Cocktailians

Rhum Cures at Madaleine Mae's

The other day, my girlfriend and I checked out a new restaurant on Manhattan's Upper West Side.  Madaleine Mae has been open since Super Tuesday (even if its website is emblazoned "Fall 2007"), and serves up some tasty Southern food including superb fried chicken, some very good succotash, and even an appetizer consisting of some perfectly-cooked huge sweet Carolina shrimp, served on the New York Post.  (!)

But this isn't a gastroblog, after all -- it's a cocktail blog.  And the reason I'm mentioning this place is because they give "rhum cures" top billing on their website, their beverage list, and even on their signage above the restaurant's door.  Infused liquors are big right now, and Madaleine Mae's approach is interesting:  a "rhum cure" is simply rum that's cold-steeped or infused with various other flavors -- vanilla, cinnamon, and various tropical fruits all figure prominently.  The fabric-topped bottles behind the bar contain eleven different variations on the theme, among them the Goyave Punch (described as "a calming remedy for nerviosity") that consists of rum infused with guava, carambola, passion fruit, and ginger root, the "Esprit Clair" (mango, guava, bay leaf, vanilla, and tamarind), and the "L’extrémité" (anise, cinnamon, vanilla.)

My girlfriend and I had an "Amour Pur" (vanilla, cinnamon, bois bande, and maybe some sugar syrup), and a "Restoration" (vanilla, ginger root, cloves, juniper berries) and enjoyed them very much.  The Restoration was particularly interesting, with the predominate clove note added to the ginny tang of the juniper -- it was like a Pink Gin, but with a lot more going on in the glass.

I talked with the owner's wife after our meal, and she told me that they were inspired by the rhum cures they'd had while vacationing in Guadeloupe, and that these rhum cures were more than just cocktails -- they're looked on by Guadeloupeans (Guadeloupois?  Guadeloupes?) as folk medicine.  And apparently they're not just home remedies, also have something of a mystical element, too, as in voodoo or Santeria. 

At any rate, homemade infused liquors are big right now, and this was a take on the trend that I enjoyed greatly.  The bar also has a large selection of fine rums, and I'm already plotting my return.

Sunée Savors Sazeracs

Spotted in a NYT interview with author Kim Sunée:

While in New Orleans, she stayed at the Windsor Court Hotel with a friend and spent inordinate amounts of time with him in its fancy Polo Club Lounge, fascinated as a bartender named Roger theatrically concocted Sazeracs.

“I’m not a cocktail kind of girl,” she said. “But this bartender had so much passion. It’s almost like a relationship: the precise balance of the ingredients that go into it, especially the bitters, right? Then you drink it, and it becomes completely reckless.”

She and her friend smuggled their Sazeracs into the men’s steam room. “Oh no, I’m sure there’s some medical warning that you’re not supposed to drink a Sazerac in a steam room,” she said, laughing. “I’ll never be allowed in that hotel again.”

Nicely put.  Wonderful things happen when passion mixes with bitters.

Raiders of the Lost Cocktail: Apricot Brandy.

This is the first time I've managed to get my lazy, absentminded, procrastinatory ass in gear and participate in what is now the third installment of Raiders of the Lost Cocktail, run by the folks over at The Spirit World. (Deadline for entries was last Friday, the 15th.) The general idea behind it is this: "While we are certain there are great new cocktails yet to be discovered, we are equally certain there are great old cocktails that have been lost to the vagaries of time and chance. Some have been recovered by the new masters, but many have not. They are out there, in books and magazines, but they are at risk..."

I started digging through my old books (almost at the last minute of course, I being me) and started by escewing ones that lots of people probably already have, such as The Savoy Cocktail Book. Given that I'd pulled out Charles Baker earlier this week he was still fresh in my mind, but lots of people already have his Gentleman's Companion, but I'll bet not quite as many people have his subsequent tomes, The South American Gentleman's Companion, Being an Exotic Drinking Book Or, Up & Down the Andes with Jigger, Beaker & Flask.

Our usual standard for apricot brandy (that is, sweet apricot liqueur with a brandy base, not a clear eau-de-vie or distillate of apricots, such as Hungarian barackpalinka or the outstanding Blume Marillen) is Marie Brizard's most excellent Apry, but lately we've been enjoying the relatively new product by Rothman & Winter from Austria (and imported by our pal Eric Seed of Haus Alpenz), called Orchard Apricot. It's slightly lower in alcohol than Apry (24% as opposed to 30%) and slightly less sweet (Eric kindly reports in that the brix, i.e. sugar ratio, is 32 as comparted to 42 in the sweeter Apry), so you might have to adjust the balance in your cocktails to your own preferences when using it. While it doesn't have quite as much alcohol or sugar, what it does have is a deep, rich, wonderful flavor of apricots!

In the book I found three contenders, and last night Wes and I had a tasting of two. We passed the glasses back and forth, tasted, swished them around, wrinkled and furrowed our brows, and declared that we had two good cocktails but only one clear winner. Here's the one that came out on top, plus the runner-up and a special bonus cocktail (one you've perhaps seen before but richly deserves another view), all featuring lovely lovely apricot brandy.

The PISCO-APRICOT TROPICÁLS, an Exotic Pair of Cocktails which May be Served Frozen, or Shaken as a Standard Cocktail, from Lima Country Club, Lima Peru.

If you have been able to rat-out a crock of this charming and fragrant Peruvian Grape Brandy, see Shopping Index, try these 2 to vary the Pisco Sour listed on Page 143.

2 oz Pisco Brandy
1/4 to 1/2 pony Garnier's Apricot liqueur.
Juice 1/2 small lime.
Small dash Angostura.

Eitiher put in pre-chilled electric mixer with fine ice and serve in big champagne cocktail glass in frozen form, or shake with big ice and strain into chilled stemmed cocktail glass.

Or use same ingredients and routine, only adding 1 pony of ripe pineapple juice to the mix -- whether frozen or shaken and strained. Garnish this last with thin stick of ripe pineapple.

These also may be further varied by using some other cordial than Apricot liqueur, such as: White Curaçao, Cointreau, Maraschino, peach liqueur or either type of Chartreuse. Miguel was the head bar-boy's name. These were 2 of his specialties. Hope he's still there if you should stay, as we did, at this lovely Club.

Well, chances are that by now Miguel is mixing at that Great Bar in the Sky, where all the liquor is premium, there's cold running fresh fruit juices on tap and no such thing as sour mix or Pucker schnapps. Here's how we did Miguel's first concoction, and it's my official entry in Raiders of the Lost Cocktail:

Pisco-Apricot Tropicál

2 ounces pisco.
1/2 ounce apricot brandy.
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice.
1 dash Angostura bitters.

Combine in a shaker with ice and shake for 10-12 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a lime wheel.

The runner-up was still a fine drink, though, again in Charles' words:

HERE'S another Brandy Business from the AMERICAN CLUB Bar in Buenos Aires, & Called a BRANDY MIST.

We lunched here 1 spring day with a group of expatriated men from the States, and upon hearing our mild wail upon the lack of mixed drinks of Latin creation to be found along the Rive Plate, this was suggested -- was tested-out upon the spot. And accepted.

Pack an Old Fashioned Cocktail glass -- with lip already rubbed with a sprig of crushed mint -- with fine ice; hit it with 1 dash of Angostura and/or orange bitters. Now add 2 oz. really good Cognac brandy, not just any cheap California brand, 1/2 pony of veritable P. Garnier imported Peach Liqueur. Stir gently until chilled and garnish with 1 nice sprig of green mint which has been dipped into powdered sugar to give it a sparkling pleasantly frosted look. Garnier's Apricotine will also work, our donor advised us -- Apricotine, of course, being a superfine apricot-flavored liqueur distilled and made in Enghien-les-Bains, France.

Or, if you're too lazy to read the Bard's prose:

Brandy Mist

2 ounces Cognac.
1/2 ounce apricot brandy.
1 dash Angostura bitters.
1 dash orange bitters.
2 mint sprigs.
Superfine sugar.

Rub the lip of an Old Fashioned glass with a sprig of crushed mint, then fill with crushed ice. Add the Cognac, apricot brandy and bitters, and stir for 20-30 seconds. Take the second mint sprig, moisten it and dip in the superfine sugar, and garnish with the frosted mint sprig.

While we did like this drink, the apricot didn't shine quite as much, and Wes felt that the mint might have been a bit of a problem; although we like mint, it seemed as if it was fighting with the apricot a bit. I might actually increase the apricot to 3/4 ounce next time I make this, especially if using the lower-alcohol and -sugar R&W brand, and see how it goes. Mint-fighting or not, I think this one does deserve more tries.

Now, for a third special bonus drink, which is one of my very favorite drinks featuring apricot brandy. It didn't quite fit in with the rules, as it's not a vintage cocktail but a new one, and although it was published (in this case in the San Francisco Chronicle, it's not really lost, only not well-known enough yet. Plus, the Chronicle version left out a key ingredent, due to its lack of commercial availability at the time. This ingredient won't be a problem for dedicated cocktail geeks, though, and said ingredient will be commercially available from Haus Alpenz, in the form of St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram, very soon. It was created by my friend Daniel Reichert, and although I've posted it a couple of times of the past few years it's most certainly worth posting again, as it's absolutely lovely. Make sure you sing its namesake song as you enjoy it, and Dan reminds us that summer is not the only time for drinking rum; it's a lovely soul-warmer in the wintertime too.

Jamaica Farewell (Created by Daniel Reichert)

2 ounces Appleton Estate VX rum.
3/4 ounce apricot brandy (Dan specifies Marie Brizard Apry).
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice.
1 teaspoon pimento dram.
2 dashes Angostura bitters.

Shake with cracked ice and strain into a cocktail glass; garnish with a lime wedge.

In his article Gary Regan suggests kicking up this drink with Appleton Estate 21-year-old rum, and that'll certainly make it more special. However, to make it truly special ... that teaspoon of pimento liqueur transforms the drink, lifts it be an exponent or two and carries you off to the beaches of Montego Bay. Don't leave it out.

Any other good cocktail ideas using apricot brandy? Leave 'em in the comments!

St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur

I've been seeing St. Germain Elderflower liqueur popping up on cocktail menus everywhere.  St. Germain is a handcrafted artisinal liqueur from France made from elderflowers, which grow wild in most of Europe and have a short blooming period.  Historically, it's been difficult to turn elderflowers into alcohol, but the makers of St. Germain discovered a method.  They won't divulge it, though - it's a secret.

Since St. Germain is made in small batches, it's a bit hard to find sometimes.  I've seen a few bottles at BevMo and my favorite liquor store in San Francisco, K&L Wines.   It comes bottled in a beautiful Art Deco-style bottle, which looks like a lovely addition to any bar.

Last night, I had the chance to try it for the first time at the Slow Club in San Francisco.  I ordered a Bicyclette, which is a signature Slow Club cocktail with St. Germain and sparkling wine, and served in a champagne glass with a curl of orange peel.

The first thing I noticed was the scent.  It smelled very delicate, like grapefruit, almost. It didn't taste like grapefruit, though.  It's hard to describe the taste, but it was somewhat tart and yet sweet, with definite floral and fruity notes.  The cocktail was delicious.

I'm definitely going to be adding a bottle to my bar and experimenting with this liqueur.

Mixology Monday XXIV: Variations

(I know, it's supposed to be Mixology Monday, not Mixology Friday, but it took a few days for me to straggle over.)

This month's theme suited me fairly well, as I had a couple of drinks on standby that fit the theme quite well, to wit -- "your variation of a classic recipe, or compare several variations of the same recipe, or anything really," as detailed by this month's host Jimmy Patrick of Jimmy's Cocktail Hour. Here's one I've mentioned in here before, but as it's one of my favorite recent variations I thought I'd give it another go. Sorry to flog this one again, but being sick for the last week left me little opportunity for experimentation, alas.

Several years ago, someone emailed me a recipe for a cocktail along with a story. According to the story, Rat Pack denizen Peter Lawford was fond of drinking one particular cocktail, and any Vegas bartender who didn't know it would end up having Lawford talk him through it. Whether it was his own invention or not was unclear, but I have yet to find a reference to it anywhere, or to the Lawford story. The cocktail had a very simple recipe:

Preview

2 ounces gin.
1 ounce Cointreau.
2 dashes pastis.

Rinse the glass with pastis and discard excess. Combine remaining ingredients with ice and shake for 10-12 seconds. Garnish with an orange peel.

Wesly and I tried it and rather liked it, and we credit the Preview Cocktail for being a big factor in moving us toward an appreciation of the joys of gin.

After our 2004 trip to Ireland to see Planxty, I started thinking about how some of those flavors would work with whiskey, and after a bit of experimentation came up with this one. Use a good, spicy orange bitters like Regans' (and I'd love to try this with Angostura Orange Bitters, if they'd hurry up and release them over here!). Mix it up and raise your glass to Van the Man. It's a long way to Buffalo, and a long long way to Belfast city too ...

St. Dominic's Preview

2 ounces Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey.
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier.
2 dashes orange bitters.
2 dashes Herbsaint, Pernod or other pastis.

Dash the pastis into a chilled cocktail glass and swirl around to coat. Discard the excess (or leave it in, if you like). Combine remaining ingredients in a mixing glass and stir for 30 seconds. Strain into the pastis-coated glass, and garnish with a curly orange twist.

One more that I'd flogged a couple of times on the blog before too -- as long as I'm lazily blogflogging cocktails we might as well toss this one back into the pond. In fact, it came up again here about four months ago, but perhaps the MxMO post might give it an opportunity to make it out to more readers than the handful o' yas who hang out here.

It's a pretty durn good drink, I think, and ended up becoming a favorite of one particular country and Western musician who visited our place once. Guys in his line of work might think such a drink to be "girly," yet after finishing his first and raving about it, he asked for two more. Yee-haw!

The original recipe came from a book I found on antique cocktail shakers, and I was taken with the name -- Tiger Lillet. (I'm always up for an awful pun.) The name was great, but something about the recipe looked a bit strange. They listed it as "1/3 Lillet, 1/3 Van der Hum, 1/6 Maraschino syrup." Hmm, well, that's only 5/6 of a drink. And "Maraschino syrup"? Do they mean that red crap in the jar of "maraschino" cherries? Or did they mean a true cherry syrup? Fortunately some digging on the web revealed the actual recipe, which was the winner of the World Cocktail Championship in London in 1952, created by a barman known to history only as "Mr. J. Jones." (Oh yeah, that guy!) Here's Mr. Jones' original:

Tiger Lillet

1/3 Lillet.
1/3 Van der Hum.
1/6 Dry Vermouth.
1/6 Maraschino.

Stir and strain. Serve with small piece of orange peel.

That looks a LOT better, and it's clear that Mr. Jones meant maraschino liqueur. However, at the time, I couldn't find any Van der Hum, which is a South African tangerine-spice liqueuer based on brandy, and at the time I really wasn't a fan of dry vermouth at all. I started tinkering, substituting for the Van der Hum a tangerine liqueur that I did have on hand, taking out the vermouth and adding something to give it a bit more oomph. I also needed a good name that was just as punny. Inspiration finally struck for the name, which came from someone I've oved and admired for a very long time and whose work has given me a great deal of enjoyment since childhood. And that's the truttthhhhhh.

The Lillet Tomlin

Offer your guests a gracious hello!

Then combine in a mixing glass:

1 ounce Lillet blanc.
1 ounce Mandarine Napoleon liqueur.
1/2 ounce Maraschino liqueur.
1/2 ounce Cognac.

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass, then garnish with a brandied cherry and an orange wheel. Garnish additionally with two ringy-dingys and serve to the party to which you are speaking.

I managed to get this drink as close as two degrees of separation from its namesake. An old friend of mine was working as camera operator on a film starring Miss Tomlin a while back, and I gave him the recipe and the story behind it and asked him if he could pass it on to her. He did! She was "fascinated," very flattered and told him to thank me, but unfortunately this did not result in an invitation for me to come to the set and mix one for her. Sigh.

(OK, I promise not to post this one again for a long time.)

Don't forget to check out Jimmy's wrap-up post of all the MxMo "Variations" entries for this month, and Happy Mixlogy Monday (four days late)!

The Filmograph Cocktail

As noted earlier, I was lucky enough to pick up a bottle of kola tonic a little while ago.  Dr. Cocktail's writeup of the Filmograph Cocktail in Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails (an excellent, excellent read that's worth picking up) caught my eye, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Cola is a flavor I really like, but after what is probably too much diet soda consumption, regular colas tend to taste too sweet to me.  (Fentimans' Curiosity Cola is the standout, followed by Boylan's Cane Cola, not that you asked.)  I was very intrigued to try the taste of cola in a cocktail, rather than the usual soft drink form.

Getting back to the Filmograph, I took Doc's suggestion to switch out the sirop de citron (he writes "substitute fresh lemon juice unless you like to drink maple syrup out of the can"), but wound up with a pretty sour drink that wasn't too balanced.  I've noticed, though, that the lemons at my local supermarket seem to vary in acidity; perhaps it's something to do with the time of year, or maybe they source them from different places at different times?  (In the spirit of further research, I guess I'll just have to make myself some Filmographs year-round and compare.  Modern living is entirely about sacrifice for the common good.)

Dropping the lemon juice from 3/4 ounce to 1/2 ounce didn't seem to make much of a difference, so I abandoned that tack.  Instead, I upped the kola tonic from 1/2 ounce to a full ounce, and got a Filmograph that I enjoyed very much indeed.  The kola tonic is richer and more complex than straight cola syrup, and it blends well with the brandy and lemon, creating a very nicely-balanced drink.  (The only problem with them is that I don't want to drink them in the evening, as the caffeine will keep me up till all hours.)

Filmograph Cocktail

• 2 oz. brandy
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1 oz. kola tonic

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon wedge.

(Sorry to have been away so long, by the by:  a long, hectic week has intervened, with parental visits, much tour-guiding, and not enough cocktailian, um, "research."  This should be rectified, and soon.)

Drinky Goodness

A quartet of links for your Friday perusal:

• Finally, a use for vodka:  in pie crusts.  (and I bet an Angostura-spiked apple pie would be yummy.)  (via Dethroner.)
• Part of what I like about cocktail blogs is the experimentation -- I hear about interesting things that I want to try just about every day.  But perhaps even more usefully is finding out about failed experiments that, thankfully, I wouldn't have to repeat.  Case in point:  Robert Simonson's tryout of a Red Moscow Mule -- yep, it sounded pretty good in theory to me too.  And I'm glad that he tried it out, found it wanting, and warned me off it.  I hope to not have to return the favor...but I probably'll end up with my own failed experiment and send up a red flag;
• The second part of MOTAC Blog's great post about the history of the Ramos Gin Fizz (the first part can be found here); and
• Most excitingly of all, I was very intrigued to read in the Cocktail Chronicles about a brand-new company making bitters.  Bittermens is still working its way through the regulatory thicket -- the ATF has strict rules that they have to follow in order to sell their bitters in places other than liquor stores -- and hopes to be on sale by the summertime.  I, for one, cannot wait to try their concoctions (the Xocolatl Mole bitters sound especially interesting, as do the Elemakule Tiki bitters), and I may just have to take myself out to Death & Co., Milk & Honey, or Little Branch sometime soon in order to sample them.  As they say, stay tuned.