Chocolate Manhattan

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Tonight's cocktail was another swing at the Chocolate Manhattan recipe. I'm not sure why I'm a little obsessed with trying to make this one work, but I thought I'd give it one last try. When we last left Flash, the drink was getting there but needed something to cut through the chocolate -- it was still too sweet and I thought it needed a kick of spice and heat to balance it out.

Enter Dana Hanna, who suggested I try the Chesapeake Bay Bitters from the Bitter End. So when I was up at the Napa Valley Distillery's shop in the Oxbow Market yesterday, I took the opportunity to sample some. They were pretty much what I was looking for; the kick of the cayenne pepper pushes them over the top.

I also had another thought about cutting the bitterness and decided to swap Amaro Montenegro in for the sweet vermouth. This was bad experimentation on my part as I was playing with two variables at the same time, but I thought it was a pretty safe bet. I wanted to bring in some orange and orange peel into play and a bit more bitterness to counter the chocolate.

The result works pretty well. You get a nice taste of the rye on the sip, followed by some nice bitter and heat, and then a mouth full of chocolate to cool stuff off and leave you wanting another taste. I think I'm not 100% dialed in on this one yet; I might try cutting the Creme de Cacao back a bit. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy this drink.

Recipe

I'm calling this a Manhattan variation, because it starts with the basic 2-1-2 Manhattan formula. 2 parts whisky - 1 part vermouth - 2 dashes bitters. In this case, I swaped out the vermouth for the amaro and the creme de cacao. I tend to prefer a 2 oz - 0.75 oz ratio for my traditional Manhattans and I'd probably go with just 0.25 oz of the creme de cacao next time.

Ingredients

  • 2 oz Rye Whisky (I used Old Overhold, because it is cheap, delicious, and perfect for mixing.)
  • 1/2 oz Amaro Montenegro
  • 1/2 oz. Creme de Cacao (I used the Tempus Fugit stuff. Delicious!)
  • 2 dashes Bitter End Chesapeake Bay Bitters

Directions

  1. Combine everything in a mixing glass, add ice, and stir to chill.
  2. Strain into a cocktail coupe 
  3. Garnish with an orange twist 
  4. Enjoy!

By the way, if you're looking to build up your bitters collection, the Bitter End variety pack there has an interesting selection at a good price. Yes, it is an affiliate link. One day, I'll tempt one of you into buying something through those.

Fallback

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The weather was absolutely gorgeous today; a classic San Francisco September day. This inspired my mind to wander down the path of a cocktail I'd seen on the Cocktail Virgin blog, the Fallback. This is a delightful mix of rye and apples, with some Amaro Montenegro and bitters thrown in -- a great-sounding combination that worked out well in practice.

This one starts out with a note of spice and orange (from the amaro and flamed orange peel garnish, no doubt) that segues into the rye, with the apple coming out in the finish. This one would be perfect for sitting on the porch and watching the leaves fall (or, in San Francisco, sitting and looking out the window as the wind blows stuff around and the tourists in their shorts scramble for cover, wondering how it suddenly got so chilly.)

Sea Ranchers beware! This one is very likely to appear on the menu next March; it'll go quite nicely with the weather and view.

Recipe

I played this one pretty straight to the posted recipe, only varying the brand of the sweet vermouth. It's nice, for once, to have most of the specified brands on hand (although I did have to run out to get an orange for the garnish. Tomorrow, I might have to make something that calls for orange juice...)

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine ingredients in a mxing glass, add ice, and stir to chill, about 15 - 2o seconds
  2. Strain into a Nick and Nora glass
  3. Garnish with an orange peel or, if you're daring, flame the orange peel oover the drink.
  4. Sip and reflect on your past summer.

By the way, if you're stocking your bar, consider the bitters pack on the right there -- it's pretty much the three basic bitters you need to start!

Professoressa Montenegro

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It's all garnished and everything!

It's all garnished and everything!

I was listening to the Bartender Journey podcast the other day and Brian had an excellent interview with Sother Teague of Amor y Amargo, a fascinating-sounding bar in New York that I really must visit. So when I saw that one of the cocktails features on the Amaro Montenegro page was created by Max Green of that bar, I just had to give the Professoressa Montenegro a try. This was good as I had a lemon i'd been using for garnish that I wanted to use before it went bad and it seemed like a great use for the Cinnamon Syrup I'd made in large quantity a while ago. 

This is  really a lovely, well-balanced cocktail. The strawberry comes through on the sip and the fresh cucumber juice is nicely astringent after that. It really makes the Amaro Montenegro shine, which was the whole purpose of the cocktail. 

I tried to replicate this one as best I could, but I don't have access to the fancy ice machine that Max does in Amor y Amargo (and no, I'm not planning on putting one into the apartment.) I made some compromises with the ice; I used crushed ice (I hammered a clear ice cylinder I'd made for an ice sphere) in place of the pebble ice. Using the (mostly) clear crushed ice worked well; I didn't experience a lot of dilution as I sipping on this one. All in all, it was a fair amount of work for an afternoon's cocktail, but worth it.

Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. Amaro Montenegro
  • 1 oz fresh Lemon Juice
  • 1/2 oz fresh Cucumber Juice
  • 1/4 oz Cinnamon Syrup
  • 2 medium Strawberries

Directions

  1. Cut the strawberries in half and muddle them in a shaker
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients, throw in a couple of ice cubes and shake to chill.
  3. Double-strain into a large wine glass and top with crushed ice
  4. Garnish with a slice of cucumber and a burnt cinnamon stick, throw in a couple of straws, and enjoy sipping this one!

Making the cucumber juice is easy. Peel a cucumber, slice off and discard the ends, cut it into pieces and puree it in a food processor or blender. Strain it through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, using a spatula to press on the pulp to extract all of the juice. 1 cucumber makes a few ounce of juice, which will last a week in the fridge.

As mentioned in my last post, I found this one on the Shakestir website. If you want to follow Max Green, his Instragram handle is @maxwellsgreenhammer

Montenegro After Dark

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It's fun to play with Amari

While I was surfing around the web, I came across this competition-winning recipe on the Shakestir website. This competition was sponsored by the folks who make Amaro Montenegro, one of my favorite Amari, and looked too good not to try. Fortunately I had all of the ingredients on hand, so I whipped up a small batch of demerara syrup, mislabeled the container, and went to work making my evening cocktail. This is a lovely mixture of bitter and sweet, with a nice smokey depth provided by the mezcal. It's well-balanced and goes down pretty smoothly. It should be a lower ABV cocktail, as the main ingredient, the Amaro Montenegro, is only 46 proof.  However, I think the mezcal and bourbon go a long way to providing more a spirit kick. As I sip on this one while I write this blog, I think it would benefit from a large ice cube or ice globe rather than the 3 cubes the recipe calls for; it would benefit from a slower dilution. I'm going to think of Nero Wolfe while I drink this one and maybe reread The Black Mountain this evening. L'chaim!

Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. Amaro Montenegro
  • 1/2 oz Bourbon
  • 1/2 oz Mezcal
  • 1 barspoon Demerara syrup
  • 2 dashes Regans' Orange Bitters No. 6
  • 1 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters

Directions

  1. Combine ingredients in a mixing glass.
  2. Add ice and stir to chill
  3. Strain into a rocks glass over 3 ice cubes (or an ice sphere)
  4. Express an orange peel over it and use the peel as a garnish.
  5. Break out your Rex Stout novel and dispatch your minion to go do some legwork for you.

As I mentioned, I found this one on the Shakestir website. As soon as I get some cucumber juice, I'm going to try the other winner on that page.