Bourbon and Ginger

Bourbon and Ginger Ale is a good old standby when you're too lazy to make a real cocktail.  And it feels right, too -- I have vague recollections of the men I looked up to when is was little drinking them.  "I'll just have a bourbon and ginger", they would say, and it must have stuck way back there in my earliest memories.  I still have one on occasion, but my tastes now go to something a little more adventurous, a bit more spicy.


So I recently tried a couple of recipes I came across in a site called Creative Loafing Tampa, which I think must also be the name of one of those rags that you find in the little free racks by the real estate flyers in restaurants and mini marts.  Amazing what you can find with Google.


Both recipes use bourbon or rye (please don't use any of the good stuff for these -- they have enough citrus and sweet to offset anything but serious rotgut).  They are both really good, one surprisingly so, since it calls for maple syrup for the sweetener!!!

Ingredients for the Nor'easter.

I put both recipes together on one page because I thought you might throw the Nor'easter recipe in the trash without even trying it, like I just about did.  (Sounded just about as bad as recipes that include Southern Comfort or Malibu Rum, but I digress.)  Anyway, by the name, and the fact that it uses maple syrup, I will attribute the recipe to some creative sole in Maine or maybe Vermont.   And in combination with lime and a nice spicy Ginger Beer, the maple flavor  makes a very nice cocktail.  I hope you will give it a try and let me know what you think.

Ingredients for the Cablegram.

The other drink is called the Cablegram and it sounded a bit tastier before trying it.  Still tart from citrus, this time lemon, and spicy from ginger beer, and I like it a little better than the other one.  


Both cocktails are keepers, so don't go cutting the Nor'easter off the page when you print these out.

Stone Sour

If you haven't figured it out yet from previous posts, Kathy and I are partial to cocktails made with rye whiskey.  If you like a good cocktail, and have not experimented with it yet I would highly recommend trying it - either a Sazerac or a Manhattan would be a good place to start.   

If you would rather have something citrusy, here's another rye drink to add to your collection. The Stone Sour is a whiskey sour variation from California, but don't hold its origin against it - it is very good. Best with one of those homemade cocktail cherries.

If you don't have any rye in the cupboard, I'm sure this would also be good with bourbon.

Sazerac Cocktail

To the best of my recollection, I had my first Sazerac after my Mom and Dad returned from one of their regular visits to New Orleans.  When they went, they liked to enjoy the Commander's Palace in the Garden District, which on their recommendation became one of my favorite restaurants anywhere.  Commander's food is excellent (and my mouth is watering as I write this), but it is the way they treat you that sets them apart. It is a place where it still feels right to wear a jacket at dinner, and where they make you feel important even though you are not. A place where you want to be with your family on special occasions, and where you take important business associates.

When my folks went to Commander's, they enjoyed a Sazerac cocktail.  One time when they were there, the bartender shared his Sazerac recipe - written on a napkin (I think in 1982, but the writing is not real clear) - and my Dad brought it back and made it for me the next time I visited.  It was wonderful. 

The Sazerac is one of the old traditional cocktails of New Orleans. I couldn't even come close to describing its history in the way that Chuck Taggart does in his Gumbo Pages web site, and I recommend it highly for everything New Orleans. You should definitely read his Sazerac history as you enjoy the cocktail for the first time.

Not many bars and restaurants know how to make a Sazerac, or even what one is.  But I sometimes ask for, and am rewarded with one when I go to good restaurants. I have not found one yet, though, that makes this simple drink as well as you can at home.

Some recipes call for Bourbon (as does the Commander's recipe given to my Dad) and others for Rye whiskey, and some call for using both Angostura and Peychaud's bitters, but the traditional version uses only Peychaud's.  In our experiments, Kathy and I have decided that the traditional Rye whiskey and Peychaud's only is the way to go.

The traditional New Orleans Rye is Old Overholt, but most reviewers think that Sazerac brand and Rittenhouse are probably a bit better.  My biggest surprise, though, is that the Jim Beam (ri)1, the overpriced Rye that I had spoken poorly of of when I talked about Manhattans in an earlier post, is really good in a Sazerac. I think we might have to keep some around just to dedicate for that use.

As I have been writing this (and enjoying the Sazerac shown in the picture), I have also been thinking about how much I would like to have a nice meal at Commander's, ending up with the Whiskey Bread Pudding Souffle. Anybody want to make a weekend trip to New Orleans?

Manhattan

The Manhattan must be one of the simplest cocktails of all times, and one of the very best.  I discovered it at the insistence of my sister-in-law, Paula, and I thank her for that.  Two ounces of whiskey, one ounce of Italian Sweet Vermouth, and a couple of splashes of Angostura Bitters, garnished with a cocktail cherry - how easy is that?  It's a cocktail that needs no recipe, and even grandpas like me can remember how to make one.

But it may also be one of the most flexible cocktails ever.  First you get to pick the whiskey.  Kathy and I like to use Rye, but Bourbon makes a great Manhattan, too.  I understand that some people even use brandy instead of whiskey, but I'll not be trying that any time soon. 

The Manhattan I just made for this picture used a rather overpriced brand of Rye in a too fancy bottle, called (ri)1, which is made by Jim Beam.  I have to tell you that it is good, but not good enough to justify the price, which I am embarrassed to have paid.  Old Overholt, a cheap brand and a standard in New Orleans, makes a good one, and I have read that Sazarac and Rittenhouse brands are excellent at a fair price. Perhaps there will be further experimentation at a later date.

Then there is the vermouth.  Brother John suggested a tiny little splash of dry vermouth with the sweet vermouth, and I think that does a lot for the drink.  And you can choose to use French vermouth instead of Italian, as I did for the one in the picture, and I can attest to how good that can be. 

There are a lot of variations that have official names, and they undoubtedly are good, but I suggest you experiment, and don't be swayed from what you like by cocktail snobs that want to tell you that you are not making a Manhattan correctly.