For those of you who didn't see the lead-up, this month's MxMo was all about showcasing some of our favorite locally distilled spirits...and showcase you did! The results all look outstanding, and I loved learning about the different spirits cropping up in the various corners of our participants.
First up is IJ in Georgia over at Tempered Spirits with the East Meets South featuring 13th Colony's Southern Corn Whiskey:
Following on the heels of the Fightin’ Words and the Last Word, I wanted to maintain the sweet/herbal quality of the drink, giving it some sugary “bite” to match the new oak and corn of the whiskey. After some failed experiments with Bénédictine, Cherry Heering, honey liqueur, and maraschino liqueur, I settled on ginger liqueur — it had the exact kind of edge I was looking for and whiskey and ginger make a natural combination.
East Meets South
2 ounces 13th Colony Southern Corn Whiskey
1 ounce Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur
1-2 Dashes Fee Bros. Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters
1 ounce Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur
1-2 Dashes Fee Bros. Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist made over the drink.
Next up is a lovely international submission: the Russian Apple Sour over at MaltyPuppy who offered up a lovely seasonal twist on a classic sour featuring an apple-infused vodka:
Well, in the Russian woods we have the only spirit and you are all know it as vodka. Actually samogon (and not vodka) is Russian craft spirit. Unfortunately home distilling as well as hand-craft distilleries were illegal in Russia for a long time so now we have only vodka industry alive and growing.
Russian Apple Sour
60 ml vodka heavily infused with apples (sour apples recommended)
20 ml fresh lemon juice
20 ml Bols Gold Strike Cinnamon Schnapps Liqueur
2-3 dashes simple syrup (optional, to adjust sourness balance)
a half of egg white (10-15 ml)
Shake all ingredients without ice. Add ice and shake it once more. Double strain in cocktail glass or in wine goblet. I prefer no garnish but a pinch of freshly grated cinnamon or a few drops of vanilla extract on top will be a good addition.
Next up, I am happy to introduce Zach over at The Venture Mixologist, who joined us with his first MxMo submission(s)! Zach is in Chicago, and chose to use hum (developed by Chicago mixologist Adam Seger) for his submissions. The first is Le Bourdennement (The Hum), the second is Hum variation no 2, and the quite timely third is appropriately The Equinox:
hum (no caps here) is a 70 proof spirit produced by cold tea maceration of four very distinct botanicals - hibiscus, ginger, cardamom, and kaffir lime - in pot still, cane sugar rhum. Founded and developed by Chicago mixologist Adam Seger (formerly of Nacional 27, Tru, and The French Laundry), hum is reminiscent of Italian-style amari, possessing a slightly bitter, yet sweet profile with tons of depth and herbaceous complexity.
Le Bourdennemont
1 oz hum
1 oz Citadelle gin
1 oz Lillet Blanc
2 dashes Regan's Orange No. 6
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled old fashioned glass over large square ice, garnish with orange twist.
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled old fashioned glass over large square ice, garnish with orange twist.
Next up, as the season turns to fall here in the Midwest, I felt it was appropriate to make a less summery, somewhat cozier cocktail fit for the autumn months. Enter whiskey. While I certainly don't reserve whiskey only for the cooler months, it does lend itself particularly well to this time of year.
Hum variation no. 2
1 oz Rittenhouse rye
1 oz hum
1 oz Punt y Mes
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with orange twist.
1 oz hum
1 oz Punt y Mes
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with orange twist.
While not displeased with the result, I was left with the impression that there was room for improvement. Reflecting back, I wasn't quite sure that Punt y Mes was the best choice in vermouth here. While it certainly works well in a number of cocktails, it just didn't shine in this mix (go figure, I'm learning). So, instead I shifted focus to my 'go to' sweet vermouth, Carpano Antica.
The Equinox
1 oz Rittenhouse rye
1 oz hum
1 oz Carpano Antica
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with orange twist.
Next up is Frederic over at Cocktail Virgin Slut in Boston with a unique twist on the classic Ward 8. He decided that he wanted to work with Gloucester, MA's Ryan & Wood Rye Whiskey for his gorgeous variation:
When Andrea and I tasted it, it had a pine-spice and caramel nose. The sip started a little thinly flavored but with a fuller mouthfeel; most of the flavor was in the mid and back palate especially with caramel and spice on the swallow. As MC Slim had mentioned, this is a not a rye that would easily be lost in a cocktail. If I were to compare it to a better known whiskey, I would liken it to a more flavorful Sazerac 6 Year Rye.
Ward 8
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Orange Juice
1 barspoon (1/8 oz) Sugar
2 oz Rye (Ryan & Wood)
3/8-1/2 oz Grenadine
Stir juice with sugar until the crystals dissolves. Add rye, shake with ice, and strain into a wine glass that had its inside rubbed with a mint sprig and then filled with crushed ice. Drizzle the grenadine over the top so it will cascade down to the bottom of the glass. Garnish with a fresh mint sprig and an orange peel spiral twist, and add a straw.
Following that, Rowen at Fogged in Lounge in San Francisco "Dutched" things up a bit with Anchor Distilling's Genevive (which they carry at my go-to liquor store in Kentucky, and I keep meaning to pick up...thanks for a great excuse to grab a bottle! :-)) in a Genever Sazerac, and followed with a Corpse Reviver No. 2 (Oh how I love that cocktail!) showcasing St. George's Terroir Gin and Absinthe Verte:
That’s not a Cosmo in the picture, folks. As David Wondrich points out in Imbibe! Hollands gin, or genever, responds quite well to the Sazerac treatment, and while the results may look like candy from the bitters, this is serious drinking. Here I’ve used Anchor’s Genevieve, an unaged genever in the antique style.
Genever Sazerac
2 oz genever (Genevieve)
1/2 tsp absinthe (St. George—what else?)
4 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
1 tsp simple syrup
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
Two of my neighborhood bottle shops less than a block apart have each decided on a different St. George gin to stock. Fine with me. The Terroir is the offbeat one: inspired by the botanicals of California wilderness, it has notes of Douglas fir, fennel, bay laurel and sage along with the juniper—a forest spirit.
Corpse Reviver No. 2
3/4 oz gin (St. George Terroir)
3/4 oz Cointreau (Seniors Curacao)
3/4 oz Kina Lillet (Cocchi Americano)
3/4 oz lemon juice
1 drop absinthe (St. George Absinthe Verte)
Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Dennis over at Rock & Rye in Washington brought us a local twist on another favorite classic of mine, the White Lady:
Since the liquor market is a worldwide industry, I really consider anything produced in Washington State to be local, and Washington seems to have exploded into the craft distilling market in the last two years, thanks largely in part to a craft distilling bill introduced through the efforts of Don and Kent at Dry Fly Distilling in Spokane. In fact, there are probably a dozen or more distilleries within a 2 hour drive from my house.
For this MxMo, I have chosen to use spirits from two northwest Washington distilleries; Ebb & Flow Gin from Sound Spirits in Seattle, and Pacifique Absinthe from Pacific Distillery in Woodinville. Both products are exceptional hand crafted spirits that really showcase the distillers love for their respective products.
1 1/2 oz Gin
1 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Cointreau
2 dashes Absinthe
AJR from Done like Dundee... Gone like Gandhi in Mount Pleasant, Washington DC pulled up and finagled a recipe from the Cocktail Database (The Vermouth Cooler) for Maryland-based Sloop Betty vodka:
For this MxMo, I have chosen to use spirits from two northwest Washington distilleries; Ebb & Flow Gin from Sound Spirits in Seattle, and Pacifique Absinthe from Pacific Distillery in Woodinville. Both products are exceptional hand crafted spirits that really showcase the distillers love for their respective products.
White Lady
1 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Cointreau
2 dashes Absinthe
AJR from Done like Dundee... Gone like Gandhi in Mount Pleasant, Washington DC pulled up and finagled a recipe from the Cocktail Database (The Vermouth Cooler) for Maryland-based Sloop Betty vodka:
When I drink Sloop Betty I get a ethanol nose but the taste and texture is very smooth. I even get a very slight creaminess.
The Vermouth Cooler
2 oz Dolin Rouge vermouth
1 oz Sloop Betty vodka
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
tspn simple syrup
splash of soda waterAdd vermouth, vodka, lemon juice and simple syrup into shaker with ice. Shake. Strain into a Collins glass with fresh ice. Top with a splash of soda water. Garnish with a lemon twist. Enjoy.
Next up, Wordsmithing Pantagruel in Connecticut got tripped up by bad labeling on the part of the Whistle Pig distillery for the Fig 'n Whistle, but far be it from me to neglect what still sounds to be a delicious autumnal cocktail:
despite "Vermont" appearing no less than three times on the front of the bottle, in fact the liquid is made in Canada and only hand bottled on the farm in VT. What can I say, I got tricked. Or sloppy. But it's still good stuff and I'm rolling with it. Canada is like VT, right? Transitive property?
Fig 'n Whistle
2 tsp fig spread or preserves
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Mole bitters
Fresh fig garnish
Dry stir to dissolve preserves, stir with ice, and strain into chilled DOF (double strain if you prefer to have no trace of fig seeds or remnants of undissolved preserve) Garnish with slice of fresh fig.
Felicia of Felicia's Speakeasy in upstate New York gave us a lovely and colorful libation in the form of The Concordian with Finger Lakes concord grapes and, retrospectively, Finger Lakes Distilling's Seneca Drums gin:
Usually I'm anal retentive about following the Mixology Monday instructions each month, so I made sure our cocktail used local ingredients, and it sure is colorful.
2 oz Victoria Gin
1 oz Phillips Raspberry Wheat Ale
.75 oz Lemon Juice
.5 oz Ruby Pagoda Tea Syrup
2 Dashes Victoria Orange Bitters
Add all ingredients excluding beer to cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake. Double Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Top with Phillips Raspberry Wheat Ale. Garnish with rose petal.
1.5 oz Pumpkin Pie Spice syrup (mine used fresh pumpkins from Fairfield, Ohio)
1.5 oz Unfiltered Apple Cider (mine was from Newcomerstown, Ohio)
Shake VERY well with ice to thoroughly incorporate the egg yolk and strain into glass. Garnish and enjoy!
Except after Leah created the drink and took an awesome photo, I realized my rebel side once again shoved my straight-and-narrow side off a speeding train. I did not start with a local craft spirit as instructed. Oops.
I haven't always been this impulsive, really. Okay, maybe I have, but I'm still firmly in denial, so I'll blame Leah:
The Concordian
1 1/2 ounces concord grape-infused gin*
tonic
lime wedge
Fill a rocks glass with ice. Add grape-infused gin. Top with tonic. Garnish with a lime.
*Concord grape-infused gin:
1 lb Finger Lakes concord grapes
32 ounces gin
Muddle and let sit for 24 hours. Strain.
Marc at A Drinker's Peace in British Columbia chimed in with The Johnny Aquasauce featuring a new revival of a very old liquor--a traditionally distilled Scandanavian aquavit:
The one shining omission from the above list is the distillery that I would like to feature in this post. Okanagan Spirits distillery is a truly world class distillery, producing a wide range of outstanding products. Initially founded in 2004 to produce classic European-style fruit eau de vie, the current range includes a number of grappas, fruit liquers, traditionally made absinthe and most recently a gin and X-Four vodka. The distillery has won numerous awards for products throughout their range. To my palate the quality is uniformly outstanding across the multiple eau-de-vies, grappas and liquers I have tried. The absinthe is also first rate.
The Johnny Aquasauce
1.5oz Aquavit
0.75oz Bianco Vermouth
0.5oz Cardamom Apple Puree
1 tsp Underberg Bitters
Garnish: Grated Star Anise
Glass: Cocktail Glass
Glass: Cocktail Glass
Add all ingredients to mixing glass.
Add ice and seal shaker.
Shake vigourously until cold.
Unseal shaker and double strain into chilled glass. (You may need to press the liquid through strainer using barspoon as the mixture may be thick.)
Mackenzie over at The Spirit of Imbibing, also in British Columbia, joined in with not just one but three local-to-Victoria products in her cocktail, The Last Rose:
Victoria Spirits crafts a multitude of spirits including: gin, barrel aged gin, orange bitters, whisky (currently a work in progress) and a variety of eau de vie. Victoria Gin is a small batch product with a lovely floral nose and a strong citric backbone. Although juniper is noticeably present, it is not over powering. While a consistent product is attempted to be maintained with Victoria Gin, every batch has some small characteristic twists.
The Last Rose
1 oz Phillips Raspberry Wheat Ale
.75 oz Lemon Juice
.5 oz Ruby Pagoda Tea Syrup
2 Dashes Victoria Orange Bitters
Add all ingredients excluding beer to cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake. Double Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Top with Phillips Raspberry Wheat Ale. Garnish with rose petal.
My own submission, the Autumn Blaze hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio was also quite the local affair. In addition to using Buckeye vodka from Dayton, Ohio, I made a syrup with local pumpkins, and finished it with a local apple cider:
I know the lands are lit, with all the autumn blaze of Goldenrod. --Helen Hunt Jackson:
Autumn Blaze
1 egg yolk (I always dryshake the egg without ice before adding the other ingredients)
1.5 oz Buckeye Vodka (from Dayton, Ohio)1.5 oz Pumpkin Pie Spice syrup (mine used fresh pumpkins from Fairfield, Ohio)
1.5 oz Unfiltered Apple Cider (mine was from Newcomerstown, Ohio)
Shake VERY well with ice to thoroughly incorporate the egg yolk and strain into glass. Garnish and enjoy!
Finally, because Rowan just couldn't help himself...a nightcap with the St. George Dry Rye gin:
El Camino Real
2 oz St. George Dry Rye Gin
1 oz Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth
2 dashes Creole Bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lemon twist.
So...to wrap up, I would love to thank you all for participating in MxMo this month! Especially, many thanks to Paul at the Mothership for the opportunity to host. We had an excellent turnout, and the cocktails look fabulous. I can't wait to pick up some of these liquors whenever I might get the chance. Cheers, and happy imbibing!
-Lindsay
