Normally, a fall evening should start with an Old Fashioned for me. But I remembered a discussion I had earlier this week with my friend and an absolute aficionado of classical brown alcohol drinks – Hunt – and decided to go with a Manhattan. Unlike him though, I refuse to have my Manhattans with any other kind of whiskeys than the ryes!!

I thought of throwing in a Luxardo brandied cherry for the garnish, but the concept of anything sweet did not sit well with me after the cold motorbike ride and the cold boat ride.

Just to change up from all those Paan series cocktails, went with a Single Malt version. Used Rampur Single Malt Whisky from India with King ginger liqueur.

Okay, this turned out even better but I am still not there. Made all the changes I said I will do in the previous post. Additionally, instead of Sambuca or Absinthe, I used Licor Beirao form Portugal.

There is a bit of a bitter tinge in the end of the palate that I do not care about. So, the next take will be to do everything the same but not use tonic water at all. I suspect the quinine in the tonic water is leaving the bitter taste.

Will report back.

Tried the following variations from the previous version.
(*) Added a dash of simple syrup.
(*) Instead of adding Sambuca, I rinsed the inside of the glass with absinthe
(*) Stirred the gulkhand after every ingredient was added (instead of shaking).
(*) Initially, I threw in some tonic water too.

The drink came out even better than last time. But still not perfect. I will go back to the Sambuca again.

“Misti Paan” is the Bengali name for an after meal treat you often have. It is basically some slaked lime, chopped betel nuts, “khair“, gulkhand (rose petal extracts) and some other stuff that I do not know wrapped in a betel leaf in the shape of a triangle. A flattened samosa if you will.

In an effort to bring out that effect on the nose and palate, I made this drink with Paan liqueur (talked about this new find previously), gulkhand (got from amazon), vodka and Sambuca.

It is getting pretty close. Next time I am going to drop in a little sugar syrup.

Some of you had written that you love Paan liqueur. If you come up with some variations of your own, please let me know.

This is equal parts Aloe Liqueur (Chreau), Fernet Branca and Cognac (Remy Martin). You can substitute the Cognac with American Brandy.

Would not say this is a Fall drink. More appropriate in warmer temperatures.

I picked this recipe up from the website of Jaan (maker of Paan liqueur). I changed it up to make a completely Indian ingredients drink. This has Gin (I used Jaisalmer Gin), Coconut Water (from India), Paan liqueur and lime juice.

The aroma of Paan is unforgettable.

As much as I liked it, I think this will go well with some anis based liqueur – like sambuca or licor beirao. Will try that next time.

Have you ever seen anything like this? It is a paan liqueur!! Made by a company called Jaan. It smells just like a freshly made paan from paan-patta (betel leaf) and all those other ingredients!!

This cocktail was invented in the early 1900s by the most famous female mixologist of those times – Ada Coleman (“Coley”). She eventually became the head bartender at the famed American Bar in The Savoy Hotel. This drink though was made while she was in the Claridge Hotel.

The story goes that Coley created the cocktail for Sir Charles Hawtrey, a celebrated Georgian actor who visited the bar. According to folklore, he asked for a drink with a punch. Coely served him this drink, leading him to exclaim “By Jove! That is the real hanky-panky!”

And that is how the drink got its name.

Given all the activities around the passing away of the Queen, I was looking into whether there was a drink named after her. Found one called Queen Elizabeth.

When I looked at the ingredients, I was a little puzzled. I was expecting some usual British ingredients like gin in it. Speaking of which, the Queen’s favorite cocktail, I am told was Dubonnet and gin.

Coming back to the Queen Elizabeth, it in fact, does not have any base spirit (like gin, vodka, tequila etc). It is simply Dry Vermouth, Benedictine and lime juice.

Turned out to be surprisingly tasty.

The creator of the drink – a bartender called Herbert Quack from Philadelphia in the early ’30s – had named it after his wife.