A Few Random... Martines?

I'm not quite sure what to call these. They're sort-of Martini variants, in that they consist of a gin stirred together with an aromatized wine, but in each case it's a sweeter aromatic than dry vermouth. Yet they're missing the additional sweetening that would make them a Martinez, leaving them in a weird grey area.

Oh, and... yeah, I made all three of these at once. And I poured all three at once. And then I drank all three in quick succession. It's fucking amazing that I managed to collect these recipes.

#1 (middle above)
1 1/2 oz Bombay Sapphire East gin
3/4 oz Cocchi Americano
2 dashes Bitter Truth Tonic Bitters
2 dashes Regan's No. 6 Orange Bitters

Stir and strain into a cocktail glass; garnish with a thin lime wheel.

Drink first as preparation.

#2 (left above)
1 1/2 oz Norseman Strawberry Rhubarb gin
3/4 oz Byrrh
2 dashes Bitter Truth Tonic Bitters
2 dashes Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter Bitters

Stir and strain into a slightly fancier cocktail glass; garnish with a strip of lemon peel.

Drink second to steady yourself.

#3 (right above)
1 1/2 oz J. Carver Barrel gin
3/4 oz Bonal
2 dashes Regan's No. 6 Orange Bitters
2 dashes Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter Bitters

Stir and strain into your fanciest cocktail glass; garnish with a brandied cherry.

Drink third to forget.

Cagliostro

Another backlog item for you today, created a couple weeks ago when experimenting with Byrrh in a Negroni-type formulation. I heartily approve of the result; it's a bit sweeter and richer than a classic Negroni, but I really like the way the licorice-and-orange notes of the Averna play with the berry notes from the Byrrh.

1 1/4 oz London Dry gin (Botanist here obviously, but Tanqueray, Boodles, or another solid brand would be fine)
1 oz Byrrh
3/4 oz Averna
3 dashes Regan's No. 6 Orange Bitters

Stir very well and strain into an old-fashioned glass over a fresh large ice cube. Garnish with a large strip of orange peel - I don't see one in the picture but I recall using one. Must have either added it after or it's hiding behind the cube.

I like the origin of the name on this one, too. One of the first public appearances of the Negroni in print is in a quote from none other than Orson Welles, who at the time was shooting his film Black Magic, in which he plays... Count Cagliostro. Fitting, given that the Negroni was also supposedly named for Count Camillo Negroni.

Bonus drink: this was also very pleasant as a pseudo-Boulevardier variation, with the gin replaced by Irish whiskey and bumped up to about 2 oz or so.

Easter Special

Did I forget to post this one? I forgot to post it. But that's okay - a little backlog helps make up for the terribly unproductive Mocktail Month so far. Honestly, it's been a lot of the same, and it's hard to get excited enough about a basic soda to throw a post together, even if it is handmade.

I have ideas in the works, though! I'm convinced that there has to be a way to make a substitute Negroni, or at least an Americano, probably involving Sanbitter but preferably something I can make at home. Maybe a tea concentrate and a heavily spiced syrup?

Until then: this. One of the signals that I'm getting fairly decent at this stuff is that when I ask my mother what I can bring for brunch, her response these days is as likely to be "How about you make something?" as the old standby bottle of wine. I made this low-caliber punch-type thing for Easter. The name wrote itself.

For ease of transport, the end product was a scaled-up bottled cocktail. The proportions given in the picture aren't the final version; I just needed an illustration for the post. A couple trial runs produced the following end proportions.

This makes roughly two liters of finished cocktail.

12 oz light white wine (I used a cheap gruner veltliner, but a mild pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc would do fine too)
9 oz gin (nothing fancy; New Amsterdam here)
6 oz Byrrh
3 oz Aperol
3 oz cinnamon syrup
1 1/2 oz orange juice
1 1/2 oz lemon juice

Mix this together and bottle until ready to serve. When ready, combine with an equal proportion of soda water and serve in wine glasses.

Right Thuir

I found a bottle of Byrrh Grand Quinquina today! I've seen it listed on blogs, but never found a bottle locally until now. Intriguing stuff - not quite sure if it'll join the regular rotation yet, but this drink was a good first crack at cocktail use.

2 oz Temperance Trader Chinato Barrel Aged Bourbon (remember this stuff?)
1/2 oz Byrrh Grand Quinquina
1/2 oz sweet vermouth (Carpano Antica, because only the best!)
1 (small) dash cinnamon syrup
2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
2 dashes Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter bitters

Stir and strain into a rocks glass; garnish with an orange peel, if you must.

The name of this one comes from the town at the southern tip of France where Byrrh was invented.