A Christmas Spirit

Earlier this year, I threw my second annual Christmas party. Two makes it annual right? We made a punch, again, because how else do you throw a proper cocktail party? Personally, I’m a big fan of a punch, and I long to return to the glorious days of the 18th century, full of disease, scurvy, and punches.

Now if you review recipes for Christmas cocktails, those recipes range from the mundane (Sangria is really popular for Christmas), the classic (beautiful, but as someone who is lactose intolerant, not my drink of choice), the unbatchably complicated (sounds beautiful, but I don’t have staff to serve), and the truly awful (I won’t link to it, but I saw a recipe for a cocktail of white chocolate syrup and champagne).

I’ve said it before, I’ve never been sure how holiday cocktails have gotten such a bum rap. It’s like people just give up on cocktails for the holiday season. You want something, beautiful and drinkable, tasty and batchable. No host I know wants to spend a holiday party making cocktails all night, and certainly not this host. Those days are long behind me, as I’ve found people who are worth hearing over the sound of the cocktail shaker. So, what is a host to do?

So I dug and dug and dug. Until I found a theme for Christmas cocktails. Mint tea and cranberry simple syrup. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while (or from beginning to end), then you’ll know that I’m a big fan of tea in cocktails, which is a classic punch ingredient. I’m also pretty pro-tea, as you can generally find almost as many flavors of tea as you can vodka. It’s also pretty versatile, as you can make it strong or weak, turn it into a simple syrup, or make your own tea flavor with different bags or leaves depending on your taste. Finally, I’m a librarian. We’re required to like tea. It comes with the degree.

From there, I was bound and determined to do something with a cranberry simple syrup. If for no other reason, I love the description of how you make cranberry simple syrup. You place your water and sugar and cranberries in a pot, and you keep it all the way up on high until the cranberries start to pop, which you then turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Popping cranberries?! What Christmas isn’t complete unless you have popping cranberries?

So, a-creating I went.

Cranberry Simple Syrup

For a 12 ounce bag of cranberries, you want 4 cups of sugar and 4 cups of water, which makes a ton of simple syrup. As stated above, place the pot on high until you hear the cranberries pop. Lower the heat to medium-low and let simmer for another 15 minutes. Strain out of the cranberries. This should leave you with about 32 ounces of liquid. Let cool.

Peppermint tea

This is pretty easy. Boil water and pour 32 ounces of hot water into a heatproof container. Again, because I’m a librarian, I just use my teapot. Steep for about 5 minutes. Take out the tea bags and let cool.

A Christmas Spirit Punch

• 32 ounces Cranberry simple syrup
• 32 ounces peppermint Tea
• 32 ounces of quality bourbon
• Orange Bitters
• 2 L Club Soda
• Orange slices

Pour all of the ingredients together. I used about 30 dashes of orange bitters (1 per drink). Slice an orange, freeze, and let the orange slices “cool” the punch.

Evaluation

I was pretty pleased with the drink, but I made it, so hopefully, I would be. I will say that people were polite enough to finish the punch and tell me it was good, but when you’re throwing the party, you can never be quite sure if they like it or if they are merely being polite.

The goal was to capture the taste of Christmas without being cloying or overpowering. The drink seemed to capture that quite nicely. I didn’t get a picture, so you’re going to have to take my word for this, but the cranberry simple syrup with the whiskey and other ingredients makes for a lovely red color, which is perfect for the holidays. The tea and club soda really helped round out the drink, otherwise, it just would have been too much. The orange slides really help give it the citrus flavor that every good punch needs. A friend of mine had the drink both before and after the orange slices and said that the orange slices changed the drink for the better. All that being said, I’m still not sure whether to add it to my regular punch repertoire, but all in all, it seemed to be a nice crowd pleaser.

Cost

Bourbon: For this drink recipe I used Knob Creek, in part because they were having a gift set sale, so I got 4 new tumblers out of the deal. (Full disclosure, every tumbler I have in my apartment came from a liquor set.)

2 bottles Knob Creek: $60

1 12 ounce bag of cranberries: $3

1 4 lb bag of sugar: $1

Water: Free

Regan’s Orange Bitters: $6

Peppermint Tea (20 bags per box): $3

1 orange: $.50

1 2 L bottle of club soda: $1

Total cost: $73.50

Since I made this as a punch, I’m not going to a per drink price.

This is the annual time, where I promise to commit to writing more, but since I’ve been doing that since 2009, I’m not going to. For those of you who have been along for the ride, thank you for your continued readership and for those of you new to the blog, thanks for reading for the first time. I hope you had a great holiday and the best wishes for 2018. As always, happy, and safe, drinking.

 

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The Lily Pad

There is a great cocktail bar which doubles as a jazz club right within walking distance of my apartment: The Green Lady Lounge. If you haven’t been or can’t go, take a tour inside with Google Maps.

They have a great cocktail menu and better bartenders. This is one of the drinks off the menu that Ethan, one of the bartenders, created by creating a version of a version of the Aviation. He was inspired by the actual cocktail, the Water Lily (presumably more to come on both of these, but one never knows.)

There’s probably a wealth of cocktails waiting to be discovered based around the Aviation since Creme de Violette was nearly impossible to find in the United States until about 5  years ago, and, for a decent period of time, was only available in California and New York State, assuming you could find it at all.

The recipe

1 oz. Gin

1 oz. St. Germain

1 oz. Crème de violette

1 oz. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker, and stir. Strain and pour into a martini glass.

Evaluation

This is a great cocktail, but there’s a lot going on with it. This is a cocktail for people who like sweeter drinks. The Lily Pad is certainly no Chocolate Orange Martini, but it’s not for the scotch and soda drinker who thinks that Manhattans are “too sweet.” (Somehow these people exist.)

That being said, thankfully many of my friends don’t have cocktail tastes quite so narrow, and when we went out for my birthday a few weeks ago, we ordered a round of them as the jazz band played. The Lily Pad is perfect for a jazz night, where you’re jamming out, and you want a drink for the set.

The ingredients round themselves out quite nicely, although it dances nears cloying without quite making it across the line. I would be hard pressed to order three of these in a night, but I feel confident I would drink two. Not every drink needs to be binged.

One of the surprising things about this cocktail is the use of St. Germain. When St. Germain came out, it certainly felt like everyone was running around trying to figure out what to do with it. Bartenders were making St. Germain French 75’s and St. Germain Gimlets (which I love) or an Elderflower Collins. For a few years, you couldn’t turn around without someone making a St. Germain cocktail whose entire purpose was to get St. Germain in the drink. Those days seem to be fading, and the approach to St. Germain has matured. In this drink, we see St. Germain complimenting the other ingredients, instead of being center stage and the only ingredient that mattered. Seeing ingredients mature is part of the fun of cocktailing.

Cost

Full disclosure I can’t remember how much this costs in the Green Lady, and don’t order it on a busy weekend night. Don’t be that person until or unless they put it on the menu. But if Ethan is working and it’s a slow night, you should definitely have one.

Cost at home if absent all ingredients

Gin: $18 (I’ve been drinking Beefeater Gin)

St. Germain: $35

Crème de violette: $20 (Rothman & Winter Creme de Violette Liqueur (750ml))

1 Lemon: $.33

Total cost: $75.33

Cost per drink:

Gin: $0.72

St. Germain: $1.40

Crème de violette: $0.88

Lemon Juice: $.17

Total cost: $3.17

Like I said, if you’re in Kansas City, go to the Green Lady and have a great drink. If you’re not, then make a special trip to see me and this bar. As always, happy, and safe, drinking.

Boulevardier

So, I can’t believe it’s been three years since I last touched this blog. I kept meaning to, and life got in the way.

Since my most recent post, I’ve been married, graduated from law school and library school, taken my first professional job and moved to a new state, and took my second professional job and moved to another state. I’ve landed in the great city of Kansas City, MO. I’m sure at some point those stories will unfold themselves, but today is not that day.

For those of you gentle readers who have followed the blog off and on for years, thanks for your continued readership. For those of you who are new to the blog, let me start by saying this: a Manhattan is my favorite cocktail. I’ve written about the Boulevardier before, but I don’t care, and I’m going to do it again from a perspective of 5 years, unintentionally, almost to the day.

At the time, I was days away from 27, but as yet still 26, and my liquor palate reflected my age. My review at the time said: “Personally, I can think of a better way to spend $2.62.” With 5 years perspective, I find myself disagreeing with myself.

For those of you who won’t know, the Boulevardier is the love child of a Negroni and a Manhattan. We’ll over the proportions, below, although it’s the same as the proportions in the previous blog post. Part of the reason that I wanted to meditate on the Boulevardier is that much like this version of the Manhattan, I have grown up. Or at least pretended to. One of the challenges that I keep finding is when do I be the fun staid Manhattan of yore, and when, do I instead, become aspire to the aloofness of the Boulevardier. When do you have more depth and more complexity and when do you instead remain lovely but comparatively uncomplex like the Manhattan. And how do you alternate between the two?

Manhattans have found their way onto every bar menu, and frankly, any bartender or cocktail bar worth its salt knows their way around at least one version of this drink. Frankly, I generally judge bars on their Manhattan. At this point, they are for nights with friends in bars who don’t drink cocktails much and follow your lead on the drink order. I’m frequently out with friends, and when I order a Manhattan, first, usually the table follows suit. Manhattans are both fancy but no longer pretentious since they have become so commonplace. Slight caveat: this is specific to cocktail culture. I promise you, if you order a Manhattan when everyone else is drinking a beer, even a craft beer, you’re going to look pretentious. It’s like ordering a steak, ordering it in a French restaurant is fine, but maybe skip the steak at the IHOP.

Boulevardiers, on the other hand, are for different kinds of nights. It’s a drink that causes you to go deeper and look more critically. It adds depth to a world you thought you knew. It’s looking seeing skyscrapers for the first time in the city or the stars for the first time in the country. Of course, you knew that they were there, but you just didn’t know there could be quite so muchness. You had seen stars but not so many, or buildings but not quite so high. Or perhaps I’m merely waxing poetic.

To the drink:

Recipe

1 1/2 oz. Rye

1 oz. Campari

1 oz. sweet vermouth

3 drops orange bitters

Add all ingredients to a shaker over ice. Pour into a rocks glass over ice.

Evaluation

The drink caused me to wax poetic, so I’m sure you know how I feel about it by now.

A couple of small differences that I think make a few important differences.

First, add bitters. Bitters make everything better. I prefer orange bitters in this cocktail, but Angostura Bitters and Peychaud’s Bitters. Don’t leave this cocktail bitterless.

Second, on the rocks over a martini glass. I’m sure there’s a good reason for it, but, for me, it’s just a preference.

Third, I know drink better bourbon than I used to. While I still default to a good Jim Bean Manhattan, I think that

The cost to purchase:

Bourbon (I’m currently drinking Bulleit Bourbon): $26 for a 750 mL bottle

Campari: $25 for a 750 mL bottle (According to Total Wine, Campari has gone down in price)

Sweet Vermouth: $10 for a 750 mL bottle

Orange Bitters: $6 for the bottle

Total Cost: $65 if you have no ingredients.

Cost per drink:

Bulleit Rye Bourbon: $1.56

Campari: $1.00

Sweet Vermouth: $0.40

Orange Bitters: $0 (as you know from previous blog posts, I consider bitters an investment but negligible in the cost per drink.)

Total Cost per Drink: $2.90

As always, happy, and safe, drinking.

Valentine’s Day: The Stinger

Tags

Kissable Cocktails, Valentine's Drinks

I love this cover of “Bella Notte” from The Lady and the Tramp. This is instrumental by Emile Pandolfi. If you want to be romantic.

Personally, I don’t understand all of this Valentine’s Day hatred. The mythos of St. Valentine is that he married Christian couples in a time where it was illegal to do so. Both the Christians who he married and the St. Valentine himself, were subjected to death, until finally St. Valentine was finally caught and executed. If we’re going to celebrate love, isn’t this the kind of love we should celebrate and should want to celebrate?

Love that dares all. The love where people fly in the face of tradition and risk death, ostracization, disinheritance? Isn’t that what historic and heroic love matches are made of? There’s nothing heroic about two upper-class straight white people from the same religion, city, educational make-up, whose parents played tennis together as the two grew up, etc. who eventually fall in love. That is not the stuff from great romances. Maybe we shouldn’t aspire to great romances, but that’s a different discussion. But if we’re going to celebrate love, shouldn’t we focus on the couples, like Edward VIII who abdicated the British throne to marry divorcee Wallis Simpson, to whom he remained married until his death, 35 years later, or Julia Child, who met Paul Child in India, and traversed the globe with him, unsure of her future away from the middle class creature comforts to which she had grown up, to whom she remained married until his death 48 years later. Or Holocaust Survivors, Margrit and Henry “Heinz” Baerman. Or love stories during slavery. Or. Or. Or. Stories of people who sacrifices all for love; on Valentine’s Day, aren’t these the stories we should be celebrating or at least thinking about?

Admittedly, my partner and I have been together for 9 and a half years, and most importantly my dad’s birthday is Valentine’s Day. So for me, Valentine’s Day always equaled cake and candy. Not a bad holiday for a kid. If you really hate Valentine’s Day that much, consider celebrating Lupercalia-a pagan festival of fertility. If you don’t know how to celebrate fertility, then you are on your own.

The Stinger

2 ounces Brandy

1/2 ounce Creme de Menthe

Mix in a shaker and strain into a martini glass.

Evaluation

This is not the best tasting drink in the world, but sipping on it clears your mouth. It’s an after-dinner drink in every possible way.

Creme de Menthe is an incredibly strong mint flavor, not quite as bad as Listerine, but this is not an unfair comparison. The Creme de Menthe is strong enough that it should cover up that garlic or onions you had with dinner. So eat what you want for your meal, and have this after for a kissably clean mouth. Thankfully, both Brandy and Mint go well with chocolate, so have it with your romantic torte. If you don’t have a breath mint handy, this is better than walking around with stanky breath (you know if you’re one of these people.)

I like this drink fine. I would give it a 3/5. I would certainly not drink it all night, but if I knew that I was going to be getting hot and heavy with someone before I could get to my toothbrush post-dinner, pre-make-out. You’re probably not going to drink it all nights, but definitely after dinner, when you’re going to be close and personal.

Cost

$10 for a 750 mL bottle of Jacques Cardin Brandy

$10 for a 750 mL bottle of Creme de Menthe

Total Cost: $20

Cost per Drink: 

$0.80 for 2 ounces, Brandy

$0.20 for 0.5 ounces, Creme de Menthe

Total Cost: $1.00

Have a Happy Valentine’s Day. And, as always, happy, and safe, drinking.

Paloma

Tags

Cocktail, Jarritos, Mexican cuisine, Paloma, Tequila

I was introduced to the Paloma or Tequila con toronja  by my husband (or husband/lover/partner/fiance/person who pisses me off sometimes) depending on who I’m talking to and the situation. So, this drink is really his. Michael is a temporarily retired world traveler (at least of the many people I know). He has lived in Mexico, Ecuador, and Prague, on top of the good ole U.S. of A. His passport would look like this:

(Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/allesok/2580013511/sizes/o/in/photostream/)

if they wouldn’t have been lost, stolen, and expired.

I, on the other hand, have just left the US once. To go to Mexico. My passport has the same number of stamps on it as the envelope to pay your cable bill. So when we leave the American cocktail culture, I have to defer to other’s infinite wisdom, and Michael is who I usually have on hand for this.

Fifteen years ago, when Michael first lived abroad in Mexico, he was a young thing of eighteen who had just finished his freshman year of college at Kansas State and rather than returning to ranching for the summer, he scurried abroad to Mexico. At 18, you could drink in Mexico, but, being 18, Michael’s experience with alcohol was pretty limited to shots of Malibu rum and cheap beer. Rather than continuing in these American dormitory traditions, Michael followed the tastes of the locals and had for the first, but the not the last, time a paloma.

In the same way, we in the US would never heard a Cape Cod and instead order a vodka and cranberry, the same is true of the paloma. Michael never ordered it as a “paloma” but instead a “Tequila con toronja” or Trente-Trente con toronja. Literally this translates to “tequila with grapefruit” (the soda is implied) or Trente-Trente (a brand of tequila) with grapefruit.

1 oz 100% pure agave silver tequila.

1/2 oz lime juice

3 ounces Grapefruit soda.

Place all ingredients in a tumbler over ice. Stir gently with a spoon.

Review

This is a drink that should be made with silver tequila and not gold or aged tequila. Gold tequila will throw off the balance of the cocktail, as the infused flavor challenges the flavor of the grapefruit soda. Also, you should use 100% agave tequila in all tequila drinks. If it’s not 100% pure agave tequila, don’t bother. 100% pure agave tequila is not that much more money, but the uptick in quality is highly noticeable, especially in your at home bars. If you’re out drink whatever kind of shitty tequila you’re willing to pay for. 

I normally am not one to talk about the importance of soda. I am a big fan of Squirt or Fresca, unlike Michael. However, the Jarritos brand of grapefruit soda is fantastic. The difference between Jarritos and the more American sodas I think makes a big difference. Michael likes Squirt and Fresca, so he’s fine either way, but he did really enjoy with Jarritos soda. I find Jarritos in the Mexican food aisle of the Food Lion (a local grocery store) but it can probably also be found at other grocery stores that sell Mexican goods. I think with Jarritos grapefruit soda, a paloma is a pretty good drink, but not a great one. I would never make it to impress anyone, but I would make a pitcher if I were having people over for Mexican food who didn’t want to get drunk so we skipped the margaritas. Even though I don’t think a paloma is great, it’s important to know about, because it serves as a foundation for other cocktails and what the drink can accomplish is sometimes as important as the drink itself.

Next week, we’ll be doing a twist on the paloma.

Cost

750 mL bottle of 100% pure silver tequila: $18

1 12 ounce bottle of Jarritos grapefruit soda. : $0.70

1 Lime $0.50

Total cost: $19.50

Cost per drink:

$0.72 cents for 1 ounce of silver tequila.

$0.18 cents for 3 ounces Jarritos grapefruit soda.

$0.50 for 1/2 ounce lime juice

Total cost per drink: $1.40

Super cheap drink.

As always, happy and safe drinking.

The Fitzgerald Cocktail

Tags

angostura bitter, Classic Cocktail, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald, Gin, Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald is most famously known for The Great Gatsby, and the Baz Lurhman version that came out this summer was fantastic. It perfectly pictured the jazz age, or at least how it’s entered our cultural consciousness. I don’t care if it’s historically accurate, it was a beautiful film.

Fitzgerald was born into the upper crust of society and was named after a distant relative: Francis Scott Key. As Fitzgerald entered his teenage years, his father lost his job and his family moved back to the sin cities of Minnesota aka Minneapolis St. Paul. Fitzgerald’s family was rich enough to know about the parties but weren’t always invited and even when they were, Fitzgerald didn’t always feel like he belonged. J.T. Miller from Princeton considered Fitzgerald as someone who “peered through the window at the rich.” This is the image of Fitzgerald that I have always been left with, someone privileged enough to know that the party was occurring, but not always invited or fitting in.

2 oz gin.
0.75 oz Simple Syrup
0.75 oz Lemon Juice
2 drops Angostura bitters

Shake over ice and pour into a cocktail strainer.

Review:

The drink itself. This drink is fantastic. I would serve it to anyone, even if they told me they didn’t like gin. The simple syrup and the lemon juice cut the potency of the flavor of juniper berries. The drink is really beautiful and really nice. After reading the bottle bar’s blog post on it, it’s also a great drink to play around with. I have not done this, but it sounds like a great idea.

When I originally found this drink it was listed as a “forgotten gin cocktail.” It’s not a classic cocktail. It was created by Dale DeGroff, and as far as I have found, it was first printed in his The Craft of the Cocktail in 2002. It’s a great drink, just not a classic one.

The reason that we might think that it’s a classic cocktail, is because it’s a very slight variation on the sour, which is a pre-prohibition recipe. A sour is a class of cocktails like a martini. I found the sour listed in The Old Waldorf Astoria Bar Book 1935 Reprint. The basic recipe is

Juice of one half lemon
One-half spoon sugar
One jigger of the liquor.

It’s a really basic twist on an old drink. The lack of innovation in the cocktail or the fact it’s so new, does not make it less of a fantastic drink. Even though it’s a new drink, it’s a great cocktail for a 20s or classic cocktail party. All of the ingredients were there, it’s just that until DeGroff, no one had put it together.

Cost

Gin: $20 for a 750 mL bottle
1 Lemon: $0.50 (currently in season)
Simple Syrup:
Sugar: $4.00
Water: Check your local water bill
Bitters: $5.99
Total Cost: 30.49

Cost per drink:

1.60: Gin
0.50: Lemon
0.44: Sugar
0.10: Water
0.01: Bitters
2.65 per drink.

As always, happy and safe drinking.

Thanks, Everyone!

 

So, I missed my anniversary post by about a week this year. Last year, I hit 1,000 hits, and I remember being really excited. Since then, the number of hits have grown from 1,000 to almost 12,000. So, thanks to all of you who read the blog, write, comment, taste test, or give me something to write about. Thank you!

I’m going to get back started and stop being lazy, so look for the new post on Tuesday.

Thanks again for reading, and, until next time, happy and safe drinking.

Silver Berry and Wedding Vows

Tags

Crème de cassis, Drink, Marriage, North Carolina, Vodka

On May 8th, North Carolina voted and added a marriage amendment to the Constitution. The marriage amendment was passed to protect North Carolina families. To save them from the homosexuals, I guess. Honestly, I’m not really sure. North Carolina already had a law on the books that prevented gay marriages from being recognized by the state. I’ve been too angry, upset, regretful, and rueful to write about it well.

I was shocked by the majority of North Carolinians. I was grateful to the metro area where I lived that voted against. I had too many words. I had too few. What I finally realized is that North Carolina did not strip away my marriage. It stripped away another opportunity for me to have my marriage recognized. I am no less married today than I was 8 days ago.

Silver Berry

I got this recipe from The Bartender’s Guide published by Parragon, which can be purchased here.

1 oz Raspberry Vodka

1 oz Creme de Cassis

1 oz Triple Sec

Shake all over ice. Pour into a martini glass.

Evaluation

When I first started working with this drink, I thought something was off. So I reduced the creme de cassis, that didn’t work. I reduced the triple sec, that didn’t work. I added more creme de cassis to make it fruitier that didn’t work. I dropped both the creme de cassis and the triple sec to make it stronger, that didn’t work. Every variation I tried this drink kept coming up short to this one, which is when I realized this drink was how I felt about marriage.

The ingredients blend beautifully and surprisingly. Any attempt to make it more or better often harms and not helps the drink. If you look at the ingredients themselves, the drink seems really sweet, but they come out softer and harmonious than expected. Like a marriage, the drink is strong but not overbearing. It is not the strength of the drink that one tastes, but the sweet, the light, the balanced. It looks beautiful, but attainable, simple in its wonder. You don’t want too many. One is perfect. If we can all have marriages as perfect as this drink, balanced, sweet, strong, and beautiful, we would all be so lucky.

Cost

Raspberry Vodka: $15 per 750 mL bottle

Creme de Casis: $10 per 750 mL bottle of Vodka

Triple Sec: $3.50 per 750 mL bottle

Total Cost: $18.50

Cost per drink:

Raspberry vodka: $0.60

Creme de Cassis:  $o.40

Triple Sec: $0.14

Total cost per drink: $1.14

Until next time, may your marriage be as perfect as this drink, and, as always, happy and safe drinking.

Whiskey you’re the devil . . .

Hey, whiskey you’re the devil You’re leading me astray
O’er hills and mountains into Amerikay
Your sweeter, stronger, decenter, You’re spunkier than tea,
Ah, whiskey you’re me darlin’, drunk or so-ber

I found this link while perusing NPR’s Facebook page a few years ago. One of the singers of the Clancy brothers passed away in 2009. I know that Liam Clancy’s death was overshadowed by Michael Jackson‘s. I had never heard of The Clancy Brothers and still haven’t listened to any of their other music.

My family is a bunch of whiskey drinkers, at least on my dad’s side. My dad rarely drinks, but my siblings and I have all turned out to enjoy a cocktail or two. Anything more than that is a dirty rumor and a lie if I’ve ever heard one. Being a whiskey drinker and coming from the small city of Manhattan, KS, I fell it love with Manhattan at an early age. I don’t remember trying it, but I do remember making them in my apartment that I shared with Becca and Ally. I’ve been drinking Manhattans for at least 6 years. When it comes to alcohol, I’m a bad influence on people, and I goaded people into trying this drink that I had “discovered” at 21. Casey H. and I would suck the liquor out of the shaker making sure we got every last drop out.

Anyway, today was my first of 3 finals, and begins week 1 of 2. I needed a good laugh, and if last semester is any sign, I’ll be drinking Manhattans again to get me through. Probably with my classmate Giles.

As always, happy and safe drinking.

The Boulevardier

Tags

Boulevardier, Campari, Cocktail, Drink, Manhattan, Vermouth

Welcome to finals countdown. I can’t believe I’m almost a fourth of the way done with graduate and law school. It seems like only yesterday I was writing my application, frantically freaking, and praying for an acceptance letter. Two semesters (almost) down, only six to go. Recently I’ve been feeling more and more like this is the profession that I was destined for. I feel supported by my classmates and professors. My intellectual curiosity remains unsatiated. Legal librarianship is not for everyone, but the profession is certainly for me.

On that note, I drink more often during finals that I do any other time of the year. It is not uncommon for me to have a single drink every night during finals, which is not what I do during the rest of the year. It’s a weird thing about finals. I think it’s because my brain turns to mush while I’m studying. So, I thought I would try a Boulevardier. It’s a variation on a Manhattan, and if you’ve followed my blog since the beginning, you know how I love my Manhattans in all incarnations.

1 1/2 oz. bourbon
1 oz. Campari
1 oz. sweet vermouth

Add all ingredients to a shaker over ice. Pour into a martini glass.

Evaluation

So, unsurprisingly, I am addicted to Imbibe‘s website. Imbibe is Vogue for cocktails. It’s a Bible for the liquor world. Imbibe’s website often challenges me to extend my tastes. When I found the recipe for the Boulevardier on Imbibe’s website I was super excited.

As I have mentioned before, Campari is an incredibly difficult liqueur for me to use to make drinks. I feel the same way about Campari that straight men feel about women. It’s frustrating, complicated, and obnoxious. When you strike out, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth. However, when it works, like in a Campari Cosmopolitan, it is a beautiful thing to behold. The Boulevardier is a strike out drink.

It’s too bad, too, because it held so much promise. It was a variation on a Manhattan. It was herbal and had bourbon and vermouth. It was not afraid of a strong flavor profile. The drink looks beautiful, as well. Ultimately, the drink fell flat.

Imbibe has a good history of the drink. It’s very clearly a 1920s drink. It’s very clearly European. It’s just too much. There’s too much going on in the drink. The drink with all of its promise is like buying tickets to a heavyweight championship boxing match and watching a brawl of all competitors to the title. It can be fun, but you miss the beauty of the punches and the simplicity of a stand-up fight. It’s just too much. I won’t drink it again, and, as sometimes I am wont to do, I wanted to warn you away. However, if you want to try it, here’s how much it costs:

Cost:

The cost to purchase:

Campari: $35 for a 750 mL bottle

Sweet Vermouth: $8 for a 750 mL bottle

Bourbon (I’m currently drinking Jim Bean): $15 for a 750 mL bottle

Total Cost: $58 if you have no ingredients.

Cost per drink:

Campari: $1.40

Sweet Vermouth: $0.32

Jim Bean Bourbon: $0.90

Total Cost per Drink: $2.62

Personally, I can think of a better way to spend $2.62. There’s a $2.00 movie theater around the corner from my current apartment, or a $1.00 sushi restaurant around the corner from my new apartment. But, that’s the cost and the recipe if you want to see how our tastes match up.

Until next time, happy and safe drinking.