My wife and I just tried the Manhattan. Very nice. I cut back on the vermouth a bit because the E&J XO is a bit sweet -at least it comes off that way with all of the vanilla/oak. It's a very good brandy.
I'm with you on the aged eggnog. We'd need a lock on the fridge. Wife and daughter buy eggnog at the store. I make myself a flip.
Everyone, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Joyous Other Holidays you may celebrate, and many thanks for a fun year of cocktails.
I am thinking about making this soon to age ~3 months before drinking it around Christmas. I remember reading that you don’t recommend using vermouth older than maybe one month. Does that also apply for something like this - should I age a mixture of all the other ingredients, then add the vermouth closer to when I plan to drink it?
Wow! A throwback. Glad to see folks are still making this.
For aging batched mix drinks, you generally don’t have to worry nearly as much about vermouth going off. Just remember that with the dairy in this drink, you need to age it in glass bottles in a fridge -- you can pull it out to taste and serve, but don’t leave it sitting on the counter for hours.
It need to be in a glass bottle in the fridge the vast majority of the time. Good luck!
Aged egg nog is delicious. I've been making Alton Brown's recipe for years. He uses a three part base of bourbon, rum, and brandy.
The weekend after Thanksgiving, I make a double batch and immediately put two jars in the back of the fridge: one to be consumed the following year and the second to add to next year's batch. I bring most of the rest to holiday parties.
I think you get most of the benefits of aging from about three weeks. The drink mellows considerably during that rest. The year-aged drink is also delicious, with some of the underlying spirits' flavors reasserting themselves against the dairy.
This came out a bit too sweet for my taste. I used 3 quarter-cups of sugar. This seems to be true of all your nog recipes, so I might just dial it down 10-20% next time and adjust with a bit of syrup if I undershoot. Usually your drinks are perfect as written for me!
Very late to the party, but I finally procured a bottle of the walnut bitters and made the Manhattan (exactly as written). It is definitely on the lighter side, but charming. I am generally on Team DIY Irish Cream for the holidays, but I will consider the nog option.
My wife and I just tried the Manhattan. Very nice. I cut back on the vermouth a bit because the E&J XO is a bit sweet -at least it comes off that way with all of the vanilla/oak. It's a very good brandy.
I'm with you on the aged eggnog. We'd need a lock on the fridge. Wife and daughter buy eggnog at the store. I make myself a flip.
Everyone, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Joyous Other Holidays you may celebrate, and many thanks for a fun year of cocktails.
Really enjoyed the Manhattan! I used Paul Masson VSOP and it worked really well. Thank you!
I am thinking about making this soon to age ~3 months before drinking it around Christmas. I remember reading that you don’t recommend using vermouth older than maybe one month. Does that also apply for something like this - should I age a mixture of all the other ingredients, then add the vermouth closer to when I plan to drink it?
Wow! A throwback. Glad to see folks are still making this.
For aging batched mix drinks, you generally don’t have to worry nearly as much about vermouth going off. Just remember that with the dairy in this drink, you need to age it in glass bottles in a fridge -- you can pull it out to taste and serve, but don’t leave it sitting on the counter for hours.
It need to be in a glass bottle in the fridge the vast majority of the time. Good luck!
Great, thanks!
The egg nog was amazing! (I got the corrected recipe in time). Only problem was, I only got one glass since my family drank it all up.
Thank you! Glad you liked it.
I made both of these.
Love the Manhattan. The EggNog I would cut the sugar by half next time for sure. Very sweet.
Double the milk/cream, per the corrected version, should also cut the sweetness down a fair amount. Apologies for the error.
Aged egg nog is delicious. I've been making Alton Brown's recipe for years. He uses a three part base of bourbon, rum, and brandy.
The weekend after Thanksgiving, I make a double batch and immediately put two jars in the back of the fridge: one to be consumed the following year and the second to add to next year's batch. I bring most of the rest to holiday parties.
I think you get most of the benefits of aging from about three weeks. The drink mellows considerably during that rest. The year-aged drink is also delicious, with some of the underlying spirits' flavors reasserting themselves against the dairy.
This came out a bit too sweet for my taste. I used 3 quarter-cups of sugar. This seems to be true of all your nog recipes, so I might just dial it down 10-20% next time and adjust with a bit of syrup if I undershoot. Usually your drinks are perfect as written for me!
Very late to the party, but I finally procured a bottle of the walnut bitters and made the Manhattan (exactly as written). It is definitely on the lighter side, but charming. I am generally on Team DIY Irish Cream for the holidays, but I will consider the nog option.
Okay, I’m in - roughly six portions per recipe? Doubling work okay?