On a Sour Note

I've mixed a couple more drinks tending towards the sour side in the last few days.

The first was a daiquiri: crushed ice, gin, lime juice, grapefruit juice, and maraschino juice. I've given up for now trying to find the elusive maraschino liqueur. When I get to Chicago this fall I'll check a couple full-service liquor emporiums I know there, but I sure haven't been able to find it in either Indianapolis or Louisville. I'm not going to worry about it for now, just use the juice off maraschino cherries.

This one was a bit too sour for my taste. It's supposedly close to the recipe Hemingway liked, but if he drank these all the time, he had either a peculiar or a very specialized taste in mixed drinks.

Grapefruit juice seems to be one of those juices that you really have to use the real thing, right out of the half fruit. Even the 'natural' stuff at the store doesn't come close for me. It seems more tart, tending towards even being astringent. Juiced pink grapefruit are even better.

The second (I already reported on the gin, grapefruit juice, and Campari concoction from earlier this week) is called a 'double sour': bourbon (I used Jim Beam black), gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and a splash of grenadine.

Gin and bourbon is another combination I never would have thought of, like champagne and cognac. I'm not sure the gin, at least the Gordon's I used, brought much to the taste palette, but it's always good to shake up a sour and not rely on sweet and sour mix. Not a bad drink though I'd skip the grenadine

As a p.s.: this evening I mixed a drink from February that called for Parfait Amour, which I finally found a few weeks ago. I shouldn't have waited ... Hopefully I'll have a recipe later this year that shows off that liqueur better.