Short and sweet and stupid this month.

THE AFFINITY RECIPE
1 oz Scotch
1 oz Dry Sherry
1 oz Port Wine
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

TASTING NOTES
​+ This seems like an odd thing to do to wine.
+ If you're not a wine gal, this might beef up the mix for you, but if you're like me and you like your wine sweeter, this may not hit the way you like.
+ Sherry and Port go well together, but the Scotch is my jam.
+ I recommend some Tallisker and maybe 4 dashes of Ango instead, just to add a little bite and character to the palette.

AFFAIR RECIPE
2 oz Strawberry Schnapps
2 oz Cranberry Juice Cocktail
2 oz Orange Juice
1 oz Sprite

TASTING NOTES
+ Personally, I'd swap the Orange and Sprite amounts.  There's enough citrus in here.
+ Also, it's freaking delicious.
+ You might find the tart of the cranberry a little distracting.  If so, just add more Sprite or Schnapps or both.

That's all folks.  Be safe out there.
-Adamus-

This month I'll share with you something I always keep in stock for myself.

As you get into this hobby, you'll undoubtedly try a cornucopia of unanticipated flavors.  Some will rest better than others, populating your ever-expanding web of molecular gastronomy and poor life decisions.

From these experiences, we settle on a few simple truths:

1. Campari is a waste of time and ruins almost every drink it's used in, even the ones where it's supposed to be the star.  Like a drunk Aunt that just can't seem to get past the idea that men can paint their nails and still bench 250.
2. Bad Irish Whiskey is basically dirty water.
3. People have too many opinions about wine, and sommeliers are guessers with better guesses than you.
4. Stella Rosa may be carbonated, but it's tastier and cheaper than your 20-year old vintage mahogany aged piss.
5. Midori ruined my childhood.
6. Fireball is better than you remember.  ...You're still drinking antifreeze, though.
7. Disaronno is the king's amaretto.
8. Jose Cuervo is garbage, liquid and business.
9. The existential dilemma of watching your hair fall out while every other member of your family rocks a full fop is a fate worse than death.
10. Viking Blod is a damn fine mead.

Viking Blod is everything I want out of a mead.
  It is warm in color and palette, and you can taste the fine honey notes.  They percolate at the beginning, middle, and end, and there is a subtle "wine" taste.  That latter normally wouldn't be my jam, but everything else is so good that I don't care.  In fact, after a glass or two, I don't care about much.
  This stuff is strong.  Clocking in at a whopping 19% (38 proof) per glass...  This isn't your momma's wine.  I appreciate a concentrated burst of efficiency.  If I want a tasty buzz while I sip, and I don't want to down a bunch of hard stuff, I can trust that a full wine glass of this and I'll be set.  Two in and I'm happily done; warm and tingly on the couch laughing at dumb anime and catching only snippets of Geralt's lines (god bless you, Henry Cavill).  Replace your dessert with this and you'll be dandy.
  If you're looking for this bottle of concentrated hopes and dreams, you can find it at more and more local wineries and liquor stores, and it ain't even that expensive!  

...that's it.  It's good.  Good day.
-Adamus

The abbey is a gin and juice vehicle, and you'll encounter many variations throughout your life.  Some splash in some sweet vermouth, others an ounce of citrus vodka, and still others a plethora of strange bitters.  The additions are minute, though, so as never to detract from the original orange identity.

RECIPE
​1.5 oz Gin (I recommend Tanqueray if you've got it lying around)
3/4 oz Orange Juice
1-2 dashes of Orange Bitters

TASTING NOTES
+ Gin has always been a match for juice.  Its citrus back-burn carries the sweet of the orange juice.
+ And just in case the orange juice hanging out in your fridge is the other side of decent, the bitters will breathe new life into the flavor palette.

This one's weird.  Please continue.

RECIPE
2 oz Brandy
1/2 oz Peppermint Schnapps
1/2 oz White Creme de Cacao
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 oz Club Soda

TASTING NOTES
+ This is a strange soda.
+ Mint and chocolate always go well together...
+ ...but the Brandy is a curious goose.
+ Lemon and Sugar go well with soda, producing a nearly Sprite sensation.
+ Does it all work together?  Uncertain.  Carbonation can sometimes serve as a great equalizer in this instance.  
+ The mini cocktail of Peppermint-Cacao-Lemon-Sugar is great in the soda, and might be fine on its own.
+ Brandy *might* pull you into a trans-dimensional wormhole.  Mint brandy might ground you in reality better.

The Acapulco is definitively an island drink.  Garnished with mint leaves and powered by rum, there's a sophistication to the addition of egg white, but no necessity.  Considering the use of triple sec, this can be pretty low-brow if you feel like it.

RECIPE
1 3/4 oz Rum
1/4 oz Triple Sec
1 egg white
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/4 tsp. sugar
2-3 mint leaves
*Mix all but the mint leaves into a shaker, shake like hell, strain over ice in a glass.  Stuff in the mint leaves after the fact, and sip on the beachside of Glaz Dukot, the perfect cocktail to view the End of the Age.

TASTING NOTES
+ I have thoughts.
+ Egg White is mainly used to manifest froth in a drink, and though this works, I'm not sure I like it yet.
+ Triple Sec is fine, but I actually recommend Dry Curacao instead.
+ If you feel so inclined, swap out the sugar for a splash of Simple Syrup or Orgeat, and I think that will manifest something a little more special with the mint.
+ Lime works.  Don't use Lemon - that would be bad.  The Lime and sugar with the shake makes this *almost* a soda.

So as you take in the sights and sounds of a resurrected cthulhu kraken wreaking havoc across the ocean styx, I hope you can, at the very least, get a little turnt on the way to oblivion.  
Drink up, me hearties.
-Adamus

This month we take a look at three shots I've drafted and adjusted several times over and are always hits at the table.

1/2 oz Johnnie Walker - Song Of Fire Scotch Whiskey
1/2 oz Raspberry Liqueur
1/2 oz Lemon Juice

TASTING NOTES
+ Song of Fire is a bit more burnt than other scotches.
+ Raspberry smoothes this out, though.
+ ...and then the Lemon is straight up a slap in the face...like a Bane on your senses.
+ Luckily...the lemon is over quickly.

So get your dice out and prepare for an onslaught.
-Adamus

Let's get right into it.  Three recipes discovered from the archives, plus my take on it.  Use these simple recipes to warm your soul and keep the liquor cabinet well stocked.

My take on the Jack Knife doesn't add much, but what it adds makes it something just for me.
1/2 oz Jack Honey
1/2 oz Bailey's
1/2 oz Wild Turkey American Honey liqueur
​1/4 oz Drambuie

TASTING NOTES
​+ I like my whiskey with honey, so the double tap of Jack and Wild mixes well.
+ Bailey's is always a win.
+ The Drambuie just smoothes it all out.

Shoot well.  Never straight.
-Adamus

Easy setup.  The lady in my life asked for a drink, and found this recipe on Pinterest...  
So we tested it out.

The Recipe according to the internet:
5 oz Silver Tequila
2 oz Blueberry Liqueur
4 oz Lime Juice
2 oz Triple Sec
2 cups of Frozen Blueberries
1 cup of Ice
*Toss it all in a blender, churn it up, and pray.  Makes 3-4 servings.

TASTING NOTES
+ ...this is...a rough sipper.
+ The lime is a bit too much here.  Lime is supposed to elevate the Tequila's iconic bite, but something in here makes it a weird soup.
+ Triple Sec is a decent thing, but it can't do much against the blueberry mash.
+ There's a drink here, but it seems confused.
+ I disagree with the silver tequila.

In case it wasn't obvious, this did not succeed.

So, I fixed it.

INSTEAD
4 oz GOLD Tequila (might I suggest Patron)
2 oz Blueberry Liqueur
2 oz Lime Juice (sweetened)
1 oz Dry Curacao
1 oz Sweet and Sour Mix
*Throw into a shaker with a few ice cubes, shake the hell out of it, and strain into two glasses.

TASTING NOTES
+ Lovely and boozy.
+ Dry Curacao is a beautiful replacement for Triple Sec that maintains its flavor without overpowering, and you don't need as much for the same effect.
+ Sweet and Sour with the Blueberry Liqueur creates that "blueberry juice" sense that the original was going for, and true that there's no fruit in this, but isn't better to taste good anyway?

The shaker is better than the blender.  It's a concentrated dose, so we're making and drinking less, BUT it's stronger, so take it with some food.  

Enjoy your blueberries, and happy new year.
-Adamus

(for more recipes, fiction, and content, visit my Patreon)

Alcoholic bottles look pretty funky.

These bottles range from simple to scary (I'm looking at you, human skull vodka with flecks of rose gold mixed with blood), and are truly a deep dive masterclass in presentation.  Maker to maker, the micro decisions involved in the glass used, the formation of the bottle, the height, cork, top, design, and art can be game changers.  And this is especially true for new samplers of products.  You've all seen my post on the Sexton Irish Whiskey - awesome bottle, great presentation, but not my favorite whiskey; disappointing, but they got the sale.

Now, I embrace sampler bottles ("little nips" they're often called).  Tiny 50 mL bottles, some for just a buck or two, and I can experiment.  But even those decisions are still framed in the overall presentation.  The honeycomb ridged bottle of my honey liqueur drew me to its sampler, and now it's a staple on my shelf (Barenjager, for those of you interested).  This is how I discovered my love of Jack Daniel's - Original, Honey, Fire - that 750 mL bottle is cool; easy to move like a handle and a beautiful lower 2/3 block that rests well and sturdy.  

A large spread of certain "cheaper" brands tend toward the same bottle design.  Hiram Walker uses the same design for every single liqueur in their suite; 750 mL high, with all vibrant, easily read labels.  Vodka - Smirnoff, Ketel One, Grey Goose - follows a similar trend.  Bacardi has its structure on lock.  But then Wild Turkey shows up, and every pursuit is a different design; Longbranch is different from their standard which is different from their American Honey - all gorgeous bottles.

And each, though sometimes visually unique or at the very least a variation of an old design, is still industrially standardized for measurement.  750 mL for standard retail size, 375 mL for a smaller version, and 1.75 Liters (1750 mL) for those big Tito's jugs (Captain Morgan and Dewers, and many others do the same thing).  You may see some even variable 500 mL rebels, or the strange skulls of 900 mL, but those tend to be your ballparks.

What this means is that when I find something I enjoy, whether by merit of its presentation or by discovery of its imbibing worth through taste and flexibility, chances are that the bottle it is delivered in...is still in my house.  As I learn much about making bitters, wine, mead, syrups, and liqueurs all my own, I would be remiss to simply discard the numerous array of interesting bottles and containers I have collected through my personal explorations and mixology.
  So when I opened my cabinet this morning and saw a certain 750 mL liqueur nearly depleted, and a certain drink nearing the end of its secondary staging (soon to be in dire need of bottling for its final aging), a keen thought emerged.  Make a trio of cocktails, and FINALLY use up that old bottle of Blue Curacao.  

And with that, my Blue Curacao bottle is empty and I can get back to more important things.  ;)
Be responsible, my Smurfs.
-Adamus

Today we'll swing by an old classic, its punchy siblings, and practice our alchemy in the construction of my own version.

Our case study falls the Alabama.  
  Simple cocktail; just a couple ingredients and some sour mix.  Let's try it out to get a feel for its many variations.

As is customary with so many older recipes, every braggart and boon under the pale white moon has had their way in the alchemical variations on a simple idea.  Some of these get pretty involved, but each holds to one dynamic truth: Southern Comfort pairs well with Amaretto.  The rest is garnish, displayed for you now.

Alabama Slammer (original) RECIPE
3/4 oz Orange Vodka (or just Vodka)
3/4 oz Southern Comfort
3/4 oz Amaretto
Dash of Sloe Gin or Grenadine
Fill with Orange Juice

TASTING NOTES
​+ This is Hawaiian Fruit Punch
+ A tiki drink if there ever was one
+ Sweet and masked (you could load this up with stronger liquors and no one would notice...which might be the point)
+ Orange foundation

For those paying attention (at your chair or on the floor, you do you), you might have picked up on the basic flavor profile presented by these tiki tocks (tiki-cocktail = tock...I made a word).  The core of the drink is a fruity whiskey with an oak-y, cherry finish; the cloak is the orange juice - acidic, sweet, and masking.
  By now you all know my struggles in the Nine Hells Of GERD, so I made a rendition that I believe honors the original intention of the Slammer while lowering its acid content and using less ingredients.

Original Recipe - The Orland Slammer
1/2 Dry Curacao (the richer Triple Sec)
3/4 oz Orange Vodka
3/4 oz Bird Dog Black Cherry Whiskey
2 oz Sour Mix

TASTING NOTES
+ Dry Curacao does some heavy lifting and elevates the vodka
+ Orange punch with less cloy
+ Sweet and satisfying
+ Slight burn on the back
+ Bird Dog made something special that functions just as well as the Southern Comfort/Amaretto pairing, and it gets it done with a lower volume.

Imbibe well, my dear friends.
-Adamus

RECIPE
1/4 oz Absinthe
1/2 oz Midori
1/2 oz Cranberry Juice
1/4 oz Grenadine
Splash of Curacao
1 Draw of Blackstrap Bitters

TASTING NOTES
+ In an effort to add new colors to this mixture, the Cranberry and Midori do so in visual and profile.  I appreciate Cranberry because it cuts the blast of melon down to allow for other flavors to shine.
+ There are still great measures of sweet here, but the Blackstrap mingles well with Curacao to add darker notes.
+ Great vehicle for licorice.
+ In fact, the combo of Curacao's bitter orange + the smoky Blackstrap + the repeated pulses of Absinthe is really something interesting.
+ Highly recommend ice for this one.

All in all, this was a transformative experiment and I highly recommend anything that's going to woof your howl.

...No, I don't know what that means.  ;)
-Adamus 

With the research of 43 Licor rattling around in my head, I recall many instances of Blueberry flavors, so I now endeavor to include this soul in the next batch.

RECIPE
1/2 oz 43 Licor
1/2 oz Blueberry Liqueur
1/2 oz Stella Rosa Pink
1/2 oz Raspberry Liqueur

TASTING NOTES
+ STELLA ROSA WORKS SO WELL WITH BLUEBERRY.  Just sayin'.  
+ The 43 again takes a backseat.
+ Hard to go wrong with Raspberry and the Pink wine.
+ Lovely, and almost TOO sweet.