(EE-craftiness: part of a heart garland.)

I love Valentine’s Day.  I view it as an ideal holiday, and strenuously disagree with those who consider it to be over-commercialized, depressing, and all the rest.  Valentine’s is a bright spot in in the otherwise desolate month of February (at least in the Northeast).  Even before the days of EE, I was always happy to invite a pretty lady to be my valentine (and in my limited experience, ladies always enjoy being a valentine).  What could be better than fine dining, and perhaps the exchange of an extravagant gift or two, with someone whose company I enjoy?  Share the love, that’s what I say.

(Only on Valentine’s Day will your friends give you this card.  Hopefully.)

This year, EE and I somewhat reinterpreted our traditional Valentine’s celebration: we threw a cocktail party!

We hosted about 30 guests, a mix of singles and couples, for the express purposes of Valentining and having cocktails.  The goal was not to provide dinner - it was to provide an extra oomph of glizt and glam (and maybe even gossip and drama) to whatever evening people may or may not have planned for themselves.

In preparation for this momentous event, I went to work creating some drinks that fit the occasion.  The challenges/criteria were:

• 3 colors – EE often thinks in colors, so we determined the need for a red drink, a pink drink, and a white drink.
• Glassware – we only have so many of each type of glass, and wanted to avoid plastic.  The drinks had to spread across tumblers, stemmed wine, and stemmed cocktail glasses.
• Flavors – needed more than one type of flavor profile for a range of drinkers.

The results were (bearing their Valentine names):

Passion

Color: Red

Glass: Tumbler

Flavor area: Bitter

Ingredients

1 Tequila

3/4 Campari

3/4 Blood Orange Italian Soda (I bought this at Whole Foods)

1/3 Sweet Vermouth

drop Orange bitters

A muddled cherry (buy the frozen ones)

Muddle the cherry, stir vigorously with ice and all ingredients except the soda.  Strain into serving pitcher, add soda and stir gently.  At the party, I mixed batches of these in a pitcher, which we put out with an ice bucket and the correct glassware.

Blush

Color: Pink

Glass: Cocktail

Flavor area: Lightly fruity, easily accessible gin

Ingredients

1 Bombay Sapphire

1/4 Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur

1/4 Kumquat liqueur (you have to make it yourself – a post for another time – substitute Cointreau)

half a Lime’s juice

drop of Cranberry juice

Combine all ingredients with ice in a shaker and shake vigorously.  At the party I shook up batches and funneled them into a good-looking clear liquor bottle that I had de-labeled and cleaned.  The bottle was then left in an ice bucket next to the correct glassware.

Lovely

Color: White (ok, it’s yellowy, like white wine is white.  But true white is a pain)

Glass: Wine

Flavor area: Light, aromatic, refreshing, and sweeter

Ingredients

2 Seltzer Water

1 White Wine (something dry and simple – I used an Austrian wine made by Berger)

3/4 St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur

1/4 Dry Vermouth

1/4 Dolin Blanc Vermouth

Combine all ingredients and stir.  Or, if using a siphon for the seltzer (a superior way to go), just add the seltzer last and allow the blast of seltzer to do the mixing.  For the party, I had some old french lemonade bottles with flip-tops that I put batches into and then topped with seltzer.  We left the bottles in a bowl with ice next to the correct glassware.

Note:  Sadly, we had such a good time at the party that we didn’t take any drink/party pictures.  Sorry, that was lame of us.  Here’s a final photo:

(My present to EE this year – they are antique sterling stirrer-straws. I was a little wary of giving her something cocktail-related, given it’s kind of my own hobby at all, but she does seem to like them very much.)

]]> http://www.tessinrinpoche.com/2010/02/15/a-valentines-threesome/feed/ 1 http://www.tessinrinpoche.com/2010/01/11/drinking-provence-or-an-insight-into-making-things-up/ http://www.tessinrinpoche.com/2010/01/11/drinking-provence-or-an-insight-into-making-things-up/#comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:08:58 +0000 Bertessa http://www.tessinrinpoche.com/?p=744 When I make drinks for people, I am frequently asked how or why I created the drink.  To me the answer seemed obvious: grab some bottles, pour, mix, taste.  Upon reflection, however, I realized that I do always have some sort of target.  The inspiration for that target can take many forms. 

A drink target could involve an objective property of the drink being designed: flavor (spice, citrus, basil), glass-type (cocktail, highball, solo cup), color (red, clear, orange), garnish-use (onion, brussel sprouts, licorice)… really anything that describes some aspect of the drink.

Another drink target could be a concept, feeling, or vibe that the drink should impart.  This type of criteria is trickier because it is inherently more subjective, but it is often my most effective method when mixing for those I know and love the most.  Since I’m a home mixologists, most of my guests are in this category.

As an example of designing a drink by feeling, I have two recipes for the same feeling.  The two recipes are nice because they illustrate differences of interpreting the same mandate, and because one is simple, the other complex.

EE said to me one Thursday, when making omelettes – something she’s very, very good at –  ”I’d like a drink that tastes like herbs, like in Provence.”  Nevermind that neither of us have been to France outside Paris.  I thought I got the idea: fields of lavender, soft skies, not too sweet, not too anything. 

In my head, at least, I saw something like this:

Fields of Provence, with lavender flowertops and soft light, is a good example of a concept or feeling a drink can seek to capture.

The result was the light and relatively simple:  

Flowertops:

Ingredients

1 lavender-infused gin

1/2 Dolin blanc vermouth

1/3 St. Germain’s elderflower liqueur

5 drops lemon bitters

couple leaves of mint

Shake vigorously.  Serve up.  Garnish with a flower, piece of fresh lavender, or any herb you have around (you know, make it pretty).

Unfortunately (but not that unfortunately, as come on, we’re talking about mixology here), this isn’t what EE had in mind.  She refined her request by saying, “No, no, it needs to be red and yellow too!  Like a tablecloth.”  She was thinking of vibrant, Provence-style linens, and of something much more earthy.  Ah!  Got it.  The concept of rich, aromatic soil is a much more challenging flavor, because it is quite complex. 

The Provence-style linens EE was thinking of, to complement her omelettes.

Still Provence, but more earth, and red soil - the Terroir.

The result was a drink that got high marks for meeting the desired target, and for just being a great drink:

Terroir de Provence (Cheesy name, yes, but there are enough ingredients to merit the grandiosity.  As I say, I’ve never been there, so there’s a lot of tongue-in-cheek involved in this whole project):

Ingredients:

1 lavender-infused gin

1/2 sweet vermouth

1/2 St. Germain’s elderflower liqueur

1/3 basil-infused bourbon

1/3 Bols genever

splash of brandy

whisper of dill-infused vodka

a little freshly grated ginger

Stir.  Serve up with an herbal garnish (EE voted for a rosemary sprig).

Two great drinks (Flowertops for me, Terroir for EE) to accompany a simple meal at home. 

Bon apetit.

I’m calling this month’s Mixology Monday entry the Sillke Water.  If you’re new to MxMo, it is a monthly event where mixologist from around the world wide web contribute drinks related to a theme.  This month’s theme: vermouth.

A great many drinks involve vermouth, and I have actually written previously about the value of using vermouth as a base for cocktails.  Additionally, many of the drinks I have already posted involve vermouth.  For my entry, I wanted to create something quick and totally different from my previous posts.

I spent the past Saturday on the New York Junior League house tour, which involved a visit to Marco Pasanella and Rebecca Robertson’s amazing home, located above their even more amazing wine store.  In addition to wine, they also has a great selection of some premium cocktail ingredients (e.g., Dolin vermouth and Dutch Genever).  In addition to these goodies, I picked up some sake.

The sake became my focal ingredient, but I also have some freshly-infused dill vodka.  I suspected that dill would go well with sake, and it turned out that I was right.   The result is a drink that comes across as watery and light, but that washes over the tongue with surprising complexity and a subtle finish.

Ingredients

1 sake

3/4 dill vodka

splash dry vermouth

dash maraschino liqueur

drop lemon bitters

Combine the ingredients in a shaker and shake.  I’m not too sure if shaking is good for sake, but I like the drink up with some ice floating on top….  Garnish with a cherry.

Photo credit: EE

This is our dog, Dahlia.  She knows what weekdays were intended for (she spends hours in this position on my couch – I spend them at work).

Don’t give in to a case of the Mondays.

Now I’m not saying Harry Potter is limited to Halloween, but this drink also has a ghoulish yellowy hue that I associate with Voldemort (I’m not providing a link; if you don’t know, go read the books).  The Pensieve isn’t limited to Halloween either, but it is best late – once the evening has mellowed.  Definitely not something to serve before dinner.

The Pensieve

Ingredients

1 Bourbon

1/2 Dry Vermouth

4-5 dashes Lemon Bitters

1/4 Absinthe

Combine the bourbon, vermouth, and bitters in a shaker.  Shake.  Stir in the Absinthe.  Strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with a twist.

Peer into the drink and watch the absinthe swirl a bit.

Don’t fall in.

EE and I attended the Employees Only “Tales From Behind the Bar” seminar.  It was spectacular.  Jason and Dushan told the entire EO tale, which they punctuated by serving drinks relevant to particular points in EO’s history (drink-making was assisted by Steve and Vince).  In all, we ended up being served six* drinks (ok, seven, but only because we hung out and sweet-talked Steve).

First we had a vintage recipe Manhattan:

Bourbon (Maker’s)

Vermouth

Grand Marnier

Bitters

After a bit of Manhattan (or the whole thing for the guy next to me), we were onto the EO Provencale:

Lavender Infused Plymouth Gin

Herbs de Provence-Infused Vermouth

Cointreau

Had some Provencale (guy on next stool got it all down again), and it was time for a Mata Hari:

Courvoisier VS

Chai-Infused Vermouth

Fresh Squeezed Pomegranate Juice

I didn’t really like the Mata Hari.  I think I dislike pomegranate juice (guy next to me apparently does like pomegranate juice – he got it all down again).  EE thinks that the next drink was the Billionaire Cocktail:

Bakers Bourbon

Lemon juice

Homemade Grenadine

Absinthe Bitters

I don’t remember much of the Billionaire, assuming EE is correct that we had it (and guy next to us had it all – maybe he drank mine?), but more importantly, all previous drinks were then eclipsed.  We received the most amazing drink of the day, a Gimlet:

Gin

Lime Cordial

I’ll explain the Gimlet’s magnificence more a bit later (guy next to me seemed to enjoy all of it as well – I had to join him for the Gimlet), but we were then refreshed with the final cocktail, whose name I do not know.  This drink is supposedly new and recently invented by one of the apprentice bartenders who was not present.  It might have been called a Quiet Storm (I got up to use the WC at the point they introduced it).  Regardless, it was great.  It involved ginger beer and seemed like a relative of a Pimm’s Cup.  Look for it on the EO menu.

That’s a wrap!  We mulled about sipping and chatting.  But this is a bar, and chatting led to discussions on drink-making, which led to EE asking about scotch-based cocktails.  Naturally, a sample had to be produced.  The currently trendy (at least based on Twitter) Blood and Sand resulted.  I liked it, EE didn’t, but not my favorite way to drink scotch.  I just don’t like OJ.

A bit more on the Gimlet.  I’ve had gimlets; I’ve made gimlets.  Gimlets were always a somewhat lame combination of gin and lime juice, if the maker was snobby about fresh ingredients, or gin and Rose’s if not.  Apparently, that’s not what gimlets were meant to be.  EO created a lime cordial that does not exist in the market currently, but was commonly made back when the gimlet was born.  The lime cordial has bite from using the peels of the limes in addition to the juice.  The EO Gimlet was a truly revolutionary cocktail experience.  Luckily for all us sinners, EO is going to be releasing a line of products for public consumption – they’re including the lime cordial.  I’m just hoping it gets to stores before my graciously gifted little home stash runs out.

MCC was not all tastings and history, though!  There was a bar at the Astor Center where everyone gathered from the various tastings and seminars at different bars around town.  Anyone who attended could have sampled the aformentioned lime cordial in some of the drinks on offer.  The MCC bar and Astor Center were lovely, but cocktail hour just isn’t the same following an afternoon of cocktails.  It seemed like we weren’t the only ones who had been cocktailed-out, but I think it would have been great to go back to Astor Center today for the party.

Overall, the event was spectacular and I encourage anybody who can to attend in the future.  Jason and Dushan’s talk also helped me refine my Theory of the Cocktail a bit.  They reinforced my ideal that drinking should be fun, and that a large part of the fun is bringing new creations into the world.  This seems obvious, but it’s not.  As soon as I started paying more attention to my fellow mixologists I started seeing lists of drinks “every bartender should know.”  While it’s true that a bartender should know those drinks (I do like being able to order and know what I’ll get), I don’t think the rest of us should know them.  We should make things we like for the joy of creation – an idea I have now embedded in the Theory.

So why do I write the blog if everyone should make their own drinks?  Inspiration.  Standing on the shoulders of giants (EO, not me) and all that jazz.

Have fun.

* There is some debate as to how many drinks were served, the order of those drinks, and in what glasses they were served.  EE is probably correct, but it’s hard to say – I mean there were more than five for sure.

Conceptually, I began Tessin Rinpoche as nothing more than a repository for drink recipes that I concoct.  Such a repository is necessary because I don’t believe in making “drinks every bartender should know” nearly as much as I belive in creating a drink to fit the moment.  In the original spirit then, expect to see many more short posts with not much more than a recipe.

I made this drink Thursday.  I’m calling it the Nevermake because it is like crack.  This drink may well ruin the drinker’s evening, if not life.  It goes down like cream soda.  I’ve never had a more drinkable drink.

Ingredients (always in parts)

3/4 bourbon (used Bulleit)

3/4 Stone’s Original Ginger

1/4 Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur

few dashes Peychaud bitters

squeeze of lime juice

dash absinthe (used Le Tournement)

Combine the ingredients, less the absinthe, over some ice in a shaker.  Dash in the absinthe and stir.  Strain out into a cocktail glass.  Try to restrain yourself from downing in one gulp.

Bertessa's Manhattan. Josef Frank's Manhattan design.

“Hey, come out, a bunch of us are having a drink.”
“XYZ Class HAPPY HOUR! DIVE BAR near you!”
“There’s gotta be a bar somewhere near that subway stop, wait for me there.”

Any of the above can easily lead to a dive bar. I’m using the dive designation broadly to encompass anywhere that:

• has a digital jukebox
• smells pleasantly of stale beer
• isn’t conducive to open-toe shoes because the floor is gross
• allows and encourages beer pong

I am NOT saying that dive bars are bad.  They are a critical piece of any normal social life, but they may not make the best cocktails.  They definitely won’t have a cocktail menu, and the bartender may throw you out for requesting drinks he/she can’t pronounce (plus some patrons may then identify you as an easy mark).

What to do?

You could order a beer.  Unless this is a true dive, there will be some decent beer.  If it’s such a dive there is no decent beer, then definitely order a beer – from bottle if possible.

“I don’t like beer.”  “I’m on a low-carb diet.”  “Damnit, I want a friggin cocktail!”

Right-o, then, let’s think about the criteria for a cocktail you can try in the dive setting:

1. manly (even better if you’re female)
2. dark color (kinda like beer) (see point 1)
3. simple ingredients
4. not too many ingredients
5. taught in any bar course the tender may have once taken
6. resilient to poor craftsmanship
7. enough alcohol to sanitize the glass

Your dive bar testing cocktail: MANHATTAN

Ingredients

1 whiskey

1/2 sweet vermouth

bitters

Why The Manhattan

If the bar fails on any of these points, skip cocktails:

1. any bartender should know it and what’s in it
2. can be made with bourbon (e.g., Jim Beam), something even the diviest bar will have
3. vermouth is the first basic after beer and basic liquors
4. bitters, typically Angostura, are right after vermouth in the basics list

From there, even inverting the ratios will yield something drinkable.

Go forth and fear not, even when diving.

How I make a Manhattan

1 Rye Whiskey

1/2 Sweet Vermouth

6 drops orange bitters

Combine in a shaker and shake.  Serve either up or on the rocks as you prefer.  Garnish with a maraschino cherry.  Be sure to have a stem on the cherry – people can pick it up that way, and the best people can knot that stem in a way that impresses their company at a dive bar.   I know.  I’ve impressed people this way.

A note:

I think Wednesdays are a good day for a regular post.  That makes this the inaugural “What I’m Having” Wednesday post.  The idea will be to cover a basic (that I wouldn’t give blog love otherwise), or let me express a limited thought about how or why something is so.

I’ve gotten requests to help others start their home Mixology Stations, and that is just what this post will attempt to do.  Luckily I’ve been asked to opine on this topic previously and another time the in-laws asked what was needed for a fun Christmas.  The answer was about the same…

Rude interruption from the readership rabble: “Tess, you’re a dork, why not just call it a bar?”

Bite me.

A bar is more complicated, and sounds a bit trashy to bring into one’s home.  More importantly, though, this blog is about mixology, not say, beer and wine.  I’m not saying I’m never going to write about beer or wine, but I don’t mix beer and wine.  I think we would all agree that beer and/or wine would be a part of any bar.

Alright then, on with it.

Tools

There are some basics that you have to have.  I wouldn’t buy anything too gimmicky, but I’m not sure you can get by without the following:

• shaker
• jigger
• stirrer
• strainer

Glassware

Drink from your morning latte’s crumpled Solo cup if it fits the circs.  If you’re going for the more traditional style or registering for your wedding, start with at least four of each:

• high ball glasses
• martini glasses
• tumblers

Liquor

“I only like X!”  Then only buy X.  Why fight it?  But if you want to be able to host with the basics, some basics are required.  All of these are placed here with the idea of MIXING drinks (remember, this is building a Mixology Station), so if you get all high and mighty about what is best on its own, then buy that for serving on its own.  If you’re a fiend for labels and want multiple high-end whatever, then by all means, get more of that whatever.  I won’t object anytime you add another bottle to the cart.  Basics:

• Gin – I keep Sapphire and Hendricks and think gin is basically the best base liquor
• Whiskey – you need at least one, even if you don’t drink it, regardless of what I said before.  They should be (in order of importance):
  • Bourbon – don’t spend a ton, but make it good.  I recommend Buffalo Trace
  • Scotch – something in the middle range if you’re not into scotch already
  • Rye – whatever you can find.  It’s needed for Manhattans
• Tequila

Am I really leaving off vodka?  Damn straight I am!  Unless it is infused, it does nothing for mixing flavors.  If you want to stock it, go for it, but buy something really cheap for mixing, as people truly can’t tell the difference.  I also left off rum.  Rum is hard.  Poor rum, go marry a Coke.

Liqueurs and Such

SHOCKER: The real key to mixology is not the liquor, but the random stuff you have to put in it.  This becomes more subjective, but the list below is ordered with necessities at the top and things I prefer descending below:

• Cointreau – no way around it, this is critical
• Vermouth – sweet (red/Italian) and dry (white/French)
• Bitters – keep at least Angostura.  Look for specialty flavors like Fee Brothers or Regan for Orange/Lemon/Peach, etc.
• St. Germain’s Elderflower liqueur – just makes mixology too easy
• Campari – I love the stuff, turns a drink red, people accuse me of having a girly drink, and then I give them a taste…
• Absinthe – I’m using LeTournement and think it adds great flavors
• Domaine de Canton’s Ginger liqueur – great way to spice things up

This is a starter list.  Recipes will call for all kinds of junk, but you can pretty much cheat using the first three items in this list.

Other Things You’ll Need

• Citrus – mainly limes, but some lemon too
• Olives – they can be be in vermouth in a jar in the fridge indefinitely
• Onions – get the ones in sweet vermouth; I’ll write many odes to them in posts to come
• Fruit juices – unsweetened cranberry is #1, after that it just depends
• Any fruit you can put in the freezer – blueberries and cranberries are particularly useful
• Mint – you can freeze this too
• Sparkling water – feel free to get a siphon
• Tonic – particularly in the summer

Wait, I don’t have this much space, you’re not a dork, you’re a nut!

If you go with the first two items in each list, you’ll be fine.  A lot of where and how to store things comes down to aesthetics, and there’s nothing wrong with picking your bottles to enhance your decor.  Plus, you should use the fridge.  I keep the gin, plus the citrus, olives, etc in the old icebox.  My own bar cart is pictured at the beginning of the post, but I also think a minimalist setup like the below is sweet.  Make your own, since this is expensive:

Ultimately, your Mixology Station should match your style.  If it limits your menu, so be it.  Just be sure you limit it to drinks you like.

Ingredients, Stations, Mix!