The Kirby

Hup!

2 ounces Gin
3/4 ounces Lime Juice
1/2 ounce Cucumber Syrup (Half cucumber juice half sugar)
1/4 ounce Fernet Branca

Shake and Strain.

Crustas

Since we're on the subject of crustas...  A wonderful and simple drink.  Make it with any spirit.  Brandy crustas and Rum crustas are my other goto's.  I prefer Jamaican rum the best when making the latter.  Like appleton 12 year.  Always make sure to use a high quality spirit, whatever you choose, as this is a drink where your spirit is playing the feature role.

2 ounces Any Spirit (Gin, Rum, Whiskey, Mezcal, Tequila, Eau-De-Vie, etc)
1 tsp simple syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp orange curaçao (lately I like pierre ferrand dry curaçao, though there are lots of good orange liqueurs on the market that could sub)
2 dashes bitters (I like to play around with this, but angostura is always a good bet)

shake and strain into a sugar rimmed wine glass.  Take the peel of the entire circumference of a lemon for garnish.   Cheers!

This is a great one btw for experimentation and improvisation.  As you see below, It's easy to take many cocktails and render them in a crusta format!  Let's take the last word.  Equal parts gin, lime juice, maraschino liqueur, green chartreuse.  Watch this...

2 ounces Gin
1 tsp green chartreuse
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp maraschino liqueur
2 dashes bitters

Blammo, done!  A good way to think about the Crusta is that it's an evolution of an Old-Fashioned.  Instead of just bitters and a sweetener, we're augmenting that with also a bit of liqueur, and just a bit of citrus.  Not enough to make it a sour, just enough to brighten the drink up.  If you're an Old-Fashioned fan, then I suggest you try a Crusta, stat!  Though watch out for those bars that pour in the maraschino, make sure they're making it correctly first!

Singapore Crusta

I took a Singapore Sling and made it into crusta form.  The results are pretty great!


1.5 ounces Gin
0.5 ounces Brandy
1 tsp lime juice
1 tsp Benedictine
1 tsp Cherry Heering
2 dashes angostura bitters.


shake and strain.  ENJOY!

Pegu Club Cocktail

A classic that was once great, then horrible and now great again.  sometime during the 20th century, I imagine as a result of prohibition, curacao lost it's way.  Once more bitter and made with actual bitter orange peels from the Curacao island, it became a sugary artificial orange flavored mess.  The fine folks at Pierre Ferrand made that all better, and now we can enjoy great cocktails like the Pegu Club again!

1 1/2 ounces Gin (I like navy strength)
3/4 ounces Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao Anciene Method
1 tsp lime juice
1 dash orange bitters
1 dash angosura bitters

Biffy Cocktail

One of my favorites from the savoy...

2 ounces gin
3/4 ounces kronan swedish punsch
3/4 ounce lemon juice

shake and strain

Box Top Cocktail

An original creation.  Great pre-dinner APPETITE wetter ;-)  Bitter and delicious.

2 ounces navy strength gin
3/4 ounces Bitermens Amere sauvage grapefruit aperitif (other bitter aperitifs will work well too like Picon)
3/4 ounces lemon juice

shake and strain.

Snowball Cocktail

This is a fun one I tried today from the La Florida Bar cocktail book from 1935.  The color is great, and it's a nice for a little holiday cheer.  It calls for equal parts originally, but I steppd up the gin a bit for a little kick.  Cheers!

1 ounce gin
1/2 ounce green creme de menthe
1/2 ounce parfait amour (I used creme de violette)
1/2  ounce milk

shake and strain

Clover Club Cocktail

This is my favorite version of this classic....

1 1/2 ounces gin
3/4 ounce french vermouth (I like Dolin)
3/4 ounce raspberry syrup
1/4 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce egg white

shake and strain. You'll want to dry shake (with no ice) first to emulsify the egg. Then add your ice and and shake as normal.

check out my recipe on fruit syrups on how to make the raspberry syrup. I'd juice the raspberry's and add equal parts sugar. Cheers!

Singapore Sling

The one and only (that's actually not true. there are a lot of different recipes but I like this one.)

1 ounce lime juice
1 ounce cherry heering
1/2 ounce benedictine
1/2 ounce brandy
2 ounces gin
1 1/2 ounce club soda

Shake all except soda. Strain into tall glass filled with ice cubes. Stir in soda.

The Alvarez Spring Cocktail

Here's a cocktail I made in honor of spring and also my friend Miss Alvarez.

3/4 ounce Gin
3/4 ounce lemon juice
3/4 ounce strawberry syrup
3/4 ounce elderflower liqueur (use St. Germain... Thatchers sucks.)
6 drops absinthe (1/8 tsp)
2 dashes Lavender Bitters

This drink actually started out as a punch. Punch ratios would be more like...

750ml Gin
750ml lemon juice
750ml strawberry syrup
750ml st. germain
3 ounces absinthe
1 ounce lavender bitters.
1500ml (2 bottles) dry champagne (because what's a punch without champagne?)
Garnish with fruit in season (I'd say strawberry's and lemon slices)


To make strawberry syrup, see the post about fruit syrups.

Corpse Reviver #2

Here's a great one from the savoy.

3/4 ounce gin
3/4 ounce cointreau
3/4 ounce lillet*
3/4 ounce lemon juice.

*Note about lillet...
Sometime in the 70's or 80's the company that produces lillet went and CHANGED THE RECIPE ON US! WHAT a bunch of jerks am i right!? Anyway, this presents us a problem because this recipe is from the 30's. So obviously, if the lillet is difference, the cocktail TASTES different. The good news is, according to some people, that Cocchi Americano tastes quite similar to how the original recipe lillet tasted like. So whenever I make myself a Corpse Reviver #2, I always use Cocchi instead of the lillet. It has some quinine in it, so adds this great bitter edge to the drink that totally changes it, for the better in my opinion.

Also, remember, lillet AND cocchi are fortified wines. so THEY ARE WINE! When you open the bottle, they begin to oxidize quickly, just like normal wine. So when you open them store them in the fridge. After 1 month has gone by, throw them out! I usually will buy small bottles, and only one type at a time. During that month, or few weeks, i'll try to have lots of drinks that involve that particular aperitif.

Last Word

Perhaps my all time favorite cocktail. Firstly because it's great. But also because it was invented at the Detroit Athletic Club in the early 1920's during prohibition. Me being from Detroit, I take great pride in all things from the D. I have in fact, had a Last Word at the D.A.C which is phenomenal. Instead of using gin, they replace that with their own vodka infusion. I assume they do this, to more approximate the homemade or bathtub gin that was more common during prohibition. There was definitely some Anise flavors that were coming out in that one. I will occasionally spritz some absinthe on top with my atomizer to approximate this sometimes.

3/4 ounce gin
3/4 ounce maraschino liqueur
3/4 ounce green chartreuse (if you only have yellow, just use more like 1 ounce or 1 1/4 ounce.)
3/4 ounce lime juice

shake and strain.

Aviation

One of my favorites, and one of the first I made at home that got me into classic cocktails.

2 ounces Gin
3/4 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur
1/4 ounce creme de violette

shake and strain.

Monkey Gland Cocktail

This one is from the Savoy. Usually I'll use homemade syrups, but this one I used a great pomegranate syrup I picked up at the Hollywood farmers market from a local farm. Delicious. Also, fresh squeezed orange juice is always great if you have some oranges around :-)

1 1/2 ounces Gin
3/4 ounce fresh orange juice
3 dashes Grenadine (i just did a quick free pour)
3 dashes absinthe (a few squirts from my atomizer)

Shake and strain.

Zanzibar Cocktail

This one is from the savoy. I balanced this to make it slightly more gin forward because I like a little more bite in my drink. A great one though. Make sure that YOUR VERMOUTH IS FRESH!!!

3/4 ounce Gin
1 1/4 ounce french vermouth (Dolin)
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
3 dashes orange bitters
1 dash of simple syrup

Shake and Strain.