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A Spontaneous Libation for your Consideration

From the Knowledge Vault

Craft Cocktail Making: Theory and Structure of Acidity

The dividing line between a cocktail enthusiast and a craft cocktail aficionado is knowledge. Anyone can enjoy a cocktail, and with enough time spent at or behind a bar, attain a good enough working knowledge of brands and flavors of alcohol. Some of these people go on to create a new cocktail, usually starting with a common drink or ratio of spirits to other ingredients and tweaking them to make something pleasant.

Alas, this approach lacks repeatability in creating quality craft cocktails. Craft cocktails are not dump buckets for every neon colored, super sweet liqueur that your distributor is pushing. And they are not made to mask the flavor of alcohol, but to support and sustain it.

Combinations that should work based on the flavors of the components often fail to impress in the glass due to a lack of understanding of those same component's structural elements. Skilled mixologists construct cocktails from some basic building blocks: alcohol, sugar, acidity, and bitterness. A thorough understand of these primary elements can help craft cocktail designers make great drinks with a minimum of waste and trial and error.

Acidity

The cocktail dates back to the earliest parts of the 19th century. The original contained no acidic agents – just a simple mix of spirit, sugar, water, and bitters. But by 1862, Jerry Thomas had entire sections for Sours, Fixes, and Daisies, all of which featured acidity prominently. Certainly, the use of spirit-plus-acidity dates back to the 18th century Punch, which were spirit, water, lemon and sugar, with some other ingredients added for flavoring.

Recent Additions

  • Terminus — Islands Scotch, Amaro, Herbal liqueur, Orange bitters, Chocolate bitters
  • This is Not Berlin — Reposado Tequila, Mezcal, Cynar, Grapefruit bitters, Crème de Pamplemousse, Cinnamon syrup, Grapefruit peel
  • Pick Six #1 — Rye, Mezcal, Campari, Averna, Sweet vermouth, Amontillado Sherry
  • Base Camp — Bourbon, Islay Scotch, Dark Crème de Cacao, Allspice Dram, Orange bitters, Lemon peel
  • Louisiane and Maine — Rye, Sweet vermouth, Cherry Liqueur, Bénédictine, Bitters, Peychaud's Bitters, Absinthe, Brandied cherry

Recent Discussion

  • Re Quadrophenia, 1 hour ago Shawn C commented:

    Curated to list as authentic recipe with information leading back to ~2012 creation. I have assumed that Julian Goglia was the creator as nobody else's name has been associated with it and he was the proprietor that introduced it. The historic calls are included as ingredient notes from what is known and the history section includes links.

    I have also remade this again per the above although I substituted Bigallet China-China Amer for Amer Picon, and Woodford Reserve Spiced Cherry Bourbon Barrel Aged Cocktail Bitters for the Old Forester Bohemian Bitters. It is pretty good, although a little sweeter than I would like, probably due to the Bigallet. I haven't made Amer Boudreau (uses Ramazzotti and a dried orange peel tincture), but it might be the "secret sauce" for replicating the original flavor profile and slightly redder/purplish color. I might make a small sample with fresh orange peels I have on hand to give it a spin.

  • Re Street Corn Cocktail, 11 hours 40 minutes ago endless_optimism commented:

    Best Nixta cocktail I've had so far, even though I subbed Mezcal for Raicilla and had to leave out the cilantro because I didn't have any. Looking forward to trying it again when I get some!

  • Re Hunting Rifle, 1 day ago Shawn C commented:

    Solid 4+. BroVo Amaro #14 is a good sipper on its own, but I find it somewhat challenging to employ effectively in cocktails. In this drink the BroVo is center stage, but with a well-composed supporting cast. The drier hogo of the El Dorado 3 yr I used blended well with Jameson and the woody/nutty oloroso sherry; forming a chorus with the chocolate herbal of the amaro, linked by the subtle Banane du Bresil I chose. The chocolate bitters provide just the right amount of boost to BroVo's inherent chocolate vibe.

  • Re Black Sails in the Sunset, 2 days ago noirbot commented:

    Didn't have Coconut Rum, so blended Clement Mahina Coco liquor 50/50 with an aged rum, turned out quite nice. It's a good blend of sweet and bitter, and always novel to have a nearly black cocktail as a look.

  • Re Division Bell, 2 days ago Biff Malibu commented:

    Hovers right on the edge of too much astringency.