April (Its Still April!) Drink of the Month: Stronger Bones and Teeth

When I buy fruit juice for my children (not that I ever do that, pediatrician friends who are reading - only water and milk for my kids!), there are about 500 different "healthy" or "organic" options, and at least half of them come in low sugar options. Gross. When I was a kid, we drank weird mishmashes of fruits put into a cocktail, made from concentrate, and definitely boosted with sugar. Why did we do this? For stronger bones and teeth of course! The Fred Flintstone chalky vitamins couldn't do it alone, we needed Pineapple-Orange-Banana cocktail in our lives! And it probably started out life as a paper can in the freezer, because that's how things went in the late 80s and early 90s.

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing, so when I read an article on making oleo saccharum (sugar syrup made from macerating peels to extract essential oils and whatnot) out of spent banana peels (a helpful hack, since my kids go through what feels like a dozen bananas a day), my mind went straight to POB(Last parenthetical in this overly long sentence: Had I been from Hawaii, I would have grown up with the vastly superior POG, where G = guava. The lids from the POG drinks became the kids sensation POG collectable game, but unfortunately POG doesn't help me repurpose spent banana peels).

8 hours later

Fresh banana peel

Lets pretend I didn't just write a run on sentence with three overly long parentheticals, and go straight to describing what banana peel oleo saccharum tastes like. The verdict? Definitely notes of banana, but also pretty vanilla forward and slightly earthy. There is enough banana to add flavor notes, but the added vanilla really plays well with dark rum. So that's where I took the drink. Our cocktail club decided to do breakfast forward cocktails last month, and I presented Stronger Bones and Teeth as my contribution. No one was appetized to see the leftover banana peels post-maceration, but everyone was pleasantly surprised by the result. Its not my favorite drink ever, but there are lots of fun little technique nods in the drink, so I'm adding it to the collection, run on sentences and all. (Note: This is the second drink in a row I've given faint praise by declaring: "Everyone thought it was going to taste nasty and then they were happy when it didn't." Apparently this is my new genre, sorry!).

Ingredients: 1.5 oz dark rum (Goslings preferred), 0.5 oz silver rum, 0.75 oz banana oleo saccharum, 0.5 oz moderately acid adjusted orange juice*, 0.25 oz pineapple juice, orange peel to garnish.

*I used 3 to 4 g of citric acid per 100 ml of orange juice. To adjust to lemon acidity, you would add just over 5 g of citric acid, and lime acidity is 3.2 g. So somewhere in between is the sweet spot for me.

 

Preparation: To make the banana oleo: Add equal parts by weight banana peel and sugar in a non-reactive container (4 banana peels is roughly 200g). Allow to sit 6-12 hours, stirring or shaking occasionally. Strain and bottle for up to 2 weeks.

Combine all ingredients in a Boston shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a coupe glass and garnish with an orange wheel. Don't try to add bruleed banana coins - they didn't add much. Definitely don't add bruleed banana chips - that was gross.

March (It's April 23rd, sorry) Drink of the Month: Nui Nuance

 I should probably read less, because sometimes reading gets me in trouble - especially if I'm reading about food and drinks. I read an article about tacos al pastor, and suddenly I'm trying to source ancho chiles and achiote powder. Or I read about re-purposing banana peels by turning them into simple syrup, and then I have a fridge full of banana sludge (more on that next week). Over Christmas, I read an article about savory cocktail ingredients, specifically using garum as a seasoning agent in cocktails. Garums are essentially ancient fish sauces (they can be made from lots of different matter however, including beef or mushrooms) that are made by fermenting proteins in their own enzymes (sometimes with koji added).

I understand if throwing fermented anchovy guts into a cocktail sounds gross, but the people in the article swore by the process (LINK). That was intriguing enough to get me started searching for recipes. I read through a few, and I found that most of the creators made their way to garums through the Noma Guide to Fermentation. With my curiosity sparked, I spent the better part of my Christmas break reading the 300+ page reference library of a book, learning about techniques I'd never have the time or space to master. It was a fun learning experience, but I ended up just buying some high quality colatura di alici (Italian fish sauce) instead of dropping $400 trying to make a home fermentation rig with buckets of meat slop. Maybe not the best overall use of my time, but at least I didn't add a greenhouse rig to the garage to harvest barley spores for fermenting.

Failed Batters

With my fancy fish sauce in hand, it was time to try my own drink boosted with an umami bomb. The Pearl Diver was the most recommended cocktail - basically a cold version of the hot buttered rum. I mixed up some hot buttered rum batter and then dosed portions of the batter with various umami sources - miso paste, colatura di alici, and oyster sauce. Unfortunately, none of these batters wanted to stay in suspension well, and the resulting pearl divers turned out too greasy (although I did pick up some cool pearl diver glasses to use for the occasion). Luckily, the Pearl Diver has a cousin, the Nui Nui, that contains virtually all the same ingredients, minus the butter. Cocktail Club spent the next hour playing with fish sauce in Nui Nui builds to get our proportions just right. Too much fish juice and the cocktail smelled like an old aquarium. But get it just right, and the umami helped the vanilla, cinnamon, and allspice really sing.

But was this just Stockholm syndrome? Had we invested too many hours into making garums work and trick ourselves into thinking that they added anything? Happily, I can report that I made another batch of Nui Nuis at our last club, when we had a few extra visitors. Despite being completely grossed out at the thought of adding fish sauce to a drink, our guests both preferred the garum dosed version, and finished their whole drinks happily. Add the gut sauce, you won't regret it!

Ingredients: 2 oz rum (I used a blend of .75 oz aged Jamaican pot still rum, .75 oz Haitian column still rum, and .5 oz Charanda blanco), 1 oz orange juice, .75 oz cinnamon syrup*, .75 oz lime juice, .25 oz allspice dram, .25 oz vanilla syrup**, less than one half barspoon of fish sauce (between 1/8 and 1/16 oz), tiki bitters.

Preparation: To make the Cinnamon Syrup - add two cinnamon sticks, roughly broken (not pulverized) to .75 cup of sugar and an equal amount of water (by weight). Allow to simmer on stove until sugar is completely dissolved, then remove from heat and allow to steep for 30 minutes until cool. Strain and bottle.

To make the Vanilla Syrup: Add two tsp of vanilla paste to .75 cup of sugar and an equal amount of water (by weight). Allow to simmer on stove until sugar is completely dissolved, then remove from heat and allow to steep for 30 minutes until cool. Fine Strain with mesh and cheesecloth and bottle.

Combine all ingredients except the bitters  in a Boston shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a Pearl Diver glass filled with crushed ice, and add bitters to top. Garnish with a lit cinnamon stick or (if the fish scent is too strong) a bouquet of mint.

February Drink of the Month: La Mula Verde (With Bonus Salsa Verde Recipe)

 If I've learned anything from The Cocktail Codex, it is that there are really only a few unique types of drinks out there. The folks from Death and Co. list their six fundamental drinks as: 1) the old fashioned 2) the martini 3) the daiquiri 4) the sidecar 5) the whiskey highball and 6) the flip (I'm still working on mastering a flip I really love - drinking whole egg is tough - but keep an eye out in this space for one made with sweetened condensed milk coming soon). Understanding these "mother" drinks makes creating new variations easier, and it also makes me less hard on myself when my ingenious creation is just common "well" drink with a new spirit. If there is really nothing that new, then why be mad that I didn't come up with a 10 ingredient bespoke drink? Why not just swap out vodka for Ancho Reyes, fancy it up with some Tajin and a muddled jalapeno coin, and call it a day?

That was the inspiration for the drink this month, La Mula Verde (literally the green mule, but it can also be a green tough guy, - helpful to remember if you're afraid of spice!). This drink takes the classic Moscow Mule formula, and subs out vodka in favor of Ancho Reyes liqueur. Ancho Reyes comes in Original (using fully ripe ancho chiles that are sun dried) or Verde (using immature chiles that are fire roasted and mashed). Either works for this recipe, but I find that the earthy, vegetal notes of the Ancho Verde pair nicely with ginger beer and lime.  For an extra kick, you can amp up the flavors of the drink by muddling a jalapeno coin and a lime wedge before pouring your highball and/or crust the rim with Tajin. In the instructions below, I'll do both.

Looking for an accompaniment for your drink? I've been on a salsa verde kick for the last few months, and I'm pretty happy with my oven roasted recipe, which you will also find below. This recipe makes excellent chilaquiles (another food product that comes in green or red!). Instead of avocado toast and mimosas for your next brunch party, why not make chilaquiles verde with la mula verde instead? Afterall, variety is the spice of life (and Tajin is the spice on the rim of your drink).

Ingredients: 1.5 oz Ancho Reyes (original or verde), 4 oz ginger beer (Goslings preferred), lime wedge, jalapeno coin, Tajin for rim.

Preparation: Slice the lime wedge down the middle and run the cut ends around your glassware (clay mug if you have it, otherwise a Moscow Mule mug or a highball glass). Sprinkle Tajin on the now moistened exterior of the mug. Put the used lime wedge and a jalapeno coin into your vessel and lightly muddle. Add Ancho Reyes (add up to .25 oz lime juice as well, to taste) and top with ginger beer. Add ice to fill glass and serve.

Notes: Note the option to add lime to taste. Too much and you overwhelm the ginger beer, but I do enjoy a little extra lime in my life. And use your own favorite ginger beer, but stray away from ones that are very ginger forward (Q) or overly sweet (Reeds).

Bonus: Here's a brunch pairing for your La Mula Verde. To make my salsa verde, start with the following ingredients: 12 tomatillos (husked and cut in half), 2 medium jalapenos (stemmed and seeded), 2 serrano peppers (stemmed and seeded), one half onion (peeled, quartered), 3 cloves garlic (peeled and smashed), .25 cup cilantro leaves (stemmed, tightly packed), juice of two limes, 1 tsp coarse sea salt. Prepare the ingredients as indicated above. On a roasting pan, place tomatillos, peppers, onion, and garlic. Set oven to broil and roast ingredients for five minutes. Flip and return to broiler for five additional minutes. Put remaining ingredients in a blender, add roasted vegetables and their juices, and  pulse until smooth. Store overnight in refrigerator before serving, ideally over old tortilla chips (because chilaquiles is delicious). If no vegans are around, then top it with a fried egg and come crumbled cotija cheese for a magical brunch.

January Drink of the Month - Nine Herbs Charm (A Soft Reboot)

 A happy new year to all five of my dedicated followers. My New Year's resolution this year was to do more writing, and that means a return to the blog - among other efforts. Careful observers may have noticed a concrete life event that precipitated my writing falling off a cliff - the arrival of my second child (born July 2020) in the midst of early COVID isolation. Two children, global pandemics, two parents trying to work from home with a very active three year old and infant, and supply chain shortages meant that my opportunities for creative drinking fell by the wayside for some time.

With some creativity in the early pandemic months, we were able to resume our cocktail club, even if that meant meeting in partially open garages in the middle of winter. And as the world has opened back up, we've managed some pretty excellent creations. If only I'd written them all down! A few things I picked up over the past few years that will likely be featured in the coming months:

1) I like gin now. The cocktail club rejoices. I still don't like Campari though, so don't look for a Negroni recipe any time soon. However, variations on the Gin Fitzgerald are common in the bar, including this month's recipe.

2) Did you know rice washing was a thing? I think rice washing makes everything better, more to come on this.

3) You can make a syrup out of almost anything. My personal favorite odd syrup ingredient is fennel fronds, which also feature in the recipe for this month.

4) My efforts at making a sourdough started during COVID cratered quickly, but I've found a use for many other ferments in the bar. Funky old fish sauce punches up tiki drinks in amazing ways, who knew!

5) We just began dabbling in fat washing. My first attempt was a whole cocktail that was milk washed. It, um, didn't go well. We sat for an hour and waited for milk solids to strain out of a clarified cocktail, and all I got was a heavy cream drink with a little wine float. Going to work on this some more, maybe starting a little more basic with a bacon wash and moving on from there.

I hope that gives you a small taste of what is to come for the next few months. For today, I'm featuring a Bar Kiley special, the Nine Herbs Charm. Named for an old Anglo-Saxon healing incantation, the drink features fennel, chamomile, and juniper. Juniper isn't one of the nine herbs in the charm (fennel and chamomile are), but its English as heck, so it worked in my head. If you feel the need to add crabapple, mugwort, nettle, and others for authenticity, be my guest. The drink is a play on the Fitzgerald formula (a gin sour with 2 oz gin, .75 oz simple syrup, .75 oz lemon, and 3-5 dashes of bitters), and makes great use of discarded fennel fronds left over from your latest meal. This was one of the recipes we gifted to the Imfelds at their wedding shower (along with the Mrs. Rita), and I hope you enjoy it too!

Ingredients: 2 oz gin (Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin preferred), 0.75 oz lemon, 0.75 oz fennel syrup (see notes), 3-4 dashes chamomile bitters.

Preparation: Combine all ingredients in a Boston shaker over ice. Shake and strain into a Nick and Nora glass, garnish with a dehydrated orange wheel.

Notes: To make the fennel syrup, you will want the tops and fronds from one bulb of fennel. Save the lower bulb for making an awesome pasta sauce or for your next taco night. In a saucepan, combine 1.5 cups of water with an equal weight of sugar. Bring to a simmer until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the fennel fronds, simmer for four minutes, and then remover from heat. Allow to completely cool, then strain out fronds using fine mesh and cheese cloth. Syrup will keep for 2-4 weeks. 

July Drink of the Month - Casanier

For the past month, I've been running a "Saint Pius on the Rocks" series at our parish. Each week we feature a guest speaker, and I create a video to introduce them along with a cocktail for folks to make at home. Its been fun to channel my inner Bobby Flay, and I even got creative for my old program director from my Masters program, and created an original drink for him. Msgr. Michael Heintz is a lover of the Boulevardier (1.5 oz bourbon, 0.75 oz Campari, 0.75 oz sweet vermouth), which is only slightly ironic. You see, "boulevardier" in French means "man about town," and Fr. Mike is one of the biggest homebodies I know. So I created a "homebody" cocktail for him ("casanier" is homebody in French) using some of the same ingredients (just less bitter, because its my blog).

If you'd like to watch the video, you can find it here: https://vimeo.com/427125156 (I'll be awaiting my call, Next Food Network Star). The whole series can be found on the parish vimeo page (I also make a "Scofflaw" (rye, dry vermouth, grenadine, lime, orange bitters), Navy Grog, French 75, and a Last Word). For now, try out the Casanier, which was my first experiment in using grape juice in place of sweet vermouth (for shelf stability reasons).

Ingredients: 1 oz bourbon, 1 oz concord grape juice, 0.75 oz Aperol

Preparation: Combine ingredients in a Japanese stirring glass, or pint glass. Add ice, and stir until very cold. Strain into a Old Fashioned glass, add one large ice cube, and garnish with a lemon wedge.

June Drink of the Month - C.O.V.I.D. Punch

Quarantining with a three year old and a very pregnant wife means I've that if I choose to make a drink, I've had to drink alone. One way to make things interesting (and not feel like an alcoholic) has been to participate in drink making challenges with Zack via text, social media, or Zoom. During the month of June, we actually met in person (outside) with the rest of the cocktail club crew, and had to create something unique for the gathering. While its a little morbid, we took creating a "COVID" cocktail as a challenge, and the result is a pretty tasty beverage you will find below.

We chose to take COVID as an acrostic and use an ingredient per letter. The most challenging were "D" (Drambuie?), "I" (only weird, obscure stuff), and non-vodka "V"s. In the end, we cheated a little bit, using ice for the "I." Were we not in a pandemic, and able to make a shared bowl of punch, we would have had an elaborate ice mold with 19 slices of orange, but we made everything single serving to avoid possible contamination. Here was what we settled on:

Champagne

Orange Juice

Velvet Falernum

Ice

Diplomatico (my favorite Venezuelan Rum)

We added a few small ingredients to tie everything together: simple syrup, tiki bitters, and citric acid to boost the tartness of the orange juice (OJ by itself is usually pretty bland in cocktails, but add a little citric acid, and it shines!). I've included the recipe below for the individual portion version of the drink (including a block ice cube with a supreme of orange instead of the ice ring).

Ingredients: 1.5 oz Diplomatic Rum, 1 oz citric acid boosted orange juice*, 0.5 oz simple syrup, 0.5 oz velvet falernum, 2 dashes Bittercube Jamaican Bitters #2, top with 2 oz champagne

Preparation: Prepare citric acid boosted orange juice (see notes below). Add orange juice, rum, simple syrup, and velvet falernum in a cocktail shaker. Shake over ice, and strain into a cocktail glass. Add the orange ice block and bitters, then top with champagne and serve.

Notes: To make citric acid boosted orange juice, add a barspoon of citric acid to 3-4 oz or orange juice. Test for desired tartness, add more orange juice if too tart for your liking.

May Drink of the Month - Mrs. Rita

Every so often, I trade texts with my old boss, Brad Sytsma. We both have a love for music, playlists, and challenges. So we'll offer each other a category and gift each other a CD with gems from our favorite eras (Brad is an 80's guy, whereas I love 90's power pop). Brad has introduced me to a number of bands that I now love, like the Indigo Girls and the BoDeans, and he's deepened my appreciation for U2 and R.E.M. I like to think I've given him some gems as well (Carbon Leaf, Shawn Mullins, the Alternate Routes), so we continue to send each other challenges periodically.

This month, I was in a rut, trying to come up with a name for a new drink I'd created. I had leftover sage leaf from making stuffed Cornish game hens (they were a Christmas present from work, and I finally got around to making them as we participated in the great quarantine freezer clean-out), so of course I made a batch of sage simple syrup. After some testing (the applejack/sage syrup/lemon cocktail was not as much of a home run as I had hoped), I found an excellent application in an Old Fashioned riff with mezcal and orange bitters. But the drink needed a name.

I spent a good hour ruminating, and then sent off a text to friend of the blog Zack with a picture and a name - "Once Upon a Thyme in Oaxaca." It's a well worn pun, but whatever! The only problem, as Zack reminded me, was that I used sage instead of thyme in my syrup - I had brain-farted on my ingredients in the name of making a pun fit. I still needed a name.

I put on some music while I cleaned up the bar. The Gin Blossoms have been in heavy rotation ever since I found The Great Albums Podcast and listened to their review of New Miserable Experience. I've always loved the Blossoms (I've seen them live more than any other band except Carbon Leaf), and their new album (Mixed Reality) is excellent. But it was when I was listening to the anniversary re-issue of New Miserable Experience that the name came to me. The third track (and third single) off the album is called Mrs. Rita, named for a billboard psychic from the 900-number, Mrs. Cleo boom. She was prominent in the American Southwest, where Mexican food and the mezcal boom started. A "sage" from the southwest? I found my winner!

Of course, this naming convention sent me down a rabbit hole, and I had to text Brad. Instead of coming up with a top ten list of break-up songs, or side 1, track 1s, my new challenge was to make a 5 drink tasting menu using a single artist. Brad enjoys good whiskey and margaritas, but he's not a full-fledged bartender. So the concept didn't require fully formed drinks - just concepts to match the song names. Following the recipe, I'll give you my Gin Blossoms themed menu. I may try to build these other drinks out over the coming months, so keep an eye back on this space for the rest of my top 5 (or maybe 7, I couldn't pick between some songs).

For now, here is the recipe for the Mrs. Rita - a simple, smoky drink with a savory backbone that sips
easy over a big block of ice:

Ingredients: 2 oz mezcal (Del Maguey Vida if you have it) , 0.5 oz sage simple syrup (recipe follows), 3 dashes orange bitters (Regan's Orange Bitters No. 6 preferred), sage leaf to garnish.

Preparation: In a mixing glass, combine mezcal, sage syrup, and bitters. Add 5 medium-sized ice cubes, and stir for 10 seconds. Strain into an old fashioned glass. Using a bar spoon, slowly add one large ice cube, and garnish with a sage leaf on top of the ice cube.

Notes: To make the sage syrup, combine 0.5 cups of water and 0.5 cups of sugar in a sauce pot. Stir to combine, and bring to a gentle boil. Add 10 sage leaves, allow to boil for one minute, and then remove from heat. Allow to cool for 30 minutes, then strain off sage leaves and bottle for up to three weeks.

Gin Blossoms Tasting Menu:
Lost Horizons (dry Manhattan with absinthe rinse) - New Miserable Experience (track 1)
Hey Jealousy (chartreuse/Last Word riff) - New Miserable Experience (track 2)
Mrs. Rita (Mezcal Old Fashioned) - New Miserable Experience (track 3)
Pieces of the Night (cobbler) - New Miserable Experience (track 11)
Follow You Down (beer with shot chaser) - Congratulations, I'm Sorry (track 3)
Learning the Hard Way (whiskey/hard cider tall drink) - Major Lodge Victory (track 1)
Idiot Summer (lemonade sipper) - Rarity/Bonus Track

April Drink of the Month - Boughs of the Supernatural

Happy quarantine month two everyone! I've been very envious of my friends without kids during this time - friend of the blog Zack has been incredibly industrious during his time apart, testing out different shrubs, citrus-cellos, bitters, and oleos. I've had time to make... one batch of juniper syrup, using dried juniper berries that I bought back in November. Our little person has decided to push back his bed time, so our adult time has been slightly curtailed (and we're still working during the day, thankfully). However, our new normal doesn't leave a lot of time for bar exploration (and my normal drinking partner is pregnant, so I'm drinking for one).

I did make juniper syrup though! And I've enjoyed playing around with it, even making a few virgin G&T-like mocktails for Ann. I've only used it with gin drinks so far, but the extra punch of juniper makes the drinks even more fresh and floral. Juniper plays well with lime (hence G&Ts), and grapefruit is another good friend. I named the drink after a nickname of juniper, "boughs of the supernatural." The recipe follows - enjoy!

Ingredients: 1.5 oz gin (I used St. George Botanivore), 0.75 oz juniper syrup*, 0.75 lime juice, 0.5 oz Deep Eddy Ruby Red grapefruit vodka, 1.5 oz soda

Preparation: Combine the first four ingredients in a Boston shaker, shake over ice and strain into an ice-filled collins glass. Top with soda water and garnish with a lime disc.

Notes: To prepare the juniper syrup, combine 1.5 cups of water and 1.5 cups of sugar in a small pot. Bring to a boil, then add 3 tbsp dried juniper berries. Boil for 1 minute, then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off heat and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Strain liquid through cheese cloth to remove particles, and bottle for up to three weeks.

March Drink of the Month - Lynchburg Lemonade

The last restaurant that Ann and I were able to visit before COVID-19 shut down the world was a tiny spot just over the border in Michigan called Fat Cam's. We love Fat Cam's for their Cajun dishes (particularly the Orleans Shrimp, covered in Worcestershire sauce and butter), and we were grateful that we had a chance to visit on a Friday in Lent and eat spicy seafood to our hearts' content. At the time of writing, we're now over a week and a half into our brave new world of coronavirus-related isolation, and thinking back to that night at Fat Cam's is making me a little emotional. I miss being about to go out, to see people, and to experience joy through new food and drink.

We've self-isolated pretty hard with Ann being pregnant. That means I'm drinking alone, if I choose to visit the bar. I'm sure I'll get more playful as our isolation stretches out, finding weird or unique ingredients on Amazon or Cocktail Kingdom. But for now, I wanted something simple and comforting. My drink this month was the last cocktail I had out in the wide world - a Lynchburg Lemonade. Fat Cam's called it something different (so that they didn't have to use Jack Daniel's), but the simple combination of lemon-lime soda, lemon, triple sec, and whiskey is easy to make and incredibly refreshing - until I ran out of lemons (I caved and bought shelf-stable lemon juice late last week). And even my pregnant, whiskey-hating wife took a (small) sip and admitted she didn't hate it. High praise from Ann!

Here is my recipe for a modified Lynchburg Lemonade. Like Fat Cam's, I should probably call it something else (since I'm not using Jack either). But why cause confusion? I'll just own that my recipe is not 100% standard... its better!

Ingredients: 2 oz bourbon (high rye content preferred), .75 oz lemon juice, .75 oz triple sec, 4-6 oz lemon lime soda (to taste).

Preparation: In a highball glass (or a mason jar if you need to feel folksy), combine the whiskey, lemon juice, and triple sec. Add ice to the top of the glass, and then top with soda. Stir to combine, and garnish with a lemon wheel.

February Drink of the Month - Sober Curious

For any loyal readers who thought I may have fallen off the edge of the Earth... you made a reasonable assumption, based on my lack of posting! My radio silence for the past few month is easy to explain, however: Ann and I are expecting baby #2 in July, so I've lost my #1 drinking buddy and taste tester. Who knows what this means for my blog output going forward (child #1 put me several months behind last time), but I will continue to post as much as I'm able!

In order to allow Ann to still join in on the fun, my cocktail club spent the month of February playing with shrubs and other low/no ABV options. According to the various publications that I read, the "sober curious" movement is growing. One way to get interesting flavors without using alcohol is with shrubs, sometimes know as "drinking vinegars." There is also a whole range of new "alcohol substitutes" available on the market, the granddaddy of which is Seedlip. For this month's concoction, we combined both of these alcohol-free options to make a pretty tasty little drink that even the pregnant ladies can get behind. This is definitely a case of a drink that is "greater than the sum of its parts." One of our club members described my bottle of Seelip Grove as "herbal hint water," but when combined with the kiwi shrub, it made something magical (we tried swapping Seedlip for gin later, and somehow the "herbal hint water" version was better!).

Ingredients: 2 oz Seedlip Grove, 3 oz kiwi ginger shrub*, 0.5 oz lime juice, 3 dash citrus bitters

Preparation: Combine seeldip, shrub, lime juice, and bitters in a boston shaker. Shake over ice, and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a kiwi wheel.

Notes: *To make the kiwi-ginger shrub, combine 3 cups sugar, 3 cups cold water, 2 tsp ground ginger, 0.75 cups white wine vinegar, and 0.75 cups white wine. Bring to a boil, and remove from heat. Add the fruit of 6-8 kiwi, and allow to cool. Blend to incorporate ingredients, and then strain into a sterile container.

December Drink of the Month - Bitter Passion

Ann and I rent our house out every fall during Notre Dame home football weekends. Our renters almost always leave behind something after departing. Sometimes the items are odd, like a single novelty sock, or a horribly smelly cooler that went straight into the trash can. But sometimes the leavings are truly gifts, like the cans of champagne left in our refrigerator by Ann's old student workers. Single serve CANS of champagne. This was a life changer for me, as I NEVER go through enough champagne while mixing drinks to justify a whole bottle. Mini bottles have been around for a bit, and they are nice... but cans are even easier to store, and the serving size is excellent for four-ish drinks. Somehow, I missed out on this innovation until it was deposited in my refrigerator. And yes, naysayers, the can of champagne isn't of the finest vintage, but it is cheap and convenient. I'm going to mix it with lots of tasty booze and juices - so I'm not going to be overly focused on the label here. I'm just here for the bubbles.

Our renters' gift allowed me to play down in the bar one night, and the result was a pretty tasty bubbly drink - just in time for New Years! It is a mix of sweet (passion fruit & simple syrup), sour (lime and passion fruit again), bitter (grapefruit), and dry (champagne). It's a lot all in one glass, but the tropical flavors all pair well, and champagne bubbles keep it light, and there is a strong backbone of vodka to keep it boozy enough. This is what I'll be drinking on NYE if I have my way!

Ingredients: 1.5 oz vodka, 0.5 oz grapefruit vodka, 0.5 oz passion fruit syrup, 0.5 oz simple syrup, 1 oz lime juice, 2 oz brut champagne to top.

Preparation: Pour all of the ingredients except for the champagne into a Boston shaker. Shake over ice, and strain into a chilled champagne flute. Top with brut champagne, and finish with lime zest.

Notes: I use Deep Eddy grapefruit vodka and Small Hands Foods passion fruit syrup. I can't remember what brand of champagne in a can we had, but I'd buy it again. What a concept!

November Drink of the Month - The Autumnal Equinox

If you haven't read last "month's" post yet, go check out the Granny Sour, one of the best original drinks that Zack and I have created. It's up there with Smoke on the Water... Melon and our first original drink for the blog, the Opera Glove. Also, as a side note, Zack and I have been mixing drinks together for a while - the Opera Glove goes back to 2013. Wow!

After testing a number of apple varieties to create the Granny Sour, Zack and I found ourselves with a surplus of apples on hand, and no great need for cobbler. Luckily, we had Cocktail Club the following Tuesday, so more experimentation was on tap. Attendance at Cocktail Club was low this past month (I suppose having a new baby is an acceptable excuse for missing a club meeting), but that meant we had a little more freedom to sit and experiment. Our goal was to riff on the classic Żubrówka and apple juice, and maybe play around with some sour and/or sweet flavors (grapefruit? apple caramel? aperol? mint syrup?). The only requirement for the drink was that it feature fresh apple juice, and be served in a hollowed out apple.

Showstopper!

After a few rounds of bar "scientific method," we had a base drink we liked - Żubrówka, jonagold apple juice, lemon, ginger liqueur, and (eventually) rosemary. That drink was fine, but it needed one final touch. Would we go sweet, and add apple caramel? Bitter and dash in some grapefruit juice? Or do both?

It turns out that doing both was a terrible idea. So lets get that out of the way first. Ick.

Adding grapefruit did give some pleasant tartness and bitter finish to the drink, but it was nothing outstanding. However, slowly adding apple caramel made this into a semi-tart, spiced dulce de leche (in liquid form), and that was absolutely worth writing home about. We named the drink the Autumnal Equinox, because it uses fresh fall flavors, and is half sweet and half tart. I hope you enjoy it, and the photo, which made use of the portrait mode on my new phone camera.

Ingredients: 2 oz jonagold juice, 1 oz Żubrówka, 0.5 oz lemon juice, 0.5 oz ginger liqueur, 1 tsp apple caramel, 1 sprig rosemary

Preparation: Juice the jonagold, and strain out any pulp using a mesh strainer. Combine juice with Żubrówka, lemon and ginger liqueur in a Boston shaker. Slowly stir in apple caramel using a bar spoon until it is well dissolved. Remove rosemary needles from stalk, and add to shaker. Shake over ice, double strain into a hallowed out apple. Garnish with a half caramel rim and a rosemary sprig.

October Drink of the Month - The Granny Sour

Photo Credit: Ann Kiley

I'm going to keep this month's post short and sweet. Zack and I created the Granny Sour over a Friday afternoon, another product of our newfound love for the drink creation "scientific method." Because it is the fall, we actually purchased a number of locally sourced apple varieties and juiced them all, searching for nuance in the different cultivars (fuji, johnagold, courtland, granny smith, and honeycrisp were the ones we toyed with). Our experimentation began as a riff on the classic Stone Fence (rye and cider, although there are many variations - the Stone Fence from Dead Rabbit is immensely more complicated!), partially because Zack picked up some decent rye on clearance while we were apple shopping. The rest is history, as we played with independent variables on the way to discovering a drink we both consider one of our finest original creations. This was a really fun experiment, because it made us consider where the flavor for commercial apple juice comes from, and how we can tweak and play with that formula by using fresh ingredients. When you recreate this drink at home, you absolutely must juice your own granny smith apples - store shelf apple juice will not have the same tart/crisp notes that are essential for this drink. You can buy granny smith year round, but the harvest is still fresh now, so go get some local apples if you live in orchard-friendly states!

Ingredients: 2 oz rye, 2 oz granny smith juice, 0.5 oz lemon juice, 0.5 oz mint syrup, 2 dashes cranberry bitters

Preparation: Juice the granny smith apples, and strain out any pulp using a mesh strainer. Combine juice with remaining ingredients in a Boston shaker. Shake over ice, double strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with skewered cranberries.

Notes: Peeling the granny smith apples before juicing helps the drink's color - juicing with the skin on results in a darker juice, so the cranberry hues get washed out. Also, the juice oxidizes quickly, so don't allow it to sit for long before mixing.

September Drink of the Month - The Hummingbird Daiquri

Last time Zack and I sat down to fiddle with drinks, he had a very specific challenge in mind: find something to do with a tasty bottle he had just purchased. The bottle in question was Flora from Cardinal Spirits, a raspberry and edible flower liqueur. He had sampled the wares at Cardinal, and declared this bottle was the most interesting thing they had to offer. So we went to work crafting a drink to highlight the sweet, floral notes found in "Flora," using the scientific method.

"Scientific Method" Round 2

"Scientific Method" Round 1

The process involved lemons, limes, and lots of agave, grape, and sugarcane based spirits. For those keeping score at home, pisco, brandy, and mescal were non-starters. The grape-based spirits provided too much of the same flavors as the Flora, masking what made it special. And the mescal was just too much for this delicate liqueur. Rum and rum-adjacent spirits, however, played really nicely with what Flora brought to the table. At the end of the day, we settled on concocting a daiquiri riff, swapping in the Flora as the sweetener instead of sugar. That led to a second round of experimenting with different sugarcane spirits using our base formula, and a momentary disagreement. Zack found a drink made with Havana Club rum to be just about perfect. I preferred the extra earthiness that came from using cachaça. Instead of arguing ad-nauseam, we relied on a trick we had just learned from the Cocktail Codex: we used a split base, keeping Havana Club as the dominant flavor, but adding a little cachaça for seasoning. The drink by itself stands up with rum alone, but the split base is divine. Want to try this, but can't find Flora in your local spirits store? They sell and ship online: Cardinal Spirits. Or else sub out the Flora for 0.75 oz creme de framboise and 3 dashes of rose water. It won't be the same, but it is a close approximation.

Ingredients: 1 oz white rum, 0.5 oz cachaça, 1 oz lime juice, 1 oz Cardinal Spirits Flora

Preparation: Combine ingredients in a Boston shaker. Shake over ice, strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with an edible flower.

August Drink of the Month - Fram-brandy Sidecar

I've detailed over the years my great love for the Sidecar, perhaps one of the perfect "mother" drinks, and my favorite formula to play with. Early on in the history of this blog, Zack and I performed a "side-by-sidecar" test with a number of (cheap-o) fruit brandies, our first foray into the scientific method of drink production. We tried out a number of flavors, and Apricot took the cake (and bad cherry brandy was the worst). However, raspberry (framboise in French) was missing from that list, and I now realize this to be a glaring omission (or perhaps a felix culpa, as I don't have memories of bottom shelf raspberry brandy to poison by brain).

While I was not on the lookout for new fruit brandies, a chance conversation at a family wedding this summer resulted in me becoming the proud owner of a bottle of "Nick's Red Raspberry Brandy," lovingly made by Ann's Uncle Nick. While it is quite sippable on its own, I can't resist an opportunity to tinker at the bar. A sidecar is brandy's best friend (and grappa, and pisco, and signani, and...), but a traditional formula with Cointreau would have been far too sweet. Tinkering with the ratios and subbing a dry curacao for Cointreau resulted in a gem which I'm looking forward to enjoying again this weekend (since my little sample bottle has now been replaced with a full fifth). Below is the formula for the Fram-Brandy Sidecar.

Ingredients: 1.5 oz raspberry brandy, 1 oz dry curacao (I use Pierre Ferrand), 0.75 oz lemon juice.

Preparation: Combine all ingredients in a Boston shaker. Shake over ice, and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with a fresh raspberry and a lemon twist.

Notes: Can't find Nick's Red Raspberry brandy? He'll trade you for some! Or else St. George Spirits makes a nice bottle as well ;).

July Drink of the Month - Bourbon Slush (Guest Post)

Hello loyal following (of three)! I apologize for a lack of posting this past month and a half - between kitchen renovations, anniversary celebrations, and the start of the school year, I've been quite incommunicado. But we are back with a vengeance, and I hope to have us all caught up before October hits. Let's begin with a guest post that has been sitting in my email inbox since June 23: my mom's foolproof bourbon slush recipe. She uses this for almost any occasion, and sometimes even travels with it her (like on a trip to Branson, MO a few years back). Here is her quick pitch for this recipe: "I have a great summer pre-BBQ cocktail for this summer.  My guest enjoyed them as our featured cocktail during appetizers at our Summer Solstice neighborhood cookout last night.   Even those who professed to not like Bourbon admitted that this drink goes down verrrrrry easily."

So there you go! Why not make one at home if you have the freezer space? Note: the recipe is for a batch, as freezing individual drinks is a foolish venture (and since breaking up the slush with a spoon is half the fun of making these drinks):

Ingredients: 6 cups *strong Constant Comment tea, 1 cup sugar, 12 oz frozen lemonade concentrate, 12 oz frozen orange juice concentrate, 2 cups bourbon

Preparation: Brew the tea using 4 tea bags per six cups of boiling water. Allow the tea to cool to room temperature with the tea bags still steeping. Let sit for 1-2 hours. Remove tea bags, pour the tea into a gallon pitcher, and add sugar. Stir to combine. Add lemonade & orange juice concentrates, and stir to mix. Refrigerate for one hour. Add bourbon, and place in freezer overnight. To serve, remover from freezer for 30 minutes to begin thaw. Attack with a wooden spoon, and place "crunchy layers" into a old fashioned glass. Garnish with a brandied cherry.

June Drink of the Month - Sharon's Desert Rose

This month's drink was part of the same creative outburst that produced the Pomme de Feu last month. Friend of the blog Zack brought over a bottle of Sotol, an emerging agave-adjacent spirit that originated in the deserts of Chihuahua, Mexico. Sotol is somewhere between tequila and mezcal, but the plant that is roasted and fermented to produce sotol (dasylirion, once believed to be a member of the agave family, but since reclassified) grows in the wild, and is much more influenced by terrior than the agave plants. The drink itself is slightly smoky (not quite so smoky as mezcal), but also has grassy notes that produce something distinct from its agave-based cousins.

When deciding on what to do with the Sotol, we borrowed from some of our old favorite recipes. I had just made a batch of hibiscus-habanero syrup for a frozen watermelon cocktail a few days before. The heat from the syrup and the sweet and floral hibiscus complimented the smoke and vegital notes in the Sotol, similar to the way the hibiscus and Signani play in the Blade. Add a little lime, and we were fairly well satisfied with our initial attempt. However, for the sake of science, we played a bit. Remembering one of our favorite original drinks, the Smoke on the Water...Melon, we tweaked the drink by adding a pinch of sea salt. The salt livened up the flavors nicely, but we were still having trouble finding the hibiscus (the syrup I made was admittedly on the spicy side, but I liked it!). Zack had recently acquired a few "Fruitlab" bottles from Greenbar Distillery in LA, including a hibiscus liqueur. We added just enough to make the hibiscus stand out, and declared ourselves satisfied.

Before "going to market," as it were, we decided to make the same drink with tequila, to make sure that Sotol was the proper application for this mix. The tequila drink was enjoyable (and a very clean sip), but we found ourselves missing the smoky finish that the Sotol provided. Without the smoke at the back of our throats, the heat from the habanero became much more pronounced (whereas with the Sotol, the heat mingled deliciously with the smoky aftertaste). We felt confident we had crafted something to make the Sotol shine, and we are happy to share it with you!

Ingredients: 2 oz sotol, 0.5 oz lime juice, 0.5 oz hibiscus/habanero syrup*, 0.25 oz hibiscus liqueur, generous pinch of sea salt.

Preparation: In a Boston shaker, combine all ingredients, including salt. Shake over ice, and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a lime wheel and/or hibiscus flower. 

*To make the hibiscus/habanero syrup, combine 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 0.5 cups of dried hibiscus flowers and three habanero peppers, sliced long-ways. Stir until sugar is fully dissolved, and allow to steep over medium-low heat for 20 minutes. Allow mixture to cool, and then strain through a cheesecloth and bottle. Syrup will keep for 3 weeks.

Notes: The name comes from the common name for the dasylirion plant - the "Desert Spoon," and the common name for hibiscus - the "Rose of Sharon." We could have just gone with "Desert Rose," but there are like 50 different desert rose cocktails on the internet. Plus, Rose of Sharon makes me think of high school English class, and who doesn't want to contemplate that mess while drinking (aah!).

May Drink of the Month - Pomme de Feu

The past week was a productive time for cocktail exploration. Frequent collaborator and friend of the blog Zack brought over a few new and unusual spirits to sample, and we debuted a new method of drink building that seems super obvious, but was incredibly fun and fruitful. Occasionally, when trying to replicate a bar-made cocktail that we enjoy, we "scientifically" sit down and make multiple iterations of the same drink, swapping one ingredient at a time, or changing one ratio, to control the variables of our drink. Surprisingly, we rarely used this method when creating original cocktails. But this past week, we applied this methodical process to make a few new drinks, which I will feature for May and June. The refrain of "for science" rang out often, as I would run down to the bar to collect a new ingredient, so we could taste the difference between using Aperol or Campari, tequila or sotol, or apple brandy or apple jack. This method produced better cocktails, as we could more definitely say what exactly we liked about each formulation, instead of just declaring a drink to be "good" or "bad."

The first success story from this process began with a bottle of Wood Smoked Apple Spirit (called Fumus Pumila) from the Baltimore Spirits Co. We both enjoyed the apple brandy, and it lived up to the name - it was smoky as heck! Almost to the point where you could lose the apple flavor, but that was more of a problem from me than it was for Zack. We added ginger liqueur to the mix (who doesn't love apple and ginger?), lime juice, sparkling cider, and a little simple syrup (stuck on flavor combinations? I've been using the Flavor Bible more to help me with ideas). The result was tasty, but very smoky - and not terribly "apple-y," despite the addition of the cider.

From this initial formulation, the scientific method took over. I ransacked my back bar for all of the apple spirits I could find. I had a nice aged apple brandy from Blackstar Farms in Traverse City, MI. as well as a bottle of Laird's Applejack. We repeated our recipe with the new base spirits, to see what each brought to the table. The consensus was that applejack fell flat, but that the "Spirit of Apple" from Blackstar shined - and produced a really pleasant apple flavor. As to which drink was superior between the Fumus Pumila and Spirit of Apple, we were split. Zack loved the smoke (as did I), whereas I really loved the strong apple flavors. Zack could live without the more pronounced apple notes, and I was just fine without the bite from the wood. Each drink has its own nuance, but we decided that we didn't need to make a definitive pronouncement. Below is the recipe for our finished product - choose your spirit wisely, depending on your taste.

Ingredients: 2 oz apple brandy*, 0.5 oz lime juice, 0.5 oz ginger liqueur, 0.25 oz simple syrup, 2 oz sparkling cider

Preparation: Combine all ingredients except cider in a Boston shaker. Shake over ice, strain into an ice filled Collins glass**. Top with sparkling cider, garnish with a lime wheel.

Notes: *use an aged apple brandy, unless you'd like to make Zack's drink with the Fumus Pumila

**If using Fumus Pumila, serve neat in a chilled coupe glass instead (without ice).

April Drink of the Month - Schwifty Swizzle

I was the host for cocktail club last month, a role that comes with added responsibility. We've had enough go-rounds now with our little group that we all feel the need to step up our game a little with our offerings. This month, "Crusher" is hosting, and he had promised that we will experiment with smoking cocktails (which is not surprising, given Crusher's love for all things wood), and the month before that, Jason burned all his knuckle hair off charring grapefruit for a mezcal drink. There were plenty of inventive syrups or tinctures I could have made, but the early signs of spring meant that I really wanted to make some swizzle drinks, which meant that I went off the rails and developed my own quasi-"ice program" for the evening instead.

Swizzles are defined by their method of preparation, not by the alcohol used in the beverage. Native to the Caribbean, swizzles are made up of spirit, sweet, maybe some bitter, and crushed ice. The drink is built in the glass, and mixed by plunging a swizzle stick down into the drink and rolling the shaft of the stick between your two hands. This agitates the drink and creates a frosty rime on the outside of the glass as the liquid cools. Swizzle sticks were originally branches of a Caribbean evergreen, but plastic models now dominate. A plastic stirring stick works in a pinch, but to get the best effect, go find one with the crows foot/branch end that really works the ice.

Since the drink is defined by the ice used in preparation, I had to get this right! I inherited a late-60s era ice crushing machine from Ann's grandfather, and I debated breaking out that bad boy for the project... but the last time I brought this particular model to the club, it was mocked pretty substantially (it still works, but VERY slowly). I also have a Lewis bag, which is a canvas bag used in conjunction with a mallet to crush ice - but the resulting crushed ice is fairly inconsistently sized. Instead of settling on any of these options, I decided to go for maximum uniformity, and did something silly - I went to my favorite gas station and bought five 44 oz Styrofoam cups full of "pebble ice" for the reasonable sum of $2.50 (50 cents a cup). Pebble ice is perfect for swizzles, as it is consistent in size and results in a dense fill. It is also fun to eat, if that is you jam (and it is very much my jam). My giant Styrofoam cups ended up being mocked just as much as Ann's grandpa's ancient ice machine, but no one was disappointed with the finished product, a swizzle recipe from Imbibe called the Schwifty Swizzle that combines mezcal, falernum, lime, and Green Chartreuse. Try the recipe below, and let me know if you splurge on the ice - it is worth it!

Ingredients: 1 oz mezcal, 1 oz lime juice, 0.5 oz falernum, 0.5 oz Green Chartreuse, 3 dashes Peychaud's bitters to top.

Preparation:Fill a cocktail glass or Moscow Mule mug half full with crushed ice. Add first four ingredients, swizzle for 6-10 seconds. Add more ice to fill glass, and swizzle again for another 6 seconds, until frost appears on glass/mug. Top with bitters, allowing them to form a red "dome" on the top of the ice.

March Drink of the Month - the D'Angelo

For Christmas this year, I decided to go back through six years of Bar Kiley posts and assemble the best of the best into a little book for friends and family. I'm still figuring out how best to produce said book, so it hasn't hit shelves yet (my parents and sister got galleys in their stockings), but the process of revisiting and tweaking 60+ recipes was a lot of fun. It also reminded me that I am really bad at naming original drinks, as is evidenced by the except below from the entry for the "Blade":

There is an old axiom: never let your idiot friends name your drinks when they are sleep deprived and watching old Marvel movies. Blade is made from hibiscus syrup (more on that in a moment), so it has a really pretty ruby hue. Hypothetically, if you and your friend are both sleep deprived because of travel and small children AND you happen to be watching the 1998 super hero/horror classic Blade, you may be tempted to imagine your drink as a goblet of blood, and name the tipple in honor of the movie. But that would be an incredibly dumb name, so no matter what you do, you should probably never promise your friend that they can name the drink you’ve handed them. Otherwise you’ll end up writing a 150 word essay in a cocktail book on why your drink has such a dumb name…. hypothetically.

I intensely dislike naming drinks because my naming conventions often come down to terrible puns, and no one needs more of those in their lives. With that as a given, I'm going to leave the name of the D'Angelo shrouded in mystery. I will say that it is an homage to one of the worst professors I ever had at Notre Dame, but the drink has nothing to do with her personality, subject matter expertise, or dress. It was a name association/pun, which I had better keep to myself in order to continue to project an aura of mystique.

The drink for this month began as a recreation of a tasty happy hour beverage I enjoyed at LatinicityRosa Maria from Latinicity became a sweet and sour porch sipper called the D'Angelo, and I hope you enjoy the fruits of our tinkering!
in downtown Chicago. It was a sweet and syrup-y (and likely spiked with soda-y) vodka drink made with lime, passion fruit, and rosemary. Down in the basement lab, we tweaked it into a passion fruit daiquiri riff with added notes of rosemary for complexity. The

Ingredients: 2 oz white rum, 1.5 oz lime juice, 1 oz passion fruit syrup, 0.75 oz rosemary simple syrup

Preparation: For the rosemary simple syrup: combine 0.5 cups water and 0.5 cups granulated sugar in a saucepot over medium heat. Stir until combined, add in 3 large sprigs of rosemary. Steep rosemary over medium heat for 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool, then strain and store for up to 3 weeks. For the cocktail: combine all ingredients in a Boston Shaker, shake over ice and strain into an ice filled goblet. Garnish with a rosemary sprig.