Cocktail Bars in Fairfield County CT?

Hopefully I will find some worth reviewing and I will put them up on here.. but until that time anyone have any favorites?

Old Fashioned

The Old Fashioned is the granddaddy of all cocktails.  In fact it pretty much defined the word cocktail.  Any cocktail book you pick up usually has at least a page dedicated to this drink (I think it might be a law). This alone is pretty impressive considering its humble recipe.  As with any classic drink recipes vary widely

The write up from Mr. Boston - really dives into the history of the drink and offers many of the old recipes listed but their modern version as:

1.5 oz Rye or Bourbon (I will forgive them for writing the or.. but if you can't.. i understand)
1 tsp simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Lemon Twist

Joy of Mixology focuses mostly on the to muddle fruit or not question (I answered for you and went with not).  Their non-fruit muddling version is:
1 Sugar cube
3 dashes Angostura bitters
3 oz Bourbon or Rye (again with the or)
1 lemon twist


Obviously all of these are served in an Old Fashioned Glass

Common Trade offs

• Bourbon vs Rye:  Choice of whiskey is very common difference with this drink. The original was made with rye but with bourbon's popularity it muscled its way into this drink's recipe.. I personally am an exclusive rye man myself. 
• Simple Syrup vs Sugar Cube: I have been more keen on using simple syrup as it is much easier to get it dissolved vs a sugar cube - but you should try the bitters soaked sugar cube method at-least once if for no other reason than to more appreciate simple syrup's ease.  
• Fruit or no fruit:  Many modern versions have fruit muddled in with the sugar - usually an orange or some cherries (or both).   I stay clear of the whole thing and go with the old fashion Old Fashioned

So what do I drink?

I have been recently going with the Mr. Boston recipe for its ease and tastiness.. If you have a better one please submit it in the comments. 

See Also:

What Rye to use?:  Rye whiskey showdown: Tuthilltown vs. Old Overholt

Rye Whiskey Showdown: Tuthilltown vs Old Overholt

I decided to get a better since of the various rye whiskeys I have stashed away in my bar I would do some head to head comparisons and share the results with all my loyal readers.

In this showdown we have old standby vs micro-distillery up and comer

They players:

• Old Overholt - about as classic as you can get with american whiskey.  Once a staple in grandparents it has be banished to the bottom shelf at most liquor stores (though it is at most liquor stores so that is a plus).  Recently I have seen it being called out by name on some cocktail menus in NYC.  Price: dirt cheap!
• Tuthilltown Manhattan Rye:  Pretty much the opposite of Old Overholt.  Each bottle is hand filled, numbered, corked, and waxed.  Only comes in 375ml bottles.  Price: ~$45 for a 375 (ouch)

**************

Battle 1:  Head-to-Head (straight)

setup:  I was in a whiskey with an ice cube kind of mood so I decided to throw one in - I know some purists just cringed but whatever it is a even playing field

Old Overholt:
Spiciness you expect from a rye while being lean and mean with a sweet/tart thing going on and a lasting dryness.

Tuthilltown:
Much more complex - loads more spice plus a deep woody flavor that finishes with a strong char flavor

Winner:  I am not a habitual rye whiskey sipper so when I do I would probably be drawn to the complexity of the Tuthilltown.. though if I was drinking this every night I would heavily consider the much cheaper Old Overholt

***************

Battle 2:  Cocktails (Old Fashioned's)

Setup:
Two identical Old Fashioned's
1.5 oz Rye Whiskey
1 tsp simple syrup
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Lemon Twist


Tuthilltown:  Deep flavor, lots of spices coming from the whiskey and the bitters.  Seems also getting a lot of sweetness mixed with a cinnamon and fruit. There is a lot going on here.. not exactly what I think about for an Old Fashioned but not in a bad way

Old Overholt:  Much lighter and much more bright.   Noticeable citrus from the twist.  Bottom line about the basic old fashioned taste I can think of.

Winner:  Draw - While the Tuthilltown took on a life of its own and really made the drink something it wasn't exactly what I think of when I turn to an old fashioned.. a lot more flavors.

Oktoberfest in CT

The blog CTBites had a recent post about where to go to celebrate Oktoberfest.   I am a strong supporter of Oktoberfest in general so I suggest you try a few of their suggestions.

Some Food With Your Drink

For those of you who love, live, or are trapped in Fairfield County CT - you should really check out CTBites.  A really great blog about food in/around Fairfield County.  From time to time they post some good cocktail recipes and advertise for some fun drinking type events as well.

happy reading.

Gin and Tonic + Earl Grey Bitters

I often find throwing some sort of bitters into your standard Gin and Tonic can really punch up a nice casual drink.  So fresh off making my first bitters I decided to try out my old stand by.

Recipe

• 1 part Gin (Tanqueray)
• 3 parts Tonic (Q Tonic)
• 2 healthy dashes  Earl Grey Bitters No. 1

Mix with ice in a Highball Glass

Results:

To tell the truth i was somewhat disappointed - I thought I would work better than it did.  The tea did have a nice touch but it was merely different not great.

Recommendation:

I can do better

Earl Grey Bitters No. 1

For my first ever bitters* experiment I decided to keep it simple

Recipe

• 2 parts Earl Grey Flavor
• 1 part Lemon Flavor

Result:

Has a pretty simple and very tea like taste (I mean what else was I expecting)  - there are some good tannins from the tea and while the flavor of the end result is driven 80% by the tea the lemon somewhat smooths it out.

Rating:

holding off until I make more before any recommendations - but since it is my first.. it is my favorite so far

* I am unsure if tea is an acceptable bittering agent - enough so to really call these bitters.. but as I have said elsewhere on this blog.. i don't care

Bitters: Lemon Flavor Component

Recipe

• Peel of 2 lemons (careful to not get any white pith)
• 5 oz of Everclear

Let stand @ room temperature for 2 weeks shaking every now and again

Notes:

• It is really cool how the color leeches out of the peel and into the liquid
• You could probably do more finely grated zest - I just used a peeler.

See Also

Basics Of Making Your Own Bitters

Bitters: Earl Grey Flavor Component

Recipe:
4oz Everclear
2 Tbsp Earl Grey Tea (Mighty Leaf: loose leaf)

Let it sit 4 days @ room temperature giving it a shake every now and again

Notes:
Probably only needed to sit for 2 days but I was busy until the 4th day
Could probably use less tea


See Also
Basics Of Making Your Own Bitters

Make Your Own Bitters: The Basics

One of my first big discoveries in making drinks was the wonderful world of bitters.  It is amazing what a drop or two can do to any concoction (both bad and good).  I went a little crazy and started buying all the different kinds I could find... now I decided to take crazy one step further and make my own.

Problem was I had no idea how to even get started.. luckily in this world connected by the "information super highway"  I quickly found numerous telling me how/what/how long and since good things come in 1000s I decided to create one more.. welcome to my one more


Here are a few of the websites I read before doing this
http://drinkdogma.com/how-to-make-your-own-bitters-for-cocktails/
http://spiritsandcocktails.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/how-to-make-bitters/

From skimming all these pages here is what I gathered:

• Use high proof alcohol:  Alcohol is a great extractor of flavor so the higher the proof the better the effect.  Also keeping it high proof will lengthen its shelf life.. for my first round I thought I would go for broke and use Everclear - at 190 proof it is about as high as you can get without getting into some chemistry I don't understand.  
• It takes awhile:  I for one am for instant gratification - but in this case I was left to wait.. to really extract the flavor of some things you probably need weeks. (Luckily I had store bought bitters to tide me over)
• A good idea is to make separate batches with just a single flavor and then blend those together to get different combinations (I actually don't know if this is better or worse than making everything together but having more options appealed to me so that is how I am doing it)
• Anything goes: The more websites I read the more I realized "Bitters" is a very broad category and half the fun is trying to come up with different things to throw in the mix and see how it will work out.  Technically "bitters" should contain some bittering agent.. I found all the suggestions on the various webpages fairly hard to come by - so my first batch of flavors didn't include any of those.. so from now on I am going to refer to all of my different "flavor additives" as bitters.. purists go ahead and hate me - I can deal.
• With some many possibilities this might be dangerous for my time.

Equipment:

• Bottles:  
• For my batches of single flavors I found these bottles which I thought would do the job and looked halfway cool (and eligible for Amazon Prime which really sealed the deal)
• I still wanted something more "bitters bottle" looking with a dropper but I really had a hard time finding something that would fit the bill - luckily after hours of searching I stumbled upon this site SKS Bottle - I ended up buying the Woozy bottles with the orifice reducer - highly recommend - bottles work great and the arrived on my doorstop 2 days after my order.
• Mason Jars - After making the mistake of putting large pieces of lemon peel in the narrow necked bottles I realized that Mason jars or something with a larger opening might be more appropriate for the infusion period.. lesson learned. 
• Ingredients:
• Alcohol - while I chose Everclear you could do this with other spirits (vodka, whiskey, etc) but try to get as high proof as you can. 
• Flavors:  I started with just things I had around the house for my first batch - I will report back with good locations to buy the harder to find herbs traditionally found in bitters once I figure them out
• Misc:
• You will want to have some funnels, bowls, and coffee filters and if you make the same mistake I did something long and sharp to help you get all the lemon peels out of the narrow necked bottles

Technique/Tips/Tricks:

• Shake the bottles every day while the flavors are infusing:  To tell you the truth i have no idea if this is necessary but every website seemed to say it and I assume they have no reason to lie
• After you are done infusing use a coffee filter to get out all the solids - At first I tried to just put it in the funnel but that took forever.. I had much better luck using a wire mesh strainer (see picture)

Good Luck!

The Science Behind Mixology

I haven't gotten through all of this but for those of us who have a scientific leaning this might be right up your alley

Cocktail Science

All Rye-Tea Then

This drink has a special place in my heart as it was one of my first truly original drinks.. and one that I nailed on the first try.   

1.75 oz Earl Grey Tea Infused Rye Whiskey
1 oz - Lemon Juice
2 dashes Orange bitters (Reagan No 6)
Lemon Twist

shake with ice and serve in a cocktail glass

(sorry no picture for now)

Earl Grey Infused Rye Whiskey

I made this awhile ago so I don't have the exact recipe I used but here is what I remember

Rye whiskey (in this case I used (ri)1)
Earl Grey tea (I used loose leaf from Might Leaf)
I don't remember the exact proportions but it was something like 1/4 cup tea for every liter whiskey

I let it sit for about 4 hours at room temperature - tasting it and filtering out the tea after it had nice tea flavor

General consensus of other websites I checked said that this should keep indefinitely if kept in the fridge.

Make your own bitters: Part 1

Inspired by many different websites on making your own bitters I decided to try to take a crack at it. Not much to report yet as it takes some time but I thought I would let everyone know I am on the case and you can expect some recipes and results in the near future.  Right now I am just putting various different things (lemons, vanilla, cloves, oranges, etc) in some Everclear trying to get a wide variety of flavors that I will blend together with (hopefully) delicious results.

Here is what I have so far:

Clover Club

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of returning to one of my favorite cocktail bars, Clover Club.  Unfortunately I don't find myself in Brooklyn enough to visit it often but whenever I am in the neighborhood I make it a point to stop by no matter what time of day it is.

This time my girlfriend and I enjoyed a French 75 and a Clover Club with brunch (then a few others at the bar).  The bar also has some great food so come hungry (and very thirsty).

Cocktails

In recent years I have become more and more interested in quality cocktails.  I love cocktail bars, I love making cocktails at home, I just really like cocktails in general.  Some might say I am just jumping on the cocktail rebirth bandwagon.. but it is a bandwagon I am happy to ride and since you are reading this website I take it you like it as well.

What wine do I own?

Awhile back I stumbled across a great website that allows you to keep track of your wine and read other members reviews/prices/valuations.

the website is: www.cellartracker.com or their new and improved version: www.grapestories.com

If you would like to track what I am drinking or what I have in my cellar you can check out my page here
http://www.grapestories.com/user.asp?iUserOverride=70219

Wine

While I hope to share my love of wine with the world - it will be decidedly less creative than the cocktail section.  Nonetheless I do hope to share with you what I am drinking and my thoughts.  

About this site

I wanted to create a monument dedicated to my love of various types on inebriating beverages - this site is that monument.  

I am unsure of what I hope to accomplish with this along the way but I hope that all that come to this site will learn a little, laugh a little and be inspire to try a lot. 

I hope to be creative as possible but in an art as old and storied as imbibing I am sure to follow in the footsteps of the great men (and women) that came before me - so as Sir Isaac Newton once said "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."  So I will no doubt post recipes/tips/tricks from others that inspired me – when so doing I will do my best to give the author full credit and thanks (so please don’t sue)

Also along the way I will try to point out any gadgets, bar accessories, books, blogs I have found helpful – I don’t get any money to endorse these items so I will try to be as honest as possible.

Cheers,

VT