December 27, 2014

Universal Soldier

On one hand this drink is a failure, on the other it is rather tasty.

It's a failure because I wanted it to be clear to show off the lemon flavored cocktail sugar and the sour armyman that my friend brought me back from her first trip to the US.

So I learned the hard way that even 1/4 oz or 0.75 cl lemonjuice is enough to make a cocktail cloudy.

Other than that the taste is quite close to Tom Walker's amazing Maid in Cuba which blew me away two Tales of the Cocktails away.

And yes it's named after Buffy Sainte-Marie's song - who by the way also co-wrote Mr. Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes' big hit Up where we Belong </showingoffwithuselesstrivia>
  • 6 cl white rum - I used Plantation Three Star
  • 0.75 cl clear creme de menthe - I used Tempus Fugit Spirits Creme de Menthe Glaciale
  • 0.75 cl lemon juice
  • 6 cl clear cucumber water - I used Qcumber 
Shake everything with ice and strain into lowball glass with a rim of yellow cocktail sugar. Add a green sour armyman. 

December 15, 2014

The Banker


This month's MxMo theme remedies a great oversight in my bar cabinet: The complete absence of any kind of apple based spirit.

So thank you Frederic for sending me shopping. Our host describe the theme in his announcement post this way:
Apples have been an American booze staple with Johnny Appleseed as its symbolic hero. John Chapman became that legend by planting apple tree nurseries across the northern Appalachia and the Midwest. He did not choose grafting techniques to reproduce sweet edible ones, but bred them to make sour apples perfect for cider and applejack. Michael Pollan in The Botany of Desire proclaimed, “Really, what Johnny Appleseed was doing and the reason he was welcome in every cabin in Ohio and Indiana was he was bringing the gift of alcohol to the frontier. He was our American Dionysus.” Apple products began to enter into the mixed drink literature in the 19th century with the Stone Fence appearing in Jerry Thomas’ Bartender Guide and got quite refined by the end of the century such as the Widow’s Kiss in George Kappeler’s Modern American Drinks. Indeed, apples have found their way into modern cocktails via Calvados, applejack, sparkling and still cider, apple butter, and muddled apple.
That got me thinking. Mainly on how come Denmark, which prides it self on it's apples, never made booze from them. I'm sure households enjoyed cider back in the day, but no booze and no industry.

We do have a great selection of fresh apple juices but that is about it.

My drink - The Banker - is a tribute to a good friend and great barman - Henrik Steen Petersen of the sadly now closed Moltkes Bar Speakeasy in Copenhagen.

He happens to have a background in banking. It's a great combination. He is very meticulous with his work, I take that to be part of his banking skills.

But since he left banking to work with people instead of money he has a genuine grasp on the concept of hospitality.

I know that he likes Laird's Applejack, I hope he likes this drink:
  • 6 cl applejack- I used Laird's
  • 2 cl raspberry syrup - I cooked a 1:2 in favor of the raspberry juice syrup from frozen berries from my garden
  • 1 cl Fernet Branca
Shake the ingredients over ice and then strain into an Old Fashinoned glass over a huge cube of ice.




December 6, 2014

Bananary Buzz

Recently I conducted a cocktail beginners class for my coworkers.

It was a lot of fun. Very attentive pupils and always a joy to teach the alchemy of a well put together drink.

I'll not be so bold as to state with absolute certainty that my Bananary Buzz is that kind of a cocktail, but I'm quite pleased with it.

It is obviously a riff on a rye Manhattan - but it is mostly a tribute to the buzz.

One of my coworkers - who took the class - reminded me just how pleasant that first hit of strong booze on a late Friday afternoon anticipating a weekend off is.

How clever, pretty and on top of the world that one drink - maybe two (after three I'm under the table, after four I'm under the host) can make you feel.

And since a good drink needs a good snack, I tried out a recipe I noticed from Not Whithout Salt - Sweet and Spicy Peanut. I just used fresh rosemary instead of thyme and loved both the kick and the sweetness.
  • 6 cl rye whiskey - I used Rittenhouse 100 for that perfect buzz
  • 0,75 cl sweet vermouth - I used Carpano Antica
  • 0,75 cl banana liqueur - I used Giffard Banane du Bresil
  • 0.75 cl Maraschino - I used Luxardo
  • 0.75 cl lime juice
  • 0.75 cl simple syrup - made from moscavado
Measure all ingredients into a stirring glass and stir until quite cold. Strain into rocks glass with huge chunk of ice.