I think I've perfected my Vesper...had one or two of those Yesterday, but unfortunately my last two finals are coming up and I'm being responsible today. :eusa_doh:
Interesting. I usually drink a lower-alcohol beer (hefeweizen or kolsch) when grading stupid term papers. No term papers last night, so I was drinking cask-conditioned pale ale.
Stone's Original Green Ginger Wine. Tasted strongly of ginger, which I felt was apt. Very enjoyable. I like your avatar picture, Mr Dnjan.
Jim Beam Lillet Regan's Orange bitters............... Shaken, stirred and strained. Into a bucket, of course
I know this is a little more difficult, but I usually use fine sugar which is just regular sugar ground up in the food processor or blender. I stole the idea from an Alton Brown show. I use the grit of the sugar to assist in muddling the mint leaves then pour a little bourbon in so the alcohol can work on extracting all the mint flavor, then proceed in finishing putting the drink together. That way the sugar is fine enough to melt in cool water, but still has some texture to assist in getting all the flavor from the mint leaves.
As a recent discoverer of Lillet, please, kind sir, what is the name of your drink, and what are the proportions? It sounds much like a Manhattan...
There is nothing like fresh ingredients for your libations; I love having the mint farm and the lime tree in my own back yard.
I took the advice of a Bond aficionado on another board, and use Tanqueray (94 proof) instead of Gordons (80 proof) and Stoli 100. Also, I add a dash of bitters to the Lillet Blanc to add a quinine taste to approximate the original Kina Lillet better.
ginskey i'm all about bourbon and ginger ale with a touch of lime right now. SO DELISH and light that i can just drink my little heart away...
Ah yes, I read something similar from David Wondrich. http://www.esquire.com/drinks/vesper-drink-recipe The Stolichnaya Blue is a fine vodka. I find actually using a champagne goblet a nice touch, you'll need a big Martini glass to hold over 4 measures of drink.