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Archive for the ‘Cocktails & Recipes’ Category

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Cocktail Hour: Los Altos Finesse

Posted by Arctic Wolf on May 29, 2016

For today’s serving, I wanted to craft a cocktail which enhanced the sipping experience of a very nice Reposado (Tequila Cabresto) rather than one which would hide or diminish its wonderful nuances. The recipe I came up with is very similar to the cocktail recipes which had begun to evolve in the late 1800s (see, American and Other Drinks, 1878 Leo Engels) where only a small amount of sweetener and bitters are used to complement the spirit.

Tequila Finese SAM_2555For my sweetener, I chose to add a touch of Pierre Ferrand Dry Orange Curacao to an equal amount of simple sugar syrup. I felt too much orange liqueur would take more than it would give to the spirit, and too little would not provide the enhancement I was looking for. Fees Cocktail Bitters were chosen for their overt cinnamon flavour which I felt worked well with the main flavours within the tequila as well as with the orange accent of sweetener and garnish.

The results speak for themselves; I chose to call this particular libation Los Altos Finesse.

Los Altos Finesse

2 oz  Cabresto Reposado Tequila
1/8 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Orange Curacao (review here)
1/8 oz Agave Syrup
2 drops Fees Cocktail Bitters
Ice
Orange peel

Place the Tequila, Orange Curacao, and Agave syrup into a metal shaker with the bitters
Shake until the outside of the shaker begins to frost
Strain into a small rocks glass
Garnish with a strip of Orange Peel
Enjoy!

Please enjoy the spirits and cocktails I recommend responsibly

If  you are interested in more of my cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

Note my review for the Cabresto Reposado Tequila will publish tomorrow, Chimo!

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Cocktail Hour: The Deep Blue Good-bye

Posted by Arctic Wolf on May 26, 2016

Deep Blue SAM_2535The Deep Blue Good-bye is the first of 21 novels in the Travis McGee series written by American author John D. MacDonald. All of these novels have unusual names usually with a colour based theme, and when I began to make my own cocktail recipes I concluded that most of those catchy titles would also serve as great names for bar drinks. So I decided to create a series of Tequila based cocktails based upon those Travis McGee titles.  I began with the Deep Blue Good-bye.

This is a tall serving meant for hot days when refreshment and thirst quenching is as much the order of the day as is enjoying a fine mixed drink. The theme of the drink is whimsical cloud free skies and blue ocean waters (rather different from the theme of the John D. MacDonald novel of the same name which is decidely darker).

If you study the construction my serving, it is basically a Picador (or lemon based Margarita) lengthened with soda. Bols Blue (an blue orange liqueur) is used rather than Orange Curacao in order to give the serving a ocean blue colour. I wouldn’t use my best tequila to make this particular tall drink; but when I used Corralejo Reposado, I did not even feel a twinge of guilt when I also added a drop of blue food colouring to get the colour just right.

Deep Blue Good-bye

1 1/2 oz Corralejo Reposado
1/2 oz Bols Blue (Curacao)
3/4 oz Lemon juice
1 tsp Agave Syrup
Ice (4-5 Large Ice-Cubes)

Soda (Club Soda, Sprite or 7-Up)

Fill a long Collins glass with ice
Add the Tequila, Bols Blue, and Lemon Juice
Stir and complete with lemon-lime soda

Please enjoy the spirits and cocktails I recommend responsibly, it is my intention to help you drink better spirits and cocktails, not to help you drink more spirits and cocktails!

Note: My review of Corralejo Reposado Tequila will publish tomorrow.

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Cocktail Hour: The Bourbon Buckeroo

Posted by Arctic Wolf on May 23, 2016

It’s time for another deck drink, and the Bourbon Buckeroo is one of my favourites. Deck drinks as you know are that class of cocktails which are so easy to make that you can literally put all of your bar tools away and mix them up on your backyard deck as you enjoy the sunshine. No shakers, no strainers, and no fuss.

The great thing about deck drinks is that they are not only easy to make, they are also refreshing crowd-pleasers. You can haul your cooler full of ice out on to your back deck, fill it with cans of soda, place a couple of bottles of rum and whisky on the table with tray of sliced fruit and maybe a bottle of bitters, and then everyone can mix their own bar drinks to their own taste.

Buckeroo SAM_2401The Bourbon Buckeroo requires just three ingredients: Bourbon, Cola, and Bitters. Bourbon, which is at its heart a corn whiskey, mixes particularly well with cola and adding a dash or two of bitters gives this deck drink a nice extra depth of flavour. Of course, lots of ice makes it a cold refreshing serve on a lazy hot afternoon.

You probably do not need the recipe repeated; but here it is anyways:

Bourbon Buckeroo

1 1/2 oz Bourbon (George Dickel No. 12 in this case)
dash Angostura Bitters
Ice
Cola
Slice of Lime for garnish (optional)

Build in a tall glass with ice
Complete with Cola
Garnish with a lime slice

Enjoy Responsibly!

If  you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

Note: Tomorrow I will be reviewing a great bourbon for Buckeroos, George Dickel No. 12 Tennessee Sour Mash Whisky.

Chimo!

 

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Cocktail Hour: Bitter Blood and Spice

Posted by Arctic Wolf on May 20, 2016

Blood Orange Bitters

Blood Orange Bitters

Making new cocktails is fun, and when I received my sample bottle of Pusser’s Spiced Rum I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to do some experimentation. What I wanted to create was a new bar drink for spiced rum which would perhaps have a stronger ‘cocktail’ appeal than the more typical spiced rum and cola.

I began by doing a little research online, and I came upon a serving called the Cable Car which was created in 1996 at the Starlight Room in San Fransisco by Tony Abou-Ganim. Tony’s recipe (which I will be featuring at a later date) is based upon the Classic Sidecar; however the Cable Car uses spiced rum as the base of the cocktail instead of brandy.

I decided to follow Tony’s lead and began to examine the brandy-based libations in the Cocktails Section of my website looking specifically for a brandy based serving which used ingredients which would also favour spiced rum. The recipe which caught my eye was a bar drink which I had originally found on the website of Cognac producer, Hennessey called Blood Orange Bitters. It mixes Lemon juice and Blood Orange juice with Cognac and Bitters.

Hot Blooded SAM_2525

Bitter Blood and Spice

I liked the idea of using orange and lemon juice in my recipe and adding a dab of bitters would be a great way to top off the serving. So I started experimenting, and I found that the mixed drink tasted the best when I used a combination of both fresh squeezed Navel Orange and fresh Blood Orange. The lemon juice gave the libation just the right amount of tartness, and the added Angostura Bitters seemed to compliment and elevate the spiced rum which was the star of the serving.

Bitter Blood and Spice

2 oz  Pusser’s Spiced Rum
1/2 oz  Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
1/2 oz  Fresh Squeezed Blood Orange Juice
1/2 oz  Fresh Squeezed Navel Orange Juice
Dash or two  Angostura bitters
1/4 oz  Sugar Syrup (1:1)
Ice
Strip of Orange Peel

Add the first five ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice
Shake until the sides frost
Strain into a chilled rocks glass with ice
Garnish with a strip of Orange Peel

Enjoy Responsibly!

If  you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

Note: My review of Pusser’s Spiced Rum will publish tomorrow, Chimo!

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Cocktail Hour: Tequila Punch

Posted by Arctic Wolf on May 17, 2016

Spiced Rum Punch

Punch Anyone?

Some of the best crowd pleasing mixed drinks are what we traditionally call ‘Punch‘ recipes. These recipes are great for large gatherings as they are easy for the home bartender to create. In fact, a useful formula for creating a flavourful punch can be remembered using this simple poem:

Two of sour (lemon or lime juice)
One of Sweet (Sugar syrup)
Three of Strong (80 proof alcohol)
Four of weak (Water, ice or non-tart juice)

This formula is not only useful for punch recipes; the first three lines are often the basis of cocktail recipes. This is because the ratios noted in the poem do a good job of balancing the flavour between the different sweet and sour ingredients found in most citrus based cocktails.

I wondered about the genesis of the poem and did a little research several years ago and found a comparable poem for Planters Punch from the New York Times in 1908.

PLANTER’S PUNCH
(from the 1908 New York Times)

This recipe I give to thee,
Dear brother in the heat.
Take two of sour (lime let it be)
To one and a half of sweet,
Of Old Jamaica pour three strong,
And add four parts of weak.
Then mix and drink. I do no wrong —
I know whereof I speak.

The difference is subtle; but the older version uses a slightly higher amount of sweet ingredient (sugar syrup). I wonder to myself if perhaps the old bartenders used a weaker ratio of sugar to water in their sugar syrup or if perhaps going back in time people just preferred a sweeter punch recipe. In my experience I prefer the older New York Times formulation which is perhaps because I also use a less sweet sugar syrup (1:1 ratio) than most bartenders do (1:2).

Tequila Punch SAM_2569

Tequila Punch

Although the recipe from the 1908 newspaper is for a Rum Punch, there is no reason Tequila cannot form the base of an equally refreshing summertime punch recipe. With this thought in mind, and with a large amount of poetic license, I created the following Tequila Punch mixing citrus juice and berry flavours and with Espolon Blanco Tequila.

It tastes absolutely delicious.

Tequila Punch

2 oz Lime Juice (two of Sour)
1 oz Raspberry Syrup (one of Sweet)
3 oz Espolon Blanco (three of strong)
1 oz Ocean Spray Cranberry Cocktail  (the other half of sweet and part of the weak)
2 oz Orange Juice  (part of the weak)
ice (with orange juice and cranberry cocktail we have four parts of weak )
Frozen Raspberries

Build in a large Tumbler with Ice
Stir to Mix
Garnish with Frozen Raspberries
Enjoy!

If  you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

Note: My review of Epsolon Blanco Tequila will publish tomorrow.

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