Silver Monk

   2 cucumber slices
   8 mint leaves
   pinch salt
  .5 oz simple syrup
   2 oz blanco tequila
.75 oz yellow chartreuse
   1 oz lime juice

Muddle the cucumber, mint leaves, salt, and simple syrup together.  Add tequila, chartreuse and lime juice.  Shake and strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with mint and cucumber.

Wanting something light and summery I went for this recipe from Food & Wine Cocktails 2011 that I remember making a few months ago.  I also went to goodwill again, and bought some new glasses and I figured this light colored drink would make for a good photo.

I don't really know what the difference is between this version and other times I made this drink.  It seemed a lot harsher and less blended than other times.  Maybe it was due to using some leaves off my chocolate mint plant instead of the usual spearmint, or maybe I needed a larger pinch of salt.  Either way, I'll have to give it another go soon and see.

The drink gives off a pleasant aroma of cucumber, yellow chartreuse and mint.  The taste starts sweet with sugar, cucumber and chartreuse herbals.  After this initial sweetness the drink changes to a harsher tequila and lime burn with a bit of mint.

Space Gin Smash

     6 Mint Leaves
  .25 Lemon
     2 Green Grapes
  .25 Green Apple
  .33 oz Simple syrup
1.25 oz Tanqueray Gin

In a shaker, muddle the mint, lemon, grapes, apple with the simple syrup. Add the gin shake with ice.  Strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh cracked ice and garnish with apple slices and a mint sprig.

Its been raining for the last few days straight and while gloomy and disruptive to my running schedule it is a perfect chance to try out some rainy day cocktail recipes.  A few months ago I saw this post about rainy day cocktails and have been thinking it since then.

Of the two cocktails featured the one I went for was the Space Gin Smash.  I went for it because, well, it looked the most like a rainy day w/ a foggy green / grey tint.  Mine is a bit pinker cause I couldn't find green grapes and had to go with red.  In my defense, I did go to two stores looking for green grapes and debated a switch to kiwi (except prior experience shows kiwi turns into an impossible to strain mush).  Guess it just must not be grape season or something.

The drink presents a mint smell with a bit of sharp citrus.  Taste is watery and begins with a bit of mint.  It moves to a light gin presence and ends with more lemon juice and some mint herbals on the swallow.  This is a really mild tasting drink.  Between the water from the cracked ice and the mild tasting grapes / etc it ends up tasting very light and diluted.  This not necessarily a bad thing.  I enjoyed the drink and it seemed to be pretty strong all things considered.  It is also a drink you could finish in less time than it takes to make it.

Which brings me to ny biggest complaint with the drink, all of the muddling.  I am fine muddling ingredients, but since the flavor of the apple / grape didn't really shine in the final product I am wondering if I can made a version of it where I muddle mint and use apple / grape juices or pre-make a batch of the muddle solution.  Because while a pleasant drink it didn't seem to justify the extra prep time.  If I can figure out a way to turn it into a punch it could be a winner.

The Tween Barber

Whiskey Version:
1.5 oz Single Malt Scotch (Dalmore Cigar Malt)
.75 oz Red Wine
  .5 oz Licor 43
.25 oz Lemon Juice
.25 oz Simple Syrup
  dash Orange Bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with a lemon peel

Wine Version:
   2 oz Red Wine
.75 oz Single Malt Scotch (Dalmore Cigar Malt)
  .5 oz Licor 43
.25 oz Lemon Juice
.25 oz Simple Syrup
  dash Orange Bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a wine glass.  Garnish with a lemon peel

In preparation for a trip to New Orleans I have been checking out the list at my favorite bar down there Cure.  They have a lot of interesting things on their menu.  One that that caught my eye was the Twee Barber with the use of wine, scotch and Licor 43.  For this reason I decided to try to recreate it at home.

Since I've never had the original and only had the ingredients list to go by I made two versions.  The first is more whiskey driven and uses the wine as a flavor element.  The second version is more of a sangria.  Both versions turned out good, so I still don't know which direction is better.

 

Whiskey Version:
In the whiskey version the drink starts with a lemon and slight whiskey aroma.  The taste starts with the scotch and a hint of smoke and changes to sugar, citrus and a purple almost creme de cassis fruit note.  It reminded me of cool flavored whiskey sour or similar whiskey driven drink.

Wine Version:
The wine version starts with lemon oil.  The taste is incredible smooth with the wine notes as the primary taste with the sugar and lemon juice coming in after the wine notes.  The whiskey is almost invisible in the drink, it provides some body and depth but doesn't stand out on its own.

As I said both drinks were good.  I'd probably make the whiskey version if I was having a cocktail or 2 with friends, but on a summer night sitting outside, the second more wine driven version would be more my go to.

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.

Strawberry Lychee Punch

   3 Strawberries
   1 Lychee
.25 oz Simple Syrup (Agave)
.25 oz Lychee Syrup
   2 oz Light Rum (Jamaican Rum)
  .5 oz Lime Juice

Muddle the strawberries and lychee with the syrups.  Add the Rum and Lime Juice and shake.  Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a strawberry and lychee.

Dispite the fact that the weather isn't accommodating (snow flurries? what the heck). I want it to be nice out.  I also wanted to do up a drink that wouldn't require a trip to the liquor store.  Fulfilling this role is the Strawberry Lychee Punch from Food & Wine's Cocktails 2006.  I made a couple changes to the base recipe when I created mine.  I used agave nectar for a more nuianced sweetness and threw in a pinch of salt and some rosewater to intensify the fruit flavors a bit.  It seemed to help, but it isn't necessary.

This ended up being a nice and simple summer cocktail.  The nose was delicate with ripe fruit, floral and rum notes.  The taste started with a slight acidity from the fresh strawberries and went into a jammy fruit taste.  The rum breaks up the fruit flavor with a bit of heat + spice.  After more fruit the drink ends on a slight lime note.  The most noticible factor of this drink though was the mouthfeel.  The muddled fruit gave this drink a thick almost smoothie like consistancy that worked well in the drink.

In the end if you had a can of lychees around and feel like making something a bit more interesting than a strawberry daiquiri, I'd recommend giving the strawberry lychee punch a try.