Frozen Siberian

Less is more. In this section there will be enough information to make the cocktail featured in Lit Spirits, plus related tips, and little else. I can’t do exhaustive because it is exhausting, not just for me, but for you. My goal: to get you to make and enjoy a cocktail. If you want to learn more, email me or research further. Please drink responsibly, and, whenever possible, in good company. Cheers. 

Notes: 

This is the last frozen cocktail I hope to do in this venue. I do not claim to be an expert on blending, nor do I wish to be.

Instead of just including the cream in the blender I opt for technique that is both more visually striking and offers a great sensual experience. Visually I am covering the murky depths with a snow-white layer of fat. It's a nice metaphor for snow. But to drink it... the unbroken tundra of cream coats the mouth, almost overwhelming it. But then the ice, the vodka, and the coffee liqueur break through and offer their own relief from the onslaught. Remember: use cream because drinking is a vice and should be enjoyed full throttle on the taste front, don't cheat yourself of the experience.

Ingredients:

• Vodka: colorless, odorless, flavorless. Even as I hope this is the last time I will use a blender for these posts, so, too, will I enjoy putting the vodka back on the shelf. As a cultural phenomenon I have nothing against vodka, but as an ingredient in cocktails it is something of a place holder, bringing nothing to the flavor party. And as any good host knows, if a guest doesn't add to the party, the guest doesn't come back. Full disclosure: I created this recipe and I am railing against vodka's inclusion. Let the contradictions begin!
• Coffee Liqueur: A rum based liqueur with coffee and sugar added. Now for all the vodka drinkers out there: You are drinking rum anyway, why not use it as the base spirit and add something more to this drink.
• Cream: Use heavy whipping cream, not half & half, not whole milk. The fat is required to get and hold the air in there.

Recipe:

1 oz vodka

1 oz coffee liqueur

top with half-whipped cream

1. Whip cold cream with whisk until bubbles form and some volume and thickness overtakes the cream. Not so much whipping that whipped cream more suitable for a piece of pie is made.
2. In blender combine coffee liqueur and vodka.
3. Contrary to the conventional wisdom running these days through the bar world, bigger is not always better. Large, solid ice cubes are unnecessarily hard on the blender. You can use the 'crushed' ice setting on your freezer if you've got it, you can put the ice in a fabric bag and pummel it with a rolling pin, or you can just work your blender hard. Fill the blender with (broken) ice until 3/4" above the liquor line.
4. Blend at high speed until ice is broken to slushy size.
5. Fill glass 2/3's full with vodka-coffee base.
6. Using the back of a spoon to retard the cream's flow, pour a layer of cream on top of the cocktail.

Garnish: 

Glassware: Use a glass that affords you a wide surface for a better ratio of cream to cocktail underneath, eg a martini glass.

Spanish Flip

Less is more. In this section there will be enough information to make the cocktail featured in Lit Spirits, plus related tips, and little else. I can’t do exhaustive because it is exhausting, not just for me, but for you. My goal: to get you to make and enjoy a cocktail. If you want to learn more, email me or research further. Please drink responsibly, and, whenever possible, in good company. Cheers. 

Notes: Spanish Brandy is a gift that keeps on giving. Its complexity adds something to every cocktail, classic or contemporary, it touches. So enjoy it; dress it up in a variety of cocktails. And let this cocktail round out your home bar with some new flavors.

Ingredients:

• Spanish Brandy: spirit distilled from grapes, in Spain. It is aged using the solera method: rather than simply holding the brandy in one barrel, it is aged in a succession of barrels wherein some portion of the spirit is moved forward to the next barrel. Each barrel then has some brandy in it that dates back to whenever the initial barrels (and every generation after) were set up.
• Dark Rhum: the color comes from aging in oak. 
• Allspice Dram: retro reissue. This sweet liqueur is flavored with allspice (so named because it was felt that it contained the flavor of all spices combined).
• Angostura Bitters: an intense (44% abv) and intensely flavored flavoring agent. Originally produced medicinally, now used almost solely by the cocktail world.
• Lemon Juice: fresh squeezed, and if juicing in large volumes, strain it to remove pulp.
• Simple Syrup: equal parts by volume refined granulated sugar and water. Bring to boil, let cool, store in a sealed container in the fridge, keeps indefinitely.
• Egg White: see straining tips below, keep refrigerated, by local and/or organic.

Recipe:

1 ½ oz Spanish Brandy

¾ oz Lemon Juice

½ oz Dark Rhum

1 oz Simple Syrup*

¼ Allspice Dram

1 egg white

several drops Angostura Bitters

1. Chill martini glass. Either place it in freezer for 10 minutes, fridge for 20 minutes, or fill with ice as you prepare cocktail.
2. Use an inverted hawthorn strainer to separate the egg (it looks cooler than using the shells). Save the yolk to make a mayonnaise or hollandaise sauce.
   
   
   
3. The Dry Shake: To further the usefulness of the hawthorn strainer, remove the spring, place inside Boston Shaker with egg white, and shake vigorously for 10 seconds. This creates the protein structure that yields the frothy head and the inimitable mouth feel. Rinse spring and reassemble strainer.
   
   
4. Break tin apart and quickly add brandy, rhum, lemon juice, simple syrup, allspice dram, and ice to whichever container doesn't have the excited egg whites. Seal shaker and shake vigorously for 10 seconds.
5. Strain into chilled martini glass (be sure to dump ice from glass if that was your chilling technique), giving the tin a good shake to get all the froth out.
6. Carefully add a few drops of Angostura bitters to head and draw pretty design with toothpick.
   
   

Garnish: The Angostura bitters float is all the garnish this drink needs. It is visually pleasing, and it also hits the nose early to add another layer of spice to the ones already found in the drink. This will be a recurring theme with certain garnishes (see under: mint, julep), the fact that they create an olfactory experience to supplement the barrage of flavor the palette is about to enjoy.

Glassware: The broad surface area that martini glasses provide is the perfect canvas for the angostura garnish. Though a fun alternative could be a large wine glass (see under: burgundy) where the aromas from the bitters would be caught in the glass, much the same as the wine aromas for which it was intended. But, in general, stick with some form of traditional martini glass.

Martini

Less is more. In this section there will be enough information to make the cocktail featured in Lit Spirits, plus related tips, and little else. I can’t do exhaustive because it is exhausting, not just for me, but for you. My goal: to get you to make and enjoy a cocktail. If you want to learn more, email me or research further. Please drink responsibly, and, whenever possible, in good company. Cheers.






Notes:

Martinis, as with most 2 ingredient drinks, beg that the drinker appreciate both components of the cocktail. As noted below, both ingredients are aromatically infused and their marriage is one full of flavor and delight. Different brands of gin have different flavors. So, too, with dry vermouths.

Ingredients:

• Gin: A neutral grain spirit flavored with botanicals (predominantly juniper) then redistilled. 
• Dry (aka French) Vermouth: A fortified white wine (liqour is added for stability) infused with botanicals. 

Recipe:

2 oz Gin (I prefer a London Dry)

1/4 oz Dry Vermouth

Garnish with lemon twist or olive

1. If serving 'up,' then chill glass. At this stage also prepare garnish.
2. In mixing tin or mixing glass combine gin and dry vermouth. Measure. Even when I am making a gin and tonic, I measure out the base pour.
3. Add ice until 3/4 of mixing container full. Once you have added the ice to the cocktail you've pulled the pin on the grenade. Act quickly to insure a properly mixed drink. This is why we don't pour ingredients over ice.
4. Stir cocktail 75 times with bar spoon. Be cool, don't show strain, and hold the glass/tin near the lip so you don't heat the drink with your hand. This accomplishes the same thing as shaking, but without the inclusion of air. The mouthfeel of the drink is more viscous if it is stirred, and generally I stir any drink that is composed only of spirits.
5. If serving 'up' strain into chilled martini, garnish. If serving 'rocks' then strain into rocks glass filled with fresh ice, garnish.

Garnish:             Prepare garnishes before mixing cocktail.

                                    Always use caution when using sharp things.

Remove zest of lemon (with a minimal amount of the white, bitter pith that lies beneath) using a knife, channel knife, or peeler.  

Using a pinching or twisting motion express the oils from the skin onto the finished cocktail.

Gently rub skin of lemon around edge of glass, then place twist in cocktail in some visually pleasing way. 

• OR you can use olives. Three or Five. Green. I prefer pitted, there is no need to add any more physical challenge to a physically incapacitating ritual. I have been known to enjoy the pimento stuffed olive, for that little bit of pickled pimento registers just barely on the whole experience. I scoff at blue cheese stuffed olives. And especially in a martini. This. Drink. Is. Perfect. In. Its. Austerity.

Glassware

            There are two accepted ways to serve a martini:

1.     Straight up: this means that the drink is chilled over ice which is then strained out so just the cocktail remains. In the chilling process 10-15% of the ice melts after being mixed with the room temperature spirits.

2.     On the rocks: this means that the drink is chilled over ice which is then strained out only to be replaced with fresh ice. The ice that chilled the drink is dead. The new ice will allow the drink to live long, and slowly dilute and rehydrate the drinker.

Now the question of glassware: any glass will do for most any purpose if you get creative. It is the intent, and the quality of execution that makes a drink, not the shape of the glass. 


A few tips:

• If serving a drink up, chill the glass. 1 hour in the fridge, 20 minutes in the freezer, or 5 minutes filled with ice (maybe while you carefully prepare the drink).
• Take the time to make some good ice. +/- 1" cubes are the way to go. Have plenty on hand. The first batch of ice is needed for mixing/chilling/diluting the drink. The second is for cooling down the martini glass, and the third is for fresh ice for on the rocks. Plenty of ice is important.
• DO NOT store your spirits in the freezer. We are 96% water. Booze is closer to 60% water. In order to find common ground we dilute 10-15% while we shake/stir it. This makes a smoother, more approachable cocktail. Two tips: no one cares how much you can drink, or how high a proof alcohol you can tolerate. Make a good cocktail and enjoy it with people you don't need to impress with inanities.
• buy small bottles of dry vermouth. A 375ml bottle of vermouth has enough for 48 cocktails if you follow this recipe.
• once opened, store dry vermouth in refrigerator.
• this cocktail is generally an aperitif, and a great way to shed the troubles of the day before moving onto other tipples.