What I Learned in Italy (Part 3)

Spritz!

1 1/2 oz Campari
Prosecco

Add Campari to medium size glass with 2 lumps ice. Fill with Prosecco and garnish with Orange Slice. (Sometimes, this also gets an additional splash of soda water.)

Anyway, in Venice the most commonly drunk beverage is the Campari or Aperol Spritz.

We stayed one night on a nearby island called Burano. Much of the fish in Venice comes from boats which operate out of Burano, so there are fishermen. And as our friend correctly intuited, if there are fishermen, there is drinking.

But where, in England or America, tough old fishermen would drink whiskey or beer, in Venice they drink Spritz.

We were out before dinner and stopped at a bar, as we are wont, to get our Spritz quotient for the day. As we sat at a table and attempted to be somewhat inconspicuous, groups of 6 or 8 old men would drift into the bar, quickly drink Spritzes, and then drift out again. Eventually, we started to notice that some of the same men would drift back in. Finally when we got up to head to our dinner reservation, we went out to square to find it filled with loudly talking and gesticulating old fishermen, who were drifting from bar to bar, then heading back out to the square to talk with their friends about whatever retired Italian fishermen talk about.

Americano!

1 1/2 oz Gran Classico
1 1/2 oz Italian Vermouth

Add Campari (or Gran Classico) and Italian Vermouth to medium size glass with 2 lumps ice. Fill with Soda Water and garnish with orange slice.

Another drink which you can almost always get, though some of the younger barmen may not know it, is the Americano. You may, on occasion, have to remind some of those less experienced waiters that you want the Aperitivo and not the coffee drink.

Multiply this by about 3 per diem.

Scenic Gondolas!

Beware the weeping angels. The little, creepy, orange headed ones are OK, I think.

Silhouette in Italy.

Yay! We get to take the Eurostar express train!

Bologna, the land of meat. The charcuterie at one of our favorite restaurants of the trip, Vicolo Colombina

Did I mention meat and cheese? At Tamburini, per many recommendations.

Lonely Corridor.

Sorrento Lemon Sorbetto at Sorbetteria Castiglione in Bologna.

Michele’s favorites, Nocciola and Pistachio gelati.

Background music in the video from the Mekons new recording “Ancient & Modern“.

Young Man Cocktail

The countdown to the last “Cocktail” continues.

Say it with me, “FIVE!”

Young Man Cocktail
1 Dash Angostura Bitters. (1 dash Angostura Bitters)
2 Dashes Curacao. (1/2 teaspoon Clement Liqueur Creole Shrubb)
1/4 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Carpano Antica Italian Vermouth)
3/4 Brandy. (2 1/4 oz Osocalis Brandy)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Add olive or cherry (Olive!).

I have these great Agrinion Olives from Greece, so it wasn’t entirely perversity that led me to choose to garnish with an olive rather than a cherry. All the same, I suppose a cherry would be the more 20th-21st Century garnish.

Maybe I can start something new for the future? Random Cherries or Olives in cocktails.

Nah, probably not.

If I hadn’t been out of decent cherries, I would probably have preferred it.

Other than that, the Young Man is a perfectly enjoyable Brandy Manhattan, nothing wrong with that. I feel younger already.

…But maybe that’s just the burden of making more Savoy Cocktails being lifted from my back…

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Yolanda Cocktail

First, just a reminder that Sunday, Feb 27, 2011, is our monthly exercise in folly, Savoy Cocktail Book Night at Alembic Bar. If any of the cocktails on this blog have captured your fancy, stop by after 6 and allow the skilled bartenders (and me) to make them for you. It is always a fun time.

The countdown to the last “Cocktail” continues.

Say it with me, “SEVEN!”

Yolanda Cocktail
1 Dash Grenadine. (1 splash Small Hand Foods Grenadine)
1 Dash Absinthe (1 dash Duplais Verte Absinthe)
1/4 Dry Gin. (3/4 oz Martin Miller’s Gin)
1/2 Italian Vermouth. (1 1/2 oz Carpano Antica)
1/4 Brandy. (3/4 oz Osocalis Alambic Brandy)
Shake (I stirred) well and strain into cocktail glass. (Squeeze Lemon Peel over glass and drop in.)

Yolanda sez to the barkeep, “You know, this Victor Cocktail is good, but it would be better with Grenadine and Absinthe.” And you know what? She was right, it is better with a dash of Absinthe and Grenadine.

Something about the herbal character of the Absinthe and touch of sweetness and tanin from the Grenadine pulls this together in a way that the Victor doesn’t even approach.

Raise a glass to Yolanda, whomever she may have been!

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Yellow Rattler Cocktail

First, just a reminder that Sunday, Feb 27, 2011, is our monthly exercise in folly, Savoy Cocktail Book Night at Alembic Bar. If any of the cocktails on this blog have captured your fancy, stop by after 6 and allow the skilled bartenders (and me) to make them for you. It is always a fun time.

Thus begins the countdown to the last “Cocktail”.

Say it with me, “TEN!”

Yellow Rattler Cocktail
1/4 Orange Juice. (3/4 oz Fresh Orange Juice)
1/4 French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Perucchi White Vermouth)
1/4 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Carpano Antica)
1/4 Dry Gin. (3/4 oz Anchor Genevieve Gin)
Shake well and strain into cocktail glass, with small crushed pickled onion.

In his 1922 book, “Cocktails: How to Mix Them,” Robert Vermeire notes, “This Cowboy’s cocktail is similar to the Cooperstown Cocktail, but, a small bruised white onion is used instead of the bruised fresh mint sprigs.”

I guess your average Cowboy Bar didn’t have, say, Mint around, so instead, they’d substitute a pickled onion. Makes TOTAL sense to me.

*cough*

Uh, anyway, this is pretty much a Bronx cocktail with a pickled onion as a garnish.

As such, not entirely awful, and to be honest, the Anchor Genevieve, hey, Cowboy Gin if there ever was one, goes a long way towards salvaging this cocktail.

Still, unless you REALLY like pickled onions, its not one of those things that you’re probably going to be making any time soon.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Low Gap American Craft Whiskey

I don’t know if you have any friends in bands.

Some times, even though they are perfectly great people who you like to hang out with, their idea of music just may not jive with yours.

You go to see them the first few times they play, determine your perspective on their art, and in the future make vague excuses regarding family obligations and other important tasks.

You might still buy their records, but, really? Klezmer crossed with Al Di Meola Style Jazz Fusion? Who wants to sit through that more than a couple times?

We’re still good friends, but some times there are things friends don’t talk about.

Anyway, when Crispin Cain told me he was going to make and market an unaged Whiskey, I was a little worried. I really like his Absinthe and his Rose Liqueur.

But jumping into the unaged Whiskey business?

To be honest, a lot of the people I talk to are pretty unenthused about unaged whiskey.

Ok, it’s kind of a funny idea. Maybe a novelty, at best, and a way to get some sort of product to market during the lean years while you age your proper whiskey. A lot of companies will do something similar, marketing another unaged product like Vodka or Gin. However, at worst, where some companies are neither aging nor distilling their own products, it seems like a bit of a scam to charge more than $30 for something that is not really all that different from Industrial Ethanol.

To paraphrase another friend, there’s kind of a reason barrel aging has developed as the most common way to use grain distillate… Oh wait, the number one spirit in the world is an unaged grain distillate: Vodka

Well, let’s face it, in a lot of cases, that’s what these unaged whiskey producers are selling: Dirty Vodka.

I think back to Alton Brown’s Good Eats episode about Bourbon. After hearing the Maker’s Mark Master Distiller describe the process he exclaimed, “So, really, what you are making is a solvent to extract flavor from wood.” The Master Distiller went on to say he preferred to think of the process more akin to alchemy, extracting Gold from Lead, but he had to admit, from a technical point of view, Alton was right.

And a lot of what is being sold as Unaged Whiskey or, shudder, “Moonshine” just isn’t that nice.

So I was a little worried when Crispin told me he was going to sell his American Craft Whiskey as a clear spirit. Would we have uncomfortable silences in our next interaction?

However, when I saw the Low Gap Clear American Craft Whiskey on the shelf at the San Francisco Wine Trading Company a couple months ago, I knew I had to at least give it the old college try.

So, what’s the low down with this product?

Crispin, (and it is just him, his wife and one of his sons making all of their products,) buys malted Bavarian Wheat. Brews an unhopped beer from the wheat, spiking it with a yeast normally used for Wine or Brandy production. When the proper alcohol (around 8.8 ABV) and degree of acidity is reached, he distills it twice on Germain-Robin’s antique Cognac still (pictured on their website). First to get it to 23-30% ABV (brouillis is the French term) and again to take it to 65-80% ABV (or an Eau-de-Vie).

While this sort of production is normal for Cognac or Brandy, it is more than a bit unusual for Whiskey. Even among the so-called “Micro-Distillers”, very few are fermenting their own wash and almost no one is distilling literal “small batch” Whiskey in a true Cognac-Style still. I mean, it is a 16 hectolitre still, if that isn’t “small batch”, nothing is.

What you get is something amazingly aromatic, yet at the same time incredibly clean. There are great aromas, one friend described it as sticking your head in a flour bag or breaking open a loaf a bread, but the spirit is so well distilled that it makes you forget that it is completely unaged.

Crispin is aging this wheat spirit in a number of interesting ways, but what about this new product, the “Clear” version of Low Gap American Craft Whiskey?

Well, thinking about it, while barrel aging is awesome, it is a relatively recent phenomenon. The idea of a 10 year old whiskey would have been crazy talk to someone like Jerry Thomas. In the 19th Century, and before, almost all spirits were bottled new make and then shipped to bars in barrels. If a bar wanted to buy and age a barrel of spirits, that was their prerogative, but most whiskey was served much younger than ever would be contemplated today.

So maybe I should make a 19th Century style cocktail with a 19th Century style unaged Whiskey? How about Jerry Thomas’ 1887 recipe for the Manhattan Cocktail?

Manhattan Cocktail.
(Use small bar-glass.)
Take 2 dashes of Curacoa or Maraschino.
1 pony of rye whiskey.
1 wine-glass of vermouth.
3 dashes of Boker’s bitters.
2 small lumps of ice.

Shake up well, and strain into a claret glass. Put a quarter of a slice of lemon in the glass and serve. If the customer prefers it very sweet use also two dashes of gum syrup.

Right, well, I’m going to simplify this slightly, because The Underhill Lounge is a classy joint, (note the awesome glassware!)

Old School Manhattan

Long Pour Chilled Red Vermouth
Short Pour Low Gap American Craft Whiskey
Short Pour Amaro Ciociaro
Chilled Soda Water

Combine Vermouth, Whiskey, and Amaro in a glass. Stir to combine. Top up with soda.

Ahem, oops, this is about all I’ve been drinking in February, (when I don’t leave the booze out altogether,) I like it so much.

I did try this with the Perucchi Red Vermouth, which was OK. However, it is tons, and I mean TONS, better with Carpano Antica Italian Vermouth. There is just a very nice synergy between the malted flavors of the Low Gap Clear Whiskey and the sweet vanilla notes of the Carpano Antica. The amazing thing for me is how clearly the flavor and scent of the Whiskey comes through in this, even though in volume terms it is a bit player in the cocktail. The Whiskey also seems to act as a sort of amplifier, raising the character of the other elements.

Not bad, Crispin, not bad at all.

So sometimes, it turns out your friends bands are surprisingly good, or even excellent. Like my friend who is maybe the best Theremin player I have ever seen (Project Pimento), or another who transforms the tropes of 1960s chamber rock into cool modern music (Scrabbel), Crispin has pulled this one out.

I can’t wait to see how this whiskey turns out with some age on it.

Whist Cocktail

Whist Cocktail
1/4 Bacardi Rum. (1/2 oz Havana Club 7 Year)
1/4 Italian Vermouth. (1/2 oz Carpano Antica)
1/2 Calvados. (1 oz Calvados Montrueil Reserve)
Shake (I stirred) well and strain into cocktail glass.

This is a delightful drink that has been known in the West Indies for countless years. It might be described as a West Indies “Sundowner”.

Not quite sure why all these West Indies cocktails are showing up all of a sudden, but here’s another.

Described as a “Sundowner”, according to the Wiktionary, that means, “A cocktail consumed at sunset, or to signify the end of the day. A cocktail party in the early evening.”

Being 3/4 booze, this is a pretty stiff way to start the evening’s entertainment.

The cocktail called for “Bacardi Rum” for which I’d usually use a dry Cuban Style Rum. But I figured with the Italian Vermouth and Calvados, it wouldn’t hurt to use something with a bit more character.

I’ve always enjoyed the Havana Club 7 in Manhattans, it has just enough rough character that it makes sense to take the edges off with a bit of vermouth. Works here, lending a bit of aged character and sweetness to the drink.

Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was played widely in the 18th and 19th centuries. It derives from the 16th century game of Trump or Ruff, via Ruff and Honours. Although the rules are extremely simple, there is enormous scope for scientific play.

Apparently originating in the early 17th century, the now obsolete adjective “whist” and variant spelling “wist” (in which the word wistful has its roots), meant quiet, silent, and/or attentive. The adverb wistly is also defined as meaning intently.

In its heyday a large amount of literature about how to play whist was written. Edmond Hoyle, of “According to Hoyle” fame, wrote an early popular and definitive textbook, A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist. It is important to note that this game, called “French ruff” by Charles Cotton, is similar to écarté. English ruff-and-honours, also described by Cotton, is similar to whist. If we admit that ruff and trump are convertible terms, of which there is scarcely a doubt, the game of trump was the precursor of whist. A purely English origin may, therefore, be claimed for trump (not la triomphe). No record is known to exist of the invention of this game, nor of the mode of its growth into ruff-and-honours, and finally into whist.

Huh, now that I think about it, the Whist Cocktail is very similar to the Corpse Reviver No. 1, with Rum instead of Brandy. Well, if you start your day gaining steam from a Corpse Reviver No 1, I guess it makes sense to end it quietly, with its cousin the Whist Cocktail.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Whisper Cocktail

Whisper Cocktail
(6 People)
2 Glasses Whisky (3/4 oz Thomas Handy Rye)
2 Glasses French Vermouth. (3/4 oz Noilly Prat Dry)
2 Glasses Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Carpano Antica)
Pour into a shaker half full of cracked ice. Shake (I stirred) well and serve.

This cocktail is very simple to make and is a great favourite in the West Indies.

Since this drink seems to have been sourced from a British book, “Drinks Long & Short” by Nina Toye and A.H. Adair, I guess it refers to the British West Indies, which historically were comprised of, “Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bay Islands, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Croix (briefly), Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago (from 1797) and the Turks and Caicos Islands.”

Interesting, that they were drinking Gin (West Indies Cocktail) and Whisky in the British West Indies, and not so much Rum. I guess the habits of the home land die hard.

I do wonder, however, if it shouldn’t have been Scotch, if it was the British, rather than American Whiskey. Well, so it goes.

Since this is 2/3 Vermouth, I figured I might as well deploy some sort of Cask Strength Spirit, in this case the Thomas Handy Straight Rye Whiskey of a few years ago (2006, I believe). I mean, it is just a “Perfect Manhattan”, having both French and Italian Vermouth, but I guess it is pretty rare that that a Manhattan would be made an equal parts cocktail. More along the lines of the Affinity Cocktail, especially if made with Scotch.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Westbrook Cocktail

Westbrook Cocktail
(6 People)
3 1/2 Glasses Gin. (1 1/4 oz Bols Genever)
1 1/2 Glasses Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Carpano Antica)
1 Glass whisky. (1/2 oz Famous Grouse)
Before shaking (I stirred), add a little castor sugar. (Dash Rich Simple Syrup.)

Not sure where this oddity came from, it doesn’t seem to be among the party cocktails in “Drinks–Long and Short”, but anyway, Gin, Whisky, and Italian Vermouth. Hm.

Well, if I have to make this cocktail, and it doesn’t specify “Dry Gin”, I’m making it with Genever, instead.

Going from the Genever, Scotch seemed like an easy choice, Malt based Gin with Malt based whiskey. At the moment, my “mixing” Scotch is usually Famous Grouse, well, unless I feel like splurging.

I dunno, the Westbrook isn’t really awful, slightly tarted up Genever Manhattan, with Scotch instead of bitters. Makes sense in a twisted kind of way.

Gosh darn it, I would like to try it with Brucchladdich‘s new Gin and their Scotch! (Hint! Hint! Hello, in case you liquor companies hadn’t noticed, I like Scotch. Send Whisk(e)y, not mediocre Cachaca, I already have more of that than I will likely use in this lifetime.)

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

Weeseur Special Cocktail

Weeseur Special Cocktail.
4 Dashes Absinthe. (1 tsp. Absinthe)
1/4 French Vermouth. (1/2 oz Noilly Prat Dry)
1/4 Italian Vermouth. (1/2 oz Carpano Antica)
1/4 Orange Curacao. (1/2 oz Clement Creole Shrubb)
1/4 Dry Gin. (1/2 oz Junipero Gin)
Shake (I stirred) well and strain into cocktail glass.

As a variation on the Martini (Medium), or perhaps Fourth Degree, the Weeseur isn’t bad. I do like the Creole Shrubb and awful lot, it is one of my favorite Orange Liqueurs, so I rarely complain when I get a excuse to use it.

The name seems like it should be Dutch or Afrikaans, but I can find no trace of Weeseur on the web that makes any sense.

Note the presence of the exciting new Cocktail Kingdom measuring jigger!

Cocktail Kingdom Japanese Style Jigger 22ml/15ml

Finally a Japanese-style jigger with a 3/4oz side (or 22ml for those of you who are metrically inclined)! Been waiting for this for quite some time.

I also know that the gentlemen of Cocktail Kingdom went to quite some trouble to find a manufacturer who could deliver an accurate 3/4 oz jigger.

In fact, when I was in New York recently, another bartender showed me how badly calibrated some of the usual bar supplies conical stainless jiggers were. Some were off by as much as 1/8 ounce when compared withe the Cocktail Kingdom Jigger.

I checked mine at home with the Cocktail Kingdom Jigger and found them not quite that far off. Whew!

The big problem now is I usually use 3 jiggers: 1/2:1, 3/4:11/2, 1:2.

Now I have to get used to using only two jiggers: 1/2:3/4 and 1:11/2.

Well, if I ever want to work in NY, I guess I’ll have to.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.

MxMo LII: Warday’s Cocktail

First, just a reminder that Sunday, November 28th, 2010, is our monthly exercise in folly, Savoy Cocktail Book Night at Alembic Bar. If any of the cocktails on this blog have captured your fancy, stop by after 6 and allow the skilled bartenders (and me) to make them for you. It is always a fun time.

Warday’s Cocktail
1 Teaspoonful Chartreuse. (1 tsp Green Chartreuse)
1/3 Italian Vermouth. (3/4 oz Carpano Antica Vermouth)
1/3 Dry Gin. (3/4 oz Miller’s Gin)
1/3 Calvados or Apple Brandy. (3/4 oz Montreuil Calvados Reserve)
Shake (I stirred) well and strain into cocktail glass.

Like the Victor Cocktail, you just kind of wonder what the Gin is doing in this cocktail.

Does it have an intended flavor contribution to the cocktail, or is it just an extender for the rather expensive other spirits in the drink.

In the case of the Warday’s, I think it does have a bit of a function, providing a bridge between the flavor of the Calvados and that of the Chartreuse, but I bet this cocktail would be even better with Aquavit!

Hm, and today’s Warday’s Cocktail cocktail coincides with November’s Mixology Monday, hosted by Denis over at Rock & Rye:

The challenge this month is to bring to light a drink that you think deserves to be resurrected from the past, and placed back into the spotlight. It could be pre-prohibition, post-war, that horrible decade known as the 80?s, it doesn’t really matter. As long as it is somewhat obscure, post it up. If possible try to keep to ingredients that are somewhat readily available. While we all appreciate the discovery of an amazing cocktail, if we can’t make it, it’s no fun for anyone.

Not sure if this is quite cool enough to be a truly awesome “Forgotten Cocktail”, but it is quite tasty, and as far as I can tell obscure enough to be included, especially since contributors in the comments have noted it is very similar to Jeffy Morgenthaler’s Norwegian Wood. Oh, and, apparently a version of the Warday’s is found in regular rotation at the New York City members only club, Milk and Honey.

This post is one in a series documenting my ongoing effort to make all of the cocktails in the Savoy Cocktail Book, starting at the first, Abbey, and ending at the last, Zed.