Crème de Violette Cocktails for Your Springtime Party

The Blue Moon Cocktail will brighten up your cocktail party with its sweet and sour combination of lemon and violets. 

Finally, spring is here. Warm caresses from the sun. The dewy luminescence from springtime light. Rainbow beauty from early-riser flowers such as crocuses, hyacinths, and daffodils. Just walking to the subway brings exquisite joy. This is the time of year when our taste buds turn to floral favors. One such flavor we revere comes from violets in the form of a deep, almost impenetrable purple liqueur called crème de violette. The term crème refers to sugar, and there is plenty of that in pretty much the only crème de violette you can get stateside, Rothman & Winter, which is also made with Alpine violets and Weinbrand (German or Austrian brandy). It became available to us here soon after we started Cocktail Buzz, back in 2007, and we have been smitten with it ever since. Initially, we bought some to fulfill the old recipe for an Aviation cocktail. It’s hard to fathom how this cocktail got its name without the addition of a little crème de violette, which adds a subtle but magical pale purple–blue tint to the drink. It’s a stunner—sourness from the lemon juice, bitterness from the maraschino liqueur, and sweetness from the crème de violette. We created a variation of the Aviation we call the Kitty Hawk, named after the Wright Brothers’ site of their famous flight. The addition of a little Catdaddy moonshine adds a southern sweet-tea charm to the cocktail. On its own, one sip of crème de violette will remind you instantly of violet candies you can find at any candy counter in New York City.

A Violet Sparkler, simple and beautiful

For all of you who like to get the party started with a little bubbly, you’ll be happy to know that crème de violette mixes exceedingly well with champagne or any sparkling wine. Just a little splash (1/2 to 1 1/2 teaspoon per 3 ounces of champagne) in a flute or coupe is all you need to experience the floral aromas and tastes of a Violet Sparkler. Top with some reposado tequila and you’ve just made yourself La Violeta. Something elegant for a Cinco de Mayo cocktail party.

Cousin Barbara turned us on to the Blue Moon, a gin and lemon juice Jazz Era cocktail laced with a healthy dose of the violet liqueur. The Blue Moon glows anywhere between heliotrope and lavender depending on the gin you use (try several to see which one you like best), and is perfect for any time of year, but spring seems just about right. Perfect if you want to serve something a little boozier to your guests. Just provide a few nibbles to keep the partiers satisfied and sober.

Blue Moon
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce crème de violette
1/2 ounce lemon juice
lemon twist, as garnish

Method
Shake in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass or coupe. Add garnish.

Another cocktail resplendent with a smoky gray hue was created a few years back, when Phil Ward was behind the stick at Death & Co. Paul and his friend Shelley were lucky enough to have Phil make one up on the spot while we were talking about a cocktail Paul had made for his mom that featured scotch and crème de violette. Phil grabbed a bottle of this Compass Box blended whisky called Asyla, gave it a deep sniff, then immediately grabbed a bottle of crème de violette, gave that a quick sniff, then put both bottles near his nose and gave both a deep inhale. The first thing he grabbed was Lillet blanc. The clincher was absinthe, but just a little. The verdict, well, neither Shelley or Paul can recall the exact details, but rest assured, they liked the results. Each ingredient working to enhance the others. Try it up, as Phil intended, but feel free to have it on the rocks, or with a splash of soda.


Smoke and Violets
(created by Phil Ward)

Ingredients
2 ounces Asyla Compass Box scotch whisky
1 ounce Lillet blanc
1/2 ounce crème de violette
2–3 dashes absinthe
lemon twist, as garnish

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass or coupe. Add garnish.

For after dinner, you may want a Marianne at Midnight, the drink referred to above that Paul created for his mother. We’ve altered our recipe a little, adding a half ounce less crème de violette, to this scotch and Tuaca sipper.

If you’d like to harvest the essence of crème de violette and create a bitters, all you need to do is find some gentian (a bitter root), cinnamon bark, and grapefruit peel. Letting these age a few days in an ounce and a half ounces crème de violette is all you need to do. Then get creative and come up with your very own cocktail.

Violet Bitters
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces crème de violette
1/4 teaspoon gentian
piece of cinnamon bark
piece of grapefruit peel

Method
Mix together ingredients and let sit for a few days. Strain into a small bottle or dropper.

We don’t know which is prettier: the heliotrope glow of a Blue Moon (left) or the bubbly lavender of a Violet Sparkler? We think you should make both and decide for yourself.

Well, there you have it all. A crème de violette cocktail for any time of the day or evening. Start with a Violet Sparkler and end with one of the many drinks we love and have shared with you. Or create your own using your new homemade violet bitters. Happy spring. Embrace renewal.

photo © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

The Simplicity of Preparing Warmed Olives, Paired with Vesper Cocktails

Warmed olives, seasoned with herbs and spices, pair well with dry gin and vodka cocktails.

Steve was inspired to reinvestigate Alice Waters’s renowned “warm olives with thyme” recipe in The Art of Simple Food when he sipped his first Vesper cocktail. So after taste-testing her recipe side-by-side with this classic drink, he decided to toss in a few more ingredients to her mix, and lower the Vesper’s alcohol content by using less gin.

His additions worked magic. Warmed ever so gently in a bath of herbs and spices, these olives deliver a punch of flavor thanks to the interplay of thyme, cumin, and red pepper flakes. They’re addictive on their own. But paired with a cocktail like the Vesper [SEE RECIPE BELOW], or a Martini if you feel so inclined, the hint of citrus infused in the warmed olive oil brings all the flavors together and makes for a piquant pairing with strong drinks.

And the most beautiful thing about this recipe is its ease. In the minutes it takes to meld all the flavors, you can stir up some trouble at the bar and mix some ice-cold cocktails. The olives will be ready as your guests raise a toast.

Warmed Olives
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups mixed olives
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, quartered
3 sprigs thyme
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
citrus peel (lemon or orange, or both)

Method
Rinse olives thoroughly, drain, and let dry. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a skillet over medium–low heat. Add all the ingredients and mix until coated with oil. Warm for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pairings
Pairing Warmed Olives with cocktails seems easy at the outset, but olives have a way of making sweet cocktails taste, well, not so good. Our advice: Stick with savory cocktails, and those employing gin or vodka as their base. Our favorite is the Vesper, made famous by Ian Fleming in Casino Royale, his first James Bond 007 book. Gin is the main ingredient, followed by vodka, then Lillet blanc, a winy, lightly herbal quinquina (an aperitif that has quinine as an ingredient). If you use a variety of olives, you’ll notice that each one brings out a different flavor note in the cocktail. Your taste buds will thank you.

Meet the Vesper, James Bond’s preferred cocktail in Casino Royale.

Vesper
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
2 ounces gin (Plymouth is a good gin to start with)
1 ounce vodka
1/2 ounce Lillet blanc
orange peel, for garnish

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into well chilled cocktail glass. Add orange peel.

A Note on the Twist
For the Vesper, we like to take a firm orange and use a standard vegetable peeler to get a nice wide garnish for the cocktail. Make sure to peel the orange over the Vesper to impart the oils from its rind. Lemon works just as well if you don’t have any oranges handy.

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION

To read more and watch our video pairing Warmed Olives with the Vesper cocktail, click here.

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Louis Royer “Force 53” Cognac Makes Its Mark in NYC

A bee, symbolizing the natural world, is the perfect logo for Louis Royer Cognac. For M Royer, it was a symbol of “diligence, an efficient and lively organization, and regional and craftsman work.” We like bees as well.

Last week we were invited to a Cognac tasting at New York City’s Daniel, the Michelin three-star restaurant led by the esteemed chef Daniel Boulud. Master Selector Jérôme Royer and Master Blender Laurent Robin from the award-winning Louis Royer Cognac distillers flew in from Jarnac, France, to regale 75 of us with the history of the Louis Royer company. They also offered us tastings of three Louis Royer cognac expressions, including its latest, “Force 53º,” a high-proof cognac developed especially for the American market, and a total of nine different Force 53º cocktails, created by local bar chefs.

It was our first time at Daniel, and the mood was decidedly festive. Four different cocktail stations were set up in the front dining rooms as mixologists whipped up their creations and waiters passed by with tiny bites of fish and other tasty hors d’oeuvres. Barman Jason Littrell, who was standing in for an absent mixologist Jonathan Pogash (he was busy becoming a new dad—congrats, Jonathan!), offered us each a Commes les Français, a champagne and Force 53º cocktail, mixed with a little Combier Liqueur d’Orange, Lillet blanc, and passion fruit juice, and a rinse of pastis. A lot of ingredients? Yes. But bewitching, indeed. It was the perfect way to start the evening. After about a half hour of sipping and chit-chat (Paul met the lovely Eleanor West from Food Republic, the brainchild Web site from chef Marcus Samuelsson, that caters to men’s taste), we were ushered into the private dining room where we parked ourselves at a table with some of the most delightful ladies on the planet: Jen Pelka, managing Editor of Gilt Taste, and Whitney Chen, also of Gilt Taste, and a current Food Network Food Star finalist.


Four of the nine or so “Force 53” cocktails. This photo reminds us of an old-school paper cocktail menu. Bottoms up!

A collective insobriety hung over the event once we were seated and the gentlemen from Louis Royer began their chats. Jérôme Royer, a fifth-generation distiller, charmed us as he gushed about the family business. “My blood is cognac,” he added before guiding us through tasting his VSOP Preférence and XO expressions, along with the Force 53º. All were incredibly smooth (water had been added to each to open them up), and elicited aahs throughout the room. We could tell right away that the Force 53º would be an excellent base for cocktail creations, and the bar chefs on hand crafted some beautifully redolent and tasty concoctions. Hands down our favorite offering by Jonathan Pogash was his Spice Is Nice, a rocks drink made with Force 53º, Cinnamon Syrup (courtesy of Trader Tiki), some ginger syrup, and some lime juice. What made the drink so special was not its first few sips (which had us hooked), but the garnish: a lime wheel dusted with cayenne that lay perched above the drink. When tipped, the cayenne added a new layer that was surprisingly tasty, without being too spicy.


Three Expressions of Louis Royer Cognac (from left: VSOP Préférence, VSOP “Force 53,” and XO).

As sipping continued, we discovered that Whitney used to be a total science geek (a lot of chefs have admitted to being science geeks—cooking has a definite geek factor that appeals to us); and also that Jen used to be a chef at Daniel. After more getting to know each other and four new cocktails to try, she offered us a dip into the kitchen. We quickly followed her into the heart of Daniel. To behold the hive-like activity that awaited us behind the doors was exciting and entertaining. If you would indulge us with an oxymoron here, a bustling calm canopied the chefs as their hands and tools worked in harmony to make click-clacks on the wood and stainless, and the penetrating gaze of their eyes focused on the final touches of the courses they prepared. The celadon glow of the tiles that line the walls perhaps added to this mood.

Thanks to Hanna Lee from Hanna Lee Communications for the invitation. She brought together formidable talent from all over the world to a magical place in the heart of the great City of New York.

Commes les Français
(created by Jonathan Pogash)

Ingredients
1 ounce Louis Royer “Force 53” cognac
1/2 ounce Combier orange liqueur
1/2 ounce Lillet blanc
1/2 ounce Boiron passion fruit juice
rinse of pastis
2 ounces champagne
lemon peel, as garnish.

Method
Add ingredients to mixing glass with ice and gently fold. Strain into chilled champagne flute that has been rinsed with pastis, and top off with extra champagne. Add lemon peel garnish.

Spice Is Nice
(created by Jonathan Pogash)

Ingredients
2 ounces Louis Royer “Force 53” cognac
1/2 ounce Trader Tiki Cinnamon Syrup
1/2 ounce ginger syrup (from the Ginger People)
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
lime wheel dusted in cayenne pepper, as garnish

Method
Shake ingredients well in ice and strain into an ice-filled old fashioned glass. Add garnish.


Waiters and Chefs, at Daniel, NYC.


Pastry Chef, at Daniel, NYC.


The Kitchen at Daniel, NYC.

All photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Tequila Fever, courtesy of a new Cocktail Buzz video, and Death and Co.

El Zete Cocktail, paired with Chorizo Sobres.

The Marianne at Midnight.

So check out our new cocktail/appetizer–pairing video on Cocktail Buzz, our Web site. We created a new tequila cocktail (for Paul’s dad) called El Zete (see prior post) with a complex array of flavors that uses two quinquinas (Lillet blanc and Dubonnet rouge), the spicy, bittersweet Bénédictine, and some orange bitters and lemon juice. Who says Margaritas are the only summertime tequila drink? And to go with El Zete, we created a flavor-senastion appetizer we call Chorizo Sobres. It’s a bite-sized wollop of smoked chorizo sausage, peaches, and scallions, all wrapped in a wonton, and deep-fried delicious. We also created another special cocktail called the Marianne at Midnight (for Paul’s mom), a gorgeous blend of scotch, crème de Violette, and Tuaca, and you can check that out too on the same video.

And speaking of tequila, we visited Joaquin Simo, one of our favorite mixologist–bartenders, at Death and Company last week, introducing our LA friend, David Quantic (who was in town working on a documentary) to the blessed watering hole. The tequila cocktails that Joaquin crafted for us were varied in their flavor profiles, as well as their architecture. David started with a Sarramago (a drink named after the Noble Prize–winning novelist) that was kissed with the beguiling sweetness of St-Germain elder-flower liqueur. He followed that with a blastingly spicy jalapeño-infused tequila cocktail that he drank with gusto. If you’ve never been to Death and Co. (in the East Village), you must go; and if you have been before, you must return, because the mixologists and chefs there have created a new cocktail menu, with some of the old favorites, but a whole array of new concoctions to tickle your mind.

And speaking of mind-tickling cocktails, we stopped at Indochine last week on Lafayette for a quick drink. Chris, the bartender was happy when Steve ordered the Black and Blue, one of his cocktails he created “one day when I was bored.” Well, sometimes ennui brings out the best in people, and the Black and Blue is a sweet and tangy mix of rye, Chambourd raspberry liqueur, fresh muddle berries, among other things. If you see Chris at Indochine, tell him we told you to park yourselves at the bar and whip you up his bruiser of a cocktail.

On a side note, Dumante Verdenoce, who makes Dumante pistachio liqueur, responded very quickly to our concerned bout the cork they used in their product. While we were shooting our Universe video with the lovely Paige Turner and Gracie Mansion, the cork broke and bits fell into the liqueur. Alas, we couldn’t use their fancy bottle in the video. So we wrote them our concern and they immediately got back to us and told us that they are now using a more reliable cork. So do go out and get some Dumante and try a Universe today! It's an amazing liqueur, not unlike amaretto in its nutty sweetness, but a flavor all its own. It’s crazy-good with ice cream as well.

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz