Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

Cocktail Hour

10:40 / 07.03.05

We've got a food thread, so I thought it would be worth having a drink thread also, and what better drinks to talk about than cocktails? Lots, possibly, but as ever I have an ulterior motive in the form of a favour to ask.

There is a drink, called an 'RAC Cocktail', about which I am unsure. It has all the potential to be quite wonderful, but there's something about it that needs to be different before it is indeed great. I can't work out what this should be, so if you have suggestions (before or after trying it) let me know. The recipe is:

1 measure gin
1 measure rosso vermouth
1 measure dry vermouth
1 tsp grenadine
1 tsp triple sec (ie, Cointreau, although I use *shudders* homemade stuff)

Shake, martini glass, ice, etc (and this is based on a 30ml measure)

The first time I had one of these, I remember my comment being 'It tastes a bit like aftershave, but good aftershave' and with the second occurence of the word 'aftershave' the Mists Descended, so I don't know my considered option at the end of the drink. The last time I had one, I thought it was a bit sweet, but maybe that was the grenadine.

Ideas? Or should I ditch it for a particularly superb cocktail which you need to tell the world?

10:44 / 07.03.05

The problem is the Vermouth. It's too over-powering a taste. You need to suggest that it is there (either by running the glass with it, or by shaking the ice through it) but not actually have it there.

12:24 / 07.03.05

Well I'm not exactly a cocktail expert but it sounds like there are too many flavours competing so I would try an experiment of making a few different versions, each one with an ingredient left out. Even if you don't find the answer, you'll certainly be smiling by the end of the experiment.

Or you could ditch the gin, get some bourbon and make a Manhattan instead:

Bourbon
Sweet Vermouth
Dry Vermouth
Dash of bitters

Or even better, you could do what I do and just drink the rosso vermouth on its own. Yum.

16:19 / 07.03.05

The problem is the Vermouth. It's too over-powering a taste.

Benny, vermouth should never be poured completely into a drink. At least that is the way it works with a martini. You put some ice and vermouth in the shaker and shake. You pour out the excess vermouth and only use the vermouth that sticks to the ice. That is all. Then you have a perfect martini.

16:26 / 07.03.05

Exactly what I said, though different. I learned this the hard way, playing Golden Eye and trying to make Vodka Martini's with a friend when neither of us had much of an idea what was in them...

He aquired a taste for Vermouth.

16:52 / 07.03.05

Oh my! less vermuth indeed! i have all that and intend to make one when i get home, w/ less vermuth of cource. i will let you know what i think.

And Loomis you forgot the cherry in a Manhatten. In a Manhatten a cherry is not a garnish it's an ingretiant.

Damn are cocktails fine! i study making them in my off time, the experimenting is fun and when i have a hit it's time for a cocktail party. Heck yeah! Time to break on the Martin Denny LPs.

17:22 / 07.03.05

Exactly what I said, though different...

My, my...I am getting a little dull in the head in my old age. I swear I didn't read your post correctly, Benny. The other day I mistook the word reverence for revenge. D'oh!

However, I do totally agree with you. Vermouth is entirely wretched if overdone.

The one cocktail I would like to mention is a Bloody Caesar. Now, the interesting thing is that in the UK, one cannot make a proper Bloody Caesar, because one cannot find the main ingredient, Clamato juice. So, one ends up just drinking a spicy Bloody Mary. It is just not the same.

What is this Clamato juice, you ask? Literally, tomato juice and clam juice blended together. Now, it is not as bad as it sounds, it is actually quite delish. Throw in some horseradish and a make sure you've rimmed your glass with celery salt and, VOILA! you have cocktails for breakfast, and the perfect hangover cure.

18:51 / 07.03.05

I like Manhattans a lot. But usually when I drink cocktails, I'm serving them to my friends in my home. And because of budget constraints, we usually pick ONE cocktail for the evening so we don't have to be stocked with forty billion mixers and other ingredients. And we have to agree on the main liquor (I hate gin, my bf hates whisky (I KNOW!) and so on). Lately we've been doing the simple but tasty

Mexicana

2 parts tequila
2 parts pineapple juice
1 part lime juice
dash o Grenadine

Shaken and served over ice in highball glasses.

21:30 / 07.03.05

i like my rusty nails rusty, so i use

in low ball glass w/ one ice cube:
two shots whisky
one shot drambuie

preferably drambuie from the freezer.

&, on drinks,

i would never have believed jack daniels could be any good until i had a frozen shot. mmmm..... many liquors are very yummy very cold, i've now found.

and of course, the classic gi-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-n & tonic, with a quarter lime in the ice in the long, now nearly all gin-filled glass in a summer evening, and thou....

22:09 / 07.03.05

Gin and Tonic for me - tall glass, filled with ice, a generous pour of Plymouth, squeeze a quarter of lime into it, run the lime and a slice of lemon around the top of the glass, add to the drink, pour in (from a mini-can) schwepps tonic water. Drink until your lips go numb.

00:51 / 08.03.05

The Oppenheimer

Pour equal amounts of sambuca and a cream liqueur of your choice (Dooley's, Bailey's, Irish Cream...) into a shot glass.
Layer a dash of grenadine on top (pour over the back of a spoon).

The effect is that of the mushroom cloud after an atomic bomb blast.

Whoosh! Cheers!

00:54 / 08.03.05

After which the obligatory reciting of "I Am Become Death" slurred ominously.

11:46 / 08.03.05

I have been greedily guzzling Caipirinhas since I tasted my first one last year at a German street fair where they were giving them away. I have no idea what's in them, other than lime, sugar and, perhaps, rum. I ordered one recently and was told they couldn't make one because they had no cachaça. That must be the magic ingredient, whatever it is.

In a bar called Jewel off Piccadilly, they do one called a Pearl, that's quite more-ish too. Again, I have only a vague idea of constituents but it involved Absolut, white chocolate & strawberry liqueurs.

Perhaps the vagueness of my memory is related to the number of cocktails I drink.

10:18 / 09.03.05

Cheers for the replies, everyone -throwing away the excess vermouth worked very well indeed, and I can now actually recommend it. Worked well with vodka as well as gin, too -I liked the gin best, but then I usually do. Looking forward to making some of these, even if the Bloody Caesar isn't possible here!

In return, a recipe which was found on a cheap plastic shaker but turned out to be really good...

Red Lion

1 measure gin
1 1/2 measure Grand Marnier (or cheaper alternative, if there is one...)
1 1/2 measure orange juice
1 measure lemon juice

Shake, ice cubes, rocks glass. It's also not red at all, which my family will comment on every. Single. Time we make one...

10:44 / 09.03.05

I don't much like the taste of alcohol, so I'm a bit of a fan of the White Russian. Also one of the few iced drinks that is particularly nice on these cold winter evenings. So simple to prepare too.

Ice in a glass. Pour in two parts vodka, add one part Kahlua and one part single cream (milk can be used for less unctuous approximation, in an emergency). Stir, sip and resist making any reference to the Big Lebowski.

11:57 / 09.03.05

You make one hell of a caucasian Smoothly.

Sorry. Couldn't resist after all. I did try though.

12:17 / 09.03.05

Forgivable, Loomis. That is the demanding part of the recipe.

15:50 / 14.03.05

I'm sure there are cocktail threads passim, lost in the ether (and not the druggy kind, either, ether).

Of course, I can't think of any favourites right this minute -- but the internet cafe is playing lovely slinky cocktail jazz, so at least the music is right...