An online speakeasy of potent potables and other pabulam.

So I’ve been super busy since Tales, thanks to work, and wanted to put some thoughts down for y’all.

This was my fourth time going to New Orleans during Tales. Last year I didn’t buy any tickets, and the two previous years I had media badges. This year I bought two tickets – one for the Diageo Happy Hour, and one for the Barroom Brawl – as much originally to get into the tasting rooms as anything else.

Let’s hit the good news first.

Barroom Brawl

This was, by far, the most fun event I’ve ever gone to at Tales. It was insanely packed, and crazy loud, but we were there to support our local and had a great time doing so, even if they lost.

Pig ‘n Punch

Always a great time. I’m amazed at how well they’ve dealt with the growing pains. My complaints were minor this year (I wish they’d had more beer, and the t-shirt was rather see-through for $35), but as every year, I had tons of fun.

The not-quite-so-good news

Tasting Rooms

Often overly full, and hot, and too much citrus in the cocktails. I still had fun at them, but the ones at the Royal Sonesta were very difficult to find at first (if upstairs), and the fact that you had to wear a wristband – and only got one to wear all week, ick – was a pain in the butt.

Diageo Happy Hour

Overall, a good time. The only reason it’s down here, and not up there, is the fact that it seems like it’s gotten to be less of a good time every time I’ve gone. It used to be THE event to meet up with folks, but not so much anymore.

The Bad News

By far the worst event I went to was the William Grant & Sons event. What was worse, in my opinion, is how in typical Tales “let’s suck up to each other fashion”, there was lots of press on “Oh my, it was so fun” the next days, but everyone I talked to (so admittedly anecdotally) didn’t enjoy it.

First: it was offsite, but the only shuttles ran from another offsite event, so if you were in the area of the Monteleone, you had to taxi. For us, it was the most expensive per-person ride due to it being a flat cost per person.

Second: When arriving, there was no direction, signage, or guidance as to where to go.

Third: When we got to registration, despite having exchanged multiple e-mails about RSVPing, none of us were on the list. Then we were just let in anyways, which makes it feel a bit less exclusive (especially after as big of a deal about RSVPs).

Fourth: No guidance after registration, so everyone tried to go through the one open door into the museum. Massive gridlock.

Fifth: Too much citrus in the drinks again. Several of mine were nearly undrinkable.

Sixth: Trying to go to the Hendricks area led to mud up past our ankles. My shoes were ruined. No warning signs on the mud.

Seventh: Trying to get back into the museum, had to navigate a burlesque show that was loudly encouraging the crowd to yell to get the women to strip. It seemed more like a strip club than something that should be at Tales.

Finally: Trying to leave, there was again no guidance, a messed-up cab line, and just a general pain in the ass. Fortunately Bellocq made us feel better.

Anyways, that’s my quick rant on Tales, courtesy of Reno, NV (a story you’ll see next week here, probably). And some pictures too, when I can find them and get them uploaded!

Pippali Pineapple

A few weeks ago, folks started sending me this link via Twitter regarding  a cocktail and mocktail competition hosted by the folks at Marx Foods. The rules were pretty simple. Once you sign up, they send you a sample of some of their spices. Using at least one of the samples per drink,you had to come up with an original cocktail and an original mocktail. It sounded like an interesting exercise, so I thought, what they hey, let’s enter this thing.

About two weeks after emailing my interest, I received a package containing my samples. It included dried pineapple, juniper berries, saffron, (Indian) long pepper, fennel pollen and dill pollen. I was super excited about the long pepper because I’ve always wanted to experiment with it in cocktails.

Long pepper is a little hotter than regular black pepper but has this beguiling aroma that is hard to explain. It’s almost sensual and velvety. And it just screamed TEQUILA! But I didn’t want to infuse tequila with the long pepper because I wanted to be able to control the overall long pepper use. Instead, I created a long pepper syrup.

Long Pepper Syrup
Take 8 long peppers and crush them in a mortal & pestle, a meat mallet or some other heavy object.
Add 1.5 cups of sugar, 1 cup of water and the crushed pepper to a sauce pan.
Bring everything to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Allow to cool to room temperature.
Using a fine mesh strainer and some cheese clothe, strain out the solids.*
Add half an ounce of vodka to the syrup for preservative purposes.
Bottle. It will keep in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks.
*If after using the fine mesh strainer and cheese clothe there are still particles floating in your syrup, bottle the syrup and allow to settle for a few hours. Then carefully transfer the syrup into a new bottle keeping the sediment in the first bottle.

So now I had some damn tasty long pepper syrup. What else did I want to do? For the heck of it, I diced the dried pineapple and added it to 2 cups of tequila. A let it set for two days, shaking the jar twice a day, then strained out the solids. The drink I then came up with is:

Pippali Pineapple
1.5 ounces Pineapple-infused tequila
.5 ounce fresh lime juice
.5 ounce long pepper syrup
.25 ounce fresh pineapple juice

-Combine all ingredients into an iced filled shaker. Shake vigorously for a slow 10 count and double strain (using a Hawthorne and fine mesh strainer) into a chilled couple glass. Pour one drop of Peychaud’s bitters on the foam and run a pick through it for a quick design. See the photo above.

Now that we have the cocktail, time to turn our attention to the mocktail. There could be any number of reasons people don’t want to have an alcoholic beverage including religious, medical or moral. I’m sure some of these folks still want to head out to a bar with their friends or experience the scene at the hot new cocktail bar in town. Regardless, they shouldn’t be subjected to soda and a squeeze of lemon or soft drinks or fruit juice and soda water. They should still be able to enjoy all the complexity and balance that a proper cocktail provides. The mocktail should also be visually appealing, not just fruit juice and soda water.  So the first think I did was decide how to make it visually impressive without relying solely on run-of-the-mill fruit juices. After some thought, I went with beet juice. The bright red-purple juice is both earthy and sweet. Not as sweet as fruit juice, but I know it would provide a great flavor and a great color. In to the juicer four beets went.

So how do you get this complexity in a beverage without all the things the spirits bring to the table? I’ve found that if not using spirits to add the complexity, you have to turn to more labor intensive culinary tricks.  One of my favorite spirits, and one of the most complex, is gin. With it’s various botanicals and styles, gin adds so much to a cocktail other than alcohol. I knew I wanted to replicate the complexity of gin in my mocktail.

Here is where you need some special tools for this mocktail. First, think about botanicals that are commonly found in gin. Juniper berries (hey! I got some of these in my samples!), lemon, orange and coriander are common gin botanicals. Then you need a cream whipper. This iSi Whip Plus is the one I used, but whatever the brand you want to make sure it is charged using N2O gas.

Non-Alcoholic Gin
.75 ounces, by weight, juniper berries
.5 teaspoon dried lemon peel
.5 teaspoon dried orange peel
8 cardamom seeds
2 allspice berries
25 coriander seeds
3 black peppercorns
25 fennel seeds
8 saffron fronds (also included in sample box)

Take all of these botanicals and crush them in a mortal & pestle or with some other heavy tool. Add the crushed botanicals to the whip cream canister. Add three cups of filtered water. Apply the lid and charge using a N2O. Gently swirl the canister for 30 seconds and then allow to set for 30 seconds. After that, quickly release the gas from the canister.  For a more detailed set of instructions and explanation of the science, check out this article. Once you’ve vented the gas, strain out the solids. What you’re left with is water flavored with traditional gin botanicals, or, non-alcoholic gin!

Beet Me to It
1.5 ounces non-alcoholic gin
.5 ounce fresh lemon juice
.5 ounce simple syrup
.25 ounce fresh beet juice
soda water

-Combine 1 tablespoon granulated sugar with 1 teaspoon fennel pollen.
-Prepare rocks glass by rubbing one-half of the outside rim glass with a slice of lemon. Using a spoon, dust this part of the glass with the sugar-fennel pollen mixture. Fill the glass with ice and place  in the freezer while preparing the rest of the drink.
-In an ice filled shaker, combine the non-alcoholic gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and beet juice. Shake vigorously for a slow ten count.
-Strain into your prepared rocks glass and fill the rest of the way with soda water. Gently stir.
-Garnish with a fresh mint sprig.

There you have it. A beverage containing the complexity of gin, the flavor and visual appeal of a great cocktail without the alcohol!

Thanks to Marx Foods for letting me compete in this contest. If you try either of these drinks, please let me know in the comments what you think.

Cheers!

Two weeks ago, Sean and I attended Tales of the Cocktail 2012 and had a great time. I hope to get a post up about Tales and some of my thoughts on what I saw, debates I heard and drinks I drank in the next couple of days. But first, I wanted to touch on the 2012 Olympic Games.

Like many of you, I’ve been glued to the (sometimes crappy) coverage of the Summer Olympic Games in London. I really enjoy the Games and have to say I get an up-swell in national pride watching the United States compete against the other nations of the world. Last night we had some friends over to hang out, have some grub, watch the Olympics and, of course, have a few drinks.

For the first drink, I found a tasty punch in the Cocktails+ iPhone app. I changed the recipe a bit so I’ll give you the original first and then my tweaked version. Unfortunately, in all the fervor of the games, I forgot to take a photo of the punch.

Roman Punch
1/4 oz sugar
1/2 oz raspberry syrup
2 dashes lemon or lime juice
1/4 oz curacao
2 oz brandy
1/2 oz Jamaican rum

Build over ice; garnish with various fruits in season and serve with a straw.

(Adapted from Harry Johnson, New & Improved Illustrated Bartender’s Manual. [Author, 1888] p. 166.)

And here’s the version I made. As you’ll see, I multiplied the ingredients by 4 in order to help take this from a single serve cocktail to a group beverage.

Roman Punch No. 2
1 oz simple syrup
2 oz raspberry syrup
Juice of half a lemon
1 oz Mandarin Napoleon
6 oz brandy
2 oz Applejack
2 oz Scarlet Ibis rum
16 oz sparkling water

Stir everything with a few ice cubes to well chill. Serve in small glasses over fresh ice and garnish with mint.

My version of the Roman Punch, although even with the addition of sparkling water, is a boozy punch. You can definitely taste the brandies and rum. Surprisingly the curacao comes through pretty strongly as well. All-in-all a tasty punch for a night of the Games.

The second drink I made is an original creation. I wanted something boozy and stirred with an international feel. You would think with the Olympics being held in London I would grab some gin. And oddly, once the drink was tasted, two out of the three tasters thought the base spirit was, in fact, gin. However, I actually grabbed mezcal. To be specific, I grabbed my bottle of Fidencio Sin Humo. The Fidencio mezcal is an unaged spirit and for a mezcal is very light on the smokiness that is a hallmark of mezcals in general. Upon reflection, an aged mezcal would provide a more golden color, but I would be afraid of too much smoke throwing off the balance. Of course, this is just fodder for more experimentation!

After grabbing the first ingredient from Mexico, I went across the Atlantic ocean to France and grabbed my bottle of Yellow Chartreuse. Ohhh, golden and delicious! Finally, I wanted to give a little bit more sweetness and a rounder flavor so I hopped over to Italy for my bottle of Maraschino. Mexico, France, Italy. Mezcal, Yellow Chartreuse, Maraschino. International ingredients for an international cocktail to enjoy during the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Gold Medal
1.5 oz Fidencio Mezcal
.5 oz Yellow Chartreuse
.25 oz Maraschino
2 dashes grapefruit bitters

Stir with ice and serve up. Squeeze lemon peel over top of drink and garnish with peel.

With a slightly golden hue and an herbal-berry roundness to the flavor, this drink soars like the gold medal athletes it celebrates.

Regardless who you are rooting for during the Olympics, give this drink a try and let me know what you think in the comments.

Cheers!

Happy July 5th! If you’re like me (and who wouldn’t want to be!) you really wish someone in the government would make today a National Holiday too. I mean, who couldn’t use the day after Independence Day to recuperate, amiright?

This Independence Day, at least here in the Washington, DC area, has been marked with a record setting heat wave and levels of humidity that almost necessitate a scuba tank. It’s seriously hot around here!

So while lounging around the Den yesterday watching Jaws & Independence Day, I, of course, whipped up a few refreshing beverages that really beat the heat. The names are less than desirable, but my brain was like fudge.

One thing about drinking when it is this hot out, I want ice & lots of it. So I tend to drink tiki drinks and long drinks in chimney glasses that will keep the heat at bay for a little while. These drinks definitely fit that mold.

For the first drink I wanted to utilize some of the great looking peaches I got at the market. And when I think about peaches and summer drinks my mind instinctively goes to whiskey. So this is what I came up with.

Peach-Whiskey Cooler
Muddle 1/4 of a fresh peach with .75oz simple syrup.
Add:
1oz fresh lemon juice
1oz Bonded Applejack
1.5oz Rye whiskey
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 dash Fee Brother’s Peach Bitters

Shake and double strain into an ice filled chimney glass. Add soda water to fill and gently stir. Garnish with mint, a slice of peach and/or some lemon peel.

This drink fit the bill perfectly. You may think that the whiskey & applejack make this a heavier drink but in reality it is very light. The peach, lemon & soda mixture make this incredibly refreshing and the rye and applejack give just enough body to let you know you’re enjoying a potant potable.

The next drink I came up because I wanted to have a little English gin during my Independence Day celebration. I had a pink grapefruit hanging around and knew that some of the fresh rosemary we have growing on the balcony would be a great tasting mix.

Grapefruit-Rosemary Cooler
Muddle a 4 inch strip of grapefruit peel, a 2 inch stalk of rosemary and 1 oz simple syrup.

Add to that:
1.25 oz fresh grapefruit juice
2 oz gin (I used Beefeater 24)
2 dashes Bittermen’s Burlesque Bitters

Shake & double strain into an ice filled chimney glass. Top with soda water to fill and gently stir to combine. Garnish with some grapefruit peel & rosemary.

This was great! Light and citrusy without being cloyingly sweet. I could drink these all day during this heat wave.

So what kind of drinks do you make to beat the heat? Leave us your suggestions in the comments.

Cheers!