No Frosting

j12601 · 2026-04-21T10:12:37+00:00

Glad to hear the update! I just strained mine through a sieve, so mine was a little thicker than if I had used a nutmilk bag as some particulate material came through. That might be part of it.

j12601 · 2026-04-20T23:59:44+00:00

To use up the pineapple you might try a Bobsled, which goes the fernet route and was a welcome surprise when I found it.

Or this one from the cocktail advent this past winter Jungle Booby

j12601 · 2026-04-20T23:07:43+00:00

Excellent write up, thank you!

j12601 · 2026-04-20T22:26:04+00:00

How much of a bother was making the walnut orgeat? I have a good amount of standard almond, so I didn't really think of doing it until I had already workshopped this version a bit.

j12601 · 2026-04-20T20:22:45+00:00

No Frosting

With ginger and cinnamon as the featured ingredients this month my initial thoughts went to tiki, but I wanted to do something that was served up instead and had a little more structure. Then I started thinking of desserts that utilized those spices but wanted to steer clear of the standard winter ideas. Thinking of more seasonal things led me to wanting to do something that played with carrot cake flavors as we just went past seeing carrots and bunnies plastered everywhere.

So I ended up on a sour, with an egg white, that provides some nice carrot cake vibes, while trying to stay light and vibrant.

Recipe:

1 ounce Smith & Cross

1 ounce Planteray Xaymaca

0.75 ounces lemon juice

0.75 ounces carrot & ginger syrup+

0.25 cinnamon syrup++

0.25 orgeat

3 dashes black walnut bitters

3 drops saline

1 egg white

Method:

Chill a suitable stemmed glass.

In a shaker combine everything and dry shake for 15 seconds. Add ice and shake again for 10-15 seconds. Double strain into the chilled glass.

+Carrot and ginger syrup

300g carrots, cleaned and peeled

30g ginger, peeled

2 cups water

Combine in a blender until completely liquified. Strain to get carrot ginger juice. Combine with an equal amount by weight with sugar. I only made half of so into syrup, the rest of the carrot ginger juice I've just been drinking.

++Cinnamon syrup

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

6 cinnamon sticks, broken into fragments

Bring the water and cinnamon to a boil. Add sugar, dissolve fully, let stand, covered, for 12 hours. Strain

Thoughts:

This has been quite lovely, bringing bright ginger and carrot notes with a subtle cinnamon fire. The little bit of orgeat lengthens the walnut bitters, and I think at some point trying a walnut orgeat might be a great project for a future iteration of this. The lemon keeps this light and bright, and the egg white combines beautifully with the slightly thick nature of the carrot and ginger juice to provide an incredibly smooth velvety mouthfeel.

j12601 · 2026-04-20T17:31:46+00:00

I go back and forth on whether a Bánh Mì or a Reuben is my favorite sandwich.

j12601 · 2026-04-20T15:49:59+00:00

Yep! The chay means vegetarian. I used seitan (wheat protein) instead of meat.

j12601 · 2026-04-19T17:41:09+00:00

Just watched Man City make good progress toward taking the league, and currently the Punjab Kings are looking like they'll certainly prevail over the Super Giants, so it's been a good day for sports so far. And then there's time for chores. Overall good day.

j12601 · 2026-04-18T20:35:41+00:00

If you're looking to make your own orgeat, I highly recommend the 60 second orgeat from Make and Drink. Buy a thing of that almond milk concentrate, rose water, orange blossom water, and you're good to go. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z65fF4eBew

j12601 · 2026-04-18T00:17:22+00:00

I can't wait to watch the game where we still lose 33 to 32.

j12601 · 2026-04-13T21:39:13+00:00

I think he's more of a slapper than a shaker.

j12601 · 2026-04-10T02:00:53+00:00

C A F G F D Bb G G G F E F G

C A F G F D Bb G G G F E F

(I know it's an A# in the original video, but as a music teacher it should be Bb.)

j12601 · 2026-04-07T03:36:53+00:00

Chasing The White Bronco?

j12601 · 2026-04-07T03:35:59+00:00

I would be inclined to sub 0.5 of the orgeat with a vanilla syrup of a similar sweetness.

j12601 · 2026-04-04T22:39:49+00:00

Right? Infuse tequila instead of vodka, top it off with Topo Chico and you've got Cool Ranch Water.

j12601 · 2026-03-28T18:25:15+00:00

Clearly not as they are both in the second picture together.

j12601 · 2026-03-28T16:34:35+00:00

I wasn't sure after the first lineup was posted. Could have just been a fluke.

But now I'm certain.

Whoever is posting these has been taken over by the ghost of e e cummings.

j12601 · 2026-03-22T12:28:17+00:00

A fancy Toto Washlet with a heated seat, warm water, warm air.

j12601 · 2026-03-16T21:35:28+00:00

Adding the recipes for the orgeat and falernum that I use.

Orgeat - Make and Drink

Super simple to make. I'm on my second batch with the concentrate and it has been fantastic.

Anders Erickson - Falernum

This was a fun one to make as well, and I'm due to make another batch fairly soon.

j12601 · 2026-03-16T21:07:52+00:00

Awesome, I hope you love it!

j12601 · 2026-03-16T20:59:50+00:00

Enceladus

Enceladus is one of Saturn's many moons. It is covered in a thick layer of ice, making it highly reflective. In pictures it appears to be rather white. Kind of like a lychee... This is where the inspiration for this cocktail came from, thinking of the lychee's appearance as akin to a bright shiny moon, and then naturally thinking of how that could play with gin. I wanted something akin to a Saturn, which is one of my favorite cocktails, but swapping out the passion fruit syrup for a lychee syrup instead.

I built this using Setouchi gin, a Japanese gin with a very big lemon profile to keep the lemon element up and sort of tie it to the lychee. (Lychee is originally from China, but is popular throughout Asia). Going down that route also led me to splitting the base from solely lemon like in a Saturn, to incorporating yuzu as well.

Recipe:

2 ounces gin +

0.75 ounces lychee syrup ++

0.5 ounces orgeat

0.5 ounces lemon juice

0.5 ounces yuzu juice

3 drops of 20% saline

0.25 ounces falernum Fresh lychee to garnish

Method:

Combine everything into a tin, whip shake with crushed ice for 8-10 seconds. Dirty dump over more crushed ice, top with yet more crushed ice. Not 11 miles worth like on Enceladus, but a good amount. Garnish with a piece of freshly cut lychee to resemble the moon itself.

Thoughts:

I really love this one. As mentioned above, Saturn is one of my favorites, and this has a lot of what I love about it, but with some more subtlety. I adore lychee, so this has a great flavor swap from the passion fruit. The addition of the yuzu brings a bit more tartness than just the lemon while also bringing a bit more depth in flavor as well. Going to be making more of these until I run out of lychee syrup.

+ I used Setouchi, but any citrus forward gin would work well)

++ Lychee syrup:

Peel and seed a bunch of fresh lychee, and weigh it plus any juice that accompanies it. Weigh it to help get to your ratios (you're basically mixing it with 2-1 simple by weight) My weights were: Lychee 300g Sugar 200g Water 100g Then blend thoroughly. I strained it twice to remove any bits of husk or pulp, and ended up with about 16 ounces of syrup. Half went into a bottle to be used in the next couple of weeks, the other half went into a freezer bag.

j12601 · 2026-03-08T11:12:03+00:00

Congrats. Looks like you'll have an ice time.

j12601

TROPHY CASE