orange bitters

You’re So Kind: Cocktail Crate Spiced Old Fashioned

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Alex Boyd the very kind founder of Cocktail Crate gave me a bottle of his Spiced Old Fashioned at the Brooklyn Winter Flea last weekend. Isn’t he kind? He’s really kind! YOU’RE SO KIND COCKTAIL CRATE MAN!

This Craft Mixer is totally perfect for the holiday season. It tastes like autumnally spiced simple syrup and is just begging to be used in Old Fashioneds and variations on Classic Cocktails. I love it. I’ve used it in nearly every drink I’ve made since last weekend.

Hint: this would make an excellent gift for any Home Bar Gurl or Dude!

Now for the cocktails:

Spiced-Old-Fashioned

First, I followed the instructions on the back of the bottle and made a Spiced Old Fashioned. It was the bomb! Perfect!

Spiced Old Fashioned

  • 2 oz Bourbon
  • 1/2 oz Cocktail Crate Spiced Old Fashioned Mixer
  • Orange Peel

Add Bourbon and Mixer to glass with ice. Stir a few times. Express Orange Peel and garnish.

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Here we’ve got Apple Brandy as the spirit, bitterness from the Cynar and Angostura and a rich foundation of spice from the Cocktail Crate Spiced Old Fashioned. The name for this cocktail comes from my good friend and excellent poet Brit Blalock. I asked her to help me name the drink and she suggested several Robert Frost poem titles. The Sound of Trees is such a fitting name for this cocktail.

The Sound of Trees

  • 2 oz Apple Brandy
  • 1/2 oz Cynar
  • 1/2 oz Spiced Old Fashioned Cocktail Crate Mixer
  • 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
  • Apple Slice

In tin, combine Apple Brandy, Cynar, Mixer and Bitters over ice and stir. Strain into coupe and garnish with Apple Slice.

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Here’s a fabulous hot toddy with that Flor de Caña Rum I can’t stop talking about, Cocktail Crate Spiced Old Fashioned, Lemon Juice/Wheel and Cardamom bitters.

Rum Spiced Hot Toddy

  • 2 oz Aged Rum
  • 3/4 oz Cocktail Crate Spiced Old Fashioned Mixer
  • 1/4 oz Lemon Juice
  • 1 dash Cardamom Bitters
  • Hot Water
  • Lemon Wheel

To mug add Rum, Mixer, Lemon Juice, Cardamom Bitters and Hot Water. Stir a few times and add Lemon Wheel.

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Lastly, I’ve got a variation on a Manhattan which I’ve named Long Island City because that’s where Cocktail Crate is made! Happy Craft Mixing to you all!

Long Island City

  • 2 oz Aged Rum
  • 3/4 oz Carpano Antica
  • 1/2 oz Cocktail Crate Spiced Old Fashioned Mixer
  • 2 dashes Orange Bitters
  • Orange Peel

In tin, combine Rum, Carpano, Mixer and Bitters over cracked ice and stir. Strain into coupe, express orange peel and garnish.

Well, that’s it for now! Thanks again to Alex and be sure to get this mixer into your Home Bar. Totally worth it! This has been You’re So Kind, the post where someone nice gives me a bottle and I review it!

The Oldest Living Confederate Widow

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This drink is possibly the greatest version of a Gin Sour to ever exist. Ever. It’s truly refreshing, so very dangerous and I want to drink them all year round! I got the recipe from Angel Negrín, my mentor in Birmingham, AL who got it from Toby Malone at the Violet Hour in Chicago. It’s a fabulous cocktail and “super healthy” as Angel likes to say. Get ready to shake, shake, boogie!

The Oldest Living Confederate Widow

  • 2 oz Plymouth Gin or Bombay Dry Gin
  • 1 1/4 oz Honey Syrup*
  • 1 oz Lemon Juice
  • 2 dashes of Orange Bitters
  • 2 dashes of Absinthe or Pernod Pastis

In tin, combine ingredients over cracked ice and shake, baby, shake! Strain into coupe. Feel the awesomeness. Try not to take down the whole cocktail in one big gulp, ok?

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*Honey Syrup: I like to make my Honey Syrup in a 1:1 ratio and shake it until the honey has dissolved. I find that if you heat the water and honey, some of the awesomeness in the honey is lost.

Variations on a Theme: Negroni Bianco

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The Negroni Bianco: So many Variations, so many options, so little time. After acquiring some Cocchi Americano and Salers Aperitif, I knew, I just knew that I would be destined to make at least a dozen Negroni Bianco Variations in a very short amount of time. Don’t worry, I won’t force you to read through all of my trials and tribulations, just the top 4.

These cocktails are all stirred on cracked ice and served up.

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Variazioni #1: Salers Bianco

  • 1 oz Mayfair London Dry Gin
  • 1 oz Dolin Dry
  • 1 oz Salers Aperitif
  • Celery Bitters

The Salers and Celery Bitters really shine through on this one. Very Herbaceous, very Gentian, very Provençal.

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Variazioni #2: Mt Tam Negroni

  • 1 oz St George Terroir Gin
  • 1 oz Cocchi Americano
  • 1 oz Dolin Blanc
  • Lemon Peel

St George Terroir Gin is the star of the show here. Cocchi Americano and Dolin Blanc create a nice undercurrent of subtle flavours upon which the supremely awesome Mt Tam botanicals rest.

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Variazioni #3: New York Negroni

  • 1 oz Dorothy Parker Gin
  • 1 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
  • 1 oz Cocchi Americano
  • 2 dashes of Orange Bitters

This totally tastes like what any serious Martini-type New Yorker would drink if they wanted a different cocktail. Dorothy Parker comes through first, Dolin Dry second and then Cocchi Americano and Orange Bitters. Sublime.

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Variazioni #4: DiLuna Negroni

  • 1 oz Plymouth Gin
  • 1 oz Dolin Dry
  • 1 oz Suze
  • Lemon Peel

I’ve made it a habit of ordering this particular variation at bars which serve Suze and on multiple occasions have been asked by the bartender, “Wow! Did you make this up?” Yes, yes I did. One bartender at Marco’s in Brooklyn even strongly suggested that I name it before someone else does.

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Enjoy these variations and please submit any of your own in the comments or send them to homebargirl@gmail.com!

Volver

/ Dani DeLuna / 3 Comments

Volver-1

Feliz Cinco de Mayo 2016 y’all! I’ve decided to post this drink from a couple of years ago cause it’s one of my faves. Salud!

…

Yes. Yes! YEAAAAAASSS! I’ve been waiting for a post like this. This is the post where I get to talk about Penélope Cruz and my own personal Tequila Challenge.

First, the Tequila Challenge. Well, here I am, a California Mexican American living in New York City and let me tell y’all, people don’t take Tequila seriously here. In fact, most of my friends usually shudder at the mention of Tequila. “Ohhhhh, I can’t have Tequila, it makes me act crazy.” “Noooooo, I’ll never have Tequila again, last time I did, I blacked out and got into a huge fight at a bar in the LES.” Sure, sure you did sweetie. Honestly, for a city that loves to drink obscene amounts of whiskey and rum, people seem to get week in the knees as soon as I suggest having a drink with Tequila.

Well you know what? Tequila doesn’t really affect you any differently than Vodka, Gin, Rum or even Whiskey. You’ve just had awful Tequila or you just take SHOTS. In fact, I’m sure you’ve had so many “shots” of José or Patrón and after having all these SHOTS of Tequila, you felt a little bit crazy. You probably felt a little bit violent. You maybe even blacked out.

You’ve been drinking Tequila wrong.

My Tequila Challenge is to encourage us Home Bar Girls and Dudes to enjoy Tequila served “up”, “short”, “neat” and “on the rocks” in the same way we’d drink Gin, Whiskey, or even Aged Rum. Good Tequila is delicious, flavourful and much more fun to mix with than something bland and boring like Vodka. We should consider making cocktails with Tequila to be an art form, not some lame excuse to get drunk as quickly as possible. Sip Tequila, don’t shoot it.

Second, Penélope Cruz. There isn’t really much to say, she’s like the sexiest lady who has lived in the past 40 years and she seems like she’d be a helluva lot of fun to have Tequila cocktails with. When I made this drink for my girlfriend, she tasted it, I asked her what we should name it and she said, “SOMETHING TO DO WITH PENÉLOPE CRUZ.” Ok, you got it babe. We decided to name the drink Volver porque nosotros amamos Pedro Almodóvar y Penélope Cruz para siempre.

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Volver

  • 1 oz Reposado Tequila (I love to mix with Espolón Tequila)
  • 1/4 – 1/2 oz Ancho Chile infused Reposado Tequila*, depends on how spicy you like it 🙂
  • 1/2 oz St-Germain
  • 1/2 oz Punt e Mes
  • 2 Dashes Orange Bitters
  • 2 Pineapple Chunks

In tin, muddle pineapple and add remaining ingredients. Shake, shake, shake over cracked ice. Double Strain into rocks glass over one big rock. Salud!

*For the Ancho Chile infused Tequila: place one dried Ancho Chile Pepper into a Medium sized Mason Jar, fill with Reposado Tequila and let steep for approximately two hours. Strain. Seriously Nice Spice.

Brunch Bonanza: Jaune Jaune Fizz

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Jaune-Jaune-Fizz-1

Welcome to Brunch Bonanza. The segment where we talk about brunch cocktails!

Now here’s a fizz I can really get behind, in front of, underneath…AHEM. In the Brunch tradition of having a Fizz with a Whole Egg, here’s a floral, citrusy, honey filled wonderland. The *French word for yellow is “jaune” and so the Jaune Jaune Fizz has two yellow ingredients in it: Chartreuse Jaune and Lemon Juice. To this add Gin, a Whole Egg, Honey Syrup and well, I’m over the La Lune! Let’s have at least two of these at Brunch, mmmk?

Jaune Jaune Fizz

  • 1 oz London Dry Gin (Mayfair used here)
  • 3/4 oz Chartreuse Jaune
  • 3/4 oz Lemon Juice
  • 1/2 oz Honey Syrup
  • 2 dashes of Orange Bitters
  • Whole Egg
  • Soda
  • Lemon Peel

In tin combine Gin, Chartreuse, Lemon Juice, Honey Syrup, Bitters and Whole Egg. Dry Shake until your arms are about to fall off. Add ice and shake again for at least 20 seconds. Add around 1 oz Soda to Collins glass, then double strain contents of tin into glass. Add ice to glass and top with soda. Express Lemon Peel and garnish. Cheers.

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Lusciousness in a glass. Can’t stop the FIZZ.

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WOOOOOO.   

*If you’ve noticed, I absolutely love French liqueur and aperitif flavours. Love them, love them, love them forever.

“The Lord’s Been Good To Me”

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The-Lord's-Been-Good-To-Me

You may be thinking, “ummm, this Home Bar Girl is a little obsessed with Bourbon.” Well, now that it’s Autumn I sort of can’t help myself! I want to use bourbon all the time, errrry day, errrry night.

The name for this drink is from a song in Johnny Appleseed, a Disney animated short released in 1948. As a child, I watched Johnny Appleseed countless times and loved to sing along to this song. Upon taking the first sip of the cocktail and tasting the apple notes, the cartoon rushed back to me. Ah, memories.

“The Lord’s Been Good To Me”

  • 1 oz Calvados
  • 1 oz Bourbon
  • 1/2 oz Honey Syrup
  • 1/4 oz Cynar
  • 2 dashes of Orange Bitters
  • Maraschino Cherry

In tin, combine Calvados, Bourbon, Honey Syrup, Cynar and bitters. Stir and strain into chilled coupe. Garnish with Maraschino Cherry.

Brunch Bonanza: Wandering Wasp

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Wandering Wasp

Welcome to Brunch Bonanza. The segment where we talk about brunch cocktails!

Happy Week-end to you all! May this bright and refreshing Bourbon cocktail bring even more joy to your brunching. The name of this drink comes from an incident where my girlfriend and I were trying to chase a wasp out of our apartment and the silly thing just would not leave! It kept wandering from room to room, meandering about. When we finally ejected the wasp through the bathroom window, we needed a drink! Wandering Wasp

  • 2 oz Bourbon
  • 3/4 oz Fresh Grapefruit Juice
  • 1/2 oz St-Germain
  • 1/2 oz Mint infused Simple Syrup
  • 2 dashes of Orange bitters
  • Lemon peel

Combine Bourbon, Grapefruit Juice, St-Germain, Mint Simple Syrup and Orange Bitters in tin with cracked ice. Shake and double strain into chilled Coupe. Express Lemon peel and use as garnish.

Maxime

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Maxime

There are a wide array of botanicals and a touch of bitterness in Maxime and I’m in love. Does this make me an old lady with old lady taste buds? Am I actually Maxime? Are we all Maxime? Perhaps.

Dorothy Parker Gin and Calvados play well together along with Bonal and Dolin Rouge making this the perfect Aperitif Cocktail with an autumnal flair.

Maxime

  • 1 oz Dorothy Parker Gin
  • 1 oz Christian Drouin Calvados
  • 1/2 oz Bonal
  • 1/2 Dolin Rouge Vermouth
  • 1 dash Regans’ Orange Bitters
  • Orange peel

In tin combine Gin, Calvados, Bonal, Vermouth and bitters over cracked ice. Stir and strain into chilled coupe. Express orange peel and garnish.

Bull Hill

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It’s fall y’all. A couple of weeks ago I took the train up to Cold Spring and hiked at Bull Hill. Excellent hiking with truly stunning views, like “oh my god so amazing, how is this view so amazing?” type of views. All of that Hudson Valley goodness, the changing leaves and fresh air really put a fire in my belly for some Pumpkin Ale.

Bull Hill

  • 1 oz Rye
  • 1 oz Applejack
  • 1/2 oz Domaine de Canton
  • 2 dashes Regans’ Orange Bitters
  • Pumpkin Ale float (I used Brooklyn Brewery’s Post Road and it was perfect)

Combine Rye, Applejack, Domaine de Canton and bitters in tin with cracked ice. Stir and strain into rocks glass with one big rock. Float Pumpkin Ale on top.

The Arlington

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The Arlington

I created this drink in January 2014 while skiing in Vermont*. My girlfriend, some friends and I were staying at a rather hilarious but picturesque AirBnB house in Arlington. We arrived late in the evening, unpacked our bags, I unpacked my traveling Home Bar and the friends asked me to make a drink. This was that drink.

Soon afterwards I posted it on BarNotes and its has become my most popular cocktail on the site! Enjoy!

The Arlington

  • 1 1/2 oz George Dickel Rye (Rittenhouse Rye would work well too)
  • 1 oz Laird’s Applejack
  • 1/2 oz Averna Amaro
  • 2 dashes of Regans’ Orange Bitters
  • Maraschino Cherry

Add ingredients to tin with cracked ice and stir. Strain into rocks glass and serve on the rocks. Maraschino Cherry garnish.

*Just a short word on Vermonty: I love Vermont, I love it so much that I usually just call it Vermonty. Its Green Mountains are stunning, its land-locked inhabitants are quiet, helpful and a bit reclusive, its Maple Syrup is abundant and its Skiing is thrilling!