Last Thursday, the concept for the drink night was to bring out an ingredient you have never used in a TDN drink before.

For Zach Pearson, it was a pear liqueur that he was rearing to tinker with.  To supplement the other fruit notes, he complemented the flavors with a dash of Chartreuse.
Barren Apple Grove
• 1 1/2 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy
• 3/4 oz Trimbach Poire Liqueur
• 1/2 oz Dolin Blanc Vermouth
• 1/2 oz Lime Juice
• 1/4 oz Green Chartreuse
Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe.

Dan Chadwick of the KindredCocktails drink database came up with this herbal and citrus rum drink:
Play House
• 1 oz El Dorado 15 Rum
• 1 oz Pyrat X0 Rum
• 1/2 oz Zucca Amaro
• 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass.

Lastly, Frederic Yarm of Cocktail Virgin/Slut brought out the aquavit. Based loosely off of a Remember the Maine, the aquavit level needed to be lowered to keep things in balance; the result was something a bit more aperitif-y.
Skögul
• 3/4 oz Aquavit
• 3/4 oz Blanc Vermouth
• 3/4 oz Dry Vermouth
• 1/4 oz Cherry Heering
• 1 dash Absinthe
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

Tonight in the chatroom is a Thursday Drink Night with the theme of “brand new.” Since it is a brand new year, it is time to bring out an ingredient you have never used in a TDN drink before. Perhaps a dusty bottle like that Galliano that sticks out over the rest of the bottles on your bar. Or perhaps a new addition to your shelves.  Either way, show up after 8pm EST and show off your new (to us) ingredient!

Last week in the chatroom here was a Thursday Drink Night with a theme focusing on personal favorite ingredients this year. These prized liquor shelf possessions ranged from Averell’s Damson Gin to Spanish Bitters. Here are four of the drinks from that night:

Zach Pearson’s embittered rum drink, the Spanish Sigh, features a large amount of Spanish Bitters.
Spanish Sigh
• 1 oz Cynar
• 3/4 oz Bonal
• 1/2 oz Lemon Hart 151 Rum
• 1/4 oz Spanish Bitters
• 1 slice Orange
Muddle orange slice, add rest of ingredients with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass rimmed with salt. Float 1/4 oz Cream Sherry (such as Lustau’s) and twist an orange peel over the top.

Frederic Yarm of Cocktail Virgin/Slut really enjoyed his bottle of Averell Damson Gin which makes for a good substitute for Sloe Gin. The Damson Gin acquires its fruit from the Red Jacket Orchards in New York State.
Red Jacket
• 1 1/2 oz Funky Amber Rum
• 3/4 oz Averell Damson Gin
• 1/2 oz Benedictine
• 1/4 oz Lemon Juice
• 1 dash Angostura Bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Dan Chadwick of the Kindred Cocktail database honors Clear Creek’s eau de vie of Douglas Fir with a drink name that translates  into “crooked, bent, twisted wood” from German.
Krummholz
• 1 1/2 oz Gin
• 1 oz Gran Classico
• 1/2 oz Punt e Mes
• 1/2 oz Dry Vermouth
• 1/2 oz Clear Creek Douglas Fir
Stir with ice and strain into an Old Fashioned glass filled with fresh ice.

Finally, SeanMike of Scofflaw’s Den presents a drink that I never had a chance to ask which one of the three was his favorite of the year nor what the drink means. Perhaps you should just make it and decide its true meaning yourself.
The Eleven Bang One
• 2 oz Castries
• 1 oz Becherovka
• 2 dash Mole Bitters
Shake with ice and pour unstrained into a coupe glass.

Tonight in the Mixoloseum chatroom is a Thursday Drink Night where the theme is to use your favorite new ingredients from the past year. A new liqueur like King’s Ginger or Fairtrade Coffee Liqueur? A new spirit like Ron de Jeremy or No. 3 Gin? A new bitters like Bittermens Orange Citrate or Fee’s Black Walnut? Time to look back on the changes to that liquor shelf from the past year and celebrate the new additions. So show up with your mixing glass and some ideas at 8pm EST tonight and show off your favorite new purchases of 2011!

Last week was a Thursday Drink Night with the theme of “w(h)ine.” The duality of the event title was parsed as creating a recipe using a wine product as an ingredient and naming it after a gripe of some sort. The wines varied from red to white and fortified to non, and the complaints ranged from romantic issues to the one captured in the meme above. Without further ado, here are some of the highlights of the evening:

Camper English of Alcademics‘ lament was sluggishness, and he spiked this port drink with a strong shot of caffeine. The richness of the coffee roast complements the full flavors of the port.
Port Pick Me Up
• 2 oz Ruby Port
• 1 oz Triple Sec
• 1 oz Espresso or Strong Coffee
Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Frederic Yarm of CocktailVirgin complained of lacking guidance in life. He shaped this claret drink into a spiced nautical punch or cooler.
Rudderless
• 2 oz Dry Red Wine
• 3/4 oz Batavia Arrack
• 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
• 1/2 oz Pineapple Syrup
• 1/4 oz Becherovka Liqueur
• 1 dash Angostura Bitters
Shake with ice and strain into a rocks or highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with a long orange twist and freshly grated nutmeg.

Dan Chadwick of the KindredCocktails drink database expressed his woes about when wine goes bad through oxygen seeping in through a bad seal. With fruit and chocolate notes, the Corked cocktail seems like the perfect winter drink.
Corked
• 2 oz Tawny Port
• 1 oz Apple Brandy (Dan used Laird’s 7 1/2 Year)
• 2 dash Xocolatl Mole bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass containing fresh ice.

Lastly, Sean Mike, one half of Scofflaw’s Den, shares the traumas of being put into the friendzone. With a theoretical similarity to Dan’s drink above, this recipe is intensity personified (in a good way though).
“She said we should be friends”
• 4 oz Dark Red Wine
• 2 oz Fernet Branca
• 1/4 oz Aromatic Bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass containing fresh ice.

Last night was a hot drinks themed Thursday Drink Night, and the call to libation was ceremoniously sounded by a whistling tea kettle. Here are three of the drinks proffered in the chatroom that night:

Zach Pearson took the hot milk route with his Flip-Swizzle hybrid that he dubbed a Fizzle. On the base of a delightful Chartreuse-rhum agricole Swizzle, he added egg and hot milk. When I inquired about the bitters, Zach explained that they were from a limited edition creation of Adam Elmegirab. Bittermens Tiki Bitters might sub in here quite well as would Angostura or Fee’s Aromatic.
Yellow Fizzle
• 1 oz Clement VSOP Rhum
• 1 oz Green Chartreuse
• 1/2 oz Allspice Dram
• 1 Egg
• 3 dash Experimental Swizzle Bitters (see above for substitution suggestions)
• 3 oz Hot Milk
Pre-heat a 6 oz mug with boiling water. Dry shake all but the milk. Empty the mug and pour in the shaken ingredients. Whisk in the hot milk in a swizzle-like fashion and garnish with an expressed lime zest.

I, Frederic Yarm of Cocktail Virgin/Slut, made a variation of the classic Hot Black Stripe. The original appears in Jerry Thomas, but I utilized the one in George J. Kappeler’s Modern American Drinks where I had spotted it last. Using the same hot water and black strap molasses base, I added apple and ginger notes and named the drink after an heirloom apple varietal.
Black Limbertwig Toddy
• 1 barspoon Blackstrap Molasses (< 1/8 oz)
• 1 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy (sub Calvados)
• 1/2 oz King’s Ginger Liqueur (sub Domaine de Canton, Snap, or similar)
• 2 dash Fee’s Whiskey Barrel Bitters (sub Angostura)
• 1 piece Lemon Peel
• 2 oz Boiling Water
Preheat a 4 oz hot drink glass with boiling water. Dump out water, add molasses and fresh hot water. Stir until molasses has integrated. Add rest of ingredients and stir.

Dan Chadwick of the KindredCocktails database took the same hot milk approach as Zach but instead went in a richly flavored amaro direction. When I asked about which rum Dan used, he poured Flor de Caña but declared that plenty of other dark rums would work well here.
Milk of Meletti
• 2 oz Steamed Milk
• 1 oz Meletti Amaro
• 1/2 oz Averna
• 1/2 oz Dark Rum
• 1 dash Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters (sub other aromatic bitters)
• 1 dash Xocolatl Mole Bitters (sub other chocolate bitters)
Preheat a hot drink cup with boiling water. Pour out water, add ingredients, and stir to mix.

Thursday night at the Mixoloseum chatroom will be a hot beverage-themed drink night. With winter setting in on some if not most of us, warm fortifying beverages are needed to get through these dreary colder days. Therefore, show up with your ideas, your ingredients, and your tea kettle on Thursday the 15th starting at 8pm EST! Hot toddies, mulled wines, and Negus are all welcomed.  Our legal defense team headed by Stan Jones, Esquire, has declared that Blue Blazer drinks should be done at your own risk and discretion though.

Tonight at the Mixoloseum chatroom will be a red and yellow themed drink night. With autumn well upon us, let us honor red and yellow, two of the primary colors of fall by putting them in our drinks! Reds like Campari, Cherry Heering, and Angostura Bitters, and yellows like Lillet, Yellow Chartreuse, Galliano, and Strega are but a few of the options. So join us from 8pm EST onward to share some newly created recipes!

Last Thursday, the theme for Drink Night was “day drinking” meaning anything you might want to quaff during the daylight hours. Whether it is the weekend, vacation, or a day you are play playing hooky from work or school, this recipe should hit the spot.

Ed of Wordsmithing Pantagruel contributed two recipes that night. This one called out to me as a good way to lose track of the daylight hours.
South Of The Boardwalk
• 6 cubes Frozen Seedless Watermelon
• 1 oz Blanco Tequila
• 1 oz Mezcal
• 1 oz Yellow Chartreuse
• 1 oz Lime Juice
Shake using the frozen watermelon as the only form of ice and pour into a rocks glass.

John the Bastard paid tribute to the effects of Mother’s Little Helper in this flavorful concoction.
Fallen Matriarch
• 1 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
• 3/4 oz B&B (or 3/8 oz each Cognac and Bénédictine)
• 1/2 oz Cynar
• 1/4 oz Laphroaig Scotch
• 2 dash Angostura Bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

SeanMike of the Scofflaw’s Den offers up a tall drink that seems perfect for passing a few hours of sunlight while watching the world go by below. Unlike many Highballs, this one is not lacking in flavor.
Balcony Sipper
• 1 1/2 oz Fernet Branca
• 1/2 oz Orgeat
• 4 dash Orange Bitters
Shake with ice and pour into a Collins glass. Top with 4 oz of Tonic and stir.

Stevi Deter of Two at the Most hits upon one of my favorite vintage drink types, the room temperature Scaffa (the other one is the Fix). I won’t ask why this day drink was called the Full Monte, but I will just wink and nod instead.
The Full Monte
• 1 1/2 oz Aged Rum (such as Dos Maderas 5+3)
• 3/4 oz S. Maria al Monte Amaro
• 1 barspoon Maraschino Liqueur (1/8 oz)
• 1 dash Coffee Bitters
Build in a glass without ice and stir.

The theme for tonight’s Thursday Drink Night at the chatroom is “day drinking.” Take that to mean anything from things you’d sip while sunning yourself on the beach to things you’d drink while playing hooky from work. What would you whip up at an industry brunch as cartoons play on the tv above?  There is definitely a different tone to drinking when it is done in the daylight hours.  So show up any time after 8pm EST to create some recipes to celebrate such decadence.