Author: Bob Westal

If you read last week’s post, you probably gathered that I wasn’t all that resolute about the Resolute Cocktail. My misgivings were largely dispelled this week, however when I made a simple change. Substituting standard London dry gin for it’s malty, sweeter ancestor, genever, made for a drink that was not only sweeter but richer. I then tried dialing back the rather large amount of lemon juice and super-sweet apricot liqueur in the drink, and adding some agave syrup and bitters. Even better. Sweet, but not tiki sweet and definitely not insipidly sweet. I feel strongly that my Irresolute Cocktail is…

So, how is your resolve? Mine resolve is kind of, well, unresolved. For example, I wasn’t sure whether to call today’s drink simply “Resolute,” without the article, as some sites have it. Just as I’ve never been able to call Chrissie Hynde’s band “Pretenders” and feel strangely compelled to call them “the Pretenders,” “Resolute” just didn’t sit right. “The Resolute” doesn’t sound quite right. So, I’m going with the way it appears in The Savoy Cocktail Book which is, as you see here, the Resolute Cocktail. Yet, since every single recipe in Harry Craddock’s 1930 tome is The [Something] Cocktail I…

Any Italian native speakers out there may feel free to correct me, but the apparent translation of sblagliato is either “wrong,” “erroneous,” or “full of mistakes.” That, I suppose is reason enough to end 2018, a year in which running things has largely equated with running things into the ground. It also comports with my personal tendency to suggest New Year’s cocktails containing a sparkling white wine. According to authors Talia Baiocchi and Leslie Pariseau writing in their 2016 book, Spritz, the Negroni Sbagliato is the apparent creation of 20th century Milan bartender Mirko Stocchetto. It seems unlikely to me that any bartender, no…

Yes, Christmas is just about here and, probably like some of you, I’m trying to avoid growing to Orson Welles-like proportions by maybe dropping a few pounds before the food really hits the fan this coming week. Of course, when you have a drink blog and feel compelled to create a Christmas-themed drink, this is kind of challenging. If I did as I’d really like to and go with something with maybe some heavy cream and whole egg, I’d be bloated long before Saint Nick arrives. Which brings me to my search for a drink that, while probably not actually…

We cocktailans are not immune to untested assumptions. One of mine has been that it there’s a good reason why almost no one seems to ever make an Old Fashioned with Scotch. Indeed, it seems like I’ve heard more about the ur cocktail being made with London dry gin (which, I’ve had zero luck with) than I have about it being made with our planet’s ur whisky. That began to change for me the other night when I was re-watching “Chinatown” — which I believe I last saw before I began my long, slow deep dive into mixed drinks back in 2011. Robert Towne’s script has Faye…

This week’s cocktail has a story behind it, but it’s a short one and not really earth-shattering. It seems that well-past-noted cocktail historian David Wondrich wanted to make Manhattans, but he was out of the usual North American whiskies and, for that matter, didn’t have any of the standard sweet vermouth on hand. Instead he had Irish whiskey and the medium sweet vermouth variation, Lillet Blanc. He threw in bit of triple sec and it was very good. The end. Now, on to the drink. The Weeski Cocktail 2 ounces Irish whiskey 1 ounce Lillet Blanc 1/4 ounce triple sec 1-2 dashes…

Today’s drink doesn’t come from any ancient cocktail tome that I know of and it’s name is simply descriptive. No stories to tell here. It’s going to be a long few weeks until the holidays, so it’s a good time for keeping things as simple as possible. The Gin Campari Sour 1 1/2 ounces gin (ideally Plymouth, maybe) 3/4 ounce Campari 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice 1 egg white/3 tablespoons pasteurized egg white 1-2 dashes orange bitters Combined the ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Shake without ice for about 10-15 seconds (if you want, you can skip this step if…

Thanksgiving is a thing of the past now, though the pounds you gained are anything but. Maybe you’re considering going on a diet or some sort of fast to prepare for the big consumption fests coming at the end of next month. If you’re a regular drinker, it might be tempting to go on the wagon for a bit, if only to save on all those liquid calories. Of course, too many people start doing that for too long, a lot of us will be out of a job, and that would be a shame. At least we should be…

If pumpkin-spice desert cocktails aren’t quite your Thanksgiving booze jam, this week’s drink could well be for you. Today’s Blackthorn is an entirely different creature than the Blackthorn I explored four years back. Since that drink came from 1930’s The Savoy Cocktail Book, you might assume that this other Blackthorn is some kind of gauche cocktail Johnny-come-lately, but you’d be wrong. Though revived earlier this decade, this Blackthorn dates back to at least 1900 and it comes by its name honestly. Sloe gin is a featured player and it turns out that sloe berries come from the blackthorn plant. Moreover, its base spirit is Plymouth…

Who is the suffering bastard? Well, right now, it’s not me. My parents were long married when I was born and I’m quite okay at the moment. The drink was likely named for bastards who are more on the inglourious side. According to legend anyhow, the Suffering Bastard helped English soldiers in Egypt defeat both their hangovers and Rommel’s forces during World War II. That’s the war during and after which it was generally assumed that being a Nazi or a fascist was a bad thing. That wasn’t necessarily the case before the war in all places, but a couple…