Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Let’s Roll The Dice

I’m back baby! That’s right, As of today, the House Sharkbait is plague free. Much to the relief of myself and Mrs. Sharkbait. It was only a matter of time until we got it, and I’m glad it was such a minor case for all of us. Now with that unpleasantness behind us, I can get back to the regularly scheduled drinking! As fun as it was giving an overview of the bar last week, I was very much looking forward to using it again. This week I’m going back to “Churchill: A Drinking Life: once again. I’m making a pre-prohibition classic: The Casino. The book doesn’t say if he drank these on the regular, but he was an avid gambler, so they included a recipe in this book:

Casino

1 1/3 oz. gin

1/3 oz. Maraschino liqueur

1/6 oz. Orange bitters (I did 2 dashes)

1/3 oz. Lemon juice

Garnish with a maraschino cherry

Put all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a cocktail glass before adding the garnish.

The aroma is heavy on the maraschino. Could be the cherry garnish, but I think it mostly comes from the liqueur. I may have slightly overdone it, but I was eyeballing the third ounces in a half ounce jigger.

Initially I get a good amount of lemon flavor, but not as much citrus-y sour as you would expect from that kind of lemon flavor. The maraschino liqueur takes on the burden of cancelling out most of the lemon juice bitterness so it doesn’t become bitingly sour. Though a little bit of the sourness from the juice does manage to manifest itself in the sip, but it is quite nice actually. Along with that, the maraschino liqueur helps add a balanced sweetness to create an excellent sweet and sour flavor profile that maintains flavor intensity throughout the sip.

The gin acts as a background player in this one. I get very little of the herbal-ness gin usually brings to the party. If I concentrate hard enough, I can detect some of that signature juniper notes in the deeper parts of the sip, but even then, they are very subtle, and hard to pick out. In fact, I might suggest this to someone that says they don’t like gin. I think it could potentially change their minds.

The finish is still that sweet and sour combination, with a little bit of the lemon sourness hanging back as a slight aftertaste. The ending is where I can pick up the previously mentioned hints of gin, but those dissipate fairly quickly, leaving no trace on the after taste.

I really liked this. I’ve used gin and maraschino together in the past, but somehow I never came across the Casino. I’m glad I did, and will be making this a lot more in the very near future.

Enjoy the weekend!

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)

5 2 votes
Article Rating
Sharkbait
Sharkbait has not actually been bitten by a shark, but has told people in bars that he was for free drinks. Married to a Giants fan, he enjoys whisk(e)y, cooking, the Rangers, and the Patriots.
Subscribe
Notify of
29 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Alex_Demote

If you put that gin in the shaker you’re gonna bruise the hell out of it, chill it separately and stir it in like you’re serving 007

BrettFavresColonoscopy

That dumbass liked his shaken…

BrettFavresColonoscopy

I wanted to make a Casey Anthony joke here but decided to leave it at being Bond pedantic.

Alex_Demote

Oh damn you’re right. I should know better

ballsofsteelandfury

But it wasn’t gin

2Pack
LemonJello

Balls will be along any moment to put in a claim on this.

Gumbygirl

Notice the convenient “hatch!”

ballsofsteelandfury

You know me so well

BugEyedBoo

Wife and I talked about how this family loves loves loves living next door to a blimp. First pic is Bo Jackson’s Elite Sports Whatever. A couple of acres under an inflatable roof. Second pic is Bo’s next door neighbor. Whenever we leave the house, there’s a better than even chance we drive past it.

bo2.jpg
BugEyedBoo

Poor SOB

bo1.PNG
King Hippo

Oh fuck, I’d drink myself into oblivion on that. Sounds like a much stronger amaretto sour.

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Careful, can’t make the pillz jealous.

BrettFavresColonoscopy
Horatio Cornblower

-sigh-

Deanna Favre

Game Time Decision

or you can double or triple or whatever the recipe to not need these funky measures.
/no maths

SonOfSpam

What’s the Stanley Cup got to do with this?

Horatio Cornblower

Apologies for being AWOL last night, (noticed all the comments about it being dead), but I was here

https://www.wfsb.com/2023/01/17/half-door-closing-after-over-20-years-hartford/

having a couple of pints of Guinness to mourn the closing of a really good bar from my old neighborhood in Hartford. When I loved there it was a different bar, The Cool Moose, which catered to kids from the University of Hartford and neighborhood regulars with mental problems and weapons. The Half Door cleaned it up and served an excellent meatloaf sandwich to boot.

They’re supposedly closing because of a dispute with the landlord and decreased business since Covid. They’ve promised to re-open, however, and the owners run several very successful restaurants, so I suspect that they’ll just re-open several blocks to the white, I mean right, side of the area.

We did intend to make off with whatever wasn’t nailed down, but the staff was on to that and guarding against it to the point that I was served Guinness in a plastic cup. Bastards.

Horatio Cornblower

Also good to hear the Sharkbait household is plague free. The Half Door was packed last night, so 50-50 I’ll come down with it next week. I was, however, smart enough to suggest we go for dinner somewhere else: never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever eat at an establishment that will be closing within three days. I promise you they are not getting fresh food deliveries.

BrettFavresColonoscopy

Maybe they should have used a full door.

Game Time Decision

if only half the door is closing, isn’t it still open?
This is like the sound of one hand clapping

scotchnaut

I’m guessing that the name of the next establishment will be Open Window.

/you see because when God…I’ll show myself out, uh, the window