How 'bout dem apples?

This past Saturday we held our Apple Battle, with thunderous results. Were apples kicked across the room? Yes. Were said apples then split in half by Dances with Gin's trusty Bar Katana? Indeed. Did I prepare apple juice by headbutting a raw apple against a table? Perhaps.

My traditional cocktail this week is built on Applejack, specifically Laird's "Bottled in Bond 100 Proof" Applejack. My understanding was that this was a good choice, because it would be pure apple distillate, unadulterated by grain alcohol. This may or may not be true, but the bottom line is that it has, in this Dragon's opinion, a cough syrupy aftertaste. Not my fave. I wish I had sprung for the aged applejack, or just bought a better apple brandy.

Anyway, back to the cocktail, which this week is Fallen Leaves, not to be confused with Falling Leaves. The recipe is simple, and seems to be universally agreed upon:

Fallen Leaves

• 3/4 oz Apple Brandy
• 3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
• 1/4 oz Dry Vermouth
• Dash of Brandy

Although Mrs. Dragon and I are not quite poor, we are cheap, and I wanted to play with applejack, so my version is slightly modified:

Fallen Leaves (a la Dragon)

• 3/4 oz Applejack
• 3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth
• 1/4 oz Dry Vermouth
• Dash of Slivovice

Brandy might be nice here, but the plum flavor from the slivovice very nicely complements the apple. For awhile I also thought I was out of dry vermouth, so I tried replacing it with equal parts Zubrowka and seltzer. I found some dry vermouth, and I think it worked better.

I'm not sure that what I added was Slivovice, actually. It's plummy, and Czech. The ingredient list includes water, alcohol, "Slivovice Distillate", and "Plum Macerate." The name on the bottle is "Chalupařska", which translates as "Cottage." Fortunately, it does not taste like a cottage.

Anyway, if you don't have time to run out to Olomouc to pick some up, maybe try Jelinek? I can't vouch for it either way. But the plum is nice.

For my modern cocktail, I put together two variations on a French 75. The idea was that if you take any cocktail with champagne, then replace the champagne with a decent hard cider, you'll probably get a tasty cocktail. For the French 75 at least, this is true. Of course, the devil hides in the word "decent" -- I tried a few ciders, and the only usable one I found was Scrumpy's, which has a lot of apple flavor without being too too sweet. It's a bit like the Dragon's Milk that I used when making the Black Velvet, in that it's a bit dull on its own (though still better than the other ciders I tried), but makes a truly awesome cocktail.

I actually came out with two tasty variations on the French 75.

French 69

• 2 oz Gin (Hendrick's)
• 1 oz Lemon Juice
• 1/2 oz Simple Syrup
• 3-5 oz of Hard Cider (Scrumpy's)

American 75

• 2 oz Rye (Rittenhouse 100 proof)
• 1 oz Lemon Juice
• 1/2 oz Simple Syrup
• 3-5 oz of Hard Cider (Scrumpy's)
• Maraschin-faux Cherry

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I added one dash of Angostura bitters to one or both of these, but I can't remember which. At this point I think of Angostura as a bit like pepper, so let me suggest that you add it to taste.

I was surprised to find that cider and gin worked together. I think with a non-Hendrick's gin one would have to be careful, since a sharper juniper flavor might clash with the cider. Dances with Gin pointed out that the American 75 is also closely related to a Manhattan, and he's absolutely right -- apparently hard cider ~ sweet vermouth, as well as champagne*. Truly it is a marvelous beverage!

*Perhaps we'll see if transitivity works for cocktail substitutions at a later date!