Tequila Sour & What We're Drinking This Week

Finally, some sunshine!  Wow, in what seems like months, this weekend quelled any doubt as to whether the sun in fact still existed.  I was beginning to have misgivings.

After playing 9 on Saturday, and 18 on Sunday, I'm happy to report that my golf game is terrible.  I'm happy to report this because even if my game is terrible, it means that I'm playing, which is half of the battle.

In other news, Lost ended last night.  I need some time to digest the last episode.  Its end though leaves me a bit melancholy.  I've watched it for 5-6 years now, investing a lot of internet reading time, parsing through people's theories and things that I otherwise missed on first viewing.  No show has captured my viewing interest in quite the same way.  So it is with some sadness that I will no longer see Lost on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Sunday nights (pretty sure it's appeared regularly on each at one time or another).

In any event, let's check out this week's activities:

Soundtrack of the week:  Local Natives Gorilla Manor - This Los Angeles band just came out with their debut album in February of this year.  It's an excellent first effort.  The vocals are a bit ethereal in the way Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses or Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes is ethereal.  And not to pigeon hole them, but, Local Natives will remind you of both BOH or Fleet Foxes (quick sidebar: had AmMix existed when Fleet Foxes debut dropped a couple years ago, it would have remained the soundtrack of the week for about five months in a row).  Anyway, to top it all off, I believe Amazon is selling the MP3 album for a mere $5 - a steal. 

What We're Drinking This Week

Today: Tequila Sour - today's featured drink - you can see the recipe just down the page.

Wednesday: Petite Fleur - white rum, Cointreau and grapefruit juice.  A carry-over from last week - and one that I'm looking forward to, as the ingredients seem prime for an excellent cocktail.

Friday:  Rosemary - Bourbon and vermouth.  We're taking to the internet on this one, after I found a nice review of this recipe here.

American Bar, page 185

Tequila Sour

3/4 oz lemon juice
1/4 - 3/4 oz sugar syrup
1 1/2 oz tequila
stemmed cherry

Shake well over ice cubes in a shaker, strain into a sour glass, garnish with cherry.

I'm using 1800 Tequila, Nellie and Joe's Key West Lemon Juice, Simple Syrup from Fresh Market, and in the place of a stemmed cherry, I plan on dropping a maraschino cherry in the glass.

This is an excellent representation of a sour cocktail.  Mix a base liquor with a sweetner, and either lemon or lime juice and you have a sour. 

This has a nice balance of tequila and other ingredients.  It's going to remind you of a margarita because of the tequila and the juice (even if it is lemon and not lime).  And as is often the case with mixed drinks, when following the recipe, it doesn't appear to provide you with a huge amount to drink. 

Remember though, that you're drinking a fair amount of high proof alcohol, and a drink like this can be downed at a very fast clip.  Double the recipe, and you're knocking back about 3 shots of tequila (one ounce shots).  Don't let the small glass contents fool you.  Sours especially, can knock you on your ass.

Looking forward to more drinks this week - see you all on Wednesday!

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

Amsterdam & Presidente

As mentioned yesterday, I was in Amsterdam over the last few days with some friends.

What a great city.  The big take-away from Amsterdam is just how quiet it is at all times of the day.  You can walk down the street at the height of their rush hour (whenever that is), and it's quieter than a cul-de-sac in the American 'burbs.

A lot of it has to do with the bikes.  Bikes run Amsterdam. 

We walked out of the Central Station, and there was a bike landing that must have held 5,000 bikes for the commuters who had taken the trains.  In the city itself, everything and everyone yeilds to the bicycles.  Foot trafiic beware, they are not stopping!

Of course though, most people think of debauchery when thinking of Amsterdam.  Coffeeshops selling pot, the Red Light District selling sex, etc.  Once you're there, the coffeeshops, the Red Light District, they blend in with everything else.  You could easily find an elementary school next door to a coffeeshop. 

The emphasis on, for lack of a better description, the wrongness of vice, doesn't seem to exist in Amsterdam.  With respect to marijuana, most people mistakenly believe that Holland is just a free flowing place, where pot and sex, and whatever else you want to do is all fair game.  I suppose that may be partially correct insofar as the attitude of the general populace is concerned, but the main reason for the existance of the coffeeshops is something else entirely. 

The coffeeshops allow Holland to keep soft drugs like marijuana and hard drugs like herion apart, while other countries like the United States and England struggle with increased addiction rates on hard drugs as a result of their close proximity.

Amsterdam is a unique city, and their coffeeshops, while the most well known aspect of the city, are perhaps the least interesting.  The canals trump the coffeeshops.  Along with the bikes, the canal system rules the land.  I knew it was a water city, but had no idea just how inescapable the canal system truly was.  They're gorgeous too.  Every street you walk along, you cross bridge after bridge, canal after canal.  It's stunning.

I took many photos while I was there, most of which include pictures of my friends.  I'll spare you their mugs, and instead show you a few of the photos I took at night.  The city is really beautiful at all hours of the day, but Amsterdam is especially beautiful in the eveing.

Along Raadhuisstraat, on the way to Dam Square

Along Raadhuisstraat, looking north

Zuiderkerk, view from the west

The famed Red Light District, looking north

View of Westerkerk, from the east

View of Westerkerk from the south

Westerkerk, from the south

Alright, enough about Amsterdam, let's check out the Presidente!

Upon researching the drink, it appears as though the Presidente may be the red headed step-child of what I'm calling "the Presidente family of drinks."

If you search "Presidente" and the word "cocktail", invariably you end up with El Presidente cocktail recipes.  They are similar drinks too, the Presidente and the El Presidente.  The El Presidente adds a small amount of triple sec and lemon juice to the mix that the Presidente leaves behind.

Their origins are likely similar.  According to one nice write-up: "El Presidente was created by Eddie Woelke, an American bartender at the Jockey Club in Havana. He shrewdly named the drink in honor of President Gerardo Machado, who ruled Cuba throughout most of the Prohibition years. Basil Woon, author of When It's Cocktail Time in Cuba, wrote in 1928 of El Presidente, "It is the aristocrat of cocktails and is the one preferred by the better class of Cuban.""

Sounds like it should be good - let's check it out.  Here is the finished product:

Recipe
American Bar, page 158

Presidente (original version)

1/4 oz dry vermouth
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
1 1/2 oz white rum
dash grenadine
stemmed cherry

Stir over ice cubes in a mixing glass, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with cherry.

I hate to say it, but I'm not in love with this drink.  It's entirely too sweet for my tastes, and not merely sweet, but syrupy.  3/4 oz sweet vermouth is just too much to take, and there isn't enough to counter its intense sweetness.  Throw in the dash of grenadine, and even the stemmed cherry, and the Presidente quickly devolves into the drink equivalent of Kool Aid mixed with half the prescribed water.

I'm surprised by the lackluster result.  Presidente cocktails, whichever particular variety you choose, are classics.  I suppose though, that if we've learned anything with some of these cocktails, not all classics are good (see the Jack Rose).

Tomorrow, we'll making the first of my reader submitted cocktail ideas.  Until then, cheers!

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!