The Cocktail Artist

We don't typically have cocktails in the middle of the week, but it's Mardi Gras, and some of us may not be having a cocktail for the next 40 days! The Sazerac is a drink that makes us think of the epicenter of Mardi Gras in the United States - New Orleans, so that would be a natural choice for this evening. Another cocktail that we enjoy is the Deschler - which (like the Sazerac) contains rye and Creole bitters.  It also contains Rouge Dubonnet (a fortified wine), and some citrus zest. The last time we made this we used a blood orange and we liked the result. So, here is our version of this pre-prohibition cocktail - cheers! Deschler 1 1/2 oz. Rye whiskey 1 oz. Rouge Dubonnet 1/4 oz. Cointreau 2 dashes Creole Bitters large orange zest large lemon zest Muddle the lemon and orange zest with the Creole bitters in a cocktail shaker. Add ice, rye, Dubonnet, and Cointreau to shaker and shake briefly.  Strain int...

It's been an unusually warm week here (for February), so we thought we would break out the summer cocktail menu.  Our additional inspiration for this week's cocktail was the bottle of Authentic Kola Syrup from Washington, D.C.'s  True Syrups & Garnishes  that we had picked up a couple of weeks ago. The tropical origins of the Kola Nut, along with the ginger and spices in the syrup, got us thinking about a nice deserted island - but a deserted island that would have a good bottle of gin on it! We figured Thurston Howell III would have a nice bottle of gin, and the kola syrup has "Ginger". Let's just go ahead and christen this drink the "Gilligan's Island". So sit right back, find some old reruns on TV, and mix yourself up something refreshing! Gilligan's Island 2 oz. gin 1/2 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice 3/4 oz. True Kola Syrup 1 dash cardamom bitters 3 oz. club soda Place gin, lemon juice, kola s...

Thanks to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln we get a long weekend in February - and another excuse to create some art and a cocktail.  The art was easy. Since we live here in the Nation's Capital the Cocktail Artist has done plenty of sketches and paintings of presidential monuments (like the Lincoln Memorial posing with our drink). The cocktail took a little trial and error, but we came up with something that has quickly become one of our "house cocktails". This drink splits the base spirit between Kentucky bourbon (from the birth state of Lincoln) and Laird's Applejack (the spirit that George Washington introduced to the Virginia Colony). According to the Laird Company : "Robert Laird was a Revolutionary War Soldier serving under George Washington, and the Laird family supplied the troops with Applejack. Historical records show that, prior to 1760, George Washington wrote to the Laird family requesting their recipe for producing Applejack, which the Laird...

We love a good margarita.  Not one of those made with syrupy mixes - we want to taste real lime and (naturally) the tequila.  Awhile ago we started experimenting with mezcal - a tequila-ish liquor.  For more information about mezcal check out the  Mezcal Phd  blog, but in short: mezcal is an agave based liquor made in one of eight regions of Mexico. With artisanal mezcal (which is what you want to use), the "pina" from the agave plant are cooked in an underground, earthen pit lined with volcanic rock - which smokes, cooks and caramelizes them for days, imparting a deep smoky flavor.  Mezcal can be a bit much on it's own, but we decided that the best approach was to balance it with tequila. So here's a smoky version of the margarita - and a nod to our friends south of the border.   We're calling this one "Against the Wall", and we think it will go well with your Super Bowl nachos! Against the Wall 1 oz. Silver Tequila 3/4 oz. Mezcal 1...

This was one of our very early blog posts. Now that the holiday season is here it seems like a good time to revisit it. Our cocktail recipe remains unchanged, but we wanted to add some information about the ingredients and include a bit more artwork. This martini, with it’s pine forest aroma, is our antidote to holiday stress. Mix up a couple of these to help you through your decorating, gift-wrapping, etc… Doesn’t enjoying a cocktail while you relax in front of the fireplace sound much nicer than struggling to get the Christmas tree in the stand? Along with The Cocktail  Artist's watercolors maybe we can give you the feeling you're walking through a pine forest instead of stressing out over some holiday preparations. At the heart of this cocktail is Clear Creek Distillery’s Douglas Fir Brandy . We discovered this unusual liqueur in our local liquor store a couple of years ago and just couldn’t resist giving it a try. Clear Creek calls it “a tree in a bottle”. It's m...

Aviation Cocktail - original watercolor by The Cocktail Artist We purchased a set of Nick and Nora glasses as Christmas gift this past year, and before we gave them away we memorialized them in this painting. For those of you who aren't fans of Turner Classic Movies, Nick and Nora are the witty couple, played by William Powell and Myrna Loy, who drink cocktails and solve crimes in the "Thin Man" movies (which premiered between 1934 and 1937). Nick and Nora glasses are tulip shaped and hold a relatively small cocktail - probably because Nick and Nora never stopped at one! It's worth your time to take a look at this YouTube video of Nick and Nora's Alcohol Moments  - or, better yet, mix up some cocktails and get on Netflix and stream the Thin Man movies. The Aviation Cocktail is a classic 1930's gin cocktail that has a lovely lavender sky color thanks to creme de violette.  We tried a couple of different creme de violetts (yes several trips to the liquor ...

The Chesapeake Bay is well known for it's seafood - particularly crabs. It's a summer ritual in Maryland to enjoy a bucket of steamed Chesapeake Bay crabs  caked  with Old Bay Seasoning. Old Bay has been produced in Maryland by McCormick & Company since 1939. It's a spice blend with a very distinct flavor - which includes paprika, pepper and celery salt. Old Bay no longer seems limited to crabs and it has been showing up in some new and interesting places, in mayonnaise, beer, and in chocolate, among others.  We decided to get on board this Old Bay renaissance and give it a try in a cocktail, and we were pretty pleased with the results. Our Chesapeake Bay cocktail uses rye whiskey and aquavit. We have tried it with several ryes, and particularly like how Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye works with the other ingredients. This rye is produced in Virginia, not that far from the Chesapeake, so in addition to giving the cocktail the right flavor, it seems like...