Egress & Entry

I had my head wrapped around naming a cocktail Egress & Entry for some time now. The moment came when sifting through my home bar for ingredients. I found a bottle of barrel-aged black currant sage tincture that I made around a year ago. I recall them not being particularly good initially, but time has been very kind to them. The scent is rich and woodsy, and the taste was soft with notes of smoked sage and a little sweetness from the currants. I made a complementary sage syrup to further bring out those savory and peppery flavors. The only other thing I have to say is Chartreuse and Samogon.. 

I made a 1:1 simple syrup on the stovetop then allowed approximately 1/4 cup fresh and 1/4 dried sage steep for about 30 minutes.

OXO was kind enough to send me some tools to use throughout my cocktail endeavors. Needless to say I was happy to oblige. Their angled measuring jigger is super simple to use with measurements for both tablespoons and ounces. The strainer is ergonomic and practical, and the rubber finger rest is great for handling. Finally, the 16 oz. cocktail shaker is sleek and makes shaking cocktails fun. It has a silicone seal to prevent leaks/splashing; the double wall insulation prevents condensation and cold hands; and for those times when you forget your jigger, don't worry because there's one built into the cap. Go check 'em out, guys! 

Egress & Entry

2 oz. Samogon 

0.50 oz. Chartreuse (green)

0.75 oz. sage syrup

0.05 oz. fresh lemon juice

2-3 drops of homemade barrel-aged black currant sage tincture

1 egg white

1. Carefully crack egg into shaker to just get the white. 
2. Add the remaining ingredients, and give it a good whip shake.
3. Add ice, and shake, shake, shake. 
4. Strain into small coup, and top with single sage leaf.

Sky High

So, as I said before, I don't normally drink vodka, but when I do it's Tito's. I was recently preparing for an upcoming event, and I came across an unopened bottle of the stuff in my cellar. I wanted to do something with it, something fun; I mean, vodka is the chameleon of the spirits world don't ya know. Turns out I also had four bags left of Earl Grey tea. Boom! Earl Grey vodka! Now, what to mix it with.. A bottle of Creme de Violette piqued my interest, although the only cocktail I've ever made with the aforementioned liqueur is the Aviation. I decided to incorporate a tiny bit (as a little goes a long way), and it was worth it. The flavors of the bergamot and violette complemented each other perfectly!

Enough with the small talk, infusing your own Earl Grey vodka is easy. Simply steep 4-5 bags of tea per one 750 ml bottle for approximately 20 minutes:

Because of my closed-minded relationship with Creme de Violette and the Aviation, I decided to call this drink Sky High. You get it? Pilots fly high in the sky? No? Whatever.. As with all other cocktails that call for grenadine, there is absolutely no substitute for homemade! Just follow up instructions below, and everything will be just fine. I promise.

HOMEMADE GRENADINE

(Makes approximately two cups)

2 cups organic pomegranate juice

2 cups demerara sugar

1 cup dried hibiscus leaves

1 oz. vodka (or other high proof neutral grain spirit, to preserve)

1. Combine pomegranate juice and sugar in large pot, and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce to a simmer for about fifteen minutes or until mixture reduces to desire.
3. Remove from heat, and pitch in hibiscus leaves. Allow to steep until cooled.
4. Pour into sterilized bottles with vodka and refrigerate.

 

SKY HIGH

1.5 oz. Earl Grey-infused vodka (Tito's)

1 oz. homemade grenadine

0.5 oz. Creme de Violette (Rothman & Winter)

0.5. oz. fresh lemon juice

Grapefruit peel, garnish

1. Chill a mini rocks glass* with ice.
2. Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, and go, go, go!
3. Strain into said mini rocks glass.
4. Cut a nice strip of grapefruit peel, express the oils above the cocktail, spiral, and wedge neatly between the glass and ice. 

* These are vintage restaurant water glasses that we acquired from a local antique shop. They came with a really sweet fog that I was unable to get out with traditional washing techniques. As a last-ditch effort I sat in our bathtub for about an hour scrubbing each one with a stiff toothbrush and solid white paste. Fog eradicated! 

The Full Shilling

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! Well, not quite yet, exactly. But it's that time of year when our local Kansas City power brewhouse- Boulevard- releases their spring seasonal Irish Ale. Not being a fan of red ales in general, Boulevard's Irish Ale is both malty and slightly hoppy... to my liking. Better yet, at only 5.8% you're able to put back more than several in one sitting. Here let Steven Pauwels tell you a little more about it:

The other week the fellas over at KC CO. and Polivka asked us to provide cocktails for their upcoming CONTINUUM Happy Hour. We wanted to create something special to highlight the Irish Ale and the heritage from which it's derived. What's the first thing to come to your mind when you think of Irish exports? No, not Guinness. Jameson. The correct answer is Jameson. That being said I wanted riff off the traditional whiskey sour. I wanted this to be an easy drink to make, therefore I decided to build it directly into my glass. All it takes is Jameson with some fresh lemon juice and and homemade ginger syrup. Next, pour it into an Old Fashioned glass with ice. Done! Wait. Not yet. You'll notice that there'll be a lot of room left over in the glass. Sipping on already opened Irish Ale, I was wondering how to incorporate the beer into the cocktail while also making up the difference with the extra space. After a couple of minutes I was growing impatient and just poured the beer atop the whiskey sour. It produced a beautiful strata, separating the colors of the sour, beer, and head. Everything melds perfectly. Taking the first big sip through the beer down to the whiskey and ginger gave me visions of the ideal adult version of ginger ale. It's so good I made myself another. After the second I was ready to start singing Irish cheers! 

THE FULL SHILLING

1.5 oz. Jameson Irish Whiskey

1 oz. homemade ginger syrup 

0.33 oz. fresh lemon juice 

Boulevard Irish Ale to top

1. Start by building the first three ingredients in an Old Fashioned glass.
2. Add ice, and stir with bar spoon until chilled.
3. Top with the beer, pouring gently to allow the mixture to separate appropriately (it looks more presentable if you build a head on it).

Bourbon Lift

I don't have very much free time, but in my leisure I enjoy reading various cocktail/beer/spirits blogs and especially fancy watching cocktail videos. As I stumbled my way through the internet wormhole I came across a fantastic online publication from Element Collective in Chicago, entitled Rabbit Hole Magazine. From food, drink, design, travel, music, sport, and culture they have you covered. What's more is that their content is spot on and concise. The aesthetics make me blind with envy (yes, I just made that up), and I could look at their photos and watch their videos all day (literally, ALL day!). I digress.. 

Of the plethora of cocktail videos the Bourbon Lift from Hard Water in San Francisco caught my eye (and the Battles soundtrack caught my ear.. shit, I love Battles). The silky-headed concoction seems to be a play off the New York egg cream soda (which traditionally has neither egg nor cream). Rather this grown up version contains heavy cream and coffee liqueur. You can either buy or make your coffee liqueur. Naturally, I prefer to make (rather, hack) it from scratch. I start by steeping freshly ground coffee with Frangelico in a French press. Allow to steep for approximately 12 hours then press, or you can agitate the grounds every couple of hours using a plunging motion on the press and be finished in half the time. It's easy and delicious, and it doesn't get any better than that. For this batch my friends over at Thou Mayest were geeking out over their Guatemala beans, and they suggested that it would be a nice complement to the flavors of the liqueur. 

What comes next is the orgeat. Now, I don't really like following directions all that much, so instead of making your traditional orgeat with almonds I made mine with Missouri pecans. I feel as though the pecans lend a more buttery flavor which pairs nicely with the coffee and cream and the walnut bitters (not to mention the hazelnut from the Frangelico). My last twist on the Hard Water recipe is the addition of the classic and bitter Ramazzotti Amaro to add another dimension to the mix. It really works. Trust me. 

My last trip back home to Chicago, I brought back various goods: Pipeworks, Spiteful, Letherbee, and Koval. I make it a point to pick up stuff from the aforementioned first three purveyors each visit, but after hearing the positive buzz of the Ravenswood distillers, Koval, I made it a point to get my hands on some. A little history.. producing nothing but certified organic whiskies and liqueurs, Koval is the first distillery in Chicago since the 1800's. All of their grains come from local farms with the milling done on site. One difference, amongst many, was that the single barrel bourbon I used incorporated a millet addition to the mash bill. This made for sweeter flavors in the bourbon as well as pretty dominant vanilla undertones. The notes on their website state flavors of mango chutney.. I reckon I'll just have to do more educational tasting!

I find that this cocktail is ideal for daytime drinking, i.e., it would make for a perfect hair of the dog. Fair warning: it does take a little work to make, what with the soda water and the agitation and all. That being said, your hard work will pay dividends. 

BOURBON LIFT

1.5 oz. bourbon (Koval Single Barrel Bourbon Whiskey)

0.5 oz. coffee liqueur (Frangelico + your favorite coffee beans + French press)

0.5 oz. Ramazzotti Amaro

0.5 oz. homemade pecan orgeat <<< my regular orgeat recipe, just sub in pecans for the nut..

0.5 oz. heavy cream (Shatto)

1-2 dashes black walnut bitters

Soda water topper

1. Place preferred glassware into freezer to chill (I used an 8 oz stemmed glass).
2. Add all ingredients sans soda water to cocktail shaker, and shake hard.
3. Strain into said chilled glassware.
4. Slowly pour fresh soda water from about six inches, and agitate with bar spoon to incorporate soda water to the cocktail.
5. Lastly, top the cocktail with about another ounce of fresh soda water to really get that desired head.

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Scout's Honor

I've been into shrubs lately. OK, I mean REALLY into shrubs lately. In its essence a shrub is fruit/vegetable + sugar + vinegar. The concept of the shrub arose during the 15th century with bootleggers would add fruit to barrels of spirit and submerge them in the ocean to be gathered up later. In the 17th century, Americans began incorporating vinegar to their jars of freshly harvested fruits to aid in preservation throughout the cold seasons. Somewhere along the line a brilliant person decided to mix shrub with alcohol (probably for longer preservation?) to yield a fantastic result! Regardless of its origins, shrubs has become my favorite genre of cocktail. 

Don't let the vinegar scare you. It's quite pleasant, giving the cocktail an almost sour, yet savory taste. Furthermore, if you choose not to imbibe feel free to mix any shrub with soda water for a nonalcoholic version. Seeing that I prefer mine with booze, I created this cocktail for the Utilitarian Workshop holiday party on Kansas City's Westside. I promise you'll dig it!

SCOUT'S HONOR

2 oz. Plymouth Original

1 oz. Fennel-Pear Shrub

0.5 oz. Domaine de Canton

0.5 oz. lemon juice

St. George Absinthe Verte rinse

Dash of celery salt

1. Combine ingredients in a shaker tin.
2. Add ice, and shake, shake, shake, shake, shake.
3. Fine strain into a chilled coup glass.

FENNEL-PEAR SHRUB

* The basic rule for making shrub is that you use equal parts vinegar to however many parts solution you get from the sugar maceration

1 head of fennel, diced

5 medium-sized pears, diced

1 tbsp fennel seed

5 cups organic sugar

5 cups white vinegar

1. Chop up the fennel and pear, and place it into a large sealable jar with the fennel seed, staggering the sugar addition, i.e., add a cup of pear, then fennel, then sugar. Get it?
2. Once finished allow the mixture to macerate at room temperature or in the refrigerator for the next 24 hours. Give it a good shake after 12 hours or so.
3. After about a day, fine strain through a sieve and cheesecloth into clean bottles. Add equal parts vinegar, seal, and allow to ferment in the refrigerator for at least another 24 hours for the flavors to meld.
4. As the mixture is allowed to age it will mellow down, producing a more desirable flavor (for me at least).
5. Use this shrub as directed above, or mix with soda water and lemon juice for a delightful virgin fizz.