More Stout

Today (Sunday) I'm remaking some champagne cocktails now that I have finally found the elusive maraschino liqueur. Nothing new and extraordinary to report. I did discover that the large liquor start I frequent, well, shop at, has carried maraschino all along. I just didn't realize that's what the bottle was since most of the front label is in Italian, and 'maraschino' is in vertical type along the side. Oh, well. A chance to make drinks a 2nd time. I have a daiquiri weekend coming up one of these days.

I did make a couple more recipes calling for stout (I'm using Guinness Extra Stout). The first is a stout version of the ale and hard cider cocktail (it's too simple to call it a recipe): half stout and half cider. I liked the ale version better. The stout is just too overwhelming and bitter, and the hard cider I'm using (Woodchuck Draft) doesn't pack a lot of flavor. My WalMart apple cider almost has more taste.

The second is a cocktail calling for simple syrup, stout, ruby port floated, and cinnamon and nutmeg. I skipped the spices, mainly because I didn't want to mess with grating the nutmeg. My calendar says this is a 'sangaree. Wikipedia, surprisingly, doesn't have an article on the sangaree. In some circles it's an archaic name for a sangria, and it seems to be associated with cocktails of the West Indies.

But the author of another excellent cocktail-related blog, the Cocktail Chronicles, reports that it's a base liquor of your choice (I've pulled up recipes for both brandy and gin sangarees) shaken with a little sugar, and nutmeg springled on top. I guess should have gone with the nutmeg. He also reports it's traditional to throw in a couple wheels of lemon, which had occurred to me as a nice future addition to this recipe. Several of the recipes I found call for port floated.

I liked this better than the cider and stout cocktail. The port adds a nice sweetness to the bitter port, and it's robust enough to make a statement on its own (whatever that means in a cocktail). But, what it means is, it's a good drink; I'll try other sangrees when I have a free cocktail day and report back.