Archive for the ‘Make Your Own Ingredients’ Category

The following are all excerpted from the The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartender's Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy by Jim Meehan. For more on this upcoming bible for cocktail afficionados, read the previously posted review of The PDT Cocktail Book by Christine Sismondo here.

Author Jim Meehan told me himself that the first recipe, the Benton's Old Fashioned, is currently the most popular cocktail at PDT (Please Don't Tell) his well-celebrated New York City speakeasy cocktail bar. He also provided us with a recipe for his bacon-infused bourbon, recipes for his French Maid cocktail and the housemade ginger beer the French Maid includes, plus a recipe for the Little Bit Country cocktail. Enjoy!

The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartender’s Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy; By Jim Meehan; Illustrations by Chris Gall; Sterling Epicure; $29.95; 368 pages

Benton’s Old Fashioned

(Don Lee, Winter 2007)

2 oz. Benton’s Bacon Infused Four Roses Bourbon
.25 oz. Deep Mountain Grade B Maple Syrup
2 Dashes of Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with one large cube.

Garnish with an orange twist.

Benton’s Bacon Infused Bourbon

1.5 oz Benton's Bacon Fat
750 ml bottle of Four Roses Bourbon

On low heat, warm bacon fat in a small saucepan. Stir until it becomes molten, about 5 minutes. Pour liquid fat into a large, non-reactive container. Pour bourbon into the container with the fat. Stir. Cover and let stand for 4 hours. After 4 hours, place the container in the freezer for two hours. After 2 hours, remove solid fat. Strain through a terry cloth or cheesecloth. Pour contents back into the original bottle and label.

Yield: 24 oz.

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Here are some cool links I've stumbled across in the last little while.

Two Australian entrepreneurs are working on a beer that people can drink in space. Seriously.

Beer in space? I'll drink to that.

Crazy or crazy good? I don't know yet, but Imbibe's Avocado Daiquiri is making my weekend Drinks to Try list. Doesn't seem right on the surface, but I admit I'm intrigued by the idea. And hell, God hates a coward.

Over at Cask Strength, Andrew gets his nationwide bartender re-education program underway. For this month, he'd like us all to help bartenders learn to make a proper Daiquiri. It's a noble cause. (But I'm still going to try the previously mentioned Avocado Daiquiri. At home, of course. In the dark. Alone. No witnesses.) More to Andrew's point though, I gave up trying to find a generic Daiquiri photo in the online database I use. It's all pics of frozen strawberry slushies and Margaritas. Ridiculous.

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Here are some links to the coolest stuff I stumbled across this week.

By the way, I'm off all of next week, so I've prepared a few posts in advance so this blog doesn't collect dust while I'm gone. I'll answer any questions or comments when I get back. Enjoy Easter!

Simon at Bar Life UK goes on a well justified rant about Dr. Neil Da Costa's recently conducted research about the science behind the supposedly perfect Bloody Mary. It's funny stuff.

The Bloody Mary. Now, how do I get mine to look that great shade of red?

While looking for a cocktail that would include some of the liquid gold in my recently acquired bottle of yellow Chartreuse, I came across a recipe for the Alaskan Cocktail at the Cocktail Enthusiast blog. I'm gonna give this simple but tasty sounding drink a go during my week off.

Check out the effects of glass thickness on drink temperature – the third installment in a series of posts at Cocktail Virgin Slut – detailing experiments with glassware, cocktails and temperature.

Nancy at The Backyard Bartender has come up with three really great sounding vodka infusions, including Celery + Bay Leaf, Chocolate, Cinnamon + Chipotle, and Vanilla, Cardamom + Cinnamon. She's also offerd up cocktail recipes to accompany each infusion and some awesome drink photos. Check it out.

Now that we've all (I hope) put away our snow shovels as winter has begrudgingly given way to spring, many imbibers of seasonal temperament are likely to put away warming libations for lighter, fresher cocktails. The folks at Serious Eats have some Light, Bright Cocktails for Spring suggestions.

Spring has finally arrived and hopefully, you're enjoying some (slightly) nicer weather and a generally pleasant turn of mood. For my part, the lake has finally thawed (no ice as of this morning!) and I'm trying to imagine summer nights on the dock, cocktail in hand. But enough about me. On to some of the past week's most interesting links.

From homemade bitters and barrel-aged cocktails to making your own limoncello and ginger beer, The Daily Meal has a cool post about 7 Do-It-Yourself Drink Projects.

If you're an aspiring home brewer or just like cool graphics, check out this printable PDF from OC Weekly. It looks great in colour and illustrates the steps required for How to Make Beer at Home. It's already flapping proudly on our living room Wall of Shame.

Yummmmm. Beer.

Curious about the recent trend of infusing spirits with tobacco? Darcy O'Neill at The Art of Drink believes you should think twice about it. Or not at all. Check out his take at Nicotini – Tobacco Infusions.

Even though I haven't tried it yet, I have to include a link to the following recipe for the Tequila Mockingbird cocktail because 1. it's a great play on a title of one of my all-time favourite books; 2. I'm jealous I didn't come up with the title myself; and 3. I'm always looking for interesting tequila-based cocktails, a trend that seems to have finally arrived. And far overdue, if you ask me.

The folks at the always-cool Small Screen Network have added another web series to its stable of informative video programs. This one's called Lessons on Vodka and its mandate promises to educate consumers and professionals about "the history of vodka in cocktails." Check out the first few episodes here.

Related articles

• Oprah's Own Recipe for the Moscow Mule Drink (everythingoprah.com)
• How to Make Your Own Soda (wisebread.com)
• A Healthy Twist on Your Favorite Cocktails (everydayhealth.com)