A small story:

Apparently, now I make cocktails and bring them to people as a fundraiser for an animal rescue.

And how was your weekend?

Anyway, small stories to come about that, but some people have asked for some of the recipes I have used or referenced this weekend.

A couple of them are kind of fiddly, but most of them are really simple; with no more than three ingredients, you can create something which makes you feel a little less ground-down, a little more civilized.

Yes, you can feel civilized in the same sweats you've been wearing since yesterday.

REVOLVER

2 oz. bourbon
1/2 oz. coffee liqueur (You may use Kahlua)
Orange bitters
Orange peel

Combine bourbon, coffee liqueur, and orange bitters in a mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir well until chilled, about 30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass.

Feeling fancy? Peel a bit of orange rind, spritz it over the top of the drink.

Want to impress the guinea pig? You can flame the orange peel. There are instructions online. Please do not play with flame on your second Revolver.

I follow the culinary saying, "What grows together, goes together" so I hit the drink with one, two dashes of orange bitters and one dash Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate bitters, so it tastes like those chocolate oranges you used to get at the holidays.

BOULEVARDIER

1 1/4 ounce Bourbon or rye
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce Sweet vermouth
Garnish: orange peel
Steps
Add all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled.

Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.

Garnish with an orange peel.

"Bourbon or Rye? AUGH!"

They're both subheadings of whiskey (or whisky); bourbon will, on average, be sweeter because they must by law be at least 51% corn and rye must be at least 51%, well, rye.

Think of rye bread, how it's a little spicy, a little peppery.

That's rye.

Both are equally valid, it's a palate thing.

I'm a rye chick, Consort prefers bourbon as does @CharlesPPierce, so I will say nothing.

This is @AlecMapa's favorite of my cocktails. To hear him say "Boulevardier" after having had one is one of life's minor pleasures.

Robert Simonson wrote a fantastic starter book, 3 INGREDIENT COCKTAILS, that I have splashed liberally with most forms of hootch. From there, I got the drink I made for Alec's husband Jamie, the Old Gal.

THE OLD GAL

1.5 oz rye

1 oz. blanc vermouth

1 oz. Campari

Orange twist

Combine all ingredients except the orange twist in a rocks glass filled with, ideally, one large piece of ice.

(Ice is a WHOLE TOPIC ON TO ITSELF)

Stir until chilled, about 30 seconds, express orange twist over the drink.

I adore Campari. Someone asked me what it tasted like yesterday and I was stumped. I looked it up.

Yep.

I'm such a pompous ass I'm now going to tell you that I started drinking a Campari, MADE IN BROOKLYN, that made all other Camparis pale imitations to me.

Comes the revolution, I will be killed for no other reason than the above statement. https://www.ediblebrooklyn.com/2019/st-agrestis-aperitivo/

Speaking of Campari...

NEGRONI

1 oz. Gin
1 oz. sweet vermouth
1 oz. Campari

It was the first recipe I memorized.

I had it three times before I liked it. Now, I adore it. My favorite is one with mezcal instead of gin, because there is no Negroni police squad.

LEMON DROP
2 oz vodka
1 oz simple syrup
1 ounce simple syrup
1 oz fresh lemon juice
Garnish: sugar rim
Steps
Coat the rim of a cocktail glass with sugar and set aside (do this a few minutes ahead of time so the sugar can dry and adhere well to the glass).

Add all the ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake.

Strain into the prepared glass.

"Oh, I'm not coating the rim of the glass, Quinn."

You are. It's a big nothing to do, it looks fancy as fuck and it adds to the flavor. A Lemon Drop is about sweet and sour.

Why are you denying yourself a little more sweet?

You put some sugar on a flat plate.

You run a lemon slice around the lip of the glass.

You put the glass in the sugar, and then roll it along the sides.

You are now fancy as fuck.

I went to the Nomad Bar recipes for the next one. It's got a few elements but nothing you can't find. Also, the name.

DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP

1 tsp. Fernet-Branca
1/4 oz Grand Marnier
1 oz sweet Vermouth (Ideally, Carpano Antica)
2 oz. Tanqueray gin
Lemon twist

In a chilled mixing glass, combine all the ingredients except the garnish. Fill the mixing glass with 1 1/4" ice cubes-

I told you; ice is A THING

and stir. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Express the lemon twist over the glass and then put it in the cocktail.

Finally, I made a DISTRITO FEDERAL.

2 parts Blanco or reposado,
1 part blanc (white sweet) vermouth,
splash of sherry
mole bitters
Chile Salt for rim

Chilled mixing glass, stir, strain and pour.

Basically, it's a Mexican Manhattan.

"How did you know about that one, Quinn?"

Oh, I didn't. When someone asked for a cocktail with tequila and I knew I didn't want to do the obvious things, I ran like a bunny to @SazeracNELA for advice. Because here's the thing; I'm a rank amateur.

I want to do right by the people who have had the grace to help support a rescue I have been honored to work with these past 15 years. I may not be much of a bartender, but I want to make sure my customers have the best time I can show them.

Cheers.

Update: YOU RAISED OVER $800 IN TWO DAYS!

"Wait, you were bringing craft cocktails to people's houses?"

Correct.

"And all I had to do was give a tax-deductible donation to @SanteDor, because they desperately need it?"

Again, correct.

"DAMN IT, I MISSED OUT."

No, you did not.

I AM GOING TO KEEP THIS GOING.

If you live in Silver Lake, Highland Park, Los Feliz, Atwater, Eagle Rock, Echo Park, Pasadena, Altadena, I will DEFINITELY bring you a cocktail.

Live further away in Los Angeles?

Ask me; you never know.

"I live in Chicago."

You can still donate!

I will admire you!