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.