This one is a DDG original, folks. The inspiration would appear to be the Parisian Blond, which Tex posted about in mid-August. The frothy top makes for a beautiful presentation, and the fragrance of the Kahlua and orange curracao provides the taster with a preview of what is to come. Though I must say there is some mystery provided by the Kahlua, that same ingredient provides a cloying aftertaste that is pasted to your pallet by way of the texture of the cream.

The Mexican Blonde is sort of the dirty cousin of the Parisian Blond - more donkey show than Moulin Rouge

Here are some recent treasures that I have found around Austin. Tipsy gives me a skeptical look every time I walk in the door with bags (or, on particularly fruitful days, boxes) of thrift store loot.

I found this postmodern muddler holder (actually a flour canister, I think, missing its lid) at the Goodwill by my house. It is made by Block china, the pattern is called Sextet and was manufactured between 1982-1986, according to my sources at replacements.com.

My Gay Pride Muddler Holder from the PoMo 80's

The Renaissance Festival Wench of soda siphons, this model is decked out in chain mail from head to toe.

This shaker come from a time when Daiquiris consisted of rum and lime juice, and Martinis (gin, of course) still had a dash of orange bitters.

Tipsy and I have been planning an elaborate dinner party called Le Renaissance de Élégance. The menu at this dinner will be Les Grandes Cuisines de los Anns. 1970's, the dress code le faux elegance. Did you know french was my second language? Like most elaborate plans that Tipsy and I come up with, the R de E dinner may never happen, but we have been stocking up on supplies in the event that it does.

All that glitters... if you liked silverware, you'll LOVE goldware!

The Negrita is a Dale DeGroff original. Dale was thinking outside the box with this one though I'm not sure it was to good effect. This drink consists of Pisco, Coffee Liqueur, and cold espresso and is meant to be taken as a shooter.

It actually occurred to me that I may not have made this drink correctly. I chilled the ingredients and strained them into a shot glass. Upon closer reading I see that the recipe just says "Combine all the ingredients in a shot glass." This could be because of an omission on Dale's part--there are a small handful of recipes with incomplete or ambiguous instructions--or it could be because a neat drink is desired. I will make this again some time when I don't need to get to sleep.

I never really knew my godfather as he was one of my aunt's first husbands, and since she has been married a few times he was long gone before I was old enough to care about his memory. My godmother was much the same, but for different reasons. She was a good friend to my dad's family and the only reason we didn't see her often was because we moved around a bit - jumping state to state. Now where does this fit in with the cocktails at hand? No clue, but maybe they just provided for me an opportunity to reflect.

The Godmother (right) and the Godfather

These are interesting cocktails in that they each have only two ingredients. If your godparents are alcoholics, these just might be the drinks . . .

The Dale/David Project reaches a very significant milestone tonight--we've completed 10% of the Craft of the Cocktail. Of course, we should have reached that goal last week but between the excitement of watching the DNC on tv, and also the problem of Dexter, who has entered our lives via iTunes, we were unable to meet our goal. We were trying to make cocktails, but kept getting sucked into our stories. At any rate we continue exploring Dale DeGroff originals with the Rainbow Sour. This entry begins with the type of storytelling that attracted me to Dale's book in the first place.

Dale explains that Pineau de Charentes was, according to legend, discovered by accident as a Cognac producer mistakenly mixed Cognac with raw grape juice, thinking that he was blending two Cognacs. Upon realizing the mistake he left the mixture in a barrel, only to discover some time later that it was quite delicious; a new product was born to that other mother of invention, accident.

Dale's Rainbow Sour consists of equal parts Pineau des Charentes and Marie Brizard Apry (I am assuming that this means Apricot Brandy but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. This picture of "Apry" from their Web site looks like the bottle of apricot brandy I have), with lemon juice and simple syrup. I found this to be a tasty drink though it was a bit on the sweet side. I am wondering if it would be better off--and more sour-like--if it was made without the simple, given the sweetness of the other ingredients.

The Rainbow Sour, posing here aptly with my Gay Pride Muddler Holder

Today there is an article by Patrick Beach in the Austin American-Statesman, viewable at his blog on Austin 360. The only thing that Beach forgot to mention is that Real Ale is the best beer in Texas! (my humble unbiased opinion). The Real Ale Coffee Porter brewed with organic, Fair Trade Certified Katz Coffee is coming out soon, stay tuned for more details.

From left to right: Brew master Tim Schwartz, head brewer Erik Ogershok, and owner Brad Farbstein. (Photo by Ben Sklar for the Am-Stat. Ben is an Austin-based photographer whose work has appeared everywhere from Time to the Times; in other words, a bad-ass. He must also like beer--I've seen him at Uncle Billy's on more than one occasion.)

Dale sources The Cooperstown Cocktail from Old Waldorf Bar Days (1931), which reports that the drink was created at the hotel's Big Brass Rail bar for some money men from Cooperstown, NY. In The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930) the Cooperstown consists of equal parts dry vermouth, sweet vermouth and gin; the DDG version calls for a ratio of 1:1:4 of the same ingredients. Start by muddling a sprig of mint with the vermouths, then add gin and stir vigorously with ice. I like this drink because it is minty but not sweet (it is in fact rather dry) and feels like it is built on a classic structure.

". . . a kind of Mint Julep for the New England crowd." So sayeth DDG in his The Craft of the Cocktail in describing the Southside cocktail. Ahhh . . . The WASPy julep. Maybe that's harsh on our northern cousins, but having been born in Kentucky I can't very well give up the beloved julep to them; perhaps this is more of a Mojito for the croquette crowd than a Mint Julep for the New England crowd.

The Southside, a truly georgeous cocktail.

Either way, it's actually quite a delicious sipper, though for some reason the recipe overloaded every goblet size we have which is why I went with the glass shown, which is nice and deep. Right now Tex is . . .

The Dale/David Project stumbles into the second tenth of the project tonight with the Red Lion Cocktail (not to be confused with the Red LOIN Cocktail, which I promise to develop for all of you cocktailian love birds in the time leading up to St. Valentine's Day).

In The Gospel According to Dale, the Red Lion was created in the 1930's and was widely used as a promotional item for Booths Gin after winning a 1935 cocktail competition; more recently it has been used successfully as a marketing tool for Grand Marnier. It consists of Grandma, dry gin, fresh lemon juice and orange juice, in a ration of 2:2:1:1. Shaken and strained into a chilled cocktail glass, it is garnished with the proprietary Dale DeGroff flamed orange peel.

According to DDG, it was originally served in a glass rimmed with lemon and sugar, but I forewent this step, not wanting to, um, spoil my dinner (or my cocktail)

I did not find any other citations for the Red Lion in any of my manuals, though there is a different drink with the same name in the South American Gentleman's Companion, the lesser known book by mid 20th C beverage bloviator Charles H. Baker Jr. The version in the SAGC consists of rum, curacao, lemon juice, grenadine, angostura bitters and egg white. This version is garnished with a "pineapple stick."

I thought this would be a nice night cap but damn! It's a bit much for this late in the evening.
I don't know what the origin of the Rusty Nail is. It does not appear in any of the books I have from the 40's and 50's. It does make an appearance in the 1971 Playboy's Host & Bar Book, which I highly recommend that you pick up if for no other reason than the fabulous photography. (Sorry, no nudes, just great 70's food, drink, and fashion photography). In that book the drink is made of Scotch and Drambuie in equal measure, though DDG calls for a ratio of 2:1.
In Gary Regan's Joy of Mixology, he calls for a ratio 5:1, but explains that "this is a good recipe for experimentation, since by using different bottlings of scotch and altering the rations of base spirit to liqueur, the cocktailian bartender can learn much about ingredients."
This is a lesson I learned the hard way tonight, when I picked up the Highland Park which Tipsy opened by mistake last week. At 53.8%abv it is a bit more stout than some other Scotches I could have chosen. But I've made this bed and now must lay in it...

This Saturday marks the debut of the Oyster Club, a cultural event featuring fabulous food and beverage and benefitting the Rude Mechanicals theater group. The food you will have to taste for yourself but I can vouch for the fabulousness of the beverages because they are being presented by none other than Paula of Paula's Texas Spirits, and Tipsy and myself of this fabulous Web site. The event is this Saturday; admission is $100.

We created the Oyster Club Cocktail for this event

Oyster Club Cocktail
2 oz Treaty Oak Rum
3/4 oz Fresh-squeezed lime juice
1/2 oz Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
1/4 oz simple syrup
2 Dashes Angostura bitters
Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass; garnish with a lemon twist

Tonight we made the shameful voyage to Pluckers, our neighborhood wing factory. We intended to get ice cream on the way back but forgot, and so instead decided to drink dessert. Since the Grasshopper and her cracked-out little sister the Pink Squirrel were already taken, I settled on the Colorado Bulldog.

The Colorado Bulldog--what the hell does this drink have to do with Colorado or Bulldogs?

Dale's describes this as "your basic adult egg cream," making reference to one of my favorite NY deli treats (Fox's U-Bet chocolate sauce with half & half and club soda.) However, his formula is not quite as adult as the one I recall from the early days of my drinking youth, when I actually drank concoctions such as this one. The DDG recipe consists of Kahlúa, cold milk, and Coca-Cola. The formula that I was familiar with included those ingredients plus vodka. In other words, a White Russian with Coke. This is the recipe that is found in Simon Difford's Cocktails. In the interest of fair and balanced coverage, I made the drink both ways. For both drinks I used low-temp pasteurized non-homogenized whole milk from the Remember When dairy. In place of Coca-Cola, I used Boylan Cane Cola, which is sweetened with pure cane sugar instead of HFCS. First I made Dale's recipe, and then I made Difford's, adding Tito's vodka.

Tonight we continue mixing Cointreau cocktails to honor the recent visit of Erin-Elizabeth Williams, national brand ambassador for Cointreau, whom we had the pleasure of spending time with on Monday.

The Coctel Algeria is a smoothly sweet pisco drink. For dinner Tipsy grilled grass-fed pork chops, served up with mashed sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and summer squash

According to Dale, the Coctel Algeria was on the menu of the Manhattan restaurant La Fonda Del Sol in the 1960's. It consists of pisco, Cointreau, apricot brandy and fresh orange juice. The drink is shaken and strained, garnished with a flamed orange peel.

On Monday we had the first meeting of the Austin chapter of the United States Bartender's Guild. The meeting was not as well-attended as we had hoped, but those of us who were there had a jolly time (and since there was a shortage of Cointreau swag, the menos the merrier). Cointreau's brand ambassador and brand mixologist Erin-Elizabeth Williams came to town from New York to share with us a preview of Cointreau's first new product in a hundred years, Cointreau Noir. It is a blend of Cointreau and Remy Martin cognac and it was fabulous getting to taste it with someone of her stature. (An esteemed mixologist as opposed to, say, the "demo dollies" that you find at the liquor store who tell you things like 'Johnnie Walker makes a great Bourbon and Coke', or 'this is the best margarita mix'.)

Cointreau Noir's tagline is "Nothing to Add" and that pretty much sums it up (although I know a few enterprising mixologists who are sure to try...)

In addition to the orange flavors it has floral and vanilla notes, and the process involves macerating walnut skins and almond casings in neutral spirit before distillation. I'm not the best at describing spirits so I will leave that to Paul Pacult, who, incidentally, awards Cointreau five stars--highest recommendation--in his Kindred Spirits, saying that with regard to orange liqueurs, "It is abundantly clear as to which brand is the gold standard." It will interesting to see what he says about the Noir.

At a price in the high $fifties per bottle, this product is aimed at an exclusive market. Cointreau's Williams said that it was not destined for margarita bars and hip hop clubs, but I think if Cassidy could make a hit with "I'm home, get the Patrón, and tell 'em that it's on," the right rapper could put this spirit on the path to ghetto gold (I got a cuppa Noir, five bitchez in th' car). In the meantime, I will be sipping it by the light of my laptop, thinking of all the unlucky bastards who missed our meeting on Monday.

If you want more information about the upcoming October meeting of the USBG Austin chapter, send USBGAustin a message at gmail.

Cointreau Week of the Dale/David project continues tonight with the Between The Sheets Cocktail.
Okay--who knew that this drink wasn't invented on Sixth Street, at a bar where bouncers stand outside and holler "Two dollar Long Islands! Three dollar Jager bombs! Ladies first drink free", where they also pour shots like Red Headed Sluts and Cum in a Hot Tub?
Not me.

The Between the Sheets is a kissing cousin of the Sidecar

This drink, as it happens, has its origins in the Prohibition Era, when, according to David Wondrich, "the nation's moral fiber wasn't what it out to have been. But then again, neither was the nation's liquor supply." Traditionally the drink is made with cognac or brandy, rum, Cointreau, and lemon juice. According to Simon Difford in Cocktails, this drink was "created in the 1930's by Harry MacElhone of Harry's New York Bar in Paris." It is a descendant of the Sidecar, though is oddly formulated with two base spirits.

Dale addresses this idiosyncrasy by substituting Bénédictine for rum. He writes, "There are other versions that omit Bénédictine and use rum instead, but two base spirits can confuse the palate; this version is more interesting." It seems like this version is the less common one, since the first five books I pulled from the shelf offer the Cognac/Rum version. Nonetheless, I agree with DDG that this an interesting, and delicious, refreshment.

I got an email yesterday from Austin's own Bill Norris, who is representing this area at the Cocktail World Cup in New Zealand. Bill said that the organizers have been running the contestants ragged--the Cup has as much to do with extreme sports and adventures as it does about cocktails--but that the talent was incredible, with teams from the US, UK, Australia, and " some crazy folks from Japan who garnish like sushi chefs." I can't wait to hear more details when he returns (for the Tipsy Texan exclusive interview!)

Bill's team advanced to the final round which takes place today.

Austin mixologist Bill Norris was on the Central USA team that took second place at the Cocktail World Cup yesterday in New Zealand, with the cocktail called "Wisdom of the Ages," a combination of 42 Below Vodka, sauvignon blanc, chamomile syrup, fresh white grapefruit juice and sage leaves.

The first place honor went to the London team, with their drink "Ale of Two Cities." The winning beverage consisted of 42 Below Feijoa flavoured vodka, Punt e Mes, apple juice, nettle cordial, malt syrup, freshly squeezed lime juice and Angostura bitters; shaken and strained into a pint glass.

Bill is on the way back to the States now and has promised (okay he hasn't really promised but I'm hoping to talk him into it) some extensive coverage of the contest upon his return.

Yesterday we were expecting to be pounded by the side-effects of Hurricane Ike, but instead had a hot and sunny day. Nonetheless, we continued with our Hurricane Party. We made up a couple batches of Hurricanes (not the Pat O'Briens red-dye-and-fake-fruit-in-a-glass variety), but then I got tired of squeezing pineapple juice so we moved on to the Dale/David Project, making a record eight drinks in one afternoon (until we ran out of ice--three bags).

D/DP #58: The Algonquin
The Algonquin Cocktail that appears in Dale's book consists of light rum, blackberry brandy, Bénédictine, lime juice, shaken and strained into a cocktail glass, with a cherry garnish. This version appears to come from Ted Saucier's Bottoms Up (1951); according to Gary Regan the current version consists of rye whiskey, dry vermouth, and pineapple juice.

I know this picture sucks. I didn't take it. In the photographer's defense, it was early in the day and he clearly hadn't hadn't drunk enough yet to calm his nerves.

D/DP #59 & 60: Planter's Punch
This drink counts as two entries because it appears in the book twice, once as a cocktail (p.165) and then as a punch recipe for 6 (p. 177). We made the first one to see if we liked the taste; we made the batch recipe because there were a bunch of thirsty drunks looking for something to sip on.
Planters Punch is a blend of dark rum, light rum, orange curacao, orange juice, pineapple juice, simple syrup, lime juice, a dash of grenadine, a dash of Angostura bitters; soda water is listed as optional and we opted out; garnished with an orange slice and a cherry.
According to Dale, this "an opportunity to make your own creative concoction...".

D/DP # 61: Honolulu Cocktail
Gin, pineapple juice, orange juice, lemon juice and simple syrup, dash Angostura bitters with a lemon peel for garnish.
(Um, I can't find the picture for this so you'll have to take my word for it.)

D/DP #62: Jack Rose Cocktail
Applejack brandy I used Laird's Bottled-in-Bond), simple syrup, lemon juice, grenadine; garnished with a cherry and an apple slice.
According to Albert Stevens Crocket in Old Astoria Bar Days (1931), this cocktail is named after a pink rose called the Jacquemot Rose, and not after an individual.

D/DP #63: Monkey Gland
According to Dale, Harry McElhone lays claim to this drink in ABC of Mixing Cocktails, and supposedly named after Serge Voronoff's experiments in rejuvenation. This drink is much more sexily hued than it is named.
Rinse a glass with Ricard, add Beefeater gin (except we used Gordon's), orange juice, grenadine, and garnish with a flamed orange peel.

D/DP #64: Poinsettia
I don't know why the hell we made this drink in September. Besides the fact that I don't like it, it seems like most people associate it with Christmas.
It consists of Champagne, cranberry juice and Cointreau.
Dale describes it as "A great idea for a holiday cocktail party as an alternative to champagne...". I describe it as a bunch of bullshit.

Okay I have to confess that my distaste for this drink does not stem from an actual dislike of the drink, but rather a decades-old nagging of people who mispronounce the word 'poinsettia' by saying "Poyn-se-ta". It clearly should be pronounced "Poyn-se-tee-uh." The ignorance of those countless uninformed poinsettia fans has made it impossible for me to enjoy a perfectly refreshing drink, for fear that i am going to be corrected on the pronunciation when I'm the one who's right. Ask Merriam-Webster.

D/DP #65: Tropical Cocktail
Like a daiquiri, but instead of simple syrup it has orange curacao. A dry orangey daiquiri. From the Ritz Hotel bar in Paris.

D/DP #66: Valencia II
Dale doesn't explain what the Valencia I is, but the Valencia II consists of apricot brandy, orange juice, orange bitters and Champagne, garnished with a flamed orange peel. It reportedly originates from Hollywood's Roosevelt Hotel in the 1930's.

Well, I managed to capture the flaming of the orange oil for Dale's signature flamed orange peel garnish, too bad I was eight inches away from the drink

The folks at bibulo.us are hosting this month's Mixology Monday, the world's foremost online cocktail party. The theme for this month's party is 19th Century Cocktails.

For this my second time to participate in MxMo, I have chosen the East India Cocktail, prepared as presented in Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh's book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails:
East India Cocktail
3 oz. Brandy
1/2 o z. raspberry syrup
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 teaspoon orange Curacao
1 teaspoon maraschino liqueur
Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cocktail cherry.

Waterford (or similar) glass compliments of my friend Tara, who would rather have her mother back than all these f*ing glasses.

3+ oz of booze--that's a stout drink! Those 19th C. drinkers had some serious business to take care of.
Haigh explains that the original version of this drink first appeared in Harry Johnson's Bartender's Manual (1882) and specified pineapple syrup. Haigh insists that this (raspberry) version is not only venerable, but also preferable.

For a variation of this cocktail, I was inspired to make the East Andes Cocktail, substituting Pisco for the brandy. I like it. It is spicier and more maraschino-ey, not as balanced because I didn't futz around with it long enough, but nonetheless it has a lot of potential.

The East Andes Cocktail, substituting Pisco for Brandy

I poked around some of my cocktail books to see what other recipes I could find...

(the first Tipsy Texan personal ad)
Me: tipsy texan with an interest in modern craft cocktails and classic cocktails, properly rendered. Looking for a bar that will allow me to host a craft cocktail happy hour.
You: relatively central location. Preferably with a back bar or patio bar that is not currently being optimized during happy hour.

"Not currently being optimized"?! This is the least sexy personal ad ever. Where's the talk of juicy, stiff cocktails, deep satisfaction, and long, hard p...ours? It's a good thing I'm shopping for a cocktail bar and not a lover.

I don't have any particular day in mind. I am not trying to move in on any bartender's space or on any bar's clientele. I am looking to create a weekly happy hour event for the presentation of Tipsy Texan original farm-fresh cocktails and select classics. The bar would have to be willing to take a risk on buying a little fresh produce and some new spirits, and of course be comfortable hiring an unknown entity like me for one day a week. If someone is concerned about this latter point, I will just kindly remind them that Sam Phillips didn't know who the hell Elvis was when he walked through the door of Sun studios. Then the unsuspecting bar proprietor will be giddy with excitement because we will all become famous, fabulously wealthy, and then die on the crapper at an early age. Please leave a comment if you know of any place that might be viable and available (for a happy hour, not a crapper).

Tipsy and Jenna bask in the sanguine glow of Pangea's cocktail tables.

On Monday night we went to Pangea, a bar downtown known more for bottle service than for cocktails, to observe the Drambuie cocktail contest. Although I did not show up with the intention of judging the contest, I was selected to replace a gentleman who said he'd rather watch than participate. So I eagerly took my seat at the judge's table.

The contestants were:
Justin Stidham of Pangea with the "Mint McCloud"--muddled lemon, Drambue, Bacardi O, and a splash of 7. He would have done better without the coconut rum or the 7 Up

Lesliann of Lanai with the "Drambuie Dessert"--Baily's Irish Cream, Kahlua, Amaretto Disaronno, with muddled strawberries and strawberry puree; served in a glass rimmed with chocolate sauce and graham crackers. This is the type of drink that I think should be forbidden from contests such as this, not because it doesn't have its place somewhere (I'm not sure where that is) but because you can't judge it next to a real cocktail. It tastes like strawberries and creamy sugary stuff, not like spirits. And it bruises your palate for all of the following cocktails...except the next one, which was almost identical:

Robin Martinez of Prague (I think) with "Honey Chocolate Cream Martini"--when Wes Marshall heard the name of this drink he said, "So it's going to be a dry one, right?" to which the contestant responded with befuddled look. Bailey's, Amaretto, Drambuie, Cream, with a garnish of orange chocolate shavings and an orange chocolate wedge. All of my comments about the previous drink apply to this one.

Joe Castillo with "Piña Limón"-- Drambuie, lemon juice, pineapple juice and Topo Chico. This actually wasn't a bad effort, he just went overboard on the pineapple juice and that's all you could taste.

George's glasses, garnished and ready for the Rambooty". *A note about the "glasses" at Pangea: they were plastic.

George Gutierrez of Pangea, with "Mexican Rambooty"--The puritanical prude in me wishes that the contest rules would proscribe cocktail names that invoke or imply sex or sexual anatomy, because it is tacky and takes away from the professionalism of the event; not to mention the fact that these drinks are usually not very good. George rimmed (he said rimmed!) his glasses with kosher salt and celery salt. He made a mexican martini with Herradura silver, Drambuie, and lime juice, and then jacked it up sweet & sour off the gun, n/a triple sec, rose's lime juice, olive juice, and orange juice. I think he would have been better off if he'd stopped at the first three ingredients instead of going for the kitchen sink margarita that I have described in past posts. Garnished rather elaborately with strips of jalapeño and lime. Despite the adulterative ingredients, I thought this drink deserved a bronze finish for this contest.

Ben is a classicist behind the bar--quick and to-the-point

Ben Craven of Starlite, with the Lorelei--muddled Granny Smith apple, Plymouth gin, Drambuie, calvados, agave nectar. This cocktail was gorgeous, subtle, balanced and delicious. It should have won first place. (it didn't)

Mindy rinsing champagne flutes with Canton ginger liqueur

Mindy Kucan of the Hilton, with "Ginger & Dram"--a glass rinsed with Canton ginger liqueur; muddle candied ginger, add Tito's vodka, orange flower water, Drambuie. I had this drink picked for second place. The idea was right, it just tasted a little off-balance and medicinal/floral, I think because of the orange flower water. Mindy is good at giving cocktails multiple layers and this one had that, but I just felt the balance was off. I was still tasting it 20 min. later, which is a bit more "lingering finish" than I was looking for. A solid effort nonetheless.

And the winners were:
1st Place Mindy Kucan (mazel tov, Mindy!)
2nd Place George Gutierrez (lay off the Rose's and the Sweet & Sour, bro!)
3rd Ben Craven (Sorry, Ben. You really had a winner with the Lorelei. I know it can be hard to take third place again, but just think happy thoughts about how nobody wanted to buy Van Gogh's shit while he was alive, or how Mozart died a poor man and was burried in a pauper's cemetery. Does that cheer you up at all?)

Winners from left to right: George, Mindy, Ben

The Island Rose cocktail consists of tequila, Kahlúa, Chambord and heavy cream. Lacking in Chambord, I used the Mathilde Framboise, which I think is delicious. Some of the folks from the Drambuie contest earlier this week should take lessons from this cocktail: a dessert drink that doesn't suck, that is interesting and not just cavity-causing.

I made this for a late-night guest who wanted something not too boozy. Dale calls for an organic rose petal garnish, which I declined, having no roses on hand, organic or otherwise.

Dale describes this drink as "kind of a Southern Stinger," referring to the "classic New York night cap" of creme de menthe and brandy. It was supposedly the house drink at the Hotel Bel-Air in LA, a former of place of employment for Dale if I am not mistaken, so he should know. I like this drink, my kind of night cap, whether or not it can claim relation to the Stinger.

Dale does not give attribution for this recipe. It consists of bourbon and Bénédictine shaken and strained into a glass filled with crushed ice.

If these posts seem short it's because I am up to my elbows with Jigger, the bundle of joy that Tipsy brought home from the office yesterday. Jigger has me up late thumbing desperately through Puppies for Dummies looking for the chapter on "How to Make Puppy Stop Eating Sofa Cushion" or "How to Make Puppy Stop Chewing on Vertical Blinds"*. I'll let you know if I find it. For those of you old enough to remember "Three Men and a Baby", that's like me and this damn (cute) dog.

*This chapter should conclude by saying that if you still have vertical blinds, this is a good time to just let the dog have them and get something less trashy.

The results have been tabulated and the Tipsy Texan mascot has been selected. The role of mascot requires a certain personality that is capable of being both cute and a a complete pain in the ass, with responsibilities including but not limited to: eating, peeing, pooping, fetching, sleeping, barking, harassing cat, chewing toys and pillows, etc. The task is a daunting one but we finally found someone (or rather, he found us) who is fit for the challenge. Ladies and gentlemen, please meet the newest member of the Tipsy Texan family, Jigger.

I know that pet photos are about as obnoxious as kid photos and so will refrain from posting any more, unless Jigger does something impossibly cute, in which case I might have a moment of parental weakness. Otherwise, thank you for this indulgence and if you find us slipping behind schedule on the Dale/David project, blame Jigger.

The Banshee is another demented member of the Grasshopper family (along with the Pink Squirrel), identical except for the substitution of Creme de Banana for the Creme de Menthe. This is the type of drink that I would usually avoid, except in circumstances such as this one, in which I came up empty handed after a freezer raid looking for ice cream. In a pinch, a sweet creamy cocktail like this one satisfies.

The Banshee is nice enough but I prefer the Grasshopper

Today I had the good fortune of getting to do a guest post on the Daily Traveler blog at Conde Nast Traveler. Please check it out if you feel like hearing me spout off about Margaritas (again) and Mexican Martinis.

Homeboy pouring the Mexican Martini at Cedar Door (I personally do not like my margarita love juice running down the side of a glass that has been pawed by several people; but mainly I don't like my margarita love juice to come from a mix)

I discovered today that we had gotten some props from them a couple of weeks ago.

The Rob Roy is one of the immediate relatives of the Manhattan. It consists of Scotch, sweet vermouth and bitters. Dale specifies that the drink is garnished with a lemon twist. In Gary Regan's Joy of Mixology, he states that the drink is traditionally served with a cherry, but that he prefers the lemon twist. I like the lemon twist as well. As with the Manhattan, the Rob Roy is made with sweet vermouth but variations can be made with dry vermouth, or for a "Perfect" Rob Roy, both sweet and dry vermouth are used. Regan says that bitters are rarely used in the Rob Roy today, and that he doesn't like the taste of Angostura in this drink, suggesting Peychaud instead. I will have to try this combination another time, when I am not on my way to work.

The Rob Roy possibly gets its name from the 1890's Broadway production of the same name; in Austin, Rob Roy is a neighborhood for rich people.

There is a Flor de Caña rum tasting at Shoreline Grill on Monday night. At this event there will be information about our upcoming USBG Austin chapter meeting (Sunday Oct 5) and the Flor de Caña Mixologist Contest (October 13) which includes a prize trip to Nicaragua. Meeting monday is from 8p-10p at Shoreline Grill; rsvp asap to pamela.kotsaftis@skyy.com. Because of some silly TABC regulation you have to be on the list to attend the event.

Between the Austin City Limits music festival

For our mixing pleasure tonight we had guest mixologist Addie Broyles, food writer for the Austin American-Statesman. Addie claims to have never mixed a cocktail but that seems a bit far-fetched to us. Regardless she did a great job on this her maiden effort.

The White Lady is sort of like a gin Sidecar--gin, Cointreau, and lemon juice. It comes from Harry Craddock's Savoy Cocktail Book (1934)