Fee Bros. Cardamom "Boker's Style" Bitters

The story of Boker's bitters is a familiar one in the history of American alcohol production. For nearly a hundred years from the early 1800s until Prohibition, Boker's was popular in the United States as well as throughout the world, and then the company went out of business and multiple generations passed. Perhaps the most popular implementation was the Japanese Cocktail from the 1860s, which calls for two dashes of Boker's bitters. That means that since 1920, no one who is dedicated to strictly following recipes has been able to make this brandy-based beverage.

Fee Bros. has recently come out with a Cardamom bitters, subtitled as "Boker's Style". Only a few people in the world have actually sampled the few rare remaining bottles of Boker's, but they contributed to the development of this cocktail flavoring.

I'm not sure of the exact recipe, but the short version would be a delightful cross between gin and root beer, which is to say that there are lots of different botanical aromas including, from my sniff test: cardamom, pepper, sassafras, orange peel, coriander, and more. I won't ask for the secret recipe, but rest assured that you can add a few drops to a shot of vodka and you've effectively made a shortcut version of gin.

I tried it in a gin and vodka martini, and preferred it in the latter where the flavors didn't clash with the established spice combination in the gin. I have not tried it yet in a Japanese cocktail, mainly due to my residual irritation at making homemade orgeat syrup, the third ingredient beyond brandy and Boker's. However, I have many old cocktail books and will find the perfect one with which to use this rare and antiquated ingredient. I'll keep you posted.

Note: This bottle was provided as a sample for review.

Arctic Chill Ice Ball Maker

I got the chance recently to test out the Arctic Chill Ice Ball Maker, made out of BPA-free silicone and designed to create a sphere of ice that is somewhere between a regulation tennis ball and racquetball in size. Such ice balls have become quite trendy in the modern mixology movement, as they allow a drink to stay cool without watering down the beverage.

It all has to do with surface area. If you want something to get really cold really fast (and then get watered down quickly), use a lot of tiny pieces of ice. The heat transfer will happen quickly, but so will the dilution. It's why many cocktails are shaken quickly and then strained--to serve them with all those little ice chips would result in an increasingly bland cocktail. If you're going to be sipping on an expensive Bourbon for half an hour, then you want a much slower melt. This is why frozen margaritas are terrible to begin with and only get worse as they achieve equilibrium with room temperature.

Arctic Chill Ice Ball Maker
$20/set of four

I made multiple ice balls over the course of a week, enjoying them with whiskey (pictured above), cocktails, and even just plain iced tea (yes, putting three or four of these in a pitcher of tea or juice is great). In advance of an event or cocktail party, you can make a bunch of them and then keep them in a zip-top plastic bag in the freezer.

The device holds approximately 125mL of water, though remember that water expands when it turns into ice at a ratio of roughly 9%. If you have ever worked in a lab with pipettes, then you can precisely fill it with 114mL of water and achieve a perfect sphere. In my less-scientific testing, I filled it up, squeezed out a bit, and let it freeze. Any excess will form a nipple on top of the ice ball, which you can easily snap off or perhaps leave on for the amusement factor.

As someone whose internal thermostat tends to run pretty hot, I'm looking forward to using these all summer long for pitchers of lemonade and the big insulated mugs of ice water that I rely on to keep hydrated in our tropical climate. I was a little skeptical of the artisan ice ball trend when I first heard about it years ago (trained mixologists would shape and form spheres from ice blocks), but having actually tried it, I can see the benefits and using a silicone mold is dead simple.

Note: This product was provided as a sample for review.

Rosemary-Meyer Lemon Margarita

I recently tried an all organic margarita mix. Just lime juice, and agave syrup, but it was really disappointing. Too sweet, out of balance, and despite the floating bits of pulp, it was nothing like fresh squeezed. When I make a pitcher of margaritas, I tend to err on the side of tartness, and provide a squeeze bottle of simple syrup (if anyone wants it sweeter) and a bottle of club soda (if anyone wants it weaker and bubblier).

For my little birthday gathering this weekend, I made a simple yet delicious margarita. It's not my own invention, but I've seen it so many places that I can't credit the original inventor.

Rosemary-Meyer Lemon Margarita
3 parts Silver Tequila
3 parts fresh-squeezed Meyer lemon juice
2 parts Triple Sec

Simply combine and stir, and pour over ice. The sprig of rosemary is optional--I love the herbal flavor (and the second glass tastes even better than the first), but some find the piney elements off-putting and don't enjoy getting poked in the nose with a twig.

The Mint Julep

On Cinco de Mayo this year, I went out and had margaritas and Mexican food with Julia and some friends, but that afternoon I had to make a certain cocktail. The event was the Kentucky Derby, and the cocktail was the classic Mint Julep.

I've written about this cocktail many times before, but I don't think I've ever shown one in my nickel-plated brass julep cups. I love these things, but so rarely get to use them. Click on the photo for the bigger version and you can see the thousands of tiny drops of condensation clinging to the metal. Enjoying it through a whole bouquet of fresh mint is also a really wonderful sensory experience.

I achieved a perfect Mint Julep thanks to one special ingredient: a cup of ice from a nearby Sonic Drive-In For those not familiar, it's a fast food chain where you drive up to a parking space, order through a speaker, and if you wish, eat your meal there after it's delivered by a young woman who may or may not be on rollerskates. Sonic is decent enough when I'm in the mood for it, but they have this rough little pelletized ice that is just amazing for the Mint Julep, which is really sort of an adult snow cone.

As much as I enjoyed my classic cocktail, I looked around at my ingredients and thought I could try something fun yet profane. I used Buffalo Trace Bourbon for the former, and have found it to be a reliable performer in one of my other favorite classic cocktails, the Manhattan. Could I have a peanut butter and chocolate moment here?

Benito's Manhattan Derby
2 oz. Bourbon
1 oz. Sweet Red Vermouth
Fresh Mint
Fee Bros. Whiskey Barrel Aged Old Fashioned Bitters
Bourbon-soaked Cherry

Muddle the Bourbon and Vermouth with fresh mint and small pieces of ice. Add more ice and shake thoroughly. Fill a tumbler with ice and add a few drops of a good quality dark bitters. Pour the cocktail over the ice and bitters and garnish with a sprig of fresh mint and a cherry. (I like to get a jar of maraschinos, drain out the red corn syrup, and replace it with Bourbon. Leave it in the fridge for months.) While I don't think this cocktail will ever catch on, it was a lot of fun and tasted great. It's less sweet and somewhat smoother than a Mint Julep, and I'm now wondering which of my 20 different bitters would best improve that cocktail...

Saké Weekend

We call it saké, but over in the Land of the Rising Sun the legendary rice beer is known as 日本酒 or Nihonshu, which translates to... "Japanese alcohol". I'm going to admit that I haven't been a fan of the beverage in the past, even publicly stating so in a previous post. But maybe I've just never given it a proper try, and maybe the low-rent faux Japanese restaurants where I've tried it in the past weren't serving good representative samples.

Just for the sake of simplicity I'm going to refer to it as saké for this post. Particularly because these bottles were brewed in...

THE BEAVER STATE! Yes, all of these are made by SakéOne in Forest Grove, Oregon, just west of Portland near the coast. Which also makes me wonder... I live next to the biggest rice producing region in the United States (eastern Arkansas), yet I don't think anybody is making saké there. Another day, another project... Anyway, looks like SakéOne is part of that Pacific Northwest ethos of small artisan production of wine, beer, and cheese. The company has been producing traditional and modern styles of saké for 14 years, and a lot of the marketing that came with this set involved the use of saké as a cocktail ingredient. Let's try them all straight, and then we'll talk food and more... 乾杯

Moonstone Plum Saké
$10, 7% abv.
Sweet and simple with a pronounced plum flavor and a pinkish-purple hue. It's a little too sweet for my tastes, but far smoother and more restrained than other plum sakés I've had in the past.

Moonstone Asian Pear Saké
$12, 12% abv.
I was excited to try this one since I love Asian pears, but there's not a lot of the flavor there. I'm all about lighter fruit notes, but this one is just a little too subtle. Very pleasant with a grilled chicken salad, though, and refreshing on a warm spring day.

Momokawa Organic Junmai Ginjo Saké
$13, 14.8% abv.
Bright and lightly fruity, dry with a touch of yellow apple aroma. Crisp and clean with just a hint of rice flavor, and an extremely short finish. Sipping this revealed something interesting about saké: unlike wine, there's almost no aftertaste, and your palate is ready for just about anything next. Unlike beer, it's not filling, and it's nothing like spirits. Really a unique experience.

G Saké Junmai Ginjo Genshu
$20, 18% abv.
This one is stronger, nearly gin-like with the barest hint of acidity. A little herbal and savory, and it reminds me of an extremely refined and mild martini with no kick from the higher alcohol. While I enjoyed it with food (more on that below), it really stands on its own quite well and would make a nice apéritif. Highly recommended, and very affordable for the chance to try an amazing bottle.

I think you'd really have to enjoy it (or any of these other sakés) on their own without competing alcoholic beverages, just because they are so light and delicate. And thus I discover the problem in the past has been that I was tasting saké between cocktails and wine or other drinks.

Before I ever opened the bottles, I was worried about pairing. What goes well with saké? I've never really done any Japanese cooking... But a bit of research revealed that to be a stupid question, because it's like asking what goes well with wine. Depends on the bottle and depends on your mood. One bit of advice I got was that savory flavors and vinegar tend to go particularly well, so on Friday night I grabbed some sashimi and pork gyoza from the deli. I mixed soy sauce and rice wine vinegar, and started with the dumplings, the Momokawa, and the G.

And that's the moment when saké finally clicked for me. It all made sense, and it was delicious. The sashimi was terrible--not as a pairing but as something I might reject at a bait shop. I focused on the dumplings and had a wonderful time. For the rest of the weekend, I decided to sip a bit of saké with different meals to see what worked. I hit upon a great combination Saturday: a burger soaked with a little soy sauce and dusted with Chinese five spice powder, topped with smoked Gouda and a little reduction of shallots, garlic, white wine vinegar, Sauvignon Blanc, and olive oil. I let it cook down, caramelize, and get nicely tender. This was a perfect pairing with the G Saké.

The samples came with an extensive list of eclectic cocktail recipes, and the Boston shaker is imprinted with several of them, e.g. the delightfully named Spicy Mothra (pear saké and ginger vodka). I didn't get around to any of them during this weekend, but might try a few in the next couple of days when I've got access to rose petals and lemongrass and Buddha's Hand citrus.

I don't know if I'll be incorporating saké into the standard rotation, but I have reversed my earlier opinion on the subject and look forward to exploring it further in the future.


Note: These bottles were received as samples.

Benito vs. the Cocktail: The Salty Pamplemousse

Sometimes when I crave things that are odd or outside the mainstream, people think it's an affectation or that I'm deliberately trying to be weird. Quite the contrary--there are a million flavors out there and only so many meals you get in your life. And typically anything odd that I try is beloved by hundreds of thousands of people somewhere. I think in the American diet from WWII to the present we abandoned a lot of things for various reasons: tea and coffee are bitter, so mask the bitterness with sugar and cream and other flavors. Organ meats are weird and the things we used to have to eat during hard times, so we must shun them and only eat the muscles. Fish somehow shouldn't smell like fish, and thus we praise the flavorless white fillets where the only flavor comes from the fried batter encasing. Processed cheese is deliberately engineered to remove any texture or aroma or flavor of "real" cheese. Wine should never be earthy, it must always be big and fruity. And so on and so forth.

The following cocktail was made in praise of bitterness, namely in the form of grapefruit juice. No sugar or other sweeteners, just the tart bitter joy of a half glass first thing in the morning. And while I had a half gallon in the fridge and some free time on a Sunday afternoon, it was time to use the ingredients lying around the kitchen to make a new cocktail.

Mixing two different cocktail recipes together is generally a bad idea. A Michelada Margarita is a recipe for disaster. A Rob Roy Wine Spritzer would... I don't even want to contemplate the flavor. But I put a few things together in my head with this one, and was very happy with the result.

Benito's Salty Pamplemousse Cocktail
2 oz. Gin
2 oz. Unsweetened Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice
Tonic Water
Dash of Fee Bros. Grapefruit Bitters
Kosher Salt

Start with moistening the rim of the glass with water and dip into a dish of the salt of your choice. Pink Himalayan would be an attractive and decadent choice for a trendy bar. The rest is easily mixed in the glass with ice. Combine the Gin and Juice and Bitters (the name of my upcoming rap album under my stage name "Ice Tongs" featuring "The Boston Shaker"). Stir carefully with a bar spoon so as not to dislodge the salt, and top off with tonic water. Serve immediately.

This is the accidental cross between a Salty Dog (vodka + grapefruit juice) and a Gin & Tonic (er, gin + tonic water). The idea was to boost the bitterness of the former with the quinine of the tonic water and botanicals of the gin. The sugar in the tonic water would mediate things a bit, the effervescence of the tonic water would make it a little more fun, and the bitters would add that little touch to make it special, like good bitters always do. As for the salt, if you've never had salted fresh grapefruit it's one of the greatest things in the world. I detest salt on margaritas but here it's divine.

The flavors all work quite well together, and I am sure that the ratios could be tweaked a bit to perfect it. But I found one to be just right on this bright, sunny, warm day during this preternatural winter we're experiencing. As always, if you try one of my original concoctions, please let me know what you think in the comments or by e-mail.

Musings on the Manhattan

As long time readers should know, though I enjoy inventing new cocktails and having fun with mixology, at heart I adore the classics. My two favorites are the Martini and Manhattan, and which one I prefer at any given moment depends a lot on mood and atmosphere and the ingredients at hand.

A bad but serviceable Martini can be made in pretty dire circumstances: a clear liquor, a shaker of ice, and a brined vegetable or strip of citrus peel, and you can achieve something bracing but able to perform the work at hand. I prefer a Martini as an aperitif, something strong but bracing and crisp that gets you ready for four courses and half a dozen different wines.

The Manhattan is different. It requires a higher degree of civilization. Whiskey/Whisky can be found everywhere, but bitters and Sweet Red Vermouth are a must, and so many bad variations are made in bars that it's often a losing proposition to order one in the first place. I once ordered said cocktail in a bar that shall not be named, and the bartender said, "Manhattan. Got it. Crown Royal and Dr. Pepper. Give me one second." And I said, "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Good day, sir!" I swear that the silk ribbon on my top hat positively wilted at that egregious faux pas.

Your worst Martini might have ruined rotgut vodka that spent a few hours in steel tubing, but a bad Manhattan ruins years of barrel aging in oak. Keep these things in mind when you're mixing drinks.

When I'm in the mood for a Manhattan, it's normally with the company of other guys and as a prelude to a dinner of hearty red wines and lots of rare red meat. To do it properly, you need control over your own ingredients. Better, older whiskey will make for a better Manhattan, and quality bitters are essential.

Here I lined up the various components I assembled after a long, hard day at work, and a desire for something relaxing but dignified:

• Cocktail Shaker with Ice and a Long Spoon
  
• One Shot of Gallo Red Vermouth (in place of my beloved Noilly Prat)
  
• Two shots of Michter's US*1 Single Barrel Straight Rye Whiskey
  
• Two dashes of Fee Bros. Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters
  
• A Cherry That's Been Soaking in Bourbon for Weeks

The end result was amazing, rich and spicy and with layers and layers of complexity. Even the cherry, the weakest part of the whole cocktail, was delightful upon consumption. When you have the opportunity, take the time to craft the very model of a modern major Manhattan, and enjoy the warmth and relaxation that flows from the glass.

Benito vs. the Cocktail: The Admiral Benbow

The Admiral Benbow Inn. It's a place where Jim Hawkins stayed in Treasure Island, and it shares a name with this cocktail I'll get to in a moment. But for anyone from Memphis, there's a far different association.

There are good hotels, affordable but clean motels, and places that are a little sketchy but sometimes the only option when there's a big convention in town or you just need a few hours of shuteye before getting back on I-40 heading toward one of the coasts. There are the places that show up on the news for various criminal activity, and then there's the Admiral Benbow. By the 1980s it was a haven for all sorts of weird, sad crime. If you had a friend who called in tears and needed a ride home at two in the morning, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise to find him at the Admiral Benbow, missing his car, wallet, and most of his pride.

It was the site of the 1986 Memphis Trousers Affair, in which former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was found in the lobby wearing nothing but a towel, and confused as to where his pants were.

This is an older and somewhat obscure cocktail, but it contains classic ingredients and proportions. You're supposed to use Plymouth Gin, but in tribute to the Inn I went a little downmarket with a regular domestic gin.

The Admiral Benbow Cocktail
2 oz. Plymouth Gin
½ oz. Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
1 oz. Dry White Vermouth
Garnish with Citrus Peel and Maraschino Cherry

Combine everything but the garnish in a cocktail mixer with ice. I tried one shaken and one stirred, and found that I preferred the cloudy appearance of the shaken version. Reminded me a bit of some bad motels I've stayed in across the country where you get a glass of water from the tap and it has to settle for a few minutes before it's no longer cloudy.

The cocktail has a nice balance of elements, though the lime juice covers up most of the vermouth. Sort of a very tart martini, and while it won't be in the main rotation, I think I'll come back to it every once in a while. The stories alone are worth it.

Benito vs. the Cocktail: The Suffering Bastard

On the hour-long drive home from work (rain, Memphis traffic, and construction) I dreamily thought through the ingredients in the old home bar and mentally flipped through a few recipes I'd read recently. One popped to mind, and thus upon arrival at the house my butler I began to combine the ingredients for a restorative beverage. The Suffering Bastard is an old cocktail with a lot of variations. It was invented as a hangover cure in late 1940s Cairo. Think a Casablanca-style bar catering to westerners in post-war North Africa.

There are many versions of this involving some crazy substitute ingredients, but I settled on this one from Robert Hess because it had a kind of Sidecar vibe that I was liking. And about halfway through the cocktail, I introduced the ginger ale to try that style.

The Suffering Bastard

1 oz. Gin
1 oz. Lime Juice
¾ oz. Bourbon
Dash of Angostura Bitters
Ginger Ale to taste

Combine ingredients in glass and stir. Garnish options include all or some of the following: maraschino cherry, orange wedge, sprig of mint, and cucumber peel. Go crazy if you're making it for something else, but a young bachelor making a cocktail for himself after work might want to stick to those ingredients that can be poured from bottles or pulled from jars (though he will squeeze fresh lime juice, because he is not an uncivilized wretch).

The list of ingredients seems insane, but this works amazingly well. It somehow ends up tasting more like fresh squeezed orange juice than a Screwdriver, and you can't detect the presence of either Bourbon or gin. The citrus and bitters combine with the aromatic liquors to produce a strangely balanced new flavor. WIth ginger ale, it moves from a tart and powerful cocktail to a refreshing icy sipper that would be great in the summer. I'd say mix up a pitcher of this and serve it at a party before you tell folks what's in it. They should be pleasantly surprised.

2012 Margarita

The Margarita is one of America's least-respected cocktails. The origin is so simple: good tequila, fresh lime juice, orange liqueur, and a bit of sweetness if desired. Served shaken or over ice, but fresh and with little bits of fresh lime pulp popping between your teeth. Instead, we get green slushes mixd up with white rum or vodka and as long as it's tart and sweet and served in a salted glass, everyone is happy.

I'm not a tequila expert, but I do tend to be a purist when it comes to the margarita. And while I love the classic lime, I've always felt it was in the spirit of the cocktail to use other freshly squeezed citrus, like my Blood Orange Margarita.

For this I used a basic 4:2:2:1 ratio, which is four parts tequila, two parts lime juice, two parts orange liqueur, and one part simple syrup. The tequila is listed below, but I was really impressed with a new orange liqueur I found. O3 is made by DeKuyper and is clear and slightly sweet like Cointreau. It's made from Brazilian pera oranges and has a great fresh orange peel aroma to it. Not really sour or bitter but focused on the sweet and fruity aspects of the orange.

Lunazul Reposado
$30/1.75L bottle, 40% abv.

A decent and affordable tequila with a good bit of oak and earth on the nose. It's got that classic tequila tang to it but with more depth than I was expecting. As a cocktail ingredient it made for a great margarita, just enough agave aroma and flavor to make it authentic without being overwhelming in any direction.

Benito's Beet Shrub Cocktail

A man walks into the bar and says, "Barkeep, I'm in the mood for something classic, something that goes back to the colonial era." The bartender grins and replies, "We have hard cider and rye whiskey, both of which were quite popular at the time. I can also make you a flip or a nog of some sort..." The man shakes his head and says, "No, just mix some moonshine with pickled beet juice and that'll hit the spot." Shortly thereafter, the man was thrown out of the bar and onto the sidewalk.

Surprisingly, this isn't as weird a request as it sounds. A shrub is an old-fashioned syrup made from ripe fruit, sugar, and vinegar. It was a great way to preserve fruit and shrubs served a variety of purposes in the kitchen and the bar. I had a jar of pickled beets that was almost emptied of beet slices but still had a lot of delicious liquid in it. The ingredients were simple: sugar, beets, vinegar... Not an official shrub, but it'll do, and I love the flavor. Thousands of years ago, lower class Roman soldiers had to drink vinegar instead of wine. These days it's a trendy cocktail ingredient. No telling what folks will be using two thousand years from now.

Benito's Beet Shrub Cocktail
2 shots Moonshine (or 80 proof clear liquor of your choice)
½ shot Brandy
½ shot Pickled Beet Brine

Combine ingredients in shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a cocktail glass. Enjoy the magenta beet stains on your tablecloth.

I considered calling this a "Devil's Cosmopolitan" but I really like beets and didn't want to impugn them. As weird as this thing sounds, the flavors and aromas really balance out well: the moonshine, brandy, and beet brine are all a little sweet, but the vinegar in the brine balances that out. And then the beet flavor provides both a beautiful color and a little earthiness that you more often associate with whiskey cocktails. This will never catch on or be popular, but if you find yourself with the ingredients lying around, I'd suggest giving it a try. When it comes to brine-based cocktails, this one can't be beet.

Vodka Tonic

New Amsterdam is the standard cocktail gin here at Casa de Benito. It has an excellent citrus note, good balance, and a respectable quality-price ratio. It's a curious sideline in the Gallo portfolio, but I was honestly impressed with the product when I first tried it. Recently the vodka showed up around here, and I decided to give it a whirl.

New Amsterdam Vodka
Modesto, California
$22/1.5L, 40% abv.
Distilled from "midwestern grains". The vodka is smooth with just a little bite on the finish. Aromatically there's just a touch of wheat, though when blended in cocktails it serves as a solid neutral spirit. Highly recommended as a good standard bar vodka, and I will always love the art deco design of the bottle.

After sampling it straight, I decided to make a vodka tonic.

Vodka Tonic
1 part Vodka
1 part Tonic Water

Stir with ice, strain into glass.

Really? Do I need to have a recipe here? I admit that this is low-grade supermarket tonic water, but while I love the bitter sting of quinine, I dislike the heavy sweetness of even the good organic blends. Diet tonic water is a weird product, because it tastes sweeter than the HFCS stuff but has a disagreeable chalky element. However, this cocktail is one of the classics, and even with a basic tonic water, it made for a quick and refreshing cocktail on a Saturday afternoon. The lemon peel curl is optional but, in my opinion, always appreciated.

Orange Bitters: Angostura vs. Regans'

Quick note: although I always welcome spelling and grammar corrections, the proper name of the bitters is Regans', because it's a collaboration between Gary and Mardee Haidin Regan. Now, on with the fun!

Years ago I'd put a collection of orange bitters on my Amazon wish list, because I was going to order it at sometime in the future. Then I got deep into the Fee's line and sort of forgot about it. One neat thing with the wish list is that people can buy something for you, it's shipped to you, and the only way you'll ever know is if they tell you. (My address is kept private, so it's not a way for someone to find where I live. Cool system.) Anyway, thanks to the anonymous donor who sent the bitters from Amazon. I've already been using the Fee's for a while, so I'll give that one as a gift to a friend. But I was glad to get the opportunity to try two others bringing my bitters collection up to 17. And what better way to test orange bitters than with a good martini.

For testing purposes, the martini was a 5:1 gin:vermouth ratio, using Tanqueray and Cinzano. I made one big batch and split it evenly between the two glasses, which each contained two drops of the respective bitters.

Angostura Orange Bitters
$7/4 oz., 28% abv.
Aside from the orange peel there's a lot of cinnamon and clove on the nose. In the martini, it gives a slightly hot, spicy mouthfeel. I think I'm going to save this for citrus based cocktails, and for cooking purposes, as I felt it threw the martini off balance.

Regans' Orange Biters No. 6
$4.50/5 oz., 45% abv.
Even though it's got a lot more alcohol than the Angostura, the nose is far milder, with more of an orange blossom aroma and more delicate spices. And we have a pretty good idea of what those are, because Gary Regan has publicly published the recipe for his No. 5 batch. In the martini it's much smoother, and really enhances the cocktail without overwhelming it.

After tasting back and forth, I added Meyer lemon zest to both, and got to try another two different flavor combinations.

Retail prices will vary across the country and across the internet. In general, the Regans' seems to be a couple of dollars cheaper, and you're getting an additional ounce over the Angostura. Plus, I think the Regans' tastes much better, so the choice between these two should be simple.


Note: These bitters were received as gifts.

Fee Bros. Black Walnut Bitters

Time once again for new bitters from "the House of Fee by the Genesee since eighteen hundred and sixty-three". Fee Bros. just released their Black Walnut Bitters.

When I was a child my paternal grandparents had a walnut tree in the backyard. One massive limb served as the support for a tire swing, but my brother and I discovered that the tennis ball-sized unripe walnuts were fun to throw at each other. And when cracked open, contained a juice that would stain your hands for days. I don't recall eating any of the fully mature walnuts--somehow pecans were a more popular harvest in my family. But walnuts are delicious, and I enjoy using them in a lot of different dishes, particularly as part of a stuffing for thick pork chops.

This new product has a dark and earthy profile with a wonderful walnut aroma. I found it to be a nice addition to a mediocre Bourbon, where it added complexity and depth. But I'd really love to use a few dashes of this in a batch of cookie dough.

When it was time for a cocktail, I thought that the nutty bitters demanded a pairing of jelly. Fruit preserves have been used in cocktails for a long time, and are recently making a comeback as part of the mixology craze that's hit the hipsters. The pectin gives the drink a slightly silky mouthfeel, but mainly you're getting a concentrated fruit flavor and you don't have to worry about what's in season. Use good stuff (here I used Oregon organic strawberry preserves) and watch out for the sweetness, but even a dollop of cheap marmalade will help you when you don't have any orange peel on hand. Want to get crazy? Put a little jalapeño jelly in your next batch of margaritas. Plus, while you're mixing you can throw out old phrases like "It must be jelly, cause jam don't shake like that!"

Benito's WB&J Cocktail
2 oz. White Rum
½ Tablespoon of Fruit Preserves
Dash of Black Walnut Bitters

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a glass filled with ice. I like remnants of fruit in my cocktails, but if you prefer a cleaner presentation, strain through a fine mesh screen.

Yes, it does taste a bit like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Not an everyday kind of cocktail, but amusing and tasty for an afternoon experiment. This brings the bitters collection up to fifteen. Currently I keep them in a box in the living room, but I'm thinking that an enterprising bartender could wear them all on a bandolier for quick access whenever a cocktail needs just a little something extra.

Note: This product was received as a sample.

Chancellor Cocktail

I am normally not in favor of mixing Scotch or Port with anything, much less each other. But I had access to some affordable versions of each, as well as the remaining ingredients to make another one of those old school cocktails like the Rob Roy. In this case, Wendy was my assistant for making...

The Chancellor Cocktail
2 oz. Scotch
1 oz. Port
1/2 oz. White Vermouth
2 Dashes Orange Bitters

This is an unusual cocktail. Despite the Port, no sweetness comes through. The Port and Vermouth do smooth out the sharp edges of the Scotch, leaving you with a slightly smoky, slightly medicinal cocktail. I can't say that it will be part of the standard rotation, but it's always interesting to see what flavor combinations were popular a hundred years ago when palates and flavor preferences were a bit different. It's sort of like comparing those recipes from the Middle Ages that would be unbelievably bitter to modern tongues, while our food would be way too sweet for theirs.

Sangria

I'm relatively certain that my ancestors that sailed the North Atlantic spent a good bit of time singing "What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor?" Despite my landlocked upbringing, I grew up next to the largest river in the United States, with its own Coast Guard station, and have a handful of Naval veterans in the immediate family tree. Aside from that, the character on this blog formerly known as The Girlfriend spent some significant parts of her childhood living on Tonga, a remote set of islands a third of the way between New Zealand and Hawai'i. Strangely, almost none of the stories passed down to me from these acquaintances involve drunken sailors. But what do you do with a half drunk bottle, what do you do with a half drunk bottle, what do you with a half drunk bottle that wasn't great at first?

Grab some fruit, spirits, and a pitcher, and make thee sangria, ya landlubber. Right now my hometown of Memphis is hot. Plant some potatoes, and you can harvest them in a few weeks fully baked and begging for some sour cream. Due to the oppressive heat and humidity, many choose to switch from red to white (or even better, rosé), and the end result is a lot of half-empty bottles of red wine. Perfect opportunity to make sangria. There's no one recipe, no perfect technique, just combine wine and fruit and some spirits, let everything sit for a few hours, and either serve over ice or cold with sparkling water. For the attached photo, here's what I used:

Sangria de Benito
Cabernet Sauvignon
Sauvignon Blanc
Triple Sec
Creme de Cassis
Lime Juice
Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries

Combine everything and lightly crush the berries--don't fully muddle them, but do enough to release some of the juices. I used about half a bottle each of Cab Sav and Sav Blanc, plus a cup or so of Triple Sec, a few tablespoons of Creme de Cassis... The specific proportions and ingredients really aren't important. Part is going to involve the sweetness of the components, and the other will involve the balance of said components. Play around with everything until it tastes good to you, and then let it rest for a while so that everything can meld together.

The final product is so much fun and so refreshing that you'll smack yourself for not taking better advantage of wine leftovers in the past. The citrus and spirits and other stuff will kill off the nuances of good wine, but anything that's stuck in the back of the fridge will work in terms of making a decent wine cocktail. Kick back, sit on the porch, and listen to the bugs and tree frogs as the sun goes down. It's a good reminder that, as painful as our summers can be, there are some great ways to appreciate the season.

Weihnachten im Juli mit Glühwein

Glühwein ("glow wine") is a traditional mulled wine of Germany, commonly associated with the Christmas season and festive markets where it's made in large pots. There are lots of different recipes, and it will vary from familiy to family. In general, you take cheap red wine and add citrus, cinnamon sticks, vanilla pods, cloves, and sugar. Heat it up but don't boil it, and serve in mugs. A cheesecloth pouch can be helpful in keeping the whole spices from getting loose. Sometimes individual people will add more sugar, or a shot of liquor, or some other enhancement to individualize their cup. I've had it with both lemon and orange, and I think that fresh oranges work better with the other flavors involved.

The final product is something that smells entirely like Christmas, even if you didn't grow up with this particular tradition. Keep a pine bough and a candy cane nearby and you can send yourself back to Christmas any time of the year.

Christkindles Markt Glühwein
Nürnberg
Gerstacker Weinkellerei
7€/1 litre bottle, 10% abv.

The spices and citrus prevent you from smelling the wine, but on this I got the aforementioned cinnamon and cloves as wel as some nutmeg and allspice. The sugar cuts back on the tartness of the wine and citrus, but it's not too sweet on its own. I tasted it three ways: room temperature, with ice, and hot. Hot is the traditional method, and while it would be incredible in the winter, during a Memphis July it's a bit much. Over ice it's a very refreshing beverage, sort of like a Christmas themed sangria. At room temperature it's certainly tasty, but not as exciting.

While Glühwein is more of a dessert or after dinner beverage, Paul and I decided to try it with food. I made something I thought would be a good match: thick pork chops brined and then stuffed with Stilton, walnuts, and blackberries. The end result was a delicious, savory chop that was juicy throughout and packed with flavor. How did it go with the wine? Not a bad pairing. Unusual, but somehow it all worked together.


As with other treasures from Germany I've tasted, thanks to Dave Rickert for passing this along.

VeeV Açaí Spirit

The açaí palm is a tree native to Central and South America that's cultivated for edible hearts of palm and for the fruit that has exploded in popularity over the past few years. It's not quite the health food miracle that many proclaim it to be, but it is tasty and adds an interesting element to fruit juices and related products.

The name is Portuguese, and pronunciation of such words is tricky for people that are used to the more familiar French, Spanish, and Italian. The phonetic version is often spelled ah-sigh-EE, though you'll probably hear ACK-eye in grocery stores and other casual American conversation.

Açaí is made into wine, but I have not tried that yet... Instead, let's take a look at a flavored spirit:

VeeV Açaí Spirit
$30/750mL, 30% abv.

While Açaí is the main flavoring agent, this drink also includes things like acerola cherry and prickly pear cactus fruit. On its own the spirit has a nice cherry pie aroma with a touch of pomegranate. It's lightly sweet, so be careful when adding other ingredients that you don't throw things out of balance. The aromas are fresh and pure, and lack that chemical tang you get from artificial flavorings. It's not really something that I would drink straight, but it tastes delightful and should make for some interesting cocktails.

The fruit comes from Brazil, but the product is actually distilled in Idaho from wheat, flavored with the berries, and then blended using Rocky Mountain spring water. The company runs a carbon-neutral operation (including a wind-powered distillery), and $1 per bottle is donated toward initiatives like The Sustainable Açaí Project. The palm tree is actually a very sustainable crop and doesn't cause the problems that sugarcane does. Additionally, most of the tree is useful in some fashion, see the above wiki link to see how many things can be made from one tree.

I decided to build on the berry elements with the following original cocktail:

Benito's Açaí Smash
100mL VeeV Açaí Spirit
Fresh blackberries
Peychaud's Bitters
Orange Wedge

Muddle six blackberries with the liqueur and add to a shaker full of ice. Shake and strain through a fine mesh. Add two dashes of Peychaud's and garnish with an orange wedge.

Folks, it's hot out there, and it's easy to get your hands on fresh fruit. This is a tasty and refreshing beverage for this weather, and don't be afraid to serve it on the rocks.


Note: This bottle was received as a sample.

Tito's Handmade Vodka

Vodka is a complicated subject for me. I've had good and bad vodka. I've had it from a half dozen different countries and in many different preparations. Ideally a great vodka has little flavor or aroma. When doing a comparative tasting of different spirits, the idea is to evaluate smoothness and ease of consumption. Yes folks, it is possible to discern separate vodkas in a blind tasting, and using a Brita water filter to smooth out a cheap one doesn't quite work. I am not a vodka expert--when it comes to the clear spirits I prefer rum or gin. But I was highly impressed with this offering from the traditional vodka producing region of... Austin, Texas?

Tito's Handmade Vodka
$20/750mL bottle, 40% abv.

This corn-based spirit is made by Bert Butler "Tito" Beveridge II, whose nickname Tito is shortened from the diminutive "Bertito". Hmmm... Benito, Bertito, Beartato. Beveridge studied the methods and equipment of artisan moonshine producers, and developed his own spirit that performed well against existing vodkas. He established the first and oldest legal distillery in Texas.

It does in fact go down smooth and slightly sweet (although there's no additional sugar involved here). While certainly enjoyable at room temperature, at freezer level it is even better and glides down with a cool tang. The shoulder tag proclaims that it is gluten free, and while technically all pure spirits are gluten free, flavored ones are not and aren't typically labeled as such. The back label informs us that this is distilled a whopping six times. Cognac is smoother than Armagnac because of the simple act of double distillation versus single distillation. Like Cognac or good Scotch, Tito's is produced in small batches in traditional copper stills.

While I think this is quite pleasant by itself, I did have to try it with something where it wouldn't get overwhelmed...

The Screwdriver Cocktail
1 part Vodka
2 parts Orange Juice

Dead simple, and good on its own or over ice. I've garnished this one with two personal favorite screwdrivers: a recent 3mm flathead jeweler's screwdriver and a vintage Craftsman Phillips head (made in the USA) that's probably older than I am. I know that I've been carrying it around in my bag of tools since I was old enough to start taking things apart.

Folks, don't really garnish your drinks with screwdrivers. The acid isn't good for the metal and if you've actually been using them for real work on motors and carburetors and electronics you don't want those industrial solvents and lubricants in your beverage. But if you want to serve whimsical cocktails at a hipster party, get a few plastic toy screwdrivers.


Note: This bottle was received as a sample.

Rob Roy Cocktail

The classic cocktails are a lot of fun to make, but ordering them usually results in disaster. Unless it's a bar that cares about mixology history, you're likely to get something very strange. If it's purple and involves Sake and Chambord, don't call it a Martini. If you order a Sidecar and the bartender reaches for a can of Dr. Pepper, walk away.

The Rob Roy hails from New York in 1890, and is a variation on the popular Manhattan cocktail that was only 20 years old at the time. Whereas the Manhattan calls for rye whiskey or Bourbon, the Rob Roy incorporates Scotch as the primary spirit. The two drinks end up very different. A Manhattan is smooth and even a little sweet. A Rob Roy is bone dry and almost medicinal. The Scotch really amps up the aromas and flavors of the vermouths, and the whole thing just smells old, like opening up a chest that hasn't been touched in fifty years, or walking into a building that has lots of wood paneling, some cigarette smoke permanently bound to the walls, and the lingering presence of old products like St. John's Bay Rum aftershave or Vitalis hair tonic.

The Perfect Rob Roy Cocktail
1½ oz. Blended Scotch Whisky
¼ oz. White Vermouth
¼ oz. Red Vermouth
Dash of Angostura Bitters
Maraschino Cherry

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Stir and strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with the cherry or a strip of lemon peel. I used Black Bottle Scotch for this--please don't use your good single malts. A blended whisky like Dewar's White Label is great for this drink (and appropriate, since the cocktail was pushed by the recent arrival of Dewar's in New York). This version is "perfect" because it incorporates both sweet red and dry white vermouth. The standard Rob Roy just uses red, a dry one just uses the white, but I think you get a more balanced beverage with both.

I'd suggest this one on its own for an afternoon cocktail or as an after dinner beverage. It's got such a strong flavor that you're likely to mess up your palate for food or wine during dinner.

Thanks to Bella who found the scent of the drink fascinating but was not permitted to sample it during her modeling duties.