I had my time sucked away by work and the CFA for a while, and I’ve been catching up on having fun since.  Writing about the fun would have detracted too much from having the fun…

Anyway, what do I have to share after this hiatus?

1) Cucumbers.  Want to bring wintery drinks into the summer vibe?  Infuse things with cucumber.  Warning: not all drinks work well.  Rye works very well.  Bourbon would not.

2) Watch the World Cup; it’s great.  The World Cup offered me these two lessons:

  a) Rum.  You can do a lot with rum.  Seems like a stupidly obvious statement, but I get asked what to do with rum other than add it to Coke…  Adding it to Coke is a fine option at many a beachfront-type scenario, but one can also add ginger beer (like a Dark n Stormy), or lime juice and sugar (it’s a daquiri!).  If you’ve got time to plan ahead, add mint, or some fruit, or anything else, and let sit overnight.  Rum does really well with infusions.  Ultimately, the most recent version of this request had a simple answer, as the drinker was whiling away the opening rounds at a French bar on Mauritius: drink it straight.

  b) Micheladas.  Beer, lime, spices, they vary a lot, but that’s part of the joy - so long as they’re cold and spicy.  Even if it’s not on the menu (in fact, it’ll probably be better if it isn’t), ask for one at your favorite Mexican place.  With Tecate.  Don’t ask for this if it’s less than 80 degrees or after 5.

3) Go surfing.  Seriously, it’s fun and not actually that hard.

Bertessa’s first surfing lesson.  Cowabunga.

Infusion is the key to making home mixology sparkle.  Half the fun is making drinks that I can’t get in a restaurant or bar.  My home drinks are mostly distinguished by quality: most bars use mixes and shortcuts.  But increasingly, they are also distinguished by unique ingredients.

I’ve made mention of using various infusions already, but some questions I’ve received suggest that other home mixologists are still suffering from a crisis of confidence when it comes to infusing things on their own.

How to infuse?  Simply take some liquor and put something that provides a new flavor into the liquor.  Leave it overnight.  Strain out the non-liquid item.  DONE!

There are methods of hot infusion that some bars use for consistency.  I don’t have the inclination to bother.  I kind of like each infusion to be different.  It changes my drink-making inspiration.  That said, some infusions are simple and reliable:

1) Lavender and gin – Buy lavender at the store in the herb section.  Pick it fresh; don’t use the dried kind

2) Jalapeno and tequila – need I elaborate?  But watch out, because this can get VERY HOT.  It’s ok if it does… I just put in a little and use uninfused tequila for most of the drink

3) Dill and vodka – this is fantastic for bloody mary’s, or even a simple vodka-tonic.

And taking it to the next level, keep in mind the potential of infusions for:

• Ice.  Not even an infusion really, but you don’t risk a bottle of liquor being wasted.  Last year we hosted a Kentucky Derby event, and EE had the excellent idea of making mint-infused tea and turning it into ice cubes.  Just pour boiling water over whatever you want the ice to taste like, then freeze the water in ice cube trays.  This was great for the party, because it easily enabled guests to make themselves truly minty mint juleps.
• Gifts.  A shout-out to some of my Texan kin, who gave pineapple-infused vodka to various family members (including me, of course) for Christmas.  It was a very charming and obviously useful present.  Tessa loves a practical gift.  I shared mine with the crowd in the form of brunch blood  mary’s, and later, a refreshing evening cocktail involving tonic, lemon, and an ancient Galliano-like liqueur I found in my grandparents’ bar.

If you really want to go to the next level, you can start making you own liqueurs, but that’s a topic for another time.

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 feel challenged by making cold but warming drinks.  This is silly because all alcohol is warming, right?  True, but there is something to the way a drink looks, smells, and plays on the tongue that warms or chills well before ethyl becomes your mental tauntaun.  For example, I would argue that a Martini is an arctic drink (not just cold, but downright glacial, which is kind of awesome) while a Gin & Tonic is refreshingly cold (more like a June breeze or snow cone).  On the warming side – ignoring hot drinks – Egg Nog is warming (more a promise of warmth, like a cold pair of gloves) while a Pink Zipper is hot!  Damn hot!

A Pink Zipper (it’s pinker in reality)

Aspects of Hotness (in a Pink Zipper, that is…)

• Color – a subtle warming pink
• Tequila – it comes from hot places and retains that heat in the form of Midi-Chlorians, a special six molecule nano-carbon sub-atomical hot neutron plasma structure unique to plants grown south of the Freeze Your Keister line (this line is said to be moving south due to climate change – it even temproarily dipped south of Houston this month)
• Plasma (see Tequila) – the sun is made out of plasma, this stuff literally provides all warmth we known to Earth.  No plasma, no heat, no nothing (may not be entirely true as tectonic effects may generate some heat without a sun, but I’m not sure)
• Jalapeno (sorry, I’m not sure how to get a tilde on my ‘n’) – also from south of the FYK, jalapenos have a very high concentration of Midi-Chlorians, but still have a father whereas Habaneros may have been conceived by Midi-Chlorians
• Ginger – Not a Midi-Chlorian source, but totally has zip

The other ingredients are important too, though, because they make the drink balanced and enjoyable instead of searing and lethal – like the ozone layer!

Ingredients

1/2 Jalapeno-infused tequila

1/2 Tequila

2/3 Cointreau

1/2 a lime’s juice

1/3 Pomegranate juice

1/3 Agave nectar

1/4 ginger juice

Some frozen cranberries

Combine in a shaker and shake vigorously.  Serve up and garnish with frozen cranberries (or small jalapenos).

A few notes:

• The balance of infused/non-infused tequila depends on how strong your infused tequila is – use your judgment
• Infusing cranberries into the jalapeno tequila would be one more step of awesomeness
• May the force be with you

Why I love this Austrian restaurant SO much is a little mystifying to me.  Maybe it is because I once had a blissful weekend skiing in Austria?

Maybe it’s because I love EE in Wolfords?

Austrian hosiery rules. (EE agrees.)

Actually, I think I like the elegant, simple style and high functionality.  These things come through in the food and drink – they’ve got you covered, but nothing overwhelms. 

Anyway, we started with cocktails while waiting…

I had a Fig Manhattan, which was a really good idea.  They infused bourbon with fig, made a Manhattan with it, and then garnished with half a fig.  I wouldn’t have thought to put fig in a Manhattan, but the sweet earthiness worked perfectly.

WOW! Teaches me not to be ashamed of taking pictures in restaurants!  It’s hard to find an attractive picture of a fig… 

They do look better in Manhattans, I promise.

The ladies had Aperol Sours, which were simple (and apparently very much enjoyed) combinations of Aperol, lemon juice, and sugar.

What impressed me most about the Wallse cocktail menu is that it was relatively short, at about eight drinks, but represented a wide range of flavor profiles.  From their Peppar Tomato (like the essence of a Bloody Mary – lovely if you want to kick your brunch up a notch), to Fig Manhattans, to Aperol Sours…  I consider this a nice change from the many restaurants with lots of drinks relying on the same or similar ingredients, and having a similar taste.  Additionally, all of the drinks were pretty simple in terms of ingredients, which allows patrons to anticipate what’s coming and receive their drinks quickly.

Finally, we had wine with the meal.  I don’t normally write about wine because plenty of others do, but this was notable.  Wallse’s wine list is all (or close enough to all) Austrian wine.  We chose the cheapest Pinot Noir-equivalent because the waiter recommended this section of the list.  It was spectacularly tasty – a perfect combination of fruit, bite, earthiness, etc.  Lange leben österreichischen Wein!  Specifically this stuff:

Weingut Brundlmayer
St. Laurent. (Type of grape)
Ried Ladner 2003

Prost!

Cranberry-infused Gin with Tonic (plus some squirrel candles)

EE and I are uber-excited to be hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year!  Because we live far from our families, and because I’m working on Friday, we are staying in Manhattan.  This will be our first chance to see the parade, and our first major holiday together without the presence of relatives.  (Relatives that may be reading this: we are very sad not to see you.)  To make the best of the situ, we have teamed up with pals to build a guest list that is an ideal mix of friends, friendly colleagues, relatives of guests, and people we haven’t met.  I’m particularly fond of the last guest category as having people who I’ve never met at the table seems very in keeping with the sharing and giving themes of the holiday.

The most surprising aspect of planning for this Thanksgiving has been the manner in which people seriously consider the invitation to come over.  We kept hearing, “Sounds great, but I’ll only come if I can make and bring X, Y, and Z.”  This response has been a huge relief, because I’m not pressured to provide people with the special dish they associate with giving thanks.  For my part, I love the traditional Thanksgiving spread: turkey (ours is a bronze heritage bird raised on pasture upstate by Wendy), stuffing (I’m making oyster stuffing with my Grandmother’s recipe), pie (I can’t bake to my own standards - luckily others are providing this), etc.

The one aspect of the feast that isn’t embedded in any childhood traditions: a concept of perfect Thanksgiving cocktails.  This is an amazing opening for the home mixologist, and I’ve been working on ways to fill the void.

A few general principles I’ll be mixing by:

1. Have fun
2. Don’t judge; serve people what they want
3. Honor the season, somehow
4. If not the season, a well-worn concept of the Thanksgiving holiday

There are some challenges to consider:

1. Large groups
2. Diversity – just because you may be related, doesn’t mean you like the same drinks
3. Long time-periods (waiting for the turkey to cook)
4. Crowded kitchens

Some tactics I’ll be trying:

1. Infusion – easily (I promise, see below) handles principles 3 or 4.  An infusion allows a novel drink without too many ingredients to mix.
2. Long drinks – they’ll help people keep pace, be refreshed, and stay out of the kitchen.

Cranberry-infused Gin & Tonic

Infuse the gin

Buy some raw cranberries.  Take a jar, fill 1/8 with cranberries, just cover the cranberries with gin and muddle (basically just pop most of the cranberries).  Fill jar with gin.  Leave overnight to 24 hours.  Strain out the cranberries.

Use the infusion to make a Gin and Tonic as described here, but garnish with frozen cranberries instead of lime.

Refresher course on making a Tessin Gin & Tonic

Turkey Carver

Ingredients

1 Bourbon

1/4 Maraschino liqueur

1/8 Fernet Branca

1/8 Kahlua

Squeeze lemon juice

Stir the ingredients in a tall glass filled with ice and top with tonic.

Kitchen Commander

Ingredients

1 Rum (whatever you’ve got)

1/2 Stone’s Ginger

1/4 Cointreau

a few cranberries (frozen or otherwise)

Shake (have to break down the cranberries a bit).  Pour in a tall glass filled with ice.  Top with sparkling water.  Garnish with frozen cranberries.

160 Degrees (or Is The Turkey Ready?)

Ingredients

1 Bourbon

3/4 Stone’s Ginger

1/3 Pimms

dash Anisette

2 drops Peychaud bitters

Stir, strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with a lemon twist.

160 Degrees

Of course, wine will be served with the meal, but I’ll leave wine blogging to others.  Hopefully some of these drinks may inspire a cocktail or two at your festivities this week!

Some fun pics of the squirrels (they are way too fun; I can’t wait to light them):

EE was making dinner last weekend, her first Sunday chili of the colder months, and I was puttering around in my mixology cabinet, trying to create a chili-friendly cocktail.  EE had left some New York sharp cheddar cheese on the counter cut and waiting to garnish our bowls.  The temptation was too great: I infused something with cheddar.

Infusing liquors sounds a bit intimidating, you say?  It sounds complicated and technical, not something for the casual home mixologist?  No!  Infusions are incredibly simple.  Put something in a sealed container with a liquor and voila!  A custom drink and flavor that you can’t get anywhere else.  This allows for incorporating local, seasonal ingredients, and for creating something really unique without having to pay a fortune for a rare bottle of X.  Given the simplicity, the ability to custom-craft flavors, and the cost-effectiveness of the deal, you can expect to hear me suggesting infusions frequently.

I poured about a cup-and-a-half of Sazerac rye whiskey over about one cubic inch of cheese broken-up into smallish chunks.  Whiskey seemed like the natural spirit for a cheddar flavor.  Rye seemed like it had the best balance of earthy, sweet, and cutting notes.  Sazerac seemed better to risk on this venture than my Rittenhouse because Sazerac is sweeter, and honestly, I don’t like it as much.  The concoction sat for three days, and on the third day the cheese was strained.

Opening the infusion, tasting the cheese (blech), and straining.

I was a bit surprised by the fat floating on the top of the rye, and the cheese chunks were like an inedible whey (new rule: don’t eat anything that has been the infuser, ever).  However, after I poured the rye through a tea strainer and a coffee filter, the Sazerac had a pleasant umami flavor that wasn’t present before.  More importantly, the finish on the whiskey was unmistakably cheddar flavored.

Chedda Rye getting strained through a coffee filter.

Chedda Rye is worth having as a stand alone drink – sip it on the rocks when you want whiskey with a little more body.

Not being content to let such a creation go undisturbed, I decided to create a cocktail with it as well.  EE made the brilliant suggestion of doing something with apples, but we have zero in the apple department (this is such a good idea, though, that I saved some Chedda Rye for future creation).  Lacking apples, I created an evening sipping drink that is pretty good.  It is sort of like a Bloody Mary, but not as sharp.  We’ll call it the Chedda Rye Mary

Ingredients

3/2 Chedda Rye

1/3 Dubonnet

2-3 grape or cherry tomatoes

dash Tabasco

Cut the tomatoes in half.  Combine all ingredients in a shaker and shake.  Strain well to avoid tomato seeds.  Garnish with a cheddar cheese twist.

Maybe this is an unexplored area of mixology for a reason, but the results weren’t bad.