06 Dec 2022: Easy Lemon Drop Martini

Easy Lemon Drop Martini from The Kitchn

Nicole Rufus, associate food editor, published this delicious riff on a Lemon Drop Martini as a delicious summery cocktail on the Kitchn, and it’s easy to see why. But while it definitely makes a refreshing cocktail for a sultry summer evening, I also thought it enjoyable in early December. Really, is there any time when a martini isn’t a good choice? I don’t think so.

The directions, found here, are for a lemony vodka-based martini with a lemon-sugar rim. I tweaked that to substitute gin using one of my locally distilled faves from South Hollow Spirits (Cape Cod), Dry Line Gin. I also routinely substitute agave syrup for simple, which seems to mix better for me.

19 Nov 2022: Empress Gin Martini

Saturday night is cocktail night around here - although from my perspective, cocktails should never be limited to Saturdays.

Last night, I broke out my bottle of Empress 1908 gin and searched for a cocktail that would be fitting of our traditional Saturday night concoction. I didn’t have to search far: Empress Cocktail #2 is the Empress Martini.

Adrien, as always, made his traditional gin-based martini using Bombay Sapphire green label and Dolin dry vermouth. Mine was a little more unusual, not only in appearance, but also in taste with more grapefruit notes coming from the Lillet Blanc.

Either way, Cocktail Saturday was a success.

Empress 1908 Gin Cocktail #2: Empress Martini

• 2 oz. Empress 1908 Gin

• 1/2 oz Lillet Blanc

• Garnish suggested was a grapefruit peel

Add ingredients to a mixing glass. Add ice and stir (I like things super cold, so did 30 seconds). Pour into a chilled martini glass and garnish.

12 Nov 2022: Boulevardier

While I do enjoy a Negroni cocktail, when colder weather hits, it feels like time to mix it up a bit. The Boulevardier cocktail does just that by substituting bourbon for gin. I’ve seen this cocktail made with equal parts, but I sometimes find Campari overwhelmingly bitter, so using the Diffords proportions resulted in a smooth and balanced cocktail which, in my opinion, worked better and allowed the bourbon to shine through.

The Boulevardier

1-1/2 oz. bourbon (I used Woodfords)

3/4 oz. sweet vermouth (Cocchi Torino is my sweet red of choice)

34 oz. Campari

Add the ingredients to a mixing glass along with ice. Stir for 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled glass (I used an old fashioned glass) or serve over ice. Garnish with orange peel.

17 Oct 2022: Alaska Cocktail

The Alaska Cocktail recently crossed my radar as I was looking for a cocktail that would use Yellow Chartreuse. White Negroni’s can’t be the only drink using this delicious liqueur from France and, as it turned out, it was not.

Just 3 ingredients and a quick stir, and this beauty hits the glass. While some of the resources I checked call for Old Tom Gin, I prefer the junipery flavor of a London Dry.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz. gin (Used Bombay London Dry)

• 1/2 oz. Yellow Chartreuse (accept no substitutes)

• Dash of Orange bitters

Put all of the ingredients in a mixing glass. Add ice and stir for about 30 seconds until well-chilled. Strain into a chilled favorite cocktail glass and garnish with lemon peel.

05 Oct 2022: Abbey

I’ve been using a terrific cocktail app called Perfect Drink. It’s fun to see what pops up when I choose an ingredient of two found in our bar stash. Perfect Drink seems to have an extensive list of cocktail suggestions. Even maraschino cherry and Grenadine have yielded some results.

Tonight’s cocktail is from Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail book (still available in reprints so check our your local bookstore). This version of the Abbey cocktail uses Orange Bitters in place of the Angostura found in the original. Citrusy and sour, this is a beauty.

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 oz. gin (I used Bombay London Dry)

• 3/4 oz. Lillet Blanc

• 3/4 oz. orange juice

• 2 dashes orange bitters

Put all of the ingredients in a shaker and fill with ice. Shake for 15 seconds til well-chilled and serve in a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

27 Sep 2022: Ginger Gold Rush Cocktail

Cocktail ingredients can become an investment, so one week this past summer, I decided to attempt to make two liqueurs - chocolate and ginger. They were surprisingly simple to make and the Ginger Liqueur, in particular turned out to be quite delicious. If you are thinking of attempting it, here is the recipe I used from Serious Eats.

So, armed with a supply of Ginger Liqueur, I just needed to find some cocktails to use it.

This one, Ginger Gold Rush, comes from Garnish With Lemon’s webiste and was just the right blend of bourbon and firey ginger for cooler early Autumn cocktail hours. The original, on which this cocktail is based, comes from Domaine de Canton and uses Elijah Craig Whiskey.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz. Woodford Reserve Bourbon

• 1 oz. Ginger Liqueur (see link above)

• 1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail mixing glas. Fill with ice and stir for 30 seconds until well-chilled. Strain into cocktail glass and garnish with lemon zest. (Note the Domaine de Canton version garnishes with a Luxardo cherry).

24 Sep 2022: The Diplomat

The Diplomat cocktail came up on the app I’ve been using to match up our home bar ingredients to cocktail suggestions. Billed as a cocktail that is not too heavy on the alcohol, this was a smooth and light and enjoyable pre-dinner drink. Not sure about conducting diplomatic negotiations after imbibing though.

There are several version of this cocktail floating around the Internet and at least one from the Savoy Cocktail book by Harry Craddock. However, this is the one that popped up on the app, and since I had all the ingredients, well, that’s what I mixed.

Ingredients

• 3/4 oz. dry vermouth (I used Dolin green label)

• 3/4 oz. sweet vermouth (I used Dolin again - might try this with Cocchi next time around)

• dash of Marachino Liquor (Luxardo)

• dash of Angostura bitters

Add all the ingredients to a mixing glass. Add ice, stir for about 40 seconds and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a marachino cherry if desired.

17 Sep 2022: Vendome Cocktail

Ingredients

• 1 oz. gin (I used a London dry)

• 1 oz. dry vermouth

• 1 oz. Dubonnet Rouge

Add the ingredients together in a mixing glass. Add ice. Stir for 30 seconds. Serve in a cocktail glass with a twist of lemon.

02 Aug 2022: Empress Gin and Cocchi

Here’s a fun and colorful cocktail which is based on about 4 other inventions I discovered yesterday:

Add to a mixing glass:

• 2 oz. Empress Gin

• About 1 oz of Cocchi Americano

• 3-4 drops of Orange Bitters

Add ice and stir. Strain into a cocktail or coupe (chilled is best) and garnish with a bit of orange peel.

23 June 2022: Pimmlet

I like sour, citrusy cocktails and gin is nearly always the go-to base for me, the more juniper the better. So I finally acquired a bottle of Pimm’s No. 1 , andI was pretty excited to give it a try. What could be better than a gin-based cocktail with a gin-based spirit to help things along?

My only alteration would be to reduce the amount of lime juice, which, in my personal opinion, seemed to overpower the cocktail as made. We both thought that increading the Pimms to 1 1/2 oz and the gin to about the same while reducing the lime juice to 1/2 ounce was more to our liking. But you should absolutely try the recipe from Pimms for yourself and then, if you want to tweak it, go ahead and adjust.

Pimlmet Cocktail.

The original cocktail, posted on Pimm’s website uses metric measurements. Now a purist could use a strict conversion, but my strategy was to use equal ratios, subbing 1 oz for the 25 ml measure.

• 25ml PIMM’S No.1 (see headnote, we liked increasing this to 1.5 oz)

• 25ml Gordon’s Gin (I used Beefeater - a good London dry is perfect. Again 1.5 oz)

• 25ml fresh lime juice (see headnote. I’d reduce this down to about .5 oz)

• Dash of sugar syrup (we regularly use agave - easier to mix)

• Cucumber and mint to garnish

Put everything in a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake for about 25-30 seconds til icy cold. Serve up with cucumber & mint.

11 June 2022: Empress 1908 Gin Sidecar

Empress Side Car

Link to the original Love to Know cocktail by Allison Freeman below.

Although I’ve seen Empress 1908 Gin Sidecar cocktails in several places, this creation from Love to Know was the winner of tonight’s home bar Saturday Cocktail concoction. Yes, a “traditional”, classic Sidecar is made with brandy, but the beauty of the Empress 1908 Gin called me to try something new and unusual. That is exactly what this drink turned out to be - a delicious gin-based cocktail with some subtle orange and lemon notes. Delicious!

This post in Love To Know has 11 cocktails based on Empress 1908 Gin - all developed by Allison Freeman.

Ingredients

• Lemon wedge and sugar for rim

• 1½ ounces Empress gin

• ¾ ounce orange liquor (I used Cointreau here)

• ¾ ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice

• Ice

How to mix

1. Chill a martini glass or coupe.

2. To prepare rim, rub the rim of the glass with the lemon wedge.

3. With the sugar on a saucer, dip either half or the entire rim of the glass in the sugar to coat.

4. In a cocktail shaker, add Empress Gin, orange liqueur, and lemon juice.

5. Shake to chill.

6. Strain into prepared glass.

06 May 2022: Atta Boy Cocktail

We bought some new Grenadine from Liber & Co. this week. It’s the real thing, not that sugary syrup one finds in grocery stores. So, because I had a new ingredient to play with, I went in search of a cocktail with some grenadine in it.

A classic cocktail book, worth reading for the interesting mixtures and measurements, is Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book. Tonight’s cocktail, the Atta Boy, come from here, and because it is a “classic”, I served it up and in one of my Aunt’s cocktail glasses. Beautiful pink color - and a nice dry gin-base. The only change I might make is to serve it with a twist of lemon.

I do love when a cocktail recipe makes me appreciate my math education. Because Craddock’s book mostly uses ratios, I just translated every part (1/3) to 1 oz. and went from there.

Ingredients

• 1/3 French (dry) vermouth (used Dolin)

• 2/3 Dry gin

• 4 dashes of grenadine (I used about a tsp total)

Shake well and strain into a (chilled) cocktail glass.

30 Apr 2022: Gin and Ginger Martini

Today was the first decent weather day in probably 3 weeks. New England spring is just one big windy, cold day after another.

But to celebrate this change from the weather gods - and to try out some homemade ginger liqueur I concocted this week, I found this terrific martini recipe from First Order Gin.

Beautiful!

21 Apr 2022: Black Manhattan

My Dad used to enjoy a Manhattan and I recently got to taste one as well. This Manhattan though is just a little different. It uses Averna amaro which has a wonderful vanilla essence and a dash or Orange bitters. Dark and just a little sweet.

Ingredients

• 2 ounces rye whiskey

• 1 ounce Averna amaro

• 1 dash Angostura bitters

• 1 dash orange bitters

• Garnish: brandied cherry

Add the rye, Averna, Angostura and orange bitters to a mixing glass. Add ice, stir until well-chilled, and serve UP (chill that glass ahead of time), garnished with a brandied cherry.

09 Apr 2022: The Rolls Royce

Our weekly cocktail night - usually a Saturday - caps off the week with a little creativity in the adult beverage department. We like to try new ideas for cocktails and for once, this one did not require that I make a run to the packie for any ingredients - we had them right in our bar.

This idea, along with a drink called a Ford came courtesy of Anders Erickson. Check out his youtube channel for some great cocktail ideas.

Maybe it was the sweet (Red) vermouth, but this cocktail reminded me of a Manhattan, but made with Gin. Definitely keeping this in the rotation.

Ingredients

• 2 oz. (60 ml) Gin (used a local - Dry Line)

• 1/2 oz. (15 ml) dry Vermouth (used Dolin de Chambéry Dry

• 1/2 oz. (15 ml) sweet Vermouth (used Dolin Vermouth de Chambéry Rouge)

• Bar spoon (5 ml) Bénédictine DOM

• Expressed lemon oil

Place first 4 ingredients in a mixing glass, add ice, and stir to chill. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon.

31 Mar 2022: Corpse Reviver

Cocktail night is coming a few days early for us this week due to a sleepover from our favorite toddler. Also, it’s Thursday and we’re pretty sick of the fickle New England weather. The Corpse Reviver #2 (yes there is a #1) seemed like a good idea and, indeed it was.

Corpse Reviver #2

Ingredients

• Absinthe, to rinse

• 3/4 ounce London dry gin

• 3/4 ounce Lillet blanc

• 3/4 ounce orange liqueur (I used Cointreau because, why not?)

• 3/4 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed

1. This is best served in a chilled coupe glass.

2. Rinse the inside of the chilled coupe or cocktail glass with absinthe, discard the excess and set the glass aside.

3. Add the gin, Lillet blanc, orange liqueur and lemon juice into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.

4. Strain into the prepared glass. Garnish with a cherry if you’re in the mood for that.

25 Mar 2022: Cinnamon Toast

When I first read about this gin-based drink, I thought it sounded crazy. Still, I love cinnamon, I love toast, so why not give a Cinnamon Toast a try?

This cocktail comes from J.M. Hirsch’s 2020 book Shake, Strain and Done. There was a suggestion that it could be made with vodka, but I am the proud owner of a bottle of Dry Line gin, so that’s what we went with.

Cinnamon Toast

J.M. Hirsch. Shake Strain and Done. (2020). Boston: Voracious. p 97.

• 3 oz. gin

• 1/4 oz. agave or simple syrup

• Dash orange bitters

• Pinch, ground cinnamon

• Ice (cubes and crushed for serving)

In a cocktail shaker, combine the gin, agave, bitters, and cinnamon. Shake with ice cubes. Strain into a cocktail glass (I used a coupe), filled halfway with crushed ice.

11 Mar 2022: Chocolate Martini

David Lebovitz’s newest book, Drinking French, has become a lifeline for us during the period for which traveling to Paris is not on the agenda quite yet. We’ve tried some really well-balanced cocktails and ingredients (Suze anyone?) which helps pass the time until we are better able to travel.

This non-dairy-based riff on a martini definitely reflects its French roots: vodka is the base (a nice French vodka like Grey Goose is formidable) and a homemade Crème de Cacao (See Drinking French p 156) with a touch of Fernet-Branca makes this a smooth, slightly spicy delicious cocktail.

Chocolate Martini

from Drinking French by David Lebovitz

Ingredients

• 1 oz. Crème de Cacao

• 1 oz.. vodka

• 1/2 oz. Fernet-Vallet or Fernet-Branca (I used Fernet-Branca)

• Skewered fresh raspberries or a skewered strawberry (garnish)

Add the crème de cacao, vodka, ad Fernet to a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice and shake until well-chilled. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish.

03 Mar 2022: TGV

For those of us who have traveled to France, TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse,) means high-speed train service. Having ridden on the TGV from Paris to Lyon, it is a pretty sweet mode of transportation. Compare the 2 hour train trip from Paris to Lyon (288 miles) to the 4-hour trek from Boston to Manhattan (216 miles). Yeah, we in the US should invest more in Amtrak. But, I digress.

This cocktail is not at all about high-speeds, or even about transportation, although it is pretty awesome all on its own. The TGV cocktail is found in David Lebovitz’s Drinking Fench,. While an internet search will yield an endless number of variations, this one was smoky (thanks Tequila) and refreshing.

And the meaning of TGV? Well it’s right there in the ingredients.

TGV Cocktail

2 1/2 ounces blanco or reposado tequila

1 1/2 ounces dry vermouth (used Dolin)

1/2 tsp grenadine syrup (Drinking French has a recipe for homemade grenadine on p 214)

Lime wheel for garnish

Stir the tequila, vermouth, and grenadine in a short tumbler or rocks glass. Fill the glass three-quarters full with ice (bigger cubes, less dilution). Garnish with a lime wheel.

24 Jan 2022: Something Good

We’ve been browsing David Lebowitz’s Drinking French for new-to-us cocktail ideas. And because we miss France. Highly recommended for not only interesting the aperitif and cocktails, but also the non-alcoholic entries.

This week we discovered an aperitif called “Something Good” and it really is something good. Based on gin, added Dubonnet Rouge and an orange spirit like Cointreau or Grand Marnier.

The ratios are 2 parts gin to 1/2 Dubonnet and 1/2 Cointreau/Grand Marnier. Add ice, stir, and strain into a coupé.

Happy sipping!