Mixing up the Left Coast, week 11

This week’s selection features one of our favorite bartenders, Dominic Venegas. Dom left the SF Bay area for the East Coast and boy are we jealous of the patrons that haunt The Tippler. We wish him luck and good fortune! Today, however, we must make do with the cocktails he shared with Left Coast Libations: the Solera and the Stallion. Until we see you again, sir! Cheers!

The Solera

1 ¾ oz Santa Teresa 1796 rum

1 ¼ oz oloroso sherry

½ oz John D. Taylor’s Velvet Falernum

Orange Peel (garnish)

Stir all ingredients with ice, strain into cocktail glass, and garnish with orange peel.

For this drink we used Solera 1842 oloroso VOS Jerez. It was a reasonable size and price for what we were looking for since we’re not particularly fond of sherry. The aroma was strongly of sherry and orange oils with just a hint of rum. The flavor was sweet, but with a touch of heat from the rum. It’s a very well balanced cocktail with just the right mixture of spice and the warm molasses of rum. This is a fantastic after dinner drink and has helped me appreciate sherry that much more!

The Stallion

2 oz Beefeater gin
1 oz Barolo Chinato

½ oz Senior Curacao de Curacao (white)

1 dash Angostura bitters

Stir all ingredients with ice, strain into cocktail glass.

The Gindicate is from the SF bay area, and usually has no problems sourcing booze. However, we could not find a bottle of Senior Curacao de Curacao (SCdC) white for anything. We ended up making Black Stallions, since we used SCdC blue. I actually quite like the deep blackish color of the cocktail and its hints of green. It makes me think of a horse of a different color from the classic Wizard of Oz movie. And I have to admit this has become a “go to” drink for the Gindicate Test Kitchen. When people say, “Make me something you would drink” or “Surprise me!” this is what I make. I think it’s the chinato that makes it so approachable to drink and enjoy.

The aroma is of gin with a hint of chinato, which is an aromatic wine or amaro. The flavor is of the juniper from the gin as well as the amaro with a hint of sweet from the Curacao. The bitters add greatly to the drink, keeping it from being two sweet or one dimensional. It’s a spin on a negroni with a bit of orange to keep it interesting. The second time we made this cocktail we used Tanqueray and the juniper was less forward, making the aroma more complex. The flavor of the chinato and the Curacao were more prevalent and fuller. It became a better digestive and had a dry quality that appeals the certain members of the Gindicate. Delicious, either way!