Recipes

July 9, 2012

An Ode to Summer, Spain, and Friends

Summer.

Summer in Seattle has finally kicked in.  True to form, this happened right after the 4th of July.  If you believe the meteorologists, at least half of the next 30 days will reach 80 degrees.  This is blowing my mind just a little and my PNW acclimated body is already dreading the ‘heat.’ But I digress…..To me, Summer also means minty cocktails in the sun on the deck.  CR and I were fortunate to recently move to a house with a very healthy mint crop.  This cocktail hobbyist has no complaints about that.  I’ve been enjoying making a myriad of cocktails with mint, Tiki being one of the predominant genres.

Spain. 

Spain just won some big football tournament (notice my Euro-use of the word ‘football’ instead of soccer).  Nicely done Spain.  But also in Spanish news this week, a couple of my friends are currently touring through Spain.  The lucky dynamic duo is probably dancing to Flamenco music, Running with the Bulls, eating paella and Manchego cheese, drinking Sangria, and maybe, just maybe, drinking Licor 43.  This is a liqueur that I have looked at on the store shelf for a long time and contemplated adding to the inventory, but didn’t pull the trigger until recently.  Great timing with my ode to Spain.  Licor 43 has a vanilla, citrus flavor profile made from 43 ingredients.

Summer.

I love Tiki drinks and I’ve been having a lot of fun with my new Beachbum Berry Remixed book by Jeff Berry.  I’m tying Spain and Summer together by mixing the Beachbum’s Own tiki drink.  This is finally a reason for me to crack open my Licor 43 bottle.

The Beachbum Players

Beachbum’s Own

As described in Beachbum Berry Remixed:
0.75 oz lemon juice
0.75 oz pineapple juice
0.75 oz passion fruit syrup
0.75 oz Licor 43
1.25 oz Lemon Hart 151 Demerara Rum
1.50 oz Mount Gay Special Reserve
 
Shake with crushed ice. Pour everything into Tiki barrel mug.
Add more crushed ice and garnish with cherries and spanked mint.
This tiki is fruity and rummy and quite delicious.  I might up the lemon a little or even add some lime.  But it’s really quite refreshing and perfect to sip on a sunny afternoon.
 

Beachbum’s Own in my own Four Seas Tiki Mug thanks to Bit of Butter!

Friends.

I have a few friends.  I like my friends.  They make me laugh and I hope I make them laugh too.  I would gladly share a minty cocktail in the sun on the deck with my friends.

“But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

A few of my friends on a boozy night at Rob Roy.

June 27, 2012

Montessori SPAM Sour

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It:  Create a Cocktail Using SPAM.  Why, you ask?  Honestly, I’m not exactly sure, but perhaps to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the famously maligned mystery meat.  Regardless of the motivation, this is the story of the “Montessori SPAM Sour.”

SPAM is a mash-up of ‘Spiced’ and ‘Ham’.  It is a can of processed pork products first produced by the Hormel Corporation in 1937.  The ingredients listed on the can:  Pork with Ham, Salt, Water, Modified Potato Starch, Sugar, Sodium Nitrite.

Mulling over the SPAM challenge, my first thought goes to using SPAM as a garnish.  But that idea just seems too easy and predictable.  Sitting next to fellow cocktail enthusiast Cocktail Quest at Rob Roy the other night, I describe my dilemma.  CQ’s immediate response:  “Fat Washing”.  Of course, fat washing, what a great idea!  This method of imparting meaty flavor in liquor has been used most successfully with bacon fat and bourbon.  Jamie Boudreau, proprietor of Canon, demonstrates fat washing in his Raising the Bar video:  http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/video/467/raising_the_bar_fat_washing/

I will use this fat washing technique to impart the SPAM flavor profile to a base spirit.  Thus, time to choose a base spirit.  To me SPAM seems like ham and that reminds me of pineapple, which reminds me of Tiki drinks, which leads me to Rum.   Again, conferring with CQ, we came up with a variation of a Rum Sour.

Step 1:  Fry Spam

I chopped the SPAM into small chunks and fried until oil was released into the pan.  I was also surprised to learn if you fry SPAM long enough, it tastes like bacon.  Who knew?

Step 2:  Fat Wash Rum

I cooled the SPAM slightly and transferred to a jar.  Then I added 750 ml Cruzan 151 proof Aged Rum.  I mixed and refrigerated for a few days.

Step 3:  Filter

After a few days in the refrigerator, I filtered the SPAM Rum through at least 4 layers of cheesecloth.

Step 4:  Build Cocktail

Mix the Montessori SPAM Sour cocktail.

1.5 oz SPAM Rum (Cruzan 151 Proof Aged Rum)
1.0 oz Pineapple Juice
0.5 oz Lemon Juice
0.25 oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
0.5 oz Simple Syrup
2 dashes Urban Moonshine Maple Bitters

Shake and strain into a coupe.  Garnish with fried SPAM cube and Maraschino Cherry.

I admit I was a little apprehensive to taste this cocktail.  Upon taking the first sip my thought was “Damn, this tastes like Easter Ham in a glass.”  I’m talking memory rush back to a 1970’s Mid-West dining room table on Easter Sunday fighting with my brother over the roasted pineapple rings that covered the ham.  I’m not about to order this drink in a bar, but this experiment turned out to be surprisingly drinkable.

Cheers and Happy Easter.  This case is closed.

June 18, 2012

Hesperidium Terpenes = The Perfect Party Punch

A party?  What a perfect opportunity to make a punch.  Never mind the small detail that I am probably not on the invitation list.  Pressure party host into inviting you by bribing them with a punch-offering…problem solved.  Besides, 30th birthday and completion of MBA?  Oh, I’ve got a punch for that guy.

The above scenario also offers me the perfect opportunity to acquire David Wondrich’s new book:  Punch.  If this book isn’t in your libation library yet, it should be.  Got get it. Mr. Wondrich is a wonderful historian, this time entertaining us with all things punch.  There are many exquisite punches described in the book, so deciding on the party punch is a challenge.  However, I had the very fortunate opportunity to attend THE holiday party of the year this past December and the hosts served Regent’s Punch.  I recall visiting the punch dispenser regularly throughout the holiday night and wanted to share this tasty concoction with others.  Problem solved.  Regent’s Punch it is.

What follows is my recipe and step-wise approach to making the MBA1 Regent’s Punch (this generally follows the recipe that is found in Mr. Wondrich’s book Punch with additional help provided by Dayne Miller):

Step 1:  The Oleo-Saccharum

As described in ‘Punch,’ most bowls of tasty goodness start with one of the 4 ‘Pillars’ of punch making.  Pillar number one is the ‘Oleo-Saccharum,’ which is basically a sugary citrus oil mixture.

I used 3 oranges and 2 lemons for my Oleo-Saccharum (which, BTW, I think would make a great drinking game. Right now. Literally.  Get a drink and every time you read Oleo-Saccharum, tip it back, baby!)

Getting Started with the Oleo-Saccharum

Peel the oranges and lemons using a fancy horizontal swivel peeler.  (Ok, it doesn’t have to be fancy, or even horizontal).  But the peeler I use is the mac-daddy and one of my early cocktail memories is watching Andrew Bohrer use this kind of peeler to peel an orange in one single peel and then wrap said peel around an ice sphere over which the tastiest cocktail was poured.  So I think you should really get one of these peelers.  However, whatever kind of peeler you use, try not to include the white, pithy part of the orange and lemon peels.

Oranges and Lemons Peeled

Peels Ready for Sugar

Add approximately 4 oz. white sugar to the citrus peels.

Sugar Added to Peels

To make the Oleo-Saccharum you will need to muddle the sugar and citrus peels together and let sit at room temperature for at least one hour.

Muddling the Sugar and Citrus Peels

Fun DrinkScience Fact

(I’ll do the research so you can impress your friends at your next cocktail party).

Let’s talk a bit about this Oleo-Saccharum.  Citrus peels are filled with citrus oil.  Obvious, I know.  But maybe what you didn’t know is that the citrus oil is an essential oil that consists of almost exclusively D-limonene, which is found in the class of oils known as Terpenes.

D-limonene looks like this:

Oranges and lemons are hesperidia: fruit that has a rind with oil-filled glands.  For the Oleo-Saccharum, we only want the outermost peel of the orange; the part of the peel that contains only the oil glands.  This pigmented, outer peel is called the flavedo.  When you read about citrus cocktail garnishes, you often see warnings to avoid the white pith between the flavedo and the segments.  The white pith is called the albedo and has a bitter flavor profile.  We do not want the albedo to impart bitterness to our Oleo-Saccharum.  This is a hesperidium showing the flavedo:

Courtesy of Ekko (picture author); Juan de Vojníkov (compilation author). Original uploader was Juan de Vojníkov at en.wikipedia.

Matas, et. al. in Journal of Experimental Botany (2010; 61:3321) used Laser Microdissection to perform molecular profiling of specific citrus epidermal cell types.  During the course of their study, the Rose laboratory in the Department of Plant Biology at Cornell University also generated beautiful microscopic images showing the citrus oil glands.  You can read their paper here: “Tissue-specific transcriptome profiling of the citrus fruit epidermis and subepidermis using laser capture microdissection.”

Matas et. al. Figure showing the citrus oil glands labeled with numeric ‘1‘:

Used with permission from Dr. Jocelyn Rose, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Biology and Director, Institute for Biotechnology and Life Science Technologies, Cornell University.

Muddling the granulated sugar with the citrus peels causes mechanical disruption of the oil glands.  In other words, the oil glands/vacuoles are damaged and broken open by the action of pressing the sugar granules into the citrus peel with the muddler, allowing the d-limone to seep out and saturate the sugar.  The Libation Laboratory is a small operation and relies on your standard wood muddler to facilitate the mechanical disruption.  However, depending on the amount of Oleo-Saccharum we might want in the future, we could always pursue an industrial sized citrus oil extraction and scale up to the Model 6100 BOE (Brown Oil Extractor); the Holy Grail of mechanical disrupters made by the Brown International Corporation in Florida (where else?).  The 6100 BOE uses over 3 million (that’s right, ‘million’ [it’s better if you say ‘million’ with a slightly crazed, maniacal voice]) sharp stainless steel needles to puncture the entire surface of the citrus fruit peel, rupturing the oil vacuoles.  This process is performed under water and then centrifugation is used to separate the citrus oil from the water.

I was thinking there might be some osmotic mechanism also occurring to form the Oleo-Saccharum, however, after conferring with Dr. Rouseff, Professor of Food Chemistry at the University of Florida’s (where else?) Citrus Research and Education Center, this hypothesis was quickly dispelled.  So the Oleo-Saccharum, a Pillar of Punches is made by mechanically breaking open the oil vacuoles, which releases the citrus oil to saturate the sugar.

And now we return to our regularly scheduled programming.

This is the Oleo-Saccharum:

The Oleo-Saccharum

Step 2:  Tea

Make a pint of Green Tea. I used loose leaf tea. Steep the tea for approximately 5 minutes.

Step 3: Oleo-Saccharum + Tea

Strain the tea into the Oleo-Saccharum and mix to completely dissolve the sugar.

Step 4: Juice

Juice the peeled oranges and lemons into the Oleo-Saccharum / tea mixture. Add an additional 1 c pineapple juice. Mix.

Step 5: Preparing for Travel

Strain the Oleo-Saccharum / tea / juice mix into a vessel (something suitable for travel as this punch is going to a party later).

Step 6:  Booze

Add the Booze!

8 oz Cognac (Courvoisier)

2 oz Jamaican Rum (Smith and Cross)

2 oz Dark Rum (Meyers)

2 oz Maraschino Liqueur (Luxardo)

2 oz Batavia Arrack

Step 7:  Add Ice and Rest (the Punch)

Ice Added for Dilution

This a traveling punch. I will add a couple of large ice block to the punch bowl when I finish constructing the punch at the party.  However, I don’t anticipate having the luxury of letting the punch sit with the ice and dilute down before partygoers are dipping in, thus I am adding some ice at this stage for dilution.  Add ice (approximately 2 cups of ice cubes), stir and then refrigerate until it’s party time.

Step 8:  Bubbles

Pour the punch mix into a gorgeous cut-glass punch bowl.  Add 2 bottles of sparkling wine.  Mix gently.  Add two large ice blocks.  Stir and enjoy the MBA1 Regent’s Punch.

Regent’s Punch

You may be adequately inebriated by this time if you have been playing the Ole0-Saccharum drinking game.  If so, I suggest you bookmark this page so you can come back when you want to make this punch.  And you should definitely make this punch someday.

1Mike Bushey is Awesome.  Congratulations and Happy Birthday to Awesome Mike Bushey.

February 5, 2012

Pisco Party

I am fortunate to be a member of the Seattle LUPEC chapter.  Being a member of this organization affords me certain opportunities, such as attending LUPEC 301: Introduction to Pisco taught by Professor Kuehner.  Up until this event, I had not tried Pisco; I just hadn’t yet added it to the bar.  So it was with great anticipation that I attended the pisco tutorial.  My fellow LUPEC comrade, C. Randall of Cocktail Quest fame takes better notes than I and is a serious student of booze and cocktail history.  I will not go into detail here on the history of pisco or the details of producing this beverage; instead, I want you to go here for the deets.

For the purposes of what I want to discuss, I will provide that pisco is a grape brandy and can be of Chilean or Peruvian origin and dates back to a really long time ago; 1500ish. The LUPEC event was sponsored by Piscologia, a Peruvian Pisco and all of the Piscologia pisco cocktails crafted by Prof. Kuehner were brilliant.  Again, take a detour here to read about more about pisco and pisco cocktails.

As you can imagine, I promptly visited my local liquor store for my very own bottle of Piscologia and have enjoyed several Piso cocktails since that LUPEC event.  To commemorate National Pisco Sour Day, I will offer up my version of the classic Pisco Sour, which is really B.T. Parson’s version from his wonderful book, Bitters (in which I continue to be completely infatuated).

Happy Pisco Sour Day!

Pisco Sour

  • 60 ml pisco (Piscologia)
  • 30 ml lime juice
  • 15 ml simple syrup
  • 1 egg white
  • Angostura and Amargo Chuncho Bitters for garnish

Dry shake all ingredients except bitters.
Add ice and shake again.
Double strain into chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with both Angostura and Amargo bitters by dropping onto egg white foam and using a toothpick to swirl.

Pisco Sour photo courtesy of Sugar Sand Photography!

January 22, 2012

Bitters Bandwagon

I am infatuated with my new book Bitters; “A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All” by Brad T. Parsons.  Thanks to Tom Douglas’ Cookbook social, I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Parsons.  (I missed the wicked Bitters event at the Book Larder. Booo).  He was lovely.  He signed my book.  I’m not entirely sure what he wrote, but that matters not.

Mr. Parsons’ book is really a joy to read.  There is an excellent section on making your own bitters, followed by cocktail recipes, both classic and contemporary.  He ends with a “Bitters in the Kitchen” section…brilliant.  As much as the book is a fun read, it is also a visual amusement park with beautiful photography by Ed Anderson.

The diversity and breadth of the cocktail bitters available today is impressive and somewhat overwhelming.  It’s really just fun to collect and try them.  And my recent shopping trip to Dandelion Botanicals means I’m throwing my hat into the bitters ring.  Get ready peeps, I’ll be asking you to try some of my concoctions.

Meanwhile, we’re mixing a couple of autumnal cocktails featuring both bitters and bitter liqueurs.  First off the bench is the Autumn Sweater, a cocktail featured in Bitters and even more recently by Sonja Groset, who also provides more detail on Italian amari.

The Autumn Sweater is a rye-based drink with heavy use of the Italian bitter liqueurs Averna and Amaro Nonino.  This drink is finished with both maple bitters and orange bitters.  The flavor profile is perfect for wintery, cold weather.  Close your eyes and imagine a big, comfortable club chair in front of a roaring fireplace, snow falling outside like it was just the other day during Seattle Snowpocalypse, and you are holding in your hand a weighty rocks glass filled with the warm, cozy Autumn Sweater.  That’s what I’m talking about.

Autumn Sweater (as described in Bitters)

  • 30ml Rye (Michter’s)
  • 15ml Averna
  • 15ml Amaro Nonino
  • 15ml maple syrup
  • 1 dash Urban Moonshine Maple Bitters
  • 1 dash Orange Bitters (Regans #6)

Stir → Strain into a rocks glass with one big ice cube/sphere.

Garnish with clove-studded orange peel.  Add another log to the fire.

A tasty cocktail that I often make for CR is the Filibuster.  I discovered this cocktail in another book that I’m particularly fond of; Left Coast Libations by Ted Munat.  The Filibuster is also a rye based drink with maple syrup and Angostura Bitters.  I enjoy the challenge of making the Filibuster because to successfully pull off the visual appeal “you must become the master of the egg whites.”  This is a good drink.  Period.

 

Filibuster

  • 45ml Rye (Old Overholt)
  • 22ml lemon juice
  • 15ml grade B maple syrup
  • 1 egg white
  • Angostura bitters, for garnish

Dry shake like hell.

Add ice and shake like hell again.

Double strain into chilled glass.

Garnish with Angostura bitters.  Make like a Seattle-hipster-barista and fancify the Angostura drops.  Try not to down the drink in record time.

January 20, 2012

Mixing the Museum – The Black Russian

This is Perle Mesta. She just finished a Black Russian, which is also her cute little dog's name (at least in my world).

Welcome back to the Lab!  Today’s cocktail is the Black Russian.  (I’m still plodding away in the B section of my Museum of the American Cocktail Book; my handy-dandy pocket recipe guide).  When I turned the page to the Black Russian…my reaction:  Meh.

Two ingredients…vodka and coffee liqueur, neither of which I like all that well.  But apparently the one-time US ambassador to Luxembourg, Perle Mesta, was a big fan of the vodka/coffee combo.  The Black Russian made its first appearance in the late 1940’s when Gustave Tops, a bartender at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels created the concoction for Ambassador Mesta.

The Black Russian is traditionally made with Kahlua, a Mexican rum-based coffee liqueur.  Here’s where I started to struggle with my science schtick for this post.  Damn the Black Russian!  What was I going to talk about?  Vodka?  Seriously? Kahlua?…coffee…interesting….now we’re getting somewhere.  Gears are turning.  Yes, that’s it!  Biofermentation!  Thank the baby Jesus for that Food Science degree.  My family would be so proud of how I apply my skills.

Fun DrinkScience Fact

(I’ll do the research so you can impress your friends at your next cocktail party).

So what does biofermentation have to do with the Black Russian, you ask?  According to Kahlua, coffee is really used during the production of this beverage.  And lest we forget, we live in the coffee-soaked city of Seattle, so we all drink coffee, right?  As such, I assume that you all know a little about the coffee production process.  Beans are picked, they’re green, then they’re roasted, we grind them, and then we make coffee, yes?  Yes, but let’s fill in the gaps with a few more details.  In fact, just go and take a look at this slide deck by the Jackels of Seattle U. and U.W. Bothell which explains coffee bean fermentation:  http://faculty.washington.edu/jackels/research/UCAPresentation_files/frame.htm  (People really do study this phenomenon).

Basically, after the outer skin and pulp surrounding the coffee beans are removed, there still exists a mucilage layer (aka parchment/endocarp).  That’s right, I said mucilage.

Remember this stuff?

This is mucilage; it even says so.  My grandma always had this stuff at her house and I would love to glue anything just so I could use the strange rubbery glue applicator.  Strange kid, I know.

The coffee beans with their mucilage layer are put in a fermentation tank so nature can take its course.  The mucilage is a thick, gluey, pectin covering, and a natural fermentation process removes the goo.  When I say ‘natural’ I mean that no organisms are added to the tank.  This is all just the normal flora…nature.  Bacteria, yeast, and fungi that produce pectinases, enzymes that break down pectin, are naturally occurring and will eat the mucilage away from the beans.

This is pectin:

So is this:

These are pectinase producing microorganisms.  Bacteria:

 

Yeast, such as Pichia and Candida.

Let’s not forget the fungi…Aspergillus, Penicillium and Fusarium

Once the bioenzymatic process is complete, the goo is gone and the coffee beans are washed and ready for the next step:  Drying, roasting, and Kahlua!

Without further ado:

The Black Russian!

  • 60ml Vodka
  • 30ml Kahlua
  • Build over ice in rocks glass.  Serve to someone that will drink it.

Black Russian. Courtesy of Sugar Sand Photography!

July 25, 2011

Mixing the Museum – The Bijou

I’m taking some liberties in our visit to the Museum.  I’m skipping a couple of drinks (Between the sheets – a great cocktail, and one we’ll revisit someday; The Berlin Station Chief – sounds weird and I just can’t bring myself to make it yet; The Bellini – I’m waiting until peaches are in season) and moving onto the Bijou.

The Bijou Cocktail was created by Mr. Harry Johnson and the consensus is that the recipe first appeared in his book The New and Improved Bartenders Manual.  This is a spirit-forward herbal cocktail, containing equal parts gin, vermouth, Green Chartreuse and bitters.  Let’s take a look at one of the ingredients of this cocktail, and special favorite of mine.

Green Chartreuse (it also comes in Yellow) is an herbal liqueur made by Carthusian monks, and it really is green.  The recipe is thought to have originated in 1605 as an “elixir of long life.”  The recipe is a carefully guarded secret, and to this day, supposedly only two monks at any one time know the recipe for the herbal mixture that is used to make Green Chartreuse.

Fun DrinkScience Fact

(I’ll do the research so you can impress your friends at your next cocktail party):

The liqueur’s emerald green color is derived from this stuff:

The 'Green' in Green Chartreuse

The ‘Green’ in Green Chartreuse is Chlorophyll B which is produced by the 132 botanical ingredients used to make the liqueur.  (Interestingly, chlorophyll also contributes to the color of absinthe).

Chlorophyll donates an electron in this reaction.

Chlorophyll is involved in a cascade of sophisticated reactions known as Photosynthesis (simplified above).  This is how plants get energy and produce oxygen, and is in fact the source for the majority of all oxygen in our atmosphere.

So it is with no great surprise that Green Chartreuse was known as an elixir of long life, for the same ingredients that make this liqueur, also contribute to the air we breath.

The Bijou Cocktail 

  • 30 ml Plymouth Gin
  • 30 ml Green Chartreuse
  • 30 ml Dolin Sweet Vermouth
  • Dash of Orange Bitters
  • Stir, strain in to  a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with cherry and lemon twist.  Cheers!

    The Bijou by Sugar Sand Photography

April 13, 2011

>Mixing the Museum – The Bamboo Cocktail

>


As work and life (too much of the former; the latter all good, more please) happen and diversions occur (one of which was an awesome trip to some of the best cocktail bars in DC – we’ll read about that in a future post), we are still slowly making our way through the Mixing the Museum exercise. Turning the page from The Barcardi Cocktail, we come to The Bamboo.  Again, a cocktail that is novel to me, reinforcing my justification for our mock Julie/Julia blogging.  

Though originating in Japan, The Bamboo cocktail is credited to a German gentleman, Mr. Louis Eppinger, who managed the luxurious Grand Hotel in Yokohama, Japan in the 1890’s.  In the late 1800’s this elegant hotel, a playground for affluent Westerners, opened in Yokohama, a major trading center of the time.  Yokohama was one of the first major port cities in Japan, and is today, Japan’s second largest city.  Because of its prominence in foreign and Western trading, the city quickly became home to many foreigners and was influenced heavily by those from Great Britain, Germany, and America.  Mr. Louis Eppinger likely created the Bamboo cocktail to cater to his Western clientele.  Except for originating in Japan and the distinctive botanical name, there is nothing very Japanese about the cocktail.  

Unfortunately much of Yokohama and the Grand Hotel was destroyed by a large earthquake in September 1923.  The earthquake and Tsunami that devastated Japan in March 2011 was Northeast of Yokohama, and thus little damage occurred there.   

The Bamboo
1 oz. Dolin Dry Vermouth
1 oz. Lustau Dry Amontillado sherry
1 dash Angostura Bitters
2 dashes Orange Bitters (Regans #6)
Stir and strain into a vintage cocktail glass. 
We garnished ours with an olive.

So mix it, drink it, enjoy it.

February 9, 2011

>Mixing the Museum – A Triumvirate to Start

>I’m certainly glad I didn’t commit to 100 drinks in 100 days.  After more than two weeks of mulling things over and numerous delays, we are finally kicking off the “Mixing the Museum” project we described in our last post.   The book, the Museum of the American Cocktail Pocket Recipe Guide (MOTAC) compiled and edited by superstar cocktail aficionados Robert Hess and Anistatia Miller, is a brilliant little tome that everyone must have in their cocktail libary.  There are 100 cocktail recipes that we will be working our way through in the days to come.

KB’s visit was a perfect opportunity to dive into the MOTAC project.  Two super-tasters in the house!…right on!…let’s try to get through a few of these cocktails.  First up…The Algonquin.

A swank hotel that opened in the early 1900’s in New York City, the Algonquin was known for being one of the first hotels to accept single women travelers.  Notably, the early literary feminists Gertrude Stein and Simone de Beauvoir were known to frequent the Algonquin Hotel.  While it is intriguing to think about the conversations these women would have engaged in over a cocktail, their talk would not have been loosened by liquor as prohibition was in full force during much of the time that Gertrude and Simone might have crossed paths in New York City.  Let’s sip an Algonquin in their honor and imagine sharing the bar with these avant-garde women.  

The Algonquin

The Algonquin
2oz. rye (Old Overholt)
1oz. dry vermouth (Dolin)
1oz. fresh pineapple juice

Shake with ice – strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with a cherry.

I wanted to like this cocktail.  Rye, vermouth, pineapple juice…what’s not to like?  But the flavor combination just didn’t knock me off my feet.  No complaints from KB and CR.  What’s next?

Turn the page….The Americano.…..  Queue the singing gondolier…

This cocktail dates to the mid 1800’s and was created by Gaspare Campari, and was first served in his bar Caffe Campari in Milan, Italy.  As you probably guessed, Gaspare created the aperitif herbal liqueur Campari.  With a tip of the hat to the ingredient’s brand geography, it was originally known as the Milano-Torino.  Apparently, in the early 1900’s there were such great numbers of Americans in Italy enjoying the Milano-Torino, the people of Italy chose to show their appreciation and affection by renaming the cocktail, the Americano. 

Fun DrinkScience Fact (I’ll do the research so you can impress your friends at your next cocktail party):

The red color of Campari used to come from these little guys:

Dactylopius coccus

The little red beetle makes this stuff:

Carminic Acid = Red Dye

The red dye is also known as carmine.  The cochineal beetles are such impressive carmine factories that the dye actually occurs as 17-24% of the weight of the dry insects.  Besides, Campari, carmine is also used to color a number of other products, such as yogurt and ice cream as well as cosmetics. 

Apparently in the mid-2000’s Campari stopped using crushed Dactylopius coccus as a source of red carmine, and instead began to use “artificial color” to achieve the brilliant red of it’s famous liqueur.  I checked my bottle and sure enough the label reads ‘artificially colored.’

Regardless of whether my red Campari has insect based carmine or FD&C Red 40, let’s mix the Americano.  (I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never tried the Americano).

The Americano

The Americano
1oz. Campari
1oz. sweet vermouth (Dolin)
Soda Water

Build in a highball with ice.  Stir.  Top with soda water.  One more gentle stir.  Garnish with lemon twist. 

Bitter, sweet, tasty.  This is a cocktail that CR and I will enjoy sitting in the steamers looking out at the water next summer.  Or the next time we are in Milan.  Cin Cin!


The last in our triumvirate of cocktails from the MOTAC kick-off party is the Arnaud.  According to Sir Hess and Dame Miller, the Arnaud was “Invented in the 1920’s as part of a promotional campaign in which Booth’s Gin asked famous British stage and screen stars to select their favorite libations.  This particular drink was selected by and named after the French actress Yvonne Arnaud…” 

Yvonne Arnaud

Yvonne Arnaud’s singing and stage career singer spanned from the early 1900’s to 1958.  As a cocktail enthusiast, I have to say I find it impressive in a trading-card-cocktail-geek kind of way that Yvonne has a cocktail named in her honor.  I think one’s prominence in history should be measured by the fact that a classic cocktail bears their name.  Why not?  Sure, all the other stuff that they did to ensure their name is still recognized today carries a lot of weight too.  But a cocktail?  That’s cool.  And a tasty cocktail…even better. 

The Arnaud

The Arnaud
1oz. gin (Plymouth)
1oz. dry vermouth (Dolin)
1oz. creme de cassis (Clear Creek Cassis Liqueur)

Stir with ice – strain into a cocktail glass.
I didn’t garnish, though some recipe variations call for a blackberry garnish.
This was the favorite of the night for KB and CR, and I also enjoyed this cocktail.  We’ll mix it again.  This recipe makes the cocktail notebook for future use.