Archive for September 2021

Green WithOUT Envy

Green WithOUT Envy

  • 2.0 oz. Rye (Rittenhouse)
  • 0.5 oz. Green Chartreuse
  • 0.5 oz. Maurin Quina
  • dash of mole bitters

Stir with ice and strain into glass.

Here’s a nice, simple execution of a simple idea. I really wanted to mix Chartreuse with chocolate. I found that any use of crème de cacao always overpowered the Chartreuse, but the mole bitters gave just the necessary hint to the rye and Chartreuse, with the Maurin Quina adding just a bit of brightness and acidity.

The name was one (we believe) conceived by Chris Deter in a cocktail evening I held for the sole purpose of coming up with names. I think this was cocktail #8 (each cocktail was only half filled) so it’s maybe understandable we don’t know the definite author. But Chris is our best guess! Don’t be jealous.

Paradise Lost and Found

Paradise Lost and Found

  • 2.0 oz. Calvados
  • 0.5 oz. Benedictine
  • 0.25 oz. Copper & Kings Destillare Intense Pomegranate liqueur
  • 0.25 oz. elderflower liqueur (St. Germaine’s)
  • dash of orange bitters

Stir with ice and strain into coupe.

I hadn’t made a Calvados drink in a long while, and I thought it would mix nicely with the pomegranate liqueur. This liqueur has a nice bitterness and isn’t too sweet so I added in the elderflower. The Benedictine deepens the flavor with some rich spice, and the bitters.. well, add some bitterness.

Pomegranate of course always makes me think of the Persephone myth, and the apple recalls Eden and the forbidden fruit, so I thought Paradise Lost and Found was a fun twist. Plus I really wanted to get a leather bound copy of Milton. So.

Honu

Honu

  • 1.0 oz. Funk Jamaican rum
  • 0.5 oz. Bacardi 8
  • 0.5 oz. Rhum Barbancourt 4
  • 0.5 oz. Rhum Clement Mahina Coco Coconut Liqueur
  • 0.5 oz. passion fruit liqueur
  • 0.5 oz. lemon juice
  • 0.25 oz. Green Chartreuse
  • 0.25 oz. vanilla liqueur
  • dash of El Guapo Polynesian Kiss bitters

Shake with ice and strain into glass over crushed ice.

This began with passion fruit and vanilla. Then the rum was layered in (counting the coconut liqueur there are four) and lemon was added to cut through it all. It still needed something, and so I tried some Chartreuse and that was just the fit, with some bitters to round it out in the end.

I’m not sure how I found the green sea turtle that is called honu in Hawaii, but I liked the sound of the name and there was a tie to the Green Chartreuse so there it was. And maybe this drink will bring you out of your shell.

Headcase

Headcase

  • 1.0 oz. Hamilton Pot Still Black Rum
  • 1.0 oz. Scarlet Ibis rum
  • 0.5 oz. crème de banane
  • 0.25 oz. Rhum Clement Mahina Coco Coconut Liqueur
  • 0.25 oz. lemon juice
  • barspoon of allspice Dram
  • dash of Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain into glass.

Yes, I love my rum and banana. Here I paired it with coconut, then added lemon for acidity to cut the sweetness and bitters and spice from the Angostura and allspice.

Because “coconut” comes from the Portuguese “coco” for head, and because of the connotation of “bananas”, I thought Headcase a suitable name. Call me crazy.