#drinkshouts

Tatuaje

2 oz Reposado Tequila, 0.75 oz sweet vermouth, 0.5 oz Aperol, 0.25 oz mezcal, dash coffee bitters, stir and strain into a cocktail glass, garnish with a grapefruit twist (guess what we didn’t have).  Recipe adapted from drinkshouts.

His and hers cocktail time.  This is the “his” cocktail.  I try, but so far have not developed a liking for mezcal.  I tasted this one and I have to say it’s the closest thing to a mezcal cocktail that I would like.  BG thought it was excellent!  If you appreciate mezcal in small doses, this is the cocktail for you.  Another win from our friend drinkshouts!

May 28 - The Final 25 - #1 - Tatuaje ...

Well, here we are at the final DrinkShouts post. I’m wrapping up this blog by featuring the same drink that I made for the very first entry. Back then it was called “Untitled Tequila Cocktail” but I’ve since rechristened it the Tatuaje. Loosely inspired by a drink I had at Bar Le Forum in Paris, the 23 Jump Street, it’s a delicious combination of tequila, vermouth, and Aperol, with a little mescal for smoke, coffee bitters for depth, and a grapefruit twist for aromatics. Don’t skip the twist! Believe it or not, it really changes the character of the drink compared to an orange twist or a maraschino cherry.

Since this is the last DrinkShouts post, I wanted to thank you all again for reading, liking, reblogging, and retweeting over the past couple of years. This has been a tremendous learning experience for me -- I’m a better cocktail mixer, a better cocktail creator, and a vastly better photographer than I was when I started. In particular I want to thank a few long-time readers who’ve always been supportive. In no particular order, thanks: justcocktails, thebartenderbob, 100proof, smbitters, some-random-musings, bearlysober, and Eric Hanao. If you were a frequent liker/reblogger, and I missed you, please accept my sincere apologies!

This site will remain here on tumblr as a resource for people looking for drink ideas (in fact, here’s a link to the entire DrinkShouts archive). I will also still be writing my cocktail articles at Primer Magazine, and will be linking those on my personal twitter (where I’ll also continue to talk about cocktails from time to time).

OK, here’s the recipe. Thanks again everyone, it’s been a blast!

2 oz. Reposado Tequila (Partida)

.75 oz. Sweet Vermouth (Noilly Prat)

.5 oz Aperol

.25 oz Mezcal (Ilegal Joven)

Dash Coffee Bitters (Hawaii Bitters Company)

May 27 - The Final 25 - #2 - Le Mot D’or ...

This is my favorite drink I’ve ever created, and I’ve featured it on this site many times, the first of which was just 13 days after I launched the blog back in 2013. Forgive the bragging, but it’s a terrific blend of flavors that really uses Fernet Branca perfectly, letting its influence carry throughout the drink without overwhelming the other ingredients.

So why isn’t it number one? Well, because I’m saving that spot for one of my other favorite drinks I’ve ever come up with, which will bring this blog around full circle and wrap everything up tomorrow evening.

You’ll want to use a good bourbon in this drink. Doesn’t have to be anything crazy expensive, but it’d be a shame to beat up all of the other nice ingredients with something cheap -- budget bourbons tend to be heavy on the corn and charcoal flavor, and don’t have the delicious caramel and spice notes that better bourbons bring to the party. Make sure also that your sweet vermouth is fresh. If you opened it more than a month ago, toss it. If you haven’t been storing it in the fridge, and you opened it more than a day or two ago, toss it. Once open, sweet vermouth needs to be refrigerated promptly or it’ll oxidize and develop off flavors. Trust me, you can taste the difference when you use the fresh stuff.

2 oz. Bourbon (Michter’s US*1)

.75 oz. Sweet Vermouth (Noilly Prat)

.5 oz. Maraschino (Luxardo)

.25 oz. Fernet Branca

Dash Aromatic Bitters (Homemade)

May 26 - The Final 25 - #3 - Beryl ...

I came up with this drink after some experimentation for a Mixology Monday back in December 2013, and have been in love with it ever since. I’ve tweaked the proportions a tiny bit in the ensuing months, but at its core, it’s still what it’s always been: a light, crisp introduction to the world of anise flavors that doesn’t whomp you over the head with them.

Because it looks a bit like some poisonous potion from a fantasy movie, I have a mild tradition of taking pictures of this drink with skulls, so I thought I’d stick with it (my wife has a collection ... makes it easy)!

1.5 oz Gin (Bulldog)

1.5 oz Vodka (New Amsterdam)

.25 oz. Green Chartreuse

1 tsp Pastis (Pernod)

Dash Celery Bitters (The Bitter Truth)

May 25 - The Final 25 - #4 - Rum Old Fashioned ...

I’m not so much taking credit for the idea of this drink--after all, “hey, let’s make an Old Fashioned with rum instead of bourbon” isn’t exactly a lightning strike of impossible genius--but rather for the exact recipe I’ve come up with. The combination of four types of bitters really works well here, and that’s the big secret of the drink (which I first featured on DrinkShouts in November, 2013).

You’ll want to use a nice aged rum for this, the older the better. I’ve used Denizen Merchant’s Reserve here, which has some nice Rhum Agricole notes, but I also really like Ron Abuelo 12 Year in this drink. Just make sure you’re using something that’s spent some real time in oak, and not a plain white rum.

2.5 oz. Aged Rum (Denizen Merchant’s Reserve)

.5 oz. Simple Syrup

Dash Aromatic Bitters (Angostura)

Dash Creole Bitters (Peychaud’s)

Dash Orange Bitters (Angostura)

Dash Another Orange Bitters (Fee Brothers)

Orange Peel

May 22 - The Final 25 - #5 - Pomme et Pêche ...

If you’re looking for a sweet, tart, vibrant drink, then this might be the one for you! I first created it back in August 2013, and I’m still really happy with it. Bursting with flavors, the peach is definitely noticeable, but doesn’t overwhelm everything else that’s going on here. Between the applejack, the brandy, the lemon, and the peach, there’s just a ton of fruit flavor, but it’s not syrupy or cloying or overwhelmingly sweet. This one’s really tasty.

If you can’t get grapefruit bitters, and citrus bitters will do. The “Great in ‘28″ bitters can be swapped out with other high-herbal bitters, or Angostura in a pinch.

1 oz. Applejack (Laird’s)

1 oz. Brandy (E&J XO)

.5 oz. Peach Liqueur (Mathilde Pêche)

.5 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

.25 oz. Simple Syrup

Dash Grapefruit Bitters (Fee Brothers)

Dash Bitters, Old Men Great in 28 Bitters

May 21 - The Final 25 - #6 - El Beso Robado ...

I invented this one back in the early days of DrinkShouts, back in August of 2013. I wanted to use tequila, but get away from the citrus-heavy drinks so often associated with that particular liquor. I’d discovered that chocolate flavors actually pair quite well with reposado tequila. Add to that some Lillet Blanc and a supporting cast of bitters and a chartreuse rinse, and you’ve got yourself a nice little drink!

1.5 oz. Reposado Tequila (Partida)

.75 oz. Lillet Blanc

.25 oz. Creme de Cacao (Hiram Walker)

Dash Orange Bitters (Angostura)

Rinse Green Chartreuse

May 20 - The Final 25 - #7 - Shimmer ...

This one’s over a year old, and I’m surprised I haven’t gone back to it more often, because it’s really delicious. It’s a simple Martini variant, sure, but the proportions are really nice -- the Chartreuse doesn’t add too much sweetness, and the lemon bitters work really well here.

I changed the initial garnish of a star anise pod to a lemon twist, because I thought it’d be a little too strongly scented otherwise. I think it was the right move; the essential oils from the lemon peels work with the other ingredients to create a really nice aroma before you’ve even put the drink to your lips, and that’s important!

2.5 oz. Gin (Bluecoat)

.5 oz. Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)

.25 oz. Green Chartreuse

Dash Lemon Bitters (Fee Brothers)