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Lemon Poppy

November 22, 2011 by Jen

1 oz Bluecoat Gin
1 oz Limoncello
0.5 oz Amaro Abano
0.25 oz lemon juice
0.5 oz simple syrup
1 dash Orange bitters

Shake ingredients well with cracked ice and double strain into a coupe. Garnish with a lemon peel.

NOTES: Because the Lemon Poppy donut is fairly straightforward and I couldn’t think of a good way to incorporate poppy seeds into a drink, I decided to get more liberal with this interpretation.  It came out more boozey than some of the other drinks, with a lot of kick while remaining well balanced. I hoped the gin and Amaro Abano would add some complexity and tone down the lemony-ness of the Limoncello. This one was Jon’s favorite of the day, and actually went well WITH the donut in addition to tasting somewhat similar. Lemon bitters instead of orange bitters may have been a better choice, but somehow we still don’t have any of that one.

More on the experiment >

Posted in Amaro Abano, Gin, Limoncello, Orange Bitters | Leave a Comment »

White Chocolate Raspberry

November 22, 2011 by Jon

1.5 oz Brandy
1 oz Raspberry Syrup
0.5 oz Creme de Cacao
0.25 oz St. Germain
2 dashes Aztec Chocolate Bitters
1 oz Heavy Cream

Shake ingredients like crazy for about 20 seconds with cracked ice. Strain into glass and garnish with a raspberry. Shave chocolate onto the top of the drink.

NOTES: Took a run at a Brandy Alexander for this one, which turned out to be Jamie’s favorite drink of the day (and another dessert drink). It was really pretty, and probably palatable to even the most liquor-phobic. It tasted like a milkshake, more than anything else. We DID have to cheat a bit and just go for regular chocolate rather than white chocolate, but until someone wants to sponsor our hobby, we’re going to continue to cut a few corners.

More on the experiment >

Posted in Aztec Chocolate Bitters, Brandy, Creme de Cacao, Heavy Cream, Raspberry Syrup, St Germain | 2 Comments »

Pomegranate Nutella Tehina

November 21, 2011 by Jon

1.5 oz 10 Cane Rum
0.5 oz Rhuby
0.5 oz Frangelico
1 oz Pomegranate Syrup
2 dashes Rhubarb bitters

Shake ingredients well with ice, strain and serve up. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

NOTES: This one fell a little flat. It wasn’t bad, but the flavor was a little on the medicine side and it wasn’t quite sweet enough. I think the failure was in the Pomegranate Syrup, as the flavor was a lot more mild and delicate than I expected it to be. I tried to play up the tart angle with the Rhubarb flavors, but they didn’t pick up the slack as much as I thought they would. Next time, I’ll be trying with a LOT more pomegranate (I only used one) and less sugar. Otherwise, the drink was fairly inoffensive, if a little forgettable. With a better syrup recipe, I’d like to tackle this one again because this is my favorite of Federal Donuts’ fancy menu.

More on the experiment >

Posted in Frangelico, Rhubarb Bitters, Rhuby, Rum | 1 Comment »

Spicy Chocolate Peanut

November 21, 2011 by Jon

1.5 oz Penn 1681 Vodka
0.5 oz Benedictine
0.25 oz Honey Syrup
1 oz Spicy Peanut Syrup
3 dashes Chocolate Bitters

Pour a little honey syrup onto a wet paper towel and dip the rim of the glass into it. Then pat the honey-rimmed glass onto a plate covered in a thin layer of cocoa powder. Shake ingredients well with cracked ice and pour into the glass. Garnish with a little peanut butter.

NOTES: Pretty tasty. Definitely more peanut and less chocolate than the drink, but pleasant on its own. A *little* bit too close to one of those [flavor]tini drinks of the late 90s, but I think that’s just a risk you run with a vodka cocktail and another strong flavor. The spice in the peanut syrup was a nice touch which, as Jamie pointed out, gave the drink more of a Thai peanut sauce flavor than peanut butter and jelly. I’d still call this more of a dessert than a drink I’d have at a bar, but it wasn’t as cloying as it could have been. I wouldn’t make this for myself, but I’d definitely keep it on the books if I needed something for a holiday party or something like that.

Spicy Peanut Syrup
bring 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter and 1.5 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add 1/2 cup sugar & 1 tbsp cayenne pepper and allow to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring regularly. Strain a LOT. I passed it through a fine strainer about 4 times to get all the solids. Allow to cool and bottle.

More on the experiment >

Posted in Aztec Chocolate Bitters, Benedictine, Honey Syrup, Spicy Peanut Syrup, Vodka | 3 Comments »

The Federal Donut Experiment

November 21, 2011 by Jon

When Federal Donuts on 2nd Street opened, like most of the city, we were excited. We were even more excited when the rumors proved to be true, and the donuts were just as tasty and unique as we had heard. The only problem is that the donuts weren’t made of alcohol, so we set out to remedy that.

This past Saturday, we stopped in and grabbed two of each of the six “fancy” donuts and tried our best to make a cocktail version of each of them. Since Jen was training for the Philadelphia marathon and not drinking, our friend Jamie came over to help with the tasting and consuming of all the mid-afternoon drinks. We’ll be posting our results over the course of the week.

Oh, and please keep in mind, this isn’t any official tie-in or promotion or anything. We bought the donuts like anyone else and Federal Donuts has no idea we planned to do anything but eat them. Hopefully they don’t mind that we had a little fun with their creations. If you haven’t yet, you should stop in and check them out: they really are as good as they look.

Spicy Chocolate Peanut
Pomegranate Nutella Tehina
White Chocolate Raspberry
Lemon Poppy
Key Lime
Apple Walnut

Posted in Miscellany | Leave a Comment »

Updates: Hop Sing, Bitters, etc.

November 18, 2011 by Jon

Just a few updates on things:

Hop Sing Laundromat is coming along nicely. We checked in with Lêe again for what he tells us is the last time until opening to check out the furniture and completed bar. The bar (above) itself looks incredible. The wide, long stainless steel bar is covered in nickels and will give anyone plenty of room to drink. As for the seating, it’s all big, heavy antique chairs with large-enough tables and plenty of room between them to prevent that awkward situation in smaller settings where you end up assaulting the next table with your ass when you get up to use the bathroom. Still no firm opening date, but it looks like it is getting close, and we’re just as excited as ever to see the finished result. More on Hop Sing Laundromat here and here.

The Bitters Contest is over. We sent out the prizes to our 4 winners, so they should be arriving soon, hopefully safe and sound. We’re really looking forward to hearing what people think of them and making some adjustments for the next batch. We had a lot of fun with the contest, so be sure to keep an eye out for more giveaways with future batches.

The Bar Bag is not forgotten. I got a little side-tracked because holy hell, hand-sewing things takes FOREVER. The front of the bag is finished (the bulk of the storage), so now I just need to make two smaller side pockets and come up with some type of divider system for the inside. I hope to finish it soon, and when I do I’ll post pictures.

Sorry for the lack of drinks. Jen is training for a marathon this Sunday, so our alcohol consumption has gone down. Once it’s over, we hope to be back to business as normal. I’ve got an idea for something I want to start this weekend that could either be a lot of fun or a giant failure, but you can be sure I’ll post the results either way.

So that’s about it. In the meantime, check out some of the links we’ve added over on the right to other booze and food blogs that we love.

Posted in Bar Reviews, Miscellany | 2 Comments »

Bitters Contest Winners!

November 15, 2011 by Jon

Honestly, this was a lot more difficult than I expected it to be. I’ve never done a giveaway before and narrowing it down was a lot tougher than expected. Everything sounded totally delicious, but we had to narrow it down since we only have a couple bottles. Luckily for our waffling, we decided to send out two bottles of each. The winners are:

Autumn Spice Bitters
Courtney P. & Matt

Shoofly Bitters
Terry & Susan M.

Thanks to everyone that submitted, and we hope the winners enjoy what we’ve made! I think we might have to do this every time we come up with a new batch, because seeing all the ideas is a lot of fun.

Posted in Bitters & Tinctures | 2 Comments »

The End of Summer

November 11, 2011 by Jon

We were invited to a potluck this past week with a lot of people that do some really heavy-duty cooking, so I thought I’d leave the cooking to them and bring along a drink to share. I also got to take the half-finished bar bag for a test run. It needs a little work, but it’s getting there.

The End of Summer
1.5 oz Old Forester Bourbon
0.5 oz Mescal
0.5 oz Rhuby
1 oz Vanilla Pear Shrub
3 drops Autumn Spice Bitters

Shake ingredients well with ice and strain into a glass on the rocks. Add a drop of bitters to the top of the drink to really bring out the smell. Garnish with slices of pear.

NOTES: I liked this one a lot. The tart of the shrub with the smoke of the mezcal is great, and the bourbon shrank pretty nicely into the background. More than anything, I was pretty excited to use our bitters in something, and I have to say I was happy with the result. Like I said in an earlier post, they aren’t quite as strong as some other bitters I’m used to, but upping the amount slightly seems to do the trick.

Posted in Autumn Spice Bitters, Bourbon, Mezcal, Pear Vanilla Shrub, Rhuby | Leave a Comment »

Home Speakeasy Bitters Giveaway

November 8, 2011 by Jon

This past week, we finished the final phase of our attempt at making bitters by taking what we ended up with at the end of last phase, letting it sit for a week and straining it through cheesecloth one final time before bottling and labeling them. I’ve got to say, I think they taste pretty damn good! They may lack a bit of the intensity of some other bitters and require a few more drops than I’m used to, but we’re both really happy with how they turned out.

We didn’t make much, but we did make more than we will be able to use, so we thought it might be nice to give away a bottle or two to people that would enjoy them as much as we do. Names and flavor profiles are:

Autumn Spice Bitters
Heavy on the bourbon, clove and cinnamon, there’s
some coriander, cardamom and apple in there as well.

Shoofly Bitters
Blackstrap molasses, cinnamon and garam masala
with a hint of rum and fruit.

Leave a comment with how you’d try mixing them up, and we’ll pick a couple we like and send them a bottle to take for a test drive.

And while you’re at it, like us on Facebook or follow on Twitter to keep up with our experimenting. All the links are over there on the right. Thanks for reading!

  • US only please.
  • Contest open until 9am [est] on Tuesday, November 15th

(thanks to @JackieBakesCake for the photo!)

Posted in Bitters & Tinctures | 13 Comments »

Untitled Whiskey Experiment #2

November 3, 2011 by Jon

1.5 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon
1 oz Mezcal
1 oz Pear Vanilla Shrub
1 tbsp condensed milk
2 dashes chocolate bitters

Shake ingredients well with ice, strain and serve up. Garnish with a slice of pear.

NOTES: I set out to try something in the bourbon family with the pear shrub. In my head, I had a good creamy fall drink, but I know the acetic acid from the vinegar in the shrub would curdle any milk I put in. I tried avoiding it by using condensed milk, and while it seemed to work at first and didn’t actually curdle, if left to sit for a short while, it would separate a bit. The flavor was actually great, but without constant stirring, it just started to look unappealing. I want to pin down a way to make this drink happen, but I’m going to have to take a different approach, I think. The pear shrub turned out great – one of my favorite shrubs so far, up there with the sweet potato, brown sugar and rosemary. If anyone’s got any ideas for a solution for a creamy drink that still lets me use the shrub, I’d love to hear your suggestions!

Pear Vanilla Shrub
Core and slice up two Bartlett pears, and put in a mason jar. Cut a vanilla pod longways and use a knife to scrape out the beans. dump the beans AND the pod into the jar with the pears. Pout in 2 cups of apple cider vinegar (enough to cover everything while leaving room to agitate), and close the jar. Shake vigorously once a day for 5 days.

On the 5th day, pass the contents of the jar through cheesecloth to remove the solids. Using a fine cheesecloth will catch the tiny vanilla beans, but a looser weave will not. Bring the 2 cups of liquid to a boil in a saucepan and add 2 cups of sugar. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Allow to cool and pass through cheese-cloth lined funnel into a jar. Add 1 oz of everclear or overproof vodka, close the jar and shake well. Refrigerate. The shrub should last for a couple of months, but flavor will be best sooner.

Posted in Aztec Chocolate Bitters, Bourbon, Condensed Milk, Mezcal, Pear Vanilla Shrub | 2 Comments »

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