Here’s a cocktail we’ve used in our Craft Cocktail Techniques Workshop that’s delightful and locally inspired!
Union Cocktail
- 2 oz Irish Whiskey (We used Prichard’s Single Malt)
- 1 oz Madeira (A Medium Dry Pale is preferred)
- 1/2 oz Meletti Amaro
- 1 dash Regans’ Orange Bitters
- 1 dash Angostura Bitters
- Orange twist for garnish
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe. Garnish with an orange twist.
(created by Brother Cleve for the Somerville Arts Council’s new book, “Nibble”.)
I found the original version from the fantastic Cocktail Virgin Blog.
¶
Posted 07 March 2012
§
Recipes
‡
°
Here’s a post from Forbes.com about some of the muddlers on the market. Chris Milligan is a fan of the PUG! too.
PUG! Muddlers
Best of the best! Hand lathed by Chris Gallagher since 2004, Chris got curious about cocktails when he met Gary Regan and saw Gary’s tool bag. He recognized the “classic’ design of the muddler could be improved, and working with Regan created the PUG! acronym for Pick Up Gallagher’s! With a choice of a variety of hardwoods cherry, walnut, oak, just to name a few, the size and design of this muddler makes it the top in its field. The cut-away handle fits perfectly in the palm and and becomes and extension of the arms working with the body to allow maximum effiency with minimal effort. Hands down my choice!
So, take that paint cover piece of pine that your boss bought, and toss it to the curb. Drop an extra dime adn get yourself a better muddler.
Nab a PUG! from our online store.
read the whole article here Muddling Over Muddlers – Forbes.
More veggies making their way into cocktails. The article as a list of bars around the country that are squeezing some healthy veggies with your evening libation.
Sowing Seeds Vegetables invade the cocktail bar
via Vegetable Cocktails at The Wayland, Parm, The Bent Brick, Husk, and Spoonbar | Top Shelf – TastingTable.
Great article, with a few great recipes, for bitters heavy cocktails.
…Lieberman also said that he’s been seeing a rise of drinks that call for more than just a dash of bitters. Cocktails with bitters so prominent they can be measured in ounces are starting to pop up around the country.
Bitters are often thought of as the salt and pepper of the cocktail world, adding just a touch of spice to focus and deepen the flavors of a drink. It makes sense to use them sparingly—a 4-ounce bottle of Angostura can sell for $9 or more, and it’s potent stuff, so a drop or two goes a long way. “But we’re living in an age of extreme ingredients,” says Lieberman, “everywhere you look, there’s pork belly.” So perhaps the time for the extreme use of bitters has come.
Please check out the whole article via Cocktail Trend: More Than A Dash of Bitters | Serious Eats: Drinks.
Click the link below to check out a totally fun chart of Boston’s cocktail family tree.
A family tree of the bartenders who began the craft drink movement, beginning at the B-Side, Eastern Standard, No. 9 Park, and Silvertone, and ending at the bar where you sip today. Bartenders are listed with the venue with which they are most often associated. Colored stripes below the boxes represent a connection to another branch of the bartender family tree.
via Cocktail creationists.
¶
Posted 15 February 2012
§
News
‡
°
We’re mentioned with some awesome company! Please read Devra’s whole article – it’s a great summary of Boston’s cocktail roots and scene.
This winter, four new establishments showcasing cocktails opened in the Boston area, all within the course of a few weeks: the Hawthorne, Brick & Mortar, Saloon, and backbar. They join the likes of Clio, Drink, Eastern Standard, the Franklin Cafe, Green Street, Rendezvous, and many other local businesses serious about cocktails. In Davis Square, you’ll find the Boston Shaker, a shop that sells nothing but cocktail paraphernalia; walk into a liquor store and you’re likely to find a dizzying array of specialty spirits.
Boston has become a hub for craft cocktails – those made with fresh, quality ingredients, often reviving recipes from decades and centuries past. It’s easy to forget that until fairly recently drinks were made with neon “sour mix’’ and a bottle of bitters was nearly impossible to come by – never mind versions made in small batches by a dozen companies, in flavors from celery to sriracha.
via The craft of mixing has made a unique Boston bar culture – The Boston Globe.
A great way to get your veggies!
While fresh-squeezed fruit juices have become common on serious cocktail menus, some of America’s best bartenders are turning to vegetables to incorporate seasonal and bitter components into their drinks.
Read more via The New Vegetable Cocktails – Mouthing Off | Food & Wine to see some examples from around the country.
HOT BUTTERED RUM
Contributed by Wayne Curtis
INGREDIENTS:
- 1.5 oz Rum1
- tbsp Hot Buttered Rum Batter, frozen
- Boiling water
- Glass: Mug
PREPARATION:
Add the rum and batter to a mug. Fill with boiling water and stir.
Hot Buttered Rum Batter
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 lb Butter, at room temperature
- 1 lb Brown sugar
- 1 lb Sugar
- 1 tbsp Ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground cloves
- 1 tsp Ground nutmeg
- 1 qt Vanilla ice cream, softened slightly
PREPARATION:
Add all the ingredients except the ice cream to a bowl and stir to combine. Add the ice cream and stir again. Transfer to a container with a lid, seal and store in the freezer. Ideally, the batter is prepared at first frost and finished before the robins arrive. Bring it out for parties, or whenever the temperature drops below 25 degrees.
via In Defense of Hot Buttered Rum – Liquor.com — Liquor.com.
Super article from Jason Wilson. Below is some great advice on using a classic recipe and doing some simple tweaks to come up with something different and original.
In fact, without trying to ruin the livelihoods of mixologists with well-paying corporate gigs, here’s their basic, not-so-secret formula for almost all new cocktail development: Take a classic recipe from the 20th century. Replace the base spirit with another base spirit (either whatever you have on hand or, in the case of corporate mixologists, the product of whoever is paying you). More advanced home bartenders can alter the secondary spirits, change the juices, add different bitters or bring in new mixers.
For instance, switch out bourbon for apple brandy, and simple syrup for maple syrup, and your Old-Fashioned becomes an Apple Brandy Old-Fashioned. Replace gin with aquavit, and lemon with lime, and your French 75 becomes a Swedish 60. For your Manhattan, use bianco vermouth instead of sweet vermouth, replace bitters with a strange root-tea liqueur called Root, and you have a Pennsylvania Dutch Manhattan.
The article goes on to talk about some great cognac cocktails. I definitely agree with him – a cognac based Sazerac is wonderful (Old-Fashioneds too!)
via How cocktails happen – The Washington Post.
Some great winter cocktail recipes from Colorado based bartenders.
The cocktails that fill the bill tend to come in amber hues, concoctions with dark, smoky notes suitable for burrowing in. These libations can help navigate the long winter nights of the soul — and keep Jack Frost at bay.
More of the story and the recipes at the link below.
via Colorado bars offer a few great shakes in winter cocktail mixes – The Denver Post.
