The Sazerac

Posted on 9th May 2017 by Andy

The right stuff

The Sazerac

Apologies for the lack of posts in the last couple of weeks. I was hard at work on my cocktail fact finding mission to the Caribbean and Florida (henceforth: CFFM2CF) to ascertain the state of the tropical cocktail in the 21st century. Unfortunately the rest of my family seemed to treat it like some kind of vacation. Despite this useful insights were gained and will likely colour my upcoming articles. But first, and only tangentially related, I must build on our previous article on The Old Fashioned with a discussion on The Sazerac. No, not the sand monster in Return of the Jedi, the classic – and now official – cocktail of New Orleans. The history of The Sazerac is fairly well established and this time around I’ll sub-contract that to Wikipedia. Speaking of which, I should warn you against using the otherwise wonderful Wiki as a recipe source as the quantities and ratios used there are, in my opinion, not always the best. There go my chances of ever becoming a member of the IBA.

Anyway. The Sazerac is a very old cocktail which has certainly had its share of difficulties along the way. First the scarcity of its base ingredient (Cognac) and later the banishment of another key ingredient (absinthe) for the best part of a century. This caused some necessary replacements that we can now choose to undo. Or not. Thankfully the other key ingredient – Peychaud’s Bitters – is one of only a very few bitters to survive prohibition otherwise the Sazerac would surely be extinct. Which would have been quite a disaster, as the inexplicably delicious Sazerac is a superb drink that is so much more than a sum of its parts. Whilst unashamedly Southern and undeniably conservative the Sazerac is no pickup-driving Trump voter, it is the dignified Southern gentleman of the cocktail world. The pink hue that the bitters impart might cause the casual observer to question Sazerac’s masculinity. They would be quite wrong. Our main question when preparing a Saz is whether to use Cognac or its proper replacement, rye whiskey. Both are equally valid and equally satisfying. However, I’m afraid I’m going to have to shoot down another popular replacement; there’s simply no need to use Bourbon wherever Cognac or rye are available. As for the other replacement – Herbsaint for absinthe – that’s a no-brainer. Let’s put the absinthe back where it belongs – in a Sazerac. Our only other ingredient is a spoonful of sugar, or sugar syrup. Yes, well spotted, the Sazerac is, like it or not, simply an Old Fashioned with a twist. The twist being an absinthe rinse.

Before we get to the recipe, a word on glassware. The Sazerac demands a well chilled glass coated with absinthe. I’ve seen it served in a stem glass but I think it suits an Old Fashioned glass better. The traditional method is to swirl ice and absinthe in the glass then toss out the ice but you can also chill the glass in the fridge and then spray the inside of the glass with absinthe. The Sazerac is normally served without ice but I don’t see a problem in adding a nice big chunk of clear ice, just be aware that smaller cubes will cause unwanted dilution.

The Sazerac

2oz Cognac (VS or VSOP) or rye whiskey*

1 teaspoon simple syrup (1:1)

2 or 3 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters

Stir with ice

Strain into chilled glass rinsed with absinthe (see above)

Garnish with a twist of lemon peel (optional)

Toast Antoine Peychaud who may have created the Sazerac and certainly created the bitters that bear his name and are so essential to this drink.

*Rye whiskey can be expensive and difficult to find outside the USA. Make sure you, or those you know, don’t return from there rye-less. My personal rye of choice in a Sazerac is George Dickel.

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The Old Fashioned

Posted on 18th April 2017 by Andy

Let’s get old, old fashioned…

The Old Fashioned.

We’re going to carry on keeping things simple for a little bit longer. Today we look at the wonderfully spartan Old Fashioned, which may have a fair claim to being the first cocktail. Especially if we’re being very strict about the word “cocktail”. Technically a cocktail is a drink made only of spirit, bitters, sugar and water but gradually has come to mean any mixed drink. How much do we care that we say cocktail instead of mixed drink? Not much, but there it is. Like the Collins, we should consider the Old Fashioned a family of drinks as it can be made with any of the brown spirits. The Old Fashioned is one of those few drinks where we can break the rules and use a higher end spirit. Why? Because there are no other ingredients to mask the nuances of our chosen spirit, other than the sugar and bitters which we use very sparingly. Consider it a way of taking you favourite spirit and just giving it a little tweak. It’s a contemplative drink to enjoy slowly at the end of a long day and most definitely not to be sipped before your evening meal is over. The Old Fashioned is such a good drink that it can only be properly enjoyed in quiet solitude and, if at all possible, a comfortable armchair.

Yet things have not always been so civilised for the Old Fashioned, like so many other great drinks, took a bit of a beating in The Dark Ages (c.1970 – 2000) where it was transformed into something of a fruit salad of muddled orange and cherry pulp. Thankfully those practices have largely been stamped out and we have returned our elderly old friend to his rightful place at the head of the table – it seems there’s still a few more years in the old duffer. We can even cruelly taunt those dark days by ironically skewering a slice of orange peel and a cherry and hovering them over the liquid without touching it. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Ice cold.

While Cognac or Rye were likely the first spirits to get the Old Fashioned treatment we can make a great OF with any good whisky, aged rum, anejo or resposado tequila and even mezcal (yes, I know it’s not brown but it really works). Choosing a sweetener, bitters and garnish that compliments the spirit is a great way to lift your Old Fashioned even higher. For example, if you use Canadian whisky try a teaspoon of maple syrup, for rum demerara syrup, tequila, agave syrup. You get the drift. Whisky and Cognac go well with orange peel, rum with lime, tequila grapefruit (or lime). In terms of bitters have a look at what you’ve got, if that’s just Angostura, fine, but if you have a wider collection this is exactly the cocktail to be trying it out on. It is important to consider the sweetness of the spirit when choosing your sweetener: rum or Bourbon will need less sweetening than Scotch or Cognac. The bitters will also play a crucial role. As always, this is a balancing act and great care pays yet greater dividends.

Old Fashioned

2oz spirit of choice (bad day? 3oz then)

1 teaspoon of simple syrup or alternate sweetener

1 or 2 dashes of bitters of choice

Stir with ice and strain into a DOF glass containing one large chunk of clear ice. Some purists skip the ice but then make sure the glass is well chilled.

Garnish with a slice of citrus (see text).

Toast whoever came up with this great drink – sadly we have no idea who that may have been.

The picture shows a Rum Old Fashioned made with Plantation Barbados rum sweetened with one teaspoon of 1:1 syrup, bittered with two dashes of Angostura bitters and garnished with lime peel.

What? Oh, that? Its a Leica M4 with a 50mm Summicron from 1967.

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The Gimlet

Posted on 14th April 2017 by Andy

Limeys’ delight.

The Gimlet

Let’s make something simple. You’ve got gin, right? If not we’re really wasting each others’ time here and I suggest you leave. Sugar? Thought so. You can get you hands on a lime, right? Excellent – there can be no excuse. Let’s make some Gimlets.

For such a simple cocktail there’s a lot of confusion about the right way to make a Gimlet. Often there’s Roses Lime cordial, sometimes vodka and I’ve seen some very strange proportions called for. Forget all of that crap – a Gimlet is a gin Daiquiri, simple as that. But don’t be fooled by this simplicity, done right (and really, it’s not that hard) a Gimlet, like a Daiquiri, is a revelatory drink. There’s no confusing the two, each is very much its own drink and each must be a perfect balance of its base spirit and the sweet and sour of the lime and sugar. Each also lets its base spirit express itself perfectly, switching the gin or rum for another brand or style makes a surprising difference to the drink. But let’s drop the noble Daiquiri for now and focus on the Gimlet. Like the Navy Grog the Gimlet is the result of British Navy crew mixing their gin ration with their lime ration (used to prevent scurvy and source of the term “Limey”) and a bit of sweetener. This time though it was for the officers who considered themselves far too civilised to drink uncouth rum. At first a gimlet was a tool for making a small hole in a barrel. I imagine this tool had to be carefully guarded by the officers if the rum and gin rations were to last the entire voyage. The name somehow transferred itself from the tool to the drink. At some point the fresh lime ration was replaced by Roses Lime cordial which had a longer shelf life and still kept the dreaded scurvy away. So for a long time a Gimlet was just gin and Roses. While Roses has its uses mixing 50:50 with gin isn’t one of the better ones so we’re going to dial it back to the fresh stuff.

Your lime juice should be freshly squeezed or at least no more that 6 hours old for optimal Gimletage. If you don’t already have some simple syrup (and you should!) you’ll need to make some a little bit in advance – which is no more difficult than making a cup of tea. Boil the kettle and mix, in a mug or jug, equal quantities of boiled water and sugar. Then add a little bit more sugar (about 10-15% more) because it should really be equal weights of sugar and water and sugar is a bit lighter than water. Stir. Put it in the fridge to cool.

Gimlet

2oz gin of your choice (I use Plymouth gin for the Navy connection)

0.75oz fresh lime juice*

0.5oz sugar syrup* (1:1 as described above)

Shake well with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass. A small wine glass is an acceptable substitute.

Toast Scotsman James Lind for curing scurvy with limes and therefore enabling the creation of the Gimlet.

*As with any citrus drink, you can, and should, adjust these to taste as the balance will be dependent on the sourness of your limes and how accurately you made your syrup. You’ll know when it’s right.

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Navy Grog

Posted on 10th April 2017 by Andy

Yes, that is real gold (in the glass).

Navy Grog

It’s about time we got back to Tiki and what better way to get there than with a Navy Grog. The Grog has a fair number of variations but, in my option, to call it a Navy Grog it needs to have the following ingredients: Two or more different rums one of which must be in the dark British style, white grapefruit juice, lime juice and honey. While the Navy Grog references the drink of British Navy sailors it seems unlikely the recipe matches what they were really drinking in the golden age of sail. It wasn’t so golden if you actually had to do the sailing but at least you got plenty of rum to drink, or gin if you were an officer. A mug of rum with water, a squeeze of lime and a lump of sugar – if you were lucky – all drunk warm was your lot. Several times per day. I suppose it’s not inconceivable that a bit of grapefruit juice or honey found its way in there from time to time but more likely it was the invention of Don the Beachcomber when he single-handedly circumnavigated the cocktail world in the early ’30’s and invented Tiki. If Tiki revolves around one drink it’s this one. Even though it lacks the more exotic ingredients of some of the others it’s the Navy Grog that I always seem to return to when I’m not quite sure what to make. It’s a drink that loves to be tinkered with, and tinkered with it I have, but first things first. Although not strictly essential the Navy Grog should really be served with an ice cone. That’s the thing sticking out the top of the drink in the picture with a straw through the middle of it. The old way to make an ice cone was a bit of a pain involving shaved ice, beer glasses and chopsticks and I’ve been messing around looking for a more elegant solution for a while now. And I think I might have cracked it. Go here to see my article on making a 21st century ice cone. Anyway, on to the original Don the Beachcomber Navy Grog. Note there are two alternate ways to make this depending on whether you have a blender and have made some ice cones or not. The blender method is more authentic.

Navy Grog (classic Don the Beachcomber recipe)

0.75oz fresh lime juice

0.75oz white grapefruit juice

1oz honey mix (this is 1 part honey to 1 part water, you can use 3:1 honey syrup but use less – just over 0.5oz)

1oz white Spanish style rum (eg. Havana Club 3 años)

1oz gold rum (ideally Barbados or Jamaican)

1oz dark British style dark rum (ideally Demerara or Jamaican)

[0.75oz soda water only if shaking]

Either

Blend for about 10 seconds with 2-3oz of crushed ice (until the ice has almost vanished). Pour unstrained into a DOF glass containing an ice cone.

OR

Shake well with 6-8oz of crushed ice and pour unstrained into a DOF glass.

Toast The Grogfather – Don the Beachcomber – and prepare to have your timbers shivered!

While the original Navy Grop is good I think it benefits from a Proof Cocktails upgrade. My version follows the same formula but uses stronger more flavourful rums of the overproof variety. I reduced the quantites in order to avoid instant death but even so it’s somewhat stronger than the original so please take care.

Navy Proof

Follow the above instructions exactly but for the rum substitute:

0.75oz Smith and Cross rum (57%)

0.75oz Wray & Nephew overproof white rum (63%)

0.5oz Lemon Hart 151 Demerara rum (75.5%)* or Plantation OFTD (69%)

This makes for a more flavourful, fuller bodied grog. The use of two strong Jamaican rums really lets you taste that “funk”. Feel free to make your own substitutions based on what is available to you.

*or alternatives during the European LH151 drought of 2017 such as 0.25oz Plantation Original Dark Overproof and 0.25oz Wood’s 100 Navy Strength.

 

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Witches Jelly + cinnamon syrup

Posted on 9th April 2017 by Andy

Careful not to fall in.

Witches Jelly

The Witches Jelly is one of my own recipes that seems to go down well with my guests. It’s a nice bittersweet drink that really showcases Amaro Montenegro (familiar from The Ottoman), one of my favourite Amari. The Witches Jelly is a fairly easy drink to make if you have a couple of the Tiki staple ingredients to hand namely cinnamon syrup and white grapefruit juice. Unfortunately it has become rather difficult to find fresh white grapefruit these days. I blame our sweetening palates for the takeover of pink and, increasingly, red grapefruit in our supermarkets. For the vast majority of cocktails we want the bitterness of white grapefruit juice and at the moment it seems to require a visit to a health food shop where you can buy it by the bottle. It’s actually pretty good but fresh is better still. You tend not to use a lot at a time so I usually decant a bottle into a number of smaller plastic bottles and freeze them until needed. If anyone knows a source of fresh white grapefruit in Amsterdam please let me know. If it checks out I’ll name a cocktail after you.

Cinnamon syrup.

300g fine white sugar

150ml just boiled water

3 cinnamon sticks* broken up into small flakes in a mortar and pestle

Combine in a clean pan, stir and cover

Let sit for 1-2 hours stirring now and then

Strain through a fine mesh sieve and put into a sterilised bottle

Will keep in the fridge for at least 3 months

*Use the thick skinned (cassia/Chinese) cinnamon for best results. The thin skinned “true” cinnamon is a bit mild for this although sometimes I use two sticks of cassia and one of true which is a nice combination.

Not your regular jelly shot.

Witches Jelly.

1.5oz dry London gin (I use Bombay Sapphire or Brokers).

0.75oz Amaro Montenegro.

0.75oz white grapefruit juice (fresh or bottled, as discussed above).

0.25oz cinnamon syrup.

Shake with ice.

Strain into a chilled champagne coupe or cocktail glass.

Toast the Strugatsky brothers for their classic Russian sci-fi novel Roadside Picnic from which this cocktail takes its name. Read it to find out why.

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La Medicina Latina

Posted on 6th April 2017 by Andy

So good I drank half of it before I remembered to take a picture.

La Medicina Latina

This is the twin sister of The Penicillin. If you’ve never heard of it I strongly suggest you read about it first because all of that jibber-jabber also applies to the Latina. Along with the Paper Plane and many others these recipes are to be found in Sasha Petraske’s posthumous, and only, book Regarding Cocktails. I massively recommend this book. You won’t find it full of fancy (or indeed any) photographs and my copy does contain a few misprints (including on the Latina recipe) but it’s a wall to wall collection of superb yet accessible recipes and tips from Sasha and his crew from M&H and its successor bars. It also doesn’t demand a myriad of esoteric ingredients like so many recent “craft” cocktail books. It’s an absolutely essential cocktail book as well as a fitting memorial to Sasha. Anyway, on to the drink.

What La Medicina Latina does is substitute tequila for the blended whisky of the Penicillin, lime juice for lemon and a spoonful of mezcal for the Islay malt float. Despite the alterations the trick remains the same, smoky mezcal on the nose, sweet and tangy tequila, lime, honey and ginger on the tongue. Wowzer. This a stunning upgrade to an already superb drink.

La Medicina Latina

2oz reposado tequila – 100% agave.

0.75oz fresh lime juice

2 teaspoons each of your honey and ginger syrups or to look at it another way 0.75oz in total of honey and ginger syrup.

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled DOF glass containing a big lump of ice.

THEN

float a heaped teaspoon of good quality mezcal on top.

Garnish with a piece of candied ginger (optional).

Toast Georgette Moger-Petraske for making sure her late husband’s recipes were set free in Regarding Cocktails.

ISBN 978 0 7148 7281 0

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The Penicillin + ginger syrup + honey syrup

Posted on 5th April 2017 by Andy

Doctor’s orders.

The Penicillin

A little while ago we talked about Sam Ross and the Paper Plane. Sam’s other famous creation is the Penicillin – another modern classic, even more so than the Paper Plane. It’s a creation that owes its existence to a very special bar and a very special – some might say eccentric, but not I – young gentleman, who sadly is no longer with us. A key player, perhaps the key player in this glorious cocktail renaissance was Sasha Petraske and his New York speakeasy Milk and Honey. M&H (as the cocktail cognoscenti call it) was never a mass market breakthrough – it was never meant to be – but it kick-started the idea the cocktail world should look to the past for inspiration and that craftsmanship was the way forward – and not the ludicrous circus juggling act that the Dark Ages of the cocktail had become. Sam Ross worked there and came up with this drink, a riff on an existing M&H favourite The Gold Rush, itself a Whisky Sour variation. One of Petraske’s genius moves was using honey syrup in place of sugar syrup and it truly is a revelation. The Penicillin uses this and a ginger syrup. Let’s learn how to make both of those before we proceed.

Honey syrup

Take 3 parts liquid honey of reasonable quality and add 1 part boiled water (while still very hot). Put in a sterilised bottle and shake well for 20-30 seconds. Store in the fridge. It will keep for weeks but it’s so easy to make I make a small batch (200-250ml) every couple of weeks. Some Tiki drinks (mostly Navy Grog variations) call for a honey mix which is made 1:1 with water. You can use this rich honey syrup instead but use just a little over half the amount.

Ginger syrup

Take a couple of thumb sized sticks of fresh ginger. Cut it into slices (don’t even bother peeling it). Mash it up in a mortar and pestle or food processor. Put the remains in 200ml of freshly made, and still hot, 1.5:1 syrup (150ml of sugar to 100ml of boiled water) and leave it there for a couple of hours, stirring now and then. Sieve it and put in a sterilised bottle. [Note: I’ve changed this recipe from an earlier version to make it more accessible.]

The clever mind trick of the Penicillin is that the drinker gets a big whiff of powerful, oily, smoky malt from the float. Then they take a sip, but aha! they’re drinking from the much milder concoction beneath. The expectation of harshness followed be the reward of fragrant sweetness really is something special. And at the end, if you remembered not to stir, you get your smoky kick after all. And then you get to eat the spicy/sweet candied ginger. It’s just genius from start to finish.

The Penicillin

2oz / 60ml light blended Scotch. eg. Johnnie Walker Red Label or similar.

0.75oz / 22.5ml fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons each of your honey and ginger syrups or to look at it another way 0.75oz / 22.5ml in total of honey and ginger syrup.

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled DOF glass containing a big lump of ice.

THEN

float a heaped teaspoon of smoky Islay malt whiskey on top.

Serve with a straw just taller than the glass (see picture) so that the drinkers nose gets up close to the smoky whisky layer. Trim some straws for length if necessary.

Garnish with a piece of candied ginger (optional).

Toast Sasha Petraske, saviour of the classic cocktail.

I have an optional extra “trick” I use to good effect in The Penicillin that you can copy if you have a Libbey Hobstar glass (or dimensionally identical substitute) and a Tovolo ice sphere mould (ditto). Put the ice ball in the glass and strain the drink over it in front of your guest. It takes the cold booze a little time to work its way under the snugly fitting ice ball then suddenly the ice ball will pop up through the liquid. Tip the Islay malt onto the apex of the sphere whence it will float itself nice and evenly over the surface. Add the straws and serve. Doesn’t sound like much but people seem to find it curiously impressive.

 

 

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The Ottoman + Veld tulip vodka

Posted on 2nd April 2017 by Andy

Turkish delight?

The Ottoman – Veld tulip vodka

Bit of a long story this one so if you’re just here for the recipe scrolly on down to the end. A little while ago I was put in touch with a couple of local – or should that be loco – guys who had a new product on the market and were looking to weaponize it in some cocktails. Veld tulip vodka. Yeah, I know. At first that’s what I was thinking too. I don’t even do vodka. It has no taste. It brings nothing to a cocktail. Fortunately my contact insisted that I actually try this stuff before I climbed up on my high horse. Just as well. It turned out Marcel and Wouter were top guys who were just crazy enough to come up with such a strange concept while still having the smarts to turn it into a well polished premium product. I hesitate to call it a vodka as it’s really in a class of it’s own – I tend to treat it more like a gin, although it’s clearly not that either. Distilled from rather special organic tulip bulbs the Veld (that’s Dutch for field – pronounced “felled” btw) is then infused with some other ingredients that give it gentle bittersweet floral notes. I was told what those additions are but I’m not certain if they’re a trade secret or not so I’m keeping it zipped for now. It’s surprisingly smooth for its 41%ABV and while definitely sippable I think it really shines as a base for classic style cocktails. I came at it from the gin substitute angle and, while it sometimes crashed and burned, more often it soared, taking a classic recipe off at an interesting tangent. I came up with about five recipes but the one that got the boys really excited was The Ottoman (my recipe – their name) which has a certain oriental quality to it – which works out quite nicely since tulips are originally from Turkey. The other key ingredient in The Ottoman is Amaro Montenegro, one of my absolute favorite amari, which has an amazing synergy with the Veld. The addition of just a splash of dry vermouth pulls the slight sweetness of the other two back into balance. The lemon peel is essential to the drink, the tart oils of which are just enough to allow the combination to sparkle. This is a drink that looks particularly elegant is some vintage glassware if you have some. Don’t try to make The Ottoman with regular vodka – we did and it sucked – but if you can’t get your hands on some Veld you could try it with gin – particularly a piney one like Gordon’s.

Last weekend yours truly and Mrs Proof popped round to the Veld launch party – a characteristically underground affair – and watched the quaffing of my recipes (The Ottoman and Dr. Tulp) with a certain satisfaction. We may have tried one or two ourselves. To be honest we can’t remember.

Wouter Vos with a bottle of pre-batched Dr. Tulp at the launch party.

The other recipes I created for Veld can be found on their website but below I give you the recipe for The Ottoman converted into both English and fluid Ounces. Maybe we’ll return to the others in the future.

The Ottoman

1.5oz Veld tulip vodka

0.75oz Amaro Montenegro

0.5oz dry vermouth (eg. Dolin, Noilly Prat)

Stir with ice.

Strain into a chilled glass. Wipe the rim with a fresh lemon peel and garnish with the same.

Toast Marcel and Wouter – we need their kind of smart craziness in the cocktail world.

Full disclosure: While I’ve worked with Veld/Liquid Field the above are my honest opinions. No money was offered or accepted in exchange for publishing this review.

If you are interested in having bespoke recipes created for your product please feel free to get in touch with me via the contact page.

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The Collins Family

Posted on 30th March 2017 by Andy

Jan’s the man.

 

The Collins Family

Today was the first day of the year where the mercury hit 20°C so it’s time to mix up some spring drinks. Say “Hi” to the Collins family. This is a family that can move into my neighbourhood any time they like. They’re a friendly and easy going bunch – and there are just so many of them. While technically a mixed drink – or cooler – rather than a true cocktail, we’ll forgive the Collins due to its ease of preparation and sheer tastiness. You don’t need much to make a Collins – a tall glass, ice, lemon juice, simple syrup, soda water, your spirit of choice and a spoon. Nothing too challenging there then, right? Heck, you don’t even have to bust out the shaker for this one. You can mix up a tray of these at a BBQ or other outdoor party without breaking sweat. Having said that, if you’re thinking isn’t that basically just gin and 7Up? you would be wrong. Very wrong. My advice is to start with John or Tom Collins before introducing yourself to the rest of the family. No one can agree on whether the Collins brothers are English or American, or whether John or Tom is the eldest. Indeed there’s a bit of uncertainty about the rest of the family too but as far as I can tell it goes something like this:

Tom Collins – London dry gin (but originally Old Tom gin, which was sweeter.)

John Collins – jenever (aka Dutch gin, Hollands gin or even Geneva gin in older recipes.)*

Jock or Sandy Collins – Scotch whisky

Captain Collins – Canadian whisky (not sure why.)

Colonel Collins – Bourbon (I’m seeing possibilities for a Jack or Jim Collins here too.)*

Pedro Collins – white rum

Juan or Pepito Collins – tequila

Michael Collins – Irish whiskey (clever one that.)

Pierre Collins – Cognac

Joe Collins – Vodka (why? Surely it should be Ivan.)

Personally I think the John Collins is wrongly named as Jan is the Dutch equivalent of John. It’s also my favourite Collins. So:

Jan Collins

Into a tall, ice filled glass add:

1.5 – 2oz jenever (or your spirit of choice, remembering to change the name appropriately.)

1oz fresh lemon juice

0.75oz simple syrup

Top up with soda and give a good stir.

Serve with a straw.

Toast whichever Collins you picked.

* It should be noted that a John Collins in the USA is generally taken to mean a Bourbon based Collins. When John switched from being gin to Bourbon isn’t clear but (especially in the US) if in doubt be clear on exactly which base spirit you wanted to have in your Collins.

 

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Gin and It + vermouth.

Posted on 28th March 2017 by Andy

It’s my party.

Gin and It

Gin and what? Gin and It. What’s It? It’s vermouth. Italian vermouth, also known as sweet vermouth or, if we’re being uncouth, red vermouth. It doesn’t get any simpler than this ancient combo. Sibling of the Martini, quite possibly the elder sibling at that, the Gin and It is a forgotten classic that is long overdue a resurrection. Because gins and Italian vermouths vary quite widely in flavour there is considerable scope for experimentation here both in the spirits used and the relative proportions. You’ll know when you’ve hit the sweet spot but be sure to write it down when you do. While my pictured Plymouth and Willem’s combo wasn’t at all bad I didn’t think it quite hit the nail on the head. But them’s the breaks: the micro-synergies that take a cocktail to the upper levels are hard to predict.  I guess I’ll just have to keep trying. Watch this space…

Gin and It

2oz – 2.5oz gin of choice.

0.5-1oz Italian (aka sweet, red) vermouth of choice.

Stir with ice.

Strain into a chilled champagne coupe and garnish with a lemon twist.

Toast Antonio Benedetto Carpano for inventing vermouth in 1786.

On vermouth

In that latter half of the 19th century these strange fortified wines called vermouth started showing up in early cocktails. And for a long while the cocktail world went vermouth crazy. But what the heck is this stuff? Originally – like so many of our ingredients – intended as a stomach medicine, vermouth is made by steeping herbs and spices in wine to extract their magical powers. There are three kinds of which you need only two but need them you do. The kind you don’t need is white/blanco/bianco vermouth. Glad we got that out of the way. The two remaining, and useful, types are:

Dry vermouth. Aka: “extra dry” or French vermouth. This has bitter notes and is used to counterbalance sweetness in a cocktail. Apart from the label this is almost always identified by being in a green bottle.

Sweet vermouth. Aka: Italian vermouth or red vermouth. It either comes in a red bottle or is red in a clear bottle (see pic above). While it’s called “sweet” it’s actually a balance of bitter and sweet but gets its name by being sweeter than dry vermouth.

Happily we are living through a vermouth renaissance with a quite spectacular array of choices compared to just a few years ago. Dolin is a rock solid brand for both styles and I’m a huge fan of Punt e Mes as a bittered Italian style. Noilly Pratt is a good French vermouth that is widely available. Excellent high end Italian vermouths include Carpano Antica and Willem’s Wermoed – from right here in good old Amsterdam.

Note that the “French” and “Italian” names are only indications of the style of the vermouth. The French make both dry and sweet as do the Italians.

Vermouth tends to go off after a while. I suggest keeping it in the fridge and/or using a Vacu-Vin stopper to prolong its life.

 

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