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RHE's Top 30 Cocktails Thread (40% less thorough than Eephus, but 80% more pretentious)! (1 Viewer)

Ramsay Hunt Experience

Ramsay Hunt Experience

Footballguy
Cementing my status as the TEMU Eephus, I figured I'd do my own personal countdown thread where I beguile, entertain, and piss you all off in good measure. This is my cocktail countdown. It is not, and cannot be, comprehensive. Some cocktails, like a Trinidad Sour, I've just never had. Some, like a Singapore Sling, I don't feel I've had a true representation of the cocktail to do it justice. Others, like most vodka cocktails, are not really my thing. No thank you, Ivan.

But I've tried to come up with a list that hits a lot of different points. Classic cocktails. "Modern" classics. Apertivos. Tiki drinks. Boat drinks (an entirely different thing, IMO). And maybe a nod to a special category or two for those of you who like to drink your breakfast or your dessert.

Often, I'll try to talk about some common variations on a drink in the "core" drink's write-up. And yeah, I'll try to provide a recipe that I think generally works for whatever I post.

I don't know how fast I'll be able to go. I have a list, but no write-ups drafted yet. So forgive me if I don't dive-in immediately. Let's get Tipsy, people!

30 -- Pina Colada
29 -- Daiquiri
28 and 28 A -- Zombie and Three Dots & A Dash
27-- Pimm's Cup
 
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30 -- Pina Colada -- Base Spirit -- Rum --- Genre -- Boat Drink

There are competing origin stories for the Pina Colada, but the drink we know today almost certainly didn't exist until after the invention of cream of coconut (or "Coco Lopez") by Ramon Lopez Irrizarry in Puero Rico in 1954. The most commonly cited of inventor of the drink, is Ramon "Monchito" Marrero at the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan.

The recipe is simple. A healthy amount of pineapple juice and white rum with about half as much Coco Lopez. It is throw it in a blender with a bunch of crushed ice and blend away (it was sometimes shaken with crushed ice). Its often served in a hurricane glass with a pineapple wedge, a pineapple leaf, a maraschino cherry, or some combination of the three as the garnish. Bougie versions will often give it a float of overproof rum to kick it up a notch.

I figured this is a good stand-in for our frozen drink category. Other later drinks will have frozen variations we touch on briefly. I classify this as a boat drink and not a Tiki drink. It lacks the complex flavor profiles that make Tiki drinks so good, IMO. Nevertheless, put me on a beach and hand me a Pina Colada and I'm probably not complaining too hard. Boozy smoothie FTW!

Recipe:

1 oz heavy cream
6 oz freshly pressed pineapple juice (or the best you can do)
1 oz Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut
2 oz White Rum (make it Bacardi for versimilitude).
 
Last edited:
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
30 -- Pina Colada -- Base Spirit -- Rum --- Genre -- Boat Drink

There are competing origin stories for the Pina Colada, but the drink we know today almost certainly didn't exist until after the invention of cream of coconut (or "Coco Lopez") by Ramon Lopez Irrizarry in Puero Rico in 1954. The most commonly cited of inventor of the drink, is Ramon "Monchito" Marrero at the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan.

The recipe is simple. A healthy amount of pineapple juice and white rum with about half as much Coco Lopez. It is throw it in a blender with a bunch of crushed ice and blend away (it was sometimes shaken with crushed ice). Its often served in a hurricane glass with a pineapple wedge, a pineapple leaf, a maraschino cherry, or some combination of the three as the garnish. Bougie versions will often give it a float of overproof rum to kick it up a notch.

I figured this is a good stand-in for our frozen drink category. Other later drinks will have frozen variations we touch on briefly. I classify this as a boat drink and not a Tiki drink. It lacks the complex flavor profiles that make Tiki drinks so good, IMO. Nevertheless, put me on a beach and hand me a Pina Colada and I'm probably not complaining too hard. Boozy smoothie FTW!

Recipe:

1 oz heavy cream
6 oz freshly pressed pineapple juice (or the best you can do)
1 oz Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut
2 oz White Rum (make it Bacardi for versimilitude).
Click to expand...

There is really only one circumstance where I will indulge in a pina colada, and that’s when I’m at a swim up pool bar in a tropical location. And it that circumstance, there is simply no better drink in my opinion. It completes what is for me a top 3 happy place.
 
bigbottom said:
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
30 -- Pina Colada -- Base Spirit -- Rum --- Genre -- Boat Drink

There are competing origin stories for the Pina Colada, but the drink we know today almost certainly didn't exist until after the invention of cream of coconut (or "Coco Lopez") by Ramon Lopez Irrizarry in Puero Rico in 1954. The most commonly cited of inventor of the drink, is Ramon "Monchito" Marrero at the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan.

The recipe is simple. A healthy amount of pineapple juice and white rum with about half as much Coco Lopez. It is throw it in a blender with a bunch of crushed ice and blend away (it was sometimes shaken with crushed ice). Its often served in a hurricane glass with a pineapple wedge, a pineapple leaf, a maraschino cherry, or some combination of the three as the garnish. Bougie versions will often give it a float of overproof rum to kick it up a notch.

I figured this is a good stand-in for our frozen drink category. Other later drinks will have frozen variations we touch on briefly. I classify this as a boat drink and not a Tiki drink. It lacks the complex flavor profiles that make Tiki drinks so good, IMO. Nevertheless, put me on a beach and hand me a Pina Colada and I'm probably not complaining too hard. Boozy smoothie FTW!

Recipe:

1 oz heavy cream
6 oz freshly pressed pineapple juice (or the best you can do)
1 oz Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut
2 oz White Rum (make it Bacardi for versimilitude).
Click to expand...

There is really only one circumstance where I will indulge in a pina colada, and that’s when I’m at a swim up pool bar in a tropical location. And it that circumstance, there is simply no better drink in my opinion. It completes what is for me a top 3 happy place.
Click to expand...
Same here. Since RHE mentioned this as a stand-in for the frozen drink, hopefully not spoiling anything to say that I do like the Hawaiian Lava Flow variant with strawberry added in, as a bit more flavor. But nothing wrong with a good pina colada there either.
 
#29 -- Daiquiri -- Base Spirit: Rum -- Genre: Classic Cocktail (Boat Drink when served frozen)
It is unlikely that the Daiquiri's origin story (an American mining engineer inventing the drink in the last years of the 19th century and having the recipe brought to Washington DC by a Navy medical officer) represents the true origin of a drink as simple as rum, lime juice, and sugar. It almost certainly already existed in Cuba before Jennings Cox.

Nevertheless, by the mid 20th century, the Daiquiri was probably THE quintessential "sour" cocktail and one of the cocktails every gentleman was expected to know. By the time my parents and other the other soccer Moms and Dads were spinning "frozen daiquiri" sugar bombs in their blenders in the early 80's, the connection to the original classic cocktail had been lost.
I'm going to include a recipe (two recipes if we include the variation) below, but perhaps more than any other cocktail, a daiquiri should really be made to your personal taste. Start with a light rum. Probably a white rum. If you like a bit more rum flavor, you can eventually go golden. Find how much simple syrup you like (I like to use an intense demerara simple syrup but very little of it). Find that balance. The best daiquiri is nothing if not quaffable. I can put down three in 10 minutes without really thinking. Dangerous.

The Hemingway Daiquiri variation I'm including is apparently considerably evolved from the "El Floridita" cocktails that Papa enjoyed (he once boasted of holding the record of putting down 16 doubles of the drink). I still enjoy drinking them while speaking in terse, direct sentences. I drink them and they are good.

Recipes:
Classic Daiquiri
2 oz light rum
1 oz lime juice (freshly squeezed)
3/4 oz (or less to taste) demerara simple sugar
Shake with ice until well chilled and strain through a mesh strainer into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Hemingway Daiquiri:
2 oz light rum
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur
3/4 oz lime juice
1/2 oz grapefruit juice (both juices freshly squeezed)

Shake with ice until well chilled and strain through a mesh strainer into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.
 
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:blackdot:

Mrs MoP's favorite won't make the list but I will introduce it anyways for gentlemen to add into their "Ladies Cocktails" section of the book, some dudes will love this as well
Espresso Martinis and Cosmos should be a staple into every man's at home bar but I will add one that also is usually a hit with the ladies
Vanilla Stoli and I am going to be brand specific here, it's not a pricey brand but it's the best of any vanilla vodka and has just the right balance
1-2 oz of Stoli Vanilla over a big rock and then you add in real sugar Coca Cola from the bottles...you get HFCS coke at bars but try getting a real sugar coke as your mixer when you're out
I usually add a little more coke than I do Stoli so the alcohol doesn't overpower what turns out to be a delicious treat on Friday Nights at home vs trying to pile into a bar for HH

-In theory you could reverse this and add Stoli or any plain vodka to a can of vanilla coke but it would fly in the face of what I just wrote and why it tastes so good.
Great thread idea
 
Suggestions for those who like to drink cocktails or have thought about expanding their bars at home

-Get some big ice cube trays and what I mean is these trays usually only hold 6-8 cubes and they are much larger than normal ice cube trays
We keep two of them in the freezer, makes the drinks feel more like something you might get out at a bar when you have a big rock of ice in it
Both Mrs and I prefer shorter glasses for our cocktails

-We bought a set of shot glasses a little while back, I use them to measure out my pours, 1 shot glass or 2 is usually more than enough as the basis of a good drink
These are just plain straight shot glasses, they don't say NYC on them or Harrah's, they're just shot glasses.
When I drink Whiskey 100+ proof or Bourbon same thing, sometimes prefer a single shot glass vs a larger glass w/small pour inside of it

-Heavy thick short glasses not tall, the kind that can cause damage to the floors if you drop them
 
#28 -- Zombie -- Base Spirit: So much rum! -- Genre: Tiki
#28 A -- Three Dots & A Dash -- Base Spirit: Rum -- Genre: Tiki

Already making some audibles off the list here, as I wanted to get to Tiki early and I couldn't decide which Don the Beachcomber drink I wanted to do. Why not both?

"Donn Beach" (born Ernest Gantt) is the first of the two great giants of the Tiki movement along with "Trader" Vic Bergeron. I find Tiki fascinating as a movement. Is it offensive cultural appropriation? Maybe? But maybe not? Because it isn't really appropriating any one culture. It's kind of a hodgepodge of Donn Beach's own creation using a lot of Polynesian decor and Carribean ingredients. I'd argue, that when we think of 'Tiki" culture, we're really thinking of mid-century America. A kind of fantasy escape imagined by the American middle class.

Anyway, Donn Beach is a fascinating figure to me because it's very hard to know what is historical fact and what is the product of his noted penchant for fabulism. Did he spend much of the early part of the 20th Century travelling the world and the South Seas before settling in Hollywood and opening his Don the Beachcomber Bar that catered to the famous actors of the time? We don't really know. We do know that he created something very unique. Polynesian decor, Cantonese food (which makes sense considering the talent in that area available in California at the time), and truly unique drinks featuring lots of rum and his own very unique (and fiercely guarded) cocktail syrups like his "Gardenia Mix."

Trying to describe a Tiki drink is sometimes a challenge. It's kind of easier to list what you don't taste. And I find Donn's recipes maybe even a little busier than Vic's. The Zombie is famously strong. There was apparently a two drink max on them at the Beachcomber bar. As befits a drink with a full 3.5 ozs of rum of which a full oz is at 151 proof. Somewhat amazingly, it does not taste as boozy as it is. The recipe I include is probably beyond most home bartenders, including me. I've only ever had the drink in cocktail bars (and at one crappy townie bar in my college town, where it was bastardized beyond recognition).

Three Dots & A Dash is an easier drink to make at home, providing you spring for falernum and all spice dram. And I love it. Not least for the chance to garnish with three cocktail cherries. Love me some cherries.

Recipes:

Zombie:

CINNAMON SYRUP
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
8 Ceylon cinnamon sticks, roughly crumbled
1 (2-inch) piece vanilla bean, split and scraped

Combine the sugar, water, cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean in a small saucepan and set over medium heat. Once the sugar has completely dissolved, remove from the heat, cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for 48 hours. Strain.

THE ZOMBIE
1½ ounces Flor de Caña 4 Year Gold Rum
1 ounce Lemon Hart 151 Rum
½ ounce Smith and Cross Rum
½ ounce Appleton 12 Year Rum
1 ounce lime juice
1 ounce grapefruit juice
½ ounce Cinnamon Syrup (recipe above)
½ ounce Falernum
½ ounce grenadine
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash absinthe

Pour all of the remaining ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Add 1 cup of crushed ice and, transferring to a drink mixer or a blender, blend for 5 seconds. Pour the unstrained mix into a 22-ounce glass and add 2 more cups of crushed ice.

Three Dots & A Dash:

  • 1 1/2 ounces AOC Martinique rhum agricole vieux
  • 1/2 ounce blended aged rum
  • 1/4 ounce Velvet Falernum
  • 1/4 ounce allspice dram
  • 1/2 ounce honey syrup
  • 1/2 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
  • 1/2 ounce orange juice, freshly squeezed
  • 1 dash Angostura bitters

    Add the rhum agricole, blended rum, falernum, allspice dram, honey syrup, lime juice, orange juice and bitters to a drink mixer tin.
    Fill with 12 ounces of crushed ice and 4 to 6 small “agitator” cubes.
    Flash-blend, then pour into a footed pilsner glass, straining out any large chunks of ice, and add the garnish.
    Garnish with three cherries on a cocktail pick and a     pineapple frond.
 
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
#28 -- Zombie -- Base Spirit: So much rum! -- Genre: Tiki
#28 A -- Three Dots & A Dash -- Base Spirit: Rum -- Genre: Tiki

Already making some audibles off the list here, as I wanted to get to Tiki early and I couldn't decide which Don the Beachcomber drink I wanted to do. Why not both?

"Donn Beach" (born Ernest Gantt) is the first of the two great giants of the Tiki movement along with "Trader" Vic Bergeron. I find Tiki fascinating as a movement. Is it offensive cultural appropriation? Maybe? But maybe not? Because it isn't really appropriating any one culture. It's kind of a hodgepodge of Donn Beach's own creation using a lot of Polynesian decor and Carribean ingredients. I'd argue, that when we think of 'Tiki" culture, we're really thinking of mid-century America. A kind of fantasy escape imagined by the American middle class.

Anyway, Donn Beach is a fascinating figure to me because it's very hard to know what is historical fact and what is the product of his noted penchant for fabulism. Did he spend much of the early part of the 20th Century travelling the world and the South Seas before settling in Hollywood and opening his Don the Beachcomber Bar that catered to the famous actors of the time? We don't really know. We do know that he created something very unique. Polynesian decor, Cantonese food (which makes sense considering the talent in that area available in California at the time), and truly unique drinks featuring lots of rum and his own very unique (and fiercely guarded) cocktail syrups like his "Gardenia Mix."

Trying to describe a Tiki drink is sometimes a challenge. It's kind of easier to list what you don't taste. And I find Donn's recipes maybe even a little busier than Vic's. The Zombie is famously strong. There was apparently a two drink max on them at the Beachcomber bar. As befits a drink with a full 3.5 ozs of rum of which a full oz is at 151 proof. Somewhat amazingly, it does not taste as boozy as it is. The recipe I include is probably beyond most home bartenders, including me. I've only ever had the drink in cocktail bars (and at one crappy townie bar in my college town, where it was bastardized beyond recognition).

Three Dots & A Dash is an easier drink to make at home, providing you spring for falernum and all spice dram. And I love it. Not least for the chance to garnish with three cocktail cherries. Love me some cherries.

Recipes:

Zombie:

CINNAMON SYRUP
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
8 Ceylon cinnamon sticks, roughly crumbled
1 (2-inch) piece vanilla bean, split and scraped

Combine the sugar, water, cinnamon sticks and vanilla bean in a small saucepan and set over medium heat. Once the sugar has completely dissolved, remove from the heat, cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for 48 hours. Strain.

THE ZOMBIE
1½ ounces Flor de Caña 4 Year Gold Rum
1 ounce Lemon Hart 151 Rum
½ ounce Smith and Cross Rum
½ ounce Appleton 12 Year Rum
1 ounce lime juice
1 ounce grapefruit juice
½ ounce Cinnamon Syrup (recipe above)
½ ounce Falernum
½ ounce grenadine
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash absinthe

Pour all of the remaining ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Add 1 cup of crushed ice and, transferring to a drink mixer or a blender, blend for 5 seconds. Pour the unstrained mix into a 22-ounce glass and add 2 more cups of crushed ice.

Three Dots & A Dash:

  • 1 1/2 ounces AOC Martinique rhum agricole vieux
  • 1/2 ounce blended aged rum
  • 1/4 ounce Velvet Falernum
  • 1/4 ounce allspice dram
  • 1/2 ounce honey syrup
  • 1/2 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
  • 1/2 ounce orange juice, freshly squeezed
  • 1 dash Angostura bitters

    Add the rhum agricole, blended rum, falernum, allspice dram, honey syrup, lime juice, orange juice and bitters to a drink mixer tin.
    Fill with 12 ounces of crushed ice and 4 to 6 small “agitator” cubes.
    Flash-blend, then pour into a footed pilsner glass, straining out any large chunks of ice, and add the garnish.
    Garnish with three cherries on a cocktail pick and a     pineapple frond.
Click to expand...
Been in the biz all my life. Have family in HI and the Caribbean. Sister opened a reastaurant where the left page of the menu is more or less all tropical drinks. Never heard of that dot/dash one.
 
bigbottom said:
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
30 -- Pina Colada -- Base Spirit -- Rum --- Genre -- Boat Drink

There are competing origin stories for the Pina Colada, but the drink we know today almost certainly didn't exist until after the invention of cream of coconut (or "Coco Lopez") by Ramon Lopez Irrizarry in Puero Rico in 1954. The most commonly cited of inventor of the drink, is Ramon "Monchito" Marrero at the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan.

The recipe is simple. A healthy amount of pineapple juice and white rum with about half as much Coco Lopez. It is throw it in a blender with a bunch of crushed ice and blend away (it was sometimes shaken with crushed ice). Its often served in a hurricane glass with a pineapple wedge, a pineapple leaf, a maraschino cherry, or some combination of the three as the garnish. Bougie versions will often give it a float of overproof rum to kick it up a notch.

I figured this is a good stand-in for our frozen drink category. Other later drinks will have frozen variations we touch on briefly. I classify this as a boat drink and not a Tiki drink. It lacks the complex flavor profiles that make Tiki drinks so good, IMO. Nevertheless, put me on a beach and hand me a Pina Colada and I'm probably not complaining too hard. Boozy smoothie FTW!

Recipe:

1 oz heavy cream
6 oz freshly pressed pineapple juice (or the best you can do)
1 oz Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut
2 oz White Rum (make it Bacardi for versimilitude).
Click to expand...

There is really only one circumstance where I will indulge in a pina colada, and that’s when I’m at a swim up pool bar in a tropical location. And it that circumstance, there is simply no better drink in my opinion. It completes what is for me a top 3 happy place.
Click to expand...
 
#27-- Pimm's Cup--Base Spirit: Pimm's #1 (infused gin)--Genre: Apertivo

I hope you will indulge me a little bit of big law reminiscing, considering we're about a week away from an executive order allowing big law attorneys to be hunted for sport (savvy move by me flaming out years ago). Anyway, whenever my wife and I went to some summer party held at a partner's ridiculous house, we'd make pitchers of Jose Andres' sangria recipes. A red and a white version. And they were always big hits. But one partner, the one my wife worked primarily for in her first half-dozen or so years of practice, would always counter with a pitcher of Pimm's Cup. And it was quite a competition. Because Pimm Cup's are a perfect summer garden party drink.

Pimm's #1 is a gin based liqueur that is infused with lots of bright citrus and herb. In a Pimm's cup, it is typcially mixed with what the British would call "Lemonade" which is a fizzy lemon drink like San Pelligrino Limonata. Here, it's common for it to be mixed with a lemon lime soda like Sprite or Seven-Up on even with Ginger Ale. The best recipes, IMO, supplement the soda with a bit of fresh lemon juice to cut the sweetness.

You can make a Pimm's Cup by the glass, by why would you? It is designed to be made for a crowd, by the pitcher. And that pitcher should contain a metric ton of garnishes. Halved or quartered strawberries. Mint. Cucumber sliced the long way. Maybe some lemon and blood orange slices. Add a bunch of ice and pour it out into Collins or highball glasses. I'm not going to include a recipe here as it's kind of by feel. But it's generally something like 64 oz of "lemonade" for a bottle of Pimm's No 1.

I'm classifying this as an apertivo. Which is a category of generally lighter drinks that people drink in the afternoons to help promote the appetite. In Italy those feature "amaros", which are funky infused liquors that are often bitter. Stuff like Campari or Amaro Nonino. We'll get to our first Italian apertivo soon enough. But I think the Pimm's cup largely qualifies, though it might also qualify as a simpler "liquor and a soft drink" type of cocktail. I'll talk a bit more about that category in a later entry as well..
 
Good list so far. Wish places (I’m sure a few do) would do cocktail tastings so you could try before you bought 8 ingredients or buy at a bar and realized you didn’t care for it.
I’m in a weird egg white phase right now- I feel like it softens either the strongness or sweetness of the drink. Anyway, carry on….
 
^ Username totally checks and we used to take those all the time when I worked in an appropriate setting. Figures you'd go for egg whites in your drink, too. We went for raw yolks in ours.

I kid.

Just baby's breath and dingo milk.
 
3 hour lunch said:
Good list so far. Wish places (I’m sure a few do) would do cocktail tastings so you could try before you bought 8 ingredients or buy at a bar and realized you didn’t care for it.
I’m in a weird egg white phase right now- I feel like it softens either the strongness or sweetness of the drink. Anyway, carry on….
Click to expand...
Whether I include a whiskey sour or another drink I have on my list now is likely to be a game time decision.
 
#26 -- Espresso Martini / Cold Brew Old Fashioned -- Base Spirit: Vodka (typically)/Whiskey -- Genre: Modern

You don't get a better origin story than the one for the espresso martini. The creator, **** Braswell, tells the story of a London model at the time (*COUGH* Kate Moss! *COUGH*), asking for a drink that will "wake me up and then **** me up." Say it in your best boozy/coked out English accent.

Braswell's original recipe was pretty simple. An ounce of vodka. And ounce of coffee liqueur (I assume it was Kahlua back in the 90s). Some simple syrup, and a shot of espresso. Shake it up so the crema foams up nicely. Strain into a chilled coupe. Put the obligatory three espresso beans on for garnish. It's a pretty good drink, but IMO, it is too sweet made that way. If I were making it, I'd either use Mr. Black's coffee liqueur in lieu of Kahlua, or I'd omit the simple syrup. I also think the drink is better with some citrus. Either some citrus bitters or a lemon peel expressed over the drink. Jeffrey Morgenthal does a version of the drink using cold brew concentrate in lieu of espresso. He uses the lemon peel and omits the simple syrup (keeping Kahlua). I think it's a tastier drink, but it does lose a bit of the creamy head you get from crema. My favorite version, which is the recipe I'm including here, is from Kevin Kos. He uses Mr. Black, a shot of espreso, a lightly aged rum instead of vodka, some lemon bitters, and two drops of 15% saline solution. It's a bit fussy for an espresso martini, but it is lovely.

But in truth, since the introduction of Mr. Black, I think there are simpler and better coffee cocktails available. And for brunch? A cold brew old fashioned is my favorite. Whiskey is a more interesting base spirit (and you can tweak the drink to be spice forward by using rye or sweeter by using bourbon). It's a dead simple recipe of one oz each of Mr. Black and the Whiskey of your choice poured over two dashes of orange bitters. Stir with a big ice cube and finish with an orange peel.

I'm sorry. I'm sure you make a hell of a Caucasian, Jackie, but I couldn't bring myself to put the White Russian here.

Recipes:
Espresso Martini:

1 oz lightly aged rum
1 oz Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur
1 shot espresso
2 dashes orange bitters
2 drops 15% saline solution

Shake all ingredients vigorously and double strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with three espresso beans.

Cold Brew Old Fashioned

1 oz Mr. Black's Coffee Liqueur
1 oz whiskey (I like Sazerac Rye of this)
2 dashes orange bitters

Mix in an old fashioned glass with a big cube of ice, stirring until well chilled. Garnish with an orange twist.
 
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
#29 -- Daiquiri -- Base Spirit: Rum -- Genre: Classic Cocktail (Boat Drink when served frozen)
It is unlikely that the Daiquiri's origin story (an American mining engineer inventing the drink in the last years of the 19th century and having the recipe brought to Washington DC by a Navy medical officer) represents the true origin of a drink as simple as rum, lime juice, and sugar. It almost certainly already existed in Cuba before Jennings Cox.

Nevertheless, by the mid 20th century, the Daiquiri was probably THE quintessential "sour" cocktail and one of the cocktails every gentleman was expected to know. By the time my parents and other the other soccer Moms and Dads were spinning "frozen daiquiri" sugar bombs in their blenders in the early 80's, the connection to the original classic cocktail had been lost.
I'm going to include a recipe (two recipes if we include the variation) below, but perhaps more than any other cocktail, a daiquiri should really be made to your personal taste. Start with a light rum. Probably a white rum. If you like a bit more rum flavor, you can eventually go golden. Find how much simple syrup you like (I like to use an intense demerara simple syrup but very little of it). Find that balance. The best daiquiri is nothing if not quaffable. I can put down three in 10 minutes without really thinking. Dangerous.

The Hemingway Daiquiri variation I'm including is apparently considerably evolved from the "El Floridita" cocktails that Papa enjoyed (he once boasted of holding the record of putting down 16 doubles of the drink). I still enjoy drinking them while speaking in terse, direct sentences. I drink them and they are good.

Recipes:
Classic Daiquiri
2 oz light rum
1 oz lime juice (freshly squeezed)
3/4 oz (or less to taste) demerara simple sugar
Shake with ice until well chilled and strain through a mesh strainer into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Hemingway Daiquiri:
2 oz light rum
1/2 oz maraschino liqueur
3/4 oz lime juice
1/2 oz grapefruit juice (both juices freshly squeezed)

Shake with ice until well chilled and strain through a mesh strainer into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.
Click to expand...
The Hemingway is a classic and a definite favorite of mine. Fun thread.
 
Ramsay Hunt Experience said:
#26 -- Espresso Martini / Cold Brew Old Fashioned -- Base Spirit: Vodka (typically)/Whiskey -- Genre: Modern

You don't get a better origin story than the one for the espresso martini. The creator, **** Braswell, tells the story of a London model at the time (*COUGH* Kate Moss! *COUGH*), asking for a drink that will "wake me up and then **** me up." Say it in your best boozy/coked out English accent.

Braswell's original recipe was pretty simple. An ounce of vodka. And ounce of coffee liqueur (I assume it was Kahlua back in the 90s). Some simple syrup, and a shot of espresso. Shake it up so the crema foams up nicely. Strain into a chilled coupe. Put the obligatory three espresso beans on for garnish. It's a pretty good drink, but IMO, it is too sweet made that way. If I were making it, I'd either use Mr. Black's coffee liqueur in lieu of Kahlua, or I'd omit the simple syrup. I also think the drink is better with some citrus. Either some citrus bitters or a lemon peel expressed over the drink. Jeffrey Morgenthal does a version of the drink using cold brew concentrate in lieu of espresso. He uses the lemon peel and omits the simple syrup (keeping Kahlua). I think it's a tastier drink, but it does lose a bit of the creamy head you get from crema. My favorite version, which is the recipe I'm including here, is from Kevin Kos. He uses Mr. Black, a shot of espreso, a lightly aged rum instead of vodka, some lemon bitters, and two drops of 15% saline solution. It's a bit fussy for an espresso martini, but it is lovely.

But in truth, since the introduction of Mr. Black, I think there are simpler and better coffee cocktails available. And for brunch? A cold brew old fashioned is my favorite. Whiskey is a more interesting base spirit (and you can tweak the drink to be spice forward by using rye or sweeter by using bourbon). It's a dead simple recipe of one oz each of Mr. Black and the Whiskey of your choice poured over two dashes of orange bitters. Stir with a big ice cube and finish with an orange peel.

I'm sorry. I'm sure you make a hell of a Caucasian, Jackie, but I couldn't bring myself to put the White Russian here.

Recipes:
Espresso Martini:

1 oz lightly aged rum
1 oz Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur
1 shot espresso
2 dashes orange bitters
2 drops 15% saline solution

Shake all ingredients vigorously and double strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with three espresso beans.

Cold Brew Old Fashioned

1 oz Mr. Black's Coffee Liqueur
1 oz whiskey (I like Sazerac Rye of this)
2 dashes orange bitters

Mix in an old fashioned glass with a big cube of ice, stirring until well chilled. Garnish with an orange twist.
Click to expand...
FWIW

My recipe (battle tested)

2oz espresso
3/4 oz tia maria (or any espresso liqueur)
3 oz vanilla vodka
1/3 oz simple syrup

Heavy cream floater
 
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