Spanish Lady

As this was the inspiration for the Oaxacan Lady, I decided to make the Spanish Lady:

• 3/4 ounce aged rum (Havana Club 7 Year)
• 3/4 ounce Bénédictine
• 3/4 ounce Amaro Montenegro
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice
• 1 dash Angustora bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice, then strain into a coupe.

One reason I made this cocktail is that I’m lazy.

In our old house we actually had a room with a dedicated bar. It was a bit by accident. In the southern United States it was common for houses to have a “formal living room”. This was a room, seldom used, in which you would put nice furniture for entertaining guests.

Twelve Miles Out

When I started making cocktails I was limited by the ingredients I had on hand. Now that I have one of the best stocked liquor cabinets between Atlanta and DC I can make a lot of things.

This drink out of the Prohibition Centennial Edition of Dr. Cocktail’s book is another equal portions drink, so I decided to give it a try.

Hotel Nacional Special

Another one from Cuba: the Hotel Nacional Special:

• 3 or 4 (1-inch square) pineapple chunks
• 0.75 ounce lime juice
• 0.50 ounce SC Demerara Syrup
• 0.50 natural apricot liqueur (such as Rothman & Winter Apricot Liqueur or Gifford Abricot du Roussillon)
• 1.5 ounces blended lightly aged rum

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the pineapple chunks with the lime juice and syrup. Add the apricot liqueur and the rum, then fill with cracked or cubed ice. Shake and double strain into a chilled coupe.

Continue reading

Daisy de Santiago

From Cuba comes the Daisy de Santiago:

• 1.0 ounce lime juice
• 1.5 teaspoons SC Demerara Syrup
• 1.0 ounce seltzer
• 0.5 ounce Yellow Chartreuse
• 1.5 ounces blended lightly aged rum

Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Add cracked or cubed ice. Shake and strain into a double old-fashioned glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a mint sprig.

This recipe is from the Smuggler’s Cove book but it is adapted from The Gentleman’s Companion: Around the World with Jigger, Beaker and Flask by Charles H. Baker, Jr. Baker was a food and drink writer who traveled the world and told stories. It sounds like my dream job. The Daisy de Santiago he discovered in Cuba, and referred to it as a “lovely thing, indeed”.

Three Dots and A Dash

Morse code for Victory, it’s Three Dots and a Dash:

• 0.50 ounce lime juice
• 0.50 ounce orange juice
• 0.50 ounce SC Honey Syrup
• 0.25 ounce John D. Taylor’s Velvet Falernum
• 0.25 ounce St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
• 1.50 ounces cane AOC Martinique rhum agricole vieux
• 0.50 ounce blended aged rum
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Add all ingredients to a drink mix tin. Fill with 12 ounces of crushed ice and 4 to 6 small agitator cubes. Flash blend and open pour with gated finish into a footed pilsner glass. Garnish with three cherries and a pineapple chunk on a cocktail pick.

Continue reading

Whoa Nellie!

A new classic, it’s the Whoa Nellie!:

• 1.25 ounces rye
• 0.75 ounce dark rum
• 0.75 ounce Cointreau
• 4 dashes Angostura bitters
• 0.50 ounce lemon juice
• 0.50 ounce grapefruit juice
• 0.50 ounce simple syrup

Combine all of the ingredients into a shaker and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled martini glass.

My friend Ben and I share a fondness for whiskey, and together we have a decent collection. Unfortunately, we live more than an hour apart, so it made sharing them difficult until we decided we could just bring them to work. Thus “Whiskey Monday” (#whiskeymonday) was born.

Hurricane

In honor of Mardi Gras, I made a Hurricane:

• 2 ounces lemon juice
• 2 ounces SC Passion Fruit Syrup
• 4 ounces black blended rum

Combine all of the ingredients in a drink mixer tin. Fill with 12 ounces of crushed ice and 4 to 6 small “agitator” cubes. Flash blend and open pour with a gated finish into a 15 oz. hurricane glass. Garnish with a wind-ravaged cocktail umbrella speared into a lemon wedge.

Continue reading