I’m sorry but sometimes I think my blog is a bit much. I have poked around the internet a bit at this point, and there are quite a few blogs about making drinks. I like mine, EE made it very pretty as she has so many things in my life, but frankly I’m hard pressed to say the world needs this.

I don’t want to make really weird drinks. I’ll obviously put more effort into mixology than most, but thinking up new drinks shouldn’t be a grind. Worse than the creation of these drinks is their potential impact on the world.

People started apologizing to me at some point for ordering classic/simple/”boring” drinks. WTF?! When was the last time you had a few martinis, gin & tonics, mojitos, margaritas, or whiskeys on the rocks and were BORED? If that’s your problem: DETOX.

I don’t want to infuse that angst into the world! It’s like cheese infused rye, only spiritual. Paradoxically, I worry my mixology blog may have created bad karma in the world of drink!

There is value to people reporting on the world out there. Like this blog from a college classmate. It tells us what’s going on and where to go, but I’m a really bad reporter. I just like to experience my moment and move on, or keep it in my heart or whatever. Reporting is not for me.

No, we’re not killin Tessin is not dead, but for the love of all that’s good, just drink whatever you want. Please.

I’ll have a Crying Rye:

1 cucumber infused rye
1/2 Sweet Vermouth
3 drops Angostura bitters
1/4 Fernet Branca

1/4 maraschino liqueur

salt the rim

What’re you having?

Templeton Rye takes the lead on my whiskey shelf.

Templeton Rye is from Templeton, Iowa.  My father-in-law turned me onto Templeton when we visited Des Moines over Christmas, and I became an instant convert (I sampled my first glass at Sbrocco, a really wonderful restaurant where you can buy your wine retail from their well-stocked basement).

The back of the bottle shows Templeton’s provenance (note the recent bottling date, 12-05-09 — this does not sit on store shelves long).

The trick with Templeton is that it can be challenging to obtain.  It is basically sold-out in Iowa, and even the restaurants that carry it run out.  Miraculously for those of us who live in states that allow online purchases of liquor, Templeton is also sold from Illinois by Binny’s.

Here’s what it all boils down to: Order it today.  Order a lot.

Templeton has a deeper and smokier flavor than I have encountered in other ryes.  It also has pedigree with a recipe dating to Prohibition.  And, oh yeah, it only cost me $35 a bottle!

As if all that weren’t enough, the TR initials and logo are perfect for Tessin Rinpoche:

Dahlia rocks my Templeton Rye logo hat

(sorry about the green eyes - my software has red-eye correction, not dog-eye correction)

EE was making dinner last weekend, her first Sunday chili of the colder months, and I was puttering around in my mixology cabinet, trying to create a chili-friendly cocktail.  EE had left some New York sharp cheddar cheese on the counter cut and waiting to garnish our bowls.  The temptation was too great: I infused something with cheddar.

Infusing liquors sounds a bit intimidating, you say?  It sounds complicated and technical, not something for the casual home mixologist?  No!  Infusions are incredibly simple.  Put something in a sealed container with a liquor and voila!  A custom drink and flavor that you can’t get anywhere else.  This allows for incorporating local, seasonal ingredients, and for creating something really unique without having to pay a fortune for a rare bottle of X.  Given the simplicity, the ability to custom-craft flavors, and the cost-effectiveness of the deal, you can expect to hear me suggesting infusions frequently.

I poured about a cup-and-a-half of Sazerac rye whiskey over about one cubic inch of cheese broken-up into smallish chunks.  Whiskey seemed like the natural spirit for a cheddar flavor.  Rye seemed like it had the best balance of earthy, sweet, and cutting notes.  Sazerac seemed better to risk on this venture than my Rittenhouse because Sazerac is sweeter, and honestly, I don’t like it as much.  The concoction sat for three days, and on the third day the cheese was strained.

Opening the infusion, tasting the cheese (blech), and straining.

I was a bit surprised by the fat floating on the top of the rye, and the cheese chunks were like an inedible whey (new rule: don’t eat anything that has been the infuser, ever).  However, after I poured the rye through a tea strainer and a coffee filter, the Sazerac had a pleasant umami flavor that wasn’t present before.  More importantly, the finish on the whiskey was unmistakably cheddar flavored.

Chedda Rye getting strained through a coffee filter.

Chedda Rye is worth having as a stand alone drink – sip it on the rocks when you want whiskey with a little more body.

Not being content to let such a creation go undisturbed, I decided to create a cocktail with it as well.  EE made the brilliant suggestion of doing something with apples, but we have zero in the apple department (this is such a good idea, though, that I saved some Chedda Rye for future creation).  Lacking apples, I created an evening sipping drink that is pretty good.  It is sort of like a Bloody Mary, but not as sharp.  We’ll call it the Chedda Rye Mary

Ingredients

3/2 Chedda Rye

1/3 Dubonnet

2-3 grape or cherry tomatoes

dash Tabasco

Cut the tomatoes in half.  Combine all ingredients in a shaker and shake.  Strain well to avoid tomato seeds.  Garnish with a cheddar cheese twist.

Maybe this is an unexplored area of mixology for a reason, but the results weren’t bad.

Bertessa's Manhattan. Josef Frank's Manhattan design.

“Hey, come out, a bunch of us are having a drink.”
“XYZ Class HAPPY HOUR! DIVE BAR near you!”
“There’s gotta be a bar somewhere near that subway stop, wait for me there.”

Any of the above can easily lead to a dive bar. I’m using the dive designation broadly to encompass anywhere that:

• has a digital jukebox
• smells pleasantly of stale beer
• isn’t conducive to open-toe shoes because the floor is gross
• allows and encourages beer pong

I am NOT saying that dive bars are bad.  They are a critical piece of any normal social life, but they may not make the best cocktails.  They definitely won’t have a cocktail menu, and the bartender may throw you out for requesting drinks he/she can’t pronounce (plus some patrons may then identify you as an easy mark).

What to do?

You could order a beer.  Unless this is a true dive, there will be some decent beer.  If it’s such a dive there is no decent beer, then definitely order a beer – from bottle if possible.

“I don’t like beer.”  “I’m on a low-carb diet.”  “Damnit, I want a friggin cocktail!”

Right-o, then, let’s think about the criteria for a cocktail you can try in the dive setting:

1. manly (even better if you’re female)
2. dark color (kinda like beer) (see point 1)
3. simple ingredients
4. not too many ingredients
5. taught in any bar course the tender may have once taken
6. resilient to poor craftsmanship
7. enough alcohol to sanitize the glass

Your dive bar testing cocktail: MANHATTAN

Ingredients

1 whiskey

1/2 sweet vermouth

bitters

Why The Manhattan

If the bar fails on any of these points, skip cocktails:

1. any bartender should know it and what’s in it
2. can be made with bourbon (e.g., Jim Beam), something even the diviest bar will have
3. vermouth is the first basic after beer and basic liquors
4. bitters, typically Angostura, are right after vermouth in the basics list

From there, even inverting the ratios will yield something drinkable.

Go forth and fear not, even when diving.

How I make a Manhattan

1 Rye Whiskey

1/2 Sweet Vermouth

6 drops orange bitters

Combine in a shaker and shake.  Serve either up or on the rocks as you prefer.  Garnish with a maraschino cherry.  Be sure to have a stem on the cherry – people can pick it up that way, and the best people can knot that stem in a way that impresses their company at a dive bar.   I know.  I’ve impressed people this way.

A note:

I think Wednesdays are a good day for a regular post.  That makes this the inaugural “What I’m Having” Wednesday post.  The idea will be to cover a basic (that I wouldn’t give blog love otherwise), or let me express a limited thought about how or why something is so.

I’ve gotten requests to help others start their home Mixology Stations, and that is just what this post will attempt to do.  Luckily I’ve been asked to opine on this topic previously and another time the in-laws asked what was needed for a fun Christmas.  The answer was about the same…

Rude interruption from the readership rabble: “Tess, you’re a dork, why not just call it a bar?”

Bite me.

A bar is more complicated, and sounds a bit trashy to bring into one’s home.  More importantly, though, this blog is about mixology, not say, beer and wine.  I’m not saying I’m never going to write about beer or wine, but I don’t mix beer and wine.  I think we would all agree that beer and/or wine would be a part of any bar.

Alright then, on with it.

Tools

There are some basics that you have to have.  I wouldn’t buy anything too gimmicky, but I’m not sure you can get by without the following:

• shaker
• jigger
• stirrer
• strainer

Glassware

Drink from your morning latte’s crumpled Solo cup if it fits the circs.  If you’re going for the more traditional style or registering for your wedding, start with at least four of each:

• high ball glasses
• martini glasses
• tumblers

Liquor

“I only like X!”  Then only buy X.  Why fight it?  But if you want to be able to host with the basics, some basics are required.  All of these are placed here with the idea of MIXING drinks (remember, this is building a Mixology Station), so if you get all high and mighty about what is best on its own, then buy that for serving on its own.  If you’re a fiend for labels and want multiple high-end whatever, then by all means, get more of that whatever.  I won’t object anytime you add another bottle to the cart.  Basics:

• Gin – I keep Sapphire and Hendricks and think gin is basically the best base liquor
• Whiskey – you need at least one, even if you don’t drink it, regardless of what I said before.  They should be (in order of importance):
  • Bourbon – don’t spend a ton, but make it good.  I recommend Buffalo Trace
  • Scotch – something in the middle range if you’re not into scotch already
  • Rye – whatever you can find.  It’s needed for Manhattans
• Tequila

Am I really leaving off vodka?  Damn straight I am!  Unless it is infused, it does nothing for mixing flavors.  If you want to stock it, go for it, but buy something really cheap for mixing, as people truly can’t tell the difference.  I also left off rum.  Rum is hard.  Poor rum, go marry a Coke.

Liqueurs and Such

SHOCKER: The real key to mixology is not the liquor, but the random stuff you have to put in it.  This becomes more subjective, but the list below is ordered with necessities at the top and things I prefer descending below:

• Cointreau – no way around it, this is critical
• Vermouth – sweet (red/Italian) and dry (white/French)
• Bitters – keep at least Angostura.  Look for specialty flavors like Fee Brothers or Regan for Orange/Lemon/Peach, etc.
• St. Germain’s Elderflower liqueur – just makes mixology too easy
• Campari – I love the stuff, turns a drink red, people accuse me of having a girly drink, and then I give them a taste…
• Absinthe – I’m using LeTournement and think it adds great flavors
• Domaine de Canton’s Ginger liqueur – great way to spice things up

This is a starter list.  Recipes will call for all kinds of junk, but you can pretty much cheat using the first three items in this list.

Other Things You’ll Need

• Citrus – mainly limes, but some lemon too
• Olives – they can be be in vermouth in a jar in the fridge indefinitely
• Onions – get the ones in sweet vermouth; I’ll write many odes to them in posts to come
• Fruit juices – unsweetened cranberry is #1, after that it just depends
• Any fruit you can put in the freezer – blueberries and cranberries are particularly useful
• Mint – you can freeze this too
• Sparkling water – feel free to get a siphon
• Tonic – particularly in the summer

Wait, I don’t have this much space, you’re not a dork, you’re a nut!

If you go with the first two items in each list, you’ll be fine.  A lot of where and how to store things comes down to aesthetics, and there’s nothing wrong with picking your bottles to enhance your decor.  Plus, you should use the fridge.  I keep the gin, plus the citrus, olives, etc in the old icebox.  My own bar cart is pictured at the beginning of the post, but I also think a minimalist setup like the below is sweet.  Make your own, since this is expensive:

Ultimately, your Mixology Station should match your style.  If it limits your menu, so be it.  Just be sure you limit it to drinks you like.

Ingredients, Stations, Mix!