Crux

I recently bought a bottle of Dubonnet in order to make a Dubonnet Cocktail. The bottle was fairly inexpensive and seemed completely worth it... until I tried it. Overly sweet and... chewy? Just gross. While it sucked as half of a cocktail, I was undeterred and looked for a cocktail that used it well as a mixer. In discovering the Crux, I found exactly what I was looking for. An ideal balance of sweet, tart, and hearty. A new favorite of a drink that uses my underutilized bottle... who could complain?

I'll complain, the main ingredient is pricy Cognac... but still... a gem.

Crux

1 oz Cognac
3/4 oz Dubonnet
3/4 oz Cointreau
3/4 oz Lemon Juice

Shake.
Strain.
Savor.

James Bond gets drunk in Washington: The Vesper

President Bartlet: “Can I tell you what's messed up about James Bond?”
Charlie Young: “Nothing.”
President Bartlet: “Shaken, not stirred, will get you cold water with a dash of gin and dry vermouth. The reason you stir it with a special spoon is so not to chip the ice. James is ordering a weak martini and being snooty about it.”

James Bond is widely known for ordering Martinis, shaken, not stirred. As the quote indicates above, it's an attempt at sounding like Dr. Awesome that essentially results in receiving a slightly watered down drink. Embracing this for the day, I decided to double down on my James Bond-y ness and not only have his weak drink, but also have one that he (or Ian Fleming) created... except with a local twist.

In Casino Royale (1953), James Bond is specific in describing the drink that he wants to the bartender.

"A dry martini," he said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet."
"Oui, monsieur."
"Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, and then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel. Got it?"

Mr. Bond goes on to indicate that this drink is the Vesper, named after the beautiful and doomed double agent.

Now, some changes have to be made.

• Kina Lillet: It doesn't exist anymore, what is readily available, however, is Lillet Blanc.
• Gordon's: It is time to make this drink Washingtonian, while some Ebb and Flow Gin (Sound Spirits) would have been my choice, I've currently got a (still delicious) bottle of Voyager (Pacific Distillery).
• Vodka: Keep it in Washington, make it DryFly.
• Ice: Water it down a little less, use king sized ice cubes.

Please note that this is a drink made for those with a James Bond level tolerance. It's the size of 2 normal martinis. So watch out... and enjoy.

Vesper

3 oz Voyager Gin
1 oz Dryfly Vodka
1/2 oz Lillet Blanc
large lemon peel

Add liquid and ice.
Shake.
Strain into a large martini glass.
Express lemon peel and drop in.

Cheers to that's the SPIRIT for helping out with the quotes.

Sazerac

Simple.

Strong.

Historic.

Fantastic.

An old New Orleans cocktail. Was originally made with Cognac (and is still delicious with such).

The manliest pink tinged drink I know of.

The Sazerac.

3 oz Rye (Sazerac or Rittenhouse preferred)
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
5 dashes Peychauds Bitters
1 tsp absinthe
1 slice of lemon rind
Lots of crushed ice

Fill 2 lowball glasses with ice.

Glass 1: Add rye, simple syrup, and Peychauds bitters. Stir with a mixing spoon. Wait until other glass is ready.

Glass 2: When very cold and even a little frosty, discard the ice and rinse with absinthe. Discard some or all of the excess. (I let about half stay behind).

Strain the contents of glass one into glass two. Express the lemon rind into the drink and drop in.

Caipirinha

Done with a little cheating, aka using simple syrup and not real sugar, it was extremely easy to create the Brazilian national drink. A few easy ingredients, just a little muddling, and this tasty creation is good to go.

2.5 oz Cachaca
1/2 oz simple syrup
4 lime wedges (1/2 lime)

Add all the goodies (squeeze all the lime wedges) over a significant amount of ice.

Go to town with a muddler.

Pour it all into a cup.

Voila...

I could drink about 9 of these... 

The Last Word

Originally created by a gentleman named Frank Fogarty at the Detroit Athletic Club in 1920. Half assed research shows that he seems to only be famous for creating this drink.

Revived sometime in the 2000s by Murray Stenson. Now called the "definitive Seattle cocktail. All things considered... Seattle could do a whole lot worse.

The Last Word is an expensive drink to make (around $100 for all the bottles), but so amazingly balanced with herbal, sweet, and sour flavors all coming through.

Also, incredibly easy to make.

The Last Word
3 oz cocktail

3/4 oz Gin (I used Washington's own Voyager)
3/4 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur.
3/4 oz Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz Fresh Lime

Mix, Shake w/ Ice, Strain, Serve.

A true favorite.

Pisco Sour

A small surprise occurred a few months ago here in Olympia... the local liquor store, for whatever reason, had a special order of Picologia Pisco.  It was a little pricy, but certainly worth it to create the signature cocktail of not one, but two different countries.

Variations are aplenty with the Pisco Sour. Some (perhaps the Chileans?) claim the egg whites are unnecessary, most recipes say to use lemon... but then one notes that South American Limon is closer to a lime. Some use 2-1 rich syrup, some use 1-1 simple syrup. 

And no matter the makeup... Anthony Bordain would rather have a beer. 

In the end, I just went with what I know I like... less sweet and more alcohol. Thus, the recipe from imbibe magazine (with a quick nod to the limon/lemon/lime issue).

Pisco Sour

3 oz Pisco

1 oz lemon and lime juice mixture

3/4 oz simple (1:1 ratio of water and sugar) syrup

1/2 egg white

4 drops angostura bitters

Ice

In a cocktail shaker, mix together pisco, lemon and lime juice (I did about 50/50), simple syrup, and egg white. Cover and shake.

Uncover and add ice (bigger ice cubes are better). Recover and shake.

Strain into a cocktail glass.

Drop 4 or so drops of angostura bitters onto the egg white foam in different spots around the drink. Use a toothpick and swirl them around for the nicely finished look. 

Clash of the Titans

I found this recipe on the back of the bottle of Blackmaker Root Beer Liqueur that I recently bought.

I'm not sure why the drink has this name. It's a mixture of two alcohols... neither of which have any stature that can be compared to that of a titan.

Clash of the Titans

1 oz Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka
1 oz Blackmaker Root Beer Liqueur

Shake with ice.
Strain into shot glass.
Consume.

The yelp shot glass automatically gave it 5 stars. I'd say it's more worthy of 3. It tastes like a sugar bomb root beer float. It goes down remarkably smooth given the fairly high proof. If that's what you're looking for... go fourth.