine functions like the cherry in the bottom of the glass.

While I cannot taste the egg's contribution to the cocktail, I'm sure it's adding something to the mix.  I talked with some friends about this cocktail recently, and it's worth restating what I had told them about the drink: the consistency of the drink is normal, not weird or phlegmy (words I did not expect to write on Amateur Mixologist, ever: phlegmy). 

With each drink too, the chocolate flavor comes forth a little more.  I'm on sip 3 or 4, and I'm realizing that it's as though in my first couple of sips the gin somehow rose to the top.  In this 3rd or 4th sip range, I'm settling into a mixed area of sorts, with a less prominent gin flavor. 

One could argue that you could add as much as 1 full ounce of the crème de cocoa, and it would be a good fit.  I think it is all dependent on how much you like gin.  If you like gin, 1/2 an ounce of the crème de cocoa is enough.  If you think gin is just OK, maybe add a touch more crème de cocoa than the recipe requires.

The grenadine adds a nice finish, in the same way a maraschino cherry is perfect after a chocolate shake. 

This is a one-order maximum drink.  I mean, uncooked egg is not ideal in mass quantities, right?  If you're in the need for something very different (uncooked egg always qualifies as very different), the Beauty Spot is a solid choice.



For more drink links, random musings, and my attempts to be witty, check us out @IMakeDrinks on Twitter.