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Post by Ron Howard Voice on Nov 8, 2015 23:34:40 GMT -5
Okay, let's start with: what are your favorite cocktails to mix at home?
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Post by pairesta on Nov 9, 2015 6:57:54 GMT -5
Martinis, so I can use the blue cheese olives we have Manhattans, using the wonderful candied cherry recipe that Liz n Dicksgiving provided in the food thread Sazeracs Negronis Old Fashioned Dark and Stormy Some combination using my homemade ginger liqueur |
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Nov 9, 2015 10:55:44 GMT -5
Martinis for sure - gin and vodka both. (Not in the same martini. That would be awful.) I think my favorite thing is choosing the garnish: will I go for the blue-cheese stuffed olives, or the cocktail onions, or the spicy okra, or Door Number 4?
Manhattans - I like to use a bit of blood orange liqueur in place of sweet vermouth for a little twist on the recipe.
Whatever I can shoehorn my homemade Meyer lemon limoncello into.
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Post by Ron Howard Voice on Nov 9, 2015 11:13:58 GMT -5
Manhattans - I like to use a bit of blood orange liqueur in place of sweet vermouth for a little twist on the recipe. Oooh! I bet pairesta's homemade ginger liqueur would be a cool add, too. A bar near my house does a variation on the Manhattan called "Chinatown" which has ginger in it. |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Nov 9, 2015 11:36:52 GMT -5
For me the ideal cocktail is made by pouring a glass of stout beer and then looking at a bottle of fine scotch, but there is one we make. Actually Mrs. Snape makes it. It has no name, and we generally refer to it as "[Mrs. Snape's] special drink." It's that time of year, too.
Per serving:
6 oz of good apple cider heated until steaming
1/2 Tbs. cinnamon dulce syrup (we use Starbucks brand)
1 jigger of Irish whiskey (we use Jameson)
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Nov 9, 2015 11:52:17 GMT -5
For me the ideal cocktail is made by pouring a glass of stout beer and then looking at a bottle of fine scotch, but there is one we make. Actually Mrs. Snape makes it. It has no name, and we generally refer to it as "[Mrs. Snape's] special drink." It's that time of year, too. Per serving: 6 oz of good apple cider heated until steaming 1/2 Tbs. cinnamon dulce syrup (we use Starbucks brand) 1 jigger of Irish whiskey (we use Jameson) Ooh, that does sound good! My dad will occasionally make me a hot toddy that's similar when it gets cold outside. |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Nov 9, 2015 12:12:09 GMT -5
Oooh! I bet pairesta's homemade ginger liqueur would be a cool add, too. A bar near my house does a variation on the Manhattan called "Chinatown" which has ginger in it. Oh man, I am so going to try this with some of my ginger liqueur! That's a fantastic idea! My go-to at-home cocktail is also a Manhattan, because they're easy (and a great outlet not just for the aforementioned cherries, but also for our homemade cherry-hazelnut bitters). I really love an Old Fashioned, too, but that's a bit more work. Another standard at stately Dick n Hisses Manor is the unnamed wintertime Taco Night libation mixing watermelon juice, lime, and mezcal; tastes like smoky summer on a dark winter night. Oh, and since our trip to Italy, we've learned the ways of the Aperol Spritz as well. |
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LazBro
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Post by LazBro on Nov 9, 2015 12:19:42 GMT -5
Oh, and since our trip to Italy, we've learned the ways of the Aperol Spritz as well. Oh man, those things were advertised everywhere. |
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Nov 9, 2015 12:33:07 GMT -5
Manhattans - I like to use a bit of blood orange liqueur in place of sweet vermouth for a little twist on the recipe. Oooh! I bet pairesta's homemade ginger liqueur would be a cool add, too. A bar near my house does a variation on the Manhattan called "Chinatown" which has ginger in it. Oh my god, though, I just thought about making a Rusty Nail with that ginger liqueur and almost died. |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Nov 9, 2015 12:45:33 GMT -5
Oh man, those things were advertised everywhere. Our hotel offered complimentary prosecco on the patio every evening, and we actually eschewed the bubbly in favor of paying for Aperol Spritzes instead each day. Man, I love those things. |
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Post by pairesta on Nov 9, 2015 18:35:14 GMT -5
Martinis for sure - gin and vodka both. (Not in the same martini. That would be awful.) Well, there's the Vesper, which uses gin and vodka. And I broke my wife into gin by cutting it with vodka, then gradually lowering the proportion of vodka until she liked gin martinis. |
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Nov 9, 2015 21:44:37 GMT -5
Martinis for sure - gin and vodka both. (Not in the same martini. That would be awful.) Well, there's the Vesper, which uses gin and vodka. And I broke my wife into gin by cutting it with vodka, then gradually lowering the proportion of vodka until she liked gin martinis. True, and I'd forgotten about it, truthfully speaking, until you mentioned that! I have had a Vesper before, but I wasn't a big fan. I like my martinis on the dry side, and the Lillet Blanc made it sweeter than I'm used to. I normally make my gin martinis quite dirty, but only put a dash of celery bitters into my vodka martinis on occasion, depending on my mood and what I'm having for dinner. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2015 22:52:13 GMT -5
Gimlets, and margaritas.
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Post by jerkassimo on Nov 12, 2015 17:54:22 GMT -5
I really have to try that candied cherry recipe. It seems like a commitment, but well worth it.
1) Martinis with vodka or gin and blue cheese olives. We get the garlic stuffed ones, pick out the clove and shove in our own blue cheese
2) Parfait amour martini with vodka or gin (parfait amour is a purple colored, orange curacao liquer, sweet and fragrant)
3) Margarita's
4) Mojito's with the coconut rum, when our mint is going nuts in the garden
5) hendricks gin and tonic is probably to most quaffed cocktail we drink
Edit: Looking at this message a few days later - I apologize for the rampant misuse of the apostrophe. Wow, what a mess...
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Nov 13, 2015 9:56:54 GMT -5
I really have to try that candied cherry recipe. It seems like a commitment, but well worth it. 1) Martinis with vodka or gin and blue cheese olives. We get the garlic stuffed ones, pick out the clove and shove in our own blue cheese 2) Parfait amour martini with vodka or gin (parfait amour is a purple colored, orange curacao liquer, sweet and fragrant) 3) Margarita's 4) Mojito's with the coconut rum, when our mint is going nuts in the garden 5) hendricks gin and tonic is probably to most quaffed cocktail we drink The cherry recipe sounds a lot more involved on paper than it is in practice! It's, like, five minutes of work a day for three days. You can do it!  |
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Post by jerkassimo on Nov 14, 2015 10:36:32 GMT -5
I really have to try that candied cherry recipe. It seems like a commitment, but well worth it. 1) Martinis with vodka or gin and blue cheese olives. We get the garlic stuffed ones, pick out the clove and shove in our own blue cheese 2) Parfait amour martini with vodka or gin (parfait amour is a purple colored, orange curacao liquer, sweet and fragrant) 3) Margarita's 4) Mojito's with the coconut rum, when our mint is going nuts in the garden 5) hendricks gin and tonic is probably to most quaffed cocktail we drink The cherry recipe sounds a lot more involved on paper than it is in practice! It's, like, five minutes of work a day for three days. You can do it! :D Yeah, I know....and I love Maraschino cherries - in ice cream, in coke or ginger ale, and for me they are the best part of a Manhattan (never acquired a taste for them). |
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Post by GumTurkeyles on Nov 23, 2015 14:51:12 GMT -5
Missed this thread earlier.
My standards are:
- Gimlet (technically Bennet, since I add grapefruit bitters). Standard sour family with Gin, Lime, and Simple Syrup.
- Blood and Sand - Blended scotch, cherry heering, carpano antica vermouth, and fresh squeezed orange juice.
- Martini - Always gin, but I'll play with vermouths (or I've even used dry sherry). For example, a perfect martini is equal parts sweet and dry vermouth, with a much higher ratio to gin.
- Negroni or Boulevardier, though with Aperol instead of campari.
- Manhattan
All in all, I've cut down drinking a lot this year, so I usually make these for guests, rather than myself nowadays.
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Post by GumTurkeyles on Nov 23, 2015 14:55:14 GMT -5
Oh man, those things were advertised everywhere. Our hotel offered complimentary prosecco on the patio every evening, and we actually eschewed the bubbly in favor of paying for Aperol Spritzes instead each day. Man, I love those things. When I was in Venice, one evening we went to the liquor store and got two bottles of champagne and a bottle of aperol. We made our own mixes (in the full sized bottles) and spent the evening wandering the city at night drinking our massive quantities of aperol spritzes (sans orange, unfortunately). |
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Post by pairesta on Nov 24, 2015 11:44:44 GMT -5
What are some good holiday-themed cocktails? Preferably not stuff swimming in sticky sweet creamy liquors?
Thanksgiving we usually like to do cosmos or pomegranate cosmos.
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Post by GumTurkeyles on Nov 24, 2015 13:45:15 GMT -5
What are some good holiday-themed cocktails? Preferably not stuff swimming in sticky sweet creamy liquors? Thanksgiving we usually like to do cosmos or pomegranate cosmos. Serious Eats ran one for thanksgiving, with making a cranberry black pepper shrub, and making that a spritzer. I'm going to try that. Aside from that, I'd say using cranberries for some sort of simple syrup will be your easiest way of doing something. Well, actually, cranberry juice would do that too, wouldn't it? |
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Post by dＬᵒ on Nov 26, 2015 23:40:59 GMT -5
What are some good holiday-themed cocktails? Preferably not stuff swimming in sticky sweet creamy liquors? Thanksgiving we usually like to do cosmos or pomegranate cosmos. I would try this if things weren't so chaotic around here www.pbs.org/food/fresh-tastes/autumn-white-wine-sangria/ |
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Post by St. Sextquisite on Nov 28, 2015 20:57:05 GMT -5
I'm usually pretty seasonal when it comes to cocktails. If it's summer cocktails, I go for fresh fruit. Winter cocktails usually feature lots of fresh citrus and plenty of tropical drinks to remind me of warmer days. The spring is pretty much anything goes, depending on the mood. And in the fall, it's usually either apple or pear cocktails with lots of spice.
Right now my favorite fall cocktail is rye whiskey + Belle De Brillet pear liqueur + Domaine De Canton Ginger Liqueur + Lemon juice + Cinnamon & Clove infused simple syrup. Garnish with slice of pear, mint and, candied ginger. Enjoy it, preferably next to yonder fireplace.
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Post by pairesta on Nov 29, 2015 20:31:21 GMT -5
So I was gonna make pomegranate cosmos on thanksgiving as usual, then at the last second I decided to sub in homemade ginger liqueur for the vodka (well, it was essentially ginger vodka) and oh dear god were they lethal. My wife was clumsily making herself more after the first batch ran out, and spent the rest of the night talking in a broad, slurry Long Island accent for whatever reason.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Nov 30, 2015 10:17:44 GMT -5
My sister and brother-in-law are not big at-home drinkers (he is a colossal drinker when out of the house, but that's neither here nor there), and since they're just a few months removed from their wedding they seem to be buried under a pile of bottles of champagne given to them by friends and well-wishers. So they brought a couple up with them for the weekend, and we used them as a vehicle for maraschino cherries. Because I was too busy to do anything substantial for drinks, I just plunked sugar cubes into the cocktail flutes, soaked the cubes in hazelnut-cherry bitters, topped with champagne, and garnished liberally with cherries. They were just cocktail enough to keep the epic rounds of Bananagrams going without knocking anyone out so much that we couldn't polish off three more bottles of wine with dinner.
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Post by Ron Howard Voice on Dec 8, 2015 12:03:07 GMT -5
I couldn't find the old "Cheap Booze" thread, maybe it's archived. So I'll ask here.
Anybody have experiences with E&J VSOP Brandy or Paul Masson VSOP brandy? I'd like to have a brandy for mixing into cocktails, and Serious Eats recommends these, but they are both $10-12 and $10 brandy just sounds sketchy.
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Post by GumTurkeyles on Dec 8, 2015 12:11:50 GMT -5
I couldn't find the old "Cheap Booze" thread, maybe it's archived. So I'll ask here. Anybody have experiences with E&J VSOP Brandy or Paul Masson VSOP brandy? I'd like to have a brandy for mixing into cocktails, and Serious Eats recommends these, but they are both $10-12 and $10 brandy just sounds sketchy. I have a bottle of E&J VSOP Brandy in my pantry/closet/boozatorium. I don't drink brandy on its own, but I've used it in sangria and in batch cocktails. Not sketchy at all. I wouldn't pour myself a glass of it to drink on its own, but it works great as a mixer. |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Dec 8, 2015 12:27:28 GMT -5
I couldn't find the old "Cheap Booze" thread, maybe it's archived. So I'll ask here. Anybody have experiences with E&J VSOP Brandy or Paul Masson VSOP brandy? I'd like to have a brandy for mixing into cocktails, and Serious Eats recommends these, but they are both $10-12 and $10 brandy just sounds sketchy. I have a bottle of E&J VSOP Brandy in my pantry/closet/boozatorium. I don't drink brandy on its own, but I've used it in sangria and in batch cocktails. Not sketchy at all. I wouldn't pour myself a glass of it to drink on its own, but it works great as a mixer. I believe that's the same one I have on hand for mixed-drink purposes, too. Not that I use it often, but it's been perfectly cromulent when called upon. |
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Post by pairesta on Dec 8, 2015 15:22:52 GMT -5
I couldn't find the old "Cheap Booze" thread, maybe it's archived. So I'll ask here. Anybody have experiences with E&J VSOP Brandy or Paul Masson VSOP brandy? I'd like to have a brandy for mixing into cocktails, and Serious Eats recommends these, but they are both $10-12 and $10 brandy just sounds sketchy. The problem with brandy is it's either suspiciously cheap or so pricey you feel bad about mixing it with anything. I have Paul Masson for cooking and mixing purposes and it does the job fine. I don't ever drink brandy/cognac on its own, so it doesn't bother me to have just that around. |
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Post by GumTurkeyles on Dec 9, 2015 8:55:37 GMT -5
I went to BJs last night (I let my membership pass, but was with my girlfriend and her housemate, who have memberships), and I loaded up on sparkling wine, for either new years or just whenever occasions.
I also made an impulse buy and got one bottle of Moet & Chandon nectar imperial, which runs for $45 ($55 most places), but is so far the best champagne I've ever tasted. My friends had it at their wedding 3 years ago (they had 2 dozen bottles for guests), and I've been craving more ever since.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Dec 9, 2015 9:25:43 GMT -5
I've got a higher-shelf whisky-a-day advent calendar this year than the one we did last year, and oh man was it worth the investment. So far our favorite has been the Smooth Ambler Contradiction (which is a great big weird party in your mouth), but we've still got miles to go before we sleep. Man, advent is so much better now that we get booze every day from it!
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