Science Of Drink

My new passion is Manhattan. Manhattan is old and classic cocktail with american whiskey (bourbon or rye), sweet vermouth and cocktail bitters. One of the key ingredient of the good Manhattan is vermouth. Unfortunately we have very pour range of vermouth in Ukraine now. There are available Martini, Cinzano and somewhere Gancia. But we have another way to vary our Manhattan expirience – to use Dubonnet instead vermouth in this magnificient cocktail.

The vermouth is fortified wine vwith aromatic plant extract. Dubonnet is fortified sweet wine with hint of quinquina. It is so similar stuff.

The first recipe of Dubonnet Manhattan was founded at CocktailDB. It is so similar to Dubonnet Cocktail with whiskey instead gin.

Dubonnet Manhattan

35 ml bourbon or rye whiskey
35 ml Dubonnet Rouge
Stir in mixing glass with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

First I try this cocktail with bourbon whiskey. I use Maker’s Mark handcrafted bourbon.

The Dubonnet Manhattan Cocktail is realy very good. This cocktail has very interesting taste with sweet muscat entry with a lot of fresh grapes and fruits, so sweet and smooth palate and great bourbon finish. I try this cocktail with canadian whisky also. The result is quite different. The main palate is sweet wine with a hint of whisky. But both of this cocktails are not Manhattan, actually.

Another recipe of Dubonnet Manhattan I found at the great Intoxicologist’s post Make Mine a Manhattan Holiday. This cocktail contain some dry vermouth for good balance.

Dubonnet Manhattan #2

50 ml bourbon
20 ml Dubonnet Rouge
7 ml vermouth dry
3 dash Angostura bitters
Stir in mixing glass with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist and cocktail cherry.

Actually this recipe is promo for Evan Williams bourbon and american Dubonnet (both crafted by Heaven Hill). I use Four Roses bourbon and french Dubonnet Rouge. Also I use only 1 my big dash of Angostura for good balance.

The cocktail is excellent! It is very good Manhattan recipe. Dubonnet Rouge and Martini Extra Dry work very well together. The result is great sweet “vermouth” taste. The Dubonnet Manhattan #2 has smooth very good balanced and round piquant taste with main bourbon palate. It is admirable Manhattan!

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This cocktail I found in Michael Jackson’s Pocked Bar Book (I have Russian edition of this book). The story and origin of the Louisiana Lullaby Cocktail are unknown. In my book are remark from author – “Louisiana Lullaby is an american cocktail for Francophils”. Not so informative…

Recipe of the Louisiana Lullaby Cocktail is so rare in a cocktail books. It is noticed in Complete Bartender Guide by Bob Sennett (1984) early.

First I try the Michael Jackson’s recipe:

Louisiana Lullaby

45 ml dark rum
10 ml Dubonnet Rouge
1 dash Grand Marnier
Stir well with a lot of ice. Strain into cocktail glass and garnish with lemon sliver.

My first Louisiana Lullaby Cocktail I mix with Appleton Estate V/X Jamaican Rum. The Louisiana Lullaby are truly great cocktail. It has main taste or rum with rich and complex palate. The Louisiana Lullaby is gorgeous drink.

Second version of the Louisiana Lullaby I found in Salvatore Calabrese’s book Complete Home Bartender’s Guide.

Louisiana Lullaby #2

40 ml dark rum
10 ml Dubonnet Rouge
10 ml Grand Marnier or Mandarine Napoleon
Stir well with a lot of ice. Strain into cocktail glass and garnish with lemon sliver or lemon twist.

It is another cocktail. Very good and interesting cocktail but different. This version of Louisiana Lullaby Cocktail has so sweet citrus taste with great palate of aged rum. Actually is admirable cocktail too.

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New Year coming soon. And we need some special for our holiday party. We drink different cocktails year around and for New Year Night we need something unusual and festive. Many people has very good tradition – to celebrate New Year with glass of Champagne or another sparkling wine. Thus I select two very interesting and delicious champagne cocktail for this case. Now we try the Classic Champagne Cocktail and it’s special variation – the Alfonso Cocktail.

The Alfonso Cocktail was created for Alfonso XIII – dethroned Spanish King. The Alfonso Cocktail looks like French creation but first print mention we find in Craddock’s The Savoy Cocktail Book. The Alfonso cocktail is variation of Classic Champagne Cocktail with Dubonnet wine instead cognac.

Alfonso Cocktail

1 sugar cube
1-2 dash of Angostura bitter
15-20 ml Dubonnet Rouge
Champagne
Place sugar cube in the flute and coat it with bitter. Add Dubonnet and fill the glass with cold Champagne. Add lemon peel or twist. Stir gentle and serve.

Original wine in this cocktail is Champagne. It is AOC and it is so expensive stuff. I try this cocktail with another French sparkling wine – Cafe de Paris Blanc de Blancs Brut by Cusenier (Pernod Ricard). The result are pretty good. The Alfonso Cocktail has so sweet, light and smooth taste with some bitter notes. It is very good festive cocktail.

Also I try the original – Champagne Cocktail. This cocktail is very old creation. First mention about Champagne Cocktail is in Jerry Thomases How to Mix Drinks, or Bon-Vivants Companion. The Champagne Cocktail is real cocktail – it consist of alcohol any kind (Champagne), sugar and bitter.

I use unusual recipe of this cocktail from diffordsguide.

Champagne Cocktail

1 cubes of brown sugar
3 dash Angostura bitter
15 ml cognac
Champagne
Place sugar cube in the flute and soak it with bitter. Add cognac and fill the glass with cold Champagne. Add orange twist.

I use Remy Marten VSOP and sparkling wine mentioned above. The Champagne Cocktail is very interesting drink with main palate of cognac and pleasant aroma of orange. It is good way to improve unloved wine :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR my dear readers. I wish you health, wealth and good luck in New Year!

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This cocktail I was found in the awesome book – Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh. Dr. Cocktail suggest that this cocktail was created by Emil Bauwens – head barman of the Bar Saint-James in Brussels. The drink was described in the Emil’s book Livre de Cocktails. The name of this drink is unclear. Actually this cocktail has anything blue.

Blue Paradise

50 ml cognac
25 ml Dubonnet
4 dash Parfait Amour liqueur
Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Actually this refined mix was carefully stirred by me then shaked. I use Remy Martin VSOP Cognac and BOLS Parfait Amour liqueur for this cocktail. I think that the BOLS liqueur is best choice for Blue Paradise. This liqueur has main vanilla flavor with subtle hint of curacao orange and rose petals. This liqueur has so natural purple color which works well in cocktail.

Wow! The Blue Paradise Cocktail is amazing drink. It has very balanced so sweet round cognac palate. The Dubonnet and the liqueur play with cognac very good. It is great drink!

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The Deshler Cocktail attract my attention at the one interesting cocktail bolg with good fotos – . . Cocktails with M . . – Adventures with (Mostly) Vintage Cocktails. The autor of this blog like old and classic cocktail and thi is very close to me. Now I explore many cocktail with Dubonnet – the Deshler among them.

The Deshler Cocktail is so old and rare cocktail. It name derived from name of famous lightweight pugilist Davide W. Deshler Jr. I found this cocktail in two my cocktail books – The Craft of the Cocktail by Dale DeGroff и The Essential Bartender`s Guide by Robert Hess. The recipes are different. It seems that recipe from The Essential Bartender`s Guide by Robert Hess is original. The same recipe contain the CocktailDB. I hope this recipe is equal to first printed in Recipes for Mixed Drinks by Hugo Enslin. The Dale’s version look like modern adoptation. I decide to try both variations.

The original type of whiskey for Deshler Cocktail is rye whiskey. The most common substitute of so rare american rye whiskey is blended canadian whisky. Actually is so different kind of whiskey but they have some similar characteristics – spiciness above all.

First of all I try old formula of the Deshler Cocktail:

Deshler

30 ml rye
20 ml Dubonnet Rouge
1 tsp. Cointreau
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
1 orange twist
1 lemon twist
Stir all ingredients (yes, with twists) with a lot of ice. Strain into cocktail glass and garnish with an orange peel.

The first Deshler was mixed with WILD TURKEY 101 Rye. It is magnificient cocktail with great whiskey palate. The rye absolutely dominate in the drink. Another ingredient has minor notes only – some vine notes of Dubonnet, hint of orange from Cointreau, some bitterness from Peychaud’s. Main palate is powerfull spiciness of rye. Great cocktail!

As rye substitute I try two ordinary blended canadian whisky – Black Velvet and Canadian Club. The results are not awesome but very interesting. This cocktail with ordinary product is great demonstration of mixology goal – to improve drink. Both cocktails has so sweet vine entry, spicy whisky palate and so citrus finish with a pleasant bitterness. Great cocktails too!

In second I try modern version of Deshler Cocktail from The Craft of the Cocktail by Dale DeGroff. This cocktail is so close to another classic cocktail with Dubonnet – the Dandy Cocktail (see The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock or it’s web-monument for details).

Deshler Cocktail (Dale’s DeGroff var.)

35 ml Dubonnet Rouge
35 ml rye
1 tsp. Cointreau
dash of Angostura bitters
Shake. Strain into cocktail glass and garnish with an orange peel.

Actually the shaking of this mix is a grand mistake. This method ruine this cocktail completely. Both modern Deshler (with canadian whisky and with rye whisky) are so poor (but cocktail with rye has great aftertaste) with unplesant sharp bitterness in finish. Certainly, the modern Deshler is not very bad but it is no so good as original.

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With our today cocktail – Opera Cocktail – I decide to taste two my maraschino liqueurs – LUXARDO Maraschino Originale and generic BOLS Maraschino. My first maraschino liqueur was DK Marasquin. Then I acquire the BOLS liqueur I tested both and conclude that BOLS is more interesting, natural and complex. It is so sweet and flavorfull liqueur with specific cherry taste and bright floral notes. It has a little bitternes like almonds or cherry pit in the finish. Then I obtain LUXARDO I surprised. The taste if LUXARDO liqueur is so different. This liqueur has complex specific flavor of marasca cherry with floral and almond notes. The taste is sharp, intensive and interesting. The liqueur has unique taste of marasca distillate with sharp entry, roundish palate and long finish with hint of wood.

The Opera Cocktail is so old cocktail. It was so popular in the legendary Harry’s American Bar in Paris in 1920-s. I use recipe from United Kingdom Bartenders Guild Approved cocktails (1936).

Opera Cocktail

60 ml gin
15 ml Dubonnet Rouge
15 ml maraschino liqueur
Stir well. Strain into cocktail glass. Squeeze orange peel on top.

In my opinion both cocktails are great. They have so sweet, strong and complex taste. The flavor has bright citrus, orange dominant. Actually cocktail with LUXARDO liqueur has more rich and complex taste. It is no so sweet as cocktail with BOLS. Main taste oh both cocktails is fruity-floral taste of maraschino with grape hint of Dubonnet. It is admirable cocktail.

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It is no secret that I prefer bitter-sweet cocktail. And now, after the great S.I.P. #2, which was devoted to one of the world-famous sour – the Sidecar, I am enthusiastic with bitter cocktail too. But I have not enough realy bitter ingredient in my bar – two bottle of fernet, one amaro and Campari. Two cocktails bitters are no object. Thus I remember that I have Dubonnet – one of the famous quinquina in the world. This bottle was unopened over one year. I open this bottle. It emerged that Dubonnet has no bitter taste. The Dubonnet Rouge has so sweet and spicy taste of muscat fortified wine with microscopic bitter feeling in the finish. But it no stopped me try this stuff in a cocktails.

First probe of mixing with Dubonnet is signature Dubonnet Cocktail. The recipe I found in the Cocktails and Mixed Drinks by Anthony Hogg.

Dubonnet Cocktail

35 ml Dubonnet
35 ml gin
Stir well with a lot of ice. Strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

The Dubonnet Cocktail is too similar to Old Great Martini Cocktail with Dubonnet instead sweet vermouth. Not dry but very pleasant and palatable gin drink. It has main palate of gin botanicals with great little bitter finish with sweet muscat notes. I tested few my gins in this cocktail – Befeater, Bombay Sapphire and Broker’s. IMHO the best result give us Befeater – it has so clear and crisp taste. Also you may zest your Dubonnet Cocktail with lemon for best results or add dash of bitters as Robert Schnakenberg advice in his great book Old Man Drinks (Quirk Books, 2010).

Actually my soul and taste bud wait some different pleasure. And I prepare the Dubonnet Royal Cocktail that was found in Cocktails and Mixed Drinks by Anthony Hogg in next line.

Dubonnet Royal

40 ml Dubonnet
20 gin
2 dash Angostura bitters
2 dash curacao
1 dash pastis
Mix well with ice all ingredients except pastis. Strain into cocktail glass and add one dash pastis on the top. Garnish with maraschino cherry.

Wow! It is great cocktail. It has magnificent taste – rich and complex. This cocktail seems as tastes firework. It is superb cocktail.

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