Measure & Stir

keep it craft


by 1 Comment

MxMo LXXI: From Crass to Craft

Hello everyone. It’s Mixology Monday, and this month’s theme is “From Crass to Craft”, and it’s being hosted by Scott at Shake, Strain, and Sip. It turns out, there are quite a few cocktail blogs with names made of common bartending verbs.

James and I were inspired by a shot called the Oatmeal Cookie, which is made with equal parts of buttershots, cinnamon schnapps, and Bailey’s. I wanted to create this drink without using any of those things, so we found alternative routes for bringing all of those flavors together.

For the cinnamon and butterscotch, I infused a cinnamon stick and four Werther’s Originals into eight ounces of bourbon until the candy was dissolved, about ten hours. It was surprisingly not disgusting, although there is a little bit of processed milk in the candy, which will separate from the bourbon if you let it sit for a while. It’s not a big deal, and it integrates nicely into the drink when shaken.

oatmealcookie1

For the Bailey’s, we used this recipe from Serious Eats as a reference, and used it to build the other ingredients in the drink. We did not take all of the flavors from the Bailey’s, but we got the important ones, specifically chocolate, coffee, cream, and almond extract.

We omitted the honey, vanilla extract, and condensed milk, and reasoned that the bourbon base of the infusion was a good stand-in for the whiskey base of the Bailey’s.

oatmealcookie2

Artisanal Oatmeal Cookie
1.5 oz Butterscotch/Cinnamon-Infused Bourbon
.5 oz Espresso
.5 oz Heavy Cream
.25 oz Simple Syrup (could be honey syrup)
.25 oz Creme de Cacao (homemade)
drop of almond extract

Dry shake (to froth the cream) and then shake over ice and strain into a cocktail glass. No Garnish.

This drink accomplished its purpose; specifically, it tasted like Bailey’s, Butterscotch, and Cinnamon. For that matter, it did taste vaguely like an oatmeal cookie. Even though the ingredients were craft, with the exception of the butterscotch candy, the drink could not escape its origins; it was sweet, and even though we used a “deconstructed” Irish Cream, it still tasted Irish cream, which is a flavor I try to avoid.

Thanks for hosting, Scott!


by Leave a comment

Cereal Milk Punch

Cereal Milk is trending these days, and I figured I would hop on the trend, because that’s what drives them hits (theoretically?), and because I was intrigued by the idea. Probably the most famous cereal milk is from Momofuku in New York City, and indeed, I was inspired by this Cereal Milk Punch from PDT.

For their recipe, they use cornflakes toasted with sugar, and I respect that, but I am lazy, and I selected an already sugar-laden cereal, and dropped it right in. Making cereal milk is not exactly rocket science. Hell, most of us do it unintentionally every morning. I used Special K Red Berries, because I get down like that. It has freeze-dried strawberries in it, so I was looking for a little bit of a fruit flavor. It was not very perceptible.

cereal milk punch

Cereal Milk Punch
1 oz Bourbon (Black Maple Hill)
.5 oz Demerara Rum (El Dorado 12)
1 oz Cereal Milk
Dash Angostura Bitters
Dry shake, then shake over ice and strain. Garnish with grated nutmeg.

I used the good bourbon, for this one, because I was out of my well.

I think what I would really like to see in a cereal milk punch is some white dog type of whiskey. The cereal flavor is delicate, and the dark spirits don’t cover it up, but neither do they let it shine as the star of the drink. To make the cereal milk, I added roughly equal parts of cereal and milk to a bowl, allowed it to sit for twenty minutes in the fridge, and then strained it through a fine-mesh strainer. The milk became slightly thicker, but the texture was not spoiled by any cereal particles.

This is a fad that does not really impress me, but maybe you’ll come up with a cooler idea. Cheers.


by Leave a comment

Sody Pop Wine Drink

We’ve been trying to explore new and interesting fortified wines, so the other day I picked up a bottle of Byrrh. I was expecting it to be sweet vermouth, but it is much more reserved in its herbal qualities, and its primary flavor is much closer to grape juice, or maybe to port. It has that same deep, sweet, raisin quality that one finds in a ruby port, but perhaps it is not quite as complex.

Anyway, I got it into my head to make a long drink, and it tasted like wine soda; dry, crisp, and refreshing. I like the combination of cherry and grape, so I used Byrrh as the base, modified it with Cherry Heering, and cut the sugar with a quarter ounce of lemon. The result was very approachable, I think.

sody pop wine drink

Sody Pop Wine Drink
2 oz Byrrh
.5 Cherry Heering
.25 oz Lemon Juice
2 oz soda water
Shake all except soda water over ice, then double strain and top with soda water. Garnish with skewered blackberries.

I did not have a lot to say about this one, but you could probably sub the Byrrh with Stone’s Ginger, or Sweet Vermouth, and still have something very enjoyable.

Bottoms up!


by 2 Comments

Jack Rose

Alright, we’ve been getting a little too crazy around here. It’s time to dial it back and make something classic. Fortunately I’ve had a bottle of Berneroy XO Calvados burning a hole in my bar, and it’s so delicious it’s almost like cheating. It’s not quite as assertive as Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy, which is my default for these kinds of drinks, but it has a very round, complex apple flavor, with a perfect balance of oak and vanilla from aging.

Building off of that fine Calvados, I made some grenadine using Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s recipe. I had used this process before, but I had omitted the pomegranate molasses. This time, I managed to procure some, and the difference is astonishing. Unlike sugar cane molasses, pomegranate molasses is tart and raisiny, and it transforms the grenadine from a mere pomegranate syrup into something reminiscent of a lime cordial, except with pomegranate. After tasting this style of grenadine, I will never go back.

jack rose

Jack Rose
1.5 Calvados
.5 oz Grenadine
.5 oz Lime Juice
Shake over ice and double strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.

I think a classic Jack Rose is made with lemon, but I have tried both variations and I prefer mine with lime. As much as I like mixing Spinach and Orgeat, drinks like the Jack Rose have endured for a reason. They are delicious.

Cheers.


by 2 Comments

Yuppie Salad

Hello Internet, I am sorry I was so late to speak with you this week. I have not forgotten you, but my time has been short. James and I could not really decide on a theme for session #4, so we made an eclectic collection of drinks exploring various ideas.

I drink fresh juice for health, and I am always struck by the brilliant, verdant color of fresh spinach or kale juice. I wanted to make a drink that could capture that color, and I know it’s a little bit out there, but I took inspiration from the sweet salads that I have enjoyed in many yuppie restaurants

yuppie salad

Yuppie Salad
1.5 oz Gin (Hendrick’s)
1 oz Spinach Juice
.5 oz Strawberry Juice
.25 oz Orgeat
.25 oz Balsamic Vinegar
Shake over ice and double-strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a skewered roasted red pepper.

Now I know what you’re thinking; “Darnit guys, couldn’t you just stir up a base spirit with some vermouth, maybe add a dash of absinthe or something? Spinach juice, really?” Spinach juice actually has a very mild flavor, and with the little bit of orgeat + vinegar, this really did taste like I was drinking a fancy salad. It was grassy, tangy, sweet, and fruity. Slivered almonds might also have been nice.


by 2 Comments

Thaiquila

Brown, bitter, and stirred is a genre to which we probably don’t pay enough attention. To be perfectly honest, by the time you add two fortified wines, two liqueurs/amari, and/or two base spirits, things start to taste a little muddy. I went through a period where I mixed every BB&S that I came across, and they all ran together in my mind.

Fernet, St. Germain, Bourbon, Lillet? Reposado, Nonino, Punt e Mes, Tiki bitters? Why not? Appleton Reserve, Dry Sherry, Pimento Dram, Campari? Don’t mind if I do. Personally, I like to keep it simple most of the time, because I really want to notice each flavor distinctly. The theme at our last session was tea, and astute readers might have noticed various manifestations of Camellia sinensis in several of our recent posts.

For this drink, we wanted to infuse the tea in a spirit, and we chose an old favorite, Thai tea, which is black tea that has been flavored with star anise, crushed tamarind, and possibly orange flower water, and we infused it into Reposado tequila for about an hour and a half. It’s important when infusing tea into spirits to taste them frequently, to avoid creating a tanniny mess with a drying and unpleasant mouthfeel.

thaiquila

Thaiquila (Sorry about the name)
1.5 oz Thai Tea-Infused Reposado Tequila (El Jimador)
.75 oz Sweet Vermouth (Dolin)
.25 oz Amaro Zucca
1 dash Orange Bitters (Scrappy’s Seville)
Stir over ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange peel.

I love Amaro Zucca, and I found that the earthy flavor of the rhubarb was well-balanced against the flavors of the tea and the vermouth. 6-3-1 may not be the most exciting formula in the world, but it’s solid, and with careful choices, it can pay off in a big way. I always taste and smell a few different options for each slot when I am using a formula like this, to make sure that the flavors fit. Two flavors that are too similar will blur together, making the drink “muddy”. Ideally, the flavors should be far enough apart from each other that they all come through on their own.

BB&S drinks almost always benefit from a fresh orange or lemon peel, depending on the ingredients. Though spirits are very good at capturing aromas, they can never quite retain the bright flavor of fresh citrus oil.

A personal rule, though far from a universal one, is to avoid having two ingredients in drink with the same flavors. If you have orange liqueur, you do not need orange juice. It’s redundant. The only time I break this rule is with bitters.

On a completely different subject, and as a little bit of administratriva, we tend to have about one mixing session about every two weeks, and then blog about it over the next two. Most sessions have a theme, or an ingredient set from a particular market. We’ve had three sessions so far this year, and I’m going to start calling them out in the posts in question. Makes it fun.

I’ll be sipping on one of my favorite bourbons this weekend. I hope your plans are as exciting as mine!


by 3 Comments

Blood and Smoke

So we were brainstorming what to do with various teas, and we wanted to try every way we could think of to get tea into a drink. We tried infusing the tea in spirits, and in vinegar, and in syrups; we tried brewing the tea and reducing it, we tried matcha, we tried adding boiling tea to hot toddies and chilled tea to iced-tea style drinks. We had one drink that failed three times. Sometimes you just have to make peace with your failures… Cardamom and earl grey are just too similar to make a nice drink together.

But this is not a post about failure! This is a riff on a drink we made last summer, the Blood and Oak. I wish I could say it was for Mixology Monday, but it isn’t. I inverted the um, uh, the– I inverted the infusion! Normally you would infuse the base spirit, but for this one I infused the liqueur. I’m so edgy.

blood and smoke

Blood and Smoke
2 oz Mezcal (Del Maguey Mezcal de Vida)
1 oz Blood Orange Juice
.5 oz Lapsang Souchong Syrup
.25 oz Ancho Chili-Infused Campari
Shake over ice and double strain into a coup. Garnish with a blood orange peel.

This was a little too sweet. I wanted that lapsang souchong in the drink, but the syrup just added unnecessary sugar. You can see I followed the same formula that you would for a Blood and Sand. I infused the campari with a dried ancho chile, seeds removed, for about two hours. You have to watch a chili pepper infusion very carefully — overdo it and it turns into mace. I think if I had to do it again, I would put the lapsang in with the ancho, and just infuse it all into the campari. Bump up the proportion to .5, and I think you would have a much more respectable drink.

So, if you actually do it, do it like this:

Blood and Smoke (Revised)
2 oz Mezcal (Del Maguey Mezcal de Vida)
1 oz Blood Orange Juice
.5 oz Lapsang Souchong and Ancho Chili-Infused Campari
Shake over ice and double strain into a coup. Garnish with a blood orange peel.

And adjust the proportions to your taste. You need to select an amount of orange juice that mediates, but does not nullify, the capsaicin burn from the chili, and it might be that .75 oz works better. That depends on the strength of your infusion and your own good taste.

Sorry I missed you, MxMo, and Cheers.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 193 other followers