| ▲ | addaon 3 days ago |
| Did you, though? Many great cocktails (including ones on the IBA list) are really show cases of a very specific liqueur or spirit... and when that product dies, you may have something similar, or something inspired by, or something attempting to recreate... but you haven't had the classic cocktail. For example, unless you stir up a new-old-stock bottle of Kina Lillet (and its flavor has held up over time), I'd argue that you haven't had a Vesper. |
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| ▲ | microtherion 2 days ago | parent | next [-] |
| I sort of understand the motivation to get the exact flavor of the cocktail recipe (especially with an ingredient like Kina Lillet), but for the most part, I find ingredients specified by brand name somewhat annoying, especially for home bars. |
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| ▲ | addaon 2 days ago | parent [-] | | It rather depends how specific the flavor of the ingredient is, though. Not everything has generic versions. "Maker's Mark" instead of "bourbon" probably doesn't add anything to a recipe -- exploring other bourbons is likely to give good results, although it may be valuable if the bourbon specified has particularly unusual characteristics that the drink is balanced around. And even Cointreau instead of triple sec is silly (in my opinion), although Grand Marnier is different enough to call out (and to expect some work needed when subbing). But for something like Green Chartreuse... it's a brand name, sure, but it's also what it is; there's nothing else like it, nothing else that you can use to build the same drink. And Kina Lillet is in that category. There are plenty of "brand name" drinks that were never popular enough to generate near-exact clones, and are gone to the giant Long Island Ice Tea in the sky. |
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| ▲ | RajT88 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Lillet Blanc is supposed to be the closest you can get. But admittedly, it is likely different. I would bet there are some DIY infusions out there which nail it though. |
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| ▲ | addaon 2 days ago | parent [-] | | I think most would consider Cocchi Americano much closer than Lillet Blanc -- modern Lillet has basically no bitterness. But that's rather the point, and at some level, the challenge -- a cocktail is designed around and balanced around its ingredients, so when you change one, you have to rebalance it. For a showcase cocktail like a Vesper, I'd consider that a new cocktail -- in the same way that an Aperol Negroni is not a Negroni. And when making a non-showcase cocktail with spirits called out by family, your job is to balance around the selected ingredients. A Woodford + Carpano Antica Manhattan is not going to optimize at the same ratio as a Basil Haden + Dolin Rouge Manhattan, for example. |
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| ▲ | BSOhealth 2 days ago | parent | prev [-] |
| I get the downvotes, kind of omitting his qualification in the very first sentence. but if this really interests you it seems like an obvious opportunity for something like “the 102 impossible drinks” or something. figure out the DIY recipes and go to YT |
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| ▲ | addaon 2 days ago | parent [-] | | > his qualification Are you referring to "every" cocktail meaning "every IBA" cocktail? No complaints there, that's just headline writing. But there's a reason I called out the Vesper -- it's on the list! And I'd argue it's the cocktail on the list that, most obviously, no one can make today. It's not a cocktail that allows creativity or substitution in its ingredients -- it's specifically a showcase of Kina Lillet -- and its key ingredient isn't available today. The correct response to someone ordering a Vesper should be "I can't make you that, but maybe you'd like a <something related>." (Or, honestly, "meh, we can do better than that" -- it's a mediocre cocktail at best, but that's not the point.) | | |
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