lemon peel

Drinking with Mad Men Season 7: the Martini

/ Dani DeLuna / Leave a comment

Martini-Olives

To celebrate “The End of An Era”, welcome to a series of drinks from the television show Mad Men. Each week I’ll be featuring a different cocktail from the show, so we can all drink along with our favourite Madison Avenue Ad-men and women.

You guys, WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE LAST TWO EPISODES!?! Will Don drive to California for that “golden state dream” that he’s always had? Will he go to the family farm and encounter something terrible? Will he go back to Manhattan and jump out of the window at McCann? You know he’s always had a thing about death…

OMINOUS!

As we near the end of the show, you knew that one of these posts had to include Martinis and so here we are!

Mad Men Roger Martini

Look at Roger’s Casual but serious Martini with an Olive. Image via AMC.

Mad Men Jim Martini

And here Jim is looking very sharp with his Martini with an Olive. Image via AMC.

Martini-Olive-2

I like to drink my Martinis in the following format:

Martini

  • 2 1/4 oz Plymouth Dry Gin
  • 3/4 oz Carpano Dry Vermouth
  • Garnish: Lemon peel or Olives

Combine ingredients over ice and give it a nice long stir. Strain into chilled coupe and garnish.

Martini-Twist-2

Here it is again with a Lemon peel. If you’re going to add the lemon peel, perhaps add two dashes of Orange Bitters.

Mad Men PPL Gibson Martini 2

Here are the PPL chaps and Duck having a Gibson Martini which is essentially a martini with more Gin, less Vermouth and a cocktail Onion. Image via Netflix screen grab.

Martini-Pickled-Gibson-1

I don’t have any Cocktail Onions at home but I do have some delicious pickled Red Onion that my girlfriend made so we’ll go with that! This is quite tasty by the bye, definitely onion-y but certainly tasty.

Gibson Martini

  • 2 3/4 oz Dry Gin
  • 1/4 – 1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
  • Garnish: Cocktail Onion or (in this case) pickled Red Onion.

Combine ingredients over ice and give it a lonnnnnng stir. Strain into chilled coup and garnish with Onion.

Martini-Pickled-Gibson-2

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed Martini Time! May your drinks be delicious and our Mad Men viewing not give us all heart attacks! Cheers!

I’ll be doing this series until the end of Mad Men, so see you next week!

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I’m on a Podcast + The Other White Negroni

/ Dani DeLuna / 2 Comments

Smock Podcast HBG 1

Woo! Y’all, it’s me, my new fave Hawaiian Shirt and The Other White Negroni at Smock Podcasting for the show Strong Takes! That’s right, I’m on a podcast! (Episode 10 – Dani DeLuna) A very nice dude named Corey Smock interviewed me and asked me all sorts of questions about being a Home Bar Girl. I brought a drink for us to share called The Other White Negroni and we chatted about various topics.

Topics like:

It was loads of fun and Corey is the nicest man in the world, so head over to iTunes and check it out!

Smock Podcast HBG 2

Recording gear and The Other White Negroni

If Corey liked it, I’m sure y’all are going to love The Other White Negroni. (Corey used to be a bartender and he knows what’s up.) The inspiration for this drink is my total obsession with White Negronis aka, Negroni Bianco. I actually have an entire post dedicated to several White Negroni Variations and since then I’ve probably created five or six more. For this particular cocktail, I used Fennel infused Dolin Blanc cause it’s divine.

Dolin-Blanc-&-Fennel

Fennel infused Dolin Blanc

  • 300 ml Dolin Blanc
  • approx 1/2 Fennel Bulb

Roughly chop Fennel Bulb and combine in jar, stirring every hour or so. Infuse for around 5.5 hrs, then fine strain.

The-Other-White-Negroni-1

The Other White Negroni

  • 1 oz Denizen Aged White Rum (Banks 5 Year Rum would also be awesome)
  • 3/4 oz Fennel infused Dolin Blanc
  • 1/2 oz Hayman’s Old Tom Gin (Plymouth Gin would also be awesome)
  • 1/2 oz Salers Aperitif (Suze Aperitif would also be awesome)
  • Garnish: Lemon peel

Combine ingredients over ice and stir. Strain into Double Rocks glass over ice. Express Lemon peel and garnish.

The-Other-White-Negroni-3

Damn. I cannot get enough of these Negroni Bianco and I cannot tell you how excited I am to be on this episode of Strong Takes!

Cheers!

Carpano Dry, my new Best Friend

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Carpano-Dry

We’ve gathered together today to talk about Carpano Dry, my new fave Vermouthy. That’s right, from the house of Carpano, makers of the universally beloved Carpano Antica, comes a terrific Dry Vermouth. I love Vermouthy, I always think about Vermouthy, Vermouthy is a very dear friend of mine.

Flavor Profile:

Nose: Citrus, spices, coriander, fruit
Tongue: Lemony, long finish, acidic, “winey”, green apple, citrus fruits
Impression: smoother than all other Italian Dry Vermouth I’ve tried, not as dry as Dolin Dry, a tad sweet, citrus fruit notes abound. Am highly likely to use it in a Negroni, Martini with a bright Gin and a Lemon twist, drink it alone on ice with a Lemon twist.

For real though, I’ve probably made at least 7 or 8 Carpano Dry on the rocks with a Lemon twist, it’s so good on its own. In fact, I just had one with my homemade Black Truffle Chicken Papardelle. (Thanks to my excellent girlfriend for the excellent dinner!)

And now, the cocktails:

A-Brighter-Martini-2

In the same way that when we get a new Rum, we make a Daiquiri, when we get a new Dry Vermouth, we make a Martini. In this particular case, we make A Brighter Martini. I chose NOLET’S Dry Gin because it’s a very bright Gin, full of fruit, floral notes and exactly the one to pair with Carpano Dry.

A Brighter Martini

  • 2 1/4 oz NOLET’S Silver Dry Gin
  • 3/4 oz Carpano Dry Vermouth
  • 2 dashes Regan’s No 6 Orange Bitters
  • Garnish: Lemon peel

Combine ingredients over ice and stir until proper dilution has been achieved. Strain into coupe. Express Lemon peel and garnish.

Washington-Avenue-3

If it works well in a Martini, then Carpano Dry must also work well in a classic style cocktail. This is sort of a Brooklyn meets an Improved Whiskey Cocktail and is really bright and cheery. Perfect for Spring.

Washington Avenue

  • 1 1/2 oz Rye
  • 3/4 oz Carpano Dry
  • 1/4 oz Pernod Pastis
  • 1/4 oz Maraschino Cherry Liqueur
  • 2 dashes Hella Bitter Citrus Bitters
  • Garnish: Lemon & Orange peels

Combine ingredients over ice and stir until proper dilution has been achieved. Strain into coupe. Express Lemon peel, Orange peel and garnish.

Arsenic-&-Old-Lace-2

Lastly, we’re gonna use Carpano Dry in a classic cocktail: Arsenic & Old Lace. There are several different specs for this drink with the Crème de Violette ranging from 1/4 oz to 1/2 and the Absinthe Vert from a rinse to 1/2 oz! I’m going with a more Vermouth heavy recipe and lighter on the Violette and Absinthe. Again, Carpano Dry is perfect in this drink .

Arsenic & Old Lace

  • 1 3/4 oz Old Tom Gin or English Dry Gin
  • 3/4 oz Carpano Dry
  • 1/4 oz Crème de Violette
  • 1/4 oz St George Absinthe Verte
  • 2 dashes Regans’ No 6 Orange Bitters
  • Lemon Peel

Combine ingredients over ice and stir until proper dilution has been achieved. Strain into coupe. Express Lemon peel and garnish.

Washington-Avenue-2

Dreamy, springy, light, bright and wonderful, Carpano Dry, you are my new Best Friend.

Thanks to the Baddish Group for the wonderful bottle of Carpano Dry Vermouth!

Blonde Bertie & Teeling Whiskey

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Blonde-Bertie-2

It’s March! We made it! Hopefully this crazy cold weather will begin to let up and we can return to our regularly scheduled programming.

It’s time for Whiskey, ALL the Whiskey. Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey is a complex bottle of whiskey aged in Rum casks. Here’s my impression:

Nose: Vanilla, spices, Rum, grains, corn, honey
Tongue: Caramel, woody, Rum, apple, a tad peaty or “Moorish”, vanilla
Finish: Rich, oily, full bodied, spicy

With all those Honey notes, I decided to go in the grown n’ sexy Gold Rush direction. Also, as Teeling Irish Whiskey is a revival Whiskey, along with the notes from Rum casks, I wanted to pair it with Adam Elmegirab’s Boker’s Bitters. I wanted that Old Timey feeling and Blonde Bertie definitely has that. This cocktail is a tad sweet, a tad dry and very very tasty.

Blonde Bertie

  • 2 oz Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey
  • 3/4 oz Dolin Dry
  • 1/2 oz Honey Syrup
  • 2 dashes Adam Elmegirab’s Boker’s Bitters
  • Garnish: Lemon Peel

Combine ingredients and stir over ice until proper dilution has been achieved. Strain into coupe, express Lemon peel and garnish.

Blonde-Bertie-3

Yes, the name of the drink is a Mad Men reference and thanks to The Baddish Group for the delicious bottle of Teeling Small Batch Irish Whiskey!

Dr Joe aka Let’s Get Surgical, Surgical

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Dr-Joe-1

If y’all follow me on instagram, you’d know that I recently had surgery on my left arm and would have seen this photo:

IMG_0376

This was obvi taken before surgery: Two gowns on my body, one oxygen measuring thingamabob on my 4th finger of my right hand and a hat for my Top Knot. #TopKnot4Lyfe 

The surgery was for a compressed Ulnar Nerve in my left elbow, aka Cubital Tunnel, which occurred in March 2014 after an elevator door accident. (Don’t ask.) Since that time, I’ve had very limited use of my arm & hand, lots of pain and tingling + numbness in my 4th & 5th digits. To be frank, it sucked.

ulnar_nerve

Image via http://www.surgicalnotes.co.uk/files/images/ulnar_nerve.jpg

But now, NOW I’ve had surgery and things are already better than they were before! I had an amazing experience at Columbia Presbyterian where everyone from the Nervously-Singing-Resident-Surgeon to the Uses-Crystals-And-Practices-Reiki-Nurse were so kind, helpful and totally on top of things. And then, there’s my hero, my surgeon, my salvation: Dr Joe.

That’s not his real name and I didnt ask permission to use his name, so for now, he’s Dr Joe. He is a brilliant but kind and forthright surgeon. Most of the surgeons I’ve interacted with during my injury have been total assholes. But not Dr Joe! He’s the best! The kindest! And he has dark curly hair like I do! I’d even say he’s a “Hot Doctor”.

This is the last drink I made the night before Surgery and it was incredible: dry, smooth, sophisticated, completely classy. I want to live my life as if it were this drink.

Dr Joe

  • 2 oz Hayman’s Old Tom Gin
  • 1/2 oz Santa Maria Al Monte Amaro
  • 1/2 oz Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth
  • Around 14 drops of Maraschino Cherry Liqueur
  • 2 dashes Dr Adam Elmegirab’s Boker’s Bitters*
  • Garnish: Lemon Peel

Combine ingredients, add ice and stirrrrrrr until proper dilution has been achieved. Strain into coupe, express Lemon Peel and garnish.

*A quick note about these sensational bitters: THEY’RE SENSATIONAL! Made with a 19th century recipe, they are intended to reproduce what were perhaps the Original bitters. They shine with Old Tom Gin, like raise the banners and wave the flags. Buy some and make yourself a Martinez immediately!

Dr-Joe-2

Mr Thomas with 18.21 Earl Grey Bitters

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Mr-Thomas-1

Hellooooo February, you strangely spelled month you. The month of bitter cold, lots of chocolate and luvvvvvvvv. It’s nasty as all hell outside in Brooklyn this morning, so let’s dive right into this bright, shimmery stirred cocktail with 18.21 Bitters! For my posts on 18.21 Bitters, I’ve decided to change the format from one giant “You’re So Kind” post to individual posts.

The 18.21 Earl Grey bitters are everything I wanted them to be, namely, they are potently Earl Grey. When I opened the bottle and sniffed the fabulous Earl Grey aroma, my brain said “GIN”, so I agreed. Then my brain said, “in the style of a martini but with just a touch of Sunshine” (aka St-Germain) and here we are.

Mr Thomas

Combine ingredients over ice and stirrrrrrrrrrr. Strain into coupe, express Lemon peel and garnish.

Mr-Thomas-2

Thanks to 18.21 Bitters for these wonderful Earl Grey bitters! They’re so kind! I will be using the Earl Grey with more Gin, Tequila and Pimm’s. I just need to get the Pimm’s back in my home bar! 

MxMo + An English Sailor

/ Dani DeLuna / 1 Comment

An-English-Sailor-1

You guys, worlds have collided! It turns out that the Mixology Monday theme for the month of January is BLUE! It’s like I don’t even need an excuse to keep going with #TikiTheSnowAway. Tiki is everywhere. Tiki is omnipresent. Tiki IS.

Blue MxMo Logo

MxMo is a monthly cocktail party with a theme. They give the theme, then we cocktail bloggers post our drinks to fit this theme. This months’ boistrously Blue theme is being hosted by Andrea over at GinHound and she is using Blue in two ways:  “melancholy” or “Tiki”. Obvi, I’m going with Tiki.

ALSO: why has no one made a Blue Monday joke here? Seriously. Such a great opportunity.

An English Sailor

  • 2 oz Hayman’s Old Tom Gin
  • 3/4 oz Senior Blue Curaçao
  • 1/4 oz Luxardo Maraschino Cherry Liqueur
  • 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
  • 1 dash of Orange Bitters
  • Garnish: Lemon peel and Maraschino Cherry flag

In container, combine ingredients over ice and shake baby shake. Strain into coupe, garnish with Lemon peel and Cherry flag.

An-English-Sailor-2

What fun! This is my first time to participate in MxMo and I’m looking forward to more challenges! Have the best Blue Monday ever, y’all. 🙂

Happy 2015 from Myself and the Cat

/ Dani DeLuna / 1 Comment

Me n Moopsy

Happy prrrrrrty prrrrrty fun times to you all from me n’ Kuti. I’ve had loads of fun writing this Home Bar Girl blog and I hope you’ve had fun too! Have a sensational NYE y’all!

Tonight I will most likely be drinking one or more of the following:

  1. A French 75
  2. Fashionably Late – 1/4 oz St-G, 1/2 oz Chartreuse Jaune, 1 dash Celery bitters, top with dry Prosecco and Lemon peel
  3.  Yamazaki 12 Year on a rock
  4.  A glass of Champagne/Prosecco with a Lemon peel
  5.  Punch

Cheers to you and yours!

You’re So Kind: NOLET’S Silver Gin

/ Dani DeLuna / 1 Comment

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!

Winter-Blossom-1

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

A Fashionable Fellow

/ Dani DeLuna / Leave a comment

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.

A-Fashionable-Fellow-2

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