I'm A Hero!

Hey all! Here's my first instructional video: filmed and produced by the great folks at How 2 Heroes, it's my first foray into film. Agua frescas are really easy to make and are super for summer. Cheers!

Drink of the Week: The Rosita

I was looking for a tequila drink to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with, but the 5th was rainy and cold and very un-Margarita-like. Adam @ the Boston Shaker (Your Friendly Neighborhood Cocktail Supply Shop) to the rescue! He twittered (tweeted? still working on my Twittercabulary) about a drink called the Rosita and after reading the recipe at DrinkBoy, I headed straight to the liquor cabinet to mix one up.

The unusual pairing of Campari with tequila may stop some of you in your tracks, but the combination works really well. The other ingredients mellow the Camapri's bitterness: it's still there, but it plays more of a backing role instead of muscling through all the other flavors (as it sometimes does in a Negroni).

The Rosita

In an iced mixing glass, combine:

• 1 1/2 ounces tequila
• 1/2 ounce Campari
• 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
• 1/2 ounce dry vermouth
• dash of Angostura bitters

Stir until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist (I forgot to garnish before we took the picture; the lemon oil in the twist adds a nice touch).

If this is still too Campari-heavy for you, reduce the amount to 1/4 ounce and work your way up to a level of bitterness that works for you.

Drink of the Week: Blueberry-Ginger Cooler

I am sending thanks to the great folks at Domaine de Canton, who sent me a bottle of this delicious liqueur. I am having a lot of fun experimenting with it! This is the second drink I feel is ready for public viewing and consumption. The current working name is the Blueberry-Ginger Cooler, but I am open to suggestions for a better name.

This drink uses blueberry puree. I had a small amount of puree left over from a video shoot (eek!) I just finished with How 2 Heroes (videos coming soon). To make your own, puree 1/2 cup of blueberries (frozen are perfect for this) with 1/2 cup of water. Alternatively, for a more rustic approach, just muddle some berries (a small handful) right in your mixing glass.

I used tequila in this version, but I think a light rum might be nice too. Also, I tried a small variation and added a wee bit of red wine vinegar (1/4 ounce) to the drink in a small play on a shrub (a fruit, sugar and vinegar cooler - don't knock 'em till you try 'em).

Blueberry-Ginger Cooler
In an iced mixing glass, stir together until well-chilled:

• 2 ounces Domaine de Canton liqueur
• 1 ounce tequila
• 2 ounces blueberry puree

Pour into tall glass and top with 3-4 ounces club soda. Stir to combine.

Drink of the Week: Ginger-Nashi Cocktail

,A few weeks ago I had the great fortune to attend Cochon 555, an heirloom pig-feast and awareness event. One of the many other products available for tasting at the event was Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur. I had seen Domaine de Canton at bars and liquor stores and avoided it because I assumed it was a sweet, artificially flavored alcohol. Boy was I wrong.

Domaine de Canton is a liqueur made from Cognac and baby ginger. The flavor is floral, gingery, with hints of vanilla and spice from the cognac. It's much lighter than you might imagine and would be a great addition to your summer drinks lineup. My first introduction to it was at Cochon 555, in a watermelon mojito. 'Twas delicious and refreshing.

It's going to be fun to experiment with Domaine de Canton in summery, fizzy drinks, but for my first take on it I thought I would add it to Asian pear, or nashi, juice.

Making the juice was easy: puree one seeded and sliced Asian pear in the blender. Pour the pulp into a strainer and press gently to release juice. I got nearly 3 ounces of juice from one Asian pear. (Since the pulp was still pretty juicy, I saved it to use in pancakes.)

Ginger-Nashi Cocktail
In an iced cocktail strainer, combine:

• 1 oz. gin (a lighter, not-so-ginny gin like Plymouth is best and yes, vodka would be fine)
• 1 oz. Asian pear juice
• 1 oz. Domaine de Canton liqueur
  

Shake until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a slice of Asian pear.

The even proportions worked well for us because the Asian pear was so sweet. You may want to add more juice if it's not so sweet.

Drink of the Week: Seelbach

I was planning on posting this recipe on Friday night. But, as it is a champagne cocktail, it's actually an appropriate starter for your Easter dinner too. Note: this is our first outdoor cocktail picture of the year. It was a lovely, warm spring evening. (It's 34 degrees today. Ah, Spring, you fickle, fickle season.)

I was first introduced to the Seelbach at No. 9 Park, a really fabulous, high-end Boston restaurant carried it on their cocktail list when we were there a year or so ago. Its sweetness makes it a nice after dinner drink but the festive fizz from the champagne (and the gentle mule-kick from the bourbon) makes an appropriate apertif for a festive occassion. The history of the Seelbach is here.

On Friday, Dinner Party Download made the Seelbach their Drink of the Day. Seeing their tweet reminded me of what a lovely cocktail the Seelbach is so I put it into the rotation. By the way, The Dinner Party Download is a super-duper podcast, as they put it: "The Dinner Party Download is a fast and funny "booster shot" of unconventional news, cuisine and culture to help you win this weekend’s dinner party." They won my heart with that last phrase - dinner parties can seem like battlegrounds at times. The DPD is a funny, informative and quick hit of data. What other podcast gives you a drink recipe, an icebreaking joke, neat factoids and food and drink and cocktail party chatter?

Seelbach
Briefly stir together in an iced mixing glass, just to chill:

• 3/4 ounce bourbon
• 1/2 ounce Cointreau
• 7 dashes Angostura bitters
• 7 dashes Peychaud's bitters

Strain into a champagne flute and top with chilled brut Champagne (We used cheap Spanish cava instead. Nowhere near as swell, big fat bubbles, but hella cheaper.) Garnish with an orange twist.

Drink of the Week: Pisco Sour

Beppo and I were introduced to the Pisco Sour by the engaging and knowledgeable bartending staff at Eastern Standard. In this drink, we were introduced to two new things: pisco, a Peruvian brandy (essential ingredient in a pisco sour) and drinks with eggs in them.

Let's get the egg issue out of the way: Most of us have probably had egg drinks and not known it. Any drink with a light froth on the top was (hopefully) made with an egg or egg white or a bar mix containing powdered egg whites or the appallingly named mixer-additive called "Foamy Head" (yum).

Anyhoo, for anyone out there who's squeamish about the idea of a raw egg in your cocktail: get over it I say. The egg white in this drink provides a creaminess that you can't get any other way. Think of it as a meringue float on the top of your cocktail - plus, it's additional protein to fortify you for the night ahead. If you're making your drink at home, this is yet another great motivator to get you to buy local fresh eggs.

Pisco Sour
In an iced cocktail shaker, vigorously shake together:

• 1 1/2 ounces pisco
• 1 ounce simple syrup
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice
• 1 egg white (this will be enough if you're going to make two drinks at once)

Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and dot with several dashes of Angostura bitters. (for a totally awesome looking flamed Angostura option, look on Jeffrey Morganthaler's website).

May 13 - Edited to add my How2Heroes video on making a Pisco Sour!

Drink of the Week: Old Fashioned

Until recently, I assumed an Old Fashioned was something only old ladies drank and a bad excuse for fruit salad covered with good booze. Frankly, I'd rather have had a Manhattan.

But I started seeing Old Fashioned showing up on cocktail menus at the craft cocktails bars I frequented. Why shouldn't the Old Fashioned get the same sort of fresh fruit and good juice treatment that my other drinks have been getting?

I will not attempt to outline the history of the Old Fashioned (thought by some to be the "original" cocktail), instead I will point you to Robert Hess's excellent history of the Old Fashioned. Old Fashioneds are traditionally made with bourbon or blended whiskey (though some call for rye), and some are topped off with club soda (although Mr. Hess disagrees, as do I). Recently, Imbibe Magazine had a Brandy Old Fashioned featured in a column (apparently it's Michigan's unofficial state cocktail).

Since citrus is a key component of the drink, I thought we would take advantage of the great fruit we've got available right now. For a our first go-round, I pulled out a blood orange and sliced it up to ready it for muddling. We also tried out tangerines and kumquats.

The greater challenge was the traditional cherry garnish. I won't allow those day-glo "cherry" abominations (Did you know they come in blue now? Egads!) into my drink. I had two jars of preserved cherries at hand however, so I pulled out one jar to give them a try. I opened my jar of Toschi Cherries of Vignola and popped one in my mouth to do a quick taste test. I spit it out almost the second it hit my tongue. These cherries are preserved in [totally crappy] alcohol. There was no cherry flavor, just an incredible sensation of alcoholic heat. Bleah. The second jar was sour cherries in syrup. We rinsed off the syrup and after a [very cautious] taste, I was happy: nice and sweet, with a lovely fresh tartness.

So these are the variations we tried, fortunately, there were all delicious (isn't research fun?):

• Rye, blood orange, cherry, sugar cube, Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel Aged bitters
• Bourbon, tangerine, cherry, simple syrup, Angostura bitters
• Brandy, kumquats, cherry, simple syrup (this one needed more a little syrup), Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel Aged bitters

Of the three, the rye version was my favorite. The brandy/kumquat option was quite interesting; the kumquats provided a bitter note that contrasted nicely with the sweetness of the brandy.

Old Fashioned
Muddle together in the bottom of a rocks glass - be gentle, you aren't making a citrus puree, just bruise the fruit well to release the aromatic oils from the peel:

• A sugar cube, soaked with several dashes of bitters and a splash of water or a teaspoon of simple syrup with several dashes of bitters
• A slice of orange or tangerine or several kumquats
• One or two fresh or preserved cherries

In an iced mixing glass, add two ounces of your chosen spirit (bourbon, whiskey, rye or brandy) and stir until well chilled.

Add fresh ice to rocks glass, pour chilled spirit over. Stir gently, to blend in the fruit flavors. Garnish, if desired, with additional citrus and cherries.

Drink of the Week: Jasmine Cocktail

We were introduced to the Jasmine by our bartender (Tara? I can't read my notes from that night.) at The Gibson in Washington, DC last week.

It's a refeshing, not-too-ginny drink. Some versions use more Campari and Cointreau (up to 1/2 ounce of each). If you're not familiar with Campari's bitterness, start at the lower end of the scale. Depending on how sweet your lemons are, you may want to add a little simple syrup to your drink. Give it two sips before you add sweetness though, you might find that your palate adjusts to the puckeriness.

BTW, The Gibson was a lovely experience. It's a "speakeasy": no signage, reservations strongly recommended, dim lighting and a fun selection of music to drink to. I suggest you try to visit if you're in the DC area. Note: They do not serve any food at this time, so don't think you'll be able to grab a munchie or two there. Fortunately, it's just off U Street, so you can hit Ben's Chili Bowl, Dukem, Next Door, or any of the many eating establishments nearby (do NOT go to the exceptionally frightening McDonald's on the corner of U and 14th - scary, and I have a pretty high threshhold for scary eating spots).

The Jasmine Cocktail
Combine in an iced cocktail shaker:

• 1 1/2 ounces gin
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice
• 1/4 ounce Cointreau
• 1/4 ounce Campari

Shake until very cold. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Drink of the Week: PDT's Bacon Old-Fashioned

Um yeah, this cocktail does contain bacon. Sort of. It actually contains bacon fat. Well ... not really. It contains bacon-infused bourbon. (Which sounds way better than fat-washed bourbon, which is another name for it. Yum.)

Read on, bourbon drinkers and bacon lovers. This is a delicious drink, although it's probably best if you don't disclose the bacon element until after your guests have taken a sip or two.

This cocktail was developed by Don Lee for PDT (Please Don't Tell), a speakeasy in Manhattan. The story of the recipe is here.

The bacon garnish is my fun little addition to the drink, it should be served with an orange twist to stay true to the original.

Bacon Old-Fashioned

Combine in an iced mixing glass:

• 2 ounces bacon-infused bourbon
• 1/4 ounce Grade-B maple syrup (or a little less, the full 1/4 ounce made for a fairly sweet drink)
• 4 dashes Angostura bitters

Stir until extremely well chilled. Strain into chilled cocktail glass and garnish with an orange twist (or a super snappy twirly bacon stick).

Making bacon-infused bourbon is ridiculously easy:

• Cook 4-5 pieces of smoked bacon (the smokier the better).
• Reserve bacon fat, let it cool.
• Eat bacon.
• Pour bacon fat into 2 cups of bourbon.
  
• After six hours, put bourbon into freezer until bacon fat solidifies.
• Lift off fat and discard.
• Strain bourbon through a fine strainer.

Drink of the Week: Indian Summer

The Indian Summer is another delightful cocktail from the Food and Wine Cocktails 2007 book. (Guess I should buy the 2008 version, huh?)

It's a play on a Manhattan that was developed by one of the owners of Freemans in New York City. I figure on a night when the forecast is calling for -3 Fahrenheit, we all deserve an Indian Summer!

Indian Summer
In an iced mixing glass, combine:

• 1 1/2 ounces bourbon
• 1 1/2 ounces Bianco vermouth

Stir until well chilled. Serve in a cocktail glass, garnished with a lemon twist.

Drink of the Week: The Paddleford

We wanted a "gin drink" tonight and thought an Aviation might fit the bill. Looking for a lemon, I glanced at the fruit basket, saw a clementine, and voila! the Paddleford was born.

Named in honor of Clementine Paddleford, a food journalist of the 40s and 50s, the Paddleford is a little sweeter than an Aviation, but one that will go into rotation for those nights when something a little gentler than a martini is called for.

The Paddleford
Add to an iced cocktail shaker:

• 2 ounces gin
• 1 ounce clementine juice
• 1/2 ounce maraschino
  
• squeeze of lemon
  

Shake until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass.

Drink of the Week: Cranberry Jack

This is a quick little riff on a Jack Rose. I thought that cranberries would make a nice substitute for lemon juice. They're certainly seasonal (and local ... to we Massachusetts dwellers). The cranberries certainly make for a beautiful drink.

Cranberry Jack
In a mixing glass, muddle together:

• handful of fresh cranberries
• 1/4 ounce of grenadine

Add ice, and then add:

• 2 ounces Applejack

Shake well to combine and chill. Double strain (through a julep and fine-meshed strainer - the cranberry seeds are small) into an iced cocktail glass. Garnish with a cranberry.

Drink of the Week: Widow's Kiss

I was introduced to The Widow's Kiss by the duo over at Married ... with Dinner. We actually drank this last week as a sort of Halloween-y treat. I thought it sounded spooky at the time.

After drinking it, I would say it's not so much spooky as sweeeeeet. I shouldn't have been surprised: apple brandy and Benedictine and Chartreuse. Wow. We tossed in a few extra dashes of bitters and that tempered the sweetness. (Does that make it a Bitter Widow's Kiss?)

I can't say it's going to go into regular rotation, but every now and then I think the good widow may make an appearance.

The Widow's Kiss

In an iced mixing glass, combine:

• 1 1/2 oz Calvados
• 3/4 oz Benedictine
• 3/4 oz yellow Chartreuse
• 2-5 dashes Angostura bitters

Stir until super cold and then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Drink of the Week: Green Velvet Cocktail

Another drink from Food and Wine Cocktails 2007. The Green Velvet was created by Rajat Parr, the wine director at Michael Mina in San Francisco. It is another drink that shows how wonderfully Chartreuse and rye work together (see the Scoff Law Cocktail for another drink that successfully pairs these two spirits).

Green Velvet Cocktail
Combine in an iced mixing glass:

• 3 ounces rye
• 2 dashes of orange bitters
• 3/4 ounce Punt Y Mes
• 3/4 ounce yellow Chartreuse

Stir until well chilled and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

Drink of the Week: Between the Sheets

When looking for cocktail inspiration, we frequently turn to the Food and Wine Cocktails book. We have the 2007 version of this annually-released cocktail guide. I recommend you pick up a copy to enhance your cocktail research. Each drink comes from a bartender and has a little blurb discussing its history. The guide is organized by spirit and we decided to make this little item from the brandy section.

Since first mixing this version of a Between the Sheets (recipe courtesy of Bin 54 in Chapel Hill, NC), I've discovered that the most common version of this drink is made with rum, not gin. Ah well, a drink for another time. A great summary of various Between the Sheets recipes can be found over at Kaiser Penguin. Give it a browse to see how small tweaks in the recipe dramatically change the final result.

In our mixed brandy drinks we use Christian Brothers. It's a small step above rotgut but works well in Sidecars, sours and the like. If you're living larger than we are, try this with Hennessy or another higher-end VS or VSOP brandy.

Between the Sheets (gin variation)
Combine in an iced cocktail shaker:

• 3/4 ounce brandy
• 3/4 ounce gin
• 3/4 ounce Cointreau
• 1/4 ounce lemon juice
• simple syrup to taste (not called for in the original recipe, but our drink was too sour, so we squirted in some syrup, maybe a 1/2 teaspoon, to smooth it out)

Shake until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon twist.

Drink of the Week: Scoff Law Cocktail

The lovely ladies of LUPEC* Boston are running a monthly column highlighting an endangered cocktail. This month's spotlight falls upon the Scoff Law Cocktail. According to Ted Haigh's book Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails, the Scoff Law was created during Prohibition in honor of those who kept their spirits (ahem) high despite the regulations.

I liked that the ladies gave us a variation in case there was no real pomegranate grenadine at hand. I did have to chuckle a wee bit though since the variation called for Green Chartreuse. In my neck of the woods, if there's no house-made grenadine at the bar, there is a snowball's chance in hell that the bar will have Chartreuse in their inventory.

Fortunately we have both in our bar so in the spirit of experimentation we made both versions. The grenadine version reminded me a little of a Jack Rose. Very drinkable, not too sweet, definitely going into rotation. The Chartreuse version had more complexity due to the herbal nature of that liqueur. Amazingly, the sweetness in this well-balanced drink was just right.

Scoff Law Cocktail
Combine in an iced cocktail shaker:

• 1 1/2 ounces rye
• 1 ounce vermouth
• 3/4 ounce grenadine (real grenadine that you or someone else made with real pomegrante juice, not Rose's)
• 3/4 lemon juice

Shake until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass.

For the Chartreuse variation substitute 3/4 ounce of Green Chartreuse for the grenadine.

* Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails. Check 'em out: LUPEC Founding Chapter, my local chapter.

Drink of the Week: Corpse Reviver, No. 1

Let's start out with the basic definition and use of corpse reviver cocktails. These were drunk as pick-me-ups or eye-openers the morning after a night of drinking. Think of them as late 19th-early 2oth century Bloody Marys or Mimosas.

There are a few recipes that survive, mainly thanks to Henry Craddock' The Savoy Cocktail Book, first published in 1930. As Mr. Craddock states in his book, "[the Corpse Reviver is] to be taken before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed."

The most popular corpse reviver variation is Corpse Reviver No. 2, which is a gin and cointreau-based drink. Thanks to Eric at the Underhill Lounge*, I learned about variation No. 1 and it looked rather nice, albeit hardly what I'd call a morning pick-me-up.

Corpse Reviver No. 1
Combine in an iced mixing glass:

• 2 ounces brandy
• 1 ounce Calvados
• 1 ounce sweet vermouth
• dash of Angostura bitters (not in the original recipe but recommended by Eric)

Stir until well chilled. Strain into cocktail glass.

* Eric is mixing every drink in The Savoy Cocktail Book, from Abbey to Zed. If you're looking for cocktail inspiration, visit the Lounge. At the time of this writing, he was up to the Dunhill Cocktail.

Drink of the Week: Basil Smash

With the summer drawing to a close (it was in the low 40s yesterday morning), I am trying cram in a few more herbed cocktails while I can still pluck fresh herbs from the garden.

This is a basil-y take on a mint julep, and since I just found a bottle of Jim Beam rye, I thought I'd try rye instead of the traditional bourbon. There's also a drink, another julep variation, we've both had (and loved) at the Eastern Standard called the Whiskey Smash. The Smash calls for lemon slices to be added in with the mint.

So here's my variation on the Mint Julep and Whiskey Smash. Both drinks are traditionally served over crushed ice. I didn't feel like pulling out the ice crusher (yes, I own one), so I took the "up" road instead.

Basil Smash

In a mixing glass, muddle together:

• 2 1/4" slices of lemon
• large sprig of basil
• 1/4 ounce of simple syrup (or 2 teaspoons sugar)
  

Add ice, and

• 2 ounces rye

Shake until very cold. Strain into a cocktail glass, garnish with a basil leaf and lemon twist.

Labor Day Coolers

If you're having folks over for a cookout this weekend, may I recommend a fun beverage?

Aguas frescas ("fresh water") are Mexican and Central American drinks that are an ideal pairing for grilled or spicy foods, especially on a hot day. Traditionally aguas frescas are made from fruit, vegetables and grains. For our discussion, I'll stick to fruit-based aguas frescas.

The technique is simple: puree cut-up fruit with with water until smooth (let your blender run for a minute at least). Add a little lemon, salt or sugar to taste. The texture should be smooth and watery - an agua fresca should be on the watery end of the spectrum, not the juicy/pulpy end. Dilute your puree with more cold water if needed to get a drinkable consistency. Serve your agua fresca very cold.

An agua fresca is an ideal way to use up dead-ripe fruit. You can also use the fruit purees you find the freezer case (Goya sells passionfruit, mango, guabana, and other exotic-to-me fruits). Some fruits (peaches, nectarines, plums) will start to brown after they've been pureed. Add extra lemon to these, but drink them the same day you make them for best visual results.

These aguas frescas are made from strawberry, plum, passionfruit and blackberry purees. Good fruits for you to try:

• Cantaloupe or Honeydew
• Peaches or Nectarines
  
• Strawberries, Blueberries, Blackberries
• Watermelon

I may be stating the obvious, but ... these drinks are wonderfully refreshing on their own, but it won't be a tragedy should some tequila or rum happen to fall into your glass.

Drink of the Week: Tomato Martini, Take Two

A few weeks ago, I made a cherry tomato martini. Since then, I've read of a few other takes on this cocktail. Inspired by Dash of Bitters, I thought I'd try a new version.

For this cocktail, you need tomato water, which you make by chopping up fresh tomatoes, putting them in a strainer and letting the liquid drain out. The liquid is tomato water.

This drink was more subtle than the one I made before. I made it with Plymouth gin because it's such a good mixing gin, and I am going to try it once more with Hendricks (I am guessing that the cucumber notes in Hendricks will marry well with the tomato).

Tomato Martini Two
Make your tomato water - for 1/2 ounce, you'll need 1 medium tomato. The draining takes a little time, so give yourself 10 minutes or so for this step.

In an iced cocktail shaker, combine:

• 3 ounces gin
• 1/2 ounce tomato water
• 1/2 ounce dry vermouth

Stir until well chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry tomato.