Cocktail Hacker

As I’m sure is obvious, by the dearth (that’s right, pulling out the 50-cent words) of posts on the subject this week, neither Reese nor myself were particularly moved by the Jack Rose. Though yielding of a beverage that is quite nice to look at (pink being my favorite color, after all), none of the recipes we tried were particularly memorable. (This was most likely due to the complete impossibility of finding any variety of Applejack in our poor neck of the woods, but I digress.)

In the end, the highlight of this week’s tasting was the substitution of Calvados for Applejack, in accordance with Difford’s Guide to Cocktails. This substitution resulted in a drink both Reese and I found to be more complex and, indeed, more refined:

[Ingredients]

2 oz Calvados
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Grenadine
2 dashes Peychaud's Bitters

[Directions]

1) Shake well with ice
2) Strain in to a cocktail glass

As far as traditional recipes, however, Reese found the Esquire Drinks’ recipe to be quite enjoyable. Describing the resulting drink as “nicely balanced, with a crisp apple flavor”:

[Ingredients]

2 oz Applejack
1 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Grenadine

[Directions]

1) Shake well with ice
2) Strain in to a cocktail glass

While I, on the other hand, preferred Embury’s recipe, finding the strong apple flavor to be quite appealing, and disagreeing with my associate’s assessment that “little apple flavor comes through” in the final cocktail:

[Ingredients]

2 oz Applejack
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Grenadine

[Directions]

1) Shake well with ice
2) Strain in to a cocktail glass

In the end, however, after all of the bickering and nights spent crying myself to sleep, I feel that Reese and I can both agree on one thing; the recipe listed on Wikipedia, with a 3:2:2 ratio of Applejack, lemon, and grenadine, sucks. And, really, that’s what’s important.

In an ill-conceived adventure, team Cocktail Hacker spent the majority of the day north of the border, in Wyoming, acquiring large quantities of high-quality explosives in an, again, ill-conceived effort to convince our friends and neighbors of our long questioned patriotism. That being the case, this may very well be a shorter than typical post …

A long time ago, the daiquiri was the cocktail that introduced me to cocktails, the flavors, though complex, are sweet and largely non-threatening, making the daiquiri an excellent beginner cocktail for any aspiring enthusiast. And, while I’ve since had enough daiquiris to swear off of the drink entirely, the daiquiri will always remain an unquestioned favorite.

The, somewhat, sweet flavor of the cocktail, and the lingering scars from previous over indulgences, lent to heavy experimentation this week at Cocktail Hacker headquarters. While avoiding the slushed elixirs most people associate with this classic cocktail, we did try several variations. Reese has already posted his now classic strawberry infused recipe, but another enjoyable recipe, as posted on Wikipedia, and apparently recommended by Embury himself, involves the substitution of some, or all, of the simple syrup with grenadine.

While I would not recommend using the red dyed high-fructose syrup packaged as grenadine that is available in most supermarkets (we will post our own grenadine recipes in this blog at some time in the near future), the following recipe did, in fact, produce a tasty cocktail:

[Ingredients]

8 parts rum

1 part lime

1 part grenadine

[Directions]

1) Shake well with ice

2) Strain in to a cocktail glass

In the end, however, our favorite variation contained a 4:2:1 mix of rum, lime, and simple syrup, or in Cocktail Hacker:

[Ingredients]

4 parts rum

2 part lime

1 part demerara simple syrup

[Directions]

1) Shake well with ice

2) Strain in to a cocktail glass

Reese and I both found this cocktail to be well balanced with a strong, though not overpowering, emphasis on the flavors provided by the rum. The demerara syrup also adds a nice bit of complexity to the overall cocktail.

Today marks the end of our first week here at CocktailHacker.com, a week of tasting, and experimenting with, one of my all-time favorite cocktails, the Sidecar. Throughout the week, Reese and I have tested many different recipes, some of them exceptional, and some of them not so much.

Of the many lessons we’ve learned about the Sidecar this week, the most important, I think, and this is apparent to me only now as I review our tasting notes, the key to a good sidecar is equal parts Cointreau and lemon juice. While the amount of brandy can vary significantly between recipes and still produce a very tasty cocktail, it seems that altering the balance of Cointreau and lemon has only a negative affect on the overall quality of the final drink.

Also of note, as Reese and I imbibed cocktail after cocktail, it became clear that we were, in fact, each looking for a Sidecar with somewhat different qualities. While my associate tended more toward the drier of the Sidecar recipes, my tastes ran more to the sweet. After much debate, and several black eyes (I’ll never be pretty again), we’ve each decided to name a favorite recipe.

Reese’s preferred concoction places the brandy upfront and allows the sweet and sour components to mingle softly [ed note – We’re going to need to call a wordsmith from the wordsmithery to clean up this sentence] in the background:

• 2 parts Cognac

• 1 part Cointreau

• 1 part Lemon Juice

My preference was for the “original” recipe, calling for equal parts brandy, Cointreau, and lemon juice. This recipe, while certainly not something to waste high quality Cognac on, provides a nice balance of flavors, and is also a good choice for those rare occasions when a person cannot be assured of their ingredients’ quality:

• 1 part Cognac

• 1 part Cointreau

• 1 part Lemon Juice

Two of the other recipes we’ve enjoyed this week:

Robert Hess’ recipe which we both liked, but Reese found to be “a little too poundable” (it’s like we’re from different planets, Reese and I):

• 4 parts Cognac

• 2 parts Cointreau

• 1 part Lemon Juice

And the Difford’s, which places the Cognac way up front, but still maintains a balanced sweet and sour component:

• 3 parts Cognac

• 1 part Cointreau

• 1 part Lemon Juice