I’m very glad I know how to mix drinks and have the tools and ingredients to do it with. Made a nice Suburban last night:
Tonight it’ll be Boston Rum Punch since I took the step of preserving a bunch of lemons by turning them into shrub.
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Love Hayman’s Old Tom Gin - a real classic profile…
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The Charles cocktail from the Savoy, as pointed out by @Lou_Susan_Franklin. I used Ferrand 1840, and because the red vermouth I have open right now is Grand Lusso, I omitted the Angostura Bitters—there seemed no point.
I see nothing to not like about this drink, which is very close to the Harvard Cocktail, Metropolitan Club, and no doubt, many others.
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Very nice glass. I myself have been drinking a lot of to-go cocktails. Doing my part to support the suffering bars as best as I can. I have to say the quality so far has been quite good.
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Alas, I don’t have any bars left near me whose cocktails I would want to drink, to-go or otherwise. You’re much better located for that.
How about Dante. They might be in your delivery range. Or you could just walk down there. Surely, they’re up to your standard.
So far, I’ve tried drinks from: Fort Defiance, Leyenda, Hunky Dory, Donna, Dante, as well as the indy service from bartender Jon Mullen.
Recently picked up a bottle of Cocchi’s ‘Dopo di Teatro’, which they are calling an ‘evening vermouth’ but is in truth a vermouth/amaro blend. Been playing with Manhattan variations with it. The two best we’ve found so far:
Equal parts Privateer Bottled in Bond Rum and Dopo di Teatro, with 2 dashes ango and 2 dashes curacao (basically Byron’s Manhattan #2 from Modern Bartender’s Guide with rum)
Second was due to a shortage of Amari in the house (I live with 2 Italian bartenders and chided them for failing to fly the flag in such dire times) . I had a Brooklyn in mind and had to swerve just a bit:
1.5 Bourbon (went with Old Forester Signature)
.75 Cocchi di Torino
.5 Luxardo Maraschino
.5 Dopo di Teatro
2 Ango
1 Scrappy’s Orleans bitters (could have just done a dash of absinthe, but I like the florality of this bitter)
Regretfully did not take photos, will have to rectify in the near future.
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I haven’t ventured that far away, yet, and they haven’t opened their Hudson St. location, yet, to my knowledge, but I will keep them in mind.
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I love Cocchi Dopo Teatro. Think of it less of a vermouth/amaro blend than a red vermouth formulated with higher doses of select botanicals than “normal”. It’s basically Cocchi Vermouth di Torino with extra cinchona, chiretta, and some undisclosed changes. A couple other terrific vermouths that are comparably “amped up” include Carpano Punt e Mes and Martini Gran Lusso. You can drop any of these into virtually any situation that calls for red vermouth, and it will work, keeping in mind that they’ll come on strong.
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I’ve always found Punt e Mes to be a bit too much of a bitter bomb for a direct substitution in most recipes. Death & Co’s old house vermouth (50/50 Punt e Mes and Dolin Rouge, if memory serves) was always more my speed.
I’ve not tried the Gran Lusso. Partly because of a vestigial distrust of the mark (though I will have to admit I have liked their recent releases, especially the Rubino, so I may have to revisit this old enmity), but more because I haven’t really thought of it as a vermouth. I thought it was aiming more for the Aperol/Contratto aperitivos?
Edit: I really enjoy the Dopo in large part because it drinks like a standard vermouth in the front palate and the amaro elements arrive with a flourish in the finish. Perfect for extending the experience of a sipped cocktail. Also noted that as the drink sits, some surprising vanilla notes (not quite to the level of Antica, but certainly noticeable) spring up front.
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As far as I know, Punt e Mes is simultaneously the bitterest and sweetest of Italian red vermouths. I like it fine. In my opinion, Gran Lusso is well worth at least trying; it is a Vermouth Chinato, and the only Martini vermouth that currently interests me much.
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@C.Oneal – if you like Rubino, you’ll love Gran Lusso. Gran Lusso was the limited edition they launched for their 150 anniversary back in 2013. It’s expensive, intense, very satisfying – I’m not sure I’d call it a china to, though. It’d be wrong to say that Rubino is the mass market version (it is not), but they’ve certainly learned a thing or two from the Gran Lusso experience that they fed into Rubino. It’s called Gran Lusso, by the way, because at the end of the 19th century, vermouths were called ‘vini di lusso’ (luxury wines).
Punt e Mes is an amazing product, but if you compare it to Gran Lusso or Dopo Teatro, it’s obvious why this is the cheapest product: it’s intense and complex but lacks the subtlety of higher end quality stuff. Love it to bits, though.
As for Dopo Teatro, it’s a style of vermouth that’s there to remind us that, historically, vermouths weren’t necessarily aperitivos (or is it aperitivi?). Italian vermouth was much more multi-faceted at the end of the 19th century than it is today. And some of it was to be drunk as a nightcap. Now, just don’t believe what you are getting is exactly what they were getting 130 years ago.
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Last night, the Saratoga from the recipe in IMBIBE!…
1 oz Courvoisier VSOP
1 oz Knob Creek Single-Barrel Rye (a one-off bottling for a local restaurant, but spicy and good and 115 proof)
1 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
Dash Angostura, and I dropped a cherry in there because I’ve been working my way through a jar of Griottines that I have a bad habit of dropping into… well… everything.
Tonight, just a good Sazerac (whose glass was melting a bit by the time I took the picture) inspired by that lovely article recently featured on PUNCH.
As @Splificator recently noted, its a good time to know how to mix drinks and have the ingredients to do so. Cheers!
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I hope it’s proving therapeutic!
It worked exactly as expected.
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A daiquiri, with half Smith & Cross, to toast the friend we lost today.
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Gin Punch, straight out of JT, featuring 3 full oz of Old Duff 100% Maltwine Genever. This is awfully good. It’ll also mess you up if you take it too fast.
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