Having sat out of the last two Mixology Mondays, I didn’t want to let another pass without at least a nod and a tip of the hat, even though it’s been difficult to find the time because I’ve been traveling like Marco Polo for the last few weeks. All work, unfortunately.

Anyway, gin, you say? Well, even though there are many drinks with gin, this one will need to meet three criteria. It should be tasty or in some way interesting, it has to be new to this blog (I’m going on 50 posts and I’ve written about most of the easy ones), and I’d prefer it to be something relatively unblogged in general.

Digging around in Dr. Cocktail’s excellent Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, I came across the Barnum (Was Right). P.T. Barnum, famous circus entrepreneur, once famously stated that “There’s a fool born every minute,” and you only have to stop and pay attention to what goes on around you to know he was very right.

So that’s the the name. What’s the drink like? Well, I enjoyed it, for what it’s worth. I was looking for worthwhile drinks for my apricot brandy too, so that was a bonus. The gin helps get the sweetness under control, and you can enjoy the taste of the apricot without the cloying stickiness of the brandy, and the flavours combine together well, along with a little citrus bite from the lemon to make it a nicely balanced concoction.

Also, I only found one relatively ancient post by Kaiser Penguin about it, so that’s three out of three for Barnum (Was Right)!

Recipe:

2 oz. Gin
1 oz. Apricot Brandy
1/2 oz. Lemon juice
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake well until very cold and serve in a cocktail glass. Garnish with something citrusy.

Notes:

It helps if you use a good fragrant gin, in order to make the drink as complex as possible. Either that or dial back the apricot brandy a little to stop it from overpowering a weaker gin. After all, gin is what it’s all about today.

Rating:

- Unusually pleasant and well balanced.

Check out the rest of this Monday’s contributions at Oh Gosh!

I’m on a bit of a Beachbum Berry run here, since acquiring a batch of his books. You’ll have to forgive me, and rest assured I will stop before I get to plagiarism.

Today I bring the Fog Cutter, another Tiki standard from Victor ‘Trader Vic‘ Bergeron. In his Grog Log, the Bum quotes Trader Vic as saying: “Fog Cutter, hell. After two of these you won’t even see the stuff,” and there’s no doubt that it’s a potent mix. Two ounces of rum in a cocktail can already be considered a generous serving. If on top of that you add another ounce and a half of hooch, you get something pretty explosive. And I haven’t counted the float yet.

There were a few reasons for trying this one out. Firstly, it’s a classic in its realm. Also I had all the ingredients, which is pretty rare for most of the Bum’s recipes. Well, with one exception, but I’ll get to that. This includes my latest toy, Orgeat syrup.

The rum mentioned in the book is light Puerto Rican rum, which is a euphemism for Bacardi Carta Blanca. I always substitute a decent rum instead of that particular one, and it’s usually Havana Club Añejo 3 Años. The spicy notes add character to any drink, and it’s probably the most historically correct anyway. There is no note in the book of when the drink was created, but the Bacardi that all these Tiki legends used was made in Cuba in the same distillery and using the same recipe as the current Havana Club. Even if the drink wasn’t created prior to the Cuba embargo, I reckon Trader Vic knew exactly what he was aiming for when he used Bacardi, and this was probably it.

My missing ingredient was sweet sherry, since I usually keep some of that around in the winter. The summer in Spain calls for the dry Fino or Manzanilla varieties of Sherry. I had a reasonable substitute, though, in Málaga Virgen, a sweet fortified wine made from Pedro Ximenez grapes. These grapes are used at least in part in most sweet sherries, and although the wine is missing some of the character of being fortified with sherry brandy, it’s pretty similar.

It wasn’t much of a big deal anyway, because I used sherry brandy in the drink, whereas most people would probably use something from France. So all the elements ended up there, even if the components were a little different.

By the way, have you noticed the photo in this post? I figured that it would be a good idea to start doing that with this new design, you know, to spruce things up. If by sprucing up I mean highlighting my failures, of course.

First of all, you may have noticed I’m not exactly Rick from Kaiser Penguin when it comes to taking pictures of drinks. I hope to improve, but until then you’re stuck with my experiments. Second of all, you see that brown sludge at the bottom of the glass? That’s the float. Yeah, I know, let’s pretend it didn’t happen. And third of all, even though I tried to follow Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s instructions to the letter, my orange twist sucks.

But whatever, I’ll give you the recipe and you can try and do better.

Recipe:

2 oz. Lemon juice
1 oz. Orange juice
1/2 oz. Orgeat Syrup
1 oz. light Rum
1 oz. Brandy
1/2 oz. Gin
1/2 oz. sweet Sherry

Shake everything — except sherry — with ice cubes. Pour into tall tiki mug and add more ice cubes to fill. Float sherry on top of drink.

Notes:

The first time I made the Fog Cutter I skipped the float altogether, and only included it the second time for completeness and the photograph. That didn’t work out too well, and I ended up mixing the float with the rest of the drink, which wasn’t too great.

I’m left without knowing what it’s like made exactly right, but I’ll probably be skipping the float the next times I make it. The cocktail is strong enough without it anyway, and the tartness just right.

Rating:

- A good drink, but too strong to enter my regular rotation.

July’s Mixology Monday brought us a whole host of cool drinks, from many great blogs. Interestingly, the bramble was the only drink mentioned by two different people, and this attracted my attention.

Originally mentioned over at Bartender Thinking, the Bramble is the child of Dick Bradsell, a respected London bartender. As the Thinking Bartender points out, it can be adapted to many different fruit liqueurs, such as creme de cassis, etc. I haven’t gone that far in my experimentation yet, but the idea of using a gin/lemon juice combination as the base for a fruity drink doesn’t seem too bad to me. I will try other variations.

The recipe calls for Plymouth gin, something I haven’t been able to find here. I have no idea what it adds to the drink, but I can tell you that with both Bombay Gin (regular, not Sapphire) and Seagram’s, the result is quite good. Also, I tried both variations mentioned in the post and ended up using the original recipe. The variation was just too sweet for me.

Recipe:

1 1/2 oz. Plymouth Gin
3/4 oz. Lemon juice
1/2 oz. Simple Syrup
3/4 oz. Creme de Mure

Build everything except the Creme de Mure over crushed ice and stir. Add a straw and slowly pour in the Creme de Mure to create a cascading effect.

Notes:

The final drink is just a delivery mechanism for Creme de Mure. Not that this is a bad thing, of course. It takes a very sweet liqueur and turns it into an enjoyable and refreshing drink, without masking the original flavour or adding too much extra. It just goes to show that originality can be tied to simplicity.

Rating:

- A great little drink.

There was some talk recently on the Drinkboy Forums about the Jasmine cocktail. Supposedly a good introduction to both gin and Campari, it’s also an attractive pink colour that fool those friends you have that don’t appreciate good drinking. These might also be swayed by the drink’s uncanny resemblance to grapefruit juice, and might be convinced to use the Jasmine as a gateway drink to further gin and Campari debauchery.

At about the same time, I noticed that Drinkboy himself, Robert Hess, had done a video on the Jasmine also extolling the similarities to grapefruit juice. Well, I can’t lay off if something seems difficult to believe, so I set out to construct one of these mythical creatures.

The result isn’t too bad. The gin is fairly subdued, as you would expect in a drink directed at people who don’t like gin. It is fruity and interesting, though, and pretty nice.

Still, I was left wondering where it is that Mr. Hess buys his Campari-flavoured grapefruit.

Recipe:

1.5 oz. Gin
1 oz. Cointreau
3/4 oz. Campari
1/2 oz. Lemon juice

Shake everything up and serve in a cocktail glass.

Notes:

It still tastes of Campari. I’ll be trying some different versions reducing the Campari in the search for that elusive grapefruit juice taste. Even if I don’t find it, it’s still not bad.

Rating:

- Not bad, but not incredible either.

I’m feeling a bit under the weather today, so today’s recipe is the traditional scottish Hot Toddy.

I remember my father making these for me once or twice when I was younger, but I never did like the taste. As I grew older, I started to appreciate the flavour as well as the “medicinal” qualities. Although this won’t cure you, as some old wives will tell you, it does work well to alleviate throat discomfort.

Since the Hot Toddy comes from Scotland, it should be made with Scotch Whisky. However, pretty much any dark spirit could be substituted. I don’t usually have scotch at home, so I usually use bourbon. You can also try with brandy or a dark rum.

My throat is starting to hurt, so here goes the recipe.

Recipe:

1 oz. Scotch Whisky
1/2 oz. Honey
1/2 oz. Lemon Juice
3 oz. boiling Water

In a cup or mug, first dissolve the honey with a little hot water. Then just add the whisky, lemon juice and the rest of the water and stir well. Make sure to drink while still hot.

Notes:

If you like the spirit you’ve used, you’ll probably enjoy the toddy version. Even though it might seem a little strange at first, I have found it beneficial when I’ve had a sore throat. Play with the proportions too. The ingredients are those I’ve detailed above, but the amounts of each vary wildly from source to source. I’ve written down more or less what I use, but it’s not an exact science.

Also, if you’re taking medicine for a flu, check to see if there’s a problem combining the two. If you can’t take alcohol with the medicine, leave the medicine!
Rating:

- Not a drink I’d have normally, but effective when called for.

Recipe:

2 oz. Amaretto
1 oz. Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into an old-fashioned glass

Recipe:

1 oz Gin
Juice of 1 Lemon
splash of Green Creme de Menthe
Dash of Angostura Bitters

Shake the ingredients well with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.