Cocktail Hacker

I came in to this week very excited to shed a fresh light on one of my least favorite cocktails. It seemed logical. I hadn’t liked Bloody Marys in the past but I also hadn’t been personally making them and carefully controlling each ingredient. My excitement buoyed further when I cracked open the bottle of tomato juice and had a small glass. It was actually pretty good! My hatred of the stuff had seemed to fade away as my palate aged.

Thrilled with the possibilities I mixed up a Bloody Mary following Gary Regan’s general recipe and including all the “to taste” optional add ons. I took a couple excited sips and promptly poured out the remaining 3/4 of the drink. I really didn’t like it. Disheartened a bit but knowing there must be a solution I looked to your comments for some direction. Following Drink Snob’s wise suggestion I mixed up a Red Snapper and was fairly pleased. But this only added to my confusion. How could it be that I liked the Red Snapper but not the Bloody Mary? They were nearly identical.

Then it hit me. The horseradish. That was really the only add on in the Bloody Mary that wasn’t in the Red Snapper that I felt would add a strong enough flavor to change the dynamic of the cocktail markedly. Problem is, I like horseradish. You break out the prime rib you best have lots ready. But in this drink, even though I only used about 1/2 tsp, it was throwing off the flavor enough that I no longer liked the drink. Feeling that I was at a turning point I mixed up another minus the horseradish and the results were much more favorable.

This was truly a drink I could enjoy, sort of. My step dad summed it up perfectly for me. Usually when I have a new drink he and my mom are keen to give it a try. When I offered to bring over Bloody Marys this week the response was, “Nah. Thanks though.” I asked him why and his response rang true. “I like Bloody Marys, but usually only one and only when there aren’t other options.” Those comments echo my feelings exactly. Were I at someone’s home for brunch and they were serving Bloody Marys I’d probably have one. However, if I’m at a restaurant and there are other brunch cocktail options say a Mimosa or a Screwdriver I’m going to reach for those every time.

If you’re interested in what values I like for the “to taste” ingredients here’s my preferred recipe:

Bloody Mary (Cocktail Hacker)

2 oz Vodka

4 oz Tomato Juice

1/4 oz Lemon Juice

3 Dashes Worcestershire Sauce

2 Dashes Hot Sauce

Heavy Pinch of Kosher Salt

2 Grinds of Black Pepper

Lemon Wedge for Garnish

Celery Stalk for Garnish

1) Combine ingredients in shaker with ice

2) Shake until well chilled

3) Strain into an ice filled Collins glass

4) Garnish with lemon and celery

This week’s drink has been an interesting change from my usual cocktail hacking experience. Generally I make up my list of recipes, usually at least five and experiment with the various ratios until I find something that I like. Since Gary Regan created this cocktail there really aren’t any other recipes for it out there. That said, there was still enough for me to play with to keep me entertained.

First, let’s briefly talk about creme de noyau(x). The only kind I could find in this area, and I hit the three best local liquor stores looking, is Hiram Walker’s Creme de Noyaux (CdN). Having sampled it I’m fairly pleased, but then again I have nothing to compare it to. From my poking around I’ve found that CdN was originally flavored and colored from the steeping of stone fruit pits (cherry, apricot, plum, etc). In modern versions the color is added and the flavor comes primarily from almonds and apricot kernels, very similar to amaretto.

Due to this similarity I was expecting that would carry though to the flavor and to some degree it does. CdN has a lighter nut flavor than amaretto and lacks some of the complexity. I didn’t really find that to be an issue in this drink though. Since the CdN is included in this recipe primarily in a sweetening role the brandy or cognac you choose becomes the real star.

I played with the ratios a bit. At first I felt the drink wasn’t sweet enough for my tastes so I bumped the CdN up to 3/4 oz leaving all the remaining measures (2 oz brandy, 1/2 oz lemon juice) the same. The result was a drink that I ended up feeling was actually too sweet which pushed me right back to Gary’s original formulation. The level of sourness was perfect for me and I decided not to mess with that. Finally, before I let you go, I’d recommend using a good brandy, but not something incredible. Save the incredible brandy or cognac for sipping. While some of the subtle flavors of the spirit will come through some of the others will be masked. So, use something you like, but not your expensive stuff and you’ll be very happy.

This is a tasty drink. If you’re looking for something new to try it’s well worth your time. I’m very interested to hear if there are creme de noyauxs out there that are truly amazing. If you know of one please let me know. Or, for that matter, if you have a recipe to make your own I’d love to know that too.

If every prayer resulted in a delicious cocktail I can tell you I’d be praying lot more. The Maiden’s Prayer, delightfully, is that perfect cocktail bearing prayer. The drink is nicely fruity and with the right choice of gin equally complex. On that note let’s start by talking about gin. This cocktail has a lot of bold flavors going on with the orange and lemon juice. You need to pick a gin that can stand up to those flavors. I picked Tanqueray to mix with this week and found that it’s juniper forward flavor worked very well in this drink. I don’t think that’s the only gin that would work well though. Basically you want to choose a gin with a medium to strong flavor (leave the Sapphire on the shelf for this one) and I’d suggest something with more of a juniper forward profile to act as a foil for the citrus juices.

Now, what about that citrus? The recipe Gary Regan puts forward calls for equal parts gin and triple sec (1 oz) and equal parts lemon and orange juice (1/2 oz). The drink this combination creates is very good, but it was a little too sweet for my taste. Instead for my rendition I drop the triple sec to 1/2 oz and up the gin to 1 1/2 oz. This dials down the sweetness while keeping the character of the drink the same.

Finally, Gary suggests the use of Angostura bitters in this drink, but says they’re optional. I disagree. I think the bitters are a must, but go very lightly, only use one single dash. The bitters add a very light spice layer and increase the complexity of the cocktail greatly. However, if you use more than a single dash you’ll notice that they start to overwhelm the other more delicate flavors.

Okay, turns out that was really the penultimate tip on this cocktail. The true final tip is that this drink works really well with an ounce or two of champagne to top things off. In fact, the picture you see above is just such a variation. I find that champagne works really well with the citrus flavors. Were I you though, I’d give the original a try first. You’ll likely find that you enjoy it enough all by itself and won’t find a need to spruce it up with some champagne.

Maiden's Prayer (Cocktail Hacker)

1 1/2 oz Gin

1/2 oz Triple Sec

1/2 oz Lemon Juice

1/2 oz Orange Juice

1 Dash Angostura Bitters

1) Combine ingredients over ice

2) Shake and strain in to a chilled cocktail glass

Well, the first thing I have to say about this cocktail is that if drinking it makes me lady like then lady like I shall be. The Pink Lady is another example of a tremendously tasty pink cocktail. The pink color is quite light, somewhat akin to Pepto. Thankfully the aroma and flavor don’t follow suit. In the smell you’ll find a very pleasant hit of citrus and the gin peaking through lightly. The flavor is a great balance of sweet and sour. Interestingly the applejack doesn’t shine very strongly, but it’s flavor is missed if you remove it.

I sampled a few different recipes and found them to be very similar. One interesting difference I encountered was the recipe in Diffords Guide #7. This variant calls for more grenadine (1/2 oz) drops the lemon juice down (1/2 oz) and says the applejack (or apple brandy in this case) is optional. I found this combination less balanced. The drink was noticeably sweeter. The other interesting twist that I found in my brief search was the recipe in The Savoy Cocktail Book. This recipe called for only grenadine, gin and egg white. I don’t think this version sounds particularly tasty without the lemon juice sourness. Erik Ellestad over at Underhill Lounge actually gave the Savoy recipe a mix and found what I expected to be true. It’s not a good combo.

If you’re going to mix up a Pink Lady go with the recipe from The Essential Bartender’s Guide. If you go this route you definitely won’t be disappointed. Naturally you’ll use fresh juice and good grenadine, so I’ll only mention those briefly. Enjoy your drinks!

I don’t have a ton of experience consuming glands or their products. I’ve eaten sweetbreads and I pretty much continuously consume the product of my salivary glands. However, despite this limited experience, I think I can solidly say this drink tastes like no gland or gland product you’ll ever encounter. Woohoo! I liked this drink, both variations. I started with the Benedictine variation.

It’s quite tasty. Not overly sweet which is a good thing but be careful with the grenadine. A heavy pour can easily make the drink too sweet. I can’t say that the Benedictine adds a huge amount to the drink, but like any good supporting actor the drink would be incomplete without it. It adds a subtle earthiness and herbal quality that really works very well. Here’s the recipe I liked.

Monkey Gland (w/ Benedictine)

2 1/2 oz Gin

1 oz Orange Juice

1/4 oz Grenadine

1/4 oz Benedictine

I naturally progressed to the absinthe variant next. Absinthe here, like in other cocktails we’ve covered, can quickly overcome the subtle flavors of the rest of the drink. Go lightly and you won’t have a problem. Again, be careful with your pour on the grenadine so it doesn’t get overly sweet. I like this version as well. I’m not sure that I can really say which is better. The Benedictine and absinthe add completely different flavors to the drink.

Monkey Gland (w/ Absinthe)

2 1/2 oz Gin

1 oz Orange Juice

1/4 oz Grenadine

1/8 oz Absinthe (at most)

Overall this isn’t my favorite cocktail of all time, but it’s pretty good. I’d certainly drink one in the future. I went with Odwalla orange juice and my only change would be to seek out a slightly more sour juice for my next go. For your choice of gins I think pretty much anything would work in this drink. The orange juice has enough flavor of it’s own that it can stand up to some pretty boldly flavored gin. I went with Plymouth and it worked very well.