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Here’s a little Manhattan-adjacent drink I whipped up yesterday, sort of inspired by one I had at a restaurant long ago:

• 2oz Forty Creek whisky
• 1/3 oz Barolo Chinato sweet wine
• 1/3 oz Strega
• 2 dashes Sichuan peppercorn bitters

I like it a lot! Between the spice and the Strega, there was a lot going on, and the Forty Creek has its own bit of spice to join the party. I made a batch of two, so the 1/3 oz measures were actually 3/4 oz ¯_(ツ)_/¯

We went to a cider pressing party at a friend’s farm last weekend, so I threw this together tonight. Really nice lil thing; I love the allspice dram, and its dark, almost bitter flavor is beautifully balanced by the cider.

• 2 oz blended scotch
• ½ oz Punt e Mes sweet vermouth
• ¼ oz St. Elizabeth allspice dram
• 3 oz apple cider

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a glass over ice.

Here’s Maggie Smith, from Death & Co. As written, I found it a little sweet, so I made a variant after with dark rum, no honey syrup, and added aquafaba, that I found to be, personally, more palatable.

• 1 ounce pisco
• 1 ounce white rum
• ½ ounce orange liqueur
• ¾ ounce lime juice
• ¼ ounce orgeat
• 1 teaspoon honey syrup

This one is from PDT’s cocktail book. Of the “all-alcohol” drinks I’ve made, this has ended up being one of the more approachable ones. It has an aggressive nose from the Fernet, but a lot of the taste’s edge is tempered by the Grand Marnier. It’s still a heavy hitter, but I liked it a lot!

• 2 oz Linie Aquavit
• ¾ oz Grand Marnier
• ½ oz Nonino Quintessentia Amaro
• Fernet Branca rinse

Stir with ice and strain into a Fernet Branca-rinsed glass.

• 1 ½ oz mezcal Cupreata
• ¾ oz sloe gin
• ¾ oz Cynar

Stir with ice and strain into a Nick & Nora glass.

On the tin, it seems like this would be way too much, between the aggressive smokiness of the mezcal and the herbal bitterness of the Cynar, but the fruit in the slow gin is enough to balance all that out. It’s still pretty spirit-forward, but super palatable.

This is lovely, and pretty much right what it says on the tin. Delicious! The smokiness of the mezcal goes nicely with the flamed orange twist.

• 1 oz mezcal
• 1 oz sweet vermouth
• 1 oz Campari
• flamed orange twist garnish

Stir with ice, strain into the glass, then flame the orange twist over the cocktail and discard the orange.

This is one I saw linked on a punch article that @rbwells posted last week, from Daisuke Ito. It’s simple, elegant, and the scotch balances nicely with Bénédictine. I would have this again!

• 1 oz scotch
• 1/2 oz Bénédictine
• 1/2 oz lemon juice

This quantity was good in a Nick and Nora, but I’d double it for a coupe next time.

Keeping up with my little chartreuse theme, here is my all-time favorite equal-parts cocktail.

• 1oz London dry gin
• 1oz green chartreuse
• 1oz maraschino liqueur
• 1oz lime juice

Seriously, so good! Tart, complex, refreshing; it really has it all.

We drove up a little after midnight and joined the party at boulder lake, and were treated to some great lights!

I built a pedal board to use in my band (lake effect is in the band name); it’s basically a box with a slot to route power out of, and to the velcro’d down pedals on top.

It was my first time using a dremel to engrave, and I’m happy with how that turned out! I traced the characters from a print out, then engraved the outline, then the fill, then painted the inside.

The wood is stained cedar with a couple of coats of poly. The main body was put together with pocket hole joinery.