Spirited Cocktails

Today is International Cachaça Day. Who knows where these things come from, but I’ll take any excuse to make a cocktail! (Actually we do know – International Cachaça Day was started by Sociedade Brasileira da Cachaça, a Brazilian government organization. It was created to commemorate June 12^th, 1744: the day when Portugal, then the colonial authority in Brazil, outlawed the production and selling of cachaça. Duh.)

Cachaça is a distillation of sugarcane juice, which makes it something of a cousin to rum. Most cachaça is produced in Brazil (where it is incredibly popular). The most common use you’ll find of cachaça is the Caipirinha. The caipirinha is the national drink of Brazil, and is to cachaça what the mojito is to rum (in that both contain the spirit, sugar, and lime, and both are very over-produced.)

So while I’m not a fan of over-produced drinks, I do like creative variations. The folks at Cabana cachaça suggested the Royalton Caipirinha, a cocktail developed at Bar 44 at the Royalton Hotel here in New York City.

Here’s what you’re going to need:

1.5oz cachaça
1 whole strawberry 
1/2 a lime quartered
.5oz St. Germain
.5oz Simple Syrup

In the bottom of your mixer, muddle the lime and the strawberry then add the rest of the ingredients along with ice. Shake well, and pour the entire contents of your mixer (including the lime and shaken ice) into a rocks glass.

You’ll notice that last step is a little different (not using fresh ice), but it is the common style in cocktails like the mojito and caipirinha to include the shaken ice as well as the full muddled fruit in the glass.

So there you have it – a Royalton Caipirinha, suitable for all celebrations of International Cachaça Day.

Cheers!

I had the good fortune to attend a tasting last night of Macallan scotch. This wasn’t any ordinary tasting though – this was a Twitter Tasting! My cocktail-blogging colleagues and I took a break from our AA meetings to all get together in one place, taste amazing scotch, and broadcast our feedback via Twitter in real time. Our tweets were projected onto the wall so we could keep up with each others feedback, and the best part is, the entire conversation is preserved under the Twitter hash tag #Macallan. So even if you missed us last night, you can relive the entire event (including my feedback on the Macallan, and some great conversation with @halw, @livethelushlife, @nybarfly, @ekeyNYC, and many others) on Twitter. It’s a beautiful thing.

Once you’ve caught up, send me a tweet and let me know what you think.

Cheers!

Any time I’m in a conversation about cocktails and I start extolling the virtues and importance of good ice, I get made fun of. Not to worry, I can take it. But finally, I’m getting some support in the press! Good ice is important, and New York Magazine has backed me up on that, complete with a slideshow of the best ice in New York City.

And before you ask, yes, I already have the spherical ice molds available from the Design Store at the Museum of Modern Art.

OK. So I am an ice geek. I’m OK with it.

Those of you who know me well, know that my father is a die-hard fan of Frank Sinatra. And as much as I tried to prevent it from happening as a child, my father’s love of the Chairman of the Board has been passed down to me. So when I heard the waitress at Raines Law Room mention a cocktail called The Tramp while listing their specials a little while back, I’ll admit, the lyrics “She gets to hungry / for dinner at eight…” started playing in my head immediately. Thus, I had to try the drink.

The Tramp is a simple, tasty little cocktail. Here’s what you’re going to need.

1.5oz gin
1.5oz sloe gin
1.5oz apricot brandy
Club soda
A lime wedge for garnish

Combine your ingredients in a shaker along with ice, shake well, and strain into a tall glass over fresh ice. Top with club soda, and garnish with a slice of lime.

Where this recipe might need some adjusting largely has to do with your apricot brandy.  Not all apricot brandy is made the same, and strength and flavor can (and will) vary. I found that the particular brand I chose here was quite strong in flavor, which may have warranted dialing the amount back a bit (perhaps to 1oz instead of 1.5oz). Using equal measure of all three core ingredients, though, should give you a good place to start, and you can experiment and adjust to suit your taste.

So, now we know why that lady was a tramp. It wasn’t because she liked the theatre, or never bothered with people she hates… it was too much sloe gin!

Here’s to Ol’ Blue Eyes.

Cheers!

Just when you thought you’d seen it all…

Bompas & Parr – designer of fine jellies and curator of culinary events in the UK – has created a project called Alcoholic Architecture. In essence, they whipped up a walk-in cloud of breathable cocktail (gin & tonic to be precise, with Hendricks Gin no less!) Visitors “imbibed through inhaling.”

I’m honestly at a bit of a loss for words. I just don’t know what to make of this! Certainly, my preference is to experience my cocktails in liquid form, but then again, I’ve never had them any other way, so who am I to say? Any chance any of my readers in the UK have tried this? I would *love* to hear about your experience. Drop us a line and let us know what you thought. For those of you who haven’t tried this – would you??

Thanks to my friend Jenny for bringing this to my attention!

Well sure, mistakes exist. But as far as I’m concerned, not when it comes to mixing cocktails. Just as in the culinary arts, recipes are templates. They’re guidelines that reflect the goals and tastes of the artist, but they’re never carved in stone. The purpose of the resulting dish (or cocktail, in our case) is to be enjoyed, and one must always adjust accordingly.

The other night, I set out to make a Queens Park Swizzle – one of my favorite rum-based cocktails – which I was preparing to introduce to you here. However, what I ended up making was a mixture of lime, sugar, mint, angostura bitters (all of which belong), and gin (which most certainly does not). I poured gin instead of rum by mistake. The funny thing about it is that I was already a sip or two into the drink before I realized it (I swear, I wasn’t drunk!)

What I ended up with was something very different than a Queens Park Swizzle. After all, rum and gin don’t have all that much in common when it comes to flavor. However, just because it wasn’t what I set out to make, that doesn’t make it wrong. Or bad. It was actually rather tasty (once I got over the fact that it wasn’t a Queens Park Swizzle). I don’t think this particular combination of ingredients and proportions already exists as a cocktail, so we may have invented something new. The King’s Park Swizzle? Of course, I could be wrong, and if I am, I hope one of you will correct me.

The moral of the story is that even though I made a mistake, I learned from (and enjoyed) the results, making it a lesson in my book. It’s also a reminder that experimentation – which is nothing more than a mistake made intentionally – is a very good thing.

The real Queens Park Swizzle to come soon. In the meantime, Cheers!

I’ll admit it – I’ve been behind on the absinthe resurgence. For those of you who are unfamiliar, absinthe is a high-proof distilled spirit with an anise (licorice) flavor. It has a storied past, dating back to the early 20th century, when it was banned in most parts of the developed world after having been accused of having psychogenic properties (beyond those of normal alcohol.) The psychogenic properties were thought to be related to inclusion of the herb commonly known as wormwood. However, over time, these accusations have been disproven, and contrary to popular belief, absinthe has been legally available in the United States since 2007.

But again, I’ll admit to being behind on the resurgence. I’ve always kept Pernod around, a common absinthe substitute available during the ban,  and despite absinthe being widely available again, I hadn’t changed my habits. Recently, though, I was sent a bottle of Lucid absinthe to review, so I thought now would be as good a time as any to see how it compares to its colorful past!

I thought I’d start with a mixed cocktail called Absinthe No 2. Over the next week or two, I’ll also tell you about the most traditional way to experience absinthe – the Absinthe Drip.

For the Absinthe No. 2, here’s what you’re going to need:

2oz gin
1oz absinthe
2 dashes of orange bitters

Combine the ingredients along with ice in a mixing glass, stir until well chilled, and strain into a martini glass.

There’s one “gotcha” I want to draw to your attention with this recipe. As you can see in the ingredients picture, I used Plymouth gin this time around, mainly out of habit and because I really like Plymouth. This drink is a perfect example though of why it’s important to try different brands and styles of the same spirit. Plymouth is a pretty “botanical-forward” kind of gin. It has a very distinct flavor that’s floral and fruity, which I happen to love. However, absinthe has a very strong flavor profile of its own (anise, as I mentioned earlier), and I found that they really competed in this cocktail. Over the next few days, I plan to experiment with a few other brands of gin (I have already have Hendricks, Tanqueray, and DH Krahn in my bar, so I’ll start there). I have a feeling that a more subtle, maybe spicier gin would be a better match here.

If you have a chance to experiment with this cocktail, I’d love to hear your thoughts, particularly about which gin you used and how you liked it. Drop me an e-mail or a tweet anytime.

Again, I’ll be continuing to experiment with the bottle of Lucid I have. If you have any suggestions or requests, please send those my way too!

Cheers!