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.

Naked and Famous

.75 Mezcal
.75 Yellow Chartreuse
.75 Aperol
.75 Lime Juice

Shake all ingredients and strain into a chilled coupe glass.

I recently picked up this year's Food and Wine Cocktails 2012.  I've been buying these books for a few years now because they have some interesting recipes ideas in them (although some are misses).  This year's version is set up a bit different than past years.  In previous years there were sections for drinks by spirit (brand, gin, vodka, etc) or theme (pitcher, mocktail, classic, etc).  This year it is organized by classic cocktail(blood and sand, margarita, etc), and then takes on it (classic, twist, reinvention, mocktail).  Seems to be a pretty interesting idea for people who want to get into making their own variations on a drink. 

The Naked and Famous was listed as the reinvention in the Last Word section.  I made this Last Word variation as one of my first drinks out of this book because Last Words are one of my favorite drinks (although they can come off as a little sweet), and the mescal / aperol / yellow charteruse version sounded cool.

The drink starts off with a muted mezcal smoke on the nose.  Taste begins with mezcal and smoke reminiscent of a mezcal based margarita or el diablo.  This transitions into faint grapefruit and herbal notes with a subtle sugar sweetness.  The drink ends with some chartreuse herbals and leaves a smokey flavor on the tongue.  As time goes on the initial hit of mezcal starts to dissipate and the aperol comes through with hints of grapefruit and lime.

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.

ghost in the graveyard

1 oz Cocchi Americano
1 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1 oz Amaro Montenegro
1 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice.  Strain into an old fashioned glass filled with ice.  Garnish with a mint sprig.

Taking another drink off of the cocktailvirgin blog I chose the Ghost in the Graveyard which is from Gary Regan's Annual Manual for Bartenders 2011.  As much as I wanted to make this drink (Cocchi, Chartreuse, Amaro, fresh mint) I was a bit sad because I knew it was going to kill the last of my bottle of Yellow Chartreuse, and I don't really feel like buying a new one (I will though).  Luckily the drink turned out to be a good use of it.

The scent on the drink was mint with a slight bit of lime.  The taste starts out with Yellow Chartreuse before transitioning to lime.  The drink finishes with sugar and some Cocchi style bitterness.  The drink tastes surprisingly like Green Chartreuse for it using Yellow Chartreuse.  Because of this it kind of reminds me of a last word.  Since it is sweet, limey and herbal.  The ingredients work very well together.  Tasting the Amaro Montenegro alone before making the drink I was surprised by how much it reminded me of Cocchi.

Veruca Salt

1.5 oz Gin (Plymouth)
.75 oz Blueberry / Cucumber Shrub
  .5 oz Dolin Blanc
dash Grapefruit Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Here is another drink I made w/ the homemade blueberry shrubs from last week.  I worked off a recipe in this post from the cocktail virgin blog with a couple of changes to the recipe.  First I used Plymouth gin instead of Hendricks because it is what I had on hand.  To give it some cucumber notes I used a blueberry / cucumber shrub.  I also subbed Dolin Blanc for the Lillet, but I think next time I'll try it with Cocchi.

Unsurprisingly the smell is dominated by the shrub with funky cucumber and vinegar notes.  The taste begins with blueberries, switches to a little gin burn before fininishing with bitterness and citrus.  Riding over all of the phases is the cucumber taste.  This was a very refreshing drink.  I will have to try it with Cocchi though because I'd like there to be more bitterness on the end to contrast the shrub's sweetness.

Blood Orange Julio

1.5 oz Rum
   1 oz Licor 43
  .5 oz Orange Liquor
   2 oz Orange Juice
   1 oz Soymilk

Shake with ice and strain into a large martini glass.  Garnish with an orange wedge.

This is a take on the Orange Julio drink that I found in Food & Wine's Cocktails 2006.  After making the original a few times I made the following modifications to see how it'd work w/ what I have at my bar.  The changes I made were that instead of using 2 oz of orange rum, I used 1.5 oz of rum and .5 oz of orange liquor.  I also subbed out .5 oz of cream with 1 oz of soymilk.

The smell on this drink is cream with slight hints of orange with a lot of rummy notes in the inhale.  Taste starts off with cream and switches to a bitter pith before settling in orange and vanilla.  Rum hits on the aftertaste.  Blood oranges leave a long lingering bitter orange note on the tongue.

The modified drink is a lot lighter and more citrus driven than the original.  Swapping the cream for soymilk turned this drink from a dessert cocktail (the segment I got it from) to more of a beach / pool drink.  The heavily orange taste allow it to hold its own next to fruit drinks like the strawberry daiquiri or pina colada and the soymilk instead of cream keeps you from feeling bloated after having one or two.

Spiked Blueberry-Thyme Lemonade

1.25 oz Vodka
  .75 oz Blueberry Thyme Shrub
    .5 oz St Germain
    .5 oz Lemon Juice.
     1 oz Spring Water
Barspoon Berechovka

Inspired by a recipe on the Cure bar website I decided to make some shrubs last week.  I made 3 takes on the blueberry shrub featured here.  The three varieties I made were Blueberry-Cucumber (to use in a Cure recipe), Blueberry-Thyme (cause blueberries and thyme go well together), and Blueberry-Lavender (cause well, I just like lavender).  This means a lot of purple drinks in the next few days... but I'll try and spread em out.

I really like the concept of shrubs since the vinegar gives a drink a different dimension.  As a plus they work really well in citrus style recipes.  Using the blueberry thyme shrub I modified the recipe for spiked blueberry-thyme lemonade from organic shaken and stirred.  The changes I made to the recipe were that instead of .75 oz of simple syrup I used the shrub, I removed the thyme / blueberry muddle step and I used some berechovka since I ran out of yellow chartreuse.

The drink's nose begins with a hit of thyme with a slight vinegar backing.  The taste is predominantly blueberries and lemon.  Thyme and a slight honey / herbal flavor kicks in at the end.  Overall the lemon juice and the vinegar combine for a perfect lemonade pucker.  The only concern with this drink (and a lot from organic shaken and stirred) is that it is a bit sweet / syrupy.  Next time I may put it on ice (ran out of ice or I would of), add a pinch of salt, or play w/ the shrub/lemon levels a bit to lower the sweetness level.