extarbags is already taken, Rich.
extarbags is already taken, Rich.
Mine separates a lot, within a day or two. That's not problematic, I just shake before serving. What kind of filter are you using? I'm running mine through a gold coffee filter.Originally Posted by Omniscia
The thing I'm seeing at 3 weeks is the taste turns towards the sour side and loses its bright and vibrant citrusness. Two weeks after that, I'd say it's undrinkable. Did you make a particularly large batch or something? I usually do a 12-15 limes from one of those 2 lb bags and get about 500ml or so of cordial at the end, give or take.
Fine steel mesh. Probably getting about 24 oz or so. Maybe 30.
Interesting. The other night I juiced shy of 2 lbs of limes and used about 7oz of ginger. I got a cup and a half of juice initially before adding the sugar, which usually bulks it up about 66% or so. I'd say all in all I bottled around 600ml or 20oz, so if you're starting off with 3lb of limes then we're ending up in the same neighborhood, but if you're using a 2lb bag then I'm taking a wrong turn in Albuquerque somehow.
You see, this is what my mother told me when I was a wee small girl. Actually, she told me that mixing it with even a little water was a sin against the Scotch gods.* Also, in my house, we don't call it "scotch"; we call it "whiskey" so as to distinguish it from "bourbon."
At any rate, I found some cocktail recipes that called for scotch, tried one, and decided that I was wrong to rebel against my upbringing. I'm past all that, now, and am keeping the scotch for sipping.
*My mother also told her children that it was okay for us to drink bourbon, and even Irish, but never, ever, Canadian. I'm not sure why. It was one of those commandments that one cannot question.
Scotch whisky has no "e".
They don't pronounce the 'e'. So it sounds the same.
I made my first batch of lime cordial. I don't want to wait to let it do that final curing in the refrigerator. Oh, and some lucky people in my family are getting cordial for Christmas.
BTW, its Repeal Day, the day Americans re-gained the right to drink, and thereby destroying cocktail culture. So, its your constitutional right, and duty as a good citizen to get drunk before midnight.
I always do prohibition era cocktails, usually with raw egg white. Silver gin fizz or pink lady tonight. So do your duty and raise a glass!
So as I was making butter chicken tonight, I had to use a bit of lemon, and it's ridiculous to kill a whole lemon just for 2tsp, so I transformed the rest into a sidecar. I think those hit, for me, the perfect line between a real drink and a candy drink. They're complex enough not to be totally guilty, but quaffable enough to be something I can just drink without sipping it forever (I love Scotch, but I don't think I've ever even gotten mildly tipsy on it).
Ginger ale + Kraken spiced rum. Not quite a Dark 'n' Stormy, but very very good.
Uh, yeah. Ginger ale + any rum. Plus lime cordial, natch.
Just make sure you're using Vernor's or a ginger beer and not some sissy ginger ale like Canada Dry.
Reed's Extra Ginger, yo.
Vernor's is all well and good, but it's not available here.
Technically, Dark and Stormy is TM by Gosling's, so legally, and drink made with another rum isn't a Dark and Stormy. I don't actually know if there's a non-trademarked name for it though, as there is with the Bacardi cocktail (aka Pink Daiquiri).
I imagine there isn't, since Gosling's is probably less agressive about protecting their trademark (if you look at their history, the modern Bacardi company are kind of dicks).
It's only TM'd in Bermuda. In Australia, Bundaberg rum and ginger soda are the de facto ingredients.
So , I recently realized that in addition to spices, there's a market near me that sells a crazy amount of different bitters (Kalustyans).
Until now, I've basically just used Angostura. So, does anybody have any idea what to do with some of these more exotic bitters? Angostura Orange and Peychaud's are relatively common, but they also have some stuff I've never even heard of. Anybody know any good sources, or better yet, have first hand experience with any exotic bitters?
Celery bitters are delicious in a bloody mary.
Lately I'm taken with perfecting my Manhattan. I like Maker's Mark for it and am using Martini & Rossi's sweet vermouth. If someone has a great go-to for vermouth I'm all ears. The bitters I currently use are Stirring's Blood Orange and for a while my local market had blood oranges so I would garnish with a wheel of those but the cherry is the norm of course.
I love my Vodka Gimlet with Rose's Lime; that's one of my go-tos. Along with my Maker's Mark Whisky Sour; I create my own sweet/sour with lemon juice and simple syrup. I like to make a classic daquiri with just the rum, lime and simple sugar. And when I'm feeling my laziest I simply put a Gin and Tonic or Tom Collins together. Either of those with Bombay Sapphire... absolutely perfect drinks in my opinion but you really need to use a good gin.
I'm proud of my own creation which is a Cherry Whisky Sour and goes as follows:
2 oz Maker's Mark
2 oz Trader Joe's unfiltered, unsweetened 100% cherry juice
1/2 oz simple syrup (maybe more to taste)
1/2 oz Rose's Lime
Shaken with ice; garnish with a cherry of course. Being so cloudy it doesn't quite look right in a cocktail glass so usually I pour it over rocks in a highball or lowball glass. Adding the lime juice turned out to be the key; it gives the cherry juice just the right kick and the whole thing works wonderfully well with the bourbon. I believe it would be a good Vodka sour as well.
I've discovered I'm moderately allergic to whiskies, including bourbon, so recently I've been making a rum manhattan that I really love. It's really not that far of a stretch, aged rums can have an almost bourbon-y flavor an complexity, although usually sweeter. I like Mount Gay Eclipse for Manhattans better than more expensive rums. I've found that some sweetness is needed, but too much body gets a little weird. Recently, I've been using Noilly Pratt instead of Martini and Rossi's. I've been told it's better, but I haven't compared them side by side to have a real opinion.
I also add a tiny dash of grenadine, just a couple drops really. I've seen recipes that call for a splash of the cherry juice when garnishing, and it's a similar idea to that, but I figure the juice in the store brand maraschino cherries isn't anything I want to be drinking.
If you've never done it, try a gimlet with fresh lime juice. Rose's is fine, but it has a distinct industrial taste that I really dislike, and fresh lime juice is something of a revelation. You'll need to add some simple syrup to get a taste similar to rose's, maybe 1:3 or 1:4. I forget.
If you have fresh lime and simple syrup, you're also poised to make excellent from-scratch margaritas. There are some less expensive tequilas that mix better than more expensive ones, ask your liquor store for suggestions. The real trick though, is getting an orange liqueur better than DeKuyper's Triple Sec. Grand Marnier and Cointreau both contribute a unique flavor, but they're expensive. Recently, I picked up some Orange Cognac (La Lieutenance Cognac Prunier), which seems to have a small distribution, but it was cheaper than the big names, and had a really good character. It's more expensive than some Triple Secs, but for the impact it makes and the amount you use, it's worth an extra $5-$10 bucks for the hundred or whatever drinks it makes. It's also an after dinner drink by itself, if you're into that.
Did you know that in a pinch, you can make a quick cheater sour mix just by diluting Rose's Lime Juice? I think it's 1:4 with water. My wife learned that in a bartending class, so it's ABA approved. I prefer that to many of the sour mixes and "margarita mixes" that you can get in stores.
I love various Collins-es, and it's almost time for them again (totally summer drinks). But then, I can drink Collins Mix straight, since I really like the bitterness, so I'm probably weird that way.
Last edited by CLWheeljack; 05-20-2012 at 05:44 AM.
Can someone with the ingredients tell me if a Clyde Beluga is actually good enough to deserve a song?
1/2 shot sweet vermouth
1/2 shot cointreau
1/2 shot amaretto
Slowly add 1 1/2 shot vodka
dash of creme de cassis
2 dashes bitters
Ice
Stir slowly; do not shake.
You guys are making me sad with all this talk of actually drinking anything made with Rose's. Don't you guys read the thread? Homemade lime cordial is the only way to go.
http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2...-better-mixer/
It has a place, the place being "I want a drink and don't want to wait 48 hours or juice 12 limes to make cordial". I specifically said it was cheating.
Well, I'm certainly willing to attempt to make the homemade but there is no way in hell that, by following that recipe, it's going to yield anything like 1 liter of cordial. And yeah, but that looks like a lot of effort and time. Pity. I can buy 100% lemon juice and mix it directly with simple syrup for a 'homemade' sweet-sour. Why can't I buy 100% lime juice and do the same? Haven't seen it if so.
Trust me. You drink a Tom Collins made with the homemade cordial and you will never want to go back.
Because you get a complexity of flavors from the oils in the zest.
I do agree, although the step from processed juice to fresh juice is bigger then the step from fresh juice to the cordial. I never use anything other than fresh lime juice anymore. It's not even that big a deal if you have a good juicer (not even an electric one necessarily) unless you're having a really big party. Even stuff like the real lemon / real lime store stuff tastes too pasteurized and loses so much of the flavor.
Even without considring the lack of the zest, a lot of the aromatics in citrus are very volatile, that's one of the problems they ran into when they first started making orange juice concentrate. The solution was to over-concentrate it, then add some concentrates taken from the rind to try to force some of the oils, etc back in, and even then the flavor isn't quite right.
So this is where all the cocktail talk is at ; )
I like my Manhattan's with rye, specifically Rittenhouse Rye, BIB. It used to go for 12 bucks a bottle but with the resurgance of rye I think now it's up to 21-22. The rye has a bit more bite and for me the flavor cuts through the vermouth better than a lesser proof or wheatey bourbon.
I use M&R as well but lately I've been mixing it half and half with punt e mes (which is basically carpano antico sweet vermouth cut with some bitter italian liquor). The bitters are angostura.
For a pretty amazing take on the manhattan try a little italy (this drink has to be made with rye).
Little Italy courtesy of Audrey Saunders, Pegu Club NYC
2 oz Rittenhouse Rye (or other 100 proof rye, wild turkey 101 rye works, but dont' use old overholt)
3/4 oz M&R Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz Cynar (italian bitter liquor)
stir/strain/smile
The bitterness from the cynar subs in for bitters. It's a kick ass drink.
Last edited by Scott Dobros; 05-21-2012 at 03:54 AM.
I've been hitting up gimlet's a lot lately, but i've been making them with gin and fresh lime juice. I find that, depending on your taste for gin, plymouth makes a better gimlet than a harder core london style gin like beefeater or tanq.
Last summer I found a recipe for a basil gimlet that destroyed me it was so good. A perfect summer drink.
Gimlet (Gin)
1 1/2 oz Plymouth Gin
3/4 oz lime juice (fresh)
1/2 oz simple syrup (1:1 with cane sugar)
shake/strain/smile
Basil Gimlet
5 large basil leaves
1 1/2 oz Plymouth Gin
3/4 oz lime juice (fresh)
1/2 oz simple syrup
muddle 4 basil leaves in shaker
shake/double strain/garnish with 5th basil leaf
smile
EDIT: oh! and the daquiri, yes yes yes yes, JFK's favorite drink and for good reason. Nowadays when people hear daquiri they think that frozen starwberry garbage served at TGIFriday's...nothing beats the classic, great go to drink.
Amen brother.
I'll have to give that a shot. I'm a big fan of Cuban Manhattans. I've been using Ron Zacapa 23 for them, which is fantastic, but experimenting with the mixing is half the fun of all this!
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