Cocktail Creations

Sarah joined me for lady’s night last Thursday armed with two fresh grapefruits and a desire for a cocktail.

You see, we had found this recipe for a cardamom rose cocktail that we had wanted to try. Lacking cardamom, we were left to our own devices.

I had a bunch of fresh basil I had picked up from the farmer’s market last weekend. Remembering how wonderful the Basil Gimlet had been and my quest to find basil a role in every new cocktail I created, I had a splash of inspiration.

I began by muddling half a teaspoon of sugar, two fresh basil leaves and a splash of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice in a high ball glass. Muddle muddle muddle. The grapefruit juice began to take on a greenish color; I knew we were on our way.

We added three ice cubes to each glass, an ounce and a half of Tanquery gin, and topped the two cocktails off with the remaining juice of the two grapefruits. Gave it a stir, and pow!

A cocktail creation I was proud to share. Slightly spicy, not too sweet and all around delicious. Light and refreshing, this is the perfect summer cocktail!

The Recipe (makes one cocktail)

  • a half teaspoon of sugar
  • two fresh basil leaves
  • the juice of one fresh grapefruit
  • 1 1/2 ounce Tanquerey Gin

Muddle up a dash of the fresh grapefruit juice, the two basil leaves and the sugar in the bottom of a high ball glass until the grapefruit juice takes on the green of the basil. Add a few ice cubes, the gin, and top with the remaining grapefruit juice. Stir and enjoy!

If you like your cocktails sweeter, add a dash of simple syrup to the completed drink and give it another stir.

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The Rum-Sparkling-Orange-Disaster

by Jen on September 30, 2011

Maybe I shouldn’t call this drink a disaster. I’m not much of a rum fan, so it was unlikely that I’d like it from the get go. But I’ve been hanging out with some new friends who prefer rum, so I decided to give it a go.

We acquired some Meyer’s Dark Rum awhile ago to provide to those friends of ours who prefer rum. I have very fond memories of Meyer’s Dark Rum, as it was the bottle that was dark enough for me to steal out of without Mom and Dad’s noticing back when I was in high school. I’m pretty sure I filled it back up with water. Luckily for me, Mom and Dad weren’t rum fans either, so it went unnoticed (or so I believe…).

My friend Brian suggested that Meyer’s Dark Rum and orange juice is a classic cocktail. We didn’t have orange juice, but we did have some of Trader Joe’s Sparkling Clementine beverage. I love that beverage. It’s great with champagne for a twist on the mimosa.

So we gave it a try. I poured an ounce of Meyer’s Dark Rum over ice and added Sparkling Clementine beverage to fill the glass (probably a 3 to 1 ratio). My compatriots Aimee and Brian — the rum fans — raved, but I choked it down out of polite necessity.

Rum fans, have at it. The rest of us will keep our Meyer’s in the pantry for teenage girls to smuggle.

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The Practical Magic

by Jen on May 6, 2011

The warm California weather arrived this week and with it came a desire for a Campari and Soda, one of my favorite hot weather drinks.

When Sarah arrived last night for our monthly girls’ night, I suggested a Campari and Soda. I had gone as far as pouring the Campari over ice when I realized we were out of soda water!!

We wandered through our brains for mixers that might work, and settled on some Italian Blood Orange Soda hiding in the fridge. Garnished with a slice of orange, it was the perfect combination of sweet and a bit of bitter. Delicious!

We named it the Practical Magic for the movie we were about to watch, and our luck in finding the perfect combination of flavors. Make sure that you enjoy the orange when you’re finished with the drink. It’s heaven.

The Practical Magic

Pour 1 1/2 ounces of Campari and 1 1/2 ounces of Blood Orange Soda over ice. Stir and garnish with a wedge of orange.

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A Gin Bloody Mary?

by Jen on February 22, 2011

I am not one to turn down a late morning cocktail.  The Bloody Mary has long been one of my favorites, but last year I stopped drinking vodka and never looked back (well…except for once in awhile…).

The Bloody Mary is an awesome early morning drink because it’s chock full of tomato and veggie goodness.

I’m willing to bet that it’s the most nutritious cocktail out there–especially the way I make them. I love veggies so I add a few spicy green beans and olives to the traditional celery garnish.

There’s a version of the Bloody Mary called the Bloody Maria where you substitute tequila for the vodka. We haven’t ventured too far in Tequilaland (maybe we will this year!) but I was willing to swap in gin and see what happened.

I make a very imprecise Bloody Mary and don’t bother to measure all the ingredients.  Everyone likes their Bloody Maries a little different–more Tabasco, less horseradish.  I think it’s a drink that is best made to your taste.

Don't forget the celery salt rim!

The Recipe

Wet the rim of a pint glass with a lemon and coat it in celery salt.

Add some ice cubes and an ounce and a half of gin (or vodka if you’re not on board for this experiment)

Start with 1/2 teaspoon of horseradish, a dash each of Tabasco and Worcestershire, a shake of black pepper, and a squeeze of a lemon.

Stir and taste. Add more as you see fit. I at least double the horseradish and Worcestershire.

Garnish with AT LEAST a celery stick adding spicy green beans, olives and whatever you’re moved to.

ENJOY

Load that sucker up with veggies galore!

The Verdict

Disappointingly, my gin Bloody Mary tasted exactly like a vodka Bloody Mary. All the delicious flavor of the gin was masked by the strong spices. I’m going to have to look elsewhere for a favorite morning gin drink, and admit that vodka does have its place on our cocktail shelf. No point in wasting gin!

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The In the Money

by Will on January 3, 2011

  • 1 shot Ile de Re French cognac
  • 1 dash Chartreuse
  • 3 dashes Benedictine
  • 1 dash Angostura bitters
  • Top off with champagne

To celebrate the passing of that crappy and character-building year we had, and to hope for a future with more prosperity!

Named for Busby Berkeley’s number, “We’re in the Money.”

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The Conspicuous Consumption Cocktail

by Will on December 21, 2010

1 1/2 oz. cognac

1/2 oz. Maraschino liqueur

1/2 oz. yellow Chartreuse

1 dash pre-ban Absinthe

1 dash Amer Picon

Stir on ice, serve straight up with shredded $100 bill on the rim. Top off with a quick pour of French champagne.

This is a drink to have in public, so people will know that you have enough money to throw it away on dumb crap like shredded $100 bills, and to ruin good cognac by mixing it with other ingredients. Even if you don’t actually have that kind of money, people will think that you do. And if they think you have money to throw around, they’ll want to get their share, so they will suck up to you a bit. And isn’t that what you want?

Note: Substitute Armagnac to make a De La Souche.

Postscript: This post may be a joke. It would behoove you not to try making a Conspicuous Consumption cocktail. If you have $100 bills to shred, I’d encourage you to send them to me. I’ll shred them for you.

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The Benicia

by Will on August 29, 2010


This drink is on the sweet side, which I think is what most people are looking for in a drink, especially those who are just getting started.

The Benicia Cocktail:
1 1/2 oz. London dry gin
1 oz. dry vermouth
1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
1/2 oz. Italian blood orange soda
1 dash grenadine
Combine the gin, vermouth, and soda in a mixing glass. Stir with ice. Add the dash of grenadine to the cocktail glass. Serve straight up with a cherry garnish.
Yes, cheapskates, Gallo vermouth and Rose’s grenadine will do just fine. Don’t you dare sub vodka for the gin.
This cocktail is my variation on the Bronx cocktail, a classic cocktail created more than 100 years ago back east, and very popular in the day. The Bronx is a great drink that I often serve to people who say they don’t like gin and/or vermouth, because it tends to cure people of their irrational fear of both, in one fell swoop.
I tried to keep with the spirit of the original name by naming this drink after a peripheral city in the metropolitan region I live in. Benicia has no zoo, but boasts some very pretty sites and a community of interesting artists.
Fun Fact!: there was a time when Benicia was the capital of California.
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The Santa Rosa

by Jen on July 23, 2010

To celebrate the weekend and the return of Madmen this Sunday, I would like to share Will’s most recent cocktail creation: The Santa Rosa.

The back story:

We watched Madmen as a marathon last winter, having only discovered it when my mother introduced me to it on a family trip.  For a month, we did nothing else but watch Madmen.  We were intrigued by Don’s usual drink: the Old Fashioned, and also by Betty Draper’s Gimlet and the martinis that the Fat Cats on the show have during their decadent three-martini lunches.  Also, the casseroles, but we quickly discovered that casseroles contain a lot of cheese and let that phase go by without too much hubbub.  The cocktail obsession, however, stuck with us, and Will started rapidly acquiring the sundry liquors, elixers and various bitters needed to try anything and everything, with an emphasis on the cocktails from the days of yore.

Will quickly tired of other people’s recipes and started to experiment in mixology, sometimes with disastrous results.  The Santa Rosa is his first cocktail creation that’s ready for prime time (though he also has come up with his own interesting twists on some of the classics!).

Shake or stir the following and serve on ice in an old-fashioned glass.  The garnish of a sprig of cilantro adds a wonderful complexity and tingles your taste buds.

  • 1 1/2 oz bourbon
  • 1 1/2 oz fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice
  • 1/8 oz Benedictine
  • 1/8 oz sweet vermouth
  • 1/8 oz grenadine
  • 1 dash Angostura bitters if you have the large bottle, 2 dashes if dealing with the small bottle

The 1/8 oz is pretty hard to measure–most recipes would just call it “one dash” to avoid stressing you out. Don’t sweat it if your measure is a little off.

How Will created it:

The Santa Rosa began as a way to get rid of some quickly aging but still good grapefruit.  Bourbon was a natural choice for the liquor pairing because they both have such strong favors.  He considered adding simple syrup to sweeten it (grapefruit is very sour), but dismissed this option as obvious and boring.

Instead he added a little Benedictine–a very strong, complex liqueur. The drink tasted better, but still a little sour and astringent.  Will added Angostura bitters, comme il faut (because that’s what you do). He added grenadine, and the drink was no longer sour, and had a lovely red color.  But still there lingered the astringent bourbon finish!

He thought long and hard about what would make it smoother, and decided that sweet vermouth would be good for that.  He added a little bit, and liked the result… a lot!

Note:  In a pinch, Drambuie could be substituted for Benedictine.  They cost about the same (about $30 a bottle), but Benedictine is hard to find.
Also note:  Many of these ingredients–in fact all of these ingredients, will be consumed at a very slow pace.  You may balk at the initial investment, but we find we get a lot of joy in sharing our varied cocktail menu with guests (and our taste buds!) and you may too.

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