The Glass Project: Myrrah's Passion

So on Tuesday I drove the 4+ hours up to Cleveland to volunteer at/attend the first annual Ohio Tequila Festival.  I had a lovely time pouring Don Julio samples and sampling various other tequilas that were sponsoring.  I thought this was an excellent first-year event, and I look forward to seeing it grow in the future!  One other thing I finally saw for the first time while there were the Tequilador booklets with our recipes (although on the image they wrote lemon instead of lime...oops...lol)!  The QR codes were in the beginning of the booklet:

That night I stayed with my friend Emily (also in the booklet!) in Columbus.  I wanted to purchase a specific gin I hadn't been able to find around here, but I knew they had up there, so I went to Weiland's Gourmet Grocery in the morning to pick it up.  While waiting for the store to open I grudgingly stopped into the neighboring thrift store that Emily had told me about and picked up these ten little treasures for less than $6 (this is why I don't allow myself to go to thrift stores.  I would overwhelm my apt with bar tools and glassware that I don't actually have room for):

 When I got home I decided that I needed to come up with a recipe specifically for each glass, and decided to make that my goal this summer.  This will also force me to work with some different proportions (more classic ones) than I've been used to at the places I've been working.  First up was the pretty little one second from the left in the back.  That glass insisted on Creme de Violette and the fantastic new Aphrodite Bitters (from the makers of Bokers Bitters, and crafted from aphrodisiac spices and herbs) that I had also just scored at Weiland's (phenominal little bitters selection, and you can even sample most of them!)...and out came Myrrah's Passion (name story after the recipe):

Myrrah's Passion

Glassware:  Small cocktail glass

Method:  Shake and Strain

Garnish:  Egg white foam* and dash of Aphrodite Bitters

Ingredients:

1.25 oz Buffalo Trace bourbon

.5 oz  Creme de violette

.75 oz Fresh lemon juice

.25 oz Rich simple syrup (or just a dash, if you prefer more sour cocktails)
2 dashes Aphrodite Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into small cocktail glass.  Top with foam and a few drops of Aphrodite Bitters for aromatics.

* Egg White Foam:

Separate the egg white from yolk, and discard yolk.  In a clean shaker, dry shake egg white (i.e. without ice) until a bit frothy.  Add 1/2 tsp granulated or superfine sugar to shaker and continue to dry shake until desired density.

On the Name:

Greek mythology tends to color a lot of what I do, and likes to find its way into some of my cocktails--call it the spiritual aspect of the "Alcohol Alchemy" title, if you will.  Myrrah's story is a prime example of the wrath the gods could inflict when provoked.  The story varies depending on the source, but I have to say I'm rather enamoured with Mary Zimmerman's retelling of Ovid's Metamorphoses.  Ovid gives no reason as to why Aphrodite inflicted a passion for her father on Myrrah--just that she had lines of suitors and no apparent interest in any of them, and Powell later says it was to punish her mother for hubris (ego and arrogance) against the goddess in saying that her daughter was more beautiful than Aphrodite Herself.  Mary Zimmerman expounded on the original as that it went further than no interest--that she wouldn't fall in love and was insistent against marriage and love, etc.  Aphrodite took offense to this (of course, since She's the goddess of sexual love and passion) and cursed her with a passion for her father:

You can shut yourself in a room, bolt the door,

but love will come through the window.

Draw the curtains, lock the casement,

but love will seep through the walls.

Never think, never think that you can be safe from love.

--Aphrodite in Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses: a play

The story goes from there, and essentially ends in Myrrah fleeing and the gods taking pity on her when she asks to neither live nor die, and she transforms into a Myrrh tree.  After the transformation she also gave birth to Adonis, and eventually the sap from the tree was offered at the altars of Aphrodite.

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ETA, 1/28/2013:  I submitted this recipe for consideration to the 101 Best New Cocktails 2013 about a week ago, and I got notification today that it's made it to Round Two for taste testing. 

ETA, 8/4/2013:  And Myrrah's Passion has officially made Gaz Regan's 2013 list of 101 Best New Cocktails!  Hooray!  I'm so honored to be featured with such a fantastic collection of bartenders and cocktails!

MxMo LXI: Local Color: Autumn Blaze

I'm situated in the midwest of the States, and while we've got the craft beer thing DOWN (Dear Bell's...I love you and I miss you <3)...the liquor can be a little bit more tricky.  Recently, however, we've exploded with some really nice locally distilled spirits.  I was recently asked by the president of my local USBG chapter if I wanted to help the folks at Buckeye Vodka (based in Dayton, Ohio) with a seasonal cocktail to mix up at the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association's Bar Expo.  I jumped at the chance to help out a local distiller.  From there, I thought it would be fun to host a Mixology Monday that focused on showcasing the "local" liquors of our regular contributors.  I went a little crazy with my contribution and ended up with an almost entirely "local" cocktail, actually...not that that's a bad thing, of course! :-)

About the liquor:  Buckeye vodka is made with softened-four-times, filtered, and distilled water, and then the vodka is ten-times distilled, and it's probably the purest vodka I've ever tasted.  The palate is incredibly clean--practically like purified water turned alcohol!  This is definitely a liquor to use when you don't want to cloud the other flavors in your cocktail/drink.  I don't normally mix with vodka, but I always love a challenge...and challenge myself I did! 

I decided I wanted to go the pumpkin pie spice route, and I read up on a handful of pumpkin spice syrup recipes without finding exactly what I was hoping for...so, I did what I usually do in that situation...wing it.  My recipe (and lots of step-by-step photos) for the syrup and candied bites is below the cocktail recipe.   

I was pretty pleased with the final product, and I had people at the Expo coming over asking, "Is this the pumpkin one?  I've had about ten people tell me I had to come over and try it!" so it must have been a success :-)

 Autumn Blaze
Glass: Large cocktail
Method: Shake and Strain
Garnish: Candied pumpkin bites

Ingredients:
1 egg yolk (I always dryshake the egg without ice before adding the other ingredients)
1.5 oz Buckeye Vodka (from Dayton, Ohio)
1.5 oz Pumpkin Pie Spice syrup (mine used fresh pumpkins from Fairfield, Ohio)
1.5 oz Unfiltered Apple Cider (mine was from Newcomerstown, Ohio)

Shake VERY well with ice to thoroughly incorporate the egg yolk and strain into glass.  Garnish and enjoy!


Pumpkin Pie Spice Syrup and Candied Pumpkin Bites

1 Pie Pumpkin (mine were from a farm in Fairfield, Ohio)
3 cups Light brown sugar
3 cups water
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice blend (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice)

 Gut, peel, and dice your pumpkin.  I recommend half-/three-quarter-inch-ish sized dicing for candied bites that aren't too small, but not so big that they won't soak up a nice amount of spiced syrup in cooking...but it's really personal preference.

 

Mix all of the above together in a deep sauce pan and bring it to a slow boil.  Let it gently boil for about 15 minutes.  Strain out the pumpkin pieces and run the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer to filter out random spice and debris.

The quickest way to dry out your pumpkin pieces is to pre-heat your oven to its lowest setting (mine is 170F), spread the pieces over a baking sheet, and let them sit in the oven for a couple of hours.  Once they're dried out roll/toss them in a blend of granulated sugar and ground cinnamon.  I recommend about a tablespoon of cinnamon per half cup of sugar.

For the round-up check out the MxMo LXI Round-Up post!