Earthquake

I like that this drink doesn't hold back, even in the name. It's bitter and herbaceous and so ridiculously strong that Earthquake is a fitting name. Someone a long time ago probably wondered what would happen to you when you mixed nearly equal parts bourbon, gin and Pernod. The results are in. If you finish this drink, the ground seems to move.

I made an interesting choice with my gin for this drink. Bluecoat Barrel Aged Gin had all the right qualities for blending with a spicy bourbon like Jim Beam. Pernod, of course overwhelms, but throughout drinking, there is this delicious impression of aged spirits. Oak and barrels and yumminess under a heavy curtain of French absinthe liqueur.

• 2 oz. bourbon
• 1 oz. gin (Bluecoat Barrel Reserve gin used)
• 1 oz. Pernod

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Gin And It

If you are going to make a Gin And It, you need to make sure that the gin is good quality and your "It" is a flavorful vermouth. With only two ingredients, this almost isn't a mixed drink. There's potential for a bland and uninspired sipper if you use pedestrian spirits.

I chose the richly flavored Bluecoat Barrel Reserve gin for its oak character and botanical spice. A gin that is good enough on its own, like Bluecoat, is a very smart move for the Gin And It. Then there's Antica Formula Vermouth, which is like a sweet vermouth with bitters included.

Despite its simplicity, this cocktail was outstanding,  I can imagine this cocktail as a flagship barreled and top shelf offering in a classy bar. I'd pay $20 bucks for it, easily. Good ingredients made it one of the best I've tried.

• 3 oz. gin
• 1 oz. sweet vermouth

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a cocktail glass. 

Morro

The Morro is deliciously rich and well-balanced. I appreciate the idea of glazing the rim of the glass with sugar, because there isn't much in the drink itself to balance the citrus. But there's not much citrus and a lot of rum, which loves sugar too. I chose Bluecoat Barrel Reserve gin for this drink because it is a "dark" gin to go with a dark rum.

• 2 oz. gin (Bluecoat Barrel Reserve used)
• 1 oz. dark rum (Lyon dark rum used)
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 tsp. sugar

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into an Old Fashioned glass with a sugar coated rim. Add ice, or a large ice ball as shown.

Flying Dutchman

At first look, this drink appears like a halfhearted attempt to make a cocktail. It's really only two ingredients with strong herbal flavors thrown together. No twist, no bitters. Nothing. Then you try it and see that it is indeed harsh and potent (Pernod tops out at 80-proof, but most absinthe is as high as 110!

The thing is, that the Flying Dutchman is really a gin drink with hints of wormwood flavor. It's really like having augmented gin. And for that reason, I chose Bluecoat Barrel Reserve gin for it's sipability on ice. Like I tend to demonstrate again and again, the amount of Pernod the recipe calls for is small enough to get by with a substitution like real Absinthe. If it were a Pernod Flip, I would definitely reconsider. But Absente Refined was perfect. I found myself topping the ice off with more Absente Refined whenever the flavor got too diluted from my giant ice balls.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. Pernod

Combine ingredients in a rocks glass with ice and stir.

KGB

I wasn't sure if this cocktail was an allusion to the Soviet intelligence agency or some other acronym. I decided it was the latter because of the ingredients: kirsch, gin, and brandy. Then I looked more closely at the recipe and it is apricot brandy that the recipe called for, so that would make it a KGAB--not as cool sounding. Maybe this is a drink about the communists after all. Having no apricot brandy, and knowing how that stuff tends to have an almost body wash like scent, I opted for apple brandy. The combination I chose was strong and liquor scented with a little oakiness from the Laird's apple brandy and Bluecoat barreled reserve gin. Kirsch was what stood out, with that familiar cherry scent.

• 3/4 oz. kirschwasser
• 2 oz. gin (Bluecoat barrel reserve used)
• 1/2 tsp. apricot brandy (Laird's apple brandy used)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Warday's Cocktail

Whoever this Warday is, he's a strange dude. Here are combined some of the most unusual liquors to make a great cocktail. I wonder how he came up with it. I also made a few improvements to the drink as well. I used Bluecoat Barrel Reserve gin because I figured it would fit in fine with barrel aged apple brandy. I also didn't deign to use yellow Chartreuse (the sweeter, milder version) when I had the bitterer green. Carpano Antica Formula rounded the whole thing out into one of the most nuanced drinks I've made in months.

• 1 1/2 oz. gin (Bluecoat Barrel Reserve used)
• 1 oz. apple brandy (Catoctin Creek Quarter Branch used)
• 1 oz. sweet vermouth (Antica Formula used)
• 1 tbsp. yellow Chartreuse (green used)

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Joulouville

This is such a pretty sounding drink, and when I made Joulouville with the finest ingredients and fresh fruit, it was an extremely classy drink. I'm not sure the inventor of this (French?) classic intended it to be so grand, rather more like a sour version of a Martini, but I stick with my decision. I used only my best barrel aged gin, which I figured would go great with real oaky apple brandy. Carpano Antica vermouth is more bitter than sweet, but it fought the lemon tartness just like a bargain sweet vermouth should do while adding earthy complexity.

The whole drink was a swing between citrus tartness and earthy herbal flavors from the gin and vermouth. There was an apple barrel mellowness as well. I have to say that here is a cocktail that reminded me of the best of French liquors--oaked wine, calvados, bitter herbs and lemon in perfect balance. Bon appetit!

• 2 oz. gin (Bluecoat Barrel Reserve used)
• 1 oz. apple brandy (Catoctin Creek used)
• 1 tbsp. sweet vermouth (Antica Formula used)
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Artillery Cocktail

I'm not sure why this Martini-like cocktail has a martial name, but I bet it has something to do with the simplicity with which a glass can be reloaded. I used Bluecoat Barrel Finished Reserve for the gin and Carpano Antica Formula to make a rich and bitter drink.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth

Combine all ingredients in a stirring glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Dempsey

I wish I knew who this drink is named after; there's conjecture it is named after boxer Jack Dempsey. It's a boozy drink with a strong absinthe flavor despite the small proportion of it. Grenadine makes for a soft rouge color and keeps the drink from getting too dry. I used Bluecoat Barrel Aged Reserve gin for this recipe because the oak and vanilla flavor would play well with apple brandy. That was a very good move. Usually apple brandy and gin don't go together easily: the apple brandy loses its color, the gin covers softer notes in the apple brandy. With Barrel Reserve, the drink was spicy--in a good way--and the gin contributed without standing out too much. I shudder to think how it would have tasted with a cheap London dry style gin.

• 2 oz. gin (Bluecoat Barrel Reserve used)
• 1 oz. apple brandy
• 1 tsp. grenadine
• 1 tsp absinthe or Pernod

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir until well chilled and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Hanky Panky

I really enjoyed this spicy cocktail that makes use of Fernet Branca as the bitters. Fernet Branca is a very bittier Italian aperitif with lots of rooty and minty flavors. It is almost too much to stand by itself, but as a few drops in an aged gin cocktail with its own bitter vermouth, it seems right at home. This is a pretty masochistic cocktail, and the first I've made since getting back from France.

• 1 1/2 oz. gin (Bluecoat barrel aged reserve used)
• 1 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth (Carpano Antica used)
• several dashes Fernet Branca
• Orange peel twist

Combine all ingredients except twist in a shaker with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with twist.

Bijou (Revisited)

I last made a Bijou (one of the "Opera" family of drinks) with Ransom gin. I felt it was missing something, and that was the vermouth. The first time I tried a Bijou was at Iron Gate in D.C. where they served it on tap made with Bols Genever and Dolin sweet vermouth. I have been trying to recreate the flavor ever since with little success.

This time I've done it! Blue Coat Barrel Reserve gin is aged like Ransom without the funkiness of their single malted barley (which I love in a Martinez but doesn't fit this drink.) Carpano Antica makes for a richer bitterness than my Martini & Rossi did. There really isn't a better pairing of these strong herbal spirits than a Bijou!

• 1 1/2 oz. gin (Bluecoat Barrel Reserve used)
• 1 oz. green Chartreuse
• 1 oz. sweet vermouth (Carpano Antica used)
• lemon peel
• Maraschino cherry

Combine all ingredients except fruit in a shaker with ice, but stir until chilled. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with fruit.

Leap Year Cocktail

This is a rich pairing that comes along only once in a good while. In this one drink I combined several antique styled liquors. This is a perfect cocktail to use Bluecoat Barreled Reserve Gin and Carpano Antica vermouth. Both are spicy and rich and together they come closer to a Manhattan than a Martini. The addition of Grand Marnier and lemon juice makes for a richer and more citrus drink. It is interesting at every turn and addictive like The Last Word in that "nothing else tastes like this" way.

• 2 oz. gin (Blue Coat Reserve used)
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth (Antica Formula used)
• 1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake or stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Carmen Cavallaro

 If you notice over my last few posts with Bluecoat Barrel Reserve gin, I've been stirring the cocktails rather than shaking them. People say you can bruise gin by shaking ice crystals that melt into the cocktail. The effect is that it tastes watered down. Stirred cocktails are best when they are liquor heavy, which means you can do them with wines like vermouth and sherry.

Carmen Cavallaro is the famous pianist known for his light piano soloist style. That and the likelyhood that he enjoyed sherry are the only two links I can find between him and this drink. Sherry and oak notes are the stars of this cocktail with just a hint of orange from the curacao.

• 2 oz. gin (Bluecoat Barrel Reserve used)
• 3/4 oz. dry sherry
• 3/4 oz. dry vermouth
• dash curacao

Combine all ingredients in a shaker or mixing glass with ice and stir. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass while listening to piano music.

Victor

I am looking for cocktails that really do justice to Bluecoat's Barrel Aged Reserve gin. And while the Philly Flyer is an excellent drink to do with Bluecoat's London Dry style gin, you want to have less juice and richer spirits that play well with brown liquor in your Barrel Aged cocktail. Victor is one looked like it fit the bill. I made it with Courvoisier, which had the effect of making it extremely silky, but with two ounces of gin, there was plenty of flavor too.

• 2 oz. gin (Bluecoat Barrel Aged used)
• 1 oz. brandy (Courvoisier used)
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Racquet Club Cocktail

I just received Bluecoat's limited edition Barrel Finished Reserve gin and decided to make a cocktail that did it justice. No juice, no garnish:--just you and the gin. That's where barrel aged gin shows it's merits. You can taste the vanilla from the oak and lots of pepper, which goes well with vermouth.

I'm really liking the craft American gin revival with the pre-prohibition styles. Bluecoat's barrel aged version is not as malty as some, but works perfectly in a classic Martinez or (nix the sweet vermouth for) drinks like this one. A barrel aged gin is a luxury to have on a small bar. It occurred to me that there are products out there that are necessary--an easy-mixing blended whiskey, or a crisp dry gin for your tonic. Then there are real luxuries that come in small barrels. Bluecoat's Barrel Reserve is one of the latter. A perfect opportunity to take us back to lost gin styles and forgotten cocktails that called for them.

Here's the Racquet Club Cocktail recipe:

• 2 oz. gin
• 3/4 oz. dry vermouth
• dash orange bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and stir. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.