Monday, February 25, 2013

Lavender Cocktails for Any Time of Day

Lavender imparts a one-of-a-kind taste sensation to cocktails, like the Bloody Lavender, above.

Got the winter blues? Here’s an exercise that may help. Imagine a field of lavender in bloom. Waves and waves of delicate purple buds, clustered atop frosted green leaves. You hear the wind gently rustle the leaves. Inhale and you can catch a whiff of its sweet, clean redolence. Nothing else in the world smells quite like it.

Or tastes quite like it, for that matter. When used in appropriate amounts, and mixed with just the right partner, lavender takes on a flavor that’s gently warming, filling your palate with a roundness that should remind you of a confection dissolving in your mouth. It should not taste soapy. If it does, you’ve either used too much in your recipe, or your taste buds just won’t tolerate the flavor, and never will. We’d like to think your aversion, if you have one, stems from the former. You want lavender to taste mildly floral and sweet, never harsh or bitter.

Grow lavender in the summer, when it’s in season, or, if you have good light, indoors throughout the year. Use the dried leaves and buds as you would any herb. During nongrowing seasons, you can find lavender buds in spice jars at higher-end grocery stores and specialty shops. If you don’t see it at your grocery store, and you don’t feel like traipsing across town, ask your vendor to stock it.

We use lavender in many expressions, especially in infusions and syrups. Infusing vodka or reposado tequila with lavender allows you to be extra-creative at your home bar, and using lavender-infused simple syrup can bring all the ingredients of a drink together for that special one-of-a-kind flavor. If you’re lucky, you may find artisinal lavender syrup at your purveyor of exotic foods. If so, buy some to see how you like it compared to the stuff you’re about to make.

Lavender-Infused Vodka*

Ingredients
1 750ml bottle vodka
3 tablespoons dried lavender buds or leaves

Method
In an airtight container, add vodka and lavender. (Rinse bottle and set aside, making sure not to throw away the cap.) Let infuse for up to 5 days, shaking it up every day and tasting it to see if it’s done enough for your taste buds. It should not taste too concentrated. Strain, through cheesecloth, back into original bottle and label “lavender vodka.”

* You can use another neutral spirit, such as unflavored moonshine, but if you really want to wake up your palate, the inherent depth and spiciness of reposado tequila pairs beautifully with lavender. Just substitute the same amount.

Lavender Simple Syrup

Ingredients
1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup dried lavender buds or leaves

Method
Add water and sugar to a small saucepan. Gently crush lavender with a mortar and pestle (your fingers will do in a pinch) and add to saucepan. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so that sugar fully dissolves. Allow to cool for several hours, or overnight. Strain through cheesecloth into a sterile jar with a lid. May be kept in the refrigerator for up to a month.

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Now it’s time to make some cocktails. For something simple, put about a teaspoon of lavender syrup in a champagne flute, then top with about 5 ounces of champagne. That will give you an idea of how lavender flavors alcohol. It’s an elegant way to start a cocktail or dinner party. But, if you’re more adventurous, we have a few drinks we think you’ll make a permanent part of your cocktail repertoire.

Lavender Blue Dilly Dilly
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

The lavender Blue Dilly Dilly is a take on the classic Manhattan Cocktail with a flamed orange peel bringing all the flavors together.

Ingredients
2 ounces bourbon
1 scant ounce Dubonnet rouge
1 teaspoon lavender syrup
dash Angostura bitters
orange peel

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass or coupe. Express orange peel through a match flame by holding the match over the drink and, with your other hand, in one quick, sharp squeeze, pinch the peel (outside of peel facing the match) so the oils spurt through the flame, causing a gentle flare-up. Then gently rub the outside of the peel around the rim and drop into the glass. (Feel free to try this drink on the rocks in a rocks glass.)

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Lavendel (aka Hermione Wallflower)
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

The Lavendel (German for lavender) may be the perfect brunch cocktail. It’s a riff on the classic Harvey Wallbanger.

Ingredients
1/2 ounce honey liqueur (Bärenjäger, a German honey liqueur, works perfectly here)
1 1/2 ounces lavender-infused vodka*
5 ounces fresh-squeezed tangelo juice, strained (you can use orange or tangerine juice, as well)

Method
In a highball glass, add the lavender-infused vodka and tangelo juice. Fill 2/3 with ice. Stir for 30 seconds. Float Bärenjäger Honey Liqueur on top. Add straw, if you so desire, but sipping is preferred as you will end your imbibing with a nice honey kiss.

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Bloody Lavender
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

After dinner, you may want to serve some shortbread [CLICK THE LINK FOR OUR LAVENDER SHORTBREAD RECIPE], or a cheese plate. That’s where the Bloody Lavender comes into play. The scotch rinse adds depth, as do the drops of Peychaud’s bitters that float at the top, giving the cocktail its name. If you want a Bloody Lavender before dinner, just double the recipe (except for the scotch).

Ingredients
1 ounce lavender-infused vodka
1/4–1/2 ounce Licor 43, or other vanilla liqueur
4–6 drops Peychaud’s bitters
1/4 ounce single-malt scotch

Method
Rinse a chilled cocktail glass or coupe with scotch, swirling a few times, then discarding. (There should be a small amount left at the bottom of the glass.) Stir lavender-infused vodka and vanilla liqueur in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into the glass. Add bitters one drop at a time.

photo © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Monday, February 11, 2013

Kir Royales To Jump-Start Your Valentine’s Day

Two Kir Royales, made with champagne and crème de cassis, will pave the way for a romantic Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day presents a conundrum: How best do I spend this most romantic of evenings with the one I love? We think a lot about this abstraction we call ROMANCE, and how it relates to Valentine’s Day. We start with flowers, quickly followed by chocolates and other confections accompanied by a champagne toast, then follow that with drinks and dinner out, then follow that with a nightcap back home, then follow that with the most mind-blowing sex we’ve ever had. Phew. With that itinerary, we got exhausted during dinner. If this is not how you want to misspend this Valentine’s Day, pay attention.

All you need to do is follow these two simple rules, and you too can achieve bliss this February 14.

1. Champagne, or any sparkling wine, is aphrodisiacal.

The act of pouring bubbles into a slender flute, one with a little black currant liqueur pooled at the bottom, creates total sensory satisfaction. The smell immediately infects you with its luscious fruit. The bubbles pop in a continuous hush, leaving trails that rise to the surface, as if on a constant gif loop. Some escape the flute in a pointed arc, bursting on your thumb and fingers. These sensations are surpassed only by the anticipation of the night ahead. You make a toast, raise the flute to your lips, feel the tiny pulsating bubbles tickle your lips. Since bubbles allow for faster absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream, you may begin to feel euphoric after a few sips. This in turn will make your date’s eyes sparkle, their beams piercing you with the power of love.

More important, impressing your amor with a champagne-based cocktail shows that you went the extra step instead of just decanting.

Kir Royale
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1/4–1/2 ounce crème de cassis (black currant liqueur)*
at least 5 ounces champagne
lemon twist or peel, as garnish (optional)

Method
Pour crème de cassis into champagne flute. Fill with chilled champagne. Add garnish, if using.

* Pierre-Marie Chermette maxes a kick-ass crème de cassis. With a deep, almost tannic fruitiness in both aroma and taste, this black currant liqueur makes bubbly even livelier.

Variations
If you and your partner are not fans of crème de cassis, you can substitute any other liqueur, really, to create your own bubbly cocktail.

Other Light & Bubbly Cocktails
Violet Sparkler (crème de violette)
Bird Nest (blue curaçao, with a splash of tequila)
Sofia Mimosa with Galliano
Passion Fruit Bellini

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So, you’ve followed the first rule and are scoring high marks on the romance meter. To score even higher marks, you must obey the next rule:

2. Do not go out for dinner.

If you’ve been there/done that, you know that dinner out on Valentine’s Day sucks. That unnerving get-em-in-get-em-out mentality is palpable upon entry, the menu is usually a slimmed-down version of the actual bill of fare, and servers are constantly being reminded that they have to work like yoked oxen while watching you and your date ocularly undress each other.

Anyway, champagne is cheaper at home.

So, stay in and have a few hors d’oeuvres prepared that aren’t too taxing and will provide a nice accompaniment to that second Kir Royale you’re about to make for your date/mate.

Hors d’Oeuvres Suggestions
Deviled Quail Eggs
Kale Chips
Spiced Nuts
Stuffed Mushrooms
Cheddar Blue Fricos

If you get hungry after lovemaking, there’s always delivery.

photo ©Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Cocktail Buzz Twelve Favorite Things of 2012

“Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”  
— “A Christmas Dinner,” Charles Dickens
Old mixing guides, cocktail pamphlets, and cookbooks can be the inspiration for your your next cocktail party.

Well after New Years’ midnight chimes had run their course, and all the festivities of “Holiday” had evaporated into the wintry night, we sat back with our favorite cocktail, the Manhattan, and reflected over the year. We asked each other, “Dear, what were some of your favorite things throughout 2012?” Limiting ourselves to the realm of the kitchen and bar, we compiled a list of twelve things (one for every month of the year) that gave us quite a lot of pleasure. Hopefully, our descriptions of these lovely indulgences will induce immediate sal[i]vation, followed by a trip to the grocery, liquor store, App store, and Tucson.

1. Vintage Cookbooks, Culinary Magazines, and Product Pamphlets

The simple act of reflecting on the year triggered in us a sense of nostalgia, churning up memories from way way back in time. A simpler, more “vintage-y” time, if you will. We both grew up rummaging through old barns and antique shops, beginning what would become our lifetime collection of objets. In the same way we mine thrift stores for a whimsical tableware pattern, we now scour old cookbooks for the recipes to fill those vintage dishes. And not just old cookbooks. We’re certain, if you raid Mom’s (or Grandpa’s) attic, you’ll come across some yellowed, faded promotional pamphlets for, say, Bacardi or Arrow cordials, or recipes for the family’s venerable standing mixer. These searches aren’t just physical acts: In pining for the past, we seem to be searching for an era when food wasn’t processed, but actual, real food — when the ingredient list on packaging consisted of five ingredients or less [see Favorite Thing No. 3, for more on this].

Making the following Mexican-inspired dip from an old compilation of Food and Wine recipes is a healthy alternative to buying a prepackaged one. Yes, it takes a wee bit of time, but less than a Cooking Channel episode.

Pumpkin Seed Dip
(adapted from The Best of Food and Wine, 1984)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (8 ounces) hulled, unsalted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3/4–1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
hot pepper sauce, to taste (we like Cholula Hot Sauce, Original)
3/4–1 teaspoon salt (depending on saltiness of hot sauce)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 scallions, thinly sliced

Method
In a small skillet, over medium heat, cook the pumpkin seeds until they pop and turn golden brown, stirring occasionally (2–3 minutes). Add seeds to a blender and puree until finely ground. Meanwhile, heat oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Pour oil and garlic into blender. Add 3/4 cup chicken broth and lime juice, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Puree, scraping down the sides occasionally. If the mixture is too thick, add broth one tablespoon at a time, and puree until it achieves desired consistency. (We like it as smooth as possible, but not runny.) Transfer dip to a serving bowl, cover, and chill, or serve immediately, garnished with scallions.

Further Exploration 
Our friends and fellow travelers Paul and Noah love exploring the past, as is evidenced by their excellently curated Web site, The Way We Ate. We share their love of Gourmet Magazine, once considered the nonpareil of culinary monthlies. And speaking of monthlies . . . .

2. iPad Magazines

Behold the iPad. It costs more than most people’s weekly salary, but, honey, when it does a job right, you repeatedly thank your lucky stars for every penny you plunked down for this precious jewel. Magazines that have taken full advantage of its techno capabilities, such as linking, pop-ups, alternate views, videos, and nonlinear page-turning, stand out as the best. Our favorites right now are Bon Appétit, Martha Stewart Living, and Whole Living. One of the recipes we keep returning to in Whole Living is for an unusual toasted muesli with coconut, pistachios, cranberries, and millet (a mild-tasting, old-world, protein-rich cereal grass). Once it’s jarred, it never lasts the week.

Further Exploration 
For a nonculinary change of pace, try Architectural Digest on the iPad. It’ll blow your mind with its alternate room views and one-click captions, and trigger real estate envy. Don’t take it to bed with you or you may stay up all night.

3. Healthy and New Alternatives

When our five-year-old godson Cole shouted to the heavens, “I hate quinoa,” before a sumptuous dinner of his mom’s chicken tagine, we couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Here was a five-year-old (five-year-old!) who knew not only what quinoa was, but knew he did not like it. (It is considered health food after all, the bane of many a child.) Luckily for us, and everyone else at the table, we do like quinoa.

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) are seeds from an annual herb found in the Andean highlands, and are considered a complete protein, providing us all nine essential amino acids necessary to keep us happy and healthy. Use it in lieu of rice or couscous. Its light, fluffy texture takes well to sauces, and its nuttiness complements so many flavor profiles. Just make sure when you buy it, and the package does not read presoaked, you must do the soaking yourself or the results will be a tad bitter.

Another trendy and healthy (but delicious) favorite this past year is kale, in all its forms. Curly, Tuscan (aka Lacinato or dinosaur), rape, Jersey. Once relegated to the lowly position of salad-bar filler, it’s now esteemed not only for its bittersweet flavor, but for its health properties. It appears that some of its chemical compounds can block the growth of cancer cells and help boost DNA repair. Not bad for something we used to not give a second thought to. Dan Barber, the highly respected Blue Hill Farm chef, celebrates this leafy green in his recipe for kale chips. For extra credit, you can infuse beets in vodka in preparation for a cocktail that pairs perfectly with these crispy leafy delights.

Kale Chips
(adapted from a recipe by Dan Barber, Bon Appétit, February 2009)

Ingredients
12 large Tuscan kale leaves, rinsed, dried, cut lengthwise in half, center ribs and stems removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
pepper

Method
Preheat oven to 250°F. Toss kale with oil in large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange leaves in single layer on 2 large baking sheets. Bake until crisp, about 30 minutes for flat leaves and up to 33 minutes for wrinkled leaves. Transfer leaves to rack to cool.

Ruby
(adapted from a recipe by Lucy Brennan, Hip Sips)

Ingredients
3 ounces beet-infused vodka*
1/2 ounce fresh lemon-lime juice (half lemon juice, half lime juice, both fresh-squeezed)
1/2 ounce simple syrup**

Method
Shake in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass.

*Beet-Infused Vodka:
3 red beets (1 1/2 pounds), trimmed, peeled, and cut into quarters
1 bottle (1 liter) vodka (Lucy recommends Monopolowa)

Put the beets in a wide-mouthed glass jar with a lid. Add the vodka and seal the container (reserve the vodka bottle for refilling.) The mixture will immediately turn a bright ruby color. Store in a cool dark place for three days, stirring each day. The infused vodka will be a deep purple color with a strong, earthy beet taste. Using a slotted spoon, remove and discard the beets. Place a funnel in the reserved vodka bottle and pour the infused vodka into the bottle. Cap and store in the refrigerator for up to six months.

**  To make simple syrup, dissolve 1 cup sugar in 1 cup water in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Let cool. Transfer to an airtight container. May be refrigerated for up to a month.

Further Exploration 
Kale chips also pair well with an Americano [see Favorite Thing No. 12, for the recipe].

4. Fast-Food Favorites at Home

BLT & Egg Sandwich
It’s hard to ignore cravings. We’d be lying if we told you we ate healthy all the time. After all, we are cocktail people, and everyone knows bacon goes so well with a lot of the drinks we make. So when we need to take a break from the salubrious, we make real-food alternatives to the fast food that’s been detrimentally mutating our genes for the past five decades or so. For breakfast, there’s the poached egg (or neutral oil–fried egg) on English muffin with natural cheddar and uncured bacon we love to make, slathered in mayonnaise, with crispy lettuce. A hybrid Egg McMuffin–BLT, if you please.

Homemade Big Mac
For a weekend late lunch with friends, we’ve been know to build a sandwich made with two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions, piled on a three-tiered sesame-seed bun. Executive Chef Dan Coudreaut from McDonald’s Canada shows you how to make a homemade Big Mac. We like to grind our own meat, though, since it is much healthier than the big agribusiness pre-ground beef sold in most supermarkets. Try a ratio of 2/3 sirloin steak to 1/3 skirt, hangar, or flank steak. 50/50 works well too. Remember, a little fat here is important since the patties are so thin.

Another favorite sandwich that has caused big controversy is a certain chicken sandwich you can find at a chain restaurant known for its donations to antigay causes. So instead of us haranguing you for patronizing this establishment, which is desperately and pathetically trying to prevent us from achieving the rights we gay American citizens deserve fully, you can make your own. The lovely and informal Hilah will show you how to make a Chik Fil-Gay.

Now that we’ve finally gotten your attention with these three sandwiches, you must remember that balance is key. Do not make these every day. Have a salad with dark leafy greens, such as kale, instead. Balance is also the key to our next favorite thing . . . .

5. Rums with Lime

For many years we eschewed rum. Not because we don’t like it. On the contrary, its an ingredient in some of our favorite cocktails. Rather, we feared it. So many choices in a dizzying array of categories: light, dark, amber, aged, spiced, agricole. Well, this year, we finally took the plunge and focused on balancing one our favorite flavor combos, rums and fresh limes, in two cocktails: the Mojito [photo right] and the Daiquiri. Limes give you an aliveness in a drink, especially when you muddle them to release the essential oils in the peel. Add some rum, especially light (or white) rum, and the aroma begins to take you on a journey of nirvanic bliss. Plus, adding lime juice makes rum easier to pair with food. Think about how a TV chef will advise you to add citruses and vinegars to a dish so that the acids will commingle with the other ingredients, thus melding flavors that’ll make your taste buds scream with excitement.

Further Exploration 
We’ve recently discovered the joys of spiced rum, a dark amber–colored rum predominantly flavored by vanilla bean and caramel, but, depending on the brand, you can detect a host of other spices. Our recent favorites have been Shellback and BlackBeard. Shellback is smoother at 80 proof, and mixes well with sodas and lime juice. BlackBeard is higher in proof with more insistent flavors.

6. Chef Addam Buzzalini, Maynards Market & Kitchen

Chef Addam Buzzalini (love the
name) with Paul, at Maynards
Market & Kitchen, Tucson.
Chefs and Bartenders, as you already know, are the current celebrities. When we patronize a well-regarded restaurant, we try to obtain a seat at the bar to watch the bartender work her magic, and hope to catch a glimpse of the chef as he scans the dining room, trying to analyze his guests’ levels of contentment. With the proliferation of shows like Top Chef and Chopped, and the popularity of the Food Network and Cooking Channel, these men and women, who have dedicated endless hours of truly back-breaking labor to delight your senses, deserve the praise and notoriety they’ve been receiving.

On our recent and brief trip to Tucson, Arizona, we scanned the Internet for the perfect place to have a fresh and seasonal dinner with drinks, and decided that Maynards Market & Kitchen would fit the bill nicely. A long well-stocked bar on one side of the room balanced the relatively small and comfortably chic sunken dining room, which overlooked the railway station with its full-sized windows. It was a chilly desert evening, and two Maynards Manhattans warmed us up instantly. The meal was exquisite: formidably crafted, redolent and sapid with the late-fall flavors of apple, fennel, pomegranate. We licked our plates of oysters, foie gras, scallops, and butter lettuce clean. We asked Robert our server if we could call upon Chef Addam Buzzalini to prepare a special multicourse birthday dinner, paired with cocktails, for Paul on the following night. Chef Addam was completely game, and when we arrived the following night, 8:00PM sharp, we ran into him before entering the building. “I hope you both are hungry,” he said with a devilish grin, as we opened the door and were whisked to our table.

Foie gras sous vide paired with an infused apple brandy cocktail.

Sous vide duck, paired with
Bulleit rye Manhattans
We immediately hit it off with Alana, our server (the waitstaff is beyond excellent). She assured us that the kitchen and bar were buzzing with excitement at the prospect of creating new dishes, each with a cocktail pairing, and that Chef would come out with each course to explain what he and his staff created. All in all, we had six courses. Raw oysters topped with a piquant bloody mary–style tapenade paired beautifully with a specially prepared bacon fat–washed vodka rocks cocktail that was hard to put down. (We knew we had five more to go, so we decided to take sips.) Sous vide foie gras bathed in a gastrique of pomes and berries melted in the mouth as it was washed down by an apple brandy cocktail that was so layered, we cannot for the life of us remember what those layers were. The charred endive and stinky cheese with pear sauce naturally paired with a cocktail of pear-infused armagnac and Belle de Brillet pear liqueur. That was followed by a to-die-for sous vide duck over a bed of pear and lentils and a side of red beets and root veggie crisps. Pairing this with one of our favorite cocktails, a Bulleit rye Manhattan, was dangerous. By this point, we could only muster a few sips (we had a little drive back to the hotel), and knew that we needed to pare down our pairings. The fifth course was an oxymoronic study in simple excess: steak au poivre paired with stout laced with a shot of espresso. By this point, our bellies were begging us to stop, but one cannot stop when there’s dessert coming.

The glow of these pear-centric cocktails beckoned us with their redolent allure.

Grapefruit tart and dark chocolate
bark with hazelnuts
We managed to save a little room for the insanely flavorful vanilla custard tart crowned with sweet-tart candied grapefruit, plus a generous side of dark chocolate bark with hazelnuts. And if that wasn’t enough, Alana returned with a burning birthday candle aside a coupe filled with one of Paul’s favorite ice cream flavors, honey lavender. A perfect ending to a magical meal at a place where everyone’s smile was genuine. Palpable joy wafted from the kitchen through the dining room, letting us know that those within loved their craft. With toques off, we raise a glass to Chef Addam Buzzalini, his staff, and Maynard’s mixologist, Eddie Pain, who gave us so much to cherish over those two nights in late December.

7. Bulleit Rye

We’d be remiss if we didn’t talk a little about one of our favorite spirits last year, Bulleit rye. We already had a passionate affair with Bulleit bourbon, so we knew we’d love the rye. Less sweet, more vegetal — a different flavor altogether — this rye found its way into many of our Manhattans during 2012. What we love most about mixing cocktails is coming up with new recipes and sharing these with fellow travelers. When we found out that friends Matthew Lawrence and Jason Tranchida, of Headmaster magazine fame, loved Bulleit rye, we were quick to offer our services to come up with a special cocktail for their Magazine’s fourth issue launch parties. Instead of one, we came up with two, the Headmaster 4 and The Pupil. The Headmaster 4 is a riff on our Bulleit rye Manhattan, but uses the bitter Fernet-Branca liqueur instead of bitters. The Pupil is a lighter affair — a ginger ale highball that also uses Fernet-Branca. Together, they are well-served at any party.

Another beauty we found ourselves making time and time again with Bulleit rye is the Manhattan-like Marianne Cocktail. It combines rye with another of our favorite things of 2012, Byrhh quinquina [see Favorite Thing No. 8].

Further Exploration 
We realized that bottles of rye had surpassed bourbon on our shelves this past year. Perhaps it’s a direct result from drinking Manhattans as frequently as if the city were giving them away. Some other ryes we recommend are Templeton, Redemption, and the new George Dickel. Rittenhouse, bonded at 100 proof, has, and always will be, another favorite.

The Marianne Cocktail combines rye with Byrrh, a fortified wine reintroduced to the U.S. after a 70-year absence. Welcome back.

8. Byrrh

If you can find it, do pick up a bottle of Byrrh, a quinquina, or fortified wine laced with quinine. A little sweeter and more luscious than sweet vermouth, Byrrh (pronounced BEER) will win you over not only for its grapiness, but also for its versatility in the realm of mixology. Use it in lieu of sweet vermouth or Dubonnet rouge in cocktails and you’ve come up with an entirely new drink. The Marianne and the Rye Byrrh are good places to start.

9. Signature Cocktails

Daddy Gives Rosie a Buzz
Besides the Headmaster 4 and The Pupil cocktails we created for our friends’ launch party [see Favorite Thing No. 7], we had a swell time working with another friend, the incomparable burlesque performer Rosie 151, on a signature cocktail, Daddy Gives Rosie a Buzz. This summer highball combines fresh watermelon juice with Catdaddy Spiced Moonshine, plus a little gin and lime juice to bring it all together. We were especially excited by this drink because we got to introduce Rosie to the makers of Catdaddy, Piedmont Distillers, who now sponsor Rosie at her shows. If you haven’t seen Rosie 151 perform, and you’re in town, do check her out. Her versatility knows no bounds, and she has since started making her own cocktails with Catdaddy. And if you do live in town, bring some friends with you to see her perform. They’ll be happy you did.

Further Exploration 
If you’d like for us to come up with a signature cocktail for you or your special event, please give us a shout. We’d love to mix and stir up some trouble for you.

10. Cocktail Time with Friends

Speaking of friends, sharing cocktail hour with those who love the interplay of food, drink, and wild discussion makes for a gay old time. We cherish the countless late afternoons and evenings we’ve gotten together for eats and drinks with our downstairs neighbors, Curt and Theo. Recently, we rode out the destructive superstorm together, and were inspired to come up with a Hurricane Sandy drink, using ingredients we had plenty of (apple brandy, Southern Comfort, and limeade) for that scary and unforgettable night.

Paul, Steve, Danny, and Matthew enjoy a Hawaiian lunch with local flavor–inspired drinks.

Five thousand miles away, on our beloved island of Hawai‘i, live our friends Danny and Matthew, who love to cook and create in the kitchen. When we come a’visitin’, we’re inspired by local flavors to create some tantalizing cocktails. One we came up with this summer also used limeade plus local amber rum from the guys’ stash. Its other ingredients, a Key lime cream liqueur called Ke Ke and Kahana Royale macadamia nut liqueur (discovered in Hilo at the well-stocked Kadota’s Liquor), were doled out in various ratios, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice was added before a big stir in tall glasses with lots of ice. A fun way to share a lunch of locally smoked brisket and garden salad.

Paul watches and Jon puts the finishing
tie on some homemade sausage links.
Getting together with Cousin Barbara and hubby Jon is always fun; they are consummate foodies who are always searching for the perfect combination of stimulating and satisfying flavors. One time we all got together to make pierogi; another time, we gathered to make three kinds of homemade sausage (breakfast, sweet, and spicy) using our Kitchenade standing mixer and big hunks of pork from Jon’s dad’s butcher shop, Ottomanelli & Sons Meat Market, in the West Village (285 Bleecker Street). Even though we did that in 2011, the sausages continued to feed us throughout the early months of 2012 in so many different preparations. We always look forward to what our next kitchen adventure will produce.

Sara-Kate, Penny, and Steve share
a hug and some Sidewinders
Two things we love to make for friends, and made quite a few times during 2012, are Thin-sliced Roasted Pork with Southwestern Spices we discovered a few years back on thekitchn.com and a basic mule (who doesn’t love a good mule? — the spicy ginger beer tickling our tongues, opening up our taste buds) [see recipe below for a whiskey mule]. Pile some of that seasoned roasted pork on top of fresh rolls with some mojo sauce or barbecue sauce, pair that with a round of whiskey or tequila mules (aka Sidewinders), and you’ve got yourself a happy little shindig. The last time we made the roasted pork at Curt and Theo’s, we had none other than friends Sara-Kate (the creator of thekitchn.com [very serendipitous]), Penny, and Amy by our sides, sipping some mules and Cut Flowers, dining on some roasted pork, and swapping It-can-only-happen-in-New-York tales of the city. Mules are the perfect beasts to help you entertain at your next small gathering.

Whiskey Mule
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces your favorite whiskey
3 ounces ginger beer (the spicier, the better)
lemon peel (optional)
Angostura bitters (optional)
ice

Method
In a highball glass (chilled, if you can), add the whiskey and fill with ice cubes. Top with ginger beer. Add bitters and lemon peel, if you so desire. Stir until cold.

A visit from Cousin Barbara and some chairs inspire an early-fall terrace party, and a new tall drink called the Zul Mule.

11. Zul Mule

Of course we had to come up with our own mule. After Manhattans, they’re our next most-drunk drink. So when Cousin Barbara and Jon had a bunch of wooden outdoor chairs on their hands, we decided that they would fit perfectly on the terrace. We would turn it into a celebration of these sturdy handsome chairs and invite some of our local friends. An Early-Autumn Kiki, if you will allow us the indulgence. So we had to come up with a perfect cooler for a Sunday afternoon visit and were inspired by the classic Pimm’s Cup, and our love of mules. Pimm’s is a red amber–colored gin liqueur that tastes subtly of spice and citrus. A traditional Pimm’s Cup includes lemon-lime soda and a slice of lemon. For our Pimm’s Cup–Mule hybrid, we knew we had to use ginger beer. After all, that’s what makes a mule, a mule. But instead of the citrusy tang you get from lemon-lime soda, we opted for the more floral–fruity combination that L’esprit de June wine-blossom liqueur offers. It has a delicate, sweet aroma and tastes predominantly of strawberry essence. It’s quite lovely, and is a great substitute when fragoli (wild strawberry liqueur) is too thick and sweet. We were going to call it a Pimm’s Mule, but decided that Zul Mule was more fun to say (Zul is a combination of our last names, and we like it because it sounds like the demon gatekeeper in Ghostbusters).

Zul Mule
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Pimms No. 1
3 ounces Reed’s Extra Ginger Beer (or another spicy ginger beer)
1/4 ounce L’esprit de June liqueur
cucumber slice*
lemon peel
ice

Method
Fill highball glass with ice. Add Pimm’s and L’esprit de June. Top with ginger beer. Stir until chilled. Add cucumber slice and lemon peel, as garnishes.

* Steve loves this addition, and many love a cucumber slice in a traditional Pimm’s Cup. Also, if you have some borage blossoms, cut them at the stems long enough to support themselves in your glass, as an additional garnish. Their blue beauty will stand out against the amber-red hue of the Zul Mule.

12. Campari in Cocktails

Our friends Paul and Noah enjoy a Negroni Fizz.
Last year, we watched our appreciation of Campari turn into love, and found ourselves making cocktail after cocktail using the glowing scarlet amaro. Some of our favorite drinks are the Negroni Sbagliato (check out Joaquín Simó’s recipe), Negronis and Negroni Fizzes, Americanos, and a new favorite, the Old Pal. The Old Pal works much the same way as a Negroni, except that traditional Canadian whisky takes the place of gin. We go a step further and use higher-proof rye (Americans use to refer to Canadian whisky as rye back in the Mad Men days, and you can sometimes hear servers and old-time bartenders refer to a bottle of Canadian Club as rye) instead of Canadian whisky, and bump up the amount (traditionally these drinks use equal parts) to tame the sweetness and bring out rye’s inherent barrel-aged flavors. This Old Pal gives you more of a whiskey punch. But feel free to play with the ratios of all the ingredients to find your very special Old Pal.

Traditional Old Pal
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 ounce Canadian whisky
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet vermouth

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

Cocktail Buzz Old Pal
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/4 ounces rye (try one at 90–100 proof)
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet vermouth
lemon or orange twist (optional)

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

Negroni Fizz
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
3/4 ounce London dry gin
3/4 ounce Campari
3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
soda
orange twist, as garnish

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into ice-filled double rocks or highball glass. Garnish with orange twist.

Americano
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet vermouth
soda
orange slice, as garnish

Method
Stir Campari and sweet vermouth in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into an old-fashioned or rocks glass. Top with soda. Add orange slice.

Pairing Suggestion
Blue Cheese on thin wafer crackers (especially a brioche-tasting cracker), with fresh raspberries.

Further Exploration 
The Rosita is another cocktail that combines a main spirit with Campari and sweet vermouth, but this time it’s silver tequila, plus some dry vermouth. Its bold flavors may take some getting use to, but it’s a road worth taking.

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Piny Cocktails for the Holidays

Bold and original, the Scots Pine will keep you festive this holiday season.

Both of us grew up celebrating Christmas. We still do. One year we visit one family in Connecticut, with hopes of freshly fallen snow blanketing the New England landscape; the next year, we escape the cold Brooklyn for the dry, saguaro-spiked desert called Arizona. Truth be told, we’ve never spent Yuletide in NYC, but we vow to spend Christmas in New York in the near future. That would make our job of making creative Holiday-themed cocktails a little easier, since we have over 150 bottles of booze on the shelves, and in the fridges (one regular-sized and two mini), with spillover in the sideboard.

With all those bottles, experimenting becomes a chore insofar as we have to decide among six ryes, eight gins, seven bourbons, four orange liqueurs—you get the idea. It’s a chore of which we never grow weary. What we imagine being a full-time taster for Häagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s might be like.

But being part-time cocktail tasters is just as fun. Indulgence has its limits (same as with ice cream), so you kind of have to know ahead of time what you want your cocktails to taste like; thus, what spirits, juices, and other ingredients you’re going to be working with. So, when your booze arsenal is vast and varied, you tend to use items you normally would keep hidden at the back of the shelf. It’s good to bring these spirits to the fore to challenge your creativity.

Over the years, we’ve been playing with the flavor of pine. Yes, pine, as in fir tree. The conifer you bring indoors and decorate year after year, just so you can get high on the piny smell of Christmastime. So we offer you two drinks that find their roots in pine and we bestow them names that befit their essence, O Tannenbaum and Scots Pine.

Paul came up with the Scots Pine a few years back, unbeknownst to Steve, who was away visiting family. Scotch whisky was primed to the be the main ingredient since Steve isn’t the biggest fan of the spirit. And Paul was itching to mix with a recently acquired bottle of Zirbenz stone pine liqueur. This liqueur smells like someone baking blondies in the middle of a coniferous forest. The taste is mildly sweet and resinous. It is definitely one of those things that make you go hmm, then mmm. Paul felt he was onto something when he mixed it with a blended scotch, but when he added some sweet vermouth (particularly Carpano Antica), he knew he was onto something. Here was a scotch cocktail that got some zing from the Zirbenz, but then a little taming and smoothing over the rough edges from the vermouth. Alas, a scotch cocktail that Steve would like. An orange peel expressed over and dropped into the glass was the one last touch needed to elevate this lovely drink to even lovelier.

The Scots Pine is the perfect cocktail to share with friends over an intimate Holiday gathering. A few sips will open the palate and pair nicely with an array of cheeses and little nibbles, like spiced nuts, preparing the way for dinner.

Scots Pine
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces blended scotch
1/2 ounce Zirbenz stone pine liqueur
1/2 ounce Carpano Antica sweet vermouth
orange peel, as garnish

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass or coupe. With a vegetable peeler, peel a 3/4 × 2-inch swatch of orange, but careful not to get any pith. Express peel over drink and toss in.


❤ ❤ ❤

After dinner, you might want to gather round the dessert buffet with a simple drink we call O Tannenbaum. We came up with it one night when trying to come up with a cocktail for a NYC theatre company’s holiday party. It’s an odd bird really, using an old timey liqueur called crème de noyaux (pronounced nwah-YO), a primary ingredient in a pink squirrel (a great name that makes sense since crème de noyaux is almond-flavored and, in most instances, bright red). Mixing almond flavors with the juniper flavors in a London dry gin creates a piny explosion. The half and half unites these flavors with its mellowing caress of dairy, giving the drink a bright deep pink hue. Perfect for nibbling cookies by the fire while lovingly gazing at the tree.


O Tannenbaum
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

2 ounces London dry gin
1 ounce half and half
3/4 ounce crème de noyaux
nutmeg, as garnish (optional)

Shake in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into chilled punch or small cocktail glasses. Garnish with nutmeg, if so desired, for an extra spicy kick.

Serves 2 (or 1, if you’re terribly thirsty).

Further Explorations in Pine
If you love the taste of pine, you must try Clear Creek Distillery’s Douglas Fir eau de vie. The aroma is slightly redolent of pears, with a hint of pine, but when drunk with a little water to soften its alcohol content (47.73%), the roles reverse. You taste the resinous pine, mellowed by a hint of pear. Exquisite.

cocktail photos © Steve Schul and Paul Zablocki, Cocktail Buzz
Zirbenz photo courtesy Haus Alpenz

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Revamping the Jack Rose Cocktail

The Jack Rose is a classic, and one of seminal cocktail writer David Embury’s “six basic drinks.”

One thing that is permanent is change. Our tastes change all the time. One day we’re loving the sleek simple lines of a Calvin Klein sheath, the next we’re extolling the rococo color explosion of a Hermès print. This holds true for cocktails. Right now we are really into up drinks, like Manhattans and all their variations. Perhaps it’s the weather—in the colder months, we’d rather not be holding a glass of ice-filled social lubricant that continually negates the alcohol’s warming properties. But, alas, these rocks-free libations can be a little more difficult to pair with food. Especially if the cocktail uses spirits high in proof. (Ever take a sip of one after eating a bread-heavy canapé? It’s like tasting a communion wafer dipped in cheap wine. Alcohol throat-burn is not something to strive for when creating a harmonious cocktailing experience for your party guests.) “Up” cocktails, though, can and should be good foils for the hors d’oeuvres and party snacks we put into our mouths. That’s why we come up with perfect pairings. But perfect parings are never actually set in stone. Our tastes not only change then, they evolve. So, it’s important for the development of any chef, artist, writer—any creative person really—to reach into the past and reinvestigate matters that now, in the light of day, have become a bit troublesome. So now we will look back at an old cocktail recipe we honed years ago, one about which we have since changed our opinion.

The Jack Rose is that cocktail. The recipe is simple: applejack, lemon juice, and grenadine. Applejack is a Colonial American invention that was first made in an unusual process known as freeze distillation, also known as “jacking.” Apple cider (so important to these early settlers since potable water was hard to come by) is left to freeze during the cold months. Chunks of ice are removed from the cider when the water separates from the alcohol, making the remaining alcohol much more concentrated. Standard distillation supersedes this quaint process, and the liquor is much cleaner now, allowing for easy mixing with other spirits, juices, and sugars. Grenadine is essentially pomegranate and sugar, boiled down to a slightly viscous syrup.

When we first starting shaking these rosy-hued beauties and pairing them with simple fair, such as spiced nuts, we had three goals in mind, so as to avoid the dreaded alcohol burn.
  1. Keep the alcohol content low.
  2. Keep the sugar content on the plus side (the sweeter drinks usually pair more easily with the natural sugars in food).
  3. Make sure the cocktail has a decent amount of acid (such as juice, dairy, or wine-based spirits), since these acids create new flavors when confronted with foods ’ sugars and starches).
In our first iteration of the Jack Rose, we dutifully applied all three of these objectives: Applejack (Laird’s) with an alcohol content of 40% (the lowest level of alcohol a spirit can have to be called a spirit), check; a generous amount of grenadine (real pomegranate grenadine) to bring out the sweetness for easier food-pairing, check; and an amount of lemon juice to balance the alcohol and sugars, check. It’s a little on the sweet side, which may be off-putting to some, but allows for easier food pairings, especially with spiced nuts that in simpler circumstances would go well with an ice-cold beer.

But getting back to our main topic. Over the years, we’ve grown a little tired of our recipe. You see, we now prefer a higher-proof applejack that is far superior to our 40% abv applejack. It’s Laird’s bonded (50% abv) apple brandy. Much more complex, a little sweeter, and a little more fruit-forward, this spirit needs less sugar and more acid when mixed as a Jack Rose.

Keep in mind, though, that not all grenadines are created equal. Stirring s makes a decent one that is sweet, but not too sweet, such as the one made by Williams Sonoma. Avoid any all–corn syrup grenadines that look like fake blood in a bottle. Better yet, make your own, so that you can control the level of sweetness. Follow the recipes below, and you can whip up a perfect pairing that requires very little measuring, once you’ve got your ingredients all in place. Spiced nuts would be an ideal accompaniment.

Jack Rose
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
2 ounces bonded apple brandy (50% abv, or 100 proof)
3/4–1 ounce real pomegranate grenadine (adjust according to taste)*
1/2–3/4 ounce lemon juice (adjust according to taste)

* Some brands are sweeter than others. Alternatively, you can make your own. See recipe below.

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

Spiced nuts are the perfect accompaniment to a well-crafted Jack Rose.

Another great drink to try that uses apple brandy is the Hurricane Sandy.

❤ ❤ ❤

Grenadine

{ You can always make a smaller batch by halving the amounts }

Ingredients
2 cups 100% pomegranate juice*
2 cups sugar
1 ounce vodka

* You can always make this from squeezing pomegranate pips by using a hand citrus squeezer. Two large and heavy pomegranates and a splash of water should do the trick. This is very messy, so wear an apron and squeeze into a deep, wide bowl. 

Method
Bring pomegranate juice to a boil over medium–high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer and add sugar. Stir gently until sugar is dissolved. Keep heat low and simmer for up to 15 minutes, until mixture is slightly reduced. Allow to cool. Add vodka and stir. May be kept for quite a while in the refrigerator in a clean 750ml bottle (or 325ml bottle for half recipes).

Variations
  • Orange flower water (also known as orange blossom water) adds another layer of flavor to the grenadine. Anywhere from 1–2 teaspoons stirred in once the heat is turned off.
  • Lemon juice may round out the sweet-tartness. A half teaspoon should do the trick.
  • Pomegranate molasses may add that super pomegranate flavor you might be looking for. Add about an ounce at the very end of simmering, stirring to incorporate.
Other libations that use grenadine are the Fjord, Global Punch, the Hurricane, the Monkey Gland, and the Scoff Law.

❤ ❤ ❤


Spiced Nuts
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 cup raw almonds
1 cup raw pecans
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mace
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Method
Preheat oven to 400°F. Spread nuts onto a cookie sheet or ceramic baking dish. Put in oven on center rack for about 15–18 minutes.

Mix the salt, mace, cumin, sand brown sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.

Melt the butter on stovetop. Set aside.

Once you smell the nuts, they are most likely done (do not burn). Remove from oven and add to a mixing bowl. Pour melted butter over nuts and mix thoroughly. Add spice mixture and mix thoroughly.

Pour nuts into a serving bowl and sprinkle any remaining spice mixture on top.

Serves 4–6.

More Cocktail Buzz on the Jack Rose
To watch our video pairing the our first iteration of the Jack Rose cocktail with spiced nuts, click here.

photo © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Sunday, November 18, 2012

What To Bring This Thanksgiving: An Easy Side Dish and Cocktail Loaded with Fall Flavors

Whether you’re having Thanksgiving at home this year, or are visiting friends and family, the grapefruit and pear notes in a wine-based Aplomb will win everyone over with its simplicity and great taste.

When it’s someone else’s turn to throw a Thanksgiving feast, your host usually asks you to bring a little something to add to the cornucopia — something that won’t interfere too much with his or her preparations. Usually you hear, “A bottle of Pinot Noir would be great,” or “Bring something I can reheat as the turkey rests.”

We like to heed this request, as showing up with something unexpected can make the host harrumph. But instead of just a bottle of wine or another stuffing, we have two alternatives that we think may work in your favor: A wine-based cocktail and some carrot and parsnip triangles.

Roasted carrots and parsnips, well herbed, may be the perfect side dish. Make ahead and reheat when you arrive at your host’s place.

Let’s start with the triangles. This is a side dish that can accompany any meal really. Looking at the ingredients, we know that carrots are common enough, but parsnips at the table always seems to elicit a slight gasp, suggesting the vegetable’s exoticism. We often hear, “I never think to use parsnips.” Why not? They fit perfectly into the flavors-of-Thanksgiving profile — sweet, herbal, nutty. And as an added bonus, they are rich in vitamins and minerals, such as potassium.

Finding thick-bottomed roots that abruptly taper to a point are the key to making triangles.

When shopping for these root vegetables, look for ones that are conical in shape (a wide base that tapers to a point, but roots that aren’t too long). If you can’t find ones shaped this way, then any will do. Just don’t call them triangles. Perhaps “Carrot and Parsnip Parallelograms” would be more appropriate.

Carrot and Parsnip Triangles

Tools
sharp knife for slicing
cutting board
large bowl
cookie sheet (lined with parchment) or baking pan
tongs

Ingredients
2 tablespoon olive oil
5 large carrots (preferably with a wide base and narrow point), peeled
4 large parsnips (preferably with a wide base and narrow point), peeled
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 teaspoon fresh or 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried chervil or parsley

Method
Preheat oven to 400°F.

On a cutting board, cut the carrots and parsnips lengthwise, in 1/4-inch strips. This will create the triangle shapes in varying lengths and thicknesses. Add to bowl, then olive oil and herbs and toss until all the vegetables are coated evenly.

Spread the vegetables out on a stone baking pan or a cookie sheet covered in parchment.

Place on center rack for 15 minutes. With tongs, flip and bake for another 10 minutes. (Watch to make sure the edges don’t burn.) Serve immediately.

You may add salt, but we feel the herbs bring out the sharp sweetness of the parsnips and the woodsy sweetness of the carrots.

Serves 8-ish. (It all depends on how many other sides are available.)

❤ ❤ ❤

Now that you’ve got your side dish out of the way, it’s time to focus on the drink. This one is called Aplomb because, at the eleventh hour, when the guests start to arrive, you want a drink with a name that evokes confidence and poise. The Aplomb is guaranteed to elicit oohs and aahs with its mix of pear liqueur, red grapefruit juice, and one of the easiest and delicious wines that is perfect for cocktail creations, Moscato d’Asti. Produced in northwestern Italy, this traditional dessert wine is fruity, with peach and pear notes, and not too sweet. You’ll also notice a slight effervescence if you take a sip. This type of wine is known as a frizzante, with the bubbles offsetting the sweetness. Adding pear liqueur brings out the fruit, and mixing with grapefruit juice creates a more interesting notes of sweet, bitter, and sour.

If you’d like to earn forever love and respect from your host, pre-batch the cocktail by shaking in ice and straining into a big 1.75-liter bottle. Bring a bag of ice and a bowl with you to keep it chilled at the bar, or, alternatively, if there’s room in the fridge (doubtful), or the host has a mini fridge, by all means keep it in there. Just take it out from time to time and refill your fellow celebrants’ glasses. A few gentle swishes before pouring should suffice.

Aplomb
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1/2 ounce pear liqueur (we like Xanté, but any will do)
1 ounce red grapefruit juice (you can substitute pink if you cannot find red)
1 1/2 ounces Moscato d’Asti wine

Method
Shake the first two ingredients in ice vigorously, so that little ice shards are created. Strain into chilled glass. Top with Moscato d'Asti. Garnish with grapefruit peel, if desired.

More Ideas, with Pairings

These other wine-based cocktails and apps may suit your taste buds (and your host’s) as well.
  • Deviled Quail Eggs paired with The Bird Nest (champagne, with a hint of blue curaçao and tequila)
  • Seedless red grapes and brie paired with The Wink (Moscato d'Asti, pear brandy, celery bitters)
Photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

The Ballad of Hurricane Sandy, or Drink Today, For Tomorrow You May Be Out

Our hearts go out to all the victims of Hurricane Sandy. 

Let’s not mince words: Hurricanes suck. Or blow, rather. For us Northeasterners, they used to seem exotic, exciting, a day off from work. But now, as global weather mutates from long-term exposure to the ever-changing whimsies of Man, compounded with Mother Nature’s own middle-aged problems, our planet provides little succor.

But if hurricanes provide one positive aspect, it’s that they bring people closer together. Just look at all the news stories about the fearless who rescued the elderly and sick from certain peril, the do-gooders who opened their doors to the needy. Selflessness on a grand scale.

The four stages of Hurricane Sandy:
Theo (calm), Curt (scared),
Steve (buzzed), and Paul (faking
confidence)
Take our recent Man vs. Nature battle against the tumultuous Sandy. While we did not perform heroic deeds, what little we had to offer was in the form of booze. We’ve got lots of it, and as Sandy began its histrionics, we left our penthouse aerie to wait out the blustery evening hours with our lovely friends Curt and Theo, on the safer second floor. Our survival kit: several bottles of spirits, a few limes we had left in the crisper, a shaker, and a bucket of ice.

When coming up with a Hurricane Sandy cocktail, we eschewed any association with the classic Hurricane cocktail of many rums, passion fruit, grenadine, orange, and lime. Although we do enjoy a homemade Hurricane (we had them during Irene’s shenanigans last year [SEE RECIPE BELOW]), and we had the ingredients on hand, we wanted to be at least a little bit creative as the wind started to pummel the building. But we also wanted something simple, something that could be made in the dark if the power decided to give up.

We decided that our main spirit would be twofold: Laird’s apple brandy (not Laird’s Applejack, but the bonded, higher-proof version, with the words “Apple Brandy” on the label [SEE PHOTO RIGHT]), and Southern Comfort. We chose the apple brandy because it’s made in New Jersey, and we wanted to pay homage because we knew that the Garden State would be hit hard. Southern Comfort was a more difficult choice. On its own, it can be a bit cloying, but when mixed with other spirits, this New Orleans spicy peach liqueur can really add depth, creating oodles of new flavors. Sipping them together, we knew we were on the right track.

Normally, we would then start to experiment with fresh citrus or other juices to add to the mix, but a convenient bottle of limeade saved us from having to constantly squeeze fresh limes. When we mixed the three together, we knew the three ingredients made for a happy menage a trois. Present at the finish was a lingering slightly grassy flan-like flavor that reminded us of Żubrówka, or Polish bison grass vodka. This made us happy. So happy in fact, we whipped up a batch of Cheddar Blue Fricos to pair with them before we ventured down to the second floor.

While mixing up our first batch at Curt’s place, we heard a loud crack, followed by an instant boom. We ran to the window to see a huge bough spanning the entire width of the street, lying atop a parked car. Neighbors flocked to the streets to see what had happened. The last thing we wanted to witness was another bough crashing down, so we implored everyone to get back inside. Luckily we had some Hurricane Sandys to assuage our fears of what was yet to come.

Hurricane Sandy
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/4 ounces Laird’s Apple Brandy (bonded, 100 proof)
1 ounce Southern Comfort
1 ounce limeade (we used Santa Cruz Organic Limeade)
lime wedge

Method
Shake in ice for 10 seconds and strain into ice-filled rocks glass. Squeeze lime wedge and drop into drink. Hope for the best.

Pairing Suggestions for Hurricane Sandy
Cheddar Blue Fricos

❤ ❤ ❤

And, if you’re a fan of the classic, here is a Hurricane recipe that everyone loved last year.

Hurricane
(adapted from Chuck Taggart, who inspired Gary Regan’s recipe in The Joy of Mixology)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces light rum
1 1/2 ounces dark rum
1 ounce fresh orange juice
1 ounce fresh lime juice
2 ounces passion fruit syrup (if you only have passion fruit puree, use 2 ounces of the puree, plus 1/2 ounce of simple syrup*)
1 teaspoon of real pomegranate grenadine

Method
Shake with ice for 5 seconds and strain into an ice-filled Hurricane or tiki glass. Garnish with an orange slice and a cherry on a cocktail pick.

* In a sauce pan over low heat, dissolve 1 cup sugar in 1 cup water, stirring occasionally until all crystals have dissolved. Let cool and transfer to a clean, airtight container. May be kept in refrigerator for up to a month.

You Can Help
Many restaurants, bars, distilleries, food shops, and liquor stores in the hurricane zone were hit hard, and some face extinction. Those that are still operating need your support right now to stay in business. Stop by one before or after work today, or make a special trip this weekend, to keep their cash registers singing. Or make a donation to one of the many charities set up to provide relief. Peace.