BRUNCH PUNCH!

There was a brunch.  I tasked myself with making a punch for this brunch.  I had a handle of Sailor Jerry's spiced rum that I did not want in my possession anymore. It was summer time.  Peaches were ripe.  Mango's were in full bloom.  Bloom?  Yes, Bloom.  What did this all amount to?  Brunch Punch.

Single Serving of Brunch Punch =

2.5 ounces Spiced Rum
1 ounce Mango Puree Syrup*
1 ounce Peach Puree*
1 ounce Lemon Juice
1/2 ounce Hum Liqueur
1 ounce Champagne or Sparkling Wine

Combine all ingredients sans the Champagne and shake with ice for 10 seconds.  Strain into punch glass filled with ice.  Top with one ounce of Champagne.

*Mango Puree Syrup
I liked to use over riped mangos.  That way they're real sweet and delicious.  Remove the peel and the pit, and put all the mango meat in your blender.  Puree.  Strain through a fine mesh strainer (this can be laborious).  Add equal parts sugar and mix over low heat until all sugar is dissolved.

*Peach Puree
Ripe peaches for this are also a MUST.  Put peaches in a blender.  You may leave the skin on, but you must remove the pit!  Puree.  Strain through a fine mesh strainer (again this is laborious).  If the end product is not sweet enough, due to not ripe enough peaches or whatever, you may add a bit of simple syrup to taste.

Pisco Punch

Everybody needs a good Pisco Punch recipe.  Here's mine...

2 ounces Pisco
1 ounce distilled water (or otherwise purified)
3/4 ounces lemon juice
2/3 ounces pineapple syrup (1:1 sugar to fresh squeezed pineapple juice.  For an added bonus, mix in about 1 tsp of gum arabic to make it a gomme syrup)
2 dashes vanilla extract (just a few drops or sprays from your atomizer)

Now some will have you shake and strain this drink, though since we're already pre-diluting this cocktail with water, I don't find that necessary.  Instead, I like to build it over ice in a punch glass and then give it a healthy stir (around 40 rotations) to bring it down to temperature.  Really a fantastic drink.  Nice and dry and tart like any great punch.  This one goes hand in hand with the Philadelphia Fishhouse Punch.

The Wainscot

Here we go...

1 ounce Jamaican Rum
1 ounce Japanese Whiskey
3/4 ounce Lemon Juice
3/8 ounce Orange Curacao (Pierre Ferrand or another high quality Curacao is preferred)
3/8 ounce Macadamia Nut Liqueur (A hazelnut liqueur like Frangelico would be acceptable replacement or maybe even amaretto in a real pinch)

Shake and strain into pre-chilled cocktail coupe.  CHEERS!

Let's Dance

Imma bout to lay on you how to make a Let's Dance cocktail.  It's not really a cocktail, it's a fizz...errrr...a daisy...errrr...whatever ;-)  My homemade strawberry tequila which I will discuss in a later post ran out, and I was really fixin for a drink that combined those two wonderful flavors.  Oh, how they make love, oh....how they dance.  HENCE THE NAME GET IT!?

2 ounces Reposado Tequila (I used Clase Azul Reposado because I just got a bottle as a gift, but don't feel the need to use such a pricey tequila)
3/4 ounces homemade orgeat syrup (I'll discuss how to make this in a later post as i'm still tweaking my recipe though you can also use a high quality commercial syrup.  Just make sure almonds and orange blossom water are actually listed as ingredients)
3/4 ounces lemon juice
5 strawberries
soda water

So first wash your 5 strawberries and put them in your mixing tin.  Muddle the heck out of em.  Just smash em all up real good till all their juices are bleeding all over the place.  Then add the rest of your ingredients EXCEPT OF COURSE the soda water, which we will save until the end.  Fill your tin with ice and shake the hell out of it for no more than 10 seconds.  Now, double strain your cocktail with a mesh strainer into a glass filled with ice.  I used a rocks glass so I could blatantly advertise my dad's CPA firm, but a collins glass is also most acceptable.  Now top with soda water and you're ready to get breezy.  ENJOY!

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!

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.

Philadelphia Fish-House Punch - FOR ONE!

I took a little liberty with this one.  This is a great famous punch from the famous (?) fish-house club in Philadelphia.  I think it was a fishing club!  Anyway, they had their own punch and it is awesome.  The great David Wonderich (cocktail writer) had a recipe for this in his book PUNCH.  I turned it into a single serving.  It's pretty darn great!  Check it out....

1 ounce jamaican rum

1/2 ounce cognac

1/2 ounce peach brandy (Kuchan makes a barrel aged, peach eau de vie which is the closest you can find to what original peach brandy would have been like.  At least that is my understanding.)

1/2 ounce lemon juice

1/2 ounce simple syrup

shake vigorously to give it a nice and good dilution.  I poured ice and all into a glass, because a little more dilution was fine with me, as it is a strong drink.  

BTW....this recipe is based off a printed punch recipe from 1795.  Which means this drink was probably floating around a while before that.  Chances are, this drink is older than the usa itself!

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!

Autumn Tiki

So this idea came to me when I wanted to make a Tiki style drink, but all with fall flavors. So here we go....

1 ounce Zaya Rum (or another delicious dark rum you like)
1 ounce apple brandy
1/2 ounce pumpkin syrup
1/4 ounce cranberry juice (NOT SWEETENED!)
3/4 ounce apple cider
1/4 ounce lemon juice
1 dash of angostura bitters

Shake with ice, then pour ice and all into glass and serve. Cheers!

For pumpkin syrup recipe check the syrups section!

JJ's Autumnal Roll

A great drink with a silly name! YOU ARE WELCOME ;-)

2 ounces applejack
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1/4 ounce cinnamon syrup
1/4 ounce ginger syrup
1/2 ounce cointreau

Shake and strain.

Check out the syrups section for recipes on how to make your own cinnamon and ginger syrups.

Five to One

Here's a drink that's sort of ridiculous, but also awesome and delicious.

2 ounces scotch
1/4 ounce cynar
1/2 ounce honey syrup (1/2 honey, 1/2 water - dissolved over heat)
1/2 ounce lemon juice
6 dashes vanilla extract

Shake and strain. I like to mist the vanilla in an atomizer over the cocktail.

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.

Zombie (1950)

This is usually the version of the Zombie I go for. There is an earlier version of it as well that I'll post at some point that is also delicious.

1 ounce lime juice
1 ounce lemon juice
1 ounce pineapple juice
1 ounce passion fruit syrup
1 ounce light puerto rican rum (use cruzan)
1 ounce gold puerto rican rum (again, use cruzan)
1 ounce Lemon Hart 151
1 tsp brown sugar syrup
1 dash angostura bitters

Shake well and pour ice and all into glass.

Harvest Sour

mmmm mmm mmmm! Best cocktail I've found so far that uses Apricot brandy/liqueur.

2 ounces Brandy (i use a nice cognac)
1/2 ounce apricot liqueur (i'm told peach or pear liqueur work out quite well too)
1/2 ounce cinnamon syrup
3/4 ounce lemon juice

Check out my cinnamon syrup post for the recipe. You can find it by clicking on the cinnamon syrup tag (along with other delicious cinnamon syrup recipes!)

Sidecar

The almighty classic. Honestly, you can swap out the spirit for whatever you want....

1 1/2 ounces Brandy (I like a nice cognac)
1 ounce cointreau
1/2 ounce lemon juice

Shake and strain.

This is a classic 3-2-1 ratio. It will really work with whatever you put as the spirit. Vodka, gin, whiskey. Tequila, and replace the lemon with lime and you have a margarita!

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.

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.

Japanese Maple Cocktail

This is a great one from the Roger Room.

1 1/2 ounce Japanese Whiskey (I used Yamazaki 12 year)
3/4 ounce Lemon Juice
1/2 ounce maple syrup
3/4 ounce egg white

Shake and strain. It's good to do a dry shake (no ice) first to emulsify the egg, then add your ice and do the proper shake. Spray or dash some angostura on top after you've poured. At the Roger room i think they use a 50/50 mix of Bacardi 151 and angostura to spray their logo on top. I'm fine with just the angostura.

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.