Spirited Cocktails

This evening, my friend Laren (@sweetblogomine) and I joined Jonathan Pogash for his Cocktail Lab class at the Astor Center Lounge. I’ve mentioned Jonathan here before (he was the source for our post on the Maple Plum Sparkler), but to refresh your memory, Jonathan is a cocktail development consultant, and the beverage director for Hospitality Holdings (which manages a number of major bars here in New York, including the Campbell Apartment and Bookmarks Lounge).

I’ve taken a number of classes at Astor Center in the past, and they’ve all offered an opportunity to learn a great deal from some of the country’s most talented mixologists. Be sure to check out their full calendar; if you’re in the area, I highly encourage you to give one a try. Jonathan’s class is actually offered monthly, so you can definitely take that one. If you’re just starting out, I’d suggest the Home Bar Basics course.

In any case, Jonathan’s class tonight was really about developing new cocktails – how to come up with your own recipes using classic cocktails as a guide, but also taking advantage of fresh, seasonal, and often unique ingredients. As an exercise, we broke up into groups and were each given one ingredient that had to make an appearance in whatever cocktail we developed. As long as that ingredient was included, everything else was up to us (think Iron Chef meets… something with booze.) Laren and I paired up, along with another member of the class, and were asigned Averna as our key ingredient.

Averna is a classic Italian liquer, often served as a digestif. It’s very herbal – almost bitter – with hints of citrus and caramel. We figured this would make for a great addition to an autumn cocktail. The result: The Pumpkin Pie

Here’s what you’re going to need:

1 1/2oz Rye (we used ri1, which has a nice spice to it)
1 bar spoon Averna
1 bar spoon maple syrup
1 bar spoon pumpkin puree
1/4oz orange juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 dash of pumpkin spice (the supermarket kind; a blend of nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, etc.)
1 egg white
1 orange peel (for garnish)

I know – that’s a lot of ingredients. But many of them are things you probably already have sitting around the house (if not, they’re certainly available at your local grocery store.) Once you have all the ingredients, simply combine everything in a mixing glass.

Because of the egg white in this, we did a double shake. That means that we combined all the ingredients in our shaker *without* ice, and shook well for about 10 seconds. Then we added ice, and shook well for another 15-20 seconds. The result, thanks in large part to the egg white, is a nice foamy cocktail, the consistency of which certainly brings pumpkin pie to mind!

We garnished the cocktail with a flamed orange peel. A regular orange peel will do, but flaming the peel helps to caramelize the citrus oils, giving a nice depth of character to the taste. If you’re unfamiliar with how to flame an orange peel, Jeffrey Morgenthaler has a great walkthrough on his site.

The result: a lovely autumn cocktail, with flavors of pumpkin, spice and maple. I hope you like it!

So thanks to Laren (@sweetblogomine) for a fun time; to Jonathan Pogash for the great instruction, and Astor Center, for hosting the class in such an awesome space!

While I have you – a public service announcement: Laren has actually organized a great event in the Astor Center space next Monday, November 2nd. The event is a fundraiser for the NYC chapter of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails), and will be presented in conjunction with the folks from Chartreuse (including Chartreuse Brand Ambassador Todd Richman and Chartreuse Diffusion President Jean Marc Roger). I’ll be there for sure – I encourage you to join us as well. Tickets available from the Astor Center website.

Cheers!

Josh

I’m a Philly native. I live in New York City now, but I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and the Cheese Whiz of Philly cheesesteaks runs in my veins (probably more literally than I’d care to know.) That’s one of the main reasons the Clover Club Cocktail caught my eye. When flipping through Dale DeGroff’s latest book, The Essential Cocktail, I noticed that the Clover Club (which is a pre-Prohibition cocktail), was invented in Philadelphia at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. Dale tells us that the hotel was home to the Clover Club – a social club akin to the Friars Club here in New York. What also caught my eye was a potential variation in the traditional recipe suggested by Dale, in which he uses fresh raspberries. Yum!

I’m going to present that variation first, because it’s what I made for you, but I’ll also discuss the original more below.

Here’s what you’re going to need:

1.5oz gin
1oz simple syrup
3/4oz lemon juice
6 raspberries
1 egg white

Add the simple syrup and raspberries to your shaker, and muddle the raspberries well. Then add the lemon juice, gin, and egg white, and top with ice. Seal the shaker, and shake well. Remember, cocktails with egg white require extra shaking to make sure the egg white is well emulsified.

Technically, due to the inclusion of the raspberries, this drink should be double-strained. First, strain into an intermediate glass with a Hawthorne strainer, then into your cocktail glass with a Julep strainer to remove any raspberry seeds. Personally though, I kinda like the raspberry seeds, so I just strain directly into my cocktail glass. Entirely your choice.

The result is a fresh, sweet, and somewhat tart cocktail, with a great look to boot.

Variations

-The original recipe calls for the use of grenadine as opposed to raspberries. Simply add 3/4oz grenadine in place of the six raspberries, and reduce simple syrup to 3/4oz as well.
-You can also add a sprig of mint to the cocktail shaker before shaking, in which case the cocktail is called a Clover Leaf.

Cheers!

I’m always a little bit hesitant to pick up a new spirit when I can only think of one cocktail in which I might use it. Gin, bourbon, rye, and rum are all staples, and I have no doubt that I ill make good use of them (to put it mildly) regardless of cost. However, I wasn’t so sure when I came across a bottle of Pisco at my favorite liquor store recently. I was certainly familiar its namesake cocktail, the Pisco Sour, but was that enough to justify the purchase?

Yes. Yes it was.

Pisco is a grape-based brandy from South America – generally Chile or Peru. There are a number of brands and varieties, which you can read more about here.

In doing a little more research after picking up my first bottle of Pisco, I found there are a few other cocktails (and I hope you’ll write to me to share others!) but the Pisco Sour is by far the most well known.

Here’s what you’re going to need:

1.5oz Pisco
1oz simple syrup
3/4oz lemon juice (I’ve seen other recipes use lime juice instead; your choice!)
1 egg white
Dash of Angostura bitters for garnish

Combine the four base ingredients (Pisco, simple syrup, citrus and egg white) in your shaker along with a healthy portion of ice. Shake extra long and hard – remember, anytime you use egg white you want to shake a bit extra to fully emulsify the egg and create some nice foam. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with several drops of angostura bitters.(Definitely don’t leave out that last part – the bitters are a must in this cocktail. But why would you? Bitters are awesome.)

The result: a complex sour cocktail with a nice foam, an interesting base spirit and a fascinating history.

Cheers!

Whenever I have drinks at Pegu Club, one of my favorite cocktail bars here in NYC, I always make it a point to try something new. Because I had a little extra time on my hands before a dinner reservation last night, I got to do just that.

Being a tea-drinker myself, I’m surprised I hadn’t yet gotten around to trying the Earl Grey MarTEAni; a creation of the very talented and renowned mixologist behind Pegu Club, Audrey Saunders. Fortunately my time in the dark has come to an end!

At first, this drink seemed a bit intimidating, as the key ingredient is Earl Grey-infused gin (not something one generally keeps lying around). But in truth, it’s really just a traditional Gin Sour, altered to create a unique and wonderful cocktail.

Here’s what you’ll need:

2oz Earl Grey-infused gin
1oz simple syrup
3/4oz lemon juice
1 egg white

First and foremost, don’t be turned off by the egg white. You’ll learn quickly that when making fine cocktails properly, eggs can be an essential ingredient. They go a long way to adding both texture and volume. When mixed with a citrus juice (in this case lemon) and when emulsified by being shaken vigorously, which helps create a nice foam,  any possibility of bacterial trouble is pretty much wiped out.

To make the Earl Grey-infused gin simply add 1/4 cup of your favorite Earl Grey tea to 1 liter of high-proof gin (I used Tanqueray in this case, but you could certainly try others.) Shake the bottle well, and let steep for 2 hours at room temperature. Then simply strain out the tea with a fine strainer or filter, rinse out the bottle (to get rid of any remaining loose tea) and add the infusion back to the bottle. From what I’m told, this will keep well in the refrigerator for quite a long time.

Once you have your infusion, you’re ready to go.

Add all four ingredients to your Boston Shaker, fill with ice, seal up the shaker, and give it a good hard shake (remember to shake until the tin of your shaker is almost too cold to hold anymore; at least 10-15 seconds.) Then simply strain into a martini glass and garnish with a lemon twist.

If you want to get really fancy and replicate the way this is served at Pegu Club, you can serve it in a sugar-rimmed glass. Before straining your cocktail, just run a lemon wedge along the outside of the glass, and roll the outer-rim in a plate of fine granulated sugar. Then strain and garnish.

This is one of those cocktails that’s great for guests – it’s not only delicious, but it looks a lot harder than it is!

And certainly if you find yourself in New York City, make sure to treat yourself with a stop at the Pegu Club (77 W. Houston St., NY, NY 10013; peguclub.com). You will not regret it. 

Cheers!

Update: I made this cocktail for some friends the other night, and some felt the lemon flavor was a little too strong. I reduced the lemon to 1/2oz, and they enjoyed it better. I think this is in large part related to the particular type of tea I used, which has a citrus flavor to it. The moral of the story is that recipes are simply templates, to be modified to suit your tastes. If you feel the lemon is too strong, just dial it down a bit. It’s okay to experiment!