Next Up At Mixing Ingredients: House Recipes
This next year is not about making as many drinks as possible, it's about establishing the perfect house recipe for the classics
This is a short post, but I’ve finally figured out what I want the next year of MI to be and I wanted to share it with everyone.
This year, my focus is on finally establishing a house recipe for the most-requested classic cocktails.
In order (as of my brain right now, subject to change at any time without notice), I’m going to dive into the:
Martini
Gin Mare Martinis
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Last week, we discovered that Aviation Gin is more than just Ryan Reynolds’ marketing prowess and can indeed create a tasty martini. But how about a well-marketed gin from a completely different part of the world that prides itself on bucking category conventions?
Negroni
The Final Piece of the House Negroni
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This went quicker than expected. I think that’s because, daunted by how much work the Martini took, I put more constraints on my House Negroni. A better version may be out there, outside of those rules, but I’m quite pleased with the result. I left you last time with only 1 open question: what half ounce of amaro would round out my house cocktail? I test…
Old Fashioned
Putting the Finishing Touches on my House Old Fashioned
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The house Old Fashioned is all but complete. We have the bourbon (Woodinville), the sugar (1:1 turbinado syrup), and the bitters (half Ango, half Aztec Chocolate). What we’re missing is the garnish as the final flourish. But I realize we’re also missing a recipe. I could have sworn I put this out there initially, but I appear to be wrong. Maybe it got lo…
Manhattan
Finishing Off My House Manhattan
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I’ve got the recipe for my Manhattan dialed in, but it still feels like it’s missing one piece. And I think I found it. I’ve been adding a cocktail cherry to every Manhattan I’ve made for this project. It’s the perfect garnish for the drink - a burst of fruity sweetness to calm the heat. And when I realized the drink might be missing a bit of that fruiti…
Daiquiri
The House Daiquiri
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To be honest, I knew this was the right answer last week. But it felt a little basic and boring so I tried to talk myself out of it. But it’s just the better drink, and I can’t deny that. Here’s my house daiquiri: 2 oz Diplomatico Planas 1 oz Simple Syrup
Margarita
To Spice Or Not To Spice
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Spicy Margaritas really had a moment, didn’t they? I think it was right before Ranch Waters really became a thing in pop culture. Which is basically right before the pandemic shut everything down.
You’ll notice that’s a list of 6, not 12. I expect each of these endeavors to take longer than a month this time. Expect shorter, more frequent posts as a result, with roughly every 2 months being dedicated to a single cocktail.
For each cocktail, I want to establish my own house recipe. I’m proud of my home bar (obviously), and I love being creative with new drinks. But increasingly, I want to be confident in my classics and know that I always have the right stuff on hand to make them.
So, I’m going to dive into all of these aspects for each drink to arrive at my house cocktail:
The Ratio
The Spirit
The “Mixers”
The Garnish
That means that right now, my bar is chockablock with gin and dry vermouth. I’m traveling this week, but I’m excited to start making martinis when I get home on Friday.
This is going to be fun, and I hope you’ll join in. My house recipe probably won’t be yours - a description of a mix I don’t go with might resonate with you and you’ll go with that one. I hope that’s the case - that’s what makes it interesting!