Tasting Spirits & Sipping Cocktails at Tales of the Cocktail 2011, Part II

When bouncing from tasting room to spirited dinner to booze-filled events at Tales of the Cocktail, New Orleans’s annual gathering of all things spirituous, one must remember to—well, we already forgot. Oh right. Keep track of all the sips that pass ones lips in order to write about it later. We've waited over a week to jot down Part II of our tasting notes, so forgive us if some information seems fuzzy. We swear we were lucid at the time.

Our friends from Piedmont Distillers, the Makers of Midnight Moon and Catdaddy Carolina Moonshines, were in town to pour their new spirit infusions of Midnight Moon aged with fruit to a very eager public. At 50% abv to extend maximum flavor from the fruits and spices allowed to rest inside the bottles, the flavors are apple pie (apples and cinnamon), cherry, and strawberry (all delicious), but we swear we tried a blackberry or blueberry one too. Sarah LeRoy and Joe Michalak were on hand to answer all our questions and get us a little liquored up before our next tasting, as was bartender/author Joel Finsel, who was sharing his apple-pie mixed drink along with his new book Cocktails and Conversations.

Our spirited dinner at GW Fins was way too long, and featured too many cocktails that did not pair well with the dishes; however, the food was exceptional, and one of our favorite cocktails was created by New Yorker Jason Littrell, who came up with Behind God’s Back. This rum and juice-based drink has a long list of ingredients (it’s allowed to, since it’s a tiki-style drink), and if you’re willing to source all the ingredients, we say go for it. It paired beautifully with chef Mike Neslon’s Spicy Vietnamese Glazed Pork Belly with Jicama Relish and Cilantro Coulis.

Behind God’s Back
(created by Jason Littrell)

Ingredients
1/4 ounce sugar cane syrup
1/4 ounce cinnamon bark syrup
1/4 ounce orgeat
1/2 ounce fresh pineapple juice
1 ounce lime juice
2 ounces Chairman’s Reserve rum
Peychaud’s bitters
Angostura bitters
sprig Israeli mint

Method
Swizzle the syrups, orgeat, pineapple juice, lime juice, and rum with crushed ice. Pour into a Pilsner glass. Top with both the bitters, and garnish with a sprig of Israeli mint.

Imbibe Magazine threw a happy hour party at the Hotel Le Marais, and luckily we were early enough to try several of the drinks on offer, by award-winning bartenders. One that surprised us, and one that we are thinking about driving to Worcester, Mass., for to visit The Citizen Wine Bar is David Delaney’s Charentes Shrub. This tall rye cooler, mixed with Earl Grey–infused Pineau des Charentes (a French aperitif made by blending cognac with a slightly fermented grape must) is topped with India Pale Ale (IPA), and garnished with a rosemary sprig and a chunk of pineapple.

We spoke about Drambuie in our last post, but neglected to print the recipes of the two diametrically opposed flavor profiles in brand ambassador Anthony Caporale’s cocktails, in which he stressed that Drambuie was the only spirit used in both. Quite a feat.

Drambuie Highland Tea
(created by Anthony Caporale)

Ingredients & Method
In a mixing tin with ice, add:

2 ounces Drambuie
2 ounces Fig-Infused Black Tea (steep 8 ounces hot water with loose-leaf Black Tea and 2 sliced Dried Figs for about 5 minutes)
1 Orange Peel, zest only (squeeze to extract oils and drop in tin)

Shake until the tin is frosted, double-strain into a martini glass, float:

1/2 ounce Lavender-Infused Cream (thicken in shaker with Dried Lavender Blossoms and double-strain over bar spoon)

Garnish with a pinch of dried lavender blossoms in center.

Drambuie Krung Thep Nail
(created by Anthony Caporale)

Ingredients & Method
In a mixing tin, press:

1/2 Bird’s Eye Chili Pepper

Add:

Ice
2 ounces Drambuie
1/2 ounce Coco Real
1 ounce Fresh Lemon Juice

Shake until the tin is frosted, strain into a tall glass filled with cubed ice. Top with Reed’s Ginger Brew, stir gently. Garnish with lemongrass spear, bird’s eye chili pepper, and ginger slice.

The Return of the Rusty Nail

Paul hearkens back to yesteryear in praise of this simple drink.

Back in the Eighties, when big hair and shoulder pads ruled supreme, as did Ronald Reagan in all his numbingly myopic splendor, I tried my first Rusty Nail. My friend Kristen waitressed at The Annex, a local basement haunt that fed and kept mirthful the hoards of Princetonians and townsfolk who hankered for a cheap drink and some cheap eats. Steak Diane was on their menu and it was the best bet, along with your typical strains of Manhattans, Martinis, and Whiskey Sours. I knew I liked bourbon—I got very drunk one night with a few friends, taking shots of Jim Beam—and Whiskey Sours were my go-to cocktail. They were sweet and sour, and they suited my taste buds just fine. Or so I thought. Kristen suggested I try a Rusty Nail when I asked for some cocktail advice one night when she was off-duty and I should have been off writing another boring lit-crit paper. “What’s in it?” “Scotch and Drambuie.” At this point on my spirituous journey, I knew that scotch tasted different than bourbon. I didn’t know what gave them their unique tastes, but I knew I liked bourbon more. “What the hell is Drambuie?” “Sweet scotch.” “Okay, I’ll give it a try.”

I remember the first sip like it was yesterday. The scotch was fine—like I’ve said, I’ve sipped on scotch before and liked it just up to a point. If that’s all there is, I’ll drink it. But this time it was different. I really took a shine to Drambuie. I found out later what it actually is: a Scottish honey- and herb-flavored liqueur made from aged malt whisky, heather honey, and naturally, a secret blend of herbs and spices. I noted while sipping how it played with the scotch, smoothing out its rough edges.

Twenty years or so later, I find myself sipping on Rusty Nails when I’m in the mood for something potent, peaty-sweet, and old-school. There’s nothing like one on a cool fall evening, perhaps in front of the first fire of the season, capping the night off with some friends with whom you’ve just shared a hearty meal.

Rusty Nail
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
2 ounces Scotch whisky
1/2 to 1 ounce Drambuie (the peatier the scotch, the more Drambuie)

Method
Stir in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass.

Drambuie has changed its bottle! Middle photo shows the new, sleeker design, which fits better on the bar shelf. The old design (bottom), though, is a classic, and will always be, for me, the quintessential.

Photo of Rusty Nail © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Two Irish Whiskey Cocktail Recipes for St. Patrick’s Day

Neither of us grew up in families that celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, with the exception of the occasional bowl of dyed green mashed potatoes at Steve’s house. And no one drank Irish whiskey. We both had to come to it later in life. It was about five years ago that Paul brought home a bottle of Jameson. It sat on the shelf for a spell before he decided to mix a cocktail with it using pears as the theme. Thinking about pears mixed with whiskey made him reach for that bottle from which poured a slightly earthy but clean taste somewhat reminiscent of a smooth blended scotch, but without all the peatiness. Jameson makes for a good mixer. It really enhances the flavors of the other ingredients in a cocktail. So Paul thought about how much he liked the sweet, peaty Drambuie–Scotch blend that makes a Rusty Nail. Why not apply the same principal to a cocktail using Irish whiskey in lieu of the Scotch, and embellish the Drambuie with 2 blasts of pear: from a liqueur, and from freshly pureed Red Bartletts. What then became the “Oh Pear” would further become the third-place winner in the USA Pears/Imbibe Magazine Pear Cocktail Contest.


Oh Pear
(created by Paul Zablocki)

Ingredients

2 ounces Irish whiskey
1 ounce pear puree (try Red Bartlett)
1/2 ounce pear liqueur (try Belle de Brillet or American Fruits)
1/2 ounce Drambuie

Method

Shake in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with pear slice, if desired.

We’re not going to lie; the Oh Pear is a strong drink, but the alcoholic strength is tempered by the sweetness of fresh pears and the incredible Bartlett richness of a good pear liqueur, such as Belle de Brillet, American Fruits, or Clear Creek. If you cannot make pear puree at home from ripe pears such as Bartlett, Comice, or Anjou, then find a pear puree that doesn’t contain added sugars and other juices, if possible. Even though we consider it a fall cocktail, there’s still enough of a chill in the air to warrant a round of Oh Pears with your friends. And if possible, you can make Cheddar Blue Fricos to pair with them. Fricos are wafer-thin lacy fried-cheese crisps you may have had using the traditional Parmesan. But we’ve embellished a bit, to go with the Oh Pear, and have blended some sharp Cheddar with a hint of blue cheese, and some herbs and spices.

So you don’t want to whip out the juicer to make an Oh Pear? Okay. Here’s an easy twist on a classic Manhattan that brings a big Erin-Go-Bragh grin to our faces. Irish eyes are smiling this month with a forgotten classic, the Paddy Cocktail. What better way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day than a cocktail named after an Irishman. When you first bring a Paddy Cocktail to your lips, you’ll smell the caramel, with hints of vanilla and cherry. The first taste will prove that you weren’t imagining the aroma, and it will bring you back to the holidays . . . as if you were drinking a whiskey-soaked cake. It’s perfect before or after your meal, or both if you’re St. Patrick’s Day revels are happening at home or close to a cab (it’s a strong drink, after all). The Paddy Cocktail is now one of our favorites, and it’s a great addition to your Irish whiskey cocktail repertoire.


Paddy Cocktail
(adapted from Mr. Boston’s Official Bartender’s Guide)

Ingredients

1 1/2 ounces Irish whiskey (try Jameson)
1 1/2 ounces Carpano Antica (a sweet vermouth from Italy)
1 dash Angostura bitters

Method

Stir in ice for 30 seconds and strain into chilled coupe or cocktail glass. (If you cannot find Carpano Antica, just use your favorite sweet vermouth.) Bottoms up!

photos © Cocktail Buzz