Cocktail Hacker

We had a great time in Vegas and enjoyed some seriously tasty cocktails while there. Our cocktail related travels began in one of the lounges at the MGM Grand. Aaron and Lindsey were enjoying Mojitos when Colton and I arrived. I, in an attempt to catch up, quickly chose to go with a Manhattan. The Manhattan was quite tasty although nothing that will stand out as one of my great cocktail experiences. This has solidified my belief that a Manhattan is a cocktail you can order with relative ease when the bar is questionable. Normally I would say that a Gin and Tonic, another of my perennial favorites, is another good choice in this category. However, Aaron decided to test this at the Mermaids Casino on Fremont Street. The cocktail served was horrifying. Aaron summed it up nicely as “tonic with a splash of brut cologne”.

The ingredients of a Manhattan most any bar will have on hand. Even if the base ingredients used are of poor quality the resulting cocktail usually ends up tasting all right. I followed my Manhattan experiment with a Sidecar, which Aaron had previously called his “Vegas standby drink”. What I got was some Brandy with sour mix. Although not the true recipe, the cocktail was still palatable. Later that evening we visited a great bar, Red Square, in Mandalay Bay. A Russian themed bar most of the cocktails were vodka based, but to their credit they clearly had some good thought behind them. I especially liked the freezer room that you could enjoy your drinks in if you took advantage of their bottle service. This privilege came complete with fur coats to keep you warm as you drank and dined. We didn’t opt for this choice, but perhaps next time.

Sunday night we continued our Tiki celebration by having some delicious cocktails at Trader Vic’s in the Planet Hollywood hotel and casino. I entered with some trepidation expecting a commercialized Tiki experience serving quickly built, poor tasting cocktails. I got nothing that I expected. The restaurant and bar is very upscale and the food and drinks were fantastic.

Colton even enjoyed his Mai Tai! Aaron and I started with Trader Vic’s Grog, which were fantastic, but unfortunately evaporated due to the low elevation. You can see this by Aaron’s confused look in the picture above. It was such a strange scientific phenomenon. We chose to have another round to see if the problem persisted. Next I had a Navy Grog. This was a nice chance to compare their recipe to the one I used during Tiki Week. The main flavor, and still my favorite, was the Allspice syrup. Although, in the Trader Vic’s version the sweetness was downplayed, which was actually quite nice. When mixing this cocktail in the future I think I’ll decrease the syrup to lessen the sweetness. Aaron had the Honi Honi which was an interesting Bourbon twist on a Tiki cocktail. Despite the obvious strangeness, the drink was very good.

What else did we do in Vegas? Well, some of it obviously has to stay in Vegas but I can sum it up with some bullet points:

• Carrot Top is Beyond Scary, Seriously
• Blue Man Group is Fantastic
• Ditto on Cirque Du Soleil ‘O’
• Vegas Free Drinks Span Horrible to Tasty
• Non-Free Drinks in Vegas are Rarely Cheap
• Nine Fine Irishmen in NY, NY has good Food, Music and Drinks
• Pai Gow is Way Better than Roulette
• Umbrella Drinks at the Pool Kick Ass (and your Wallet)

And I’m sad to report that Aaron died in a horrible fall from the top of the Stratosphere tower. That said, he died with honor, like any true cocktail hacker, with his beer in hand. He will be missed.

Ok, so he didn’t actually die, but the picture was too good not to be shared.

It is with a heavy heart that I pen these words for this post signifies the end of our first Tiki Week. Naturally there will be more, but we now must move on to more unexplored cocktail territory. We’ve really only scratched the surface of what libations Tiki culture has to offer. The exotic ingredients, the fruity yet powerful flavors, the colorful hues. They all seem to transport you to another time and place. Somewhere where life moves at a slower pace. So, we hope we’ve made Tiki drinks accessible enough that you too can be transported to this happy place and enjoy some of the exotic flavors. Aloha my friends, uncharted cocktail territory calls.

This week the cocktail hacker editorial staff has temporarily relocated to Las Vegas for some much needed vacation. We’ll be doing a couple write ups on Vegas drinks, but there isn’t really a true theme for the week. I think we’re going to have some interesting tid bits to offer though, so stay tuned.

After a long and, I must say, well deserved break from my regular Cocktail Hacker duties (of drinking heavily), I am now back, dear reader, back to provide you with final notes from our week with the Sazerac cocktail.

The Sazerac has been claimed, by some, to be the first American cocktail or, as claimed by others, to be the first cocktail ever. (Though none of this is true.) Originally a brandy based drink rumored to have been served in an egg cup, as all truly great cocktails must be, the Sazerac is now traditionally made with rye whiskey and served in a Sazerac glass or, on occasion, a simple old fashioned glass.

Never one to shy away from experimentation, my first instinct was to create and consume the “original” (perhaps legendary?) brandy based cocktail. However, unable to procure an egg cup, or coqueteir (if you prefer), I was forced to follow a typical Sazerac recipe substituting Cognac for rye whiskey. This is my failing, dear reader, and I will not let it happen again! It must be said, however, the brandy based Sazerac is one delicious cocktail. Certainly worth a try and very different from the typical rye based drink.

Having said all of that, I don’t believe that Reese or myself ever strayed too far from the traditional Sazerac recipe, in our experimentation. The recipe already being fairly lax as to the overall quantities of required ingredients. Reese, simplified the recipe to the following steps:

1.) Soak sugar cube with Peychaud's add to glass

2.) Add 1 tsp water

3.) Add 1 dash of Absinthe

4.) Stir until sugar is dissolved

5.) Add 2 oz Rye

6.) Add 1 ice cube

7.) Stir until chilled

8.) Add a twist of lemon

The drink produced is complex and delicious. And, Reese has declared it to be one of his favorite recipes so far, describing it as “nicely balanced, not overly sweet, not overly bitters-y”.

I must say that I agree.

I came in to this week not knowing anything about the Manhattan. I had never had one, nor had I had any other cocktails that use Sweet Vermouth. To some extent I had a very twisted picture (or is that taste) in my head as to what the Manhattan would bring to the table. From the previous week’s experience with the Martini I was expecting a very sharp herbal bite from the Vermouth that simply isn’t there in Sweet Vermouth. Yes, there is a nice herbal flavor but it seems almost deeper and darker in some ways. Add to that the wonderful flavors of whiskey and you’ve got a total winner. Aaron decided not to participate this week, so I’m going solo on this wrap up, but I think I have some interesting stuff to share with you.

A Manhattan with Brandied Cherries

I started the week in Grand Lake with my Stepdad (Ken) and two of my Stepbrothers (Pete and Tom). We had a very long day of working in the forest on Saturday cutting down and removing dead trees. So, when it came time for happy hour everyone was ready for a Manhattan. Seeing as I had never had one I started with a recipe I had seen in a number of places.

The Manhattan:

[Ingredients]

2 oz Bourbon or Rye Whiskey

1 oz Sweet Vermouth

2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

[Directions]

1) Combine ingredients over ice

2) Stir to combine and chill thoroughly

3) Strain in to a chilled cocktail glass

4) Garnish with a maraschino cherry

After our first installment we decided that this drink, referred to as “Brown Mumblers” by Pete’s coworkers, was a recipe that needed sampling several times. Thankfully I had brought sufficient ingredients to make such an endeavor possible. We tried both Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye and Eagle Rare Bourbon for the base spirit and found both to be fantastic. I prefer the Rye personally as it gives the drink more of a spicy bite, but I assure you, you won’t be disappointed with either choice. As for Vermouth I brought bottles of Noilly Prat and Cinzano. They are more or less on par, but I think my house Sweet Vermouth will likely become the Cinzano as it has more depth of flavor. I also brought along both Angostura and Fee Brother’s Barrel Aged Bitters, both are great but lead to a different end cocktail. I’d recommend trying both as you will likely have a preference for one or the other. Or, if you want to get super crazy, do what I do and combine them. More on that later. As I discussed in my previous post this week I don’t much like abnormally colored and deathly sweet maraschino cherries, so we passed on those entirely. The drinks soothed our aching bodies and lead to a very pleasant evening. There was even some drunken fishing involved, which I must say is a good time. Pete caught three fish, I caught none, for those keeping score.

I also sampled a number of other recipe variants throughout the week. For each of the following I used Eagle Rare Bourbon, Noilly Prat Vermouth and Angostura Bitters to be consistent.

Embury's Manhattan:

2 1/2 oz American Whiskey

1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth

Dash Angostura Bitters

This drink was good, but very strong on the bourbon, which is great when you have a good bourbon. However, if the bourbon you’ve got isn’t top shelf this isn’t the recipe I’d choose. Also, the bitters, being such a small amount, don’t really come through as much as I’d like. Same holds true for the amount of Vermouth. The drink is not particularly sweet as a result and little of the herbal notes shine through. Overall, not my choice.

Difford's Guide Dry Manhattan:

2 1/2 oz Bourbon

1 oz Dry Vermouth

3 Dashes Angostura Bitters

A tasty combination overall, but not what I would call a true Manhattan. The flavors of the Vermouth (Noilly Prat Dry) and Bourbon come through nicely but this drink lacks the sweetness I like in a Manhattan. Onward!

Difford's Guide Perfect Manhattan:

2 1/2 oz Bourbon

1/2 oz Dry Vermouth

1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth

3 Dashes Angostura Bitters

My guess as to the “plan” with this drink is to keep the sweetness at a low level while bumping up the herbal flavors. This is definitely accomplished. The resulting drink has a deeper herbal smell than the Dry Manhattan while keeping the sweetness level low. A very good cocktail to be sure, but not my cup of tea (or glass of Manhattan), I’m still looking for that additional sweetness of the Sweet Vermouth. Which is a nice segue to…

Difford's Guide Sweet Manhattan:

2 1/2 oz Bourbon

1 oz Sweet Vermouth

1/8 oz Syrup from Maraschino Cherries

3 Dashes Angostura Bitters

I really like this recipe and it’s very near my preferred recipe. The Vermouth adds the sweetness I crave and the bitters are there in sufficient quantities to bring a lot of flavor to the party. Since we believe if full disclosure here at Cocktail Hacker, I should mention that I didn’t have any maraschino cherry juice at the time which would have bumped the sweetness level up even further.

Reese's Manhattan - Minus the Cherries - D'Oh!

My favorite Manhattan recipe for the week is very similar to the Difford’s Sweet Manhattan, with a couple small twists. I change up the bitters by using both Fee Brother’s and Angostura. I really like the additional cinnamon and clove notes that the Fee Brother’s adds. I also don’t use the cherry syrup but bring up the Vermouth ratio to maintain the sweetness. Furthermore, I go with Rye Whiskey over Bourbon as it brings the spicy flavor I mentioned above. That said, this recipe works very well with Bourbon too. For the garnish, use a maraschino if you must, but I would really encourage you to try making your own brandy soaked cherries. They are truly fantastic. I used dried bing cherries for my batch but I think I’ll use dried (or frozen) sour cherries next time for some added twang.

Reese's Manhattan:

[Ingredients]

2 oz Rye Whiskey

1 oz Sweet Vermouth

2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

1 Dash Fee Brother's Old Fashioned Bitters (Barrel Aged if You Can)

[Directions]

1) Combine ingredients over ice

2) Stir to combine and chill thoroughly

3) Strain in to a chilled cocktail glass

4) Garnish with a Cognac macerated cherry

That’s all I’ve got for this installment. I hope you enjoyed your Manhattans this week as much as I have. Next week is our last Embury cocktail, the Old Fashioned.

Whether you’re drinking it with classic Gin, or the favored Vodka, dirty, extra dirty, with olives, with a twist, with orange bitters or completely unadulterated one thing is for sure, you feel more sophisticated while drinking this elegant drink. The Martini is a dirnk that has spawned an entire generation of cocktail drinkers. Whether its worth it might be questionable, though.

I really enjoy both olives and vermouth, which was quite a surprise to me. My favorite recipe of the week would probably not be called a Martini by purists (but I like it) is The Wunderlich Clan Martini that I discussed earlier in the week. I would suggest trying a bit of alteration and add some Orange Bitters (both Regan’s and Fee Brother’s are excellent, although quite different). Orange bitters would work especially well with a citrus forward Gin (such as Indigo or Burnett’s). As for the olives, I suggest that you go nuts. Try all kinds of flavors, jalapeno, citrus, nut stuffed, anything you like.

Aaron’s take on this drink is quite different. Being neither a fan of olives or Vermouth the Martini is really not his cocktail, so to speak. He prefers the ice wash method when adding Vermouth. Which is simply adding a touch of Vermouth, swirling with ice to coat and cool the glass and dumping out before adding your chilled cocktail. This will give you an extremely light hint of Vermouth but will still add a bit of flavor. As for garnish he opts for a lemon twist rather than olives.

As for Embury’s recipe I wasn’t impressed. It was a decent expression of whatever Gin you chose, in my case I used Plymouth Gin as my control, but I didn’t think it was that “De Luxe” of a cocktail. In this case Plymouth Gin is quite strongly flavored and overcomes the small amount of Vermouth that you added. The citrus twist over the prepared cocktail adds some nice flavors, but doesn’t rescue it for sure. Personally I’d recommend both twisting over the drink and rubbing the rim of your glass with the zest. This will increase the flavor even further as you enjoy the cocktail.

As for Vermouth, I tried both Noilly Pratt and Martini & Rossi. I found both to be good, but I’m not enough of a connoisseur to tell you which I think is the best. Aaron’s choice for Dry Vermouth is Vya, one I didn’t get the chance to sample this time around. Thankfully Vermouth is rather cheap in comparison to the other ingredients so you can try a few different brands and decide what you like best. One thing to keep in mind. Vermouth, unlike most spirits, is somewhat perishable, so keep it in your fridge once you’ve opened it to maintain the best flavor.

Well, I can’t say that the Martini is my favorite cocktail thus far, but it’s a tasty change of pace. My best suggestion to anyone wanting to try Martini’s is try a bunch of recipes. Find what you like. And most of all, enjoy it.