February 6, 2010
Posted by Paul Clarke, February 5, 2010 at 7:00 PM
Let's start the weekend right--with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
February is cold and fierce, especially for those under a blizzard warning this weekend. Sometimes the best thing to do is fight back at the weather on its own terms—with something equally chilly and bold.
Enter the Old Pal. Powered by a base of bourbon or rye whiskey, the drink has a firm foundation of flavor sufficient to support the other powerfully flavored ingredient, Campari, which gives the drink a brisk bitterness that's still rich and complex.
With dry vermouth playing the moderator's role to make the two alpha-dog ingredients play well together, the combination is strong and bracing—pretty much exactly what you need as the snow starts to fall.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, January 29, 2010 at 6:45 PM
During the dark, dry years of Prohibition, thousands of thirsty Americans made it a point of vacationing in Cuba. Not only did the island nation offer an alluring Caribbean climate, but Havana was home to many bartenders who kept the rum flowing.
Created by legendary New York bartender Dale DeGroff as a tribute to those Havana bartenders, the Anejo Highball has all the touches of a Cuban classic.
Based on aged rum—Bacardi 8, Matusalem Gran Reserva or Cruzan Single Barrel Estate are all good choices, and there are others—the drink matches the rich orange flavor of curacao with the tartness of lime, and the mixture is given vibrancy by the spiciness of ginger beer. DeGroff has been known to tap a little allspice liqueur into the drink, as well, which adds an extra layer of flavor—not that this excellent all-season drink needs it.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, January 22, 2010 at 5:45 PM
Ingredients
2 ounces London dry gin
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar (or 2 teaspoons simple syrup), to taste
1 fresh egg white (if you're mixing with friends, one egg white is good for two drinks)
Chilled club soda
Procedure
In a cocktail shaker, dissolve the sugar in the lemon juice; add the gin and egg white and shake, without ice, for about 10 seconds to give the egg white some froth. Add ice to the shaker and shake vigorously for a good 10 seconds, to work up the foam. Strain into a chilled Collins glass and top with about 2 ounces of club soda. If you're in the mood for it, dash some bitters atop the foam.
Posted by Paul Clarke, January 8, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Let's start the weekend right--with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
Until very recently, I found the concept of hot-buttered rum more appealing than the reality hot-buttered rum.
While I like each of the components named in the drink—heat (which is especially welcome in early January), butter, of course, and rum (what's not to like)—the idea of mixing them together into a warm, boozy drink topped with a slick of butterfat always deterred me from actually making it.
But this recent holiday season, while needing something warm but wanting something out of my usual rotation, I gave the drink a spin and discovered that with a little TLC, the hot-buttered rum in your mug can turn out as good as the one in your imagination.
While you can purchase hot-buttered rum batter in a supermarket, as a general rule I'd suggest you try making your own.
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Posted by Lucy Baker, December 24, 2009 at 2:00 PM
- Adapted from Luscious Liquors -
Ingredients
1 2/3 cups bourbon
1 (14-ounce) can condensed milk
1 cup light cream
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
Procedure
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and process for a minute or two, until everything is well blended. Pour the liquor into a clean bottle, seal, and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Posted by Paul Clarke, December 23, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Break out the 'nog! [Photograph: Robyn Lee]
At this time of year, eggnog is about as inescapable as elderly relatives wearing reindeer sweaters and gift bags full of scented candles. And as experience has no doubt taught you by now, much of the 'nog you'll encounter will range from tolerable to downright execrable.
While you can find online reviews and tasting comparisons of assorted commercial eggnogs, the stuff just wasn't meant to be made on an industrial level, and any store-bought version will be lackluster when compared to homemade.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, December 18, 2009 at 5:15 PM
"The Reveillon has been one of my favorite holiday drinks for the past several years."
During the holidays even the most reluctant cooks take their shot in the kitchen. It's much the same with drinks. Those who would ordinarily get no more creative than opening a beer find themselves caught with the idea of mixing a fancy seasonal drink. Holiday cheer comes in many forms—unfortunately many of those forms are lackluster.
A dose of Jim Beam in a cup of supermarket eggnog is all it takes for some, while others try to fancy it up using the colors of the season (by dribbling some cranberry juice into a glass of sparkling wine, for example). To which I say: is that really the best you can do?
Here's a holiday cocktail that doesn't require the separating of eggs, the whipping of cream and sugar, or a garnish of pine twigs and cranberries. Created by my friend Chuck Taggart, a native New Orleanian and longtime blogger at The Gumbo Pages, who is no slouch in the bar or kitchen. The Reveillon cocktail has the perfect flavors for the season without the sugary heaviness you find in so many holiday drinks.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, December 4, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Let's start the weekend right--with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
Now that winter is dead ahead, hot, soothing drinks are creeping back into the bibulous repertoire. I mixed my first hot toddy of the season last weekend and as the first day of winter approaches, I'm preparing to fend off the chill any way I can.
A classic combination that's good at this time of year is a mixture of good hot chocolate and green Chartreuse. While the pairing might seem awkward at first glance, there's something about the potent herbal liqueur that matches perfectly with the rich earthiness of good chocolate.
And while an ounce or so of Chartreuse gives hot chocolate a lift to a stratospheric experience, the flavor can be enhanced even more by the addition of Cherry Heering, a Danish cherry liqueur. Created by San Francisco bartender Neyah White, the Brigadier takes these three basic ingredients and combines them in a rich, earthy, warm-you-up way.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, November 27, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Let's start the weekend right--with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
Ooh, really shouldn't have had that second slice of pie. And that last scoop of stuffing? What was I thinking?
Fortunately, as I blogged about earlier, I had the foresight to pack some Fernet Branca to the in-laws on Thanksgiving. While this mint and eucalyptus-laced Italian digestivo can knock an overstuffed stomach back down to size all on its own, it also packs a powerful flavor punch in a handful of cocktails.
Here's one that was put together by my friend Rick at Kaiser Penguin: the Fernet Old Fashioned. By simply substituting the amaro for the more familiar bourbon or rye, this drink bolsters Fernet's already mighty powers as a digestive aid with a touch of aromatic bitters (also good for an upset stomach) and a dab of sugar to make it all a bit more soothing.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, November 20, 2009 at 5:30 PM
Let's start the weekend right--with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
Cocktails can be rich and rugged like a Manhattan, or crisp and sharp like a martini, or bright and tangy like a daiquiri (they can also be sweet and murky like a Bahama Mama, but we won't go there right now). But with the holiday season approaching, your taste buds might feel the need for something with a little more elegance—that's where the French come in.
Composed of two great Gallic spirits (cognac and the herbal liqueur Chartreuse) along with some lemon juice and bitters, the Champs Elysees is the ne plus ultra of elegant cocktails. The Savoy Cocktail Book from 1930 lists a party-size recipe for this drink, which is good billing for its powers as a social lubricant. Fortunately the recipe is easily scaled-down. This one (from Food & Wine's 2008 cocktail guide) was adapted by bartenders at Zig Zag Café in Seattle, who deploy a Champs Élysées anytime a little elegance is needed.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, November 18, 2009 at 9:55 PM
Read more about this recipe here.
Ingredients
3 to 4 fresh quince at peak of ripeness
1 bottle cognac
3 to 4 whole cloves (optional)
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
Procedure
Wash and dry quince and either grate or finely chop. Fill quart-size canning jars approximately 3/4 full of quince, add spices and top with cognac. Seal and keep in a cool, dark place until well matured, a minimum of six weeks and anywhere up to a year (or more?). Strain before using, passing the liquid through fine mesh or a coffee filter to remove small particles. Enjoy.
Posted by Caroline Russock, November 16, 2009 at 1:15 PM
"The celery syrup was crisp, refreshing, and not at all too sweet, set off perfectly by the fresh lemon juice and earthy bourbon."
[Photograph: Caroline Russock]
Searching for the perfect Thanksgiving-themed cocktail is somewhat of a challenge. Cranberry, the obvious choice, seems a little too easy and frankly, boring. A pumpkin-flavored concoction crossed my mind, but even the smoothest pumpkin puree is a little too thick for an easy sipping drink. Some ideas crossed my mind that were just plain silly, like a green bean gimlet or a sweet potato-scented Manhattan (garnished with marshmallows, of course.)
My search came to a screeching halt when I came across this recipe for Celery Juleps in Simple Fresh Southern by Matt and Ted Lee. It was as if the Lee Brothers read my mind. Here is a cocktail that incorporated celery and celery seed, two of the primary ingredients in the stuffing I grew up eating, into a fantastic cocktail.
This unlikely combination draws inspiration from the Kentucky Derby classic, the mint julep, and from Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray soda. As you might imagine, Cel-Ray is a celery-flavored soda popular in Jewish delis, and the perfect foil for a fatty corned beef sandwich.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, November 13, 2009 at 5:30 PM
Let's start the weekend right--with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
Pioneering 19th century bartender Jerry Thomas is such a towering figure in the cocktail world that over the years, his reputation has been adorned with many trinkets and baubles, many of them unearned. While Thomas was many things—world-renowned bartender, media celebrity, author of the first published bartender's guide—there are many things he was not. Creator of the Tom & Jerry? No, sorry. Inventor of the Manhattan and/or the martini? Wrong again.
Here's one drink, possibly the only drink from his 1862 bar guide, that Thomas did create: the Japanese Cocktail. Named to commemorate the 1860 visit to New York of the Japanese legation, the Japanese cocktail is smooth and sweet, and has a robust yet delicate character that still has plenty of allure almost 150 years after the drink was first created.
A rich combination of cognac and almond syrup, with bitters and lemon zest to give some depth and spice, the Japanese Cocktail is also an excellent drink for a chilly autumn evening.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, November 6, 2009 at 6:30 PM
Let's start the weekend right—with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
It may not be as powerful as a flu shot or have the healing properties of the antibiotic it's named for, but the Penicillin Cocktail is a surefire cure for a chilly autumn night. Originally created by New York bartender Sam Ross, the Penicillin Cocktail takes the warming, soothing flavors of honey, lemon juice and fresh ginger, and fortifies them with a good dose of scotch whisky. And as if that isn't enough, the drink is topped with a thin pour of headily aromatic Islay malt, which gives the drink a fragrance as alluring as any woodsmoke-laced autumn breeze.
Other bartenders have taken Ross's formula and adapted it for drinks made with tequila, gin, and rum, all with great results, but the scotch-based original is always a good place to start. And one note on the preparation: the original drink uses a house-made ginger-honey syrup; since the spark of fresh ginger fades so quickly, home mixologists may be better served by simply muddling a few slices of fresh ginger in the drink, rather than mixing a batch of syrup that will likely lose its luster before the bottle is half gone. This adapted recipe is listed after the jump.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, October 30, 2009 at 6:30 PM
Let's start the weekend right--with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
Perhaps the only thing more frightening than the idea of zombies roaming the city in search of fresh brains is the concoction you'll find in front of you when you say "Zombie" in your average bar.
Once the pinnacle drink of the mid-century Polynesian phenomenon, the Zombie has been mangled beyond recognition in the decades since its 1930s debut. This is primarily the fault of the drink's creator, Donn Beach, who had such success with the Zombie at his Don the Beachcomber bar that he jealously guarded the recipe from rivals, using unmarked bottles behind the bar and compiling some ingredients beforehand so that even staff members wouldn't know what was in them.
At Don the Beachcomber, you could get an authentic Zombie, a powerful yet balanced amalgam of rum, juice and sweeteners. At other bars, eager to capitalize on the Zombie's popularity, bartenders would throw whatever ingredients they had on hand together, creating drinks that were powerful, no doubt, but typically far from the quality of the original that launched a thousand tiki mugs.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, October 23, 2009 at 5:30 PM
"The Bloody Mary is open to almost any interpretation."
[Flickr: kthread]
I hesitate to even broach the topic of the Bloody Mary. For one thing, it's one of those ubiquitous drinks that absolutely everyone has their own way of preparing. So why even bring it up? Because everyone has their own way of preparing it, and I'm curious how you do it.
The Bloody Mary is, of course, a staple of the American brunch and a universal hangover cure. The drink's origins are oft-rumored and still open to the kind of disputed bickering that is absolutely painful on a weekend morning, so it's best to move onto the heart of the matter: what's essential in your Bloody Mary?
Me, I'm a spicy kind of guy (as long as it's not over the top): a little Tabasco, a little horseradish, and for extra complexity in what can otherwise be a top-heavy drink, I prefer to use gin.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, October 16, 2009 at 5:30 PM
Let's start the weekend right--with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
Who knows for certain where or when this drink originated. Regardless, it's certainly made the rounds over the past century.
The San Martin first cropped up in bar manuals in 1922, when a slim volume called Cocktails: How to Mix Them listed it as "a well-known South American drink." While it appeared under a slightly altered name in the 1930s, it popped up again in 1951 in Charles H. Baker's South American Gentleman's Companion. After sleeping for much of the rest of the century, the San Martin eventually wandered into some of today's craft-cocktail bars, where it continues to hang out as a B-string classic cocktail.
It's not surprising that the San Martin made its reappearance as part of the cocktail revival—it's tasty enough and simple enough to satisfy most any classic-cocktail enthusiast. The question is why it hasn't played a bigger role.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, October 9, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Among the drinks that Gourmet selected from its archives to highlight the magazine's almost 70 years in print (now sadly cut short), one has a name as well as a character that spins the clock back to the early 20th century: Mary Pickford.
Appearing in Gourmet in 1943, the Mary Pickford was, obviously, named for the silent film star and co-founder of United Artists. Created by legendary Havana bartender Eddie Woelke, the Mary Pickford is a liquid tribute to this pioneering film actress.
While you might expect a drink named for America's Sweetheart (despite the fact that she was Canadian) to pack as much wallop as a Shirley Temple, the Mary Pickford is a curious sort of proto-exotic drink, made with rum, pineapple juice and grenadine, with a bit of mystery added through the inclusion of maraschino liqueur.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, October 2, 2009 at 7:15 PM
Let's start the weekend right--with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
Early October is a challenging time to settle on a seasonal drink. The evenings are cool and crisp, and the onset of autumn sets the mood for rich, brooding flavors, but a clear sunny day can keep a taste for light, bright flavors alive.
Here's a good balancing-act drink: the Stone Fruit Sour. I wrote this drink up for the current issue of Imbibe, and it's become a welcome part of my early autumn cocktail arsenal.
Developed by Seattle bartender Zane Harris from Rob Roy and patterned on the venerable Corpse Reviver #2, the Stone Fruit Sour matches the crisp taste of gin and Lillet with lemon juice and the jammy fruitiness of apricot liqueur, with a touch of peach bitters to fill out the farmers' market flavor experience. Simultaneously light and rich, the Stone Fruit Sour is an easy-sipping way to kick back on an autumn evening.
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Posted by Paul Clarke, September 25, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Let's start the weekend right—with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
[Flickr: Michael Dietsch]
Sometimes, at this time of the year, you want a drink that’s light and crisp. Something with a gentle character that's as soft and invigorating as a cool autumn breeze.
The Diamondback isn’t one of those drinks. With the assertive double-barreled flavor of rye whiskey and applejack and the robust herbaceous richness of green Chartreuse, the Diamondback isn’t a casual little tipple for a lazy afternoon. Bold, strong and deeply alluring, the Diamondback is a robust fortifier, the kind of drink well suited to capping the work week and getting the weekend started.
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