This is a spin off from a Sidecar. The rum is extra. Else, it has the usual brandy, lemon juice and triple sec. (Sidecar uses a similar orange liqueur – Cointreau). The proper garnish for a “Between the Sheets” is a flamed orange peel as done here. The drink originates from Paris in the 1930s.

A Monte Carlo is basically a variation of a Manhattan and dates back to 1948. It uses Rye Whisky (I used Templeton) and bitters (I used Angostura). And instead of vermouth, it uses Benedictine. Being a brandy based liqueur with something like 56 herbs and spices (that includes saffron), it brings a very different flavor and finish to the sips.

Classical Margarita!

This recipe again comes from the book gifted to me by my friend Murali Hegde. While a Typhoon is often made of gin, anisette, lime juice and champagne, curiously, the Difford’s Guide lists this drink without champagne. Not sure where that switch happened.

Not sure about the origin of the name, but this has blended scotch, sweet vermouth, triple decker and lime juice.

Nice pre-dinner cocktail for a cold evening.

Thought to be the original drink that eventually became a Martini, there are many compositions of this drink. I am going with the book Murali sent me, which would have you 2 ounces of gin (I used Bombay Sapphire), 3 ounces of dry vermouth, 4 drops of maraschino liqueur and 4 drops of Angostura bitters.

… I got it into my head that I need to create an environment to take good pictures of them. My rather low-end-technology solution was to drape a one yard black velvet cloth that I had bought from Jo Ann Fabrics (there are few things in the world as funny as watching me clueless in a fabric shop) over two bottles of wine and take the shot with the cocktail in front.

I am not the best when it comes to DIY projects. But that does not mean that I have not inflicted my share of damage. Yesterday, I started on a project to build a dark box to take pictures of my drinks. The end product – a result of a wine box from Raptor Ridge, couple of trips to Lowes, some indelible marks on my arm for not taking proper precautions while spray painting and a burnt finger aside (you will be surprised how those Gorilla glues can hurt you), I have something that is workable. Even put in a LED light in it.

I am going to try this for some time and see how it works out. If it does, I might put a paint on the outside and put in a carrying handle.

The tried and true scotch and Drambuie cocktail.

After about a year and half of researching into gins – and trying out 42 bottles from 17 different countries and 100+ gin cocktails, I had started the journey on mezcal. This took me a year and half too. 16 bottles, about 50+ cocktails and one country (Mexico is the only country that makes this alcohol).

I need to figure out what I want to focus on next but here are my key learnings on mezcal…

1. I have never been to Oaxaca. And I cannot possibly close the chapter on mezcal before making one trip there. I will get it done.

2. Mezcal is not a cocktail drink. The best way to enjoy mezcal is how they do it in the villages of Mexico – slowly sip it from copitas (earthen cups), with naranja (oranges) and sal (salt). This is not meant for cocktails – regardless of what those new fad in American bars are these days.

3. Surprisingly, most parts of Mexico – at least the American tourist friendly places like Cancun and Cabo do not have much mezcal. You can get as much of tequila as you want. Mezcal is few and far between.

4. The following captures the essence of mezcal, if you truly focus on the drink…

“Para todo mal, mezcal.
Para todo bien, tambien.”

I will let you research the translation of this.

Picked this up again from the book Murali sent. It was sunny but cool last evening in Atlanta. Had some mango juice. Some freshly squeezed orange juice, lemon juice, vodka and cointreau – voila! We had a mango cooler!

The book advertises this as a great aphrodisiac. I was snoring by the time I could get to the second one!!