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There's a certain level of comfort when it comes to the classics. There was no Tiki movement, no vodka, and folks knew what to expect from a cocktail. By today's standards, times were simpler then, although it's all relative. Still, we think there is virtue in exploring basic, spirit-driven recipes that have stood the test of time—and some that have become lost in it. The Metropole is one such drink.
Originally the house cocktail for the Metropole Hotel in New York City, this brandy based drink has survived since the late 1800s while the hotel where it was created is long gone. It's a common story shared by many classic cocktails, although in our opinion, too few of them contain brandy. It's a simple enough formula, but it has changed somewhat over the years.
Metropole 2 oz cognac 1 oz dry vermouth .5 teaspoon simple syrup 2 dashes Peychaud’s
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Chances are, if your local liquor store even has absinthe for sale they probably have a limited selection. And by limited, we mean one or maybe two different brands. Absinthe isn't cheap, so when you finally do take the plunge and add a bottle to your cabinet, it's nice to have several options given the wide range of international possibilities these days. Even if you do have several choices, it's not like shops are breaking out their selection to hold absinthe tasting for their customers. So, how to you choose? We were excited to find out that at least one online retailer is doing something about that.
If you start doing a little research you quickly realize that unless you know exactly what you want, buying spirits online isn't any easier than browsing a storefront full of sealed bottles. But the folks at Click here and take a bigger gulp of this article. . .
Dry vermouth—it's hard to find another ingredient that is so important and yet so unloved by the masses. Vermouth is aromatized wine, and as any wine appreciator can tell you, once opened, it won't last forever. Oxidation begins immediately upon opening a bottle. For the first few hours oxygen might help elevate the flavors in a good wine, but what might have tasted great during the party is probably going down the drain the next morning—unless it was vacuum-pumped and sealed. Although vermouth is fortified with spirits, it still needs to be treated with respect. We doubt many readers treat theirs with the same care as a delicate wine. A warm cabinet and an opened bottle will quickly lead to horrible flavor. It's no wonder most people cringe at the mere mention of vermouth in their Martinis! If your vermouth has been collecting dust, unrefrigerated, it belongs in the trash,
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To change it up a bit this week, let's try an "inverted" post for our Drink of the Week. We'll give you the recipe and a photo. Then, it's your turn. You make the cocktail and tell us what you think in the comments! How about it?
We will say just a few things to get the conversation started. First, the Monte Carlo is a classic cocktail in the truest sense: spirits, sugar, water and bitters. In this case, a little license is given in that water/sugar takes the form of DOM Benedictine which will definitely add some interest to the whiskey. Think of a Manhattan, only instead of sweet vermouth, you have Benedictine. Now, go forth and try one, then let us know what you think in the comments below:
Monte Carlo 2 oz rye whiskey .5 oz Benedictine 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Stir with ice. Strain into a
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It's not too early to start thinking about the winter holidays. It occurs to us that some readers might already be in the planning stages of cocktail parties and family gatherings. If you like to decorate with festive colors, it's easy to carry the effect into your drink selection. It's easy find red cocktails: look no further than the Boulevardier, Red Hook, or just about anything with Campari or sweet vermouth. However, you don't find many green cocktails. There's the Chartreuse Swizzle, but that one has more of a yellow tint. But, what about a true classic? The Stinger cocktail has a variation called the Green Hornet that would look right at home at a holiday party.
But, when was the last time you heard someone order a Stinger? For us it was probably a couple
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As the cooler months of autumn begin to replace the summer's heat, we often think of cocktails made with apples and darker spirits. So often, the drinks we post here at Summit Sips are either spirit-driven, bitter, or they end up balanced slightly toward the sour side of the spectrum. Here's a drink that will appeal to those of you who like something a little sweeter looking for a pleasant sipper as the leaves change. There are several versions of the Golden Dawn which originated around 1930, but this one seems to be the most interesting because it retains a depth of flavor while keeping the sugar under control. It comes to us by way of Ted Saucier's Bottoms Up, a risqué cocktail book first published in 1951. It's also one of those drinks that gets away with exactly equal proportions.
Golden Dawn .75 oz Calvados .75 oz
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For many people, September 19th is just an ordinary day. But for others, it is an anniversary or maybe even a birthday. Somehow, this day also became International Talk Like a Pirate Day. We've mentioned this in the past, and even wrote an entire post in pirate-speak. Today we are simply going to feature Navy Grog as our drink of the week.
There are as many Grog recipes as there are pirates with patched eyes. It seems that for every combination of rums there is some version of grog. One popular and historic Navy Grog calls for three types of rum: light Puerto Rican rum, dark Jamaican, and Demerara. It employs citrus in the form of lime and grapefruit juice and uses honey syrup to balance the sour.
Navy Grog 1 oz light Puerto Rican rum 1 oz dark Jamaican rum 1 oz Demerara rum
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There's a new Tiki bar in Portland, Oregon that just opened on NE Broadway called Hale Pele. It's in the space previously occupied by Thatch, for those of you who know the area. This bar is the brainchild of Blair Reynolds, (formerly AKA "TraderTiki"). Reynolds is definitely a veteran of Tiki culture as well as a celebrated professional in the world of bartending. In addition to collecting various honors, accolades and published references, his skills as a tropical drink maker and dedication to quality ingredients led to the creation of his own brand of cocktail syrups. The B.G.Reynolds' line includes everything from Cinnamon to Vanilla, and practically every other Tiki syrup you will ever need. We visited Hale Pale the first Friday of their opening last week and had a lovely time. The space is cozy, filled with warm, natural Polynesian decor represented by
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There aren't a lot of cocktails that feature Scotch as the base spirit, and because of that, you don't find very many here at Summit Sips. Over time, we'll slowly add to the list, but it's not the easiest spirit to pair with other ingredients. Besides, most folks that have Scotch like it the way they like it—on the rocks, neat, with water, etc.—and may not be interested in messing with their own personal traditions. Of course, that never stopped us. Let's see, we have the recent Saw Tooth, which is a wonderful way to use watermelon (who would have thought!), the Blood and Sand, an excellent classic, and there's the London Sour for a little Tiki action. But the most common cocktail is probably the Rob Roy, something we have never featured. That's
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This is another forgotten drink recipe from the Prohibition era. It appears in print as early as Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book but we picked it up in Ted Haigh's excellent Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. As you might have guessed, it uses calvados as the base spirit. Like cognac, calvados is a type of brandy from France, although instead of grapes it comes from apples. Past recipes on Summit Sips that have featured apple brandy are divided among drinks like the Jack Rose and the Newark that make use of its American cousin, Applejack, and others such as the Widow's Kiss and our own Circean that contain the more refined French calvados. It's one of those spirits that seems to be overlooked by a lot of people and that's a shame, but it's not why this cocktail recipe almost disappeared.
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