Today's cocktail: Rusty Nail

Today's ingredients: scotch, Drambuie, lemon, ice

Today's gadgets: ice molds, Old Fashioned glass

Today's vocabulary: mouthfeel, legs

Have you ever had a blog or journal or diary? You know, something that you planned to use and develop over the course of, say, forever, but you couldn’t have that thing until you actually started? No? How about your first time on a social network, be it Facebook, Twitter, MySpace (yes, that was a thing once), or whatever? Maybe it was your first foray into an IRC chat room or (yes, I’m dating myself a little) the wondrous world of ICQ. Personally, I only use Twitter (ditched Facebook awhile back), but for the purposes of Simply Distilled, there will be a plethora of social media accounts.

Anyway, no matter which, there is always that first tweet or post that has to come before everything else, and so, this is it. I won’t rehash any of the stuff in the novella-length About page--you can read that yourself on your own time. Or not. Whichever. The bottom line here is that we have to start somewhere, and this is the place.

I’m not entirely sure how things will go as far as formatting and appearance around here--that's the wife's domain--but as far as content, I’m aiming for one new “recipe” per week on average. I say that with quotes since, at least in the beginning, most recipes will be of the pop-and-pour variety, measuring somewhat optional, and will focus on somewhat established cocktails. What can I say? I like simplicity in my libations. I can’t say the same for off-topic content nor my writing style: I like colons, semicolons, parentheses, dashes, asides, narrative breaks, excessive hyphenation, correct apostrophe usage, and lists. It’s a lot like reading William Faulkner, just, ya know, without the tone and popular success (we similarly hate using periods, hence the long, albeit correctly punctuated sentences).

Further, sometimes I’ll just want to give editorial commentary on a current event, highlight a person or place or product I think is awesome, or just talk about my dogs, which is why I’ll put a link at the top of each post taking you straight to the cocktail portion of the installment. You’re welcome in advance.

Finally, if a cocktail has an official International Bartenders Association (IBA) recipe, I will do my level-best to at least start with that lineup and then alter to a more accessible lineup, if necessary. After all, it’s tough to compare variants of a drink without knowing how it should taste in its most basic form, but I’m sure we’ll get into some modifications of some sort. Baby steps first.

Now, shall we begin?

Rusty Nail

We’re starting things off with a scotch cocktail, one because I love scotch, and two because it’s always been taboo (in my mind) to mix good scotch with anything (exception: Johnny Walker Red is ONLY palatable when mixed, and even that’s not guaranteed).

Easy peasy... well, you know...

The official IBA recipe is as follows (1cl = 1/3 oz):

• 4.5cl / 1.5oz Scotch whisky

• 2.5cl / .83oz Drambuie

• Pour all ingredients directly into Old Fashioned glass filled with ice

• Stir gently

• Garnish with lemon twist

Three ingredients (plus ice), which is two more than I usually prefer, but hey, it’s a start. You’re looking at about one full standard shot glass of scotch and a touch over half of that of Drambuie, if you feel like eyeballing it. Besides, who’s going to measure out five-sixths of an ounce of liquid?

Drambuie is a combination of malt whisky, honey, herbs, and spices, and it will be found by name in the cordials section of your local liquor store (where I live, a 0.375L bottle runs about $22 while a 0.75L bottle goes for $32--the more you buy, the more you save, right?). If you have a lemon lying around, feel free to slice off a small wedge and squeeze; otherwise, a dash of lemon juice will do (the latter is what I’m doing here--the wife actually made hers the right way).

Scotch, though, is a completely different monster, both in its reputation as a high-end liquor and in its perceived cost, to say nothing of the variety of flavor profiles. I say “perceived cost” because, on a per-drink basis, it can actually be much cheaper than a comparable number of craft beer drinks. I’ll devote a substantial amount of time and text to discussing all things whisk(e)y as we go, but for now, in order to offend the smallest number of people, I recommend a small bottle of Glenlivet 12 (a 0.375L bottle gets $22, great for a taste test and one of very few scotches that come in this size), and here’s why:

• Neutrality - In the grand scheme of all things scotch, Glenlivet 12 is pretty simple and straightforward. No bludgeoning over the head with smoke, peat, or sherry. There are hints of citrus, honey, grass, and straw, which will complement the Drambuie and lemon. It might be a tad peppery if sampled alone, especially if you have a dry mouth, but this will be pretty much absent when mixed, and it’s a good place to start taste-testing scotches in general, and I highly encourage you to try ALL ingredients by themselves (rinsing both mouth and glass with water in between) to get a better idea of what part a particular item will play in the overall composition.

• Price - Using the 0.75L standard bottle size, scotch can run from $20 to several hundred dollars, and even spending at the upper end may not get what you want or like. This variety is a perfectly safe pickup at this price, especially if you get the smaller bottle.

• Availability - This stuff is everywhere. If for some reason you can’t get it, shoot me a line, and we’ll figure out something else that will work for you.

Using the recipe above, I may have overdone the lemon, using more of a splash than a twist, but I don’t think it took away from anything. It’s going to smell of citrus and tart (yep, lemon) with maybe some honey sweetness to it, depending on how much lemon you use. You won’t get much of the malt, and if you were expecting a scotch nose, it’s not really there unless you already decided it was.

The first taste will (likely) be a little lemony, but that gives way to an herbal, savory sweetness and a heavier-than-water mouthfeel, thanks to the Drambuie. In fact, the scotch is almost completely muted in this case, which might lead to testing with other, more substantial scotches, especially if you’re interested in a peated and/or sherried experience.

So, what’s with all the adjectives? Well, aside from my love of language, there’s just no other way to (try to) convey what it’s like to taste something, and I will constantly use words like those above. Unless something is just godawfully over-the-top, I’ll almost never use: burned, bitter, sour, sugary, smelly, stinky, or any other word that might have a negative connotation. Now, I’ll tell you whether or not I like something, but if I use some “bad” words to describe MY experience, it might unintentionally skew YOUR perception.

Anyway, back to the drink. I first used some standard icemaker ice cubes from the freezer (despite the photography, which happened on the second round). This gave me a good middle ground to test between minimal and maximal dilution. Smaller cubes will water down quickly, so if you want something without legs (meaning that it doesn’t “streak” the glass if you roll the liquid around in there), no problem; in fact, you might prefer a thinner drink during hot weather. If you want something WITH legs (leaves streaks on the glass), consider grabbing a large-cube or -sphere ice mold from Bed Bath & Beyond or a similar store--this size of ice will keep your drink cold without melting and changing the flavor too much. Using the bigger ice blocks did change the flavor profile (by not changing it) compared to the regular cubes, especially as time passed.

This should be a dead-simple drink to make. If it takes more than five minutes, you’re putting too much into it. Now, let’s look at some modifications to consider:

• Sweeter: lose the lemon, use orange or pineapple, add a drop of honey, or use a “sweeter” scotch like Dalwhinnie 15 or Glenkinchie 12

• Scotch-ier: use a more robust variety like Highland Park 12, Lagavulin 16, or anything Laphroaig (your mileage WILL vary)

• Winterize: try it without ice or even heat it up for a few seconds in the microwave (getting toward hot toddies here)

• Craftier: aside from a number of scotch options, if you happen to be in or near North Carolina, look for a product called Krupnikas; this is like Drambuie plus awesomeness and does very well as a stand-alone sipper during cool weather

So, give it a go and let me know what you think. Even my scotch-averse wife likes this one as originally made, so it should be pretty agreeable to nearly anyone. Also, not every post will be this long. Heck, some may just be the a recipe and a picture. We'll see how things go.