Site Change

So the domain jswells.com now points to the new site away from the Blogger platform. Any new updates will be on there and, unless there is a reason otherwise, I have no need to cross posts from there to here.

Sunset Cocktail: Good Striker

1 oz Copper & Kings American Brandy
1 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
3/4 oz Green Chartreuse
2 dashes Dr. Adam Aphrodite Bitters
rinse Copper & Kings Absinthe Blanche

Rinse a chilled Cocktail glass with Absinthe. Stir remaining ingredients with ice and strain into the Absinthe rinsed glass. Garnish with an expressed orange peel.

I took this from an entry on Kindred Cocktails called the Holy Striker but made some drastic changes on everything but the inspiration. I may adjust the ratios a bit but all in all this is a lovely herbal cocktail with all of the ingredients playing well together. This is one of those cases where the Orange peel is essential.

This one is named after a kenning of the deity Sucellus, a Gaulish Hammer God who is often depicted with, not only his hammer, but with a barrel or olla of wine and sometimes a faithful dog. From my understanding his hammer is more of a craftsman's mallet than a weapon but it could also be a barrel of beer on a pole.

He's a depicted as a middle aged guy with a beard who's into his Underworld girl, Nantosuelta, from the Underworld, I can relate. Hopefully he likes this offering. Sucellus does like his drink (and goth chicks).

Sunset Mythos Absinthe Cocktail: Yig & Tonic

2 oz London No.1 Gin
3/4 oz Suze
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Haint Absinthe
3/4 oz Liber and Co. Spiced Tonic Syrup
Soda Water
2-3 dashes Dr. Adam Elmegirab's Boker's Bitters

Build first 5 ingredients in an ice filled Copa de Balon glass (Or a bulbous red wine glass) that is garnished with a long, snake-like Lime peel (Horse Neck). Top with Soda Water, give a little stir and dash the bitters onto the drink.

Another entry to the Mythos Absinthe Cocktail list, The Yig & Tonic. This was inspired by the Suze Gin & Tonic I made the other day on World Gin Day and the desire to give the Suze and Tonic a more interesting name. Of course I wanted to include it into the Mythos Absinthe Cocktail list so, in order to be included in the list, it needed Absinthe.

In the Lovecraftian Mythos Yig is the Father of Serpents, though with the flavor profile of botanical earthiness from the Gin and Suze I was tempted to name this the Ygg & Tonic. However, naming it for a great and terrible gallows tree would take this out of the Lovecraftian Mythos and place it in the realm of either Norse or Westeros.

I did specifically want to use the Lime peel over a Lemon or an Orange peel for the color green’s closer association to snakes. I added the lime juice so I wouldn’t waste the rest of a peeled Lime and also for color which was also aided by the combination of the yellow Suze and blue Gin along with the delightfully green Haint Absinthe.

I was torn as to how to do the Yig Snake/Horse Neck garnish. At first I wanted to be able to express the Lime oils over the drink as the Channel Knife drew over the Lime, however, it’s much easier to get the whole Snake/Neck into the glass as a garnish when adding the ice but before adding the drink itself. Ultimately I did the latter after reading this good post on making the Horse Neck though it did still start to float up by the time I took a halfway decent picture.

Sunset Cocktail: Chasing Fireflies on National Tequila Day

1 1/2 oz Espolòn Tequila Blanco
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Orgeat
1/2 oz Orange Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice

Shake everything with ice and strain into an ice filled Rocks glass. garnish with a Lime wedge.

As today is National Tequila Day I went out and picked up a bottle just to make something for the holiday. I wanted to make something other than another goddamned Margarita and saw this cocktail which also uses one of my favorite things in the world, Chartreuse. It was a nice shade of glowy green without the use of any kind of crappy artificially colored liqueurs and with a little light positioned behind the glass I was trying to emulate the firefly's butt-glow.

I know that I just don't have a taste for Tequila (or Mezcal for that matter) so I went about looking for something that was a good representation of the spirit that didn't cost too much. I'm well familiar with Cuervo and Patron thanks to Chilifest on Martha's Vineyard (there are things I will never unsee...) but I wanted something better, or at least different. While I did get a few suggestions from people more learned than I, my quest ended with a bottle of Espolòn Tequila Blanco. This was a staff pick at Bottles and, lets face it, how could I turn down a skeleton riding a rooster into a fight with other skeletons wielding machetes?

I'll try once again to get into this renowned Agave spirit with this bottle here. I can's say for sure that this is my gateway Tequila yet, but it's worth trying out. I already like that tequila in the drink here more than this one...

Week 47: Haint [52 Whispers from the Muse]

Haint

Overall Rating: 3.6
Appearance: 4.0
Louche: 3.0
Aroma: 3.5
Flavor/Mouthfeel: 3.5
Finish: 3.5
Overall: 4.0

Style: Verte

ABV: 62.5%
Country: United States

Distillery: Dogwood distilling

Appearance: A light yellow green, clear and natural.
Louche: Very slow and light louche that seems to crave very cold ice water. It did start with lovely blue swirls ending in a semi-translucent green.
Aroma: Botanical and bright, a bit of alcohol on the nose but at this healthy 125 proof it wasn't unpleasant..
Flavor/Mouthfeel: Not nearly as sweet as I expected, in fact it had a nice Wormwood and Fennel presence with a refreshing hint of mintiness. Anise was there, not as far back as being in the background but it was by no means overbearing. I expected to want to drink this at a low dilution but despite the lightness and brightness it seemed to hit my palate right at just over 3:1 water to Absinthe, I may have stopped just before 3.5:1
Finish: Lovely Wormwood finish with a bit of a bitter tingle. The mintiness tries to stretch into the lingering flavor but doesn't last very long.
Overall: Overall this is a solid American Absinthe. It may be a little light to use as just an absinthe rinse in cocktails, but as a measured ingredient it has played well with every drink I've made with it (especially Gin drinks).That being said, if I do use this as a rinse, I've just use a heavier splash and never, never consider discarding it (who am I kidding, I never discard a rinse).

While there are plenty of distilleries that produce nice Absinthes that are painstakingly recreated from a century's old recipe, I find it just as exciting to find a modern expression of this spirit that still stays true to being a true Absinthe. Haint is a modern but true Absinthe made by Dogwood Distilling in Oregon that has its roots in New Orleans which is expressed on the label and in the name. 

The label depicts one of New Orleans' distinct cemeteries with the black foil representing the wrought iron co common to the city and decorations representing the grapes of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir and Wormwood. The name 'Haint' is an old southern word for a restless spirit of the dead that has not passed on to the afterlife, forever wandering. Perhaps, under certain light, you'll see the one of the restless dead as you stare into the bottle of Haint.

Mi-Go-Ji-To on National Mojito Day

8 Mint leaves
1/2 oz Gomme Syrup
1 oz Plantation 3 Star White Rum
3/4 oz Adnams Absinthe Rouge
1/4 oz Suze
1/2 oz Lime Juice (juice of 1/2 Lime)
Soda Water

Muddle Mint leaves and Syrup in a Collins glass. Fill 2/3 with ice and add the Rum, Absinthe, Suze and Lime juice. Give it a stir, top with Soda, and garnish with a sprig of mint and husk of half a Lime like a Mushroom head.

Following up yesterday's Piña Fhtagn for National Piña Colada Day, I made this Mi-Go-Ji-To for National Mojito Day adding yet another entry into the Mythos Absinthe Cocktails. While I never made a Mojito, or even had one before, I had a feeling I'd like it way more than the Piña Colada. I was right.

I did stick to using a White Rum here but decided to try a Rouge Absinthe instead of a Blanche to add a bit of tint, going for pinkish instead of green. From there I really wanted to try to make this a little more of a unique variation than by just adding some Absinthe to a standard recipe. I feel like that where most of my Mythos drinks are and I want to go back and revisit some to give them a little more expression than that. I decided to try the Suze as it's a new found joy and I though the rootiness would give it that earthy, spore-like tone deserving of the Fungi from Yuggoth documented in The Whisperer in Darkness.

As with all of the Mythos Absinthe Cocktails that filch on a classic, I try to go back to as close to the original version as possible and build my variation from there. Many drinks I have enough of a history with that I have a good source for a cocktail's best, true form to go off of, but with one I've never made before I have to work the Google-fu.

It's always frustrating when you look these drinks up and find the recipe for the "True", "Real", "Original", "Authentic", or "Perfect", version of the cocktail and they're all a bit different, even if they cite the same source for their recipe. The difference between muddling 3 Mint leaves as opposed to 12 can be significant. So, I usually end up using all of those as a baseline, find the most common consistencies and go from there, eventually ending up with something not too far off the standard cocktail.

Then, there are ones like this baffling recipe that has you add all of the ingredients to a glass, including the ice, and then muddle... with everything in the glass... including the ice...  Is this something that anyone does?

Piña Fhtagn on National Piña Colada Day

1 oz Plantation 3 Star White Rum
1 oz Butterfly Absinthe
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/4 oz Oleo Saccharum
2 dashes Dr. Adam Elmegirab Aphrodite Bitters
1/4 cup Diced Pineapple
2 oz Pineapple Juice
1 1/2 oz Chaokoh Coconut Milk
1 1/2 cup ice

Place everything in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a Cthulhu Tiki from Horror in Clay (or any other Tiki, Collins, or Piña Colada glass). Garnish with some ridiculous fruit and leaves.

Goddamnit, i wasn't going to make a freaking Piña Colada. I don't like frozen drinks and I wasn't really sure if my tiny blender was an adequate enough blender to really break up ice for a wretched smoothie. But then, as I uttered a dark curse against this drink, and  as the words in the ancient guttural tongue of the blackened depths were spoken, the name 'Piña Fhtagn' came out. The will of the nameless ones spoke, I had to make this drink.

I did come across a more modern variation on the Piña Colada that was shaken and poured over ice, but I wanted to keep this as honest a variation as possible. There was no way in Hell I was going to buy a premade mixer so I got a couple brands of Coconut Milk to try, favoring this Chaokoh. It was a bit on the heavy side, but not as much as others so I cut it to 1 1/2 oz from a suggested 2 oz. I knew I had to fit in an absinthe to fit it into the Mythos Absinthe Cocktails but I also wanted to add a little something else to give it some more depth. To help that depth, and a bit more green tint, I added the Chartreuse but also experimented with some newly made Oleo Saccharum and a couple dashes of Aphrodite Bitters which have a desired ginger-ness to them along with a bit of coffee and chocolate that I hoped wouldn't be too pronounced.

I'm not sure if I'm comfortable publicly admitting how much I enjoyed this drink going down but I did soon regret drinking it. Super fruity, sugary drinks are absolutely not for me and this one made me more than a wee bit ill. Let me know if there is a better way to make these with a better form of Coconut Milk that won't be as stupid heavy but still has that coconut richness. I don't want to use any kind of coconut water and mixers are just right out...

P.S. It's not like I don't like Coconut and Pineapple... with the leftover ingredients I made this Coconut Rice with Pineapple Chicken I'm really digging...