The Scenario
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to mix drinks for about a total of 10 people or so. It was my first “gig” or making drinks for total strangers. There were some interesting constraints I had to work within. Here’s what transpired.
Priorities
The priorities were arranged as follows:
- Budget. When times are tight…
- Taste. They didn’t want to taste the liquor.
The audience: The people wanted maximal coverage. They didn’t want to taste the liquor. Not heavy drinkers.
The Goods
- 1 x Seagrams 1.5 liter
- 1 x Squirt
- 1 x Tonic
- 1 x Ginger Ale
- 1 x Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice
- 1 x Ralph’s Brand Orange Juice
- 2 x Plastic Lemon Juices
- 2 x Plastic Lime Juice
- 14 lb. bag of ice
This was all had for just at exactly $30.00 USD.
Non Purchased:
- There was a pre-existing bottle of Smirnoff Vodka.
- Later an individual brought: Jose Cuervo Especial.
The Verdict
As you could tell there is some potential here. My original intent was to be able to make Gin Fizzes and El Cantaritos as fall backs. I figured I could do some Lime and Punishment (earlier post) as well.
The uknowns were Seagrams, Jose, and Ginger Ale. My experience messing with Tonic is still limited as well.
First thing I do with whatever liquors that are new with me are just take a jiggers worth and swish a bit and see what there is to offer. The Seagrams was actually not as bad as I thought for such a cheap price. It’s definitely a tame gin that doesn’t have many botanicals at all. I think it’d make for a good Bronx Cocktail if necessary. Also, very much an easy to hid Gin. To me it was like a classless Plymouth. Although I didn’t have any Plymouth on hand to do some comparison that’s how my memory served me. For reference, a gins that I like have more personality like Genevieve or Junipero. Tanqueray Rangpur I think should get an honourable mention as well.
If I were to ever have a Recession Rager, Budget Blast, or Depression Derilicticus, Seagrams would definitely make my list. If you consider that your purpose I would give it 4 toiletpaper rolls out of 5 toiletpaper rolls.
Jose Cuervo Especial was okay. My tequila game would definitely be lagging the other liquors (along with Whisky… all in good time). I was hoping to get another budget mixing candidate but it tasted like a watered down or weaker oak anejo (Gran Centenario is my reference). I would have to say it’s definitely a hide-able liquor from what I could taste. Not much complexity to it at all. I’d probably give this one 2.4 rolls out of 5 toiletpaper rolls.
Some other comments on the supplies. I typically like to use fresh lemons, limes, and oranges, but again budget. I would also never use a vodka other than Hangar One (Alameda’s finest … and only).
As the night built, I had to adjust my mixing game to the various unique demands of the audience (some didn’t like orange juice, some did etc.) and also work within the constraints of my ingredients. More importantly I still wanted to learn some mixng lessons as I went, since I got to work with some unknowns, yet still make drinks that suited people’s tastes (since I didn’t buy the goods).
I started with some simple foundation things like El Cantaritos. I also made some other mixes. The three main drinks that came out of the ingredients were the following:
Tanqueray Rangpur Original Intent v2
First the ingredients then the name…
1 jigger gin, 1/4-1/2 of Rose’s Lime (depends on stiffness requests), 1 oz lime juice, 4 lumps ice. Shake, strain, and pour over 2-3 lumps of ice. Add splash of orange juice for some colour. Fill to top with Tonic, a few dashes of lime juice. Stir very briefly to mute the final splash of lime.
The reason why I called this Tanqueray Rangpur was because the person I made this drink for says his favourite drink is gin and tonic. One time I had given him Tanqueray Rangpur neat and he told me it was okay. I found out later he was sparing my feelings. So in efforts to create something limey that involved Gin, this is what came out. The reason why it’s v2 is because on v1 I was under the impression he liked his things a little less flavourful.
The main hinge in this drink is the relationship between the Rose’s Lime Juice and the Lime Juice itself. Adjust the ratio of the two to get either a sweeter or more sour drink. If I could revise it I’d probably have added some ginger ale since Tanqueray Rangpur has hints of ginger in the profile.
The next drink…
Audience Of Many
1 jigger gin, 1-2 jiggers of OJ (depending on stiffness request), some lemon juice, add a few lumps of ice, shake, pour over rocks, fill the rest with squirt soda.
Simple gin and juice variant.
Reason for the name is that it suited the tastes of many people (minus those who don’t like Orange Juice).
The final lesson learned which was my favourite. I might make something similar for myself (stiffening things up a ton).
747, or Aeroplane
1 jigger gin, 1/2-1/4 of Rose’s, 1/2 oz Lime juice, 1/4 oz of Lemon juice (to keep things honest, shake over a few lumps of ice, pour over only a few lumps of ice. Add a splash of orange juice (for colour, this is optional), then fill the rest with ginger ale. Squirt a tiny bit of lime juice across the top and serve.
The main lesson I learned tonight was that lime and ginger ale go well together. I’m sure I could have learned this from a book, but this was fun too.
The reason for this name is that the person who I made this for always gets ginger ale on airpplane flights. I don’t know why this is but I know tons of people that do that.
Post a Comment