Open Position: Someone to give my blog posts better names.
So, although I am no longer Catholic (still working on exactly what I am, but that’s a different story), I still like “fasting for Lent.” Fasting as a whole just helps me mentally with self-control and in working on bettering myself, and having an already kind of fixed time for it moves things along better than just randomly doing it. I guess if one isn’t religious then Lent is kind of a random time of year anyway, but years of Catholic high school will still beat it into you.
This year I decided to give up hard alcohol, something rather big given that I, you know, work in the hospitality industry. I am happy to report that, sans two major exceptions, I succeeded too. (I had a work trip to New York where I had a few cocktails and when wonderful wonderful Covid took my work away on St. Patrick’s Day, a shot of Jameson with coworkers seemed mandatory. Fight me.) Now, however, with the arrival of Easter and what with being confined to home stricter than some (yay asthma), I decided to run a short series on what exactly is I drink when not drinking wine.
Well, Nunc Est Bibendum, y’all.
This is also an answer to the oft-asked “What do you drink at home besides wine?” question I get.
There’ll be some cocktail recipes, syrup recipes, and the like, as well as why I picked the things I did and if I feel there are any obvious omissions. To be clear, these are the things I drink at home when I don’t have a bottle of wine open, or if wine just isn’t going to cut it. There are plenty of other things I drink but are either too labor-intensive or just more fun to have out than at home, so don’t expect things to get too wild.
Or maybe they will, I don’t know. Drinking at home’s led to more than few fun experiences, I guess.
Please drink responsibly.
The drink sets themselves will be broken into 3 themes:
1. Drinks for Slowing Down
2. Drinks when I Really Need a Drink
3. Drinks for the “Fun” of “Bartending”
These terms will be elaborated upon further in their respective posts- probably.
I expect there will also be some judgement from peeps who read this, given that I am revealing something as personal as drinking habits (Looking at you other people in my industry. Don’t judge me too harshly.) Some of this reveals a kind of laziness (there’s only so much I’m willing to make at home), and others an occasionally more boring palate than some will expect (a drink at home is more often for comfort than it is for going wild). For those of you who may not have home bars or who don’t drink a lot, I hope maybe this can give you some inspiration for places to start or new things to try. Whatever you take away from this. I will again repeat my call for people to drink responsibly, especially during these times where there is little else to do.
With that, we move to Drinks for Slowing Down.
That is getting elaborated upon. One of the times I find myself wanting to make a drink at home is a desire to go through the process of making it, as well as making a drink that’s easy to sip on, take slowly, and by that entire affair slow me down as well. I’ll be elaborating upon four drinks in this post, starting with perhaps the most classic of this category, moving on to two more playful kinds of drinks, and then ending with another classic.
There is nothing sponsored in this (or hopefully ever because that kind of content is annoying as hell), but I will be mentioning specific brands of spirits, bitters, etc. because they’re just what I happen to use. I expect I shall be judged on this as well, and so be it. Drink what you like, my dudes!
And drink responsibly.
Drinks for Slowing Down
Old Fashioned
My mantra, when asked what I drink at home, is that if I am not drinking wine, I’m drinking whisk(e)y. Although the plethora of gin bottles I’ve acquired would like to argue with that statement, the amount of Old Fashioned’s I make provides a ready answer. Boozy, sippable (Microsoft Word does not think this is a word and I disagree), a little sweet, but still wonderfully complex, a well-made Old Fashioned is not only a nice end-of-day, slowing-down, relaxing drink to both make and sip, it’s also a wonderful prop in conversation (swirl and clink that ice cube, man) and has that something-something that makes one feel classy (that or like most everything else, I read into it too much and it just makes me feel that way).
When it comes to preparing an Old Fashioned there’s only so much room to play, but I do what I can. My go-to Bourbon for this cocktail is Maker’s 46. I dislike regular Maker’s Mark, but almost enjoy its (much) sweeter base when making cocktails. Maker’s 46 might be a bit too much to use as a mixing Bourbon, but it cuts some of the traditional Bourbon sweetness (and Maker’s over-sweetness) with added spice and complexity from additional ageing on French oak staves and I think it just works wonderfully in an Old Fashioned. I’m also partial to making my own demerara simple syrup, demerara sugar and water in a 1:1 ratio stirred over heat until dissolved, because the darker, caramel-y notes in this sugar as opposed to plain white sugar play better with the flavors of whiskey, in my opinion. Angostura Bitters are the constant, here. Fresh orange twist is also a must.
An Old Fashioned for one (for me), consists of 3oz of Maker’s 46, ½oz demerara syrup, 3 dashes of Angostura bitters stirred over ice and served in a rock’s glass with a giant ice cube (aesthetics), garnished with a fresh twist or orange peel.
(Insert comments about how literally everyone in the world has a different way of making this drink and that mine is by no means definitive here.)
Mezcal Margarita
This is one of two comments in this blog post that’s going to start arguments, but I don’t usually like margaritas. There’s probably something in there about how I’m 24 and haven’t had many PASSABLE margaritas, let alone good ones, and something idiosyncratic about not liking salt rims (it’s a thing. I like salt in drinks (seriously try it, it’s cool) but having that wave of salt hitting you over the head like it seems to on a rim bugs me), but I’ve found that beefing the standard margarita formulas up with mezcal not only makes the drink more interesting, but also makes it harder to drink a lot of. Given my weakness for lime-anything (remember my Gimlet Series?), that’s a plus for me.
I’m still fairly new to mezcal, being honest (recommend me some, guys!) but the one I’m enjoying right now I actually first tasted through work and then went out and got a bottle of: Mala Idea Espadín Capon. It has decent smoke, and present alcohol, but a burst of citrus and grassiness (apparently a word) that makes for a pretty good mixing mezcal for this drink.
For my mezcal margaritas, I usually do 2oz mezcal to ¾oz lime, ½oz simple syrup (white sugar and water 1:1), ½oz Cointreau, and two to three drops of a saline solution (kosher salt and water in a 1:4 ratio). Shaken, served on the rocks.
Stormy NY Skies
While I may not usually care for margaritas… I almost always don’t like Manhattans. I’m getting fired for writing this, and I know I’m limiting my future industry prospects by having this on the record, but there’s just something about the flavor profile of the drink I just don’t like. They usually come off as being too sweet for me, or kind of flat (I’m not sure if that’s the right word, but still). RIFFS on Manhattans, however, are loads of fun. It’s a great template, and one ready to be played with.
This is me playing with that template.
I got a book on Amaro a year or so ago and after plunging through dozens of bottles, I fell in love with Sfumato Rabarbo. It’s nice, a little bitter, but woodsy and herbal in a way I like. Sfumato and Soda’s a pleasant go-to for me if wherever I am has it and whoever I’m supposed to be drinking with hasn’t arrived yet (Hey, anyone else remember leaving the house to get a drink? Yeah…).
In this riff (if it can be called that, I guess), we’re also going to use rhum as our base spirit. (But Justin, they say, you just complained about Manhattans being sweet. Yes, and then I started putting an amaro in them. We’re also going to wind up using Carpano Bianco, so, calm down.) In marrying to the more herbal notes brought on by the Sfumato, we’re going with a rhum agricole, that is a rum made from cane syrup and not molasses, something which makes it kind of funky and grassy. My on-hand bottle is Clement.
I also use Vena’s Fizz House’s Bitter Armando bitters here, because they have that smokey, woodsy character that just goes so well with the flavor I was shooting for here.
What you wind up with is a bitter, slightly smoky, herbal sort-of Manhattan which (because, let’s face it, I’m hilarious), I call Stormy NY Skies. It is HARD to drink this quickly for all the wonderful bitter herbaceousness (also not apparently a word), and makes for a wonderful after-dinner sipper. The reason for the name? 1- I’m hilarious. 2- I usually begin making this by explaining that I normally dislike Manhattans which starts a fight. 3-New York, Manhattan, eh? 4-I’m hilarious.
It goes like this: 3oz Rhum Agricole, ½oz Sfumato, ½oz Caparo Bianco Vermouth, 2 dashes Bitter Armando, stirred and served in a rocks glass with a fresh twist of orange (we need something to brighten this thing up).
Sazerac
So, I know I’m also not “making this drink right.” Maybe. I’m not sure. Are you? Are you sure of anything anymore? What day is it? What YEAR is it?
Times like that call for a Sazerac because usually a Sazerac precedes those questions and when you can’t tell up from down or Monesday from a Fraterday, you need one. Stay at home has us all like that more and more these days, and so here we are. Sazerac’s combine all that is wonderful about a sweet drink, an herbaceous drink, and a sippable (I’m going to fight my spellchecker) drink.
Rye whiskey is called for here, sorry to my cognac fans, and my on-hand bottle of Rye is either Sazerac Rye (I know, I know but it has this almost minty note to the back that I love. It was more readily available in North Carolina and I regret not stocking up before heading north), or Russell’s Reserve 6yo Rye. Russell’s is a flavorful rye with good spice, if unsatisfyingly short, and hence let it be mixed!
We’re also ditching the whole sugar cube thing because, really now. We’re gonna go back to the demerara syrup here for the same reasons we used it in the Old Fashioned.
Start by chilling a rocks’ glass by filling it with ice and water and setting it aside. Then we go to 3oz of rye, 2 dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters, 1 dash of Angostura Bitters and ¼oz demerara syrup. Toss the icewater out of the cold glass, and throw in ¼oz of Absinthe (oooh, scary, I know. Calm down! Absinthe is delicious, and you’ll be seeing it again on this blog probably next week) and swirl it around to rinse the glass. Toss that out if you want (I don’t), stir the drink, and pour it in. Garnish with a lemon twist.
And there we are, some of the drinks I turn to when life needs a bit of a pace adjustment. Try them out if you like, or don’t, and don’t judge me too harshly. Believe me, you haven’t seen the crazy stuff yet.
…Please drink responsibly.