Long Vodka > Angle Park

Posted on 6th June 2017 by Andy

In Ango park.

Long Vodka ⇒ Angle Park.

About 250 years ago, when I was a young man growing up in Scotland, there was a popular drink called – somewhat unimaginatively – the Long Vodka. In those days your local pub could make exactly two “cocktails”, the Whisky Mac (which barely counts) and the Long Vodka. The latter is technically just a fancy mixed drink but it shows enough cocktailicity to be worth a look. First take a Collins glass and add ice followed by 2 or 3 dashes of Angostura bitters. Swirl around for a while to coat and chill the glass then dump out the ice. See, pretty cocktaily so far? Add more ice and a measure or two of vodka, a good splash of Rose’s Lime cordial and top up with soda water. Hmmm. And while it should be soda water I distinctly remember 7up being more common and I see that tonic may have muscled its way in more recently. Either of those would make the drink too sweet as there is already plenty of sugar in the Rose’s. So really it’s just a vodka, lime and soda (7up/tonic) with a bit of bitters but I got to thinking it might still provide a good base for a bit of nostalgic deconstruction…

Vodka is a base spirit I almost never use in cocktails although it’s plenty useful in making some other things (of which more in due course). In this case we’ll be using vodka as an Angostura delivery system so its inherent blandness isn’t an issue. The Long Vodka’s Rose’s Lime is just going to have to go. In general you can replace it with fresh lime juice and sugar syrup for a much more pleasant effect and that’s exactly what we’ll do here. We’ll also skip the fizzy stuff and serve this on the stem. This, as I’m sure you’ve already noticed, leaves us with a simple Vodka Sour – not the most exciting of drinks. Unless, of course, we upgrade it with a massive hit of Angostura bitters. Don’t be fooled by Angostura’s ubiquity (often a sign of mediocracy) Ango is not the king of bitters without good reason. While bitters are usually the bartender’s salt and pepper there are a small number of drinks where they are used as the main flavour component. And this is one of those cases. The other ingredients are simply there to provide a balanced base to showcase the wonderful complex flavours of the Angostura.

Named after a song by 1980’s Scottish rockers, Big Country, the Angle Park is a simple cocktail to make at home and a great introduction to the magical world of bitters. Enjoy:

Angle Park

2oz vodka (it barely matters which one).

0.75oz fresh lime juice.

0.5oz simple syrup.

6-8 generous dashes of Angostura bitters (about 1 teaspoon in total).

Shake with ice and strain into chilled champagne coupé.

Toast Stuart Adamson (1958-2001) of the Skids and Big Country.

You could also serve this “long” in a Collins glass with ice and soda.

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Blackbeard’s Ghost.

Posted on 3rd June 2017 by Andy

Worth walking the plank for.

Blackbeard’s Ghost.

I was perusing the stats for this here blog the other day and it came to my attention that by far the most read article so far was my recipe for shelf stable falernum. Given this, it occurs to me that I should hit you all with a few more uses for this most magical ingredient. True, we had the Corn ‘n’ Oil but, while superb in its own bonkers way, it’s not a drink for everyone. I think we need a more accessible cocktail to highlight the wonders of that Bajan brew. Enter the Blackbeard’s Ghost, a recipe from Jeff “Beachbum” Berry’s indispensable Tiki bible Remixed (I might have mentioned it before). Like so many of the recipes therein this one has been resurrected by The Bum from a now defunct Tiki restaurant by the name of Blackbeard’s Galley. While many Tiki recipes call for a panoply of esoteric ingredients the Blackbeard’s Ghost leans heavily on falernum as its sole measure of exotica. And we can make that ourselves. Right? The Ghost is one of my favourite tropical drinks that’s not part of the canon of Tiki classics and it makes a great entry point for exploring the genre. It’s a citrus forward drink that still manages to remain well balanced while letting the falernum work its magic. Apricot brandy is an interesting choice of sweetener not often used in Tiki but fairly common in old school cocktails. Made of apricot stones, rather than fruit, it tastes and smells more of almond than apricot and it makes a useful addition to the cocktail cabinet. If you really can’t find any you could try replacing it with triple sec and a couple of drops of almond extract. Beyond the falernum, no syrups are needed and no blender or crushed ice required. Even the rums are standard issue. We’re as close to household ingredients here as Tiki is ever going to allow us to get. So let’s go!

Blackbeard’s Ghost.

1.5oz orange juice (good quality carton is fine).

1oz fresh lemon juice.

1oz falernum (preferably home made).

0.5oz apricot brandy/liqueur (I used Bols).

0.5oz Demerara rum or a dark Jamaican rum (I used OVD).

1.5oz white rum (my choice was Havana Club 3 Añjos).

2 dashes Angostura bitters.

Shake with ice and pour (unstrained) into the most piratey receptacle you can find.

Toast Edward Teach – aka Blackbeard – (1680-1718) the second best pirate ever.

 

 

My well worn copy of Beachbum Berry Remixed by Jeff Berry.  ISBN 978-1-59362-139-1. Club Tiki Press

 

 

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Corpse Reviver #2 + Lillet Blanc.

Posted on 30th May 2017 by Andy

Prepare to be revivened.

Corpse Reviver #2.

Corpse Revivers were, once upon a time, a range of quite varied drinks that were hailed as hangover cures. Hence the name. As such most were pretty foul but one of them was really quite delicious – you guessed it – the one known as the number (or #) 2. While I’ve never tested it for its original purpose I can confidently report that this is a wonderfully crisp, beautifully balanced cocktail for more general use and one that always goes down well with guests. A close relative to the Aviation, the Corpse Reviver #2 is even simpler to put together thanks to its simple equal parts formula. It is also one of the few non-Martini drinks I would choose to serve in a Martini glass (along with the Aviation) because of the rather fetching effect gained from the cloudy yellow spirit with a glowing red cherry shining out from the base of the glass like a beacon through the fog. Preparation of the CR#2 starts off with an absinthe rinse. I always keep a spray bottle of absinthe handy for this as it’s just as effective as any other method as well as being quicker and less wasteful. Just spray a quick squirt evenly into a well chilled glass instead of the usual absinthe and ice swirling shenanigans. After that we shake hard equal quantities of fresh lemon juice, Cointreau, gin and Lillet Blanc and strain into the chilled and absinthey glass. Drop the cherry in last and it will gently roll into place and the base of the glass, there to wait as a little reward for the imbiber.

Lillet Blanc.

It is perhaps ironic that the favourite drink of Hannibal Lecter should be a key ingredient in the Corpse Reviver but don’t let that put you off. Lillet Blanc (Lee-Lay Blonk) is a lovely straw-coloured aperitif that works very well in cocktails and is especially civilised on a hot summers day with just some ice and a slice of fruit. A vermouth-like fortified wine from Bordeaux with hints of citrus, Lillet used to be tricky to come by but these days it seems to be fairly widely available. I highly recommend keeping a bottle in the fridge over the summer months for those impromptu picnics and barbecues. And Corpse Revivers.

Word is that your CR#2 will be even better if you can replace your Lillet Blanc with some Cocchi Americano which is much closer to the Kina Lillet that would originally have been used (Kina was reformulated into the milder Lillet Blanc in The Dark Ages). I can’t confirm that just yet as I’m still trying to track down a bottle of Cocchi. Also worth seeking out is Lillet Blanc Réserve but it’s far too good for mixing with.

Corpse Reviver #2.

1oz dry gin of choice

1oz Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano

1oz fresh lemon juice.

1oz Cointreau*

Shake hard with ice and strain into an absinthe coated chilled Martini glass.

Toast Raymond and Paul Lillet for creating this wonderful elixir for us in 1887. Maybe if we dig them up and give them a sip of this they could recreate the original formula for us?

* I used Bols triple sec which is almost indistinguishable from Cointreau, but don’t tell anyone.

I’ve always wondered what would happen if you drank a Zombie followed by a Corpse Reviver…

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Corn ‘n’ Oil + the jam jar shake.

Posted on 26th May 2017 by Andy

Black gold.

Corn ‘n’ Oil.

The Corn ‘n’ Oil has a bit of an image problem. It just doesn’t sound that appealing. It doesn’t even look that appealing. If there was ever a lesson in not judging a book by its cover this is it. Originally from Barbados, the Corn ‘n’ Oil is a peculiar drink that is really like no other. That’s in no small part down to its main components which are just bursting at the seams with exotic flavours. Blackstrap rum – of which Cruzan brand appears to be the only exported example – is an astonishing product; ink black, sweet, spicy, dusty and deep – that is really essential in a Corn ‘n’ Oil. Unfortunately Cruzan blackstrap has been unavailable in Europe for a few years now but we have some stand-ins. As if that wasn’t enough spice for us we then add falernum – remember that sweet and spicy stuff we talked about a little while ago? Tell me you made some. Oh, good. The other key ingredients are and usually lime and bitters. Usually because recipes for the Corn ‘n’ Oil vary considerably. Given this I’m just going to hit you with my favourite version (purists should stop reading now). I also prefer a rather unusual way of making/presenting this drink but be aware this is not the usual method which is simply to build the ingredients in a glass and stir. When making cocktails for guests I often see (or perhaps imagine) a little twinkle in their eye that says “I want to try that”. The jam jar shake addresses that desire. Cocktail purists can cringe all they want but it’s a fun and easy way to make a cocktail and one that particularly suits the Corn ‘n’ Oil.

Jam jar shake.

Put all the ingredients in a jam jar* full of ice, put the lid on firmly and shake the bejesus out of it. Remove lid. Drink. Or more importantly give to your guest to do the shaking and drinking. Yes, it’s quick and dirty. Yes, the drink will be full of half melted ice. No, you can’t make just any cocktail this way. But it’s fun and it’s a convenient way to make a cocktail when you don’t have access to your usual tools. You can also use the lid to strain the contents into a second glass.

Corn ‘n’ Oil (Proof version)

1oz Cruzan blackstrap rum (if unavailable you can get away with Myers’s).

1oz gold Barbados rum (I like Plantation Barbados^)

1oz fresh lime juice (you can use less – most other recipes do)

0.75oz falernum (preferably home-made otherwise John D. Taylor’s Velvet falernum.)

2 (or more) dashes of Angostura bitters

Either pour the ingredients into an ice filled DOF glass and stir or do the jam jar shake.

Toast Barbados, birthplace of rum. Or Bajans – creators of the Corn ‘n’ Oil.

*I like the Bonne Maman jam jars and luckily my family also like the jam. Save the empties and remove the label by soaking the jar in hot water for a while.

^Other Bajan rums include Mount Gay, Cockspur and Doorly’s)

 

 

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The Whisky Sour + a miracle ingredient.

Posted on 22nd May 2017 by Andy

Your protein fruit shake – Proof style. I’m taking the peas.

The Whisky Sour + a miracle ingredient.

This is a nice simple drink for the whisky lover. It’s been around forever and is so standard it never even sees much discussion. Some may say a Whisky Sour is bourbon, lemon juice and a teaspoon of sugar, shaken into a tumbler and they would not be wrong. Others may make a Daiquiri with Scotch instead of rum and they would not be wrong either. The name Whisky Sour is vague enough to be forgiving – a sour is, after all, an entire category of cocktails and not a single drink. Daiquiris, Gimlets and even Margaritas are all sours which adhere to the basic formula: spirit/citrus juice/sweetener. Where it might get just slightly divisive is on the question to use some egg white to give the drink a firm and creamy head or not. I say a firm “yes” to both. We’ll come back to that but first I’m going to try to stir up a little controversy. You see, I think that Bourbon likes lime juice more than the traditional lemon and that Scotch prefers lemon juice to lime. Try it both ways and see if you agree. We can fight it out in the comments section. In any case you have a wide range of options here so just tinker away until you find a formula you like. I’ve given two common versions below as starting points.

But first:

The options: One chick, two chicks, or a bunch of chick(pea)s. Spoiled somewhat by the fact that we call them “frogpeas” in The Netherlands.

Back to the egg white thing. I have to admit, I’m a touch squeamish about raw egg white in my drinks. Sure, I’ll make a Whisky Sour and drink it but at the back of my mind a little voice is saying “wrong, wrong, wrong, you’ll get sick“. It tempers my enjoyment just a little. As well as that cracking and separating eggs can just be, well, messy. Fortunately a couple of new options have recently opened up. Pre-packaged pasteurised egg whites may have existed in the first world for some time but at last they are also available in my local supermarket. So that’s the mess and the Salmonella taken care of at least. That’s a good start but then I recently stumbled on something truly intriguing. Aquafaba. AquaTF? Exactly. It turns out vegans, bless their goat wool socks, have been looking for a alternative for egg whites in cooking for some time. Apparently the solution is exactly that – the liquid you find in a can of chickpeas. It will make your meringues fluffy, bind your beanburgers and might even give your Whisky Sour a firm foamy head. I know you’re checking the date right now but, no, I promise this is real. You can look it up if you don’t believe me because, amazingly, chickpea water actually has its own website. I find it faintly ridiculous that this miracle liquid has been given its own fancy-ass name but regardless I resolved to give it a try – if only to give vegans a chance to enjoy a good Whisky Sour. And, hey, if it works, a can of chickpeas has a much longer shelf life than eggs. I even have a bar snack recipe for the left-over chickpeas (fry chickpeas until crispy and dust with Spanish smoked pepper and a little salt). You know what? It totally works. It’s easy to pour (not slimy like egg white) produces a nice firm, smooth, foam head, has the right mouthfeel and, most importantly, doesn’t impart any discernible chickpea-iness to the flavour of the cocktail. The Whisky Sour I made (recipe #1 below, pictured above) was at least as good as any I’ve made with egg white, maybe even better. Wow – I’m still in shock. I don’t think there’s any way I’m going back to eggs now. Thanks vegans – I owe you one! Don’t get carried away though, I’m not ready to give up on the sausages and bacon any time soon.

Here are two basic ways of making a Whisk(e)y Sour. You can also switch them around and serve the Scotch based #1 on the rocks or the Bourbon #2 up. You can just as easily use Irish, rye or Canadian whisky.

Whisky Sour #1

2oz Scotch blended whisky (I used Johnnie Walker Red).

0.75oz fresh lemon juice (or lime juice).

0.5oz sugar syrup (1:1) to taste.

1oz Aquaf… Nah, chickpea juice.

Shake long and hard and strain into a chilled champagne coupé.

Toast Goose Wohlt and the vegan community for their bizarre, but useful, discovery.

Whiskey Sour #2

2oz Bourbon of choice.

0.75oz fresh lime juice (or lemon juice).

0.5oz sugar syrup (1:1) to taste.

Shake with ice and strain into a DOF glass containing fresh ice cubes.

Garnish with combinations of orange, lemon, lime and cherry. Or not.

 

 

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Tradewinds.

Posted on 20th May 2017 by Andy

Blowin’ in the wind.

Tradewinds.

The problem with lot of Tiki drinks is that they often need a bunch of weird and wonderful ingredients as well as exotic rums that the casual cocktailien might not be in possession of. The Tradewinds is a full-on Tiki drink that is relatively simple to make and a great introduction to the genre even though it’s not a very well known drink. Not too rum heavy, super refreshing and easy to batch up for a party, consider the Tradewinds a sort of liquid press gang that will get your friends to sign on to the crew of the good ship Tiki.

The Tradewinds originally appears in Jeff “Beachbum” Berry’s indispensible Tiki bible Remixed as a large communal drink but I’ve re-remixed it into this single portion version which is a bit more manageable. Jeff doesn’t tell us much about the drink other than it hails from the Caribbean sometime in the 70’s. That would make it a real tail-end Tiki drink which perhaps explains its lack of fame.

You’ll need to make some coconut syrup to make a Tradewinds but that’s pretty easy – just mix some rich sugar syrup with an equal amount of coconut milk and give it a good shake. A few drops of coconut extract can be added if you have any.

Tradewinds

1.25oz fresh lemon juice

1oz coconut syrup (see above)

1oz apricot brandy/liqueur (I used Bols)

1oz white rum (I used Havana Club 3 Años)

1oz dark Jamaican rum (I used Myers)

Put into a blender with a cup of crushed ice and pulse blend 5 or 6 times*

Pour unstrained into a suitable receptacle.

Toast the unknown Caribbean bartender. Well done – whoever you are!

*When blending remember that you are using your blender to mix a drink not make a smoothie or a slushy. Five or six short pulses is all you need. If you don’t have a blender add an ounce of soda water to the recipe and shake it long and hard with a cup of crushed ice.

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Green ginger wine – 3 recipes.

Posted on 17th May 2017 by Andy

Green ginger wine recipes.

Inspired by a question on Reddit we’re going to take look at an interesting ingredient – green ginger wine. It’s usually considered a crusty old kind of drink that, at least in my younger days in Scotland, old barflies would add to their whisky. It would invariably be Crabbie’s brand but there are certainly others such as Hutchison’s and Stone’s – the latter being the choice in England. Green ginger wine is made from wine, ginger, various fruits, herbs and spices all slightly fortified with a neutral spirit to 13.5%ABV. Hang on a second – doesn’t that sound a bit familiar? Ha! Suddenly it all makes sense – green ginger wine is Scottish vermouth! Sounds to me like it must be Let’s Rehabilitate an Old Ingredient time, so grab some green ginger wine and let’s go to work. If you’re in a place where green ginger wine isn’t on the supermarket shelves (usually in the bottom corner covered in dust) try your local bottle shop or Chinese grocery (yes, really). Apart from the three recipes below try using green ginger wine as a substitute for dry or white vermouth in other recipes.

Whisky Mac

Return of the Mac.

Named for its inventor, Colonel MacDonald, this drink is usually just a roughly equal mix of blended Scotch and Crabbie’s thrown together in a glass. Apparently it’s popular with golfers which makes sense as it would be a suitable mix to put in a hip flask to fortify oneself against the elements. Let’s bring it up to date just a little with that crazy newfangled invention – ice.

Whisky Mac

2oz Scotch of choice.

1oz Crabbie’s (or another) green ginger wine.

Stir with ice and strain into a DOF glass containing a big block of clear ice.

Garnish with a slice of ginger (optional).

Toast Colonel MacDonald.

Singing Ginger

Singing Ginger

This is one of my own recipes. In Glasgow a fizzy soft drink is often known as “ginger” – presumably because at one time the only such drink was ginger beer. “Singin’ ginger” is slang for a strong alcoholic drink – most likely a bottle of “Buckie“. We can do better than that, right? While this looks like it should be a stirred drink I’ve discovered that if you can get it very cold it has a wonderful crisp quality worth sacrificing a little clarity for. I fine tuned the recipe after I took the photo so your Singing Ginger won’t be quite so green – or big.

Singing Ginger

1.5oz gin (I used Blackwood’s because it’s also Scottish – and delicious).

1oz Lillet Blanc (if unavailable use a white/blanco/bianco vermouth)

1oz Crabbie’s green ginger wine.

Shake hard with ice and strain into a well chilled champagne coupé.

Garnish with pickled sweet ginger on a bamboo skewer (optional).

Toast Cha Burns (1957 – 2007) of The Silencers who played a tune called Singing Ginger.

Scotch Sitting Room

The drammed don’t cry.

I based this on an Old Fashioned and just ginged it up a touch. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Scotch Sitting Room

2oz single malt Scotch whisky of your choice (I chose Glenfiddich 12 year old).

2 teaspoons of green ginger wine.

1 teaspoon rich honey syrup.

2 dashes Angostura bitters.

Stir with ice and strain into DOF glass containing a big block of clear ice.

Garnish with a lemon twist (optional).

Toast Ivor Cutler (1923 – 2006) who wrote and performed Life in a Scotch Sitting Room.

 

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The Hurricane.

Posted on 15th May 2017 by Andy

You are like a Hurricane…

The Hurricane.

Since we’ve recently covered New Orleans’ other two famous cocktails, the Sazerac and the Vieux Carré, we should probably complete the trilogy. Especially since summer is almost upon us – for the Hurricane is a most illustrious warm weather drink. The Hurricane is certainly the most tropical drink ever to emerge from an Irish bar and is a well established Tiki staple. Picture a scene: New Orleans, the middle of WW2, the USA has stopped producing whiskey for the duration and bar owner Pat O’Brien needs whiskey for his bar. Suppliers are forcing him to purchase (more plentiful) rum with every bottle of whiskey so Pat’s bar is overflowing with rum. And sailors. If only he could think of a solution… Based on Pat’s solution we might also deduce there was an abundance lemons and passion fruit syrup too, as the original recipe was a fairly bonkers four ounces of rum, two ounces of lemon juice and two ounces of passion fruit syrup, shaken with ice into a Hurricane glass. You can make the original if you want – it’s pretty good but very potent. Alas the original recipe quickly descended into the farcical super sweet, chemical cherry flavour version served today. We shall ply the middle ground with my house version of the Hurricane that keeps the character of the original without sending us to Davy Jones’ locker. Notice that the proportions of the main three ingredients are unchanged. As long as you can get your hands on some decent passion fruit syrup this is a very easy drink to make. The Hurricane is a great drink for a BBQ or outdoor party especially as it lends itself well both to being batch up in advance as well as to being “lengthened” with soda water for those that prefer a milder drink. If fact eliminating the rum altogether and adding yet more soda creates a cracking 0% mocktail. Let’s name that the Gentle Breeze.

Hurricane (Proof version)

2oz dark rum (Myers or Captain Morgan Black both work well)

1oz passion fruit syrup (see note below)

1oz fresh lemon juice

1oz orange juice (good quality carton is fine)

0.5oz grenadine (home-made or commercial*)

Shake with ice and pour into an iced Hurricane glass

Top up with soda (optional)

Garnish with whimsy

Toast Pat O’Brien creator of the Hurricane.

Notes:

Good passion fruit syrup can be tricky to find. I use Finest Call brand which is, let’s just say, by far their best product. While it’s a US brand it sometimes shows up in Europe. Monin make a passion fruit syrup but it’s a bit weak on flavour and should be your last resort (it’s a pity as their other syrups are pretty decent). If you have better options where you live please use those.

UPDATE: These days I make my own passion fruit syrup and find it much tastier than any of the commercial ones.

*If you use a commercial grenadine your Hurricane will be a more pink/red colour.

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Vieux Carré

Posted on 12th May 2017 by Andy

Carré me home.

Vieux Carré.

By popular request we’ll be looking at the Vieux Carré cocktail today. While another famous New Orleans cocktail that we looked at recently, the Sazerac, forces us to choose between Cognac or rye the Vieux Carré solves our dilemma by using both at once. It’s an extremely skillfully crafted cocktail that blends some assertive and contradictory spirits into a rather sophisticated and well behaved ensemble. Either that or it’s a cleverly messed up Manhattan served on the rocks. Something of a rediscovered classic the Vieux Carré might have suffered somewhat because non-French speakers were scared to order it for fear of mispronunciation. To set the record straight it’s Vee-you Car-ray and means “old square” which was what the French Quarter of New Orleans was called when it was still French. It’s not entirely clear to me whether this drink died out completely or was gradually debased over the years like so many others. In either case the saviour of the Vieux Carré (as well as a host of other drinks) is a gentleman called Ted “Dr. Cocktail” Haigh. His book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails is a handy spiral bound tome (in other words it doesn’t slam itself shut just as you’re trying to assemble a drink) that as well as some intriguing old recipes and illustrations, contains a wealth of information for those interested in the old school of bartending. It is people like Ted who made the cocktail revival possible as it has been precisely this mining of the golden days of the cocktail that has given us the foundation needed to forever banish The Dark Ages and move forward.

The Vieux Carré isn’t a drink for the sweet of tooth and I find Ted’s recipe a little on the dry side with just half a teaspoon of Benedictine. I’ve bumped it up to a full teaspoon and, as other recipes call for even more, let’s assume you should adjust the quantity of the Benny to taste. The good Doctor also calls for it to be shaken but it’s clearly a drink that wants to be stirred. Don’t be put off by the need for two different bitters – they are the two that should be at the top of your shopping list anyway.

Vieux Carré

1oz Cognac (I used Courvoisier VS)

1oz rye whiskey (I used Rittenhouse 100 proof)

1oz sweet vermouth (I used Dolin)

1 teaspoon Benedictine

2 dashes Angostura bitters

2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a DOF glass with a big block of clear ice.

Garnish with a lemon twist.

Toast Walter Bergeron for creating it in the 30s and Ted Haigh for bringing it back to life in the naughties.

Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh. Quarry books. ISBN 592535615

 

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The Clear Ice Problem – a solution.

Posted on 11th May 2017 by Andy

This is what has been missing in your life.

On clear ice.

You will have noticed that many of my recipes have been calling for “a big block of clear ice” and no doubt you’ve been wondering exactly where such a thing is supposed to come from. My bad. I should have explained this a bit earlier. I suppose I’ve been subconsciously delaying the inevitable because clear ice is such a, well, thing. The problem with The Clear Ice Problem is that even talking about it makes you sound like a bit of a dick. Now luckily for you I’m prepared to make that sacrifice, so let’s just accept that I’m a bit of dick and move right on. The main questions are – a) what is clear ice? b) why does it matter? c) how can I make it at home? Clear ice is ice that doesn’t contain cloudiness and bubbles. The cloudiness you see in the ice you make at home is a result of impurities and air in the water. When water freezes it purifies itself by forming a pure crystalline structure which in turn pushes impurities and air out. Consider a frozen lake. The ice is clear because it froze from the surface downward and, as it froze, pushed the impurities deeper down. Even a dirty lake freezes clear. However in your home freezer – which freezes cubes from the outside inwards – these impurities just get locked into the centre of your ice-cube. So what? Well, cloudy ice melts significantly more quickly than clear ice. You may even have noticed this yourself. The ice machines in most bars make clear ice that lasts much longer than the cloudy ice you make at home. This means your drink stays colder longer and doesn’t get as watery toward the end. Shaking or stirring with cloudy ice isn’t really a problem but for any drink served “on the rocks” it makes a big difference. As an added bonus there is nothing quite as beautiful as a big crystal clear iceberg floating in your Negroni.

The Clear Ice Problem – more specifically making clear ice at home or without spending a fortune on a commercial ice machine – has been driving professional and amateur cocktailiens nuts for years. All sorts of crazy ideas have been discussed on the internet. I’ve found only one of them that really works and luckily it’s also quite simple. Commercial ice machines make clear ice because they freeze like that lake – in one direction. We call this “directional freezing” and there’s an easy way to do this in our own freezer. Here we go:

Your personal lake.

Buy one of these. It’s a Coleman 5 litre/4.7 quart cool box. It’s designed to keep a lunch or six-pack of 330ml cans cool and it also makes a great ice bucket so you’re getting 3-for-1 value here. They are fairly cheap and available on Amazon. You could get another brand but make sure it fits in your freezer and that the lid comes off.

Just add water.

Fill it with water, leaving a bit of space for ice expansion, and put it in your freezer. Turn it around after about 12 hours to keep it freezing evenly. The important thing is that you don’t freeze all the water. There should be at least 2-3cm (1″) of  liquid water left at the bottom. How long? That depends on your freezer but usually between 24 and 36 hours. Note how long it takes to freeze to the desired level for future batches. In the example pictured here I left it a bit too long and it almost all froze. That’s not a disaster but it makes more work for you later.

Oh good, it fits.

Take the cooler out of the freezer and let it rest for at least 10 minutes. Don’t worry, it won’t melt, we just need it to warm up a little so that it doesn’t shatter when we carve it. Meanwhile get your tools together. You need couple of clean, dry towels of the non-fluffy kind, a clean bread-knife, a wooden or rubber mallet and some new large zip-lock bags. An ice-pick might be handy but isn’t essential. Wash your hands and clean your sink.

Slightly over-frozen block of ice. Clear on top with a cloudy base.

Turn the cooler into the sink and tap the bottom until the big block of clear ice slides out. You might want to have a clean towel or chopping board in the sink to keep the ice clean.

After trimming off the cloudy base.

Score.

And tap.

Put the block on a towel (or bar mat as shown) right beside your sink. From here on you need to work fairly quickly but carefully – please don’t cut yourself. Trim the block until you have a regular shape using the bread knife. If you removed the cube before if froze right through this should be pretty easy. If you left it too long, like I did this time, trim off the cloudy ice from the bottom. The cloudy ice cuts quite easily (that’s right – because it’s full of air and impurities). Now carve the block into slabs and then cubes by making a score with the bread knife (be very careful when starting the cut – that’s when the knife is likely to slip) then tapping the knife firmly with the mallet. You’ll be surprised how linearly the ice splits (mostly).

Slice…

…and dice.

Continue to make cubes that are just the right size to snugly fit into your DOF glasses. They’re not going to be perfect cubes but that’s fine. Sweep the shards into the sink as you go and put the cubes into a zip-lock bag. When you’re done put all but one of your lovely diamonds of clear ice in the freezer for future use and make yourself a Negroni or maybe a Lord Lucan.

Now if I could only come up with an effective way to make clear ice balls…

XXX UPDATE XXX

I came up with an effective way to make clear ice balls.

 

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