December Drink of the Month - The Opera Glove

I have not yet given my friend Matt Haggerty enough credit on this blog. Bar Kiley the blog came about because Matt suggested that I blog about my hobby and he has continued to be one of the blog’s biggest supporter (and, to date, still the only person to post a comment on the blog). Last month, he sent me a link to a few holiday drinks (found here), and I thought we might try out one of them for December – the Peppermint Alexander. It seemed perfect after we had featured the Brandy Alexander last month, so I went out last week and picked up a bottle of Godiva White Chocolate liqueur for Zack and I to play around with at the bar.

We dutifully made up the Peppermint Alexander as per the recipe linked above (equal parts white chocolate liqueur, vanilla vodka and peppermint schnapps with a splash of cream), but we were a little disappointed with the result. The peppermint flavor was way too strong and it drowned out the white chocolate flavor almost completely (which is a problem given the price tag on the Godiva liqueur). It was not an unpleasant drink, but the other flavors did not add much to the overriding strong notes of peppermint.

We tried a few different ways to modify the drink, but we weren't really happy with any of our results. I included the best version of the drink below, but ultimately we decided to move on and see if we couldn't find a new way to feature the Godiva White Chocolate liqueur with our own recipe. We decided  we wanted to keep the vanilla hints featured in the Peppermint Alexander, but we chose to feature brandy as the main flavor in the drink. The smoothness of the brandy gives a nice boozy flavor to the Godiva liqueur, but it is not overwhelming – the white chocolate still came through quite nicely. We named our creation the “Opera Glove” because it was long, white and classy. We hope you enjoy it!

The Opera Glove Cocktail

In a cocktail shaker, combine

1.5 oz Godiva White Chocolate liqueur

1 oz VS or better brandy

0.5 oz vanilla schnapps

Splash of cream or half & half

Shake over ice until the drink is frothy, strain and serve is a martini glass. If you are a chocolate fan, this drink could benefit from a spiral drizzle of chocolate syrup in the center as a garnish. However, if you’re me (and you are a weirdo and don’t like dark or milk chocolate), garnish the rim with a strawberry.

A few notes, as always:

*The same notes concerning cream from the Brandy Alexander apply here. I would recommend half and half for the Opera Glove – but feel free to use a “large-ish” splash – I think this drink tastes better when it is a little thicker.

*The same notes about brandy found in the Side by Sidecar post also apply here. If you are willing to invest in the Godiva liqueur (you don’t need to – there are cheaper white chocolate cream liqueurs), then you should make sure the rest of your ingredient are up to the same level of quality. VS is great, VSOP is even better.

We hope you enjoy our creation. As an added bonus, here is the modified recipe for the best version of the Peppermint Alexander:

In a cocktail shaker, combine:

1 oz Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur

0.5 oz vodka

0.5 oz vanilla schnapps

1/3 oz peppermint schnapps

2/3 oz cream

Shake over ice until the drink is frothy. Strain and serve in a martini glass. Garnish with a small candy cane as a stirring stick.

Enjoy your Opera Glove!

Fun with Infusing

The first lesson I ever learned about infusing alcohols came by way of my little sister, Katie. My mom used to make homemade vanilla extract by throwing a few whole vanilla beans in a bottle of cheap vodka and letting them steep for a couple of months. This is perhaps one of the easiest and most rudimentary forms of infusions that you can make, but it works great. I would have remained blissfully unaware of this whole process if my little sister had not made a mistake while measuring out ingredients for a banana milkshake.

In our family, any good milkshake calls for 1-2 tsp of vanilla extract, and we would use Mom's homemade stuff in our concoctions. When Katie was in elementary school, she was in the habit of making herself a milkshake every night after her gymnastics practice. For about a week straight, my parents couldn't figure out why Katie was so loopy and so sleepy each night after gymnastics. Then we discovered that she had a little trouble following recipes - instead of using a tsp of vanilla extract, Katie was throwing in a 1/4 cup or more. Turns out Katie was unintentionally spiking her milkshakes each night! And thus, I was both introduced to the joys of homemade infusions and tipsy eight-year-olds at the same time.

Infusions are a fantastic way to try new flavors and spice up old cocktails. All you need for this process are some mason jars, a good lemon zester, cheesecloth, patience and some creativity! Infusion is the process of adding flavor to neutral spirits (usually vodka, but you can also play with almost any liquor) by steeping fruits/berries/nuts/peppers/you name it in said spirits for several weeks at a time. The Art of Steeping has some great recommendations on how to prepare your various ingredients for infusion, but really the sky is the limit. Below are easy-to-follow recipes for two of my favorite infusions: Cranberry-Ginger Rum and Lemoncello, as well as some cocktail suggestions for each. I hope you enjoy both of these, but also feel free to experiment on your own (and let me know if you find anything good!)

Cranberry Ginger Rum

You will need: 1.5 cups cranberries, washed and with stems removed, 3-4 pieces of crystallized ginger, one 750 ml bottle of mid-grade silver rum (Appleton, Bacardi, etc), 0.5 cups sugar, cheesecloth

In a saucepan on medium heat, add cranberries and sugar with 2-4 oz of water. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved and cranberries have "popped" (when heated, the s.kin of the cranberries should burst in a cross-hatch pattern, so that each cranberry looks like a little hot cross bun). Remove from heat and place in large mason jar. Add 2 tbsp of crystallized ginger, chopped finely. Pour your bottle of rum over this and seal the mason jar tightly. Let the mixture sit for 5 days, shaking the mixture daily to prevent the ingredients from settling. Remove the cranberries from the mixture with a slotted spoon and strain the liquid back into a stoppered bottle or mason jar using a cheesecloth and funnel. Enjoy!

Spiced Ocean Spray Cocktail

Fill a highball glass with ice

Add 1.5 oz cranberry ginger rum

Top with lemon-lime soda

Stir mixture with bar spoon for 5-10 seconds

Garnish with 1/8 lime wedge

Cranberry-Ginger Mojito
In a highball glass, muddle 7-10 cranberries, 6 springs mint, 3-4 small lime wedges and (optionally) one slice of crystallized ginger with 1.5 ounces of simple syrup.
Add 1.5 oz cranberry ginger rum
Add ice to fill glass
Top with soda water
Stir vigorously with bar spoon for 5-10 seconds
Garnish with 1/8 lime wedge

Lemoncello

You will need: 6 large lemons, lemon zester, 750 ml bottle of mid-grade vodka (New Amsterdam, Svedka), distilled water, superfine sugar, cheesecloth

Zest your six lemons*, and place the peels in a large mason jar. Ensure that there is NO pith (the foamy white inner skin of the lemon) on your peels during the zesting process - failure to remove the pith will result in an extremely bitter, nearly undrinkable concoction. Pour your bottle of vodka over top of the lemon zest, seal your jar and let sit for 6-10 days, agitating daily. While you are waiting, prepare 750 ml of simple syrup using distilled water and the superfine sugar in a 1:1 ratio (don't remember how to make simple syrup? Here you go!). After 6-10 days, add 750 ml simple syrup** to the vodka-lemon zest mixture and re-seal your mason jar, allowing the vodka-syrup mix to steep for an additional 2-3 days. Filter the liquid 2-3 times using a cheesecloth and funnel to remove any free-floating particulates, then bottle and refrigerate. Enjoy!

*Note: You can go crazy with other citrus options as well. By far my favorite non-lemon option is Blood Orange. If you choose to go this route, zest 4 large blood oranges and add the juice of one of the oranges to the vodka/zest mixture to give it a little extra blood orange flavor.

**Note: Because you have added the simple syrup to your vodka mixture, the resulting proof of your liqueur will be half that of the vodka you began with. Most lemoncello is 40 proof (20% ABV). If you would like stronger lemoncello, use a stronger grain alcohol a you base, such as everclear.

Lemon Drop Martini
The simplest way to make this little number is to combine 2 oz lemoncello with 1 oz vodka, shake the mixture over ice, strain and serve in a martini glass. If you prefer a slightly more tart martini (or less sweet), follow the instructions below:

In a cocktail shaker, combine:
1 oz vodka
1 oz lemoncello
0.5 oz simple syrup
0.5 oz lemon juice

Run a lemon around the edge of a martini glass, and then rim the glass with sugar. Shake the ingredients, strain and serve in the sugar-rimmed glass. Garnish with a lemon zest (you can save the zest you used to make your lemoncello - the steeping process makes them boozy and a little chewy, but kind of a fun addition)

An Apology to Cointreau

Dear Cointreau,

I'm sorry. For the better part of a year, I've been trying to convince myself that you are nothing special (see, for instance, the now redacted statement here). I've told myself that you are nothing more than fancy, over-priced triple sec and that you were not worth my time or my discretionary spending money. I was wrong. For this, I owe you an apology. I hereby vow never to make another Sidecar without you again (unless its for a rude house guest - in which case they're getting a Sidecar with lemon juice from a little lemon bulb, non-VSOP brandy from a plastic bottle, and the worst triple sec I can find).I hope you accept my apology and that we can be better friends moving forward.

Sincerely,

Robby

Well, I finally did it - I found Cointreau on sale and ponied up the $35 for a bottle of what I thought was glorified Triple Sec (which discerning consumers can find for under $10 a bottle...). But enough people had tried to sell me on the merits of Cointreau that I figured I should at least give it a try. Turns out they were spot-on. While its true that you can find decent Triple Sec on the market, Cointreau markets themselves as the Triple Sec, the one that sets the industry standard. And boy, does it ever. Zack and I treated ourselves to some fine Cointreau Sidecars right away, and the difference was extremely noticeable. There were lovely hints of clove, nutmeg, cinnamon along with the bittersweet orange flavor that enhanced the Brandy/lemon juice pairing quite well. The Sidecar has become one of my top five favorite drinks over the past year, and the addition of Cointreau makes it even better. As stated above, I hereby resolve never to make another Sidecar without Cointreau.

One note: Unlike Grand Marnier, Cointreau is not super-duper for sipping by itself. Grand Mariner comes from the curacao family (rather than the triple sec family) and so is a brandy based liqueur. For that reason, it overwhelms a lot of cocktails and makes them too boozy. But Grand Mariner is a fantastic aperitif - it stands alone quite well. Cointreau should not be sipped by itself, but man does it go great in any drink calling for Triple Sec. It is worth the investment, especially if you can find it on sale (if you see it in the $30 dollar range for a 750 ml bottle, that is a great price).

November Drink of the Month - The Brandy Alexander

This month's drink is dedicated to my mom, who is perhaps the biggest fan of this blog that I know. Thanks Mom, for enjoying my writing and for supporting my hobby.

As the calendar flips to November and the leaves start falling off the trees, perhaps it is time to cut back on wonderful, light citrus drinks made with club soda and fancy floral liqueurs. While I enjoy a good Saint Tropez most any time, it doesn't really fit most people's mood come winter time. As I write this, we are in our third day of cold (not quite freezing) rain in South Bend, which means its time to begin breaking out the heartier drinks as folks settle in for the freeze. 

For some people, winter means only warm drinks, but this is not a policy I adhere to. While warm spiced apple cider is quite delicious with rum or brandy, there are plenty of iced drink options that can help you get through the snowier months. The key here is to mix in heavier ingredients - crèmes and cream - with your liquors in order to produce a more robust drink that helps fill your belly on a cold night.

By special request, we'll feature my mom's favorite of all these heavier drinks this month: the Brandy Alexander. This drink originated in the twenties (like many great cocktails) and combines heavy cream, dark crème de cacao and brandy or cognac. It is a variation of the original "Alexander" drink, which was made with Gin. But where does the name Alexander come from? Stories vary - it might have been named after the bartender, perhaps a drink critic, or perhaps even Tsar Alexander II of Russia.

Here is a simple recipe for the Brandy Alexander:

In a cocktail shaker, combine:

1 oz brandy (cognac is preferred - if not, ensure brandy is VSOP)

1 oz fresh cream*

1 oz dark crème de cacao**

Shake WELL over ice*** and strain into a martini class. Garnish with a light sprinkling of ground nutmeg.

Obligatory notes:

*There are many difference of opinion over what kind of cream to use. Most of the recipes I consulted called for heavy cream. Our finding was that this made the drink a little too thick and heavy. I would recommend trying half-and-half the first time you make the drink. If you enjoy the taste, stick with half-and-half. If you want it a little thicker (or if you grew up on whole milk like my cowboy roommate), consider moving up to heavy cream for your second round.

**Chocolate liqueurs are also an acceptable substitute here. Godiva makes a very nice liqueur that would work quite well, but standard DeKuyper mixers work fine here. Just make sure you purchase DARK crème de cacao - the liqueur should be a caramel color.

***Since this is a cream drink, you will need to shake it quite a bit to get a good consistency. You can also make this drink in a blender if you are concerned about your shaking abilities. The Brandy Alexander can also be served as a frozen drink. If this is your preference, follow the above steps, but add 1/2 cup of ice to the recipe and make the whole thing in the blender.

Enjoy your Brandy Alexander! And stay warm!

October Drink of the Month - The Apple Cider Margarita

I've always felt a little left out once the leaves start to turn - my dislike for coffee  & beer means I've never been a part of the Pumpkin Spice Latte or Pumpkin Porter phenomenon. However, there are many other ways to celebrate the fall, and one of my favorite is with Apple Cider. Here in South Bend, we're near any number of apple orchards (both in Northern Indiana and in Southwest Michigan) and they always have excellent, fresh cider. Chilled cider is an excellent drink by itself and mulling cider with rum and spices is even better. But the best drink I've yet encountered with apple cider is this month's feature: the apple cider margarita!

First a quick digression on the Margarita: ever wonder where everyone's favorite tequila drink comes from? There are many stories and several bartenders claim to be the first to combine fresh lime juice and orange liqueur with tequila. However the most convincing story I've heard is that the Margarita originated during Prohibition. While the 18th amendment was in force, liquor happy Americans often crossed the Mexican border looking for libations. One of the more popular drinks of that time was a Daisy, which featured brandy, orange liqueur and lemon. Unfortunately, brandy was not always available, leading enterprising Mexican barkeeps to substitute the ever-present tequila for brandy. They named it a "Margarita" which is Spanish for "Daisy." And thus a classic was born!

A typical margarita combines roughly two parts tequila with one part Cointreau and one part lime juice. Following the International Bartenders Association guideline, which is more rigorous, a margarita should be 7 parts tequila, 4 parts Cointreau and 3 parts lime juice. The apple cider margarita is a different animal entirely. Lime juice is quite tart and a little bit goes a long way, hence the small proportion. Apple cider, however, is a much more refreshing cocktail base and so this margarita features a much higher proportion of juice/cider base. Here is the recipe I traditionally use:

In a cocktail shaker, combine the following ingredients:

3-5 oz apple cider (to taste - I prefer it closer to 5 oz)

1 oz tequila reposado*

1 oz orange liqueur**

3 dashes orange bitters

Shake over ice and strain into a margarita glass with a cinnamon sugar rimmed lip (optional). Garnish with an orange slice in the bottom of the glass and a cinnamon stick. Resist the temptation to make this into a frozen drink - it sips much better chilled. Because the total alcohol content is lower than in a regular margarita, too much ice makes the drink bland.

 

*You'd like a lesson on the different types of tequila you say? Of course, I'd be happy to provide! All tequila comes from the roasted "nuts" of the blue agave plant. To be tequila, it must be produces in the Mexican state of Jalisco. There are three types of tequila: blanco, reposado and añejo. In English, we would call these three "silver," "gold," and "aged" tequila. Tequila blanco has not been aged at all - it is the blue agave equivalent of vodka, which is why it is clear. Tequila reposado ("rested") has been aged in an oak barrel for at least two months. This is the most common form of tequila. Tequila añejo has been aged for at least a year in an oak cask. Tequila extra añejo has been aged at least three years. Aged tequila tastes much more like good whiskey and is suitable for sipping.

 

**As always, a note on orange liqueurs: because of the high proportion of cider, you can't really distinguish the flavor of Cointreau from triple sec. Use the cheap stuff. Grand Mariner actually does give a slightly different taste in this drink - use GM if you'd like a stronger hint of orange (but you can also accomplish this with more orange bitters, leading back to my initial point - use the cheap stuff).

This makes an excellent drink for any fall occasion - just make sure you get some fresh cider. Its worth the drive!

Enjoy your Apple Cider Margaritas!

The "Side-by-Sidecar" Comparison Test

One of my all time favorite drinks to make for people is also one of the simplest drinks to make. The Sidecar is a simple mix of lemon juice, orange liqueur and brandy, usually in equal proportions. Here is the traditional sidecar recipe that I most often use:

In a cocktail shaker, combine:
1 oz brandy
1 oz orange liqueur
1 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice

Shake over ice, strain into a martini glass and serve.

A couple of quick notes (after all, it wouldn't me a post from me without a couple of quick notes):
1) The orange liqueur of choice for the Sidecar is Cointreau, but the drink does not suffer too much from using a decent Triple Sec instead. Cointreau is worth the investment - it really adds to the drink! But if it is too pricey for you, standard triple sec will do in a pinch. Grand Marnier is a bit too strong of an orange flavor for this particular cocktail
2) As always, fresh squeezed lemon juice is better than store bought lemon juice. I often enjoy my lemon juice a little "pulpy" in drinks such as a whiskey sour, but this is one case where you will want to make sure to strain all of the pulp out of your lemon juice before adding it to your mixture. Since the drink is served without ice and in a martini glass, the lemon pulp is quite noticeable and reduces the drink's aesthetic appeal.
3) Make sure you use an aged brandy - anything with VSOP on the label will work! VSOP is a measurement of how long your brandy has been aged (and it stands for "Very Superior Old Pale"). If you see "VSOPX" or "XVSOP," the "x" stands for "extra" and means it has been aged longer (and is thus superior).

Where does the Sidecar get its name, you may ask? I'm so glad you asked (this is one of my favorite
stories)! While most drinks are named after the bar that first served the drink, the bartender who invented it or named as tributes to famous individuals, the Sidecar is named after the mode of transportation of the class of people who most commonly ordered the drink. The Sidecar was a favorite of French military officers during WWI. Because these officers were too important to drive themselves around, the often rode in the side car of motorcycles - hence the name "Sidecar." The Apple Cart cocktail that we made back in May 2013 is a variation on the sidecar that features Calvados (apple brandy) and changes the traditional sidecar proportions just a little bit.

Inspired in some way by the Apple Cart, my friend Zack and I set out to perform a side-by-side comparison of other such sidecar variations. Brandy is traditionally made from grapes, but can be made from many other fruits, and the variety of fruit brandies is staggering. After a quick trip to the local liquor store, we had in our possession the following fruit brandies: Blackberry, Apple (Calvados), Cherry, Kirschwasser (a German variation on cherry brandy that is noticeably more sour) , Apricot and Cranberry Schnapps (technically many schnapps are forms of Brandy. However, the schnapps we bought were the American version which combines neutral spirit with fruit flavor). We mixed up mini-sidecars with the six different brandies above and voted on our favorite combinations (substituting the fruit brandy for the grape brandy in the recipe above) - our results are below!

Side-by-Sidecar lineup

Best Flavored Sidecar: Apricot Sidecar
The Apricot Sidecar looked very similar to a traditional brandy Sidecar, perhaps even a shade lighter. The apricot flavor was an excellent compliment for the lemon-citrus flavor. The aftertaste was pure apricot, no lingering harsh lemon flavor. It was most excellent, our favorite by far.

Worst Flavored Sidecar: Cherry Sidecar
The Cherry Sidecar came out a muddy red-brown color, and didn't much improve over its mediocre first impression. The drink smelled funny. I'm not even sure how to describe it, but it was weird. As for taste? It was way overly-sweet and ended up tasting mostly like cough syrup. The aftertaste was a strong cherry flavor that left a syrup-y feel. No thanks. I'll keep the cherry brandy on the shelf for making Singapore Slings, but that's about it.

Best/Worst of the Rest:
Second Place: Apple Sidecar - the Calvados sidecar did taste different from the Apple Cart (a good reminder that proportions matter when making drinks - measure carefully!), but it was not terribly different taste-wise from a traditional (grape) Brandy Sidecar. The apple taste was muted by the stronger concentration of lemon juice. This was the most tart of all the sidecars we mixed.

Third Place (*Barry Bonds* division): Cranberry Sidecar - since the Cranberry schnapps we had was the wimpy DeKuyper 15% ABV stuff that is more sugary flavored vodka than true brandy, we decided to add a 1/2 pour of (grape) brandy and a 1/2 pour of the cranberry schnapps to our trial drinks. Without the actual Brandy to bolster it, this drink was quite weak. But with the addition of actual brandy, we wound up with a nice drink. It was a vibrant purple that caught the eye, and the cranberry tart went well with the lemon. The aftertaste was quite lemon-y, however.

Fourth Place: Kirschwasser Sidecar - unlike the traditional cherry brandy sidecar, the Kirschwasser sidecar was not overly syrup-y or too sweet. It came out as a cloudy, mostly clear drink with a muted cherry flavor. It was a bit harsh at first, with strong lemon flavors, but the aftertaste was a pleasant cherry that muted the lemon and left you with an agreeable taste for a few minutes.

Fifth Place: Blackberry Sidecar - this was the opposite of the Kirschwasser Sidecar. It had a strong blackberry taste on the first sip, but the aftertaste was pure lemon. It was a fairly forgettable drink that came out a cloudy light purple/pink. Blackberry brandy can be put to much better uses, including in the Long Island Berry Iced Tea.

Thoughts? Have another option we should try? Think we were horribly wrong to dismiss the Cherry Sidecar? Let us know! And enjoy!

September Drink of the Month - The Saint Tropez

One of the best things about this summer in South Bend was the opportunity to take day trips all over southwest Michigan, visiting awesome little towns, wineries/breweries/distilleries and beaches. One of my favorite little SW Michigan towns is Sawyer, MI, home to the excellent Greenbush Breweries. Even if you are not a beer drinker (guilty), their BBQ beef brisket sandwiches are most excellent and worth the drive.  Last weekend, however, Ann and I decided to try something new and head to Greenbush's next door neighbor, a swanky little bistro called Fitzgerald's. I've often walked past Fitzgerald's, and I've always been intrigued by the rotating list of martinis they advertise in their windows, but this last weekend was the first time I had even been inside. We were both pleasantly surprised with our food (turns out their BBQ is pretty good as well), but the highlight of the trip was the chance to try out some new cocktails.

At least a quarter of Fitzgerald's cocktail menu featured St. Germain, a liqueur made from "elderflower" (otherwise know as the flower that blooms on elderberry plants). All terrible Monty Python jokes aside, St. Germain is a lovely base for many cocktails - it is both sweet and citrus-y and blends excellently with white wines. The classic St. Germain Cocktail is made with combination of champagne and sparkling water - the resulting cocktail has all the bubbly fun of champagne but heightened citrus and floral flavors that give it a unique taste. Fitzgerald's featured the St. Germain cocktail, but also a number of other creations. I tried something off the menu featuring St. Germain and bourbon that was fairly decent, but Ann hit the jackpot with a Saint Tropez.

As is sometimes the case with cocktails, there are several recipes floating around for the Saint Tropez, and they couldn't be any more different from each other. One popular recipe features Dubonnet (a French fortified wine) and orange juice. Another recipe turns the beverage into a alcohol-free passion fruit concoction. However, the Saint Tropez we enjoyed in Sawyer was completely different from these types of drinks. While the recipes listed above feature heavy flavors and are quite syrup-y, the St. Germain based Saint Tropez cocktail is extremely light and bubbly. The flavors are extremely light and muted, but compliment each other extremely well to make it an excellent picnic drink on a hot summer day. Here is the recipe we used for the Saint Tropez cocktails we made at home the next week:

In a cocktail shaker combine the following ingredients:

1 part Absolut Citron or similar lemon vodka

1 part Saint Germain

.25 part lemon juice

Shake over ice and strain into a Collins (high ball) glass filled with ice

Top with soda water and a lemon peel garnish (Fitzgerald's also added a strawberry)

The resulting cocktail should be mostly clear with a slight yellow/gold hint. This is a very "clean" tasting cocktail - the flavor notes are very subtle and this is not an extremely concentrated drink. If you feel like adding a little more flavor or variety to the drink, I suggest replacing the lemon vodka with cherry vodka or adding a few dashes of cherry bitters to your liquor mix before you shake/strain. The cherry flavor adds an extra note without overwhelming the elderflower and lemon.

Enjoy your Saint Tropez - and do it soon, there's only so many day of summer left to drink light cocktails like this! Soon we'll have to turn to heavy, cream-based cocktails to keep warm!

August Drink of the Month - The Blue Orchid

First, a programming note: I realize its not yet August, but I'll be traveling for the next two weeks, so I felt the need to get the August DotM up before I left. I hope I haven't offended anyone by talking about August while we're still in the middle of July!

Now on to this month's drink. This was a month when I went to the store and looked around for a fun new ingredient and then decided what drink to make with it after I got home. I went with my friend Zack to City Wide Liquors yesterday, but nothing stood out to us as we roamed the aisles. We were about to give up and buy some Kirschwasser (clear, German cherry brandy) when Zack had the genius idea to invest in some new, exotic bitters instead. I came home with some Fee Brother's Black Walnut bitters as well as some Rose Water (also from Fee Brothers). I'm slowly growing my bitters collection, already having bought Angostura bitters (the classic "bitters"), orange bitters (the second most commonly used bitter variety) and Wild Cherry bitters (great in as Old Fashioned, as noted earlier).

We played around for a bit with the Black Walnut bitters, and even found a decent drink designed to bring out their unique flavor using Rye, Grand Marnier and maple syrup (an Autumn Leaves, featured in Esquire), but nothing we made really stood out to us. I did read that the Black Walnut bitters would be excellent in a Manhattan, and I believe it - their flavor enhanced the smoky flavor of the Rye quite well in the Autumn Leaves. I should be posing on Manhattans some time in the near future, and we will have more to say about the Black Walnut bitters then.

After playing around with the Black Walnut bitters, we turned to the Rose Water. Unlike the newer Black Walnut bitters, there were plenty of recipes to explore with Rose Water, which has been around since ancient times, especially in Turkish and Middle Eastern cultures. Most recipes called for it to be combined with sparkling lemonade, and I can understand how the strong floral taste of the Rose Water would combine well with the tartness of lemonade. The drink we ultimately settled on, however, was called a Blue Orchid. Before giving the recipe, I should make a disclaimer: there are many websites that list recipes for Blue Orchids using Hpnotiq (a blue vodka similar to UV Blue), vanilla vodka and a splash of OJ. This is a much sweeter drink then the one we made - and I would never make it due to my long-standing feud with all blue-colored "fun" vodkas like Hpnotiq and UV Blue. Our Blue Orchid, following a recipe from absolutdrinks.com, featured bourbon as the principle ingredient, resulting in a much smokier drink. The blue color comes from Blue Curacao, which adds a slight hint of orange to the drink and the Rose Water provides a very nice contrast to the bourbon - it has its own distinctive note while also sweetening the drink ever so slightly (though most of the sweetness comes from the Blue Curacao).

Here is the recipe we used. Simply combine the following ingredients:

3 ounces Bourbon*
1 ounce Blue Curacao
2-3 dashes Rose Water

The Blue Orchid

*Quick note on bourbons: Old Grandad is a great inexpensive bourbon if you need recommendations.
Cabin Still is also an okay brand for this drink. Don't buy the expensive $30-50 bottles for mixing - those should be served neat or on the rocks (if for some reason you feel the need to dilute your drink).

Shake the three ingredients over ice for 10-15 seconds, strain and serve in a Martini glass. The blue color is quite pretty - the amber of the bourbon combined with the Blue Curacao creates a dark aquamarine. As far as blue drinks go, it is one of my favorite - perhaps just behind the Blue Hawaiian, which stands at the pinnacle of all blue drinks.

Enjoy your Blue Orchid!

Home Made Syrups and Whatnot

I think I've already groused enough about store bought Grenadine, so I won't spend a long time trying to convince anyone that making your own is a good idea - hopefully I've already done that! I've been promising that I would try making my own Grenadine for a few weeks now, but it wasn't until last night that I finally took a whole 20 minutes out of my "busy" day and boiled the pomegranate juice that I bought back in late June. Despite one small misstep which resulted in me having to spend fifteen minutes removing carbonized pomegranate from the stove top, the process was relatively painless. Here are the instructions I followed - while there were more complicated recipes online, I think simple is better here (I'm still mystified as to what "orange flower water" is):

Procure 2-4 cups of pomegranate juice. Fresh juice is highly recommended - nothing from concentrate
if at all possible. Pomegranate is often mixed in juice cocktails, but you will have to look a little bit to find pure pomegranate juice. POM is the most popular brand, but there are less expensive options available. I was able to find a 4 cup (32 ounce) bottle of organic pomegranate juice for $2 less than POM.

Boil the pomegranate juice until you have reduced the liquid by half. Watch out - this stuff boils up like crazy if you are not careful and it can spill over your pot in a heartbeat - hence my burner cleaning chore. Carbonized pomegranate doesn't smell particularly great...

Once your juice has reduced by half, transfer to a glass measuring bowl. Slowly whisk in sugar - you should use equal parts sugar and juice. If you started with 32 ounces of juice (before boiling), then you should add two cups (16 ounces) of sugar. If you started with 16 ounces of juice, only add one cup of sugar.

Once the sugar has been fully mixed into the juice, allow the resulting syrup solution to cool and then bottle and refrigerate. You wind up with a much darker product than commercial Grenadine and you'll find the flavor is significantly different. No more high fructose corn syrup (which is either a good or bad thing, is suppose, depending on your tastes)!

Another bar staple that you can easily make at home and that significantly enhances your drink quality is Sweet & Sour Mix (sometimes just called Sour mix). This recipe is even simpler, as there is no need to reduce anything. All you will need is a 3 pound bag of lemons, a 3 pound bag of limes, some sugar and some water! Here's the step-by-step instructions:

Heat three cups of water on the stove - do not boil, instead you'll keep the water at "hot tub" levels. I would recommend using distilled water - tap water works fine, but the minerals and impurities in the tap water (especially in South Bend, IN) can give your Sour mix a weird after taste.

Slowly add three cups of sugar to the hot but not boiling water. Add about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of sugar at a time, allowing the sugar to fully dissolve before adding your next spoonful.

Guess what? You just made simple syrup! Congratulations! If you were making mojitos or any number of other drinks, you could stop right here. Good to know for future reference, right? A real bartender NEVER buys simple syrup - make your own people!

Half and then juice your lemons and limes. You will need two cups each of lemon and lime juice. I like my sour mix a little pulpy, but if you'd like the clean, commercial look for your sour mix, strain your lemon and lime juice through cheese cloth to remove any of the lemon and lime pulp.

Combine your simple syrup mixture with your two cups of lemon and two cups of lime juice. Shake well and refrigerate. Now you have your very own Sour mix. Again, no more high fructose corn syrup taste, which is a big win in my book. The lemon and lime flavors stand out a bit more as well, which can add some nice notes to your drink that the processed Sour mix lacks.

Hey, congrats - you just learned how to make three different bar syrups! Enjoy!

Bar Kiley Bonus Drink #1 - The Old Fashioned

While I only started this blog a little over a month ago, I've been operating Bar Kiley for a little over four years and I've been using the "Drink of the Month" system for at least the last two and a half years. This means that there are at least 30 drinks I've made as my drink of the month in the past that have not been chronicled on this blog (its called math, son). With that in mind, I've decided to include a few of my favorite former "Drinks of the Month" form time to time to round out the collection here on Bar Kiley. The first of the Bar Kiley Bonus Drinks is a true classic: The Old Fashioned.

I will readily admit that I had never heard of the Old Fashioned before Don Draper and his Mad Men friends began slinging them back at the end of the day. I began experimenting with the Old Fashioned soon after I read an article about the Mad Men property department and their commitment to authenticity, including their authentic cocktail. My first few efforts were admittedly mediocre - this was still early in my development as a bar tender - but they were passable. It wasn't until Matt Haggerty's wedding, when my friends Ryan, Kyle and I all decided that would be our drink for the evening from the reception bar, that I had a truly bad Old Fashioned (sorry Matt - the wedding was great!). No one should be forced to drink watery bourbon mixed with table sugar packets, but that didn't stop us from trying that evening. When I got home, I resolved to learn how to mix a quality Old Fashioned so that I would never be disappointed by the classic cocktail again.

The one tool every bar tender needs to craft an excellent Old Fashioned is a wooden muddler (none of this metal or plastic stuff). The muddler is used for crushing ingredients, such as crushing mint for use in a Mojito. While some people insist that using Simple Syrup is sufficient for a good Old Fashioned, I am convinced that muddled sugar makes a far better drink, as long as it is mixed well. Poorly muddled and mixed sugar can result in a cruddy final sip filled with undissolved sugar, but if it is done well, it is superb.

That being said, here is the recipe that I most often use for my Old Fashioned:

1) Muddle one or two sugar cubes with just enough soda water to allow for the sugar to completely dissolve. Amount of sugar depends on your taste, I would recommend only one cube.
2) Add 3 dashes of Angostura Bitters to the sugar/water mix
3) Add 1.5 ounces of bourbon. Whiskey or rye is also acceptable but bourbon is the best for a true Old Fashioned.
4) Top with ice. I also like to add a small amount of soda water on top. Garnish with a cherry and serve.

The fine folks at oldfashioned101.com disagree with my recipe slightly. In their august opinion: "There is no seltzer, soda water, ginger ale, or lemon soda in an Old Fashioned." While I strongly agree with many of their other precepts (such as no vermouth or mashed fruit of any kind in an Old Fashioned), I really believe the soda water adds something to the drink above and beyond what regular water would impart. I am also a total sucker for adding a cherry, so you have to include it.

You will note that there are many possible variations listed in the recipe I provided. This is a drink that you absolutely have to make to taste. The flavors are subtle and interact quite a bit, so try out different varieties of whiskey (bourbon, rye, scotch, Canadian or Irish whiskey, etc) and different amounts of sugar. One change that can make a big difference and can be fun to experiment with is using different types of bitters. While Angostura Bitters are always a winner, I've really enjoyed experimenting with other bitters. Fee Brothers has an excellent line to try out with many different flavors. Of late, I've been mixing my Old Fashioneds with 2 dashes of their Cherry Bitters and one dash of Angostura Bitters. Orange Bitters also work well here, although I would be hesitant to use "out there" flavors such as grapefruit or rhubarb in this drink.

 Agree or disagree? I'd be happy to discuss the merits of soda water or the necessity of muddling any day. Enjoy your Old Fashioned!

July Drink of the Month - The Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford and
Douglas Fairbanks 

After experimenting with a classic, prohibition era cocktail last month with the Aviation, I decided to keep up the Prohibition-era flavor this month with The Mary Pickford. Mary Pickford was one of the first true movie stars, and created one of the first Hollywood power couples when she married famous swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks (incidentally, Fairbanks had a cocktail named after him as well - see below for one variation on Doug's drink as well).

The Mary Pickford cocktail, much like the venerable Shirley Temple, features grenadine as one of its central ingredients. The gold standard for grenadine on your local grocer's shelf is Rose's Grenadine Syrup, a bright red concoction made primarily from high fructose corn syrup, citric acid water. My little sister, the resident Shirley Temple fan in the family, would be perfectly happy to drink a whole bottle of the stuff (as well as the left-over syrup found in commercial Maraschino cherries), but in the interest of building a better life through "from scratch" bar tending, I would recommend making your own Grenadine Syrup. Grenadine takes its name from the French word for "pomegranate," and so true Grenadine syrup owes its flavor to that odd, seed-filled fruit, not cherries as people often suspect. There are several recipes online for making your own grenadine. Perhaps the easiest comes from the Cocktail Chronicles, which simply recommends boiling two cups of POM pomegranate juice until it is reduced by half and then stirring in one cup on sugar into the hot but not boiling juice reduction. There are other, more complicated recipes involving such interesting ingredients as "orange flower water" to be found (click here for that one), but simple is usually better. I intend to try a few different recipes over the weekend, and I will report back with results soon!

Once you have mastered making your own Grenadine, the rest of the Mary Pickford is simple, yet elegant. To make an elegant, classy Mary Pickford, simply combine:

1.5 oz white rum
1.5 oz pineapple juice
0.5 oz grenadine
1 dash maraschino liqueur

*A quick note on grenadine portions: some recipes call for as much as 1.5 oz grenadine, some for as little as .25 oz. Less is more here, especially if you are using commercial grenadine, such as Rose's. If you are using the homemade stuff, you can add a little more, as the flavor is more subtle.

As you can see, maraschino has made a comeback from last month! The resulting cocktail should be a pretty rose color. Shake the ingredients over cracked ice and serve in a martini glass. If you want to go the extra mile and garnish your drink (always a big winner if you want to class up your parties), a maraschino cherry would be perfectly appropriate. A cocktail skewer with strawberry and pineapple chucks balanced on the rim or halved on the lip of the glass would be even better!

As promised above, a bonus drink for the month in honor of Mary Pickford: The Douglas Fairbanks! Doug's drink combines gin, apricot brandy, lime juice and egg white (yes, egg white is a common bar ingredient - hope this doesn't scare you off!). The resulting drink is a little frothy (mostly because of the egg), but the lime and apricot flavors combine very well. Here is the recipe:

2 oz gin (Plymouth is the preferred brand for the Doug)
1 oz Apricot brandy (usually found in the schnapps section of your liquor store)
0.75 oz lime juice
0.5 oz egg white (one egg - what you do with the yolk is up to you!)

Dry shake the ingredients for 10 seconds to allow the egg white to emulsify. Add ice and shake the ingredients for an additional 10 seconds, then strain into a martini glass and you will have yourself a Douglas Fairbanks. If you want to go all out, may I suggest hosting a his/hers party with Mary Pickfords for the ladies and Douglas Fairbanks for the gentlemen? I think that is a way better idea than Tennis Pros and Golf Hoes, but what do I know?

Enjoy your Mary Pickford!

N'awlins Night

One of my favorite places to grab lunch in South Bend is the Chicory Cafe, a little Cajun-inspired join on South Bend's restaurant row (Michigan Ave downtown). They have fantastic muffaletta and delicious beignets, but by far my favorite menu item is their fried shrimp po'boys. I've been waiting for the opportunity to try to make my own, and that opportunity presented itself last week when I went to visit my parents in Cincinnati. They were willing to bankroll my culinary experiment and I was more than happy to shop and cook dinner since I was there on "vacation."

I'm happy to report that the recipe we found was excellent. Say what you will about Emeril Lagasse and his "bam!" catchphrase, the man knows how to make cajun-style food! Emeril's recipe for his shrimp can be found in full here. The seasoning for the fried shrimp (which I will include in full below) was just spicy enough and the breading was perfect. Instead of using mayonnaise and hot sauce as condiments for the sandwiches, however, used another of Emeril's recipes to make from-scratch remoulade sauce (recipe here). Using the homemade remoulade made the po'boys ten times better, and we had plenty of sauce left over to use over the next few days for cocktail shrimp and other finger food.

Since I had some time on my hands, I decided to pair our meal with a true N'awlins style drink: the Hurricane. Originating in New Orleans at Pat O'Brien's bar, the Hurricane is a mix of fruit juices and two different types of rum (light/white rum and dark/black rum). My parents convinced me to use Malibu coconut rum instead of purchasing a new bottle of light rum, and I have to admit that this did affect the flavor somewhat (and not in a good way). The sweetness of the coconut rum made the drink, already quite sweet, a little too saccharine for my tastes, so I would not recommend making that substitution. The recipe also calls for passion fruit juice, which can be hard to find. My best suggestion would be to look at a local Mexican grocery store - they often have passion fruit and/or passion fruit juice from concentrate.

Okay, enough preface! Recipes are below!

From Scratch Remoulade Sauce

In a food processor, combine the following ingredients and process until well mixed:

1/4 cup lemon juice

3/4 cup vegetable oil (we used olive oil and didn't notice a difference)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1/4 cup celery (we used closer to 1/2 cup, but we enjoy the celery spice)

2 tbsp chopped garlic

2 tbsp horseradish

3 tbsp Creole whole-grain mustard (I had to go to a specialty shop to find this one)

3 tbsp yellow mustard

3 tbsp ketchup

3 tbsp chopped parsley (fresh if at all possible - do not use dried parsley)

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp black pepper

Make this sauce first and then refrigerate in a covered sauce bowl until you are ready to eat

Emeril's Essence Seasoning (used for shrimp and breading)

You could easily make this recipe with store-bought cajun seasoning, but since we are going for the "from scratch" theme this evening, I recommend you make your own!

Combine the following ingredients well:

2.5 parts paprika (my mother would disown me if I didn't encourage you to buy GOOD paprika instead of the cheap spice rack version. She suggests Hungarian paprika, such as Budapest's Best)

2 parts salt

2 parts garlic powder

1 part black pepper

1 part onion powder

1 part cayenne pepper

1 part dried oregano

1 part dried thyme (leaves)

 

You will need three tablespoons of this seasoning for the recipe below. If you follow the recipe as posted using a tablespoon measure as your "part" this should yield ~2/3 of a cup.

Fried Shrimp Po'Boy

For this recipe, you will need:

1.5 pounds of shrimp

1.5 cups of flour

1.5 cups cornmeal

4-6 loaves of french bread (6 inch each)

cayenne pepper and salt

lettuce, red onions and tomatoes to garnish the sandwiches

Peel and de-vein your shrimp. Coat the peeled shrimp with 1 tbsp of the pre-made essence seasoning (above) along with .5 tsp salt and .25 tsp of cayenne pepper. The easiest way to do this is to toss the shrimp in a covered Tupperware container. The shrimp should have a nice, reddish color once coated.

In a bowl, combine your flour and cornmeal with 2 tbsp of the essence seasoning, 1 tsp salt and .5 tsp of cayenne pepper. Toss your seasoned shrimp in this breading mixture - the shrimp are "sticky" enough that you will not need egg or any other coating to make the breading mixture stick. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the breaded shrimp in small batches. The shrimp should not be in the oil for more than 2-4 minutes - they cook quickly and overcooked shrimp are not pleasant (they taste gummy - yuck). Once your shrimp are cooked, place them on a plate lined with brown paper or paper towels to drain the excess oil.

To make your sandwiches, cut your french bread loaves without fully splitting the bread - creating "pockets" in which to layer your ingredients. Spread a thin layer of remoulade sauce on your bread and then top with (in order) shredded lettuce, chopped red onion & tomato, fried shrimp and a second layer of remoulade sauce. Serve with chips and a pickle if you wish. If you get the shrimp right, they will come out a beautiful golden brown - these babies are delicious!

N'awlins Style Hurricane

If you want to win over the crowd, pair your po'boys with a matching New Orleans style drink. To make the Hurricane, combine the following ingredients in a cocktail shaker:

2 oz light rum (Bacardi, etc)

2 oz dark rum (Meyers is preferred - do not use dark, spiced Rum such as Kraken)

2 oz passion fruit juice

1 oz orange juice

0.5 oz lime juice

0.5 oz simple syrup

0.5 oz grenadine

Shake over ice, strain and pour into a Hurricane glass filled with ice (the drink is actually named after the glass - who knew!). Garnish your drink with a cherry and an orange slice. I highly recommend using real grenadine and not Rose's syrup. In the next few weeks, I am going to try out some recipes to make my own grenadine and I'll report back. But grenadine is NOT cherry syrup as some people assume - it is actually made using pomegranate! I'm hoping our home-made syrup will turn out well!

Enjoy your N'awlins night!

May Drink of the Month: The Apple Cart

My methods for picking a drink of the month vary greatly. Sometimes I pick a drink based on a friend's recommendation. Sometimes I find something while I'm out at a bar and want to try to replicate it. Sometimes I find inspiration from blogs like Imbibe Unfiltered or the Cocktail Chronicles. I have a few bar books, and sometimes the process is a simple as opening to a random page in the book and pointing. However, one of the most frequent ways I decide on a new drink of the month is by buying a liquor on a whim and then trying to find a recipe that I like that uses that ingredient. That's how I stumbled across the Apple Cart, a great, refreshing summer drink that is perfect for an evening on the porch. While I was visiting a friend in Minneapolis in January, we stopped by the local liquor store to pick up ingredients for Almond Cigars, a drink I will be sure to write up very soon. As we checked out, I saw a bottle of apple brandy on sale and bought it for a lark. I'd never heard of a drink that needed apple brandy, but I was sure there had to be one out there somewhere.

That night, we searched the internet for possible options. I wasn't at home (read: with my bar), so our ingredients were fairly limited. We did have a bottle of triple sec, however, and I had bought lemons just in case we needed them. That made the apple cart the easy choice. The recipe is below:

Apple Cart

1 measure Calvados*

3/4 meausre Orange Liqueur**

1/2 measure lemon juice

Optional: Add 1-2 dashes of Orange Bitters for a more citrus-y flavor

Combine ingredients in rocks glass filled 3/4 full with ice. Stir for 20 seconds and serve.

A few notes on ingredients: 

*Calvados is French apple brandy, and is by far the best quality liquor to use for this drink. However, any other apple brandy will work. Applejack is a similar drink made in the US which also works well in this drink. I much prefer Calvados, as it 100% distilled apple cider, whereas Applejack is cut with neutral spirits (like vodka). For more on the distinction, check out the article HERE. It is a matter of taste which spirit you choose. The price difference is not too much, despite what the linked article says. Calvados can be had from my local liquor store for around $20, compared to a $16 price tag for Applejack.

**There are three basic types of orange liqueur. The most common (and thus the cheapest) is Triple Sec, which can be found for $6-10 in any liquor store. Triple Sec is a great mixer, providing a little bit of alcoholic punch and sweetness without too much more in the way of flavor. I like to think of it as boozier simple syrup, and can be used in this way without altering the flavor of your drink too much. On the higher end of the spectrum are Contreau and Grand Marnier. Both of these liqueurs retail between $35-42 a bottle, but are worth investing in some time, simply because of the number of cocktails that call for them. Grand Marnier has the stronger orange flavor, which makes it less suitable for some cocktails that have subtle flavors, as the spiced orange flavor can drown them out. For the Apple Cart, I recommend Contreau first and Triple Sec second. Another option that I've been using in the past few weeks is my homemade Orangecello, which also works quite well!

The Apple Cart will feature the apple flavor most strongly, but will also have notes of citrus from the orange liqueur and the lemon juice. You can adjust your drink ratios to taste - for those people who appreciate sour flavors, you can get away with one part of each ingredient. But be careful not to overdo the lemon juice. While lemon juice is great in almost any cocktail, it can easily take over any drink if your hand gets shaky while you pour.

Hope you enjoy your Apple Cart!

June Drink of the Month: The Aviation

I will freely admit that I am not the world’s biggest gin drinker. While the Gin and Tonic is a classic cocktail and many people love it’s effervescence, I've never been a huge fan of quinine so it has been hard to jump on the G&T bandwagon. In the Aviation, however, I've found a vehicle for gin that I quite enjoy. The Aviation is a prohibition era cocktail that rarely shows up on menus anymore because of its unique ingredients, calling for both Maraschino liqueur (which tastes nothing like the violently red cherries of the same name) and Crème de Violette (a deep purple liqueur that tastes about how you image a violet may taste – floral and sweet with just a hint of “purple” flavor in there). The drink is a beautiful pale sky blue and has notes of citrus, the sweet hints of Crème de Violette and the slightly bitter/sour Maraschino.

The traditional recipe, which dates back to 1916, is as follows:

Aviation Cocktail
2 oz gin
½ oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
¼ oz Crème de Violette
2 tsp Maraschino (approximately 1/5 part if you are scaling the drink)

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker over ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with either a cherry or (preferably) a lemon rind twist.

I've found this mixture to work very well, but the initial few sips are quite sour. The Maraschino and lemon juice can overwhelm the Crème de Violette and leave you with a bitter citrus-y flavor that cancels out the slight juniper notes from the gin. For whatever reason, the first sip seems to almost always be loaded with bitter flavor, but the drink mellows nicely as you work your way down the glass.

I've been experimenting with a few different mixtures that I like a little better for my Aviations. This is the formula I've been working off of for the last week: 

Robby's Modified Aviation
 2 oz gin
1/3 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/3 oz Crème de Violette
1/4 oz Maraschino

The result is a much darker drink – the color of the sea in a storm instead of a pleasant summer’s afternoon. However, the initial bitter taste is mitigated extremely well. This is a much sweeter drink, so bear that in mind if your tastes run more to the bitter than the sweet.

 I should mention that there is a version of the Aviation that omits Crème de Violette. While Crème de Violette can be quite hard to find, it retails relatively cheaply (I found mine for under $25 from Rothman & Winter) and should be carried by any high-end liquor store. Maraschino is slightly pricier – my bottle cost around $30 (Luxardo is the preferred brand). However, you will get much more use out of your Maraschino – it is a “secret ingredient” in many cocktails, including the Beach Comber, a great summery rum drink with pineapple and lime juice.

Finally, let me include a few variations on the classic Aviation. The first is the "Blue Moon" which follows the Aviation recipe closely but omits the Maraschino:

Blue Moon Cocktail:
2 oz gin
½ oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
½ oz Crème de Violette

Combine in a cocktail shaker over ice, shake and strain to serve. 

The second option comes from the San Francisco Chronicle's wine & entertainment staff, an excellent resource for recipes and suggestions for budding bar keeps (follow the link HERE for the story that inspired this drink). Their reporters tried to find new uses for Crème de Violette and came up with the "Moonlight" cocktail, detailed below:

Moonlight Cocktail:
1½ oz gin
½ oz Contreau (or any orange liqueur – I like using homemade Orangecello)
½ oz Crème de Violette
½ oz fresh squeezed lime juice

Combine in a cocktail shaker over ice, shake and strain to serve in a chilled Champagne flute.

Enjoy! 

Meet my bar

Bar Kiley in all its glory.
One day I will have real bar furniture.
Until then, Target bookshelves will suffice.

The proper glass for the proper drink makes all the difference!

The last remains of my
grandfather's whiskey that got
me started bar tending

May's drink of the month, the
Apple Cart.

Thanks for the only decor
my bar ever needed Mom

Welcome to Bar Kiley

This journey that led me to this blog started five years ago when my mom asked me to come with her to Cleveland to help my grandfather move out of his old house. He was in the process of “de-cluttering” his lifestyle and was bound and determined to get rid of the things he no longer needed. Knowing that I was fond of whiskey, my grandfather offered to give me the remains of his home bar which had sat, almost completely untouched, in his basement for the past ten years. I gladly accepted, even though I had no idea what I was going to do with his generous present. My mom and I spent the next fifteen minutes combing through the twenty-plus bottles in his collection, many of them over thirty years old. My grandfather informed me that I was to leave the vodka so that he could still make himself Bloody Marys, but the rest was mine to keep. We packed up bottles of Crown Royal and Fleischmann’s whiskey that still had their original 1969 tax label affixed to the lid alongside one or two newer, plastic bottles of run and gin. Most of the bottles were so old and dusty, however, that you could barely see the liquid inside!

                I brought my newly-inherited home bar with me to South Bend and quickly filled up the cabinet in my back pantry with my haul. The aged bottles sat there for several months, only occasionally visited in order to fetch a finger or two of “Old Smuggler” (Scotch with a History!) or Chivas Regal (served neat of course). One night, however, as my roommate and I entertained a few guests, we decided it was time to mix a drink or two using our back bar, something I had never really tried before. Little did I know this would be the beginning of a hobby that would follow me through three cities, four moves and would eventually even lead to a part-time job that helped put me through Grad School.

                As I began experimenting with mixing different drinks, I adopted a “Drink of the Month” policy. I firmly believe this is the best and most economically responsible way to build up a home bar. After three years of experimenting with drinks of the month, my home bar tops out at over 80 bottles, and continues to slowly grow each month. The other benefit is that I now also know how to make thirty-plus cocktails and have even begun to make my own liqueurs, syrups and other mixers. By picking one drink a month to serve and master, I can give my friends something new every time they come over while keeping my bar expenses to a minimum. I try to select a new drink that only requires one or two new ingredients, and then I make sure to keep them stocked all month. I almost never go through my whole stock in a month, meaning my bar grows each month simply by adding one or two simple ingredients.

This blog is my attempt to share my “Drinks of the Month” with my friends and family and maybe help you build up your own home bar. I hope you enjoy the recipes I've included. We’ll begin with a few “best of” Bar Kiley from the past and new drink recipes will be added and tweaked in the months to come. I may even add a few other recipes from Bar Kiley’s kitchen if the mood is right. I hope you enjoy this project (and enjoy it responsibly)!