Hey,
Thanks for taking the time to read The Cocktail Doodle Review. I hope you all have had a great month. Here in Michigan, the weather is cooling off as we get closer and closer to winter, and that change has brought about darker drinks. I honestly have to look at a calendar to figure out the last time I squeezed lemon or lime juice.
I want to thank everyone who has participated as a guest on the Nightcap Show and all of you who have stopped by to watch or listen to the podcast.
Speaking of the Podcast, you can subscribe through Apple Podcasts or Spotify now! If you subscribe through the Substack links, you get a private feed that updates for the paid supporters of this newsletter.
Moving forward, the Nightcap Show will be on Tuesdays at 9 pm. I found that two shows a week is a bit of a doozy in terms of scheduling. Also, a slightly earlier time would get me into bed at a reasonable hour. The first week in November, I am taking off. That first Tuesday is Election Day, and I certainly can't compete with that, though I will certainly be sipping something strong.
If you have any feedback on the show, I would love to hear from you. You can get in contact with me by simply replying to this email.
Oh, and make sure your roll your clocks back this weekend!
The CD Review
Drinks From October
This past month I have drunk far more diversely than I have in years and it has everything to do with the Nightcap Show. Rum Old Fashioneds, Manhattans, brown and stirred, modern classics, Absinthe! I have been all over the place, and I have loved it.
Here is the Rum Old Fashioned I made with Marv a few weeks ago if you'd like to whip one up yourself:
Rum Old Fashioned
In a rocks glass
1 tsp Sugar Syrup
3 dashes Angostura Cocoa Bitters
2 dashes Angostura Orange Bitters
45 ml Any Dark Rum
15 ml Funky Jamaican Rum
Add one large piece of ice
Stir
Orange and Lemon Peel to Garnish
The other drink I have enjoyed quite often over the past month is a riff on the Old Fashioned from Billy Sunday in Chicago. It is truly a bitters, sugar, water, and spirit build. They use Zucca instead of Angostura, and I have been tossing in whatever Amaro I grab first.
Billy Sunday OF
In a rocks glass
30 ml Water
60 ml Whiskey
15 ml Amaro
1 tsp Sugar Syrup
Stir (no ice)
Add one large piece of ice
Stir
Orange Peel to Garnish
It is a deliciously odd build, and I highly recommend it!
For more cocktails, check out The Cocktail Doodle Cocktails Google doc.
Cocktail Doodle
From a few feet away, he clicked his keyfob, and the trunk popped open. Next to the spare tire, he nestled the new bottle in a beach towel that never left the back compartment and shut the trunk lid. As he sat down in the driver's seat, he placed a few coins and a wrinkled receipt in the cupholder.
The liquor store was only a few miles away from where he lived. There was a closer store within walking distance, but they didn't carry this brand. Every few weeks, he drove to the store, and the owner always gave him a nod when he walked in. The price would be just shy of ten dollars.
He pulled into the driveway and retrieved the bottle from the trunk. Inside he placed the full bottle in the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of the same that was almost empty. He didn't need to look at his watch to know it was too early for a Martini but not too early for a glass of wine.
He pulled a glass down and dropped in two pieces of ice. Out of the bottle, he poured the remaining few ounces into the cup. The liquid was a faint straw color and smelled subtly of camomile, bergamot, and fuzzy peach skin. It had been his reliable go-to for years.
He took a sip of the vermouth; a Martini could wait for later. This was the perfect sipper to kill some time. It was dry with a slight acidic zing. After a few sips, his stomach rumbled, and he set his glass down on the counter to find a snack in the pantry.
Books
I picked up some great books this month:
The Fever Bark Tree: The Pageant of Quinine by M. L. Duran-Reynals
Nightcap: More than 40 Cocktails to Close Out Any Evening by Kara Newman
The Gun Club Drink Book by Charles Browne
I will read through them and talk about my thoughts at a later date.
The book I'd like to talk about this month is 3 Bottle Bar by H.i. Williams. I found out about this book in my favorite book on cocktails, Everyday Drinking. As Kingsley Amis points out, we don't know why Mr. Williams has a lowercase initial, but that is the way it is.
3 Bottle Bar is a short book, one you could easily flip through in about half an hour. I take my copy down from the shelf every few months to remind me of the true basics. The book is all about hosting and fellowship. H.i. doesn't like to waste time on frivolous ingredients. He keeps a bottle of gin on his bar cart, a bottle of Bourbon, and a bottle of dry white wine—the three bottle bar. Of course, he mentions sugar syrup, Angostura bitters, and soda/tonic/ginger, but alcoholic bottles are only the three.
He assumes, and I concur, that you can satisfy most any guest with those ingredients. His Martini, which he calls a "Sautini," uses gin and dry Sauterne instead of vermouth. If you'd like a Manhattan, try a "Cabro," a mixture of Bourbon, white wine, Angostura bitters, and a touch of sugar. I can say the drinks are delicious and straightforward, albeit different.
He goes on with simple sours, juleps, fizzes, cobblers, and even a punch named after his friend Eric. For "Eric's Punch," he does splurge for a bottle of Jamaican rum. One of my favorite ditties out of the book is the innocent "Wine Cocktail," a coupe full of white wine with a dash of Angostura bitters garnished with a lemon peel. So simple one might think it's a waste of the ink and paper in the book, though the drink has kept me sharp while cooking and sometimes late at night protected me from having one too many of the more potent beverages.
His writing is fantastic and witty. Grab it if you want a fun book and instructions on saving some dough at the liquor store! It seems all I buy these days are gin, whiskey, and wine if I don't count the Campari, Absinthe, Curaçao, Rum, Cognac...
I’d also like to give a shoutout to @the_book_slinger on Instagram, who I keep sending money to, and he keeps sending me amazing first and second edition cocktail and cooking books. I got up The Gun Club Drink Book from him a few weeks ago, and it is in beautiful condition. Check out his Etsy store as well for more cocktail books.
New Products
Perrier Pineapple
Sazerac’s Last Drop Distillers launches first autumn collection
Japan’s First Foray Into Vermouth
Fundador Light - Brandy Spirit from Jerez
Guinness unveils “Guinness 0.0”
Zing Zang Enters Beverage Alcohol Market
In Other (Booze) News
Dramatic Change in Drinking Habits of Americans
Beam Suntory to Pay $19 Million to Settle Bribery Probe
Bacardi Unveils Biodegradable Spirits Bottle
Napa 2020 ‘Not Lost’ Despite Smoke Taint Concerns
Wine Spectator Announces New Executive Editor
Heineken to acquire Asahi Beverages brands
Well, that does it for me! I hope you enjoyed the monthly review and I wish you a great weekend. Thank you to all the supporters of this newsletter. Those of you that pay to support Cocktail Doodle keep new and interesting books on my shelf and you keep my whistle wet! If you’d like to pitch in I ask for $5/month or an even better deal of $50/year.