Cosa Nostra #2
rum, Averna, lemon, bitters, ginger
Hibiki Japanese Harmony
Suntory Hibiki Japanese Harmony. This is a delicious whisky, and one of very few bottles (of anything!) that we’ve really gone through and repurchased (it’s hard to go thru bottles when you have a pretty sizable collection!). It’s sweet with honey notes and a juicy floralness. Japanese whisky is closest…
Flor de Caña 4 rum
Flor de Caña 4 Extra Seco. Ah, white rum, the most popular kid in the school of rum after Captain Morgan. Thanks to Bacardi and the incredible job they’ve done at marketing rum to the world, white rum is probably what most people commonly associate with “rum” (at least in…
Corn N Oil
rum, falernum, bitters
Noah’s Mill Bourbon
Noah’s Mill Small Batch Bourbon. Before my whole (recent) rum obsession, bourbon was my go-to. It took me a few years into my alcohol journey to really became acquainted with whiskey (once I finally ventured beyond Jack/Jameson/Crown), but then the classic American bourbon stole my heart. The first time I tried…
Who Ate the Last Berry?
gin, Chambord, lemon, red wine
Square One Basil Vodka
Square One Organics Basil Vodka. This is a rye-based vodka infused with 4 different varieties of basil, with some additional herbs to round out the flavor. This was actually one of my very first “craft spirit” purchases years ago. As I’ve mentioned, I have a huge basil obsession, so when…
Cucumber Basil Gimlet
gin, lime, cucumber, basil
Disaronno Amaretto
Disaronno Originale. The oh-so-familiar amaretto liqueur in the distinctive bottle. Amaretto is probably one of the most recognizable mainstream liqueurs, and most likely you’ve heard of it in some form or other, whether that be in cocktails like the amaretto sour or the perfect warm apres-ski drink, in coffee, as…
The Last Word
gin, maraschino, lime, Green Chartreuse
St. George Spiced Pear Liqueur
St. George Spiced Pear Liqueur – this is truly autumn in a bottle. As if my previous posts haven’t given it away, I’m a huge fan of everything they do and produce at St. George Spirits in Alameda, CA. It was the first distillery I ever visited and my first introduction…
Rye & Spice
rye, Cynar, black pepper, bitters
Cynar
Cynar (pronounced chee-nar) – artichoke liqueur, whaaat?! As strange as it sounds, Cynar is a modest 16.5% ABV amaro made with artichoke (aka “cynara scolymus”), along with 12 other herbs/plants. As with all Italian amaro, it’s an intense bittersweet liqueur oozing of herbal flavors that are difficult to describe, great…
Martinez
gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur, orange bitters
Bénédictine
Bénédictine. In the same realm as Chartreuse, Bénédictine is another one of those age-old (300+ yrs) herbal liqueurs from Europe (France) made with a blend of secret herbs and spices (27) that only a few (3) people know at one time. It’s sold as a 40% ABV standalone liqueur, as…
Bumbo
rum, sugar, nutmeg
Calvados Pays d’Auge
Roger Groult Calvados Pays d’Auge. Calvados is a spirit you may not be familiar with, but should be! Calvados is an apple brandy (spirit distilled from apples, sometimes pears) from France that’s regulated by an appellation (which defines where the apples must be grown and the process for creating the spirit). The…
The Rusty Nail
scotch, Drambuie
Goslings Black Seal rum
Goslings Black Seal rum. This spirit from Bermuda is the official rum for the Dark N Stormy, a cocktail that’s become super popular with the rising craft cocktail movement. The rum gets its name because during WWII used champagne bottles were refilled with this rum and sealed with a black…
The Bar Book
The book that started it all for me – The Bar Book by Jeffrey Morgenthaler. So I’ve been interested in cocktails/homebartending since college, but it really wasn’t until I got this book a few years ago that I really dove into the subject and started educating myself on it. There…
St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
St. Elizabeth Allspice dram was brought to market in 2008 as a traditional pimento dram. (no, not the weird red strips inside olives) Pimento is also known as “allspice” and is commonly used in Jamaican and Caribbean cooking (jerk chicken!). Pimentos are very fragrant tiny dried berries that have flavors…
Four in Hand
bourbon, apple brandy, Jamaican rum, Green Chartreuse, cinnamon, vanilla
Drambuie
Drambuie. A whiskey liqueur made from scotch, heather honey, and secret herbs/spices. The flavor of this is definitely scotch forward and very sweet with strong honey and herbal notes. It’s been around for a couple hundred years but really picked up popularity in the Prohibition period to pair with (aka mask)…
Glassware
Making a drink taste delicious starts by making it *look* delicious – we taste first with our eyes, then our mouths. Serve the same cocktail in a Solo cup and a fancy coupe and I guarantee it won’t taste the same. (there have literally been scientific studies that support this)…