The other night at TDN: Fruit Brandy I came up with a drink that I’m quite proud of: the Rhumble. For those of you not familiar with Thursday Drink Night, it’s a weekly chat room gathering of cocktail folks inventing original drinks around a pre-chosen theme and awarding prizes to the one voted ‘best’. It’s put on collectively by the CSOWG.
I’ve always liked the apricot brandy and dry vermouth combo (ie Darb, Frankenjack from the Savoy Cocktail Book) and wanted to see if sherry could stand in if some bitters were added. Also, I really haven’t spent too much time with the Bitter Truth Celery Bitters (available here) so I fit them in there. I didn’t want to overcome the apricot fruit aroma with heavy spices, so they fit the bill quite well.
Rhumble
- 1 1/2 oz rhum agricole blanc (Saint Etienne)
- 3/4 oz dry sherry (Barbadillo Manzanilla)
- 3/4 oz apricot brandy (Rothman and Winter)
- 2 dashes celery bitters (Bitter Truth)
Stir, strain, up. Lemon twist.
I think that one really has good bones, and would be different but quite good with other bottlings. So far the Neisson blanc has proven a tasty alternative.
As a bonus recipe, I’ll leave you with my other drink that night, the Miss Haversham.
Miss Haversham
- 1 1/2 oz Irish whiskey
- 3/4 oz pear eau de vie
- 1/4 oz 2:1 demerara syrup
- 2 dashes Jerry Thomas bitters
- 1 dash Fees Barrel Aged bitters
Stir, strain, up.
This one is named after the Jasper Fforde character, who is a kind of an alter ego of Dicken’s Miss Havisham. I used Redbreast, but I’m sure something like Powers or Jameson would work as well.
]]>For those readers that are not regular scourers of the cocktail blogs, I wanted to let you know that SeanMike over at the Scofflaw’s Den has just posted about a drink named after yours truly, the Sylvania. It’s kind of a whiskey sour with addition of cherry vanilla bitters, mint and St. Germain. I haven’t gotten around to whipping one up just yet, but I’ll be fine straining out the mint.
It’s his drink, so I’ll let him tell it:
http://scofflawsden.com/blog/2009/06/24/sylvania/
While I feel like I buy bourbon whiskey more often than other spirits, I can’t say that bourbon is my favorite spirit to mix with; I’m much more likely to drink it on the rocks or in a Whiskey Cocktail (basically an Old-Fashioned without fruit). But there are a few drinks that I make regularly using bourbon. For mixing, I recommend using an affordable bourbon like Evan Williams black label or even the Elijah Craig 12 year old. There’s really no need to go to more expensive ’single barrel’ or ’small batch’ bottlings. Unless that’s just ‘how you roll’, in which case you should invite me over for drinks sometime.
One of my favorite variations on the tried-and-true Champagne Cocktail is the Kentucky Champagne Cocktail, which is nothing more than a Champagne Cocktail with a shot of bourbon in it.
Kentucky Champagne Cocktail
- Put a sugar cube in a largish champagne glass and soak with 3-6 dashes of Angostura bitters. Then add:
- 1 oz bourbon
- Fill with champagne or other bubbly (Segura Viuda Cava, recommended)
Other bitters will work, especially orange bitters, but the venerable Angostura is my current favorite for this drink. This one isn’t too far from the classic Seelbach Cocktail either – just up the Ango. to 7 dashes, add 7 more dashes of Peychaud’s and 1/2 oz of Cointreau and you’re there.
One thing to note when making this, or any other champagne cocktail, is to be very careful when pouring the bubbly, as it tends to foam up dramatically when poured onto the sugar cube.
Another drink that I make at home (mostly because they are almost impossible to get made well away from home) is a Whiskey Sour. I’m most likely to make this to use up some extra lemon juice, or to use a lemon that has been thoroughly peeled for garnish. I’ve recently added a variation on the Whiskey Sour to my repertoire, the Port Light.
Port Light – from Beachbum Berry’s Grog Log
- 1 oz bourbon
- 1 oz lemon juice
- 1/2 oz passion fruit syrup
- 1 Tbsp grenadine
Blend with 1 cup crushed ice for 5 seconds and pour into a collins glass.
This is quite tasty – there is more going on in the glass than a traditional Whiskey Sour. The tartness is nicely balanced and given depth by the passion fruit and grenadine. I’m using a homemade passion fruit syrup from the clear part of a settled out Looza passion fruit nectar and sugar.
There are more bourbon drinks out there than you would think, once you start looking. Whiskey Smash, Mint Julep, Manhattan, Bourbon Crusta, Honi Honi – what’s your favorite bourbon drink?
]]>As part of a series of Beefeater product features over at the Mixoloseum, last Thursday’s Drink Night (TDN) theme was Beefeater gin. As usual at the Mixoloseum Bar, many original drinks were created, submitted and enjoyed. The next online event will feature Beefeater 24, a new luxury gin and its introduction to the American market. This new product is differentiated from their original one by the additions of Japanese sencha and Chinese green teas, as well as grapefruit peels.
Dan Warner, brand ambassador for Beefeater gin, joined in the fun. He shared with us some fascinating facts about Beefeater, like the fact that there are only 6 employees at their sole plant in London producing 2.4 million cases a year. Beefeater is the only major distiller left producing London Dry gin in the city of London. He also dropped tidbits like the Negroni being a favorite of Desmond Payne, Beefeater’s celebrated Master Distiller. Dan even hinted that he might return on the TDN discussing Beefeater 24 on 4/30.
The Gin
I’ve always been pleased with Beefeater as a mixing gin, but in order to taste the individual components, I tasted it neat and then slightly diluted with water. The first smell on opening a bottle yielded the sharp aroma of juniper and citrus. Upon sipping the undiluted spirit, I tasted the rounded soft spiciness of the coriander. The mouth feel was rich and even a bit oily. The mid palate had a bit of a pleasant woody flavor, probably from the licorice and angelica root. The finish was bitter but not lingering. Overall the impression was very crisp and clean.
They don’t call this London Dry Gin for nothing. Beefeater is proud of their 24 hour maceration claiming that the “long steeping time gives a gentler extraction, but builds complexity, and fixes the aroma in the spirit more solidly.” The resulting bold and clean flavor makes it a great mixing gin. I love the sharp citrus tang of Beefeater relative to other gins. When you mix a drink with Beefeater, you know that you’ve put gin in there! Sometimes you want the gin to be the star, like in a gin and tonic, a Martinez, or a Clover Club. Orange drinks like a Bronx or Monkey Gland really benefit from a bold gin like this; otherwise the drink can get a little soft on you. But other times you want your gin to play more of a supportive role. For a drink like a Suffering Bastard, I recommend a mellower, more rounded gin.
Just recently at the market, I happened to come across fresh bergamot fruit, and having been waiting over a year and a half since reading about the following recipe at Married with Dinner, I snapped up the last one and made the following:
Friday After Five – Married with Dinner
- 1 ounce gin
- 1/2 ounce green Chartreuse
- 3/4 ounce bergamot juice
- 1 dash Herbsaint, absinthe or Pernod
Shake over ice, and pour into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a bergamot twist, if desired.
I have to say that this was my first experience with a real bergamot and I was totally impressed. As soon as my peeler bit into the peel, the pleasantly sharp odor of fine Earl Grey tea sprang into the air and surrounded me. I peeled the whole thing and set the peels out to dry for later use. This bergamot was quite tart, so I ended up adding a dash more Chartreuse to sweeten it a bit. The Friday After Five was still pretty tart, but the aromas of the bergamot peel worked well with the aromatics of the gin and the herbal sweetness of the Chartreuse. I was reminded of Audrey Sander’s MarTEAni, made with Earl Grey tea infused gin. So much so that I was inspired to invent the:
Trans-Europa
- 1 1/2 oz gin
- 1/4 oz Earl Grey infused gin (Tanqueray – 4 tbsp loose tea to a bottle for 2 hours)
- 3/4 oz bitter Seville orange juice
- 1/4 oz green Chartreuse
- 1/4 simple syrup (or more as needed)
Shake, strain and serve up with a bitter orange twist.
I’m a big fan of Beefeater gin because of its bold, high quality taste coupled with its affordable price point. I have been stocking Beefeater as my house gin for some time now because sometimes you just need a gin with some oomph when mixing. Personally, I’m really excited about the American release of Beefeater 24. I hope you can come on down to the Beefeater 24 TDN we are having on 4/30.
]]>New Orleans has been on my mind this week, with Mardi Gras being this last Tuesday and all. I’ve found that one of the more elusive classic New Orleans drinks to get out on the town is the Vieux Carré. It seems that few bars, even at Southern or Cajun/Creole restaurants, deem it necessary to have Bénédictine on hand, presumably due to the expense. I would remind them that there has always been a distinctly French influence on the cuisine of New Orleans, and this drink only uses 1 teaspoon. And you just can’t duplicate this drink without it.
The Vieux Carré is one of the few drinks that we conclusively know the origin of; it was invented in 1938 by Walter Bergeron at the Monteleone Hotel in New Orleans. Vieux Carré (meaning ‘Old Square’) is also one of the local names for the French Quarter. 
Vieux Carré
- 1 oz rye whiskey
- 1 oz cognac
- 1 oz sweet vermouth
- 1 tsp Bénédictine
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Stir with cracked ice, strain and garnish with a lemon twist and its oils.
This is a fine and balanced drink that turns out to be very sensitive to the exact amounts called for. When proper care is exercised in measuring, I love the way the spiciness of the rye and the sugar notes of the cognac mellow with the sweetness of the vermouth and the Bénédictine. Then the drink gets a quadruple blast of herbal complexity from the herbal liqueur, the vermouth and the two kinds of bitters. It’s kind of like a Manhattan, but smoother, sweeter, more refined, and more complex.
If I use 100 proof rye, I’ll back it down to 3/4 oz. Be careful when measuring the Benedictine; use a proper kitchen teaspoon and don’t overdo it or the drink will veer into cough syrup territory. While I have used brandy as a sub for the cognac, there is definitely room here for a nicer cognac. You can control the amount of water added by the fineness of the ice. Freshly hammered ice with a reasonable portion of crushed/powdered ice makes for a smoother potion. And, of course, with a classic mostly whiskey and bitters cocktail like this, be sure to get a goodly spray of lemon peel oil on the surface and rub the peel around the rim for a wonderful citrus entry as you bring the glass to your lips.
The Vieux Carré is really one of the most enjoyable signature New Orleans cocktails and it is a shame that more of the restaurants purporting to deliver the unique cuisine of the Crescent City do not serve it on their menus.
A note on pronunciation – I’ve heard a number of folks put the full Gallic gargle on the end ‘r’. But both proper French (note the accent on the é) and current New Orleans usage is ‘voo cah-ray’ or ‘voh cah-ray’, and of course some are going to say ‘view cah-ray’.
]]>Applejack. There’s kind of a backcountry mystique about it, probably rising out of the original way it was made as early as the 17th century in America. Farmers in northern climates would leave hard cider out in cold weather until ice formed. This was then removed, transforming and concentrating the cider into something with much more kick. Unfortunately, not only the ethanol and flavor, but all of the non-water components of the cider, such as methanol and congeners would be concentrated. Hangovers are caused by these compounds, and so this method is rarely used. But it didn’t require a still, and so anyone with a bunch of apples could make their own. Times, and equipment, have changed.
Pretty much the only applejack on the market today is made by Laird & Co. of New Jersey, and is 35% apple brandy mixed with 65% neutral grain spirits. For apple flavor, I much prefer their Straight Apple Brandy (100 proof) which is 100% apple based (20 lbs of apples per bottle!). Another good, though more expensive option, is the Clear Creek 8 year old Eau-de-Vie de Pomme, or their 2 year old Apple Brandy.
But enough about the spirit – let’s drink some!
One of the oldest recipes using applejack is the venerable Jack Rose. I ended up making 5 different recipes, and by the end I started to doubt the Torani pomegranate syrup I was using. The color often ended up a lurid magenta rather than a delicate rose and a harsh sugar edge crept in by the time the citrus was balanced. The best one to my taste was from Dale DeGroff’s new book ‘The Essential Cocktail’. In it he states that his recipe is reformulated to take the emphasis off of the grenadine since modern commercial grenadines are so poor.
Jack Rose
- 1 1/2 oz applejack
- 3/4 oz simple syrup
- 3/4 oz lemon juice (I used 1 oz Meyer lemon juice)
- 1/4 oz real grenadine (Torani pomegranate syrup)
Shake with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with apple slice and cherry.
After the Jack Rose, my thoughts turned to the Widow’s Kiss, a fine calvados/applejack cocktail. A nice variation on that one is the Widow’s Touch from John Gertsen of Boston’s No 9 Park, using St Germain instead of Chartreuse. Another variation that I just had to try was using applejack in a Manhattan-like recipe.
The Big Apple (Applejack Manhattan or Marconi Wireless)
- 1 1/2 oz applejack (Laird’s Straight Apple Brandy)
- 3/4 oz sweet vermouth (Vya)
- 2 dashes Angostura Bitters (orange bitters for the Marconi)
Stir with small ice, strain and garnish with a boozy cherry. (soaked in rye, bourbon, brandy or what have you).
This one turned out very similar to a whiskey Manhattan, in fact, enough so that it didn’t seem like a good use of applejack at all. Next up is a favorite of mine, a sidecar variant using applejack:
Applecart aka Kiddie Cart
- 1 1/2 oz applejack
- 1 oz triple sec
- 1/2 oz lemon juice
Shake with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass. Sugaring the rim is a nice touch.
Now, that’s a nice drink. With the 100 proof applejack and the 80 proof Citronge I used, this is a little hot, but the classic 3-2-1 sidecar formula still seems to work. One of the sweeter triple secs like Bols or a sugar rim could be used to tone it down, if desired.
My absolute favorite of all of the applejack cocktails I tried, however, and big hit with my tasters was the Applejack Old Fashioned from Misty Kalkofen of Green Street.
Applejack Old Fashioned
- 2 oz applejack
- 2 dashes Fee Brother’s Whiskey Barrel Aged Aromatic Bitters
- 1 barspoon (or to taste) real maple syrup
Stir and serve in a rocks glass with a big ice chunk. Rim glass and garnish with a lemon twist.
This is really the best of the lot at showcasing the applejack. It’s basically a Plain Whiskey Cocktail with applejack and maple syrup instead of whiskey and sugar. I love how the maple really plays up the floral/fruity aspects of the applejack and the Barrel Aged bitters bring up the bottom with cinnamon and spice notes.
Thanks to Blair for re-supplying me with more of Laird’s Straight Apple Brandy when I ran out. I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface with this versatile spirit here – post your favorite applejack cocktail in the comments!
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