Valentine's Day Special - Fun with Aperol

Since today is Valentine's Day, there is a felt need for creating and giving that special someone a pink drink. While I support this trend, please resist the temptation to buy UV Pink or some other noxious, flavored vodka in order to make your significant other rose-colored cocktails. There are so many better options, including our topic for discussion today: Aperol. Aperol is a orange/red Italian liqueur, very similar to Campari, with a flavor profile that includes bitter orange and rhubarb. While Campari can be quite bitter, which is a turn off for some people, Aperol has a much sweeter profile and mixes well with other spirits, particularly gin, rye, and bourbon, as well as sparkling wine. Here are a couple of easy Aperol drinks that you might consider trying tonight:

The Veronica Rose

To do this drink properly, the fine folks at Imbibe Magazine recommend making your own rose-infused simple syrup. That is a process that takes a little bit of time, however, so here at Bar Kiley, we've come up with a palatable work-around. Here's the recipe for this bubbly, sweet sipper:

In a mixing glass, combine:

1/2 oz Aperol

1/2 oz simple syrup

2 dashes rose water

2 dashes orange bitters

Stir with ice to combine, strain into a champagne flute. Add 3-4 oz champagne to top off the glass and serve.

Buongiorno

This drink comes from friends of ours in Chicago, and it is quite excellent. Made properly this drink calls for St. George Terroir Gin and Bergamot simple syrup. Here at Bar Kiley, those ingredients fall a little outside our price range (what with the reality of being a graduate student and all). However, this adjusted recipe still tastes great and brings out the Aperol flavor very nicely, even if you lose out a little bit on the full flavor profile:

In a mixing glass, combine:

1 oz dry gin*

1 oz Aperol

1 oz lemon juice

1 oz simple syrup

1 egg white

Dry shake for 7-10 seconds to allow the egg to emulsify, then add ice and shake for 10-15 seconds. Strain and serve in a coupe glass. Add 2-3 dashes of bitters (orange bitters work well with the flavor profile, but you can never go wromg with classic Angostura) on top of the egg white foam - if you have a dropper, you can even make cool shapes!

*If you have some spare time on your hands, you may wish to try this recipe with a Bar Kiley tweak. Instead of gin, we used Blood Orange infused vodka and really enjoyed the result. To make the specialty vodka, steep the peels of 4-6 blood oranges (with all the pith removed) in 750 ml of vodka for a week, along with the juice of two of the oranges. Double strain the liquid through cheese cloth, and then it is ready to serve. The resulting liquor is a little bitter, but with a fantastic blood orange flavor profile.

Enjoy and Happy Valentines Day!

February Drink of the Month - Pisco Sour

For my birthday this year, I decided to find a new bartending book for myself. Amazon was helpful in suggesting the "PDT Cocktail Book," and I couldn't be happier with my purchase. There are hundreds of unique recipes as well as plenty of classic cocktails. While some of the recipes call for liquors our of my price range (I am a humble graduate student, after all), I can make most of them with a little liberal substitution.

I love new books because they challenge me to try new techniques or new ingredients. Ever since adding the Aruba to my repertoire last month, I've been on an egg white kick. I love the froth and texture that it adds to drinks, and making drinks with raw eggs never fails to impress folks. This month's drink, the Pisco Sour, continues my egg white trend using a new ingredient - Chilean (or Peruvian) brandy called Pisco.

All brandy is made from distilled grapes. Just as in wine, different grapes lend themselves to slightly different flavored brandies, leading to flavor differences between the classic French Cognacs or Armagnacs. There are a few other significant steps in the distillation process that lend unique flavors - for instance, Armagnac is traditionally made using a column still while Cognac is made using a copper pot still (similar to Irish whiskey). The final step in producing fine brandy is to allow it to age in oak casks for a period of time. The oak gives the otherwise clear spirit its distinctive golden color and imparts much of the caramel flavor to brandies.

Pisco is different in that it is never aged. It is distilled from a blend of either Chilean or Peruvian grapes in a copper pot still, but it is then placed in either glass or stainless steel containers to rest for a period of time. The result is a clear liquor that still retains a strong "fruit-forward" flavor that stands out all the more because of the lack of oak-infused flavor. Right now, Brandy is my favorite cocktail base - Pisco is fun to mix with because its strong floral notes make it just different enough that it totally changes the flavor profile of almost any brandy drink.

Here is the recipe for the Pisco Sour, courtesy of the PDT Cocktail book:

In a cocktail shaker, combine:
2 oz Pisco*
3/4 oz lime juice
3/4 oz simple syrup
1 egg white

Dry shake these ingredients for 5-10 seconds to allow the egg white to emulsify. Add ice and shake for 10 seconds until frothy. Strain and serve in a coupe glass - you should have a nice 1/2 to 1 inch or so of foam on top of your drink. Add 3-4 drops of Angostura bitters on top and serve.

*A quick note on Pisco brands: Pisco comes in several varieties - Chilean, Peruvian, and now several American distillers also make Pisco. There is debate which country - Peru or Chile - gave rise to Pisco. It appears that Peru has a better claim, but I use Chilean "Capel" Pisco, as it is the most affordable. You can find decent Capel Pisco for under $15 a bottle. Peruvian Machu Pisco is a much nicer spirit, but will cost closer to $30-35.

Enjoy your Pisco Sour! 

January Drink of the Month - Tropical Trio

Happy New Year to you all from Bar Kiley! I spent my New Years in Minneapolis, MN this year, where the high temperature on January 1st was a balmy -6°. Things didn't get much better upon returning to South Bend, where it has been snowing for the last two days. I've made it my personal mission to fight off the winter doldrums - we're fighting back against Old Man Winter here at Bar Kiley this month by featuring a trio of tropical drinks to help put you in a warm place, even if the warmth only goes to your stomach...

Drink #1: Mai Tai

Maita'i is the Tahitian word for "good" and this drink certainly lives up to its billing. Most people credit the Mai Tai to Trader Vic's restaurant in California in the mid 1940s, but it may have originated as early as 1933. There are two very different ways to build a Mai Tai - one results in an understated drink heavy on rum flavor with a bit of citrus and almond and the other gives you an incredibly sweet, fruity drink. I greatly prefer the classic Mai Tai, but both will do wonders to keep you feeling tropical!

Classic Mai Tai:
In a cocktail shaker, combine:
2 oz white rum
3/4 oz orange curacao (triple sec will do here in a pinch)
3/4 oz orgeat syrup*
1/2 oz lime juice

Use the back of the bar spoon to float your dark rum. You
can also pour down the spoon if you have a spiral-cut
bar spoon, which is a great tool to own!

Shake over ice and strain. Then, using the back of a bar spoon, float 1 oz dark rum on the top of the drink.
The dark rum is lighter than the drink you've made and will float on top of the rum mixture as long as you pour it slowly and distribute it over a larger surface area (hence the use of the spoon). Garnish with a pineapple section and serve.

* Orgeat syrup is so named because it was originally made with barley (Orgeat is a version of the Latin word hordeata - "made with barley). It is an almond flavored syrup made from almonds, sugar, and rose or orange flower water. It is a milky color and gives the Mai Tai its distinctive flavor. You could make your own Orgeat syrup at home, but there are also pre-made syrups available at most liquor stores.

My stop light Mai Tai

Fruity Mai Tai:
In a cocktail shaker, combine:
1 oz light rum
1 oz apricot brandy
3 oz orange juice
3 oz pineapple juice

Shake over ice and strain. Then slowly sink 1 oz grenadine to the bottom of the glass. The grenadine syrup is quite heavy and should settle to the bottom forming a nice red layer. Then, repeating the step from the Classic Mai Tai, float 1 oz dark rum on top of the drink using a bar spoon. Serve with a straw or cocktail stirrer. The drink will have a pretty three-layer look, but you will want to stir it up before imbibing.

Drink #2: Aruba

The Aruba cocktail also features Orgeat syrup, but uses gin as its base liquor. It features hints of orange, lemon and almond to compliment the gin and uses egg white to create a pleasant frothy layer on top. (Scared of using egg whites? Ty it, the gin and lemon will kill all the bugs, so never fear! Still squeamish? Read this article from the Washington Post, and then give it a try anyway!)

In a cocktail shaker, combine:
2 oz gin
1/2 oz white curacao (again, triple sec works in a pinch)
1/2 of an egg white
1 oz lemon juice
1/4 oz orgeat syrup

Shake over ice, strain and serve in a highball glass with a lemon ring garnish. The egg white should produce a nice foam that will sit on top of the drink. Seriously, make sure you use the egg white - its worth it! If you read the Post article, the Clover Club is another excellent drink - try it some time (maybe we'll feature it in a future post...)

Drink #3: The Blue Hawaiian

Finally, you can't have a feature on tropical drinks without adding the Blue Hawaiian, which is the only reason most bartenders own Blue Curacao (although you may remember the Blue Orchid from August which also uses Blue Curacao). This drink combines rum with pineapple and coconut cream and is often topped with extravagant tropical garnishes. Plus, it's blue - guests tend to notice that fact when its served....

In a cocktail shaker, combine:
1 oz blue curacao
1 oz coconut cream (Coco Real is the brand I most often find in the store, often in the mixers section next to the grenadine and lime juice)
2 oz light rum
2 oz pineapple juice

Shake over ice, strain and serve. Impress your friends with your blue drink making expertise and your over-the-top garnishes. If you start with a pineapple wedge, you can use a toothpick to add all sorts of flair - orange wheels, cherries, limes and even prickly pear!

Before we go,one quick note concerning rum: Just in case anyone needed this cleared up, there are three basic types of rum: white rum, light/golden rum, and dark rum. All three of these varieties are sold as-is, but you can also find spiced versions of all three types. Bacardi is the most common white & light rum, and Meyers is the most commonly used dark rum. Captain Morgans is an example of light spiced rum, while Kraken is an example of dark spiced rum. You can substitute spiced rum in any of these recipes, but note that the flavor profile will change a bit as a result. When making a Mai Tai or a Blue Hawaiian, make sure you use the right type of rum - don't try to float Bacardi Gold in your Mai Tai, you'll be disappointed with the results!

Enjoy your Tropical Trios!

December Drink of the Month - The Opera Glove

I have not yet given my friend Matt Haggerty enough credit on this blog. Bar Kiley the blog came about because Matt suggested that I blog about my hobby and he has continued to be one of the blog’s biggest supporter (and, to date, still the only person to post a comment on the blog). Last month, he sent me a link to a few holiday drinks (found here), and I thought we might try out one of them for December – the Peppermint Alexander. It seemed perfect after we had featured the Brandy Alexander last month, so I went out last week and picked up a bottle of Godiva White Chocolate liqueur for Zack and I to play around with at the bar.

We dutifully made up the Peppermint Alexander as per the recipe linked above (equal parts white chocolate liqueur, vanilla vodka and peppermint schnapps with a splash of cream), but we were a little disappointed with the result. The peppermint flavor was way too strong and it drowned out the white chocolate flavor almost completely (which is a problem given the price tag on the Godiva liqueur). It was not an unpleasant drink, but the other flavors did not add much to the overriding strong notes of peppermint.

We tried a few different ways to modify the drink, but we weren't really happy with any of our results. I included the best version of the drink below, but ultimately we decided to move on and see if we couldn't find a new way to feature the Godiva White Chocolate liqueur with our own recipe. We decided  we wanted to keep the vanilla hints featured in the Peppermint Alexander, but we chose to feature brandy as the main flavor in the drink. The smoothness of the brandy gives a nice boozy flavor to the Godiva liqueur, but it is not overwhelming – the white chocolate still came through quite nicely. We named our creation the “Opera Glove” because it was long, white and classy. We hope you enjoy it!

The Opera Glove Cocktail

In a cocktail shaker, combine

1.5 oz Godiva White Chocolate liqueur

1 oz VS or better brandy

0.5 oz vanilla schnapps

Splash of cream or half & half

Shake over ice until the drink is frothy, strain and serve is a martini glass. If you are a chocolate fan, this drink could benefit from a spiral drizzle of chocolate syrup in the center as a garnish. However, if you’re me (and you are a weirdo and don’t like dark or milk chocolate), garnish the rim with a strawberry.

A few notes, as always:

*The same notes concerning cream from the Brandy Alexander apply here. I would recommend half and half for the Opera Glove – but feel free to use a “large-ish” splash – I think this drink tastes better when it is a little thicker.

*The same notes about brandy found in the Side by Sidecar post also apply here. If you are willing to invest in the Godiva liqueur (you don’t need to – there are cheaper white chocolate cream liqueurs), then you should make sure the rest of your ingredient are up to the same level of quality. VS is great, VSOP is even better.

We hope you enjoy our creation. As an added bonus, here is the modified recipe for the best version of the Peppermint Alexander:

In a cocktail shaker, combine:

1 oz Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur

0.5 oz vodka

0.5 oz vanilla schnapps

1/3 oz peppermint schnapps

2/3 oz cream

Shake over ice until the drink is frothy. Strain and serve in a martini glass. Garnish with a small candy cane as a stirring stick.

Enjoy your Opera Glove!

Fun with Infusing

The first lesson I ever learned about infusing alcohols came by way of my little sister, Katie. My mom used to make homemade vanilla extract by throwing a few whole vanilla beans in a bottle of cheap vodka and letting them steep for a couple of months. This is perhaps one of the easiest and most rudimentary forms of infusions that you can make, but it works great. I would have remained blissfully unaware of this whole process if my little sister had not made a mistake while measuring out ingredients for a banana milkshake.

In our family, any good milkshake calls for 1-2 tsp of vanilla extract, and we would use Mom's homemade stuff in our concoctions. When Katie was in elementary school, she was in the habit of making herself a milkshake every night after her gymnastics practice. For about a week straight, my parents couldn't figure out why Katie was so loopy and so sleepy each night after gymnastics. Then we discovered that she had a little trouble following recipes - instead of using a tsp of vanilla extract, Katie was throwing in a 1/4 cup or more. Turns out Katie was unintentionally spiking her milkshakes each night! And thus, I was both introduced to the joys of homemade infusions and tipsy eight-year-olds at the same time.

Infusions are a fantastic way to try new flavors and spice up old cocktails. All you need for this process are some mason jars, a good lemon zester, cheesecloth, patience and some creativity! Infusion is the process of adding flavor to neutral spirits (usually vodka, but you can also play with almost any liquor) by steeping fruits/berries/nuts/peppers/you name it in said spirits for several weeks at a time. The Art of Steeping has some great recommendations on how to prepare your various ingredients for infusion, but really the sky is the limit. Below are easy-to-follow recipes for two of my favorite infusions: Cranberry-Ginger Rum and Lemoncello, as well as some cocktail suggestions for each. I hope you enjoy both of these, but also feel free to experiment on your own (and let me know if you find anything good!)

Cranberry Ginger Rum

You will need: 1.5 cups cranberries, washed and with stems removed, 3-4 pieces of crystallized ginger, one 750 ml bottle of mid-grade silver rum (Appleton, Bacardi, etc), 0.5 cups sugar, cheesecloth

In a saucepan on medium heat, add cranberries and sugar with 2-4 oz of water. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved and cranberries have "popped" (when heated, the s.kin of the cranberries should burst in a cross-hatch pattern, so that each cranberry looks like a little hot cross bun). Remove from heat and place in large mason jar. Add 2 tbsp of crystallized ginger, chopped finely. Pour your bottle of rum over this and seal the mason jar tightly. Let the mixture sit for 5 days, shaking the mixture daily to prevent the ingredients from settling. Remove the cranberries from the mixture with a slotted spoon and strain the liquid back into a stoppered bottle or mason jar using a cheesecloth and funnel. Enjoy!

Spiced Ocean Spray Cocktail

Fill a highball glass with ice

Add 1.5 oz cranberry ginger rum

Top with lemon-lime soda

Stir mixture with bar spoon for 5-10 seconds

Garnish with 1/8 lime wedge

Cranberry-Ginger Mojito
In a highball glass, muddle 7-10 cranberries, 6 springs mint, 3-4 small lime wedges and (optionally) one slice of crystallized ginger with 1.5 ounces of simple syrup.
Add 1.5 oz cranberry ginger rum
Add ice to fill glass
Top with soda water
Stir vigorously with bar spoon for 5-10 seconds
Garnish with 1/8 lime wedge

Lemoncello

You will need: 6 large lemons, lemon zester, 750 ml bottle of mid-grade vodka (New Amsterdam, Svedka), distilled water, superfine sugar, cheesecloth

Zest your six lemons*, and place the peels in a large mason jar. Ensure that there is NO pith (the foamy white inner skin of the lemon) on your peels during the zesting process - failure to remove the pith will result in an extremely bitter, nearly undrinkable concoction. Pour your bottle of vodka over top of the lemon zest, seal your jar and let sit for 6-10 days, agitating daily. While you are waiting, prepare 750 ml of simple syrup using distilled water and the superfine sugar in a 1:1 ratio (don't remember how to make simple syrup? Here you go!). After 6-10 days, add 750 ml simple syrup** to the vodka-lemon zest mixture and re-seal your mason jar, allowing the vodka-syrup mix to steep for an additional 2-3 days. Filter the liquid 2-3 times using a cheesecloth and funnel to remove any free-floating particulates, then bottle and refrigerate. Enjoy!

*Note: You can go crazy with other citrus options as well. By far my favorite non-lemon option is Blood Orange. If you choose to go this route, zest 4 large blood oranges and add the juice of one of the oranges to the vodka/zest mixture to give it a little extra blood orange flavor.

**Note: Because you have added the simple syrup to your vodka mixture, the resulting proof of your liqueur will be half that of the vodka you began with. Most lemoncello is 40 proof (20% ABV). If you would like stronger lemoncello, use a stronger grain alcohol a you base, such as everclear.

Lemon Drop Martini
The simplest way to make this little number is to combine 2 oz lemoncello with 1 oz vodka, shake the mixture over ice, strain and serve in a martini glass. If you prefer a slightly more tart martini (or less sweet), follow the instructions below:

In a cocktail shaker, combine:
1 oz vodka
1 oz lemoncello
0.5 oz simple syrup
0.5 oz lemon juice

Run a lemon around the edge of a martini glass, and then rim the glass with sugar. Shake the ingredients, strain and serve in the sugar-rimmed glass. Garnish with a lemon zest (you can save the zest you used to make your lemoncello - the steeping process makes them boozy and a little chewy, but kind of a fun addition)

An Apology to Cointreau

Dear Cointreau,

I'm sorry. For the better part of a year, I've been trying to convince myself that you are nothing special (see, for instance, the now redacted statement here). I've told myself that you are nothing more than fancy, over-priced triple sec and that you were not worth my time or my discretionary spending money. I was wrong. For this, I owe you an apology. I hereby vow never to make another Sidecar without you again (unless its for a rude house guest - in which case they're getting a Sidecar with lemon juice from a little lemon bulb, non-VSOP brandy from a plastic bottle, and the worst triple sec I can find).I hope you accept my apology and that we can be better friends moving forward.

Sincerely,

Robby

Well, I finally did it - I found Cointreau on sale and ponied up the $35 for a bottle of what I thought was glorified Triple Sec (which discerning consumers can find for under $10 a bottle...). But enough people had tried to sell me on the merits of Cointreau that I figured I should at least give it a try. Turns out they were spot-on. While its true that you can find decent Triple Sec on the market, Cointreau markets themselves as the Triple Sec, the one that sets the industry standard. And boy, does it ever. Zack and I treated ourselves to some fine Cointreau Sidecars right away, and the difference was extremely noticeable. There were lovely hints of clove, nutmeg, cinnamon along with the bittersweet orange flavor that enhanced the Brandy/lemon juice pairing quite well. The Sidecar has become one of my top five favorite drinks over the past year, and the addition of Cointreau makes it even better. As stated above, I hereby resolve never to make another Sidecar without Cointreau.

One note: Unlike Grand Marnier, Cointreau is not super-duper for sipping by itself. Grand Mariner comes from the curacao family (rather than the triple sec family) and so is a brandy based liqueur. For that reason, it overwhelms a lot of cocktails and makes them too boozy. But Grand Mariner is a fantastic aperitif - it stands alone quite well. Cointreau should not be sipped by itself, but man does it go great in any drink calling for Triple Sec. It is worth the investment, especially if you can find it on sale (if you see it in the $30 dollar range for a 750 ml bottle, that is a great price).

November Drink of the Month - The Brandy Alexander

This month's drink is dedicated to my mom, who is perhaps the biggest fan of this blog that I know. Thanks Mom, for enjoying my writing and for supporting my hobby.

As the calendar flips to November and the leaves start falling off the trees, perhaps it is time to cut back on wonderful, light citrus drinks made with club soda and fancy floral liqueurs. While I enjoy a good Saint Tropez most any time, it doesn't really fit most people's mood come winter time. As I write this, we are in our third day of cold (not quite freezing) rain in South Bend, which means its time to begin breaking out the heartier drinks as folks settle in for the freeze. 

For some people, winter means only warm drinks, but this is not a policy I adhere to. While warm spiced apple cider is quite delicious with rum or brandy, there are plenty of iced drink options that can help you get through the snowier months. The key here is to mix in heavier ingredients - crèmes and cream - with your liquors in order to produce a more robust drink that helps fill your belly on a cold night.

By special request, we'll feature my mom's favorite of all these heavier drinks this month: the Brandy Alexander. This drink originated in the twenties (like many great cocktails) and combines heavy cream, dark crème de cacao and brandy or cognac. It is a variation of the original "Alexander" drink, which was made with Gin. But where does the name Alexander come from? Stories vary - it might have been named after the bartender, perhaps a drink critic, or perhaps even Tsar Alexander II of Russia.

Here is a simple recipe for the Brandy Alexander:

In a cocktail shaker, combine:

1 oz brandy (cognac is preferred - if not, ensure brandy is VSOP)

1 oz fresh cream*

1 oz dark crème de cacao**

Shake WELL over ice*** and strain into a martini class. Garnish with a light sprinkling of ground nutmeg.

Obligatory notes:

*There are many difference of opinion over what kind of cream to use. Most of the recipes I consulted called for heavy cream. Our finding was that this made the drink a little too thick and heavy. I would recommend trying half-and-half the first time you make the drink. If you enjoy the taste, stick with half-and-half. If you want it a little thicker (or if you grew up on whole milk like my cowboy roommate), consider moving up to heavy cream for your second round.

**Chocolate liqueurs are also an acceptable substitute here. Godiva makes a very nice liqueur that would work quite well, but standard DeKuyper mixers work fine here. Just make sure you purchase DARK crème de cacao - the liqueur should be a caramel color.

***Since this is a cream drink, you will need to shake it quite a bit to get a good consistency. You can also make this drink in a blender if you are concerned about your shaking abilities. The Brandy Alexander can also be served as a frozen drink. If this is your preference, follow the above steps, but add 1/2 cup of ice to the recipe and make the whole thing in the blender.

Enjoy your Brandy Alexander! And stay warm!