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Stir & Strain

yuzu bitters

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. 

Yuzu Whiskey Sour

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Yuzu Whiskey SourRight now while I’ve had quite a lot of time on my hands I’ve been looking for projects that I can bunker down and spend some time on. One of these projects was learning to make marmalade; a perfect solution to the citrus situation going on right now. The other night I took a class at a local restaurant/jam store Sqirl where I learned the art of making marmalade. At first completely overwhelmed, our teacher, the owner, guided us step by step until I felt like a pro. A parting gift was a jar of her small batch yuzu marmalade. Heaven. Also I thought, great for adding to a drink.yuzusour-1

Once a long time ago I used marmalade in a drink and I patted myself on the back for thinking of trying it. And then I realized that my Eureka moment had been experienced by many a cocktail maker. Oh well. Great minds think alike right?yuzusour-4

Yuzu is a Japanese citrus that tastes similar to a sour orange and is very aromatic. The Sqirl marmalade has a nice bitter, sour and sweet flavor profile. You can sub in an orange marmalade that is more on the tart side and not too sweet to get similar results in this cocktail. Don’t sub the Yuzu bitters though, you’ll want to track these down online if your local store doesn’t carry them.

[Update, 2018: If you’re not a fan of egg whites or looking for vegan alternatives, SURPRISE! You have a lot of options now. You can use Aquafaba, or Instafoam to replace egg whites in cocktails.]

Adapted from Saveur
2 oz Old Grandad 100-proof bourbon
1 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ oz simple syrup
1 tsp Sqirl Yuzu marmalade (or a bitter orange marmalade)
1 egg white
2 drops Miracle Mile Yuzu bitters

1 lemon strip for garnish

Combine all ingredients except your garnish in a Boston shaker. Dry shake for 30 seconds to incorporate the egg white. Add ice and shake vigorously for about a minute. Double strain into a chilled coupe and garnish with the lemon strip.yuzu whiskey sour garnish

Sharp and tart, this drink provides a nice contrast with a subtle sweet flavor and floral notes from the bitters. Those bitters also provide balance between the bite of the whiskey and the sour flavor of the citrus. Again I’m delving into the semi-scary world of raw eggs but fear not, that egg white adds a lovely creaminess to the drink with a rich mouthfeel. On its own, the Yuzu marmalade is quite tangy, but mellows out into the drink. Overall it’s surprisingly dry, not unlike my sense of humor.

Cocktail Quickie: Yuzu Lemon Sparkler

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A cocktail does not need to be complicated. It does not need to contain 7 ingredients. It doesn’t need herbs freshly harvested from my backyard. Sometimes a cocktail is something you threw together in 2 minutes. Sometimes it looks like this.

I’ve been going through those watermelon chunks like crazy and came to a point where I ran out but still had half a bottle of OK champagne in the fridge. Ah dilemma. I could have gone the Champagne Cocktail route, but I’m trying to get through that bottle of Limoncello because I need that bottle to make a new batch soon. So this became a marriage of convenience (of ingredients).

I like the idea of sometimes having something in my brain Rolodex that I can throw together quickly without having to think too much on it (like after a grueling day at work). This is one of them, and may possibly be a new vein of recipes on here: the quickies.

1-1/2 oz Limoncello (homemade if you got it)
2 dashes of Miracle Mile Yuzu Bitters
3-4 oz of Champagne

Pour limoncello and bitters in a chilled Champagne flute. Swirl gently to mix. Pour in champagne. Bottoms up.

I love the heightened citrus and woodsy notes that the Yuzu bitters adds to the mix (DO go and find these bitters. So worth it.). Can you drink champagne without any extras? Yes. But if you want an extra punch to the drink, this quick fix will do you right.