Mixology Monday - Some Like It Hot

I have been wanting to participate in the 'Mixology Monday' series for some time now.  I was intimidated by last month's theme 'See You on the Flipside'.  I think I've only mixed a couple of flips, and didn't really enjoy either of them.  But this month...'Some Like It Hot' chosen by The Backyard Bartender, Nancy, seemed like a theme I could take a stab at.  Nancy's rules were pretty simple:  "make anything you want to, as long as it's served hot."  It turns out the timing for hot drinks was perfect, as the PNW has suddenly become an arctic tundra zone. 

A friend of mine recently gifted me the Mr. Boston Holiday Cocktails book.  One of the drinks I had marked, but not yet mixed, was a hot toddy type of cocktail made with a smoky single malt scotch, St. Germain, and Chamomile Tea.  The Inventory is currently devoid of smoky single malt scotches, so what could be the alternative?   I recently attended a Japanese Whisky tasting with the LUPEC Seattle group that was generously hosted by Liberty.  Of the varieties that we tried, my favorite was Suntory's Hibiki 12yr Blended Whisky and I subsequently added this to the Inventory.  Up until now, I have been enjoying the Hibiki neat, but this whisky might make a nice stand-in for the smoky single malt in my hot drink recipe. 

Here's my variation of a 'Some Like It Hot' Drink: 

ma chère margaret 
1.5 oz Hibiki 12yr
0.5 oz St. Germain
0.5 oz honey (I might go with less next time)
4.0 oz Chamomile Tea

Build ingredients in a mug.  Garnish with lemon.  Enjoy.

This is my first submission to Mixology Monday.  I would ask that you all go easy on me.  I realize that my hot drink isn't really that original.  But when I'm freezing in the arctic tundra, and need something to warm me up, I'll turn to a hot-toddy drink variation every time.

Thanks for hosting Nancy.  I'm eager to see what drinks others recommend to take the chill off.

Mixing the Museum - The Aviation

While surfing the World Wide Web doing my research for the next installment of Mixing the Museum, it quickly becomes clear to me that everyone except for me has mixed, drank, reviewed, and written up the Aviation.  Basically, The Aviation has been put to bed.  However, I will not let this thwart my determination to become a better booze aficionado.  I will stand by my commitment to mix every drink in MOTAC and Mr. Hess and Ms. Miller say that The Aviation is next.  So onward we go....

The Aviation cocktail first appeared in print in 1916 in the book "Recipes for Mixed Drinks," authored by Mr. Hugo Ensslin, the bartender at the Wallick Hotel in Times Square, New York.  It is unknown whether Mr. Ensslin created the cocktail or merely was the first to record its ingredients allowing others to re-create this drink.  In fact David Wondrich, cocktail historian extraordinaire has found a 1911 reference to The Aviation cocktail (though no recipe was included with the mention).  Mr Ensslin's original recipe called for gin, lemon juice, maraschino, and creme de violette, a floral violet liqueur.  The recipe next appeared in print in the classic 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book.  However, between 1916 and 1930, the Creme de Violette dropped from the recipe. 


For this exercise I wanted to mix the cocktail from MOTAC, but also Mr Ensslin's version with the Creme de Violette.  But first a word about Violet liqueur....

Creme de Violette appeared in several pre-prohibition cocktail classics, but fell out of favor post-prohibition.  Perhaps, the violet, floral notes of the liqueur were thought to be old-fashioned and really, who wants to equate hugging your grandma with drinking a tasty cocktail.  Unless, of course, your grandma doesn't wear flowery perfume and can drink you under the table.  No matter, in 2008, Rothman and Winter resurrected Creme de Violette.  The liqueur is "produced from a careful maceration of Queen Charlotte and March Violets in "Weinbrand" (this distilled from grapes), with cane sugar added for sweetness."  And it is a beautiful color.  



Let's mix The Aviation (x2) and toast to Grandmas everywhere.

The Aviation (MOTAC)
2 oz. Plymouth Gin
0.5 oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
0.25 oz. lemon juice

Shake with ice - strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with a cherry.

In searching for a recipe using the Creme de Violette, I came upon Stevi Deter's post where she mixed, with great success,  The Aviation using Magellan gin.  Perfect.  She suggests using Magellan in the violette version of The Aviation.  I'll do it.

The 'Blue' Aviation
2 oz. Magellan Gin
0.5 oz. Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
0.25 oz. Rothman & Winter Creme de Violette
0.5 oz. lemon juice

Shake with ice - strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with a cherry.


I enjoyed both variations of this classic cocktail, but preferred the slight sweetness imparted by the Creme de Violette in The 'Blue' Aviation.  Besides, I've always been a sucker for the color blue and my Grandma.

Cheers, Grandma!

Mixing the Museum - A Triumvirate to Start

I'm certainly glad I didn't commit to 100 drinks in 100 days.  After more than two weeks of mulling things over and numerous delays, we are finally kicking off the "Mixing the Museum" project we described in our last post.   The book, the Museum of the American Cocktail Pocket Recipe Guide (MOTAC) compiled and edited by superstar cocktail aficionados Robert Hess and Anistatia Miller, is a brilliant little tome that everyone must have in their cocktail libary.  There are 100 cocktail recipes that we will be working our way through in the days to come.

KB's visit was a perfect opportunity to dive into the MOTAC project.  Two super-tasters in the house!...right on!...let's try to get through a few of these cocktails.  First up...The Algonquin.

A swank hotel that opened in the early 1900's in New York City, the Algonquin was known for being one of the first hotels to accept single women travelers.  Notably, the early literary feminists Gertrude Stein and Simone de Beauvoir were known to frequent the Algonquin Hotel.  While it is intriguing to think about the conversations these women would have engaged in over a cocktail, their talk would not have been loosened by liquor as prohibition was in full force during much of the time that Gertrude and Simone might have crossed paths in New York City.  Let's sip an Algonquin in their honor and imagine sharing the bar with these avant-garde women.  

The Algonquin

The Algonquin
2oz. rye (Old Overholt)
1oz. dry vermouth (Dolin)
1oz. fresh pineapple juice

Shake with ice - strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with a cherry.

I wanted to like this cocktail.  Rye, vermouth, pineapple juice...what's not to like?  But the flavor combination just didn't knock me off my feet.  No complaints from KB and CR.  What's next?





Turn the page....The Americano......  Queue the singing gondolier...

This cocktail dates to the mid 1800's and was created by Gaspare Campari, and was first served in his bar Caffe Campari in Milan, Italy.  As you probably guessed, Gaspare created the aperitif herbal liqueur Campari.  With a tip of the hat to the ingredient's brand geography, it was originally known as the Milano-Torino.  Apparently, in the early 1900's there were such great numbers of Americans in Italy enjoying the Milano-Torino, the people of Italy chose to show their appreciation and affection by renaming the cocktail, the Americano. 

Fun DrinkScience Fact (I'll do the research so you can impress your friends at your next cocktail party):

The red color of Campari used to come from these little guys:

Dactylopius coccus

The little red beetle makes this stuff:

Carminic Acid = Red Dye

The red dye is also known as carmine.  The cochineal beetles are such impressive carmine factories that the dye actually occurs as 17-24% of the weight of the dry insects.  Besides, Campari, carmine is also used to color a number of other products, such as yogurt and ice cream as well as cosmetics. 

Apparently in the mid-2000's Campari stopped using crushed Dactylopius coccus as a source of red carmine, and instead began to use "artificial color" to achieve the brilliant red of it's famous liqueur.  I checked my bottle and sure enough the label reads 'artificially colored.'

Regardless of whether my red Campari has insect based carmine or FD&C Red 40, let's mix the Americano.  (I'm embarrassed to say I've never tried the Americano).

The Americano

The Americano
1oz. Campari
1oz. sweet vermouth (Dolin)
Soda Water

Build in a highball with ice.  Stir.  Top with soda water.  One more gentle stir.  Garnish with lemon twist. 

Bitter, sweet, tasty.  This is a cocktail that CR and I will enjoy sitting in the steamers looking out at the water next summer.  Or the next time we are in Milan.  Cin Cin!