What Bitch, What? (Original Recipe)

 

This cocktail is a situational drink. The scene looks like this: It is a crowded bar and the "stick" bartenders taking the orders from the crowd are overwhelmed. It is also noisy and no one can hear each other. Amidst this there is the service bartender, madly muddling fruit for a cocktail that needs to go to a table. A woman approaches the service bartender in her attempt to circumvent the line to the bar and starts trying to shout over the din, maybe asking for what the service bartender is working on.

The service bartender adds the wrong ingredients to the drink in hand and gives it to the woman to get her to leave. Somewhere in the shouted conversation, the service bartender may have uttered the name of this drink.

• 6 blueberries
• 5 mint sprigs
• 2 oz. bourbon (Ancient Age used)
  
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• orange slice 3 blueberries as garnishes

Muddle 6 blueberries and mint sprigs in a shaker. Then add ice and liquid ingredients and ice Pour into an Old Fashioned glass and garnish with remaining berries and orange slice.

Slap 'N' Pickle (Death & Co. Recipe)

Okay, this is the innovative akvavit cocktail from Death & Co. that I've been looking for. It's the first time that I've seen akvavit used with cucumber garnishes and muddled cucumber. Despite the name, there is nothing pickled in this cocktail: these are fresh cucumbers. It is the pickling seeds like fennel, coriander, and anise in the akvavit, and the celery bitters that give this drink its pickled character.

I had already prepared a few of the staple ingredients for this recipe. The first is my homemade akvavit with MurLarkey Justice white whiskey. And I have to say, once you learn to make your own akvavit, it is cheaper and better than the main brands, whatever may be available to you. And mostly you won't find much selection. I also found that making your own celery bitters is very easy and doesn't require gentian root. Just get a tsp. of celery seeds and some bits of chopped celery leaves and stalk and steep them in 100-proof vodka. The longer you steep them, the more bitter they get!

It feels like ten years ago that muddling cucumbers into a shaker was going out of style, but this drink's gimic, if you can call it that, is to put a cucumber spear in the glass to make it look like a pickle. I know why this is done; however, and it isn't for flavor. People at the bar will be wondering and asking about it, so the drink advertises itself.

• 3 cucumber wheels
• 2 oz. akvavit (homemade used)
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 3/4 oz. simple syrup
• 1 tsp. grenadine
• 2 dashes celery bitters (homemade used)
• 1 cucumber spear garnish

Muddle 3 cucumber wheels in the shaker tin and add the remaining ingredients except for the garnish cucumber. Shake and double strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass with a large ice cube. Garnish with the cucumber spear. 

 

One, One, One (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

While Death & Company is known for complicated recipes and combining flavors that are seldom experienced together, they are big fans of the three equal-part cocktail. The name says it by itself. I picked up a bottle of Dolin blanc just for this drink, and it is necessary to give it any sweetness and breathing room.

In terms of flavor, I would put this in the category of Martini variations. It is very dry, despite the wetter vermouth, and the orange and spice of bitters and akvavit really distinguish it from anything made with vodka. That said, it is one of Death & Co.'s many Martini variations that I want to try, mostly because I want to drink more gin and akvavit stirred in a cocktail that is easy to make. 

• 1 oz. akvavit (homemade with MurLarkey Justice white whiskey used)
• 1 oz. London dry gin (Citadelle used)
• 1 oz. Dolin blanc
• 1 dash orange bitters (Hella used)

Stir all ingredients in a mixing glass full of ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Over and Out (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

Death & Co. are renowned for their innovative cocktails back when there were none to be had. Their recipe book includes four akvavit recipes that are all winners; however, this one seems less innovative then the others. 

It's a well known fact that akvavit tastes great with tequila and citrus flavors like orange and grapefruit juice. The unusual part of this recipe is swapping out the typical juice with watermelon. Luckily, it being winter, Blue Monkey makes an excellent fresh watermelon juice in a can just for this occasion. 

Then I couldn't find celery bitters at the liquor store, so I quickly made them the night before: 3 tsp. celery seeds, 1 tsp. chopped celery leaves and an oz. of vodka. Allow to infuse for at least 3 hours.

This drink tastes so much of summer, it is hard to express. And I really wanted to have a summer drink in the middle of a snow storm. Sometimes our preferences are oppositional to our surroundings, which is what cocktails are all about. 

• 1 oz. blanco tequila (Sauza used)
  
• 1 oz. akvavit (homemade with MurLarkey Justice white whiskey used)
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 3/4 oz. watermelon juice (Blue Monkey used)
• 1/2 oz. sugar syrup
• 1 dash celery bitters
• 1 dash orange bitters 

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

Hoosier Daddy (Original Recipe)

 

Now for something completely outside the box. I was making Hoosier stew, that midwest skillet dinner with green beans, Polish sausage and potatoes and onions. It's a salty, fatty winter treat. But it occurred to me that cocktails can often be an offshoot of soup recipes, that it is very realistic to make a broth-base drink that is savory and have it actually be good. 

It wasn't my immediate realization that MurLarkey Justice white whiskey, with it's corn spirit nose and vegetel finish (almost like green beans) would be perfect for a Hoosier stew cocktail. 

The drink had to be salty with just a little pepper spice. I got creative and salted the rim and added black pepper, paprika and a just a few dashes of chipotle Tabasco for smoke. But it needed a garnish to get the Hoosier stew concept across. Actual smoked sausage, a steamed green bean and cocktail onions (and the odd olive pictured) festoon this silly cocktail.

But it's not that silly. There's plenty of drinks like the Bull Shot and Steaming Bull. The Bloody Mary is the best example of a savory cocktail that is essentially out-of-control tomato soup. It's no Bloody Mary, but that's not what I was going for. It was more like the Borscht Belt or Gazpacho Cocktaill, a soup cocktail that knows what it is. Hoosier Stew is definitely that, and for those who love the dish, they should try the drink. I have to say, this is way better than a Chicken Shot.

• 2 oz. chicken stock
• 1 1/2 oz. MurLarkey Justice white whiskey
• 1/2 oz. vodka
• coarse salt rim
  
• pinch salt
• pinch pepper
• pinch paprika
• several dashes chipotle Tabasco
• Polish sausage, onion, and steamed green bean garnishes

Rim an Old Fashioned glass with coarse salt by wetting the rim and dipping it into a dish of salt. Combine liquid ingredients and seasoning in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into the glass and garnish with stew morsels like smoked sausage, steamed bean and pickled onion.

Park Life Swizzle (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

When I saw that there was an Old Tom Swizzle recipe in the Death & Co. book, I had to try it. I didn't have Ransom, which is what is specified, and rather than using Vitae's mild tasting Old Tom, I went in another direction.

I know that Ransom is very malty and dank, for lack of a better word. So my choice was homemade Schiedam gin with malt whiskey infused with juniper and citrus. It was dank! This is a spicier lime juice swizzle that tastes more tropical than the Robert Johnson Swizzle. The spice comes from Angostura bitters on top, but also the ginger syrup (which I made by adding ginger brandy to my syrup). It smelled incredible. It tasted even better. The problem with swizzles, though, is that they are a pain to make and they don't last long.

Here's how it's done:

• 1 oz.  Ransom Old Tom (homemade Schiedam used)
• 1 oz. amontillado sherry
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. ginger syrup
• 6 dashes Angostura bitters
• mint sprig garnish

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with crushed ice. Shake and pour into a chilled pilsner glass. Add more crushed ice and use a bois lele to stir and chill. Add more ice and continue stirring until the glass freezes over and the contents of the glass reach the top. Dash bitters on the ice and garnish with mint. 

Rodeo Drive Rammer

 

This is a fun, and a little silly, drink to salute the crazy that is part of driving in Los Angles. Really, this is a cocktail that is part deluxe, part gaudy, and all American--just like Beverly Hills itself.

Here is a  punch drink with the usual rum. falernum and orange juice: but it's not stereotypically American enough until you add peach liqueur and bourbon. In fact this drink flips the tables with bourbon being the base spirit in a punch, which I like. I happened to have a dash left of Evan Williams peach bourbon, which worked for the peach brandy that was specified in the recipe. 

Go ahead and make this one if you are in the mood for day drinking, just don't get behind the wheel.

• 1 1/2 oz. bourbon (Ancient Age used)
• 1/2 oz. Jamaican rum (George Bowman used)
• 1/2 oz. curacao (triple sec used)
• 1/2 oz. peach brandy (Evan Williams peach used)
• 3 oz. orange juice
• 1 tsp. falernum or orgeat (homemade falernum used)
• pineapple slice and cherry garnishes
• club soda

 Combine all liquid ingredients except for soda in a shaker or blender. Shake or blend and pour into a Hurricane glass. Top with soda and garnish with fruit.