Friday Cocktail: The Solstice

In honor of tomorrow's Summer solstice, I bring you the Solstice cocktail. Creator John Deragon serves this drink in December for the Winter solstice, which makes sense for a booze forward whiskey cocktail. For those like me that drink brown liquor cocktails year round, however, this drink works just as well once the sun goes down on a 100 degree day in Atlanta. For a spirit forward drink, it is complex but also surprisingly balanced and drinkable. 

The recipe calls for Dubonnet Rouge, but any rose colored apéritif wine, such as Lillet Rouge or Cocchi Americano Rosa, will work well. In my opinion, there is no suitable substitute for the Amaro Nonino. As with any cocktail using grenadine, use a good quality grenadine or make your own to bring out the best in the rye and apple brandy.

Solstice

Adapted from recipe by John Deragon in PDT Cocktail Book

- 1.5 oz. Rittenhouse Bonded Rye

- .5 oz. Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy

- .5 oz. Amaro Nonino

- .5 oz. Dubonnet Rouge (or Cocchi Americano Rosa)

- .25 oz. Grenadine

Combine ingredients in mixing glass with ice.  Stir and strain into chilled cocktail glass. No garnish.

Friday Cocktail: The Diamondback

For the longest time, I resisted buying a bottle of Green Chartreuse. Although it appears in a ton of classic and contemporary cocktails, I just couldn't justify spending $60 on a bottle of liqueur. I finally picked up a bottle this week, and I have been really impressed. 

Chartruese is an incredibly complex herbal liqueur that has been made by the Carthusian Monks near Grenoble, France since the early 18th century. The recipe is closely guarded, though it purportedly is aged with 130+ different herbs, flowers, and plants. It comes in two versions, Green and Yellow. Green Chartreuse is bolder and stronger at an eye popping 110 proof, while the Yellow Chartreuse is sweeter and milder at only 80 proof. 

This week, I've used my bottle of Green Chartreuse in a bunch of different cocktails, including the gin-based Bijou and the Irish whisky-based Tipperary.  My favorite so far has been the Diamondback. This drink dates back Ted Saucier's 1951 book Bottoms Up and packs a wallop. It uses bonded rye whiskey, bonded apple brandy, and Chartreuse.  Although the original recipe calls for the Yellow version, most resources I've consulted recommend the classic Green Chartreuse. If you are keeping score at home, that means that none of the ingredients in the Diamondback are under 100 proof, making this one to be sipped slowly and contemplated.

The Diamondback

Adapted from Ted Saucier, Bottom's Up, 1951

- 1.5 oz. Rittenhouse bonded rye

- .75 oz. Laird's bonded apple brandy

- .75 oz. Green Chartreuse

Combine over ice in a mixing glass and stire. Strain into a chilled coupe.  No garnish.

Whiskey Review: Rittenhouse Rye Bottled in Bond (DSP-KY-1)

So why review a whiskey that everyone already knows and loves? Because the Rittenhouse in stores now is completely different whiskey than the stuff that was on shelves a few months ago. After Brad Kaplan of Thirsty South (a great blog) joked Monday night on Twitter about the whiskey-geekiness of comparing the new DSP-1 Ritt to the old DSP-354 stuff, I figured I owed it to my inner geek to take a closer look.

A little background: Rittenhouse is a Heaven Hill brand that was distilled at the old Heaven Hill Distillery (DSP-KY-31) until November 1996 when the place was destroyed by fire. After the fire, the company bought and relocated to the old Bernheim Distillery (DSP-KY-1) but did not produce any rye there until 2008, which is what is now hitting the shelves. The Ritt we've been buying for the last several years was distilled for Heaven Hill at Brown-Forman's Early Times facility (DSP-KY-354).

So, what's the difference? Potentially a lot. It is true that the Brown-Forman and Heaven Hill whiskies were both distilled with the same mashbill, yeast, and under the same conditions. Whiskey is a strange thing, though. Each distillery has its own distinct characteristics, and the differences can be quite noticeable. See, e.g., Buffalo Trace distilled Pappy Van Winkle.

So, how is the new stuff?