Fight Night: Dempsey v. Dempsey
Fight Night: Dempsey v. Dempsey
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to fight night at The Mixology Lab! We’ve got a big matchup tonight, with two untested rivals vying for the crown of the best Dempsey Cocktail. Who will our winner be? Will it be the Jersey Lightning-spiked Dempsey? Or will it be the Rum-punched Jack Dempsey Cocktail? Our special celebrity panel of judges, consisting of McDreaming and McObsessed from the Daily Dose of Dempsey, will decide tonight’s winner.
In this corner, weighing in at two and a quarter ounces of liquor, the Dempsey!
Dempsey
from CocktailDB
- 1 oz gin
- 1 oz apple brandy
- 0.25 oz pastis
- 0.25 oz grenadine
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
McDreaming’s reaction: ”Yeech. It tastes a little licorice-y.”
McObsessed’s reaction: ”It has a sweet fire quality to it. That’s NOT a good thing in this case. Yep, the cat hates it too.”
I used Herbsaint and Laird’s Applejack in this drink. Unfortunately, I thought that it was completely overwhelmed by the pastis. This drink could be good, but all you tasted was the pastis.
And in this corner, weighing in an an even two ounces of liquor, the Jack Dempsey Cocktail!
Jack Dempsey Cocktail
from CocktailDB
- 0.5 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1.5 light rum
- 0.5 oz gin
- 0.75 tsp sugar
Shake over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
McDreaming’s reaction: ”Mmmm, it’s lemonade-y. I like it.”
McObsessed’s reaction: ”It’s tart. It’s better, but not fantastic.”
I agreed with McObsessed that it was better, but it could be toned back a touch on the lemon. Still, much better.
Well, there you have it folks, I think we have a TKO for the Jack Dempsey Cocktail. Let’s see what the judges say…
It’s a unanimous decision for …. Patrick Dempsey? What? Who the hell is that? (Pssst.) Oh, yeah.
Him. Enjoy the premiere, ladies!
September 25th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Well done on the head to head competition. I love any kind of themed evening. Kudos to you on involving pop culture in your blog. Also, yeah, anise, pastis, licorice flavored stuff is not my favorite, so the decks were clearly stacked in this case.
September 26th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Well, first the cocktaildb recipe isn’t a particularly good interpretation of the Dempsey.
The cocktail, as originally written was: 2 dashes Absinthe, 2 dashes Grenadine, 1/4 Gill Gin, 1/4 Gill Calvados.
A gill is a little over 4 ounces, so that is an ounce of Gin and an ounce of Calvados.
1/2 to 2/3 of a teaspoon is enough for 2 dashes. A quarter ounce is a ridiculously large amount.
The recipe came from a bar in Normandy, France, so I think Calvados is really called for here. The Laird’s Applejack is a pretty poor substitute for Calvados. If you can find the Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy, that’s a bit closer.
In any case, The Dempsey was created to commemorate Jack Dempsey’s knockout win over Carpentier in 1921. It’s not an elegant cocktail to be savored. More of a short, sharp, jab to the jaw.