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February 27th 3:46 :46 pm by
cignoh
today i practiced some more in photoshop… first i tried the gold tutorial that i tried earlier this month on a photo that i took last week. the gold doesn’t look so much like gold, but the matte edge looks better than my first golden egg attempt. also, i think i like the original photo better, but that’s ok…
* i have edited the gold look from earlier today based on feedback and the fact that i didn’t like what i made earlier… i think it definitely works better but still doesn’t look quite gold-like…
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next i composited a pink cocktail umbrella into a photo that was taken of a friend of mine:
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he just loves pink. i might even add a cherry/pineapple to the drink if i have time…
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I made vanilla Meyer lemonade last night, loosely following a recipe I read on Vanilla Garlic. My Meyer lemons weren’t quite as mild as usual, but the flavor was still really nice and paired quite well with the rich complexity of fresh vanilla bean in the simple syrup. I poured it into an empty Italian soda bottle I’d saved. It’s also delicious mixed with limoncello lemon liquer — sweet, tart, handsome and alcoholicious!
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February 19th 1:34 :30 am by
mithril
I was pretty sure I wouldn’t manage a thing today, having spent the whole day helping my brother move out of his apartment and into a storage facility. I’m wiped. However, when I got home, I realized that I had some ingredients I wanted to play with, so I made yet another newish cocktail. This one started life as a Sidecar, then I added yellow Chartreuse for a little herbal background (which turned it into a Knight Cocktail), and then replaced the triple sec with St. Germain, a citrusy/sweet elderflower liqueur which is really astonishingly amazingly totally unbelievably good. Or something. The end result was:
The Knight Templar
1.5oz brandy
1oz fresh lemon juice
.5oz yellow Chartreuse
.75oz St. Germain
Mix in a mixing glass, shake over ice, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel.
This is good stuff. Hell, anything starting as a Sidecar is going to be good stuff, but the St. Germain and Chartreuse really do succeed in their respective goals.
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February 15th 2:02 :39 am by
mithril
After a long day helping my brother pack up to move out of his apartment in Calistoga, I got home and felt the need for a cool, sweet/tart drink. Thus, I present a refreshing blend of mojito and caipirinha:
The Calistoga Fizz
1.5oz cachaça or white rhum agricole (I used Fazenda Mãe do Ouro cachaça)
.5oz peppermint simple syrup
dash orange bitters
6 mint leaves
.5oz lime juice
soda water
Muddle mint leaves in a mixing cup, then add peppermint syrup, cachaça, bitters and lime juice. Shake over ice and strain into a tall glass (highball if you want to use ice, or a tall, narrow glass as I used), then top with soda water and garnish with a sprig of mint.
Honestly, it should probably be stronger, more sour, and served on the rocks for maximum refreshingness. But this is pleasant and will serve for tonight.
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February 14th 8:43 :31 pm by
wohali
Today’s thing is a cocktail:
Ingredients
2 oz. Crown Royal
1/2 oz. Punt e Mes (or other quinquina or sweet red vermouth)
6 dashes Fee’s bitters (or other orange bitters)
100% black cherry juice (Knudsen’s Just Black Cherry or similar)
soda water
Preparation
Mix Crown Royal, Punt e Mes and Fee’s bitters in a lowball glass. Fill with equal parts black cherry juice and soda water. Stir and enjoy.
No photo - but imagine a nice dark red, slightly fizzy beverage in a lowball glass.
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February 13th 2:41 :43 am by
mithril
I was at a bit of a loss this evening as for a creative Thing to do. So, as I made flavored syrups last night, I decided to make a cocktail using one of them tonight. I chose the allspice syrup, and instead of the obvious mix with rum and fruit juices to make Navy Grog, I decided to see how it worked in a gin drink. This is the first attempt:
Work In Progress Cocktail
1.5oz gin
.5oz sweet vermouth
.25oz allspice syrup (or substitute Pimento Dram if available)
dash decent balsamic vinegar
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Add ingredients to a mixing glass and stir with ice. Strain into a cold cocktail glass, and garnish with a floated star anise.
The star anise isn’t assertive enough, though I’d hoped to complement the licorice flavor from the Peychaud’s Bitters. I do like the combination of the astringent allspice and sour vinegar flavors, and gin ties it all together. This has some potential, and I’m going to keep experimenting with it.
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February 11th 11:00 :48 pm by
mithril
Today I made more syrups! I’m nearly out of squeeze bottles, so I either have to stop now, or get more bottles. I think I may go shopping, because I still have a few more flavors to make.
The ginger and peppermint syrups are both 2:1 sugar:water plus flavoring. I don’t think I used enough mint or ginger in the syrups, as the flavors, while decidedly there, are too weak for the small amounts of syrup I’d like to use in cocktails. Live and learn.
The third syrup, allspice syrup, is also apparently known as “grog mix” and is used in a drink called Navy Grog. Now, grog was originally rum plus water (often with some citrus to stave off scurvy).This syrup is dark and tannic, and almost reminds me of a strong, spiced black tea. I think this will mix VERY well with dark rum and citrus.
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February 11th 3:21 :46 am by
mithril
Flavored syrups are a useful ingredient in many cocktails. Beyond the simple syrup (sugar dissolved in water), there are any number of less-simple choices. Today I made kumquat syrup by diluting the almost jellylike citrus-in-sugar fluid left over from candying kumquats (material for another Thing-A-Day, except that I did it before this project started), boiling it, and straining it through a filter and adding a bit of vodka as a preservative (to about 8% ABV…a little higher might be a good idea).
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February 07th 8:52 :15 pm by
mithril
Another day, another cocktail recipe. I still wanted to play with Canton, and it seemed to me that it might be a good sweet and firey match for Punt e Mes bitter/sweet vermouth. So, what uses vermouth? A Manhattan. Now, if we’re going to make a Manhattan with added spicy ginger, we probably want to start with a fairly non-spicy whiskey. Bourbon, not rye. I chose Corner Creek Reserve Bourbon, which is too sweet for me to drink straight but is less likely to overwhelm the Canton. The final result is a tasty drink, with ginger that really comes through as flavor and not heat. Pretty interesting, particularly with the strongly vanilla bourbon.
The Glass Camel Cocktail
2oz Bourbon
1oz Canton cognac/ginger liqueur
1/2oz Punt e Mes
1 dash Angostura bitters
Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a brandied cherry.
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February 04th 9:56 :15 pm by
mithril
So, I have a new bottle of Canton ginger liqueur, and figured I’d try to find a fantastic cocktail for it. This is not that cocktail, but it’s drinkable. I’ll continue working on it until I figure out something actually good enough to name creatively. Until then, I have given it the imaginative name of:
Experimental Ginger Cocktail #1
1.5oz Armagnac
.75oz Canton
.5oz Yellow Chartreuse
1 dash orange bitters
Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass whose rim has been rubbed with a lemon twist.
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Champagne Cocktails for Dani’s Birthday.
