Merry Widow

Oh, how cute! This drink is pink--with bitters. Such a dry and herbal bitter cocktail deserves to be named after a widow. Vigilant gin is an intense botanical lift to any cocktail. I also used the last of my Mancino vermouth with its 22 botanicals, so there's plenty of herbs and spice here. Then add Pernod for its anise and herbal flavor and Peychaud's bitters--three to five dashes means all five for me--and you get a pink color and citrus and absinthe herbal bitter notes. The effect is a drink that looks sweet but knocks you out with the first sip.

• 2 oz. gin (Vigilant used)
• 1 oz. dry vermouth (Mancino used)
• 1/2 oz. Pernod
• 3-5 dashes Peychaud's bitters
• lemon twist

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

Bronx Silver

The Bronx Silver belongs to the Bronx Cocktail series of drinks involving gin and juice. I used fresh squeezed orange juice in this one because it is clearer than store bought juice somehow and it will give you the requisite silver sheen on top.

Egg white is responsible for the opaque quality of this cocktail, and its richness. But don't let that fool you. This is a dry tasting drink despite the juice. There's only dry vermouth and gin otherwise, so it is more tart and stiff tasting than the original Bronx Cocktail.

• 2 oz. dry gin
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
• 1 egg white
• 1 oz. orange juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake to chill. Use a fine strain mesh to strain out orange pulp while pouring into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Brazil

What a pleasant fortified wine cocktail. Sherry and vermouth add a characterful flavor to this slightly less alcoholic drink (though the proportions are pretty hefty.) Supposedly you can drink these all night, but more importantly, you will want to.

The recipe calls for Pernod, but I kept it drier by substituting Absente Refined absinthe. This was a pretty good move. There was plenty of spice flavor and wine texture from start to finish.

• 2 oz. dry sherry
• 1 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
• dash Pernod (Absente Refined used)
• dash Angostura bitters
• lemon twist

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

Knockout Cocktail

This cocktail will knock out your taste buds. With a full ounce of Pernod, it is strong on herbal anise flavor, but white creme de menthe cools the spiciness, as does a heaping gob of dry vermouth.

I like the color of this cocktail, absinthe green. That kind of glowing nuclear radiation color that tastes just like it appears--and tastes great with that glowing maraschino cherry. Don't substitute absinthe for Pernod here, it's too dry and you need that sweetness to give you some relief from the powerful spices and herbs.

• 2 oz. dry vermouth (Mancino used)
• 1 1/2 oz. gin (Bombay Sapphire used)
• 1 oz. Pernod
• 1/2 tsp. white creme de menthe
• maraschino cherry

Shake all ingredients except cherry in a shaker full of ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with cherry. 

Kup's Indespensable Cocktail

In what is increasingly likely to become a Martini Week, we have another variation in which a bartender, supposedly named Kup, came up with a unique Martini variation. This one has a huge vermouth component and requires a little more heft from its gin. Vigilant gin should do the trick, with one of the most robust and dry spiced gins profiles out there. This turns out to be a very rich and rewarding Martini.

• 2 oz. gin (Vigilant used)
• 3/4 oz. dry vermouth (Mancino used)
• 3/4 oz. sweet vermouth (Dolin used)
• orange twist

Stir all ingredients except orange twist in a mixing glass full of ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of orange peel.

Dirty Martini

Judging by how many orders I fill for this drink a night, I assume that the Dirty Martini is the most popular white spirit cocktail right now. I often scoff at these orders, mainly because drinkers don't seem to want any vermouth in their Martinis, and the olive brine really makes vermouth seem unnecessary anyway. The other problem I have with Dirty Martini drinkers is that they prefer vodka, usually good vodka, which defeats the point of making the drink dirty. At least it does to me.

Unlike the commonplace Dirty Martinis you see these days, the original recipe is with gin and good helping of vermouth. Olive brine is the smallest portion of the three ingredients. Back in the prohibition days, vermouth was what saved a cocktail from terrible tasting liquor. At least the vermouth had flavor, and olive brine does a lot to kill stench. I'm glad to say that the original recipe for Dirty Martinis is still solid with quality gin.

Bombay Sapphire is one of the driest and most flavorful of gins out there. There's a lot going on in it. Adding Mancino vermouth with more than 20 botanicals just makes it that much better. The olive brine prevents the cocktail from becoming overly spiced. It does wonders for improving your appetite before dinner.

• 3 oz. gin (Bombay Sapphire used)
• 1 oz. dry vermouth (Mancino used)
• 1/2 oz. olive brine
• olives (Tipsy Olives used)

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with olives.

Hasty Cocktail

I wonder why I didn't make this drink earlier. Maybe its because each time I think about making it, I just go ahead and make a Martini. It is really close to a Martini with some fruity and spicy flavors. Pernod doesn't really show up here, just a nice bitterness to balance out the sweetness of the grenadine that does more than color the drink.

I used a rye gin like Commonwealth gin for this one. Not as much juniper in that as other gins, and it allows the flavor of vermouth to come out. The Hasty Cocktail is a small drink in proportions. It doesn't fill a Martini glass very well. I liked how it fit in a pousse cafe glass or cordial glass.

• 2 oz. gin (Commonwealth gin used)
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth (Mancino used)
• 3-5 dashes of Pernod
• 1 tsp. grenadine

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

Ferrari

This is a quintessential Italian cocktail, and it is very European in general. Europeans tend to enjoy vermouth in large quantities, mixing it with sugar and citrus. They don't like their drinks too strong, but richness and complexity are the general rule.

It's a multi-layered drink with citrus nose and orange spice, marzipan sweetness and a dry and herbaceous wine center. Ferrari is an appropriate name for such a designer Italian cocktail. It gets good flavor traction on the tongue and moves fast.

There's a series of car drinks including the [Golden] Cadillac, Monte Carlo, Roles Royce, and Bentley. Check them all out on my blog.    

• 2 oz. dry vermouth (Mancino used)
• 1 oz. amaretto (Lazzaroni used)
• dash orange bitters (homemade bitters used)

Build cocktail in an Old Fashioned glass full of ice. Stir well and twist lemon peel over the glass before dropping it in. 

Hotel Plaza Cocktail

Simple, elegant, rich: the Hotel Plaza Cocktail is a throwback to times when people really loved vermouth but wanted to drink something a little stronger than fortified wine. It is also one of those cocktails that rely on the quality of the ingredients to pass muster. I believe that one of the reasons why people dislike vermouth--and the diminution of vermouth from Martinis can be taken for evidence of this--is because we've grown accustomed to bad vermouth. This is the equivalent of some duffer in the '80s saying he doesn't like wine when the only wine he can get easily is cheap, sweet rose like Riunite d'Oro. But the truth is that quality vermouth has only very recently been available, so you can't blame today's Martini drinkers.

With Antica Formula for the sweet vermouth and Mancino dry vermouth, this drink was subtly spicy and very rounded. There's almost no juniper from the 1/3 part of gin. I get the feeling that it matters little what gin you use, but gin was the main white spirit of the time when this drink was popular, so there it is.

• 1 oz. sweet vermouth
• 1 oz. dry vermouth
• 1 oz. gin
• maraschino cherry (Omit for simpler Plaza Cocktail)

Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the cherry.

Hoffman House

Is this a Martini? According to my standards for the drink, I'd say yes. It is a gin drink with a smaller portion of dry vermouth and an olive, so it's a Martini in everything except in name. But there's the addition of orange biters that changes things slightly. You get a fruity and spicy bite that gin doesn't quite provide and seems at odds with olive brine.

A couple of things made this drink exceptional. One was the use of Bombay Sapphire gin, which is dry and has a lot of citrus botanicals. So it was bright. I used Mancino vermouth, which is complex while still dry. My homemade orange bitters make use of cinchona laden amari like Meletti and Picon Bierre, so it is less like a spice cabinet and more like bitter fruit zest. Then the Tipsy Olives, soaked in vermouth, are so richly flavored and sweet (not bitter or harsh like so many olives) you can taste it on the first sip, and you'll be swooning with the last swallow when you take down the olive and all of it's dry vermouth brine.

If you're tired of the regular dry Martini, try the Hoffman House for something different from the dirty and sweet variations of the drink.

• 2 oz. gin (Bombay Sapphire used)
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth (Mancino used)
• 3 dashes orange bitters
• cocktail olive (Tipsy vermouth olives)

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

Havana Club

Very simple and easily concocted, the Havana Club is one drink that swings between incredibly rich and delicious or pretty insufferable. This has everything to do with the quality of rum and vermouth that you use. A cheap rum and awful vermouth will make the drink taste cheap and awful, because there's nothing else in the cocktail but rum and vermouth. But good quality and flavorful rum and a fine dry vermouth make it as good as any stirred, high-end Martini.

Drinking Plantation 3 Stars is the first time I've tried a white rum that tastes like something other than rubbing alcohol. There's a real sugar cane flavor in it, and an aged oakiness that I really like. The amount of vermouth is small enough that it doesn't affect the balance of the cocktail at all.

• 3 oz. light rum (Plantation 3 Stars)
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth (Mancino used)

Combine rum and vermouth in a mixing glass full of ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Roselyn

It's a little mysterious, the name. Roselyn could be the name of the inventor of the drink, or a famous drinker of the drink. It might be, and it's a stretch, a corruption of the name of Romeo's unrequited love. I like to think that the cocktail refers to the high-rise community in Northern Virginia.

(Roselyn as seen from the Potomac is a towering skyline West of Washington D.C.)

If indeed this drink is a shout out to this part of Arlington county, then I picked the perfect gin. Commonwealth Gin is a Virginia original made in Richmond. Is an American gin in its style--very far from dry British gin. It has an odor (an this might not be a bad thing) of ethanol and a funky and almost nutty or malty flavor that's more common in Old Tom style gins. I don't want to call it citrus-forward, because it's not, and the juniper is really toned down as well. It has a thicker feel on the palate, and feels like it is stronger than its 40 percent ABV. It really stands out and would make a nice sipper on the rocks. 

I also took this opportunity to select Mancino vermouth for my new dry vermouth. Mancino secco is an Italian dry vermouth that packs a lot of flavor into a fortified wine. The manufacturer lists sage, marjoram, oregano as Italian herbs that are added, and citrus, lemongrass, and pimento and nutmeg are some of the detectable flavors. When you use this vermouth with a subtle spirit, expect to taste it. 

So the Roselyn is a good drink depending on your ingredients. I really noticed both the gin and vermouth and lemon zest. What you won't notice is the grenadine. The portion is so small that it only affects the color and sweetens a little. You are not going to taste pomegranate. 

• 2 oz. gin (Commonwealth Gin used)
• 1 oz. dry vermouth (Mancino secco used)
• 1/2 tsp. grenadine
•  lemon twist

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