Fatigue

1 oz Bourbon
1 oz Maraschino Liquor
1 oz Angostura Bitters
Grapefruit Twist

Stir the Bourbon, Maraschino and Angostura and strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with the grapefruit twist.

Another recipe out of beta cocktails.  I gotta admit, this book is amazing.  The drinks don't use wildly difficult to find ingredients (no smoked ice or 1 use simple syrups), but the results are usually surprising.  This is one of the surprising recipes. 

I've been making a few heavy angostura drinks lately and while I enjoy them, they usually end up tasting the same, so the novelty was beginning to wear off.  This one didn't taste like any of the other ones and has renewed my desire to try new Angostura recipes.

 

There wasn't a very noticeable smell, some citrus and allspice.  As time went on a funky cherry became more prominent.  The taste hits like a wallop.  I used 107 proof bourbon so the drink started with a spicy burn on the lips and continued to spicy cinnamon and chocolate notes.  My first thought was mexican hot chocolate (which may of been on my mind since I just made a batch of mexican hot chocolate cookies).  Drink was real good, and I'm surprised I got more of a cinnamon taste from the Angostura instead of the allspice I have come to expect.

Prince of Orange

1 1/2 oz Bols Genever
1 oz Drambuie
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Orange Juice
1 tsp Orange Marmalade
2 dash Angostura Bitters

I was browsing the cocktailvirgin blog and saw this recipe for the Prince of Orange.  A couple of things drew me to this one.  I liked that it used Genever / Drambuie.  Genever is one of those bottles that I have but I rarely know what to do with, and Drambuie has some interesting taste notes that I like better than other sweet liquors in drinks (like St. Germain for instance).

Another reason I decided to make this drink was that it had orange marmalade in it.  One of the first homemade cocktails I made out of Organic Shaken and Stirred had marmalade and it seemed like an interesting idea.  The fact that I have a bottle of blood orange marmalade sitting in my closet sealed the deal.

Whew, this is a sweet drink.  The smell is all oranges and sugar.  On the taste there is an Aperol style bitter orange with a lot of sugar and some slight floral notes from the Drambuie.  The drink ends with a slightly funky malt note from the Genever at the end.  If I gave it a quick description my thought would be melted orange freeze pops.  Next time I'll double strain anything with marmalade because the bottom 1/3 was full of orange peel.

La Vida Del Diablo

1.5 oz Mezcal
  .5 oz Creme de Cassis
   3 oz Ginger Beer
  .5 oz Lime Juice

   2 dash Angostura Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a chilled collins glass filled with ice.  Stir well

Going through Food and Wine Cocktails 2012 I saw this recipe for a twist on an El Diablo, and realized I never made the original drink.  Taking this as a sign I decided to try both the classic El Diablo and the twist on the El Diablo at the same time and compare.

El Diablo

1.5 oz Tequila
  .5 oz Creme de Cassis
   3 oz Ginger Beer

  .5 oz Lime Juice

Lime wheel garnish.

The composition of the two recipes were pretty similar.  The biggest difference was the use of mezcal instead of tequila.

  

El Diablo is on the left and the La Vida Del Diablo on the right. 

El Diablo:

The classic starts off with tequila and citrus on the nose.  The taste is ginger and lime tartness with some tequila.  At the end the flavor gives way to lush berry notes from the creme de cassis

La Vida Del Diablo:
The La Vida starts with tar and smoke on the nose.  The taste starts with a slight lime taste followed by a oppressive punch of mescal that almost convers the berries in smoke.  Ginger is light throughout.

Comparison:
With the mezcal change the two versions end up being quite different and I'd have them in different situations.  The classic El Diablo is very light, reminiscent of a flavored margarita and refreshing.  It reminds me of something that could be used with food as a pallet cleanser.  The mezcal version feels heavy and aggressive and leaves you with smoke on the tongue for minutes afterwards.  It is more of a nighttime sipper compared to the El Diablo's daytime fair.  Both are good though.

Angostura Sour

1.5 oz Angostura Bitters
.75 oz Lime Juice
   1 oz Simple Syrup
   1 Egg White

Add all of the ingredients into a shaker and shake without ice.  Add ice and shake.  Strain into a coupe glass.

Today I tried another drink out of the beta cocktail book.  The Angostura Sour caught my eye because the only liquor involved in this recipe is Angostura Bitters, which are usually used in real small portions.  I've tried a few other drinks that use heavy amounts of Angostura with mixed results (mentirita and veracruz sling), but since it's an interesting concept and I had some eggs lying around.  I figured I'd try it out.

It turned out to be pretty cool.  I think I was more open to this drink because I had just tried a Ramos Gin Fizz.  The Angostura sour reminded me of a Ramos Gin Fizz because they both have a lot of citrus and a general 'sunday morning cocktail' feel.

I ended up making this drink twice.  Once as written with the egg white, and again trying to remove the egg white from the scenario (cause I don't keep eggs in the house much / raw eggs sketch people out).  I first tried it without the egg and it just wasn't the same, so I replaced it with a little soy milk (to try and replicate the creamy mouthfeel and touch of vanilla you get from egg whites) and it worked out pretty good.  I figure in a pinch a spash of soymilk could replace the egg white in this drink, but I'll have to try it a few more times to really see.

This drink starts with a heavily Angostura focused nose.  Allspice and herbs dominate with a hint of citris.  The taste is where the surprise is.  The drink is smooth and mellow and creamy.  It starts with citrus and sugar is followed by spicy nutmeg and allspice notes.  The sip ends with lime zest.  This drink really shows off what Angostura can do and allows people to understand how you could make whipped cream with Angostura or put it on vanilla ice cream and have it work.

Transatlantic Giant

1.5 oz Buffalo Trace (Bulleit)
  .5 oz Smith & Cross
  .5 oz Cynar
  .5 oz Sloe Gin
  .5 oz Creme de Cacao
3 dash Angostura

Stir and strain into a coupe glass

Sometimes I feel like I only make drinks because I get a new book in the mail.  Today I received my copy of beta cocktails and just had to try it out.  I'm pissed that I just heard about this book, because it was available in New Orleans when I was there over the summer for a convention.  I even went to the bar it was being sold at and didn't even know about it.  I still got thanks to their blurb page, but it would of been far more awesome if I got it there.

The book is interesting and I'll definitely be making a lot of drinks out of it.  Opening the package I was surprised by how small the book was, but it is pure recipes with 1-2 on each page.  The recipes are also pretty interesting with a lot of bitters and amaros.  Of course this means I really will have to buy a new bottle of Cynar because I noticed 4+ Cynar recipes in a quick scan. 

On to the drink.  I was prepared to dislike this drink.  Looking at the liquor bill there are a lot of flavorful ingredients and I feared it would taste like bourbon with a shot of grain alcohol added.  The reality was quite different.  On first sip the nose started with bourbon and transitioned to a funky dark fruit (plum-ish) smell.  The taste started with corn / cherry from the bourbon which then transitioned to a funky rum note.  Following close after the rum is a caramelized sugar and fruit note.  The drink finally finished with a rounded chocolate flavor.  After taking a few sips I began to see it a bit differently.  It started to remind me of an amaro.  I began to get an almost pepperminty spice off of the nose and the taste (taken in a quick swallow) reminded me a bit of Fernet Branc.