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!

Playing with the Classics: Aperol 75

One key thing those of us who create cocktails like to tell new bartenders who are just starting to learn how to mix is to start with the classics and modify.  Classics are classic for a reason, of course, and it's a great way to get a feel for ratios and balance.  One of my personal favorite classics is the French 75.  In preparation for Mother's Day brunch at work, I thought I'd work out some potential cocktails to feature, and anything with sparkling wine is a natural choice.

Since I work at an Italian restaurant I've been using that as an excuse to familiarize myself with Italian liqueurs/amaros/etc. that I've never had much reason to learn before.  Aperol, though an amaro, is pretty tame and I thought it might have great potential to introduce to people who might otherwise be frightened of something new.  The best way to introduce people to something new?  Blend it with something old and familiar...in my case, the lovely French 75.

  

 Pretty, no?  The cocktail glass was actually a lovely gift from 

one of my sisters-in-law and her husband for Christmas :-)

Aperol 75

Glassware:  Large cocktail glass or large champagne flute

Garnish:  Lemon twist

Method:  Shake and Strain

Ingredients:

1 oz Plymouth gin

.5 oz Aperol

1.5 oz Fresh lemon juice

.75 oz Rich simple syrup

Shake with ice and strain into glass.  Top with prosecco (about three ounces) and garnish.

Lavender Honeybee

I don't really have any entertaining stories behind this cocktail--just the thought that I wanted to do a lavender and honey cocktail, and I thought rosemary would be a nice accent to the mix.  This is honestly probably in my top five favorite recipes of my own...the balance of flavors is really beautiful.

Also, while I have your attention:  I know some of you follow my personal Facebook, but I've started a page to move much of my bar rambling away from that.  If you're interested in keeping up with my blog updates, contests and events I'm involved with (or you might like to be involved with), and just interesting news in the bar world in general, you should head over and "Like" the Alcohol Alchemy Facebook page.

Lavender Honeybee

Glassware:  Large cocktail glass

Garnish:  Burned rosemary sprig

Method:  Shake and Strain

Ingredients:

2 oz Plymouth gin

.25 oz Simple syrup

.5 oz Lavender syrup

2 oz Fresh lemon juice

2 sprigs Fresh rosemary

.5 oz Smoked honey */**

Add ingredients in a mixing glass with ice.  Shake well and strain into glass.  Garnish with a burned rosemary sprig.

* I smoked the honey for around an hour using hickory wood.  If you're using a smoking gun you'll probably want to have the honey spread out as thinly as possible on a baking sheet or something to make sure all the honey gets the chance to catch the smoke since it's so viscous.

** I generally add the honey as the final ingredient, and give it a little stir before I add the ice so that it doesn't end up A) stuck to the bottom of the glass or B) as a cold clump attached to the ice in the tin after shaking.

Bourbon and Blues

You may recall me talking about some delicious blueberry preserves my mother-in-law made earlier this past summer during blueberry-picking season up in Michigan.  They featured prominently in my Death's Lady cocktail.  This is another recipe that came from that batch of deliciousness.  I had some extra Bulleit hanging around, and wanted to figure out a way to use it up.  This was quite the successful way of doing that.  I think I went through nearly four bottles the few days I featured this.  It's very simple to execute and very refreshing.

Bourbon and Blues
Glass: 12oz rocks/Old-Fashioned glass
Method: Shake and Strain
Garnish: Orange twist


Ingredients:
2 oz Bulleit bourbon
1 oz Fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 oz Simple syrup (refresher: I use a 2:1 sugar:water ratio)
1 barspoon Blueberry preserves

Build ingredients and shake with ice. Strain into glass filled with clean ice. Garnish and enjoy.

Athena's Council

There's no real back story to this cocktail...just that I got something in my head that I wanted to do a drink with sage.  Blackberry is a natural companion to sage, and I went from there.  The name started as "Wise Council" (which "sage advice" means, of course), and with all the goddess names in my cocktails, it seems as though Athena decided She wanted this one ;-)  I can't blame Her, as it's pretty delicious.

Athena's Council (a.k.a. Sage Advice)
Glass:  Large Cocktail
Method:  Muddle, Shake and Double Strain
Garnish:  Burned sage leaf

Muddle:
3 ea Blackberries
3 ea Sage leaves
.75 oz Agave Nectar (I used Monin's)

Add:
1.5 oz Sauza Hornitos Plata tequila
.5 oz St-Germain liqueur
1 oz Fresh Lemon juice

Shake with ice and double strain into cocktail glass. Burn a sage leaf to garnish.

Death's Lady

First and foremost:  Sorry I've been so lax on posting this month!  I swear I have about five recipes I've been meaning to post.

This past weekend, the husband and I tripped up to Kalamazoo, Michigan for his sister's wedding.  We had a fantastic time with all of the families (I love my in-laws!  And even my in-laws' in-laws!), and I loved being back home and visiting my friends, and I got to pick up some gins to play with that I haven't been able to find in Ohio but have been dying to work with.  The two I snagged were Death's Door from Washington Island in Wisconsin (hey...I just realized how apropos that is.  His sister and her new husband recently moved to Wisconsin), and Knickerbocker from the distilling division of New Holland (yes, the brewing company).  I haven't quite decided what I want to do with the Knickerbocker, but I definitely had ideas of blueberry with both of them.  I picked up some blueberry preserves for the Death's Door, and in working on the build I basically ended up with a twist on the White Lady.   Between the gin used, and the drink invoked, it pretty much named itself.

P.S. to the state of Michigan:  Your liquor prices have become insane. $42 for a fifth of Cointreau?  SERIOUSLY?!?  Insane.  Retail around here is in the low $30s.

I have this pictured in a small cocktail glass, even though it's mixed for a large cocktail glass.  I forgot to photograph it before I sampled it out, so some of it was already sampled...ha...oops.

Death's Lady
Method: Shake and Strain
Glassware: Large Cocktail
Garnish: Sugared rim, and fresh blueberries

Ingredients:
1.5 oz Death's Door gin
.75 oz Cointreau
.75 oz Simple syrup
1 oz Fresh lemon juice
1 barspoon blueberry preserves

Build ingredients in a mixing glass and shake well with ice.  Strain into a large cocktail glass rimmed with sugar, garnish, and enjoy!

Note:  Since I don't have Death's Door at work, I thought I would also try this out with Plymouth gin.  It was a little bit sweeter, but worked very well anyway, and is a much more widely available gin.  You could probably bring the simple syrup down a bit to cut that sweetness and bring out the botanicals in the Plymouth a bit more.  Since sweeter tends to sell a bit better at the restaurant anyway, I didn't bother experimenting much further.