You’re So Kind: NOLET’S Silver Gin

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NOLET'S-Silver-Fizz-No-2-2

I would like to once again thank those kind people at MBooth Marketing for giving me the opportunity to work with such a fantastic product. Aren’t they kind? THEY’RE SO INCREDIBLY KIND!

Ok, wow, like really wow. NOLET’S Silver Gin is sensational! It’s unlike any Gin I’ve ever had and if you’ve read the My Home Bar page of this blog, you know that I am INTO GIN! When tasting it neat, the nose is some outrageous combination of Turkish Rose, Peach and Raspberry, then comes more familiar Gin botanicals. The palate is smooth and silky Gin beautifulness. Truly, I was blown away.

I feel like NOLET’S Silver and I are going to have a long and fruitful relationship. I’m planning to do some strange and wonderous things with this Gin, I’m planning to use it with lots of fruit, hell, I’m planning to drink it neat with a Lemon twist. Right? It’s so good neat!

And now, the cocktails:

Half-Light-3

It’s an Improved Martini except because NOLET’S Silver is so different from any Gin that I’d usually use in a Martini, it’s NOT A MARTINI! I swapped out Dolin Dry for Dolin Blanc and added a rinse of St. George Absinthe Verte. Brilliant right? Just wait and see!

Half Light

  • 2 1/2 oz NOLET’S Silver Gin
  • 1/2 oz Dolin Blanc Vermouth
  • 2 dashes of Regans’ No. 6 Orange Bitters
  • St. George Absinthe Verte Rinse
  • Lemon Peel

Rinse coupe with Absinthe and chill. In tin, combine Gin, Vermouth, Bitters over cracked ice and stir. Strain into coupe, express Lemon peel and garnish.

Winter-Blossom-2

This is a Variation on a Sunflower Cocktail which is a Variation on a Corpse Reviver No. 2. I swapped out the Cointreau for Berentzen Pear Liqueur, ditched the Absinthe, adjusted the ratios a touch and added an Asian Pear Slice as garnish. Divine. A fabulous shaken Wintry Cocktail!

Winter Blossom

  • 1 oz NOLET’S Silver Gin
  • 3/4 oz Berentzen Pear Liqueur
  • 3/4 oz St-Germain
  • 3/4 oz Lemon Juice
  • Asian Pear Slice

In tin, combine Gin, Pear Liqueur, St-G and Lemon Juice over ice and shake baby shake! Double strain into coupe and garnish with Asian Pear Slice.

NOLET'S-Silver-Fizz-No-2-3

Silver Gin, Silver Fizz. Just cause it’s chilly, doesn’t give us any excuses for not making a Silver Fizz! Ohhhh, what a Silver Fizz this is too! I wanted to add complexity to the Fizz formula and build on NOLET’S Silver’s already fabulous flavour profile. Enjoy!

NOLET’S Silver Fizz

  • 1 3/4 oz NOLET’S Silver Gin
  • 1 dash Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
  • 1 dash Barkeep Lavender Bitters
  • 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
  • 1/2 oz Demerara Simple Syrup
  • Egg White
  • Club Soda

In tin, combine ingredients and dry shake until Egg White has emulsified. Add ice to tin and shake again. Add 1 oz Club Soda to Collins glass first, then ice on top of that. Double strain contents of tin into Collins glass, top with Club Soda. *This version of Soda first, Double Strain, Soda last will give you a nice foamy top to the Fizz. Cool baby, cool.

CHEERS!

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Don’t you just wanna drink like a million of these? I do.

Punch for Two: Brugal Rum

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DKO-Punch-1

It’s Punch for Two! As previously stated, the very nice people from MBooth Marketing gave me a bottle of Brugal Especial Extra Dry, so we’ll be making the Punch with this Rum. This is a totally tasty dry Rum and such a bang for your buck! Toasted marshmellow, vanilla, coconut and citrus flavours abound.

Holiday times make me think of Punch more than any other time of the year. This may have to do with the fact that last winter I had the greatest Whiskey Punch ever at Dead Rabbit NYC. Woah, damn, I think about that Whiskey Punch all year round. Come to think of it, I may have to head over to Dead Rabbit this week.

Here at my Home Bar, I’m not batching Punch for 20 people, just myself and my girlfriend, aka Punch for Two! As these recipes are created with just two people in mind, some of the rules have changed. But first, before we can talk about the rules, let’s talk about what goes into *Punch.

According to the Death & Co book, Wikipedia and David Wondrich’s Book Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl, Punch contains: Spirits, sugar, citrus, water and spice. The spice is really what differentiates punch from say, a Gin Sour, Margarita or Daquiri. The other important component of Punch is that Punch is stirred and ice, soda/champagne are added after the ingredients have been properly mixed. This last rule is the one we’ll be breaking when serving Punch for Two. We aren’t going to be leaving the Punch in a bowl with ice, we’re going to shake it, serve it and top it with soda!

And now, the cocktails:

DKO-Punch-2

DKO Punch: I loosely based this one on a Planter’s Punch and the Mandarin Orange slices are so very nice.

DKO Punch

  • 1 3/4 oz Brugal Extra Dry Rum
  • 1/4 oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
  • 1/2 oz Grenadine
  • 1/4 oz Simple Syrup
  • 1 oz Fresh Orange Juice
  • 1/2 oz Fresh Lime Juice
  • 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
  • Carbonated Lemon-aid or Lemon Soda
  • Mandarin Orange Slice

In tin, combine ingredients over ice and shake. Strain into punch cups and top with Carbonated Lemon-aid/Lemon Soda. Mandarin Orange Slice garnish.

St-Marks-Punch-2

St Marks Punch: The super nice Cocktail Crate man, Mr. Alex Abbott Boyd, gave me the Ginger Bee Craft Mixer at last weekend’s Brooklyn Flea. Isn’t he kind? He’s so kind. It’s similar to my Honey Ginger juice but also has hints of clove. So nice, so perfect for punch!

St Marks Punch

  • 1 1/2 oz Brugal Extra Dry Rum
  • 1 1/2 oz Flor de Caña 7 Aged Rum
  • 1/4 oz Santa Maria al Monte Amaro
  • 1 1/2 oz Cocktail Crate Ginger Bee or Honey Ginger Juice (may need to add more Honey Syrup to taste)
  • 3/4 oz Fresh Mandarin Orange Juice
  • 1/2 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
  • 1 dash Hella Bitter Citrus bitters
  • 1 dash Scrappy’s Cardamom bitters
  • Club Soda
  • Lemon slice

In tin, combine ingredients over ice and shake. Strain into Punch cups, top with Soda, Lemon slice garnish.

DeLuna-Punch-3

DeLuna Punch: Yep, you knew it, you knew there would be Tequila and you knew I would name the punch after myself cause I’m so into Tequila! Narcissism!

DeLuna Punch

  • 2 oz Brugal Extra Dry Rum
  • 1/2 oz Espolón Blanco Tequila
  • 1/2 oz Cointreau Triple Sec
  • 1 oz Agave
  • 1 oz Fresh Grapefruit juice
  • 1/2 oz Fresh Lime juice
  • 2 dashes Elemakule Tiki Bitters (Orange bitters work but the Tiki ones have that Spice!)
  • Club Soda
  • Lime slice

In tin, combine ingredients over ice and shake. Strain into Punch cups, top with Soda, Lime slice garnish.

DeLuna-Punch-2

*You know what really goes into Punch? A million ingredients and that’s why I love it so much! You can finally make a cocktail with at least eight ingredients and no one will call you silly!

Cheers

Copa de Oro is on a cocktail List!

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Copa-de-Oro-ChurchNight-Dec-14

Y’ALL! I MADE IT ONTO A COCKTAIL LIST! WOOOOOO! My mentor Angel Negrín deemed my Copa de Oro cocktail worthy of making it to his December 2014 #ChurchNight cocktail list at Lou’s Pup. Lou’s Pub is perhaps the greatest Dive Bar/Package Store/Cheer’s-Type-Bar/Creative Outlet ever. I love it there, I’ve had such good times and so many great drinks in this bar.

Tears of happiness!

Also, don’t you want to drink all of these drinks? And oh my god, how cheap are these drinks?

Anyway, hallelujah, I’m so excited. Luv y’all!

A Fashionable Fellow

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A-Fashionable-Fellow-1

Awooooohoooo, this is a damn tasty cocktail if I do say so myself. I was playing with Boulevardier variations and trying to make a more wintry/holiday version. Here we are: Campari, Sweet Vermouth, Bourbon and Apple Brandy in equal parts. YES!

Note: the Boulevardier is a variation on a Negroni and you all know how much I love Negroni! #EveryWeekIsNegroniWeek

A Fashionable Fellow

  • 3/4 oz Campari
  • 3/4 oz Carpano Antica Formula
  • 3/4 oz Laird’s Apple Brandy
  • 3/4 oz Elijah Craig 12 Year Bourbon
  • Lemon peel

In tin, combine Campari, Carpano Antica, Apple Brandy and Bourbon over cracked ice. Stir and strain into coupe. Express Lemon peel and garnish.

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Boozy and delicious. I almost made two of them but decided to be safe. SAFETY FIRST.

Just Look at This List: Dudley’s

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The other night some friends and I went to Dudley’s in the LES for cocktails and it was pretty sensational. I mean, just look at this list! Each drink we had was so delicious that I nearly re-ordered a drink. We chatted a lot with the very nice barman who’s name is Tom Roughton, very fun and very topknot. He was kind enough to share two of his recipes from that night’s menu with us: Keat’s Apothecary and the special drink of the night Hail Mary.

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Keat’s Apothecary

  • 3/4 oz Apple Brandy
  • 3/4 oz Rye
  • 3/4 oz Carpano Antica
  • 2 dashes Fernet Branca
  • 2 dashes Chartreuse Vert
  • 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
  • Orange peel

Combine ingredients in tin over ice and stir. Strain into ice filled rocks glass, express Orange Peel and garnish.

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Hail Mary

  • 1/2 oz Chartreuse Vert
  • 1/2 oz Averna Amaro
  • 1/2 oz Honey Syrup
  • Pernod Absinthe rinse
  • Doc’s Cider float

Rinse rocks glass with Absinthe and chill. In tin, combine Chartreuse, Averna and Honey syrup over ice and shake. Strain into rinsed glass, add rocks and float cider.

Tasty tasty times!

You’re So Kind: Berentzen Pear Liqueur

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Berentzen-Pear-Promo-Shot

As I’ve stated before, the very kind people at Berentzen sent me a fabulous bottle of Pear Liqueur. Aren’t they kind? I think they’re pretty kind. YOU’RE SO KIND BERENTZEN!

This Liqueur is a total knockout. I love it. It’s so fruit forward, crisp and refreshing. Pear all the way but in a totally different universe than many other Pear Liqueurs. This is not dry, subtle or mysterious. It’s PEAR! It’s happening! It’s fresh! I love it. I been using it with Gin, Tequila, Dolin Blanc, Soda, Tonic, Bourbon, Rum, EVERYTHING! Berentzen Pear Liqueur is awesome!

Bonus: now that it’s winter times, #PEARSEASON! Get into it!

And now, for the cocktails:

Portrait-of-a-Lady-1

Portrait of a Lady

  • 2 oz Smooth Gin (Plymouth used here)
  • 1 oz Berentzen Pear Liqueur
  • 1/2 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
  • 1/4 oz Lemon Juice
  • Cinnamon Garnish

In tin, combine Gin, Pear Liqueur, Dry Vermouth and Lemon Juice over ice and shake. Double strain into coupe and garnish with Cinnamon.

A-Long-Hard-Look-in-the-Mirror-2

A Long Hard Look In The Mirror

  • 2 oz Bourbon
  • 1/2 oz Cocktail Crate Spiced Old Fashioned Mixer or Allspice and Cinnamon Simple Syrup
  • 1/2 oz Berentzen Pear Liqueur
  • 1 dash Black Walnut Bitters
  • Maraschino Cherry

In tin, combine Bourbon, Spiced Old Fashioned Mixer, Pear Liqueur and Bitters over cracked ice. Stir and strain into Rocks glass. Add Ice and Cherry.

The-Feeling-of-Flight-2

The Feeling of Flight

  • 2 oz Dolin Blanc or Lillet Blanc
  • 3/4 oz Berentzen Pear Liqueur
  • 3/4 oz Grapefruit Juice
  • Grapefruit peel

In tin, combine Blanc Vermouth, Pear Liqueur and Grapefruit Juice over ice and shake. Double strain into coupe, express Grapefruit peel and garnish.

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Sandals in Winter

  • 1 1/2 oz Blanco Tequila
  • 3/4 oz Berentzen Pear Liqueur
  • 1/2 oz Cointreau Triple Sec
  • 1/4 oz Bonal Aperitif
  • 1 dropper Elemakule Tiki Bitters
  • Grapefruit peel

In tin, combine Blanco Tequila, Pear Liqueur, Triple Sec, Bonal and Bitters over ice and shake. Double strain into coupe, express Grapefruit peel and garnish.

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Woo, this Liqueur is all worn out and taking a nap now. So many uses, so many possibilities. This has been You’re So Kind, the post where someone nice gives me a bottle and I review it!

Cookin’ With Booze: Apple Crisp

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Cookin-with-Booze-Apple-Crisp-1

Here at my Home Bar, aka my Kitchen, I love to cook and bake as well as make fabulous cocktails! Inevitably, the booze finds its way into my cooking which means Boozy Booze Booze in my baked treats! Woo! This is: Cookin’ With Booze.

I got this recipe for Apple Crisp from Epicurious and made some minor adjustments, namely, I added Oats and Booze.

For the crisp topping:

  • 1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
  • 1/2 Cup Oats (Less flour, more oats please!)
  • 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled

For the apple filling:

  • 2 pounds firm, sweet apples (4 to 5 medium-large apples)
  • Up to 1/4 cup water
  • 1 oz Apple Brandy (here’s the Booze!)

For serving (optional):

  • Plain Whole Milk Yoghurt
  • Equipment:8-inch-square baking dish, preferably ceramic, glass, enamel-coated cast-iron, or stainless steel (avoid aluminum or uncoated cast-iron)

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Make the crisp topping:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add the butter pieces and use your fingers to rub the mixture together until the butter is incorporated and the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the apple filling.

Make the apple filling:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375°F.

Peel the apples and cut them in half lengthwise. Scoop out the cores and discard. Cut the apple halves lengthwise into 1/2- to 3/4-inch-thick slices—there should be about 6 cups total. Transfer the apple slices to an ungreased 8-inch-square baking dish and spread them out evenly. Drizzle up to 1/4 cup of water AND 1 oz Apple Brandy over the apples—use less water if the apples are particularly juicy.

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Scatter the crisp topping evenly over the fruit without pressing down on it. Bake until the topping is browned, the apples are tender when pierced with a knife, and the juices are bubbling, about 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Serve warm, with or without a scoop of Plain Whole Milk Yoghurt.

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YUMMMMMM!

Do you cook or bake with booze? Would you like to share a recipe? Send recipe and photo to HomeBarGirl@gmail.com!

¡Hello Jalisco!

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¡Hello-Jalisco!-1

It’s that time again! Time for another sensational Coffee Cocktail! So, are you ready? Are you ready for that get up and go feeling? Are you ready to run screaming out of the building? Are you ready to run all the way to Jalisco?

This Coffee Cocktail was inspired by Patrón Cafe Incendio, a tasty chocolate liqueur with a nice chili spice made from Patrón Tequila. It goes perfectly with Coffee, Añejo tequila and Chocolate powder. BOOM! I’ll also be using Cafe Incendio in place of Crème de Cacao in some upcoming cocktails.

¡Hello Jalisco!

  • 1 1/2 oz Espresso
  • 1/2 oz Patrón Cafe Incendio
  • 1/2 oz Añejo Tequila
  • 1 oz Half n Half
  • Chocolate powder

Build-in-glass: Add ingredients together and stir. Add ice and chocolate powder on top. ¡Salud!

¡Hello-Jalisco!-3

You’re So Kind + Recent Acquisitions

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Just a quick post to update y’all on all of the new booze I’ve gotten recently. No recipes this time, but I wanted to get everyone excited about all the things I’ll be posting on during the Holidaze and Winter Times! Cheers to you all!

Berentzen-Icemint-&-Pear-Liqueur

Berentzen Icemint Schnapps: Look at it? Isn’t it beautiful? It’s also 100 proof and the mint flavor is so clean that I have to say…I like it even more than Wondermint! I’ve been sipping Icemint Schnapps neat, on the rocks and am working on a few cocktails!

Berentzen Pear Liquer: In the same way that the Bushel & Barrel is fruit forward, crisp and clean, the Pear Liqueur kills it! Very fresh and bright pear flavors! I’ve been using it a lot with Gin.

Mbooth-Shipment-Nov-14

Today in the mail, I got these four beautiful bottles of delicious possibilities courtesy of MBooth Marketing. Aren’t they kind? I think they’re pretty kind. YOU’RE SO KIND MBOOTH! Y’all I’m gonna make a LOT of Holiday Cocktails with these!

Campari: You know it, you know I love it. Negroni for life! But Campari isn’t just Negroni, it’s the best citrus bitter Liqueur! I’m gonna use it in punches!

Brugal Especial Extra Dry: This is a totally tasty dry Rum and such a bang for your buck! Toasted marshmellow, vanilla, coconut and citrus. I’m gonna use it in ALL the hot cocktails I possibly can!

NOLET’S Dry Gin Silver: I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS AND IT WAS EVERYTHING I IMAGINED! Seriously though, such a fabulous gin. Raspberry, Turkish Rose and Peach notes are happening and NOLET’S is super smooth. I’m gonna use this every day? In every cocktail? Maybe! Definitely going to make some Martinis and a Martinez with it.

Patrón Cafe Incendio: I’ve been wanting a Chocolate liqueur and with my endless quest for spicy foods and drinks, Incendio fulfills my every need! Chocolate first, Chili spice next and the spice sits nicely on the tongue. I’m definitely planning to use it in Coffee Cocktails, with Añejo Tequila and with Rum.

Purchases-Late-Nov-'14

And then, here’s the recent acquisitions that I bought from the store!

Corralejo Añejo: I LUV Corralejo. Their Reposado is my favourite one to sip and so now that it’s Añejo season, I simply had to get this bottle. I’ll be using it in Old Fashioneds, with the Patrón Cafe Incendio, and sipping it neat.

St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram: Holiday spice in a bottle! So much Allspice! Like the NOLET’S gin, I’m probably going to use this every day in every cocktail I possibly can: Rum, Gin, Bourbon, Añejo, Apple Brandy. All of it. Allspice Dram forever!

Santa Maria al Monte: This is my favourite Amaro and I just couldn’t wait any longer to have it! I feel like Santa Maria is somewhere between Averna and Fernet but drier and less intimidating. Easy to sip neat. If you can have a taste, do it. If you can buy a bottle, do THAT instead. I’ll be sipping this all winter long!

Thanks for reading! The cocktails will be coming soon!