Pool Boy Posted September 20, 2016 Posted September 20, 2016 I often google around looking for new recipes for cocktails to consider trying. There lots of crap out there and endless variations on the same drink but called the same drink. It is kind of infuriating. Especially when you had one version and then cannot for the life of you ever find that version again. Anyway, Imbibe is not a bad place. But, recently, my wife found a recipe on a place called Kindred Cocktails and then I went looking and it is a pretty awesome site. It's a little focused and curated to remove obvious duplicates to make what makes the cut far more relevant, but it is a wonderful rabbit hole to fall in to and explore. 1
DaveO Posted September 21, 2016 Posted September 21, 2016 I only looked at one alternative: amaretto. boy it came up with some terrific suggestions, including some I had tried. Based on the single alternative it is curating from more advanced, studied cocktail sources. These days my mouth is bigger than my alcohol appetite. I'm really too old to experiment the way I used to........but I like amaretto. Terrific taste. I'm fine with Disaronno and haven't explored other quality amaretto's. Disaronno is significantly superior in taste and quality to many lesser variations. That was a liqueur with which I did experiment significantly in the past and worked with more appealing recipe variations. A favorite drink is a take off on an amaretto sour...sweet, but absurdly weak. No bite. My alternatives were to add vodka first, spruce it up and substitute fresh lime juice and simple syrup in lieu of store bought sour mix. Oooh la la. A very tasty, albeit sweet drink, but one wherein the sweetness and basic taste is that of the charming disaronno...and it has the bite of vodka. Oh boy. A real cocktail with bite...not some wussy virtually no alcohol drink with a very nice amaretto flavoring. Once you've arrived there you can add further flourishes and garnishes. (boy experimenting is fun). Boy that works. What is the name? I don't know. Its sort of an amaretto sour with vodka or its sort of a godmother with fresh lime juice and simple syrup Experiment some more. Try rums, or whiskeys substituted for the vodka. Move on to some extra flourishes if necessary and garnish variations. I went to kindred cocktails. The curated cocktails for amaretto all come from advanced sources. Better ingredients, more knowledgeable sources, better balance and flavors. It eliminated the riff raff. If it does the same thing with other alcohols and other ways to search (cocktail names, etc.) that is a darn good site. Nice suggestion.
Pool Boy Posted September 22, 2016 Author Posted September 22, 2016 3 hours ago, DaveO said: I only looked at one alternative: amaretto. boy it came up with some terrific suggestions, including some I had tried. Based on the single alternative it is curating from more advanced, studied cocktail sources. These days my mouth is bigger than my alcohol appetite. I'm really too old to experiment the way I used to........but I like amaretto. Terrific taste. I'm fine with Disaronno and haven't explored other quality amaretto's. Disaronno is significantly superior in taste and quality to many lesser variations. That was a liqueur with which I did experiment significantly in the past and worked with more appealing recipe variations. A favorite drink is a take off on an amaretto sour...sweet, but absurdly weak. No bite. My alternatives were to add vodka first, spruce it up and substitute fresh lime juice and simple syrup in lieu of store bought sour mix. Oooh la la. A very tasty, albeit sweet drink, but one wherein the sweetness and basic taste is that of the charming disaronno...and it has the bite of vodka. Oh boy. A real cocktail with bite...not some wussy virtually no alcohol drink with a very nice amaretto flavoring. Once you've arrived there you can add further flourishes and garnishes. (boy experimenting is fun). Boy that works. What is the name? I don't know. Its sort of an amaretto sour with vodka or its sort of a godmother with fresh lime juice and simple syrup Experiment some more. Try rums, or whiskeys substituted for the vodka. Move on to some extra flourishes if necessary and garnish variations. I went to kindred cocktails. The curated cocktails for amaretto all come from advanced sources. Better ingredients, more knowledgeable sources, better balance and flavors. It eliminated the riff raff. If it does the same thing with other alcohols and other ways to search (cocktail names, etc.) that is a darn good site. Nice suggestion. I was emailing with one of the guys that runs the site and they really take it seriously to keep it relevant. There is no point to having 22 variations of a Manhattan, each called a plain old Manhattan on the site. True variations on Manhattans are permitted as they truly deviate from the core recipe in a meaningful and new way, for example. I think perhaps the best suggestion from them to include when submitting a new drink is to cite the source, if known. Even if it is 'Bartender ABC at XYZ bar in DC'is something they can check up on. Like I said, this is a great site to get lost in. And man, the ability to add any of the cocktails to your personal list is great. You ultimately can curate your own library this way, which is what I am planning on doing. Nice variation you mention there. I still generally veer away from the sweeter drinks, even those seemingly in balance. But always good to document interesting variations for if and when my tastes change.
Pool Boy Posted March 27, 2017 Author Posted March 27, 2017 OK this one is too good not to share. My wife was scouring Kindred again and this came up on her 'let's try this' list. We made a deviation, but first, the recipe -- 1 oz gin 1 oz Amaro Montenegro 1 oz dry vermouth 1/2 oz honey syrup 1/2 oz lime juice Our substitution was Averna Amaro for the Amara Montenegro. Probably sacrilegious to do so, but man what a fine drink. Earthy, yet lighter than you'd expect (depends a lot on the honey you use to make the syrup). Highly recommended to evaluate at least once, especially if you like herbals in your cocktails as much as I do.
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