classic cocktail – Page 2 – Science Of Drink

December 25, 2008December 25, 2008

Claridge

This elegant cocktail was invented in lobby-bar Savoy Hotel (not Claridge as you may reflect!). Claridge Cocktail has very interesting and real taste. I think it is ideal on after work evening or romantic night.

Claridge

30 ml gin
30 ml dry vermouth
15 ml Cointreau
15 ml apricot brandy
Shake. Cocktail glass.

Admirable! Claridge Cocktail has unique rich sweet taste. Actually the taste of Claridge Cocktail not depend on its coldness – this cocktail has very good taste at room temperature.

December 21, 2008December 21, 2008

Pegu Club

Pegu Club Cocktail is very interesting drink. It was born in Pegu Club, Rangoon, Burma about 1927. I think it was very interesting place and time. Great time for great classical cocktails and very unusual place – Burma…

I payed attention for Pegu Club Cocktail on my blog. But I think that this classical cocktail is worthy of most detailed investigation. I try some version of this cocktail from competent sources for best understanding of Pegu Club Cocktail.

First recipe was found on Esquire Drink Database:

Pegu Club #1

60 ml gin
20 ml orange curacao
20 ml fresh lime juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Shake with a lot of cracked ice. Strain into cocktail glass and garnish with lime wedge.

We have sour and bitter-taste cocktail in result. I think that it is great aperetive but it is not my choice.

Two next recipe was found on CocktailDB:

Pegu Club #2

60 ml gin
30 ml ml orange curacao
5 ml fresh lime juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Stir with ice. Strain into cocktail glass and garnish with lime wedge.

This cocktail is awful. It has oily-sweet and very bitter taste. As for me it is disappointing thing. But this cocktail let me to understand one key problem of Pegu Club Cocktail. One of key thing of Pegu is airing of a drink. Airing of coctail during it shaking give us smooth and pleasant drink.

Next recipe of Pegu Cocktail was found on CocktailDB too. The composition of this version of Pegu Club Cocktail seems very interesting:

Pegu Club #3

50 ml gin
15 ml orange curacao
8 ml fresh lime juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Shake (Hard! Bruise it!) with a lot of cracked (or crushed) ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass and garnish with lime wedge.

This cocktail has bright, very aromatic and smooth bitter taste. Actually this Pegu Club Cocktail is great cocktail. For best result you must shake your cocktail very, very hard. I use crushed ice and shake hard my cocktail about 30 – 45 sec. In this condition the airing of drink is optimal and we obtain great cocktail.

I try version of Pegu Cocktail by Dale DeGroff too.

Pegu Club by Dale DeGroff

60 ml gin
20 ml orange curacao
2 lime wedge
2 dash Angostura bitters
Muddle lime with liqueur and bitters, then add gin, ice and shake. Strain into cocktail glass and garnish with lime wedge.

It is very interesting and refreshing cocktail. This version of Pegu Club Cocktail has light bitter taste and is good balanced. The taste of this cocktail is more closest to #3 version but has some interesting notes of lime essential oils from peel. Actually it is very interesting drink.

December 14, 2008September 6, 2014

Martinez

I’ve posted about the Martinez Cocktail on my blog before, but I decided to return to this cocktail for detailed investigation. The Martinez Cocktail is one of my favorite classic cocktails.

The Martinez Cocktail is a very old cocktail. Some peoples think that the Martinez is the precursor of the most famous cocktail of the world – The Martini Cocktail. The author of the Martinez Cocktail is legendary Jerry ‘Professor’ Thomas.

Some imbibers-bloggers pay attention for this cocktail too. You can find more interesting information about Martinez on the one of my favorite blog Oh, Gosh! (by Jay Hapburn) and, of course, on wonderful Spirits And Cocktails (by Jamie Boudreau).

First I’ve discovered an old-style version of the Martinez Cocktail, which is closer to the original recipe by Jerry Thomas.

Martinez (Old Style)

60 ml sweet vermouth
30 ml gin (Old Tom gin is preferable)
1 tsp maraschino liqueur
1 dash bitters
Stir. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a quarter of lemon wheel.

It’s an amazing cocktail with right and elegant taste. It is a little weak as for my taste, but rich complex taste of this version is very good for me.

Next step of my investigation is the recipe of the Martinez from the CocktailDB. In that Martinez we can try an orange curacao as substitute of a maraschino liqueur and a dry vermouth instead the sweet.

Martinez (Dry Style)

35 ml gin
30 ml dry vermouth
7 ml orange curacao (or maraschino liqueur)
1 dash orange bitters
Stir. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

This Martinez is pretty close to the Martini Cocktail. It has so dry, aromatic taste (I use MB Orange Curacao 30%). This cocktail is a very good aperitif, but this version is still not my choice.

This version of the Martinez but with maraschino liqueur has beautiful light sweet aromatic taste with a lot of floral undertones. This palate is more preferable for my understanding of the Martinez Cocktail.

And of course I’ve tried a modern version of the Martinez Cocktail by Jamie Boudreau. It is one of my favorite cocktails.

Martinez (Modern style)

45 ml gin
45 ml sweet vermouth
2 tsp maraschino liqueur
2 dash orange bitters
Stir. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon slice.

Undoubtedly it’s a magnificent cocktail! It’s a smooth and very aromatic drink. Sometimes I use Angostura aromatic bitters instead orange bitters, and, in my opinion, it works well.

And finally I’ve tried my own version of this classic cocktail. I like to use a sweet citrus vermouth by Cinzano in my Martinez.

My Martinez

35 ml gin
35 ml sweet citrus vermouth (I prefer Cinzano Limetto)
2 tsp maraschino liqueur
2 dash Angostura bitter
Stir. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon slice.

It is a beautiful cocktail with smooth aromatic citrus taste.