Art of Choke

I have had a few great drinking experiences.  One came at the Violet Hour, where I met Kyle Davidson and Stephen Cole, two of the best mixologists and most gracious hosts I've had the pleasure of meeting.  One of Kyle's signature drinks (along with the Goodbye Marie [a.k.a The Davidson]) is the Art of Choke.  This is one of those inspired creations that rises above (way above) all those newfangled drinks to the level of modern classic.  This is easily on my list of 20 best drinks, and it may break the top ten overall.  If you're in the mood for it, it's a top 5 drink, in my opinion.  

In rogue cocktails, published my Maksym Pazuniak of The Counting Room and Kirk Estopinal of Cure, we can read this description of the Art of Choke: 

Picture yourself in the limestone-walled courtyard of an Italian villa off the coast of the Riviera. You are surrounded by fragrant herbs and flowers, and the sea air is blowing gently. The sun is bright, but it's not hot, and you have nothing to do all day but relax and savor the sensations all around you. Drinking this cocktail is kind of like that if somebody suddenly punched you in the stomach just as you were beginning to doze off in the sun. In a good way.

So how do you make it?

The Small Aromatic-Sour Cycle

All this talk of Final Wards and Manhattans has brought me to consider cycles: those beautiful natural entities which give and take from their components to construct strangely opposite creations, only to continue the process back home.  To take three, let's consider the Citric Acid cycle, the pitch interval cycle, and the now-dubbed Small Aromatic-Sour cycle.  OK, maybe I'll allow Wikipedia to guide those interested in the first two, and I'll just tackle the drinks. 

What defines any cycle, i.e., the number and particulars of its constituents, is somewhat arbitrary, especially in systems with many potential players (such as biological molecular systems or mixology).  Just as there are a huge number of molecules floating around in a cell, there are hundreds of cocktail ingredients and exponentially more combinations of them.  That's a long way of saying that you could start with any drink and get to any other drink if you allow a large number of ingredient changes.  There is nothing ground-breaking about that, just as it's not terribly impressive to get from Tom Hanks to Kevin Bacon by using 100 degrees of separation. 

However, a particular, relatively small cycle continues to occur to me, and so I present it to you.

This small Aromatic-Sour cycle is made up of seven of my favorite cocktails.  Every time I drink one, I recall at least one or two of its neighbors.  Moreover, these drinks are either old-time or modern classics and are here to stay.  With only a few ingredients (rye, gin, maraschino liqueur, Chartreuse, sweet vermouth, sugar, bitters, lemon juice, and lime juice) one can create this cycle, and he or she might never feel the need to leave it, given the incredible range of flavors that it encompasses.  Are there two drinks more elegant than an Old Fashioned and a Last Word?  Are there two drinks more different than an Old Fashioned and a Last Word or a Bijou and a Whiskey Sour?  Yet they grow from and into each other seamlessly; and the intervening steps, themselves, are beautifully complex but balanced drinks. 

As I've said, there is a near-infinite number of cycles of which one might conceive, but to me this is a seminal one.  If any other small cocktail cycles occur to you, say so in the comments section below!

Tuesday night cocktail hour(s)

Last Tuesday night's cocktail hour(s) included some new guests, some regulars, some new drinks, and some old ones.  Here's what I served, some of which were served multiple times...


Mai Tai


1 oz amber rum (Flor de Caña 7 year)
1 oz Jamaica rum (Myers's)
3/4 oz lime juice
1/2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz orgeat syrup
1/4 oz simple syrup
Shake, rocks.


Apple/Orange Mai Tai (my modification)

1 oz applejack (Laird's)
1 oz Jamaica rum (Myers's)
3/4 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz orgeat syrup
1/4 oz simple syrup
2 dashes orange bitters (Regans')
Shake, rocks.


Tom Collins

2 oz London Dry gin
2 tsp lime juice
2 tsp simple syrup
Shake all but club soda.  Strain into a Collins glass with ice.  Add club soda to the top, and agitate to mix.


Sherman's March (my invention)

1 oz bourbon (Knob Creek)
1 oz Southern Comfort
1 tsp grain alcohol or overproof rum (Everclear)
2 dashes peach bitters (Fee Bros.)
1 dash Fee Bros. Old Fashion bitters
Stir all but overproof spirit on ice; strain into a cocktail/champagne coupe.  Float overproof spirit on the top, and ignite.  Spray oil from a lemon peel twist into the flames.  Quickly drink after the fire goes out.


Cocktail a la Louisiane

3/4 oz rye
3/4 oz Benedictine
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
3 dashes absinthe
3 dashes Peychaud's bitters
Stir, strain, homemade maraschino cherry. 

Wed dinner at Clancy's

I spent about 7 hours on Wednesday in the car, driving half-way to Birmingham to make an illicit-appearing cat exchange with my father in the median of the interstate in rural Mississippi. On the way home, Rich called to complain about getting back from vacation and wanted to use serial maneuvers of yoga and alcohol to outflank his bad mood. We therefore resolved to eat and drink at Clancy's.

I walked in and took a seat in front of Garth, Clancy's venerable barkeep. I asked Garth what he was making these days, and the reply was, "Same old crap." So I figured I'd show him the Juliet & Romeo. I ordered dinner (chicken/andouille gumbo, arugula salad with vinegrette, and halibut with garlic/butter sauce and topped with crawfish tails, plus fried potatoes and asparagus). During dinner, I decided to get another drink, so I ordered a Last Word. I don't know why I did, but I did.

3/4 oz London dry gin
3/4 oz fresh lime juice
3/4 oz green Chartreuse
3/4 oz Luxardo maraschino liqueur

The Last Word is an excellent and very interesting drink. The combination of chartreuse and maraschino in such large volumes is a little scary on paper, but it works. The Chartreuse's usually-dominant piney/herbal flavor is gently cut by the maraschino (which is generally added to a drink by the teaspoon). The two combined balance the tartness of the lime which, with the gin, make this a surprisingly light drink.

Also, and this is in no wise directed at Garth, these equal-part recipes are convenient to have in mind when you find yourself before a bartender that you don't trust to make you a good drink. It's hard to mess up equal parts (although I have had this very drink massacred when someone substituted Pernod for Chartreuse). I'm sure I'll write about a few more as time passes.

Tuesday night cocktail hour(s) (cont. iii)

Natalie hadn't graced Tuesday Night Cocktail Hour(s) since the very first event, and so I was especially excited to have her over.

She asked for something light and refreshing and mentioned that she'd been drinking Pimm's Cups recently. The Pimm's Cup's cucumber reminded me of the Juliet & Romeo, which matched her request. The Juliet & Romeo is the signature cocktail of The Violet Hour which, in my opinion, is by far the best bar in Chicago.

2 oz London dry or Hendrick's gin (I used Plymouth)
3/4 oz fresh lime juice
3/4 oz (2:1) simple syrup
a pinch of salt
3 slices of peeled cucumber
several mint leaves
Muddle ingredients, then shake over ice, and double strain into a cocktail glass. Lay a rubbed or slapped mint leaf on the surface of the drink and place 3 drops of Angostura bitters on the surface, as well. Garnish with a cucumber slice.

One always gets lots of compliments on fabulous cocktails, especially if the drinker has never heard of it. No difference here. Natalie's eyes widened with pleasure on her first sip. Then, over the next few mintues she said that it was her new favorite cocktail and (I think) that it was the best cocktail she's ever had. She ordered a second when she finished it. I wasn't surprised that that reaction. It is an amazing drink. Thanks to David Wondrich at Esquire for introducing me to it.

Tuesday night cocktail hour(s) (cont. iv)

Mackenzie showed up FINALLY, and I started manufacturing the Ramos Gin Fizz which I promised her earlier in the day. Having never made one before, I was interested to see in what noodle-like state my arms would be after I was done with it. I used the recipe I found in one of my old New Orleans cocktail books:

1 egg white
2 oz heavy cream
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz (2:1) simple syrup

3 drops vanilla extract 

Combine and shake like the dickens for at least a minute. Then add
2 oz gin (I used Old Tom this time, but would usually use a London dry like Plymouth)
3-4 drops orange flower water (Which I did not have. For kicks, I substituted 3 drops of creme de violette and 1 drop of Fee Bros. orange bitters)
Shake like the dickens for another minute or until your actin, myosin, and kinesin apparati are done broke; strain into a tall glass; and add a straw.

I was pleased both with the flavor and texture of my first Ramos Gin Fizz, and I think that Mackenzie, the queen of the RGF, herself, was, as well. I was displeased with my cardiac conditioning and the stength and conditioning of my arms; but that will surprise no one.