The Old Fashioned

Mention an Old Fashioned and the first thing that comes to your mind is probably Don Draper in his suit walking into a bar and ordering this cocktail before an evening of debauchery and advertising genius. As Don Draper’s cocktail of choice then, you would think that the Old Fashioned cocktail has a bit of a retro vibe to it (as if the name were not enough); but the Old Fashioned was retro even in the 60’s. Hell it was first called “old-fashioned” in the 1880s (which makes you wonder how long ago this was first mixed).

The Old Fashioned is perhaps one of the best examples of a “true” cocktail, which is any drink based on the template that appeared in The Balance in 1806; here, a cocktail is defined as “a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters”. While that may not sound very delicious, don’t be too hasty to judge.

Even though this drink fell out of favor after the Mad Men years and is only starting to regain popularity recently, it is certainly a contender for the most distinctly American classic cocktail (although we might prefer to reserve that for the Sazarac, which, come to think of it, is actually a variant of the Old Fashioned).

In addition to its illustrious history, this drink holds a special place alongside the Martini, its name usurping the more technical name for the type of glass in which it is served: the low-ball glass.

Now that we have the historical pleasantries are out of the way, let’s get down to the details. An Old Fashioned is most commonly made with bourbon or rye as its base alcohol. While any bitters can be used (to suit the taste of your drinker or local mixologist), the most common is Angostura bitters (currently the most widely available type/brand of bitters). 

The other essential ingredients are sugar and water. While simple syrup may be used, exercise caution when using commercial syrup since you may not know exactly how much sugar you are using. It is very easy to make this drink far too sweet. For a full-sized cocktail a good rule of thumb is not to use more than one teaspoon of sugar (and in fact, we recommend using less). Similarly it is important not to use too much water. The Old Fashioned is most commonly served over ice, so adding more water will not make it more drinkable and only have the effect of diluting the drink.

With these cautionary notes in mind, what follows is how we might make an Old Fashioned cocktail:

 

The Old Fashioned

2     oz          Makers Mark

1/2 tsp         Sugar

3    dashes   Fees Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters

1    dash       Fees Gin Barrel-Aged Orange Bitters (optional)

Add the whiskey barrel-aged bitters to the sugar in an old fashioned glass. Add just enough water to dissolve the sugar and muddle until the sugar is completely dissolved. Place two ice cubes in the glass and pour in the bourbon. Stir well. Add a dash of orange bitters or a twist of orange peel to the glass and enjoy.

 

Ending this post here though would be a reductive insult to this great cocktail. The Old Fashioned is more than just a cocktail or a recipe. It’s a template, an idea. The beauty of this drink lies in not its exact proportions and ingredients but that it’s a platform for endless experimentation. Try using different bitters or bourbons or ryes; in fact, go further, try using rum and lemongrass bitters. Basically, as any self-respecting scientist says, experiment! Don’t even think about using vodka though.

Cheers!

A&B

Beta Cocktails

Cocktail and mixology books are, if you’ll excuse the cliché, a dime a dozen these days. Most of them feature hundreds, if not thousands, of recipes each either more vile or more banal than the last. In fact, you could print one by writing about 5 lines of computer code in the programming language of your choice. These books are so mind-numbingly dull to read that it would be more useful to use their pages as cocktail napkins. There are a few cocktail books that are genuinely interesting; whether it’s because they have an interesting focus or are just well written, these books are still quite derivative, reformulating well established recipes, albeit with pretty pictures and minor modifications. At best they give you an idea for a new recipe or two and help you pass some time.

Given this rather bleak landscape, it is very heartening to come across a book like Beta Cocktails. Containing recipes and a philosophy compiled by Kirk Estopinal and Maksym Pazuniak, this book(let) really pushes the boundaries of a cocktail book. Unlike most other cocktail books, this one is published by an online print-on-demand publisher. Don’t let the featureless cover throw you off; the book is filled with amazing pictures, entertaining reading and most importantly, some truly inspiring drinks.

It may not look like much but this little book contains some of the best
recipes you will ever come across.

Probably the easiest way to describe their philosophy and the general types of drink included is actually by the very first thing you notice, they do not hesitate to go heavy on the Angostura. And while that may sound like nothing remarkable, that these two are bold enough to use this bitters by the ounce in their drinks shows just how far outside the box they’re thinking. They admit to as much themselves with the Angostura Sour. Recipes that are novel and unique are exciting enough; but these two go further. The drinks they present are almost visionary and inspiring. They challenge the way you mix drinks and force you to reconsider all the tenets you held; even though it is very likely that you will not try all the drinks in this book (since it requires a minor fortune’s worth of booze and several varieties of alcohol not readily available in the states), just reading the book is enough to set your mind working and creating.

This book is definitely not for everyone. Both the types of drinks it features and the required ingredients mean that this book is both for the professionals or the insane amateurs (like us). It assumes a fair amount of knowledge of booze and how to mix it. But maybe it is this targeting that really makes this book so good. By not trying to write to all levels, these two create something special that every cocktail enthusiast can truly enjoy.

And if nothing else, this book is actually a good read (and also features some serious cocktail porn). I mean when you have a recipe featuring bourbon and Carpano Antica that ends with the phrase “and pour into the educated glass,” you know that you’re dealing with some seriously erudite mixologists.

Old Monk

In our blog so far, we have covered a ubiquitous ingredient and a very sophisticated one. This one is neither of those, in every possible way. So if you were expecting to hear about an exotic ingredient that you could add to you bar to be the envy of all your friends, this post is probably not for you. Instead, we are going to be talking about some cheap, shitty booze (not Natty Ice or Franzia or Steel Reserve mind you, we’re not that bad); so say hello to Old Monk!

This is a dark rum from India, and no that is a not a typo. It comes in a bottle that looks like it contains moonshine that barely passed some government inspection. As if that isn’t enough, drink this neat and it will burn more than a shot of fire ants. However, a shot of fire ants wouldn’t leave you with the warm taste of caramel and butterscotch a shot of Old Monk will.

It's not much to look at but that's why we were
taught never to judge a booze by its bottle.

It’s only because of this subtle sweet aftertaste that we’re even bothering to talk about this rum. And boy, if you can get rid of that burn does this rum help make an amazing drink. First, in honor of what countless people in the subcontinent drink, here is a twist on the classic Cuba Libre (presented in slightly different manner from our usual cocktail recipes).

Monk on Coke

Take a tall glass and fill it with some ice, as much Old Monk as you feel like drinking and the rest with Coca-Cola. Add a lime twist for garnish. Enjoy.

Why use Old Monk instead of any other rum? This rum adds a hint of vanilla and butterscotch to the Coke making it taste like a grown-up version of vanilla Coca-Cola. Not bad for something that also gets you tipsy.

While a perfectly legitimate use of Old Monk, the cocktail we really prefer it in is our version of the Dark and Stormy inspired by the way Drink, the bar in Boston we recently raved out, makes it. If, like us, you want a Dark and Stormy with a much sharper ginger flavor, try this:

Dark and Stormy

1.5oz Old Monk

3.5oz Goya Ginger Beer

Fill a highball glass a third of the way with ice. Add all the ingredients and garnish with a wedge of lime (if you absolutely must have a garnish).
 

The Goya ginger beer is much sharper and more gingery than the more traditional Gosling’s ginger beer; this complements the butterscotch sweetness of the Old Monk resulting in a truly enjoyable drink.

So, the next time the monsoon (or a thunderstorm for those of you who don’t conveniently live near monsoon prone regions) rolls around, mix yourself one of these and watch the rain.

Cheers!

A&B

Drink (tra la la) - A Review

If you were to sit down and make a checklist of everything you would expect from of an excellent bar, Drink would meet all of those criteria and then some (and if it doesn’t, then you may be looking for the wrong things in a bar).

A bar in southern Boston, I came across Drink when I was visiting the city for a conference. Some friends and I were looking for a place to go for a drink after dinner, when one of my friends suggested Drink, further claiming it to be one of the best bars in Boston. He was quite wrong, by the way: it’s actually one of the best bars in the world, a fact I soon found out and have only been able to reaffirm every time I’ve been there since.

Actually, you don't even need to read the rest of this review.
This sign should convince you how awesome this place is.

At the time of my first visit to Drink I knew a lot less about cocktails and what I enjoy than I do today. What makes this bar so exemplary is that it couldn’t have mattered less (if anything, it was probably better). The bartenders there are so outstanding at recommending drinks based on your taste and preferences that not knowing what you want to order, but having an idea of what you want to drink, is probably the best way to go. Even if you do know what you want, try asking the bartenders for a recommendation, they will not disappoint. A case in point is when a friend of mine walked into Drink asking for “a drink that tastes like summer turning into fall”, he was given a Martinez with a taste profile that exactly matched what he asked for (Hell, it’s such a great way of describing how a Martinez tastes that whenever anyone asks me, I now reply with what that guy said). That a bar is able to so consistently offer excellent drink suggestions to its customers is a rarity, setting Drink apart from all other bars I’ve visited.

Of course, a cocktail recommendation alone not enough, what makes them a world class bar is their ability to follow it up with a perfect drink. From making all their juices and syrups fresh in house to the painstaking detail with which every drink is crafter to the very liquors they use, this establishment does all the right things to make sure that the cocktail you ordered will redefine what you expect from that drink in the future. Take, for example, their Dark and Stormy; this classical cocktail has a well agreed upon (and indeed trademarked in Bermuda) recipe. However, Drink decided that they can do better. Using their own homemade ginger beer and an Indian dark rum instead of the more traditional Gosling’s, they create a drink with a much sharper ginger flavor balanced by the subtle, lingering butterscotch sweetness from the rum. So yes, they can do better, way better in fact, with almost every drink (be it a Sazerac or an Oaxacan Old Fashioned) on their menu, which by the way is very minimal, further encouraging you to talk to their excellent bartenders.

Three realizations of a Dark and Stormy.
Did I forgot to mention that they also gave us free drinks,
and samples and allowed us to taste individual ingredients?

Now, you may say that there’s nothing exceptional about a bar that makes excellent drinks with homemade ingredients considering the speakeasy revival these days; however, Drink sets itself apart from most of these other bars by not doing everything with an air of haughtiness. An unfortunate reality of the modern bar culture is that a lot of bars, especially upscale ones, treat you like shit if you don’t know what you want or look like you don’t know what you’re doing. You’re looked down upon if you order “the wrong thing”. But Drink doesn’t do that. Yes they make amazing cocktails but they do so without any arrogance or pomp. Ultimately, it’s an atmosphere where you can have the most amazing drink of your life while being in a completely comfortable, relaxed and unassuming environment.

I have been to many a high-end bar after Drink, most of them because of the experience I had at Drink and based on suggestions from a bartender there. And while I have had many great cocktails at some great bars, none of them were on par with the sheer brilliance of Drink. My only complaint then about this bar is that it isn’t where I live. Maybe I should just move to Boston.

Oh yeah, one of the drinks was also on fire!
Don't lie, you know you want one.

The Martini

 Arguable the most famous cocktail, the martini is probably also the quintessential cocktail (even though it actually isn’t a true cocktail, but more on that in another post) although the exact recipe is a topic of long standing debate. A true martini, contrary to what Mr. Bond will have you believe, consists of two ingredients: gin and vermouth and absolutely must be stirred and not shaken. However, that’s where the agreement stops. Depending on the type of martini and who you ask (and what mood they’re in) the type of vermouth and quantity vary greatly.
 
First, let’s address the question of the quantity of vermouth. Winston Churchill (admittedly probably apocryphally) said that it was enough to whisper the word “vermouth” over a glass of gin; others argue that waving the glass of gin in the general direction of Italy suffices. Cocktail recipes vary from gin to vermouth ratios of 1:1 to 1:100. To add to the confusion, the IBA recommends 6:1 while a ratio of 4:1 is probably most popular and found in many recipe guides. So, the final verdict, you’re going to have to decide for yourself what proportion you prefer. All we’re going to say is don’t add too much vermouth!
 
Now onto the matter of the type of vermouth. The martini is generally made with dry vermouth (as any purist will agree); an extra dry martini (the only way a martini should be drunk) is a martini that has very little vermouth (or even none at all). A martini may, however, also be made with sweet (or red as it is also known) vermouth, while considered by many (including one of the authors of this blog) to not be a true martini.
 
For the record, the term “perfect”, when applied to a martini, refers to a martini that is made from the perfect (i.e equal) amounts of both sweet and dry vermouth, and not, as some bars use it, a martini that is made in some way that achieves the abstract notion of perfection. (Or perhaps not quite that abstract, one of us will tell you: Don’t use sweet vermouth, light on the dry vermouth and viola, that’s a perfect martini, but we digress.) 

Our preferred ratio of gin to vermouth for the classic dry martini is 7:1:  



Dry Martini
3 1/2 oz Bombay Sapphire
1/2 oz Martini and Rossi Extra Dry
Stir with ice until very cold and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Optionally garnish with two cocktail olives.

 
This drink is generally served before dinner; As an after-dinner cocktail, a sweet martini, or a perfect martini may be considered an acceptable substitute.

For a sweet martini we recommend the following variant:


Sweet Martini
3 oz Plymouth
1 oz Carpano Antica
Stir with ice until very cold and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Do not garnish.

 
This form of the sweet martini has an extremely complex taste profile for a duo cocktail; you can taste the subtle herbal flavors of each ingredient accented by the sweet and bitter overtones of the Carpano Antica.

The variants on this classic do not end here. Martinis nowadays can be ordered a hundred different ways to Sunday from the shaken vodka martini of James Bond fame to the dirty martini to drinks that are not remotely martini-like at all (the lemon-drop martini or the infamous appletini for example). To try to re-instill some civility to the world, we will refrain from presenting any of those recipes (in this post at least) and instead leave you with a quote (more aptly, true wisdom) we encountered at Drink, an absolutely spectacular bar in Boston:
 
“Do not let children mix drinks, for it is unseemly and they use too much vermouth”
 
Cheers!
A&B

Chartreuse and the Greenpoint

In a post earlier this week we talked about one of our favorite herbal liqueurs, Benedictine. Now we’d like to introduce another: Chartreuse. Made by some Carthusian monks in France (by the way, some of the best booze in the world is made by monks; we wonder why), this liqueur is made with more a hundred herbs using a recipe that is a closely guarded secret since the mid-18^th century.

Starting off sweet (how sweet it is depends on whether you have Yellow, which is milder, or Green Chartreuse), it develops a strong and complex spicy flavor. If you’re trying this for the first time, we do suggest trying it neat although you should probably start with a small amount since it has a very intense flavor.

While it is not very common in cocktails, it can be used to great effect to add herbal tones to a drink; thus it pairs very well with gin and whiskey. One of our favorite recipes calling for Chartreuse is the Green Point, a cocktail invented at Milk and Honey in New York City. Whereas the original calls for Yellow Chartreuse, we chose to use Green Chartreuse in our version instead, both because we like this liqueur so much and since that’s what we happened to have lying around! 
 

The Greenpoint

2    oz Bulleit Rye

1/2 oz Punt e Mes

1/2 oz Green Chartreuse

1 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir all the ingredients in a shaker with ice until cold. Strain into a cocktail glass.
 

It has whiskey, chartreuse, and bitters. What more could you ask for? Oh right, Punt e Mes, but that’s a post for another day.

Cheers!

A&B

Angostura and the Manhattan

Angostura bitters are the most ubiquitous cocktail bitters currently in existence. Found in nearly every bar, Angostura aromatic bitters is the most common and popular brand of aromatic cocktail bitters and one of the few brands that was been consistently available to bartenders in the United States before the start of the 21st century. First sold in 1824, its recipe remains a closely guarded secret purportedly known to only five people. The International Bartenders Association specifies the use of angostura bitters in no less than seven drinks on its list of official cocktails including such classics as the Manhattan, the Old Fashioned, and the Singapore Sling.

Cocktail bitters are used to add not only an extra layer of flavor but also (arguably more importantly) aroma to cocktails. They can be bought in nearly any flavor (and those flavors that might not be readily available for purchase could be created with a little creativity, time, and of course, high-proof grain alcohol). Adding cocktail bitters to a drink requires careful consideration of the both type and quantity used, since they make a huge difference in the effect on the drinker’s palate. You may expect to see many more posts about cocktail bitters in the future.

Angostura bitters are used to good effect in many classic cocktails and has been a favorite ingredient in our mixology experiments. It has a very pleasant, spicy and herbal aroma, a distinctive taste, and can be counted on to stand out even in fruity drinks. It is one of the few bitters that can be used in larger amounts (up to 1/8 oz in most cases) without overpowering the other flavors in the drink. As pleasant a flavor as it has, we do not recommend that you drink straight angostura bitters (or any bitters for that matter) as the flavor is very concentrated and very bitter on its own.

We have already presented two of our own cocktails that use Angostura bitters and you may find them in the “About Us” section of the blog, so for this post we will include another classic (which just wouldn't be the same without the bitters; go ahead and try it if you don't believe us). We hope you enjoy the following version of the Manhattan, a beloved before-dinner cocktail:

Manhattan

1 1/2 oz    Bulleit Rye
1/2    oz    Martini and Rossi Rosso
2 dashes  Angostura bitters

Stir ingredients with ice until cold and strain into a chilled cocktail coup. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Cheers!
A&B