Stir & Strain

Archives for May 2013

Mixology Monday: Fruit & Dagger Cocktail

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fruit and dagger cocktail // stirandstrain.com

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Every month I feel like the deadline for Mixology Monday creeps up on me faster and faster. And just like that, it’s time once again for a post. This month, Mark at Cardiff Cocktails has given us the theme of “Witches’ Garden”. For the full announcement post, please click here.

Here’s the back story for my submission this month…

I’ve had this bottle of Sake taking up room in my fridge for months. Possibly more than five. Looking for an excuse for using it up, I thought I would try something a little lighter in the ABV, as this bottle clocks in at around 15-16%. Shirakabe Gura Tokubetsu Junmai is a dry-ish sake that has a light melon/pear taste, but not much body. I figured it could use some bulking up via a cocktail.

My herb of choice for this drink was Rosemary. I have so much growing around my house that I filled up two green bins when just ‘trimming’ it last month. If you ask me for some, I will gladly hand over a shopping bag filled to the brim to you, which you will silently curse me for, wondering how in the hell you will use all of it. So, any time I can stick it in a drink, I will. Rosemary gets closeted into winter-time drinks much too much. It’s woodsy profile though pairs really well with citrus, and, as I have discovered this week, passion fruit.fruitdagger-3

So I married those two with a hint of grapefruit and came up with this low-alcohol cocktail. The final ingredient is tonic. The drink had the right flavors when I first tried it, but fell flat in my mouth. The tonic perked the whole thing up, giving it a much needed lightness and fizz.fruitdagger-2

3 oz Shirakabe Gura Tokubetsu Junmai Sake
1/2 oz Passion Fruit syrup (recipe here)
1 sprig of rosemary, about 5″ long
3 dashes Fee Brothers Grapefruit Bitters
2 oz Fever-Tree Premium Indian Tonic Water

sprig of rosemary and grapefruit slice for garnish

In a mixing glass, place the sprig of rosemary in the bottom, add syrup and muddle gently, just enough to release the oils. Do not crush or tear the herb (5-7 presses with a muddler should do). Add ice 2/3 of the way up the glass, then pour in sake and bitters. Stir to combine. Fill a highball glass with ice and strain liquids over the ice. Top with Tonic water. Gently stir to combine. Garnish with rosemary sprig and grapefruit slice. A straw is also a welcome addition.

As I stated earlier, the rosemary and passion fruit are a great combo, earthy and tart. The grapefruit bitters offer a citrus nose and a sweet and bitter layer to the drink. The sake itself is pretty mild tasting, and I found it a nice canvas to play off of here. Overall clean and refreshing.

Make It: Passion Fruit Syrup // The Hurricane Cocktail

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hurricane cocktail // stirandstrain.comDid you know that passion fruit had a season? Neither did I until earlier this week. Big thanks to Nathan from the Chocolate of Meats blog for hipping me to this fact.

If you are a lover of Tiki drinks you know that passion fruit is a major component in many of those elusive Grog Log drinks. If you’re not familiar, now you know. Pretty much though you’re stuck with commercial flavored syrups that taste more like sad kool-aid than anything resembling a fruit derived substance. Until now. My passion fruit did not come locally unfortunately, they were flown in. I thought that was the only way I would get them until I found out a local catering company, Heirloom LA, were growing them in their backyard. Note to self, plant that ASAP.passionfruit // stirandstrain.com

So before we get to the drinks, lets get to making the syrup. If you don’t raise your hand to the question Who’s going to use this syrup up in a month? Then you can either add a 1/2 oz of vodka to the mix to prolong it up to 3 months, or make a large batch and freeze up containers to use when passion fruit is not in season.

Although a basic recipe, credit goes to Tiare from the Mountain of Crushed Ice blog for some of the tips to making this syrup.

Passion Fruit Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Just under 1/2 cup of Passion Fruit seeds/juice (about 7 smallish fruit)
2 passion fruit

Combine first 3 ingredients in a sauce pan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. As soon as the mixture reaches a boil, cut the heat and remove from the stove. Add the juice and seeds from the last two passion fruit to the mixture, stir to combine and cover. Let this sit for two hours, then strain and bottle.passionfruit-2 // stirandstrain.com

Let’s ease into the Tiki now with the Hurricane cocktail. With just 3 simple ingredients this is where quality really counts. And perhaps your garnishes too.

I always associated the Hurricane with a red/pink color, in fact, I assumed that passion fruit were this color too (I seriously had no idea). So to my surprise, this Hurricane really is the color of a passion fruit, yellow-orange. Dealing with the fresh passion fruit also has taught me what I smell in a lot of Tiki drinks I’ve had out of the house. The point I’m trying to make is that if you want to be serious with drinks, or food even, get to know the fresh stuff, not just what comes in a can at a grocery store, you’ll very quickly start to favor the fresh ingredients. I’ll probably be heading back to the market to buy a couple pounds of passion fruit this week just so I can make enough syrup to freeze a sizable stash. God, I just hope they’re not out of season by Tuesday.

Hurricane Cocktail (adapted from the Grog Log)
4 oz dark rum (I chose Goslings Black Seal Rum)
2 oz freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
2 oz passion fruit syrup

large sprig of mint and pineapple cubes for garnish

In a shaker 2/3 filled with ice, add first 3 ingredients and shake well. Fill a hurricane glass or large tiki mug with about 20 ounces of crushed ice. Strain drink over the ice and add more crushed ice if desired. Garnish with mint (give it a good slap between your hands to release some of the oils from the herb) and 3 pineapple cubes on a cocktail spear.

Don’t forget that mint! The mint adds an aromatic nose that is a perfect compliment for this sweet-tart drink. The Goslings was chosen because it gives a nice deep spice layer, while the Meyer lemon balances out the passion fruit tartness. Overall this was not what I remember a Hurricane tasting like, and that’s probably a good thing. Enjoy!

The Parker Misfire

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The Parker Misfire // stirandstrain.comIt must be spring. I’m sneezing and dreaming of my mini Palm Springs vacation coming up in the summer (I’m always planning ahead, way ahead). Also, pineapples are popping up all over the place. For example, this new beauty:pineapple-bronze2

It was listed as a possible ice bucket on Etsy, but I don’t think standing water would be so great in the brass. For now I’ll just let it hang out with the liquor bottles.

I love the flavor of pineapples but they always get the rap of being put into a tropical drink. While I have no problem with that whatsoever, I really wanted to try a pinapple drink that wasn’t tiki.

This drink is a good base. It’s not pow-bam terrific but it’s getting there. The first incarnation came straight from the Joy of Mixology. And immediately I knew this was not really great. It tasted… weird? So I tried to think up what it was missing and came up with the recipe below.

The name, The Parker Misfire, is based off of the original recipe name, The Algonquin. I associate that with the name of the hotel where the Algonquin Round Table was housed. While many notable names sat there, I remember it fondly for Ms. Dorothy Parker, whose acerbic wit I strive for in my daily life. While this drink has some bite, it doesn’t deliver quite the zing it needs. Suggestions, as always, are welcome.parker-miss2

1-1/2 oz Rittenhouse Rye 100
1/2 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
1/2 oz Pineapple Juice, unsweetened
1/4 oz Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot Liqueur
2 dashes of Miracle Mile Yuzu Bitters

Combine all ingredients except for bitters in a shaker 2/3 filled with ice. Shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add two dashes of Yuzu bitters on top.

Sweet and savory with a surprisingly creamy mouthfeel. The apricot balances the sweetness and cuts through the dry vermouth to prevent it from becoming ‘too savory’, which I found to be a real problem with the first version of the drink. The Yuzu adds a subtle bite of acid while providing a clean citrus nose to the drink. The rye is not a powerful flavor here as the pineapple covers up a lot of its bite.

So, there you go. Feel free to try this recipe out and let me know what you did differently to make it appeal to your palate. 

Orange-Pecan American Triology a.k.a. “The Clusterf*ck”

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american-cluster-3Apologies are in order first, as these bitters used here you can’t actually buy anymore. Clusterf*uck bitters were named after a kitchen mishap from Miracle Mile Bitter’s owner Louis Anderman where he accidentally mixed a batch of pecan bitters with orange bitters creating this delicious one-off. I, of course, ran as fast as I could to a local shop to pick up a bottle before they sold out. Which they did. Quickly. But fear not, you can mix your own at home to pretty much replicate the same flavor. 2:1 pecan to orange bitters.

american-cluster-2Ok, now that the caveat is out of the way. Here’s the cocktail. It’s actually Anderman’s way of enjoying these bitters in a simple, straight-up cocktail, the American Trilogy. More apologies are in order I guess if you’ve read this far thinking I might start talking about the Elvis song. I’m not going to, except maybe to say it’s a decent song. And possibly wonder how far up the google ladder this post would have to climb in order for it to have some relevance to Elvis. Anyway, this recipe comes via the Looka! Blog, a fellow Los Angeles cocktail lover, and lover more so of all things New Orleans. Check him out.

Via Looka! via Caroline on Crack with respect to Miracle Mile Bitters
1 oz Rittenhouse 100 rye whiskey
1 oz Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy
1 barspoon rich Demerara syrup
3 dashes Miracle Mile Clusterf*ck bitters (sub out 2 dashes pecan bitters and one dash orange bitters)
Orange peel for garnishamerican-cluster-1

Combine all ingredients except peel in a mixing glass filled 2/3 with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass. Express orange oil from the peel over the drink and around the rim then drop it into the glass.

Fresh orange fills your nose as you get into the glass, while that first sip, expecting fire from the rye and applejack, is actually soft and nutty. There’s a touch of sweetness, but not overpowering. The rich syrup works well with the liquors to balance out. Lovely, simple and solid.