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 Was originally made with Cognac (and is still delicious with such).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.

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.