Bombay Sapphire Most Inspired Bartender Entry

Every year, GQ and Bombay Sapphire team up for the annual Most Inspired Bartender competition.  This year, there were two events in Ohio--one in Cleveland and one in Columbus.  I competed in Columbus, at the Franklin Botanical Center, and had a fantastic time!  I didn't win, but had an amazing amount of positive feedback from the attendees ("I've had at least three people tell me I had to come outside and try the one with red pepper!" and "Yours was definitely the best one in there!" and "One of the bartenders over there told me I needed to come try this one," and even an "I'm so glad that yours is the last one I've tried and that I have in my mouth right now."), so I consider the night a tremendous success. Even more-so of a success for those that were unsure that they actually wanted to try it ("Cilantro?  Really?"), had a friend convince them to, and then went back for a second sample.

I really wanted to play off the rich, peppery notes from the Grains of Paradise (one of the botanicals present in Sapphire), and the citrus notes from the lemon peel (also a botanical).  Bombay Sapphire is a very intense gin, and I wanted intense flavor profiles to match and balance.  I'm very pleased with the final result.  

As for the name, I chose to reference "garden path" sentences.  The mind processes and develops visuals one word at a time.  In garden path sentences, the structure leads you start constructing one meaning of the sentence, and then a word comes along that forces you to reconfigure the meaning.  This cocktail, prior to being named, had many people say just those sorts of things about it.  We eat and drink with our eyes first, our nose second, and our mouths third.  On first glance, you see a pink drink in a "martini" glass.  Next, you see pineapple and red pepper in the garnish.  As you go to drink you smell the aromatic cilantro.  Once you drink, all of those elements come together into something unexpected and lovely.

The Garden Path

Glass: Medium Cocktail

Method: Muddle, Shake and Fine Strain

Garnish: Pineapple, Red pepper, Cilantro

Muddle:

1 large cube Fresh Pineapple
5 large pieces Red Bell Pepper
.5 oz Madhava Light Agave Nectar

Add:
10 leaves Fresh Cilantro
.25 oz Fresh Lime juice
1.5 oz Bombay Sapphire 

Make sure to muddle the red pepper very well to get maximum flavor (we're not worried about bruising or breaking mint here, guys!).  Shake ingredients well with ice. Double-strain into a medium-sized cocktail glass (around 6oz) and garnish.

Cincinnati Area Bartenders' Guild Meetup/Informational

Just wanted to take a minute to post about the informal meetup/informational the Cincinnati area of the United States Bartenders' Guild is going to be hosting on June 4th at Milton's, from 4p-6p.  

Stop by for a few drinks and to learn more about how you can be a part of the great things we want to do!  More information below on our blog:

http://cincinnatiusbg.blogspot.com/2012/05/cincinnati-area-meetup-and.html

The Glass Project: The Burning Heart

The recent Drambuie contest got me working with Drambuie for my first time, and as this drink has some heat to it I started thinking of names that invoked that.  Dante's Inferno came to mind, which led to thoughts of La Vita Nuova, and thus Il Cuore Ardente (The Burning Heart) was born.

Il Cuore Ardente (aka The Burning Heart)

Glass: Small Cocktail

Method: Stir and Fine Strain

Garnish:  Flamed orange twist

Ingredients:

1 oz Appleton Estate Reserve rum

.75 oz Drambuie

3 heavy dashes Fee Brothers Black Walnut bitters

1/8 tsp Ground Red Cayenne Pepper

Build ingredients in glass with ice and stir well to incorporate the cayenne pepper.  Strain depending on heat preference (normal strain for higher heat, fine/double strain for lower heat).  Garnish with a flamed orange twist and enjoy!

 

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.

P.S.  If you're on Facebook and want to keep up with my blog updates, 

please like my blog page! http://facebook.com/AlcoholAlchemy

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.

Stagger Lee

This cocktail came from a restaurant guest who had heard from her daughter about a black cherry cocktail with bourbon.  I was lost for a second, as we'd never had anything like that before, but then I realized that she was probably talking about Jim Beam's Red Stag, which is a black cherry bourbon.  She asked how people usually enjoyed it, and I asked her a few questions, and bounced off to create a cocktail for her.  I enjoyed the outcome so much that I tweaked it just a touch and eventually added it as a staple to the menu.

Stagger Lee

Glass:  Large cocktail

Garnish:   Long lemon twist

Method:   Shake and Strain

Ingredients:

2 oz Jim Beam Red Stag bourbon

.5 oz Cointreau

.5 oz Rich simple syrup (this can honestly range anywhere from .25oz-.75oz depending on your personal taste and how sweet you like things)

1 oz Fresh lemon juice

2 dashes Regan's orange bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a large cocktail glass.  Garnish with a long twist of lemon.

Note on the Name:  I struggled hard to name this one, as I wanted something very appropriate to a restaurant that focused on southern cuisine and assorted styles of barbecue.  Ultimately, think I had listened to Nick Cave's "Henry Lee" recently before naming the cocktail, and that put me in mind of his version of "Stagger Lee" (my brain works in bizarre ways).  For those who are unfamiliar with the song (or the story behind any of the variations of the song), here is the Wikipedia entry for the song.  At its core, it is a folk song written about the murder of a specific person by a man from St. Louis.  Red Stag, St. Louis...I realized I'd found my name.  While St. Louis isn't really known for a style of barbecue, they do have a cut style of ribs named after them (pork spare ribs cut into a more uniform rack-style), and they were named "America's Top Grilling City" in an annual list by Kingston charcoal last year.

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.

Herbal Summer Lemonade

This lemonade recipe is actually not one of my own.  Someone I know tried it last spring at a food show up in Cleveland, and I had a lot of fun adding an alcoholic twist to it.  I haven't attempted to figure out the ratios of liquor to make a large batch, but it's delicious with or without, and leaving it non-alcoholic makes it appropriate for gatherings with kids, too.

To make the lemonade

Yield:  About 2.5 gallons

Build:

24 oz Fresh squeezed lemon juice

24 oz POM Wonderful pomegranate juice

4 cups sugar*

144 oz Cold water

Add:

4 oz Fresh Dill

4 oz Fresh Mint

4 oz Fresh Basil

2 oz Fresh Rosemary 

Let steep to desired strength**.

* I've discovered that dissolving the sugar in the lemon and pomegranate juices before adding the water seems to work best to dissolve it as entirely as possible.  After that, I add the water, stir to blend, and add the herbs.

** Personally, I think about 24 hours is perfect, though you can generally start serving it after just a few hours of steeping, and you're not going to want the herbs in there much past a day and a half or so.

Alcoholic Version:

Method: Build

Glassware: 10oz Collins

Garnish: Edible orchid bloom

Ingredients:

1 oz Hendricks gin

.5 oz St-Germain elderflower liqueur

Add ice, fill with steeped herbal lemonade, and garnish.   

Tiki! Kiwi Mango Colada

So I recently met the blogger of The Pegu Blog, Doug, at the Don Q competition in Columbus this past weekend.  Looking at his blog reminded me that I sadly missed the February MxMo: Tiki! roundup.  I've not been super into Tiki previously, but last summer I had a bit of fun exploring, and while I'm spending way too much time in front of my computer with a broken ankle I thought I'd pour through some old photos and post recipes I hadn't yet had a chance to.  With the glorious temperatures around here lately, and my sadness at missing out on that last MxMo, I felt this entry quite apropos.

A bit of a sidetrack for a moment:  this recipe is, I suppose, officially a Swizzle.  It uses crushed ice and  a baton lele to froth and mix everything together.  My baton lele is a plastic tool that I procured as a giveaway at Tales two summers ago from St. Croix rum.  It is sadly missing a leg (this is what I get for taking my tools into work...ha).  They are IMPOSSIBLE to find.  If you happen to know where I can procure a wooden or metal one, I would be terribly indebted to you...or even if you're from St. Croix rum and could send a few of the plastic ones my way ;-)  I have attached a link to an excellent description of how to swizzle from Summit Sips in my recipe.

Kiwi-Mango Colada
Glassware:  I used a pint glass. It's tiki...there are many awesome options.
Garnish:  Cherry/Pineapple/Orange on a pick. Pineapple leaf to finish.
Method:  Muddle and Swizzle (crushed ice and baton lele)

Ingredients:
Muddle:
2 chunks Fresh Mango
1 slice Fresh Kiwi
6 chunks Fresh Pineapple
1 oz Coco Real (my preference for creamy coconut goodness)

Add:
.75 oz Gosling's Black Seal rum
.75 oz Cruzan Coconut rum
1 oz Pineapple juice

Swizzle to mix, add crushed ice, and then swizzle to dilute and chill.  Top with more crushed ice and garnish.

 

Don Q: Flor de Encanto

Don Q annually hosts a cocktail competition in conjunction with the USBG, and this is my first year participating (I joined too late to participate last year).  Our competition is on Sunday, and so I thought I'd share my entry.  Don Q rum is from Puerto Rico, and they ask competitors to showcase the spirit of the island in their cocktail in some way.  The state flower of Puerto Rico is a type of hibiscus, so I used that as my base idea.  Once I nailed down the recipe, I was lost on a name.  I thought a great idea might be to look into some of the folklore, and I came across the legend of Guanina--a star-crossed lovers sort of story.  I decided on "The Enchanted Flower" (also fitting, as the nickname of Puerto Rico is "Isle of Enchantment").  Then, seeing as how I work with a girl from Puerto Rico, she helped me translate the name.  The dash of cinnamon is a nod to the Spanish history linked with the island, as the Spanish were (of course) quite into the spice trade.

Flor de Encanto

Glass:  Large cocktail

Garnish: Dash of ground cinnamon

Method:  Shake and Strain

Ingredients

1.5 oz Don Q Gold rum

.25 oz Fruitlab Organic Hibiscus liqueur

1.5 oz Fresh Orange juice

.25 oz Fresh Lime juice

.75 oz Simple Syrup (1:1 ratio)

Shake with ice and strain into a large cocktail glass.  Garnish with a dash of cinnamon over top and enjoy! 


And, as a little bonus, some photos from the competition: