La Amorita

It's hot in New Orleans these days, and the usual Sazeracs and bittered slings are yielding to lighter drinks, at least during the day.  Here, the Pimm's Cup leads the way as the most beloved drink that can cool you off, but drinks with a tropical bent are very popular, too.  In fact, the Tiki movement is in full swing.  

While I usually lean towards old classics like the Daiquiri (or new classics like the East Side Fizz) at times like these, I was feeling particularly exotic today.  Add that to my new acquaintance with tropical fruits, thanks to my Costa Rican girlfriend, and you have an inspiration for a cocktail that is cool, refreshing, delicious, and that makes your worries go away.

                                                         La Amorita

2.25 oz (75 ml) Cacique guaro

1.5 oz (45 ml) fresh coconut water (agua pipa)

0.75 oz (22.5 ml) fresh lime juice (jugo de limon)

2 tsp (10 ml) 2:1 demarara syrup

2 rings of fresh pineapple

1 pinch of salt

Combine ingredients and vigorously shake with ice. Strain into a rocks glass, and add shaved/crushed ice to the top. Garnish with a pineapple ring and/or other fruits in season.

Sip through a straw.

If you don't go to Costa Rica very often, you probably don't have guaro, so you can substitute a light rum, instead.  For the agua pipa, buy a coconut and make two holes (side by side) in the side of it using a combined back-of-the-hammer-to-make-a-notch and drive-a-screwdriver-into-the-notch approach, which seemed to work for me. Stick a straw into one of the holes, and leave the other open. You can drain your agua pipa through the straw. The rest is pretty straight forward.  I bored the straw though the strawberry from apex to base for the picture, 'cause I'm artistic like that.

New Loves Cocktail Party, Part 1: the Bramble

A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of preparing some cocktails for a party hosted by my good friend Kori.  Originally, the party was to be held on St. Valentine's day, but, because I had other things to do, it was delayed.  The theme was Valentine-y, though: New Loves.  The idea was to introduce some new cocktails which have been relatively recently invented but are as good as the classics.  In time, one or a few of these might come to mind when one contemplates the great cocktails, as perhaps the Daiquri or the Sazerac might to mind today.

In the next few weeks (or less), I'll introduce eleven drinks I served to a thirsty gathering last February 18...

To begin our run-down of the featured cocktails (and the evening's festivities), let's address the Bramble.

Our oldest player, this drink was invented in the 1980s by Dick Bradsell in London.  It's a rejuvenated sour (spirit+citrus+sugar) with the sparkling edition of blackberry liqueur (creme de mûre) for a fruity accent.  Although creme de mûre is not a commonly-used ingredient, it's well worth the cost of a bottle; if you like a fresh, sweet, citrusy drink for hot summer days, there's no better libation than the Bramble.

2 oz London dry gin (Plymouth)
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz creme de mûre
~1/2 oz simple syrup (to taste)

Shake with ice; and strain into an ice-filled glass.  Garnish with blackberries, and serve with a straw.

First of May, or the Abbott City

To commemorate the First of May, 2011 (and 1945), I created this bittered sling variant:

2 oz Death's Door white American whiskey
2 barspoons honey syrup (equal parts honey and water)
2 barspoons Campari, floated.

Stir the whiskey and honey with ice, then float the Campari, for effect.  Serve with a stirrer and a lemon twist.

White whiskey because it's clear and American.

Honey syrup because it's oh, so sweet.

Campari because it's bitter and blood red.

Justice is served.

Know Thyself

One of the reasons I haven't posted much on this blog in recent months is that I've not been inspired.  The more I drink, the more I realize that there are but a few truly exquisite drinks.  After that, there are thousands that are "really very good," but these never approach the others.  With a few exceptions, the best drinks are the simplest and the oldest.  So I've not been routinely inspired because it's a rare event that one encounters a brilliant new drink. 

However, I was inspired by Jamie Boudreau, who posted on his Old Fashioned, cubed and syruped last October, to fashion a complex drink on a classic framework.  The first iteration was amazing.  I then made the mistake of upgrading the liquors to premium grade (Rittenhouse and Martel VSOP); this mistake drowned out the subtlety of the original, so I dialed it back again...


skinny (slightly less than) 3/4 oz Sazerac 6 year rye
skinny 3/4 oz Cruzan Single Barrel rum
skinny 3/4 oz Paul Masson brandy
1 tsp 2:1 demarara syrup
16 drops Smith-house Berber bitters

Combine and quickly stir with ice, making sure not to dilute the mixture too much. 

This cocktail is worthy of consideration with some of the greats, and could fill in for a Sazerac, Old Fashioned, or Manhattan as your daily tipple (that is, if you make some of my Berber bitters for yourself). 

Berber bitters

In a previous post, I mentioned my first attempt at homemade bitters. The incarnated concoction was, at once, haphazard and finely tuned. The haphazard came at the beginning; the fine tuning came at the end. Let me explain.

A week before I left for Africa, I placed more-or-less arbitrary amounts of several common suprasaharan spices in 95% ethanol (Everclear), and I let these steep for about a month.  In general, I placed about 1 fluid-oz-worth of substrate in approximately 2 oz of Everclear, added a dash of water, and let it be.  Herbs and spices were cloves, coriander seeds, cinnamon sticks, cardamom seeds, whole and crushed peppercorns, whole cumin, ground allspice, and ground paprika.  When I returned from abroad, the solutions were ready for extraction.  

I assembled a homemade Buchner vacuum filtration apparatus to separate the liquids from the particulate matter, and I isolated the infused solutions.  Next, I had two considerations: first, the flavor profile I wanted to create by combining the solutions; second, the fact that I had severe tinkering limitations due to the finite (and small) volumes of the infusions.  

After a little experimentation, I set my course and settled on this ratio:

 

*The base of nearly all bitters is a combination of infusions created from bitter barks and roots. I use a solution created by combining equal parts of quassia, calamus, and catechu in 95% ethanol for 1 week.    

The result was a delightfully complex and flavorful bitter solution which solidly stands its ground against the traditional players.