As I mentioned in my last post SiscoVanilla Drinks The Grumpy Old Man, the author of the Old Man Drinks book Robert Schnakenberg recommends the following tweak to the Grumpy Old Man Cocktail:
Most recipes suggest you ratchet up the decrepitude even further by using Old Grand-Dad high-proof bourbon. Swap in some sour mix for the ginger ale, and you've got yourself a Grumpier Old Man. Come to think of it, that much sour mix would make a young man grumpy, too.
That's exactly what I did. So here is a bonus drink from the Old Man Drinks Cocktail Challenge:
👴 Grumpier Old Man 👴
2oz Old Grand-Dad 100 Proof Bourbon
1oz Fresh Lime Juice
Sour Mix Top
Pour Bourbon over ice in old fashioned glass. Add lime juice and top with sour mix.
Before I go into what I thought of the drink, Finn's Corner (660 Washington Avenue, corner of Bergen Street, Brooklyn NY 347-663-9316) carries the 100 proof Old Grand-Dad Bourbon as opposed to the 114 proof Old Grand-Dad. Now I'm not sure if the extra overproof would have made any difference in my POV, but for the purposes of transparency just wanted to be clear on which Old Grand-Dad we used. On to the Grumpier Old Man.
Whomever came up with the idea to "ratchet up the decrepitude even further" is one sick puppy. Where I found the Grumpy Old Man cocktail to be quite palatable, this drinks was as puckered as the prickly old dude from Monster House.
And that's saying something since I actually don't mind a tart cocktail. But this was just torturous. Don't believe me? Check out my YouTube video SiscoVanilla Drinks A Grumpier Old Man 04/24/2018 I think the look on my face speaks for itself. LOL.
I won't be trying that cocktail again. The Grumpy Old Man, yes. No need to get any Grumpier.
I won't be working at Finn's Corner next week. I'll be hopefully be doing some networking at a book release party. Let's see how that goes.
After a long work week, its time to start the Old Man Drinks Cocktail Challenge. Kind of feeling like a Grumpy Old Man so it would seem apropos that the first cocktail I pull out of the book is The Grumpy Old Man.
The cocktail is very simple and straight forward like most of the cocktails in the book. Here is the recipe:
Grumpy Old Man 2oz Knob Creek 100 proof Bourbon 1oz Fresh Lime Juice Ginger Ale top
Pour Bourbon over ice. Then pour lime juice and top with Ginger Ale.
I really have to admit that this is one tasty cocktail. I find that the fresh lime juice is the game changer. It gives the cocktail a nice light feel both on the palate and on the nose. It smells amazing. But a few of these with the Knob Creek 100 proof bourbon is liable to put you on your ass, so be careful about sucking these down too fast.
Here is the YouTube video I made taste testing the cocktail:
If you want to ramp up the cocktail, the author of the Old Man Drinks book Robert Schnakenberg recommends the following tweak: Most recipes suggest you ratchet up the decrepitude even further by using Old Grand-Dad high-proof bourbon. Swap in some sour mix for the ginger ale, and you've got yourself a Grumpier Old Man. Come to think of it, that much sour mix would make a young man grumpy, too.
Guess I have a bonus cocktail to work with Tuesday at Finn's Corner (660 Washington Avenue, corner of Bergen Street, Brooklyn NY 347-663-9316)
As I posted yesterday among a variety of my social media outlets, I'm reading the cocktail book Old Man Drinks: Recipes, Advice and Barstool Wisdom by Robert Schnakenberg. The book is a real pisser. The anecdotes given by the old dudes in the book are hilarious. Plus each recipe has a historical reference or tidbit. I highly recommend you give it a read.
So I've decided to give myself a challenge here. I'm going to try and make myself each and every drink in the book. Now some of the cocktails might be a bit difficult to make due to hard to find ingredients. But I'll do my best to recreate each and every cocktail. Not sure if I'm going to go in alphabetical order since I've already profiled a number of the recipes.
Look forward to trying some of the Old Man Drinks...now get off my lawn. 😉
I was rummaging through the liquor cabinet at Finn's Corner (660 Washington Avenue, corner of Bergen Street, Brooklyn NY 347-663-9316) and came across an interesting looking bottle of Bärenjäger Honey & Pear Liqueur. Immediately I knew who this bottle was for. And after reading the description of what the history of Bärenjäger is, it definitely was apropos.
For those of you who don't know, Bärenjäger is a German made Honey Liqueur. The name for this liqueur was originally Bärenfang, which translates literally to Bear Trap. Later changed to the now named Bärenjäger (Bear Hunter), the liqueur was made with honey with the intent purpose to lure bears out of their dens by hunters in medieval Germany. And to be sure, I know of a bear of a guy that will be lured to come out to Finn's in Brooklyn for a taste or two of the Bärenjäger Honey & Pear Liqueur, LOL.
The Bärenjäger line was expanded in 2013 to include the aforementioned Honey & Pear Liqueur. and a Honey and Tea Liqueur. On the website there is a Honey and Bourbon liqueur which debuted in 2012. The Pear and Tea versions aren't listed which leads me to believe that they are discontinued. But on to the bottle at hand.
The Bärenjäger Honey & Pear Liqueur has a beautiful golden color and according to the website, each bottle of the original Bärenjäger Honey Liqueur contains 225g of Mexican honey in each 750ml bottle. The Honey and Pear version also contains a Williams Pear Brandy also known as eau-de-vie. If I'm not mistaken, I received a small bottle of Williams Pear Brandy from someone a few years back after a trip to Berlin. I need to see if I still have that little bottle. But I digress.
Now to be honest, I've never had any of the Bärenjäger liqueurs. So I was wondering if the Bärenjäger Honey & Pear Liqueur was similar in consistency to Jägermeister. Now remember I said consistency, not flavor. Here is what I thought below in my video: SiscoVanilla Has a Taste of Bärenjäger Honey and Pear 04/17/2018
To be honest, I actually like it. It has a nice zing to it. I don't find it overly sweet. Its quite pleasurable. As I state in the video I can see this being used in a Hot Toddy/Hot cocktail of sorts. I'll also sit back and think about other ways I can use the Bärenjäger Honey & Pear Liqueur in other cocktail offerings.
Any ideas? Suggestions? Always look forward to hearing from you fine gals and guys. Follow me at my Instagram @SiscoVanilla, my YouTube Channel SiscoVanilla, my Twitter @SiscoVanilla and my Facebook page SiscoVanilla. See you next Tuesday at Finn's.
Sorry for the delay on this post folks, working two jobs with one in the retail industry during the Holidays is making for a very stressful experience. I find that I am pulling 10-day straight runs between days off. During Thanksgiving, I worked 13 out of 14 days with Thanksgiving being my only day off. Then after a day off, I'm following that with a 17 out of 18 day clip. Luckily for me I'm motivated to get out of the hole of debt that I find myself in. But that is a conversation for another day. On to the Jack Rose Cocktail.
I kept with the spirit of Laird's Applejack that I profiled in my last post to make this classic cocktail. The cocktail is mentioned at least twice in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. Papa Hemingway published that book in 1926. In said passages, protagonist Jack Barnes visits the Hotel Crillon in Paris and has George the Barman make him the Jack Rose Cocktail. Here are two passages that mention the Jack Rose from Chapter VI and Chapter VIII respectively.
Hotel Crillon in Paris is located at 10, Place de la Concorde, 75008 Paris, France and according to the Hotel de Crillon website, the building was built in 1758, having been commission by King Louis XV with the greatest architect of his day, Jacques-Ange Gabriel designing the edifice. It would become the Hotel Crillon in 1909 after the previous owners the family of the The Counts of Crillon. The hotel would close in 2013 for massive renovations, having reopened early this year.
In terms of the cocktail, according to author Philip Greene of To Have and Have Another in his blogpost The Jack Rose, the Jack Rose Cocktail made its way in cocktail recipe guides during the early 1920's. Its unsure if the cocktail is named after notorious New York gangster "Bald Jack" Rose or the flower General Jacqueminot Rose named after Jean-Francois Jacqueminot who was a general under Napoleon. Greene also notes that there are two versions to this cocktail. To read up on both the origins of the cocktail and its potential naming, I recommend you read the amazing post by Greene: The Jack Rose. On to the cocktail.
I decided to use the classic ingredient list for the Jack Rose which is the Laird's, citrus and grenadine.
Today's cocktail showcase keeps with last week's profile of the Laird's Applejack. I decided to make the classic Jack Rose cocktail that is featured in Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises.
Now there are a variety of different recipes for this cocktail. Some call for more Applejack and Grenadine with less lime and or lemon juices. Some call for only lime or lemon. Since I like tarter cocktails, I went the tart route. Here is the recipe I used for the Jack Rose.
🌷 Jack Rose 🌷
🔸1.5oz Laird's Applejack
🔸0.5oz of both freshly squeezed Lime and Lemon Juice
🔸0.5oz Rose's Grenadine
Build ingredients in iced filled shaker. Shake and strain into a fresh glass. Express oils from lemon peel over cocktail and and garnish with the peel.
I find the ratios I used led to what I was looking for: a nice and tart beverage. If you don't like it so tart then bump up the Grenadine from half an ounce to a full ounce and maybe just use lime or lemon juices at a smaller ratio. But for my tastes buds, the ratios I used were a-ok!!!
The Jack Rose
I'm really surprised that the Jack Rose isn't one of the cocktails that has re-surged during the cocktail renaissance. Maybe we can do our part to get it . 😉 Here is my YouTube video for the Jack Rose.
For a later post I'll make the Harry MacElhone version of the Jack Rose which was listed in the 1922 cocktail guide Barflies and Cocktails.
Next on deck is Repeal Day and Krampusnacht, both of which fall on December 5th. Curious as to what I'll come up with at Finn's Corner? Follow me at my Instagram @SiscoVanilla, my YouTube Channel SiscoVanilla, my Twitter @SiscoVanilla and my Facebook page SiscoVanilla.
I've had the honor of tasting many different spirits and liqueurs during my time in and out of the bar business. But until this past week, I had never had a taste of Applejack, specifically Laird's Applejack. What I enjoy more than a good spirit is a good backstory to said spirit...and this one has one. So taking a cue from my alter-ego History Sisco let's go back in time.
According to the label on the bottle of Laird's Applejack which is produced by Laird and Company, they've been in business since 1780 and the recipe for the Applejack was created by William Laird in 1698. The recipe proved to be so popular that it drew the attention of General George Washington when the applejack was being served to the troops of the Revolutionary army. General Washington loved the spirit so much that he asked for the recipe to make the applejack. And who can really say no to General Washington, right?
General Washington was given the recipe and he proceeded to distill some applejack. But that's not the only instance where a future President of the United States was linked to applejack. Our 16th President Abraham Lincoln used to serve liquor at the Berry and Lincoln grocery store in Illinois and applejack was undoubtedly one of spirits served. Rumor even has it that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose mixology skills I profiled with the Haitian Libation, would add a splash of applejack to his martinis. And for the record, I would say without much doubt that FDR was knocking back Gin Martinis. In literary circles, applejack in the form of the Jack Rose cocktail is knocked back by character Jake Barnes in Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises. I'll profile the Jack Rose cocktail in a later post.
The spirit also owes its popularity to a 19th century pioneer and preacher who went by the name of Johnny Appleseed. Appleseed would make his way through parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois and West Virginia planting apple seeds for the apples that are used to make applejack. And since I mention the apples in applejack, let's shift gears as to what applejack is.
The best apples for making applejack are small, late-ripening Winesaps, Larrie Laird said, "because they yield more alcohol." Sixteen pounds of apples produce about 25 ounces of applejack.
The colonial American method for making applejack was to make hard cider from the apples, leaving the cider in barrels outside during the winter and as the water portion of the cider froze, it would be removed leaving the fermented and potent apple spirit. This process was knows as "Jacking."
Today Laird's Applejack is a 80 proof spirit made up of a blend of about 35 percent apple brandy and 65 percent neutral grain spirits. The spirit also be made from whole apples and must be aged four years in used bourbon barrels.
For the last 237 years, the Laird Family has been making applejack for countless generations of American drinkers. Now its my turn. For my next post, I'll highlight the Washington Applejack Mule that I made this past Tuesday.
Until Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
#SiscoVanilla
#SiscoVanillaAtTheMovies
#SiscoVanillaAtTheBookstore
#SiscoVanillaisStepping
After three and a half years of being retired from the bar business I, like Douglas MacArthur have returned. Well, its not as dramatic as that LOL. But as you can imagine my excitement, I get a second shot at redemption in the bar business. I'll be behind the stick at Finn's Corner, 660 Washington Avenue in Brooklyn on Tuesday nights. So in honor of my friend Pete who offered my the opportunity to return to bartending, here is the Old Pal Cocktail.
The Old Pal
Now the Old Pal's origins lay with legendary bartender Harry MacElhone of the legendary Harry's New York Bar in Paris, France. It is believed that MacElhone had created the drink in honor of his friend William "Sparrow" Robinson who was a sports columnist at the New York Herald-Tribune's Paris office. Now there is some dispute as to when the drink was created. For that I'll refer you to the article Classic Drinks: The Old Pal and a New Friend by Nick Caruana from the Serious Eats website. On to the cocktail.
Some of you might see the recipe and think that it is a riff on the classic cocktail known as the Negroni. Whether it is or not I can not say. I have also seen this cocktail made with a 2:1:1 proportion with the whiskey having the larger share but for simplicity sake, I decided to make it as originally created. Here is the recipe for the Old Pal.
The Old Pal 1 Part Rittenhouse 100 Proof Rye Whiskey 1 Part Dolin Dry Vermouth 1 Part Campari
Combine all ingredients in ice filled shaker. Stir until the shaker is frosty and cold. Strain into a glass. Garnish with a lemon peel.
I found the Old Pal to be rather balanced, considering you have a 100 proof Rye and Campari making up two thirds of the ingredients with a hint of the bitterness of the Campari at the back of the tongue after taking a sip. If that aspect of Campari might be a bit harsh for your palate, I would recommend replacing the Campari with Aperol for a less harsher experience.
Here are my thoughts straight from behind the bar.
If you decide to have one let me know what you think. Have you tried it with another Rye Whiskey? Drop me a line and let me know at SiscoVanilla@gmail.com or give me a follow on Instagram at @SiscoVanilla
Until Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
#SiscoVanilla
#SiscoVanillaAtTheMovies
#SiscoVanillaAtTheBookstore
#SiscoVanillaisStepping
