thanks, i’ve never had an old fashioned, will give it a try. the grand tier perfect manhattan we liked was cocchi and punt e mas, we have to purchase punt e mas.
we’re on track for 8 manhattans a month (one per week each), thinking we have to hunt down some half bottles of vermouth.
I have over a dozen bitters, commercial and a few home made. I like using 2 types in cocktails i am using bitters in. Even my martinis have peychauds and orange bitters.
Bittermans makes an orange citrate bitter that i use in most brown cocktails i make. Not a lot of orange flavor but the citrate rounds and smooths bourbons and ryes.
They also make a chocolate bitters that is great as a second bitters as well
Barrel aged bourbon Manhattans. Recently refilled my 5L barrel with Old Grand Dad 114 and Antica vermouth. Manhattans on tap are a wonderful thing, yet dangerous
i’ve had mixed results drinking these - one spot i like does a barrel aged old fashioned and it’s so smooth and nice. I’ve also had stuff like that where it is way way too woody for my taste.
A 5L barrel that I’ve had for near 8 yrs or so. If you get a barrel hydrate the barrel with water and do many water changes. The barrels are prone to leak until the wood hydrates and swells. It took longer than I anticipated to seal but it did seal.
Then fill with some cheap spirit of your choice. I was using Old Grand Dad 114 as my first spirit fill along with Antica vermouth. Which it is currently filled with. The OGD is a bit more expensive today but the Antica is quite a bit more expensive than the whiskey but is one of my favorite vermouths
Got this recipe from the Punch website. I made it half strength.
Al Sotack’s Brainstorm
2 oz. Irish whiskey
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
1/2 oz. Benedictine
Combine all ingredients with ice in a mixing glass, then stir to chill. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Express a lemon twist over the drink, then discard the peel.
After reading about the growing popularity of “ranch water”, I decided to try it using one of the umpteen recipes out there. It’s basically a margarita highball. The key ingredient is Topo Chico mineral water, which fortunately for me is easily obtainable at my local Grocery Outlet. All of the other ingredients can be tinkered with.
Ranch Water
1 1/2 oz. blanco tequila
1 oz. lime juice
1/2 oz. orange liqueur (I used Cointreau)
Topo Chico water
Mix the tequila, lime juice, and orange liqueur together in a Collins or highball glass. Add ice, then top up with Topo Chico.
With martinis I love jalapeño potato chips, peppered hard salami, or crostini. With whiskey I go for smoked goat cheese Gouda called Chevre Lait, seriously. Lately we have also enjoyed both fermented garlic hummus and fermented beet hummus.
Parche, a new upscale Colombian restaurant in Oakland, offers 3 variations on the G&T: a gin G&T made with grape gin, vermut and tonic, and pisco and tonic. I had the 3rd one last night. Not too strong, with pomegranate seeds, a lemon slice, an orange wedge, and what I think was a kumquat in the cocktail, along with a huge ice cube that had the restaurant’s logo etched into it.