(#CocktailSunday) (from:tomwhoscontrary)

Trying to work up an appetite for stew on #CocktailSunday, so 2℥ Rendezvous rye, 1℥ triple sec, ⅓℥ lime juice makes a sort of rye daiquiri - extremely nice! Although sometimes i think you could put triple sec and citrus in motor oil and i'd like it. Anyway, finished the rye.

#CocktailSunday lives! 2℥ White Rhino unaged rye spirit, 1℥ Cointreau, ⅓℥ lemon juice. Basically a my-style Sidecar with crazy fresh smoky rye hooch. It works, but it's still a little harsh. More or a different liqueur, perhaps? I did just buy a fresh bottle of St Germain ...

A kind of turbo-sidecar: 2℥ Courvoisier Fontainebleau, ⅓℥ Stellacello (hipster grapefruit limoncello, est 2012), ⅔℥ Glayva (naff tangerine and spice liqueur, est 1947), ⅓℥ lemon juice. Cointreau is wasted space, Stellacello actually has something to add. #cocktailsunday

#CocktailSunday collects the set with 2℥ Sacred Old Tom gin, 1℥ Cointreau, ⅓℥ lemon juice. Just a White Lady, but using a particularly juicy and rounded gin that's gone out of fashion, so Coco Austin I guess.

#CocktailSunday rolls on to 2℥ Old Simon genever, 1℥ Cointreau, ⅓℥ lemon juice, I suppose a Dutch White Lady. Unlike its namesake, short and extremely agreeable. Genever is dangerously drinkable stuff.

As foretold by prophecy, #CocktailSunday rallies with 2℥ White Rhino unaged rye spirit, 1℥ St Germain, ⅓℥ lemon juice. The fuller flavour of the St Germain smooths out the rye nicely.

#CocktailSunday reloads: 2℥ White Rhino rye, 1℥ Stellacello, ½℥ lemon juice. This is even weirder. Not sure how to describe this. Reciprocal Um Bongo mixed with orange marker pen.

Alright, time to stop mucking around. #CocktailSunday concludes with a Sidecar, my way: 3℥ Rémy Martin VSOP, 1℥ Cointreau, ⅓℥ lemon juice. Fucking perfect.

Ill-advised #CocktailSunday while cooking a late supper, what I might call a Catalan Sidecar: 2℥ Pierre Ferrand 1840, 1℥ Fleur de Couscouille, ⅓℥ lemon juice. Even with a light cognac, the subtle flavour of the liqueur mostly manifests as an ill-defined strangeness.

An unwise #CocktailSunday digestif/nightcap, a Martinez that I'd forgotten how to make, so it's more of a negroni: 2℥ Old Simon genever, 1℥ Antica Formula, ½℥ Suze. The Suze is tamed nicely - until the aftertaste hits. Adding Abbot's bitters works nicely, but maybe too busy.

Mad #CocktailSunday science sees the birth of the Jurassic Martinez: 1℥ Drumshanbo gin, 1℥ Buffalo Trace, 1℥ Antica Formula, ½℥ Bénédictine, 1♏︎ Angostura. I read the gin in this was originally sweet, malty, and aged, hence the gin/whisky blend. Don't have any Maraschino.

A Martinez with quantities optimised for being easy to pour by hand (and being maraschino-free) for #CocktailSunday: 2℥ Tanqueray Ten, 1℥ Antica Formula, ½℥ Lillet Blanc, ½℥ Cointreau, 1♏︎ Abbott's bitters. Pretty good - sweet but not overly so, quite orangey.

Quick #cocktailsunday before going shopping: 2℥ Doorly's 12yo rum, 1℥ Stellacello, ½℥ blood orange juice. Another sidecar mutant, rum and orange is perhaps an unusual flavour combo, but it works - rather marmaladey.

Closing #CocktailSunday with a home formulation, my old favourite rumified Vieux Carré: 1℥ Cockspur Fine, 1℥ Rémy Martin VSOP, 1℥ Antica Formula, ½℥ Bénédictine, 1♏︎ Abbott's bitters, 1♏︎ Sainsbury's aromatic bitters. Like a Werther's Original that's gone to heaven.

Quick #CocktailSunday afternoon wakeup measure: a rumhattan, being 2℥ Doorly's 12yo, 1℥ Antica Formula, and 2+ Angostura. I keep trying to make this, and it keeps not quite working for me - too serious, too bitter - but that is probably my failing rather than the drink's.

The last fresh lemons in Harringay (lol no) come to #CocktailSunday: ½℥ lemon juice joins 2℥ White Rhino rye and 1℥ Vecchio Amaro del Capo in a sort of astral Sidecar. It's bracing! Sharp, bitter, citric, weirdly savoury. Should have had this before dinner rather than after.

Another exercise in Ryanetics this #CocktailSunday: 2℥ Drumshanbo gin, 1℥ Lillet Blanc, ½℥ Bénédictine, 1♏︎ Peychaud's bitters. I wasn't sure what bitters go with Bénédictine, so i went with what's in a Vieux Carré. Not sure what to make of this. It's very herbal.

Trying to relive my Christmas cake memories with 2℥ Chairman's Reserve rum, ⅔℥ amaretto, ⅓℥ aged cherry brandy, ⅓℥ lemon juice. It works, but it's a bit silly really. #cocktailsunday

In the dying moments of #CocktailSunday, 1½℥ Buffalo Trace, ½℥ Antica Formula, ½℥ Tennessee Honey (!), 3♏︎ Abbott's bitters make a Goldstone, named for the program i was investigating a prod alert for while drinking it. The bitters are firmly on top here, but it works.

Healthy living in the new year! Brandy Alexanders made with semi-skimmed milk. #CocktailSunday