After a rousing start to 2010 with the January Mixology Monday, we’re ready to plunge onward with events for February and March.

* MxMo XLVI takes place Monday, February 22. Hosting this round is Sonja at Thinking of Drinking, and Sonja has chosen Absinthe as the theme. Here’s her announcement post, and to recap the details:

The topic for February is Absinthe. That much maligned, misunderstood, mistreated spirit, suddenly plentiful again in the US and other parts of the world. Absinthe played a role, whether large or small, in a variety of great cocktails from the 1800’s and early 1900’s – the Sazerac, Absinthe Suissesse, Corpse Reviver No. 2… I’m getting thirsty. So let’s celebrate absinthe’s history, and it’s future, with all manner of cocktails using absinthe.

You know the drill — have your absinthe-related drink posted on or before February 22. Be sure to include the MxMo logo and link to the Mixology Monday site as well as a link to the host’s blog, Thinking of Drinking (and if you can link to the roundup post once Sonja’s finished it, that’s mucho appreciated as well). And to be sure that your drink is included in the roundup, notify Sonja of your post by placing a link in the comments of her announcement post, or e-mail the URL to her at sonjakassebaum {at} gmail {dot} com.

And if you’re the forgetful type, I usually post a reminder a few days prior to the event on Twitter; you can follow me at @cocktailchron.

* And yes, we have the March Mixology Monday already scheduled. MxMo XLVII takes place March 22, and will be hosted by Hobson’s Choice. The theme for this round: Punch. Stay tuned for an announcement post and more details sometime after the February event.

Tags: Mixology Monday by Paul
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I’m on pretty good terms with most drinks in the canon of classical mixology. Things that used to freak me out, like the in-your-face herbaceousness of Chartreuse or the sharp bitter bite of Campari, have long since become things I crave, and even weird and funky stuff like Batavia arrack or a skunky rum are things I can get into when I’m in the proper mood.

But there are a few drinks that never really grabbed me, and until very recently one of those was the Hot Buttered Rum. While I like each of the components on their own or in combination with other things — I mean, rum, spices, butter, sugar; c’mon! — the idea of a hot mug of booze speckled with glistening polka-dots of milkfat just didn’t appeal to me in any way.

As I wrote recently for Serious Eats, I finally made peace with Hot Buttered Rum around the holidays, when — after an early December cold snap that made me rekindle my relationship with hot toddies — I was in the mood for something wintery, but that was out of my usual rotation. After snagging bits of recipe advice from a number of blogs & books, I took the elements of each that appealed to me and came to terms with the Hot Buttered Rum.

Mostly, that is. While the flavor is pleasant and soothing, and the texture is silky and luxurious, the sheen of fat that’s coating my lips by the time I’m halfway through the drink is still kind of a turnoff for me. But what to do? How do you get the flavor and aromatics from the butter into the drink, without the accompanying oil slick? Fortunately, there’s fat-washing.

Yes, I know, how very 2008 of me. But I’ve actually been hanging on to this recipe for more than a year, ever since I saw it in the NY Times, flagged it as “try this” and then, um, forgot about it. But last month, while relaxing in my detente with the Hot Buttered Rum, I came across it again and thought it might fit the bill.

Created by my pal Jim Meehan at PDT in New York, the Butter Cup sidesteps the oily booze problem by essentially infusing the butter in the rum, then simply chilling and separating the fat, leaving behind a mixture that has some of butter’s pleasing properties but without the accompanying greasiness. To enhance the butter’s subtle taste, Meehan recommends browning it with vanilla seeds, which gives the rum a rich, nutty perfume and an extra layer of flavor.

When sweetened with Demerara sugar and mixed with hot tea*, the result is an interesting take on the classic Hot Buttered Rum. The butter is more assertively present in the aroma, though it gives a light richness to the flavor along with a trace of salinity in the finish. Meehan calls for English Breakfast tea in the mix; I realized too late that I was out, so I tried the Butter Cup with a nice Assam tea that we had on hand, which didn’t do the drink any harm. The recipe from the Times makes a big batch of rum for a bar (or a party); I’ve scaled down my recipe below, but I can see putting together a batch of this during a cold snap to last through a series of chilly evenings.

(* In case you were wondering what this had to do with Mixology Monday, this month’s theme is Tea, as selected by our host, Frederic at Cocktail Virgin Slut.)

Butter Cup
created by Jim Meehan

Base:

• one-half stick unsalted butter
• 8 ounces rum (Meehan calls for Zacapa, which works great; I can also see this with one of the dark El Dorado rums, or go crazy and try it with one of the older agricoles from Rhum JM)
• 1 vanilla bean

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the butter; stir and continue cooking until the butter lightly browns and the whole thing smells nutty and insanely good. Remove from heat and let cool just enough so it’s not sizzling hot. Pour the rum into a container (no plastic, for god’s sake!) and add the butter. Stir and let it sit to cool for a few minutes, then cover and refrigerate for a day. About an hour or so before you’re ready to strain it, stick the container in the freezer to firm up the layer of butter. Strain the rum through a fine-mesh strainer, and again through a coffee filter to remove the last bits of butter. Keep refrigerated.

For each drink:

• heaping 1/2 teaspoon loose English Breakfast tea
• 4 ounces boiling water, left to cool for a minute
• 1 teaspoon demerara sugar
• 1 1/2 ounces rum mixture
• nutmeg, for garnish

Prepare the tea,  steeping the tea leaves for two minutes before straining. Add the rum mixture to a toddy mug and top with 4 ounces of tea. Stir in the sugar, and garnish with nutmeg.

That’s my drink for this round of Mixology Monday — head on over to Cocktail Virgin Slut to see what other folks got up to this month.

Tags: Drinks, Mixology Monday, Rum by Paul
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Some of us — myself included — are still observing Detoxuary, the annual period following the holidays during which you abstain from booze & rich food , but those of you not spending the whole month of January on the wagon — myself included again here — should mark your calendars for the first Mixology Monday of 2010.

This round of MxMo — the 45th, if you’re keeping count — takes place Monday, January 25, and is hosted by Frederic & company at Cocktail Virgin Slut. For this round, Fred has chosen Tea as the theme; here’s what he has in mind:

Tea has played a historical role in cocktails for centuries. Perhaps the best documented early example was its inclusion in punches as part of the spice role to round out the spirit, sugar, water, and citrus line up. Later, teas appear in many recipes such as Boston Grog, English Cobbler, and a variety of Hot Toddies. And present day mixologists are utilizing tea flavors with great success including Audrey Saunder’s Earl Grey MarTEAni and LUPEC Boston’s Flapper Jane. Now it’s our turn to honor this glorious cocktail ingredient!

Here’s how to play:

• Find or concoct a drink recipe that uses tea or tisane (a herbal “tea” which lacks tea leaves) as an ingredient. This can be hot tea, cold tea, tea syrups, or infusions and use it in a cocktail, punch, or other drink type. Be careful how long you infuse them (after 2 hours, things get really bitter!) if you go that route, and feel free to take a shortcut and use Beefeater 24 which has tea already in the botanical mix.
• Make the drink and then post the recipe, a photo, and your thoughts about the drink on your blog or on the eGullet Spirits and Cocktails forum.
• Include in your post the MxMo logo and a link back to both the Mixology Monday and CocktailVirgin sites. And once the round-up is posted, a link to that summary post would be appreciated.
• Post a link to your submission in the comment section here, or send an email to yarm-at-verizon.net

The due date is Monday, January 25th which I will interpret as whatever gets posted before I awake on Tuesday the 26th.

And that pretty much sums it up. So unlock the liquor cabinet and break out the stash of oolong — this round sounds like it’ll be especially fun. See you on January 25!

Tags: Mixology Monday by Paul
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It’s late, I’ve had a busy day, and by all sane reckonings I should be relaxing on the couch with a cocktail before turning in for a good night’s sleep. But no, it’s Mixology Monday, with the theme Money Drinks, hosted by Kevin Langmack at Beers in the Shower. I’m almost tempted to miss this round, considering how knackered I am right now, but considering that Kevin’s a friend — plus, as a local bartender here in Seattle, he has the opportunity to lace my Manhattan with Drano should I screw him over on this one — I’ve decided to take my drink to the desk and, above all else, type fast.

Kevin explains “Money Drinks” thusly:

I feel a “Money” drink is something you can put in front of anyone, regardless of tastes or distastes about the spirits involved. Come up with a drink or a list based on spirits about drinks that would appeal to anyone. example: turning someone onto a Corpse Reviver #2 when they like lemon drops.

Unfortunately I was incapable of paying attention long enough to realize what Kevin meant, so I suggested my own, ultimately confusing take on the theme:

Drinks that you upgrade to the ne plus ultra: cocktails that for whatever reason (holiday, birthday, old friends come to visit, or just because you feel like it) you upgrade to superior; for example, taking your normal Sazerac with Rittenhouse and Herbsaint and, for a special occasion, turning it into a supreme-o Sazerac by breaking out the Thomas Handy Rye and the Jade Edouard absinthe. Due to the higher cost involved, and the spectacular results that should (hopefully) be found in the glass, this could also qualify as a “Money Drink”.

So which category does my drink fall into? I dunno, maybe neither, though if I spin it hard enough, both. Either way, it’s a good drink to discover if you haven’t yet, and it sounded good at the time, so….

When I was but a wee tippler, and my knowledge of different spirits was based mainly on what I’d read in books rather than any firsthand experience, I thought brandy sounded absolutely grand. You always read about it in English novels and Christmas stories, a tot of brandy to revive someone who’s been chilled to the bone, or a joyful brandy punch to celebrate the holidays. When you think about it, brandy sounds great, and I was imagining the stuff tasted as agreeable as marzipan and gingerbread, and was as satisfying to sip as a cup of hot chocolate.

Heh. WRONG! I still recall that first encounter, when I was…oh, hell, I dunno, probably 18 or so. Brandy had little interest for me when I first started sampling bottles in my parents’ liquor cabinet, so I put off trying it until one Christmas, when my dad and I were visiting some family friends who were generous with their liquor. My father must have had a “What the hell, it’s Christmas” moment when the bottles came out, and while it was ostensibly presented for the purposes of lacing our Lucerne eggnog from Safeway — it was the ’80s, I was young, don’t judge me — I tapped a dose on its own into my mug so I could finally see what all the fuss was about.

Now, granted, I think this was E&J brandy — or as Jim Meehan referred to it at Tales last summer, “Easy Juice” — so perhaps it wasn’t the best introduction to the spirit, but gaaaaaaahhhhh….that was the end of my sentimental brandy fixation.

My point? Oh, yeah — brandy can be hard to get a grip on, but it doesn’t have to be. Throughout my cocktail-blog career — and I’m using “career” ironically, because my net earnings on this thing over the past five years have been about $8 — I’ve had a difficult time with brandy. Difficult, because my budget doesn’t allow for buying the stuff I’ve found I really like, so usually with brandy cocktails, I’m mixing with the $27 bottle of Chalfonte — I SAID DON’T JUDGE ME. Until, that is, I find a drink I really like, in which case I go about as whole hog as you can get on a freelance writer’s salary.

The East India Cocktail is one such drink that motivates me. I first sampled it out of Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, and wasn’t impressed the first time around. Reasons? Aside from the crappy cognac I was using, it had to do with sugar — in short, this sucker (as written)  is about 4:1 booze to liqueur / syrup, with nothing but a thin dash of Angostura standing between me and the spectre of tooth decay.

Last summer, for whatever reason, I returned to the drink, this time with a bottle of Hennessey VSOP — and yes, I know, I know, I went with a major brand and there are plenty of cognacs out there at the same price point, but it was what I had on hand, so spare me the snide comments — and after employing a delicate hand with the syrup & liqueur, I was floored — damn, is that a good drink. Sweet? Yes, somewhat, but not too bad if you pull back a little on the pours, and with a cognac that’s comfortable in its own skin, the drink is a lightly accessorized advertisement for the good (or at least, decent) stuff. Since then I’ve tried the drink with Pierre Ferrand Ambre and Martell VSOP (if you have complaints about my brand selection, allow me to refer you to the Washington State Liquor Control Board), with roughly equally pleasing results.

So, a money drink? Mmmmm, I guess…with a delicate hand it’s pleasantly sweet without descending into cloying-ville, which should hook any sucker on the power of brandy cocktails, and to maximize the effect it’s good to aim just a little higher than the bargain VSOPs or the standard-issue VS’s — don’t go crazy, of course, but a decent VSOP will make this drink sing.

Anyway. With the standard caveat that there are several drinks out there under this name, here’s the one I’m appreciating right now:

East India Cocktail

• 3 ounces cognac – aim for VSOP
• 1/2 ounce (or less, to taste) raspberry syrup (I’m using Nutrafruit, from Croatia, which is pretty good; rather than settle for substandard, you should make your own)
• 1/4 oz curacao (or less, to taste)
• 1/4 oz maraschino (or less, to taste)
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Combine in a mixing glass and stir well with ice for at least 20 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Relax.

Okay? OK! Let’s head over to Kevin’s to see what everyone else is up to this Mixology Monday.

Tags: Brandy, Drinks, Mixology Monday by Paul
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No, not “Monkey Drinks”, though the idea of a simian-themed MxMo is one we may want to come back to, but Money Drinks, as in….well, let’s explain this.

But first — this round of Mixology Monday is hosted by Kevin Langmack at Beers in the Shower. Due to some tragic technical problems — namely, Kevin’s dead computer — we had to postpone the November MxMo until December 14. But with a theme like Money Drinks, this round seems somewhat appropriate for the holidays.

So, Money Drinks? Here’s an explanation — two of them, as a matter of fact, the first from Kevin, a Seattle bartender who works at the craft-booze establishments Tavern Law, Spur and Sun Liquor:

A “Money” drink is something you can put in front of anyone, regardless of tastes or distastes about the spirits involved. Come up with a drink or a list based on spirits about drinks that would appeal to anyone. example: turning someone onto a Corpse Reviver #2 when they like lemon drops.

So, get it? “Money”, as in, “we’re in the” when you (as a bartender) turn a customer on to one of these drinks, getting them interested in good cocktails in the process.

After wrangling with the idea of “Money Drinks”, there came an alternate / related description, which is also valid for this round of MxMo:

Drinks that you upgrade to the ne plus ultra: cocktails that for whatever reason (holiday, birthday, old friends come to visit, or just because you feel like it) you upgrade to superior; for example, taking your normal Sazerac with Rittenhouse and Herbsaint and, for a special occasion, turning it into a supreme-o Sazerac by breaking out the Thomas Handy Rye and the Jade Edouard absinthe. Due to the higher cost involved, and the spectacular results that should (hopefully) be found in the glass, this could also qualify as a “Money Drink”.

Okay? Did this get too complicated? If so, it’s my fault, but hey — it’s all in good fun, and during the holiday entertaining season you should be coming across several drinks that fit either of the descriptions above, whether it’s because you’re mixing drinks for friends & family and you’re trying to get your sister-in-law to step up from her plain old vodka martini, or if you’re celebrating the season in style by breaking out the good stuff for a memorably indulgent cocktail.

Anyway, that’s it — so, to participate, have your post up by the close of Monday, December 14, and let host Kevin know by e-mailing him at kevin [dot] langmack [at] gmail [dot] com. See you then!

Tags: Mixology Monday by Paul
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