So, those of you who know me know that I have a real thing for Crème de Violette--it's so sweet and floral and reminiscent of violet pastilles. The only Crème de Violette currently on the market in the U.S. is byRothman and Winter. They also make a wide variety of other "Orchard Liqueurs," although they're a challenge to find (at least in our parts). However, this weekend we found the Orchard Apricot Liqueur at Surdyk's in Minneapolis. Orchard Apricot Liqueur, according to the Haus Alpenz website, "combines juice from the seasonal harvest of Austria’s famed Klosterneuberger apricots (known locally as "Marillen") with an eau-de-vie produced from this same fruit." The flavor is sweetly apricot with a boozy punch. On our drive home from Minneapolis (two and a half hours in blinding snow) I came up with the idea to make a variation on the Blue Moon--I even came up with a name for this drink, "Harvest Moon," for what I imagined would be the glow of a combination of Plymouth Gin, Orchard Apricot Liqueur, and lemon juice. Tonight, the Harvest Moon was born! Okay, so it wasn't as orange in color as I imagined it would be, but it was completely delicious. Peyton added a few dashes of Peychaud's, which was a smart decision since the apricot is very sweet and the bitters cut the sweetness and added a bit more depth to the cocktail. After the Harvest Moon, I'm going to try this liqueur in champagne for an Apricot Royal. Ingredients: 2 oz. Plymouth Gin 1/2 oz. Orchard Apricot Liqueur 1/2 oz. lemon juice 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters Add the first three ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a glass and add bitters.
Since my last post, I've had some amazing bar breakthroughs. I acquired a lovely 10 cubic foot refrigerator, located just a few feet from the bar that allows me to store all my supplies downstairs, which makes it far easier to prepare a drink without three trips up and down the stairs. I also found some amazing new liquors, so I've managed to swig back a couple new cocktails.
I've discovered a new love, the Sloe Gin Fizz. First of all, I know. We've all had a miserable experience with this weird cough syrup-like swill. I too had an unfortunate time with a bottle of De Kuyper's "Sloe Gin" shortly after the Jack White/Loretta Lynn song "Portand, Oregon" was released.
Anyway, it was 2004 and during those heady days, this weird faux sloe gin was all that was available, so I had one Sloe Gin Fizz (SGF) and a bottle of sloe gin that sat in my cabinet for approximately four more years before I threw it out.
Cut to this 2013 and I'm searching out vintage and curious cocktail recipes. In many of the new books I've gotten, sloe gin has popped up more than once and is always referred to as "Plymouth Sloe Gin." Interesting, as the only Plymouth I've ever seen is their spectacular regular gin. Their sloe gin has thus been on my shopping list for awhile, but until a few weeks ago, I hadn't been able to find it. We were in Madison, Wisconsin for an overnight trip and went to a liquor store there where, lo and behold, they had Plymouth Sloe Gin! It's not cheap (like $35), so I only bought one bottle. This past weekend, I wanted to try something new, so I found a recipe in The PDT Cocktail Book (I like this book, but many of the drinks are so complicated and call for such obscure ingredients that it makes Imbibe recipes look basic). There are a ton of different SGF recipes out there. Out of the books I have, maybe three of them include SGF recipes. All three of these are different. The PDT references a recipe from J.A. Grohusko in Jack's Manual from 1910, and because that was the oldest I saw, it won. A good friend had a good amount of Meyer lemons and she gave me some wonderful Meyer lemon simple syrup and I used it here (by the way, AWESOME). I've noted how I adjusted my recipe to account for this.
1 oz. Plymouth Sloe Gin
1 oz. Plymouth Gin
.75 oz. lemon juice
.25 oz. simple syrup (I used .5 oz. Meyer lemon simple syrup and .5 oz of lemon juice)
3 oz. soda water
Mix all ingredients except the soda water and pour into an ice-filled glass. Top with soda.
I am absolutely in love with this drink. The sloe gin is nice and fruity and not cough syrup-y at all. There are a lot of good articles out there about sloe gin (sloe gin at Wikipedia, how to make your own sloe gin from Gordon's, and the always-helpful Imbibe Magazine with Elements: Sloe Gin), so I won't get into all that. Just know that in England, sloe gin is one of those drinks like limoncello that people often make at home. This sort of explains why good sloe gin is hard to find, as there doesn't appear to be much of a market for it. I like this drink so much because it is incredibly drinkable. I think the mixing of regular gin and sloe gin kind of thins out the sloe gin and makes it more palatable. Additionally, the lemon adds just enough sourness to the sweetness of the sloe gin and simple syrup.
Even if you've had a bad experience with sloe gin in the past, give this a try. I'd love to hear of your past SGF indiscretions and current better experiences, so leave me some feedback in the comments section.
It's hard to believe that we haven't blogged about the Manhattan yet--especially since it was probably my gateway cocktail to the world of other delicious cocktails. It's one of those drinks where you're likely to already have all the ingredients on hand (whiskey, sweet vermouth, bitters, and a cherry, if you like), but don't let the simple ingredients fool you into thinking the Manhattan is a simple drink. A good Manhattan is sweet, smooth, and vaguely herbal. It goes down too easy as many attendees of our annual February Doldrums Party can attest to. Some folks like them up, others on the rocks. Some shake a Manhattan, others stir. However, these are the finer points you can explore later.
The history of the cocktail dates back to the late 19th Century and is one of cocktails named for NYC's five boroughs. I just tried the Brooklyn and will be blogging about that experience very soon. And, of course, at some point the Bronx, the Queens, and the Staten Island Ferry will also be featured (although the Staten Island Ferry sounds retched, draw your own conclusions).
Although some prefer a perfect Manhattan (half sweet and half dry vermouth), I prefer mine with all sweet vermouth, Carpano Antica or Vya are delicious if you can get your hands on either. Also, I should confess that I like my Manhattan with bourbon--but, let's be honest, I prefer bourbon in every whiskey cocktail. However, a traditional Manhattan is generally made with rye or canadian whiskey (never brandy, Wisconsin, never brandy). For more history on the Manhattan, check out this little NYT article.
Ingredients:
2 oz whiskey (bourbon or rye)
1 oz sweet vermouth
2 dashes bitters (we used Fee Brothers, but orange bitters are also nice)
1 Luxardo cherry
Stir all liquid ingredients with ice and strain into a glass. Serve up or over ice and garnish with a cherry.
Well, I did some drinking over the holidays, but I did not write anything. Suffice to say that my husband and I finally discovered what a difference homemade makes when it comes to eggnog. Husband made two batches of a somewhat famous recipe from an old Four Roses ad, and we were invited to share some of a friend's batch that had been aged for one year (Really! Alton Brown's recipe). The two eggnogs were different, but both were delicious and in no way like the stuff you buy at the grocery store.
Speaking of homemade being well worth the effort, a friend of ours gave us a bottle of homemade falernum and a bottle of homemade orgeat yesterday. I will write more about the falernum soon, but for tonight I tried the orgeat. Orgeat is a syrup made of almonds and a few other ingredients. Its most well-known use is in the Mai-Tai, but I wanted to try to find something different, so I consulted the CocktailDB and found this one that I had never heard of, called Cardinal's Cocktail. I have had no luck finding out any history of this one because most drinks I have seen called Cardinal involve red wine or Campari, for the bright red color. I'm not sure why this version is not better known, because it's really delicious. The only problem I could find with it was that it was all gone way too quickly.
Cardinal's Cocktail
1 1/2 oz white rum
3/4 oz lime juice
1/4 oz triple sec (Cointreau)
1/4 oz grenadine
1/4 oz orgeat
I have tried store-bought orgeat that was a "gourmet" brand and I didn't think it had much almond flavor at all, but this homemade stuff is terrific. It's thick with a pinky-beigey color, and you have to shake it really well but the flavor is sweet almond, like marzipan.
This recipe as written had 1 oz of lime juice, but it made more sense to me to cut it to 3/4 oz, to make it equal parts lime juice and sweetening ingredients. The balance came out just right, I thought. It definitely didn't need more lime.
If you don't know CocktailDB.com, definitely check it out. It's run by Martin Douderoff and Ted Haigh, aka Dr. Cocktail, the author of Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. Not only is it a great resource about recipes and ingredients, but also it features really fun photos of bottles from Haigh's personal collection.
