Cocktail Hour! - 2024

[b1gcountry]

I finished my bottle of compari with an americano while grilling some chicken 

[flahute]

Boulevardier with KC12 because why not and yes - it’s freaking amazing. 

[IamMatt]

On 4/6/2024 at 6:02 PM, MM818 said:

An OF100 Manhattan. I have to go to a play tonight. It’s a 2nd and 3rd grader performance of Annie. Figured I needed to keep it at 100 proof but still needed something to carry me through…

Your post brought back memories of my kids' annual recorder concerts during elementary school!

[IamMatt]

I was a bartender for 10 years but I don't make cocktails at home much.  Been trying some recently and so far, my favorite is the Brown Derby (Brown Hotel recipe), with equal parts bourbon, grapefruit juice, and honey syrup.

 

Tried a Berry Smash two nights ago and had to toss it.  Just didn't land right.  (Muddle 4 mint leaves, 3 raspberries, 1/2 oz lemon juice; add 1/2 oz strawberry puree, 3/4 oz Aperol, 2 oz bourbon, and ice; shake and strain over ice, add club soda to fill).

 

Last night was better with a Maple Bourbon Smash (1/2 oz each of maple syrup, lime juice, and orange juice; 4 dashes Angostura Bitters, 2 oz bourbon.  Recipe said to build but I shook and strained into a glass with about 2 oz club soda and ice).  Not bad.

 

I have a recipe for an Espresso Old Fashioned that I am going to try next.  Then I will check out some of the cocktails above in this thread.

[Kepler]

Rittenhouse old fashioned to kick start the long weekend.

[smokinjoe]

Americano as I settle in for Braves on the radio.

[IamMatt]

On 5/21/2024 at 1:29 PM, IamMatt said:

I was a bartender for 10 years but I don't make cocktails at home much.  Been trying some recently and so far, my favorite is the Brown Derby (Brown Hotel recipe), with equal parts bourbon, grapefruit juice, and honey syrup.

 

I have a recipe for an Espresso Old Fashioned that I am going to try next.  Then I will check out some of the cocktails above in this thread.

OK, I tried the Espresso Old Fashioned.  2oz bourbon, 1 oz Kahlua, .5 oz brown sugar syrup, 1.5 oz espresso, 3 drops chocolate bitters, garnish with orange round and 3 coffee beans. 

 

It was OK, but I would want to tweak it.  Needs something to brighten it up.  Maybe something with orange (juice, bitters), maybe less Kahlua. or less espresso.   Or maybe it would be better with rye.

[Skinsfan1311]

10 hours ago, IamMatt said:

OK, I tried the Espresso Old Fashioned.  2oz bourbon, 1 oz Kahlua, .5 oz brown sugar syrup, 1.5 oz espresso, 3 drops chocolate bitters, garnish with orange round and 3 coffee beans. 

 

It was OK, but I would want to tweak it.  Needs something to brighten it up.  Maybe something with orange (juice, bitters), maybe less Kahlua. or less espresso.   Or maybe it would be better with rye.

The inventor of that drink should probably change the name.  It doesn't have much in common with an Old Fashioned at all.  

With all that coffee and sweetness, I agree that it would probably be better with a rye or even a peaty  scotch.

[meadeweber]

23 hours ago, smokinjoe said:

Americano as I settle in for Braves on the radio.

I'm sure it's just the angle the picture was taken from but damn that glass looks like it's one second from falling of that ledge!  Haha

[Skinsfan1311]

We took a "Prohibition Drinks & Dinner" tour yesterday in West Palm Beach. This was at bar Hullabaloo, our first stop. This was my favorite cocktail on the tour...the others being rum and tequila based.

[smokinjoe]

7 hours ago, Skinsfan1311 said:

We took a "Prohibition Drinks & Dinner" tour yesterday in West Palm Beach. This was at bar Hullabaloo, our first stop. This was my favorite cocktail on the tour...the others being rum and tequila based.

That sounded so great I went out at lunch today to pick up some Domaine Canton and orange blossom honey.  I just made one, but I messed it up.  I shook in over ice, and of course, the honey didn’t dissolve.  Duuuuuhhhh…It’s OK, but missing a major part of the cocktail.  Well, I learn good, so me will try ‘nuther as soon as I finish this one!  

[smokinjoe]

Mrssmokinjoe’s Birthday at one of her fave restaurants.  We come here every year.  They go shopping before dinner, and I sit at the bar!  Starting with an old fashioned.  4R as the whiskey.  Let’s see if I can keep it to just 3 before they get back…. They make good ones here.  

 

[smokinjoe]

Mrssmokinjoe’s Birthday at one of her fave restaurants.  We come here every year.  They go shopping before dinner, and I sit at the bar!  Starting with an old fashioned.  4R as the whiskey.  Let’s see if I can keep it to just 3 before they get back…. They make good ones here.  

 

Edited June 8 by smokinjoe

[markandrex]

Raspberry smash by the pool this afternoon.

[Harry in WashDC]

TWO cocktails I sort of made up -

 

Mexican pear -

 

2 OZ. silver tequila

2 OZ. pear syrup from a jar/can of pear slices.

Ice.

Short old fashioned glass.

 

As a kid, I consumed MANYMANY canned/jarred pear halves packed in sugar syrup with a dollop of cottage cheese and a grind of fresh black pepper for lunch.  Recently, I experienced an overwhelming, unquenchable desire to EAT this again.  I then had this jar with lots of pear juice and sugar water left over.  What to do.

 

MAKE a cocktail.  See above.

 

THEN!!

 

At a local bar/restaurant we frequent regularly, the drinks menu had a thing called a "Beam on the Beach".  Large tips and tenacity resulted in this close replication -

 

In a Colliins glass half-filled with ice, combine --

2 OZ. of 80 proof bourbon (I use 4RYL, not JBW liie the bar does)

2 OZ. Sprite

2 OZ. lemonade (like Simply lemonade)

1/4 OZ. Cointreau or similar orange liqueur

 

Careful with this one as sipping outside during the Summer can easly result in falling asleep in the Sun.

 

[IamMatt]

7 hours ago, markandrex said:

Raspberry smash by the pool this afternoon.

I will have to try this recipe; I made a berry smash recently and was very disappointed. 

[IamMatt]

4 hours ago, Harry in WashDC said:

At a local bar/restaurant we frequent regularly, the drinks menu had a thing called a "Beam on the Beach".  Large tips and tenacity resulted in this close replication -

 

Is this restaurant somewhere you would recommend?  My friend is going out to DC next week to visit his son.  Thanks.

[Harry in WashDC]

9 hours ago, IamMatt said:

Is this restaurant somewhere you would recommend?  My friend is going out to DC next week to visit his son.  Thanks.

Local persons in the 1960s decided to open a bar/restaurant catering to their likes.  It became the "Clyde's" group of restaurants.  There are several in and around Wash DC.  Clyde's Chevy Chase is close to our house, and we go a lot for lunch.  Downtown, Clyde;s runs the "Old Ebbitt Grill", a WDC landmark sort of as its namesake has been around since the Civil War.  Food and service are better than average but not "special" or "eclectic" - no fried octopus on squid ink pasta. 

 

www.clydes.com

 

If your friend is adventurous, Jose Andres still manages some restaurants in WDC.  The Wash Post website also has a "Food" section that lets you search for restaurant reviews by location, type of food, cost, noise, etc.  Several restaurants recently received some Michelin starts, but our experience with them is - reserve months early and be prepared to still wait once inside, and the noise levels are usually pretty high.  WashPost longtime food critic Tom Sietsema compiles "top 10" type lists several times during the year based on food type and location.  Another critic, Tim Carman, hits smaller restaurants that, mostly, are neighborhoody.  His reviews also are covered by the WashPost search function.

[IamMatt]

Thanks, my friend is more the "cool local place" kinda guy than the "hottest posh restaurant."  I'll tell him to ask his son about Clyde's or Old Ebbitt Grill.