opinionated alchemist

Not long ago, there was a post about the Singapore Sling on Facebook, and I commented on it.  Point is, that it is unlikely - or better said, close to impossible, that the contemporary recipe [which is said to be the original recipe] was invented in the 1920's. Ok - let's first of all see the recipe: IBA specified ingredients* 3 cl  Gin 1.5 cl  Heering  Cherry Liqueur (cherry  brandy ) 0.75 cl  Cointreau 0.75 cl DOM  Bénédictine 1 cl  Grenadine 12 cl  Pineapple juice 1.5 cl Fresh  lime juice 1 dash  Angostura bitters Preparation Pour all ingredients into cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes. Shake well. Strain into highball glass. Garnish with pineapple and cocktail cherry. David Wondrich, one of my favourite cocktail historians discussed the Singapore Sling here . And I do agree. I like his research, which showed the unlikeliness, that no cherry eau de vie was used - rather than Bols cherry li...

There is an interesting article   [follow the link] I found in the New York Times. An top-class panel of bar-personalities discussed, bad historic drinks. So far, so good. I never believed, that all heirloom drinks are great. However what let me dig deeper, was the choices the panelist did. Dale deGroff chose to doubt the Aviation - he thought, that it taste like soap - even if it is including violet liqueur, it even taste more like soap. Now - I made quite a lot of Aviations; it is a finicky cocktail. But prepared appropriately it is a very interesting drink. However it has to be cold enough - hence you have to shake it really well. Mr Frizell further talked down the Brooklyn. And well - I am more or less on the same wagon- it combines straight rye whiskey with amaro [amer picon to be precise], dry vermouth and maraschino. It seems to me, that it was a substitute for an occasion, when a bartender ran out of sweet vermouth [for a Manhattan]. While there is no need to m...