Science Of Drink

Angostura bitter is hard available in the Ukraine. But Angostura bitter is essential ingredient of the famous Manhattan. Manhattan is truly magnificient cocktail. As Garry Regan wrote in they The Joy of Mixology Manhattan is King of Cocktail. Actually we can make acquaintance with Manhattan with help of two very interesting special variations.

The Special Manhattan Cocktail was found at the CocktailDB. It contain Campari Bitter instead Angostura.

Special Manhattan Cocktail

50 ml whiskey
25 ml sweet vermouth
7 ml Campari
Stir well with a lot of ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with cocktail cherry.

Actually a proper whiskey in Manhattan are american whiskeys like rye whiskey or bourbon, but you may substitute with canadian whisky with apropriate results.

I tasted several combinations with all of my canadian whisky – Canadian Club, Black Velvet and my favorite Crown Roal De Luxe. Also I use two of my sweet vermouths – Martini & Rossi Rosso and Cinzano Rosso. IMHO Martini Rosso vermouth is not great choice for both cocktails. The Cinzano works well in both.

The Special Manhattan Cocktail is great man’s drink. It is connoisseur’s choice. This cocktail is too similar to original Manhattan. It is strong bitter sweet and complex cocktail with aromatic profile. The bitternes of this two cocktails are so different.

Our next cocktail is Esquire Manhattan. This cocktail was created by D. Wondrich for Manhattan Experience Contest. This Manhattan contain Fernet-Branca instead of Angostura.

Esquire Manhattan (Эсквайр Манхэттен)

50 ml bourbon
25 ml sweet vermouth
12 ml Fernet-Branca
Stir well with a lot of ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass and add a orange twist.

Original recipe prescribe Woodford Reserve bourbon and Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth.

The Esquire Manhattan is great cocktail. It has strong bitter-sweet taste with great bourbon palate. The bitter finish are very interesting with a lot of herbal bitter notes of Fernet-Branca. It is great Manhattan expirience.

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This cocktail I found at the Mandarine Napoleon promo-site. Actually I doubt promo-cocktails but in this case it is sounds great.

Mandarine Old-Fashioned

25 ml Mandarine Napoleon liqueur
25 ml premium bourbon
1-2 dash Angostura bitter
a piece of orange peel
Put orange peel and bitter into old-fashioned glass. Add some liqueur and bourbon, add one large ice cube and stir. Then add another liquors and second large ice cube. Stir and serve.

The Mandarine Old-Fashioned is truly magnificient cocktail. I use one of my favorite premium bourbon – Maker’s Mark. The results are great. Strong but extremely smooth taste with great bourbon and fresh citrus palate. Taste and aroma are so complex and delightful. The Mandarine Napoleon liqueur and this cocktail are highly recommended to consume :)

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The Boulevardier Cocktail was introduced for me by Eric Elestad. I read about this cocktail at his perfect blog – Underhill Lounge. His specify that The Boulevardier is more better cocktail than tasted Old Pal. And now I collected a few bottle of perfect bourbon whiskey and ready to taste some interesting.

The story of Boulevardier Cocktail conected (as Ted Haigh in his Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails specify) with name of Erskine Gwynne – expatriate writer, socialite (I like this word!) and nephew of railroad tycoon Alfred Vanderbilt, which edited a magazine The Paris Boulevardier circa 1930. The Boulevardier was his signature drink. This cocktails was rirst mentioned in Barflies and Cocktails by Harry McElhone (1927).

First I atsted the adapted version from the Ted Haigh’s book:

The Boulevardier

45 ml bourbon whiskey
30 ml sweet vermouth
30 ml Campari
Stir all ingredients long and well with a lot of ice. Strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

I use the Four Roses Bourbon and Cinzano Rosso for my first Boulevardier. It is so good and interesting cocktail. But it is not ideal. The Boulevardier cocktail has bitter-sweet taste with some hints of bourbon. I decide to taste the authentic proportions of the Boulevardier Cocktail from Barflies and Cocktails by Harry McElhone.

Boulevardier aka Bourbon Negroni

25 ml bourbon
25 ml sweet vermouth
25 ml Campari
Stir all ingredients long and well with a lot of ice. Strain into cocktail glass.

The Boulevardier Cocktail aka Bourbon Negroni is great and magnificient cocktail. It has rich and complex palate with notes of sweet herbs, citrus fruits and bourbon.

Also I try the Old Pal Cocktail with rye whiskey instead canadian:

Old Pal

25 ml rye whiskey
25 ml dry vermouth
25 ml Campari
Mix well with a lot of ice. Strain into fancy cocktail glass.

This cocktail is not bad bad no great. It has so bitter taste with herbal pakae of vermouth and Campari and spicy taste of rye whiskey. The Boulevardier is my choice from this two cocktails.

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The Mint Julep is very old mixed drink. The word “julep” is derived from Arabic word gulab – a sweet syrupy drink in which medicine was given in the past. First recording about julep as alcoholic beverage flavored with mint was in 1787.

The Julep was born somewhere in South of USA – in Maryland, Virginia or North Carolina in the early to mid 1700s. The author of this cocktail is unknown. The Modern Mint Julep with bourbon was born in second half of the XIX century somewhere in Kentucky.

The Modern Mint Julep is cocktail consist of bourbon, sugar, mint and water.

Mint Julep

dozen of fresh tender mint leaf
1-2 bsp. sugar
1-2 tsp. water
75-90 ml bourbon
Delicate bruise mint, sugar and water on the bottom of frosted old-fashioned glass (or, preferable, silver or pewter julep cup) than add crushed ice and little of bourbon and swirl the drink until glass frosted. Than add more bourbon and ice, garnish with sprig of mint.

Use frosted glassware, very cold and dry crushed ice and bonded (over-proof) bourbon for great results. Also use metal (silver or pewter traditionally) cups for great look.

The properly made Mint Julep is gorgeous drink with great balanced smooth sweet and strong taste. It is so strong, very strong cocktail with power kick. The main palate of Mint Julep is spicy bourbon and mint sweetness.

The Old-Fashioned Cocktail is genuine cocktail. Actually, as Jerry Thomas suppose, cocktail is mix of strong spirit, bitter, sugar and water. Consequently the old-fashioned is the cocktail. Whiskey cocktail. Simple but famous and great.

The Old-Fashioned Cocktail was created in the Pendennis Club in Loisville, Kentucky circa 1890. This cocktail consist of whiskey (bourbon as a rule or rye), cocktails bitter (Angostura is common), sugar and water. The standart recipe and preparation is follows:

Old-Fashioned

1 sugar cube (or 1-2 bsp. of simple syrup)
1-3 dash Angostura bitter
1 tsp. water
50 ml bourbon (or rye whiskey)
Place sugar cube on the bottom of an old-fashioned glass (or pour simple syrup). Soak the sugar cobe with bitters and carefully muddle it. Add some water and stir. Than add some whiskey and stir. Than add two (only two!) large (very, very large!) cubes of ice. Fill the glass with more whiskey and stir. Garnish with a lemon peel.

You may add some dash curacao or Cointreau in your Old-Fashioned Cocktail (optional).

Actually the Old-Fashioned Cocktail is gobsmacked palate-paralysing drink. Absolutely idiosyncratical cocktail. And I love it!

Next great thing about Old-Fashioned Cocktail is the question. To muddle or not to muddle? :) Some barman (DeGroff for example) prefer to muddle some fruits (as a common – piece of orange and maraschino cherry) for yours Old-Fashioned. Some purists deny.

Old-Fashioned (Muddled)

1 sugar cube (or 1 tsp. simple syrup)
1-3 dash Angostura bitter
1 piece of orange
1 maraschino cherry
1 tsp. of water
50 ml bourbon
In the bottom of an old-fashioned glass carefully muddle the sugar cube, bitter, orange slice and cherry with splash of water. Remove the fruit husks. Add the ice and whiskey, stir. Garnish with orange slice and red maraschino cherry.

Yoг may also muddle some pineapple cubes.

The muddled Old-Fashioned is another Old-Fashioned Cocktail. It has interesting and delicious fruit and whiskey taste. It has great look. But it has not the charisma :) or power… But it is delicious, whatever!