Bourbon Sidecar

We are in the midst of an incredible sports tidal wave of action and excitement.  My buddy Danny provided me  with a the bootleg link to watch much of this week's sporting action.  Between the US soccer match, Italy losing, Isner/Mahut's epic tennis battle, and the US Open finale on Sunday, I can't remember the last time there were this many sporting events that I cared about going on at the same time.  It's fantastic!

And what should we do when watching sports?  Drink!  Yes, absolutely, we drink.  Today, we're drinking the Bourbon Sidecar, a perfect twist to an otherwise stellar cocktail.  The New York Times featured a story on the Bourbon Sidecar, and it's where we derived this recipe.  You can read the article at this link.

Bourbon Sidecar

2 oz bourbon
1 oz Cointreau
1 oz lemon juice

Shake over ice, serve.

For the Bourbon Sidecar, I'm using Woodford Reserve.  Feel free to us whatever you like.  The recipe calls for a sweeter bourbon - something like Maker's Mark.  I'd use whatever you've got on hand, it will likely work well in this cocktail.

I love this drink.  I love it for multiple reasons.  I love it because:

-  it has bourbon;

-  it is a version of the Sidecar;

-  it has discernable alcohol flavors;

-  it reminds me of other great whiskey based cocktails, like the sazerac;

-  there is a subtle bitters flavor in the drink, even though there are in fact no bitters

-  the lemon juice and whiskey pair together really well, debunking my previous thought that such a pairing was ill-fated;

This is an excellent cocktail.  This past weekend, I had some friends swing by on their way to a reunion.  I made them Fireman's Sours, and Sidecars.  They loved them both.  This would have been the unequivocal winner had it been made.  This is moving into the prime rotation of what I will now call "go-to cocktails."  You know what I mean - the cocktails in your arsenal that you have seared into you memory.  The cocktails that you know will impress, know others will enjoy, and know that will be requested again and again.

The classic Sidecar is one of my go-to cocktails.  It's easy to make, it's incredibly drinkable, and it's old.  I love old cocktails.  It's all the better to tell your guests that the cocktail in their hand pre-dates their grandparents.  That's a hell of a lot more interesting that handing them a vodka tonic.

Enjoy the Bourbon Sidecar, and enjoy the weekend!  We'll see you next week!

Rosemary

Now that we're nearing the summer, every decent television show is wrapping up their season.  It's time to turn to other pastimes as we all do when the summer rolls around.

Every year I hope to read a little more, though I always find it difficult to read books in the face of all the periodicals to which we subscribe.  I did however recently finish a book that I recommend.  It's called "Safe From the Neighbors," by Steve Yarbrough.

"Safe From the Neighbors" is a story about a local-history teacher in a small Mississippi town, the affair he has with a fellow teacher, and the relationship between the 1960s Civil Rights movement, his family, and those around him.  Yarbrough manages to weave historical anecdotes into the modern melodrama of the main character's life, all told in the first person.

It's a pretty short novel - maybe around 300 pages or so.  Yarbrough manages to make good use of the space. When you finish that last page, you'll wonder how he fit the story into such tight quarters.

And, after reading some of the story's sadder plot developments, you'll need a stiff drink.  What do you know - we're drinking one today!  It's called the Rosemary cocktail, equal parts bourbon and dry vermouth.  Simple to make, and strong.

This recipce can be found at About.com's cocktail section

Rosemary

1 1/2 oz bourbon
1 1/2 oz dry vermouth

Pour the ingredients into a mixing glass with ice cubes.  Stir well.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

For this cocktail, I'm using Woodford Reserve bourbon whiskey and Martini and Rossi Dry Vermouth.

The website for this cocktail says that the Rosemary is also called a Dry Bourbon Manhattan (dry of course because it's made using dry vermouth). 

Admittedly, this is not my favorite use of bourbon, particularly good bourbon.  The dry vermouth doesn't add flavor to the bourbon that compliments its sweet tones in the same way that a normal Manhattan's sweet vermouth might.  Know too that I often find Manhattan's to be on the sweet side all their own, and to use sweet vermouth sparingly. 

Here however, the bourbon is drowned out by dry vermouth, losing a bit of its flavor profile without a complimenting component.  Think of a piece of pie, whose sweetness was zapped by an addition of a certain amount of flour in the place of sugar.  The dry vermouth has the same dulling effect, in my opinion.

So I don't love the Rosemary, but I do love bourbon.  Maybe next time, I'll just stick to a Manhattan.

Have a great weekend folks...enjoy the holiday!


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

Drink Six - The Old Fashioned

The final recipe of the first six drinks...The Old Fashioned!

According to Wikipedia, the Old Fashioned may have been the first cocktail.  There are many different recipes for this drink, and it has so many components, it's easy to see why some would be replaced with others (or omitted entirely).

Recipe
American Bar, page 145

1 sugar cube
dashes Angostura bitters
2 oz bourbon
soda
stemmed cherry
orange
lemon

Place sugar cube in an old fashioned glass, saturate with Angostura, add orange and lemon wedges, press with a pestle, add bourbon, stir well, add ice cubes, fill with soda or water, stir again, garnish with cherry.


This is by far the most complicated recipe to date.  I used what little Woodford Reserve I had left for the bourbon, real deal Angostura bitters, and thankfully our local Farm Fresh Delivery service had sent oranges and lemons this past Thursday.  I had everything in the recipe at the house, except for the sugar cube and the ice cubes.  I know, I know.  You're saying to yourself "how does he not have ice cubes"?  A good question, though, if you saw the state of the freezer, you'd understand. 

It's not that my freezer is gross or anything, it's merely packed to the brim with a ton of great Costco purchases.  And, my freezer doesn't have its own ice-making machine.  The result of all of this is that I need to pick up an ice bag from time to time.  That's what I did - running to the local Village Pantry (specializing in ice bags and monthly hold-ups).

Once I had everything in place, I started trying to find something that looked like an old fashioned glass.  Not knowing what one would look like, I tried to find a lowball glass that might fit the bill.

And then...and then I gazed upon the finest glass in my collection.  Was it my quirky economics based glass that tracks the NYSE ebb and flow in the 1960's?  No, but alas, that is an outstanding piece of hardware that will definitely be used in the future.

What glass was it?  What I saw, and what would serve as the vessel for this very drink, was my Al Harrington, The South Pacific Man, glass.  I have two of them - somehow finding the pair at a thrift store many years ago.

You're saying to yourself - but I've never heard of this gentleman - who is this man of mystery?!?  I will show you...

Here is the front, announcing Mr. Harrington:

And here is the back -with Mr. Harrington himself:

Genius!!  Love this guy.

Alright, so here are all of the drinks components, including Mr. Harrington:

To the drink itself... 

I'm not sure what to make of it.  When I mashed the sugar, angostura bitters and the wedges together, the glass smelled great!  It was kind of a summer-like spice mixture that I thought would pave the way towards something excellent.

But when it came to sipping time, I was getting bits of pulp with each sip.  I like pulp in my OJ, but not in my cocktails.

It tastes like a watery bourbon drink, with a touch of bitters.  Whatever addition the sugar and fruits are adding gets diluted by the soda water.  I can taste some of the orange at times, which is a nice compliment to the bourbon, but I'd probably cut back on the soda water, or not use any at all.  I think the soda water just takes away from the flavors one would want in this drink, namely: bourbon, bitters and sweet orange and lemon.

The more I type this post out though, the more I'm sipping this drink, and liking it.  It has a refreshing quality, sitting over the ice.  And as the ice melts away, yet more of the flavor does as well.  On second thought, just skip the club soda entirely.  The ice will provide enough liquid to balance the drink out - no need for any additional water (unless watered-down drinks are your style).

The old fashioned, with the necessary adjustments, is a winner.  But the real highlight this evening is being able to share the moment with Al Harrington, The South Pacific Man!

The First Drink - Classic Manhattan

Classic Manhattan Ingredients

In researching the Manhattan, I came away with little proof of its origin. You can read the same for yourself in the Wikipedia entry which nicely sets out a few of the origin-stories.

“A popular history suggests that the drink originated at the Manhattan Club in New York City in the early 1870s, where it was invented by Dr. Iain Marshall for a banquet hosted by Jennie Jerome (Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston's mother) in honor of presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden. The success of the banquet made the drink fashionable, later prompting several people to request the drink by referring to the name of the club where it originated — "the Manhattan cocktail."[4][5] However, Lady Randolph was in France at the time and pregnant, so the story is likely a fiction. The original "Manhattan cocktail" was a mix of "American Whiskey, Italian Vermouth and Angostura bitters".”

I love this story because it has no basis in fact, and it's possible Lady Randolph drank heavily on the whiskey while pregnant (was she pregnant with Winston?).

The Recipe

Classic Manhattan 

The Ultimate Bar Book, page 354

2 ounces rye, bourbon, or blended Canadian whisky

3/4 ounces sweet vermouth

2 to 3 dashes Angostura bitters

Maraschino cherry

Stir the liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

For this recipe, I'm using Woodford Reserve bourbon, and Gallo sweet vermouth.  Mixing everything together was easy.  Taking the photos though, not as easy.

Steady now, steady

The finished product is pretty striking.  Against a white backdrop, the amber color of the bourbon looks good.

Classic Manhattan

My initial thought was how sweet the drink tasted, far sweeter than I ever remember at a bar. No doubt that the sweet vermouth is the likely culprit. It's also likely that my tastes have evolved. At one time, appreciating 40% alcohol, was just not going to happen. Now, I feel as though I can actually taste something, as opposed to a time not long ago when nearly all shots felt like someone poured rubbing alcohol down my throat. Neat scotch is my drink of choice, and so the flavor of the sweet vermouth is a little cloyingly sweet compared to what my impression would have been of the same drink even a few years ago.

I think the Woodford does make it drinkable. I love Woodford. It's probably my favorite commonly available bourbon. I can taste the bourbon through the sweet vermouth, even if my first reaction is the sugary buzz that I'm picking up right away.

I like the drink and I like the recipe, but I don't know how many of these I could consume. It's like any other sweet food or drink - a little goes a long way. I think one is enough. I think this might be a good choice before or after dinner. It's sweet enough that it's whet my appetite; it's about 6pm now, a good time to start thinking about dinner in an hour or two.

Looking forward to making a drier version of the Manhattan, I think it will be more suited to my tastes.