Cocktails to complement spicy Thai cooking

Yesterday's cocktail item...
Challenged to prepare a few cocktails to complement a party with a Thai Menu built around menu items from the Portland/Brooklyn restaurant PokPok, I used WhiskeySodaBar's bar manager Alex Mirkin's suggestion, and choose ingredients that would cut through the heat of the spicy seasoned food. Mirkin relies heavily on PokPok's drinking vinegars as the acid component in many of his drinks, and I did the same, by creating a vinegar base from Champagne Citrus Vinegar mixed with sweetened tamarind paste.
Cocktail #2, pictured here, was a highball, made with cucumber and red pepper infused vodka, salted cucumber simple syrup, tamarind drinking vinegar, and topped with soda. The garnish was a cucumber slice dipped in chili sugar salt, and a red pepper slice. The cucumber did a great job cutting through the spicy heat of the food.

Blackberry Merle cocktail - a summer cocktail with a dark Italian twist

The Blackberry Merle was a cocktail that was born from ingredients that were on hand.  Looking for a new way to showcase the versatility of Pinnacle's Whipped Vodka, I created this fruity but complex cocktail, with an Italian twist.
Pinnacle Whipped vodka tastes like whipped cream, and has a noticeably sweet finish on the palate - so it  works exceedingly well in sweet-and-fruity cocktail pairings like Strawberries-and-Cream (muddled strawberries, Pinnacle Whipped, mint leaf garnish, on the rocks) or OrangeCreamsicle (orange juice, Pinnacle Whipped, ice, in a highball glass.)
But for this occasion I was looking to build onto the flavored vodka for a more complex and mysterious cocktail.  A few muddled blackberries provided the base, and a half-shot of Italian Strega liqueur was perfect for adding some herbaceous and vanilla notes.  I added some lemon juice for tartness, and a bit of Monin lavender syrup to balance the tart and add a more floral character.
Shaken vigorously over ice and then fine strained into a chilled v-shaped martini glass, adding a single berry and a twist for garnish, the drink had a gorgeous dark purple hue.
Overall, everyone who tried this cocktail was enamored with the result.  Complex, fruity, and dark in color, the Blackberry Merle had a not-too-sweet flavor, and mysterious quality that had customers trying to guess the ingredients while ordering second rounds.
Try this cocktail for summer.  You can find Strega in any good liquor store with a large selection (Premier Group, Passport Wine & Spirits)  and Monin lavender syrup at Premier Gourmet on Delaware.

Blackberry Merle
1.5 oz Pinnacle Whipped Vodka
.5 oz Strega liqueur
.25 oz Monin lavender-flavored syrup
.5 oz fresh squezzed lemon juice
4 fresh blackberries
lemon twist

Gently muddle 3 blackberries in the bottom of a mixing glass, and add the Pinnacle Whipped, Strega, fresh lemon juice, and Monin lavender syrup.  Fill the shaker with ice and hard-shake until very cold - at least 30 seconds.  Strain through your Hawtorne strainer and then into a fine strainer - leaving ice shards and blackberry piecies behind - into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish with the last blackberry and a twist of lemon peel.

Ina Garten the "Barefoot Contessa" to get sexy and violent on the Food Network to attract ratings?

My wife and I enjoy watching the Barefoot Contessa show.  Ina Garten may not be the most exciting and entertaining cook on television, but as Anthony Bourdain said... "She knows how to cook. Her mashed potatoes are dead-on professional. I can’t believe she’s still on the Food Network."

Her cooking show is frequently punctuated by visits from her fabulously rich gay friends, and cute kisses with her often-not-at-home-but-loving husband.

So I had to laugh out loud when I saw this little programing error from Time Warner Cable.

Perhaps someone at Time Warner is envisioning a cat-fight breaking out at one of her fabulous dinner parties.

Another "Ladies Night Out" experimental drink: FAIL

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Olde Thyme Lemonade Cooler

My wife was having eight lady friends over for dinner and wine.

"What do you think, should I have a welcome drink for when the girls arrive?" she asks, at the last minute.  "Maybe something lemon-y and herbal-y and light," she says.
"Can you make something with limoncello?  But not so strong?"

"Well, I don't have much of my homemade limoncello left,"  I answered,
not really looking forward to using the last of my precious limoncello in a mixed drink.
"How about something with lemon, and thyme?  Thyme would complement the Mediterranean menu."

So I get going with another of my 1:00 AM  last-minute experimental concoctions...

Filled  one 16-oz glass canning jar with...
a very large sprig of fresh thyme
the peel of 2 lemons
2 oz.  160 proof vodka
muddled the heck out of it.
added...
8 oz. citron vodka
4 oz. fresh lemon juice
2 oz. simple syrup
2 oz. Lillet Blanc
1 oz. St Germain
8 dashes orange bitters
filled the last 1/2 inch of the bottle with more 160 proof vodka, and sealed it up.

The next morning...  
Left instructions to pour 1 oz over crushed ice and top with 3 oz of sparkling water or lemon soda.

The verdict?
While everyone was polite, this drink was not a big crowd-pleaser that left the ladies begging for more.
Comments like:
"I thought it was pretty good."
and  "It could have been more lemon-y"
told me this probably needs to be re-worked.

Fox Bat Strategy plays "The Pink Room"

I listened to Sasha Pixlee's second podcast, "Old Man Cocktails," and he mentioned he thought he might need some Theme Music for his segment entitled "Sasha's Rules for Bad Ass cocktails."

I don't know why, but the song "The Pink Room" from the movie,  Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, popped into my head as the perfect candidate for the job. I don't think music can get any more Bad Ass than this.

Once I got home that evening, I looked it up, only to find out that David Lynch, film director, artist, weather man, Eagle Scout, and all-around quirky character, had just released a new album of music featuring the same studio musicians he hired to play in the film.

David Lynch presents Fox Bat Strategy: A tribute to Dave Jaurequi, has seven original tunes that has that nostalgic 50's , rock-a-billy, massive reverb thing going and, like Lynch himself, manages to straddle the line behind hip retro and and slightly obtuse.

"They Go Down" is a track I highly recommend, especially while sipping Pixlee's Skeptic cocktail.

The Skeptic cocktail turned out to be a nice variation on the Manhattan, and with the inclusion of vanilla-forward Tuaca herbal liqueur, the sort of thing you might picture yourself sipping while watching Isabella Rosselini sing cryptic Chris Isaak-inspired rockabilly ballads.

Sasha Pixlee's Skeptic cocktail

2 oz rye whiskey

1 oz Tuaca liqueur
2-3 dashes Angostura bitters
1 slice of lemon peel

Stir with ice and serve straight up in a cocktail glass, twist the lemon peel over the drink before dropping it in, as the oil lends an important flavor component to the cocktail.

Recreating Sasha Pixlee's Errol Flynn Fizz

I recently discovered a cocktail PodCast from a gentleman named Sasha Pixlee. Sasha calls his Podcast, "Sasha's Den of Iniquity," (which sounds a bit more like a BDSM dungeon than a name of a cocktail show.) I really enjoy Pixlee's style. He seems to have a dry wit, and a no-nonsense attitude, that comes across in his only-slightly vulgar delivery.

His very first episode featured fizzy drinks, which was a perfect topic for summer. Of course, the Gin & Tonic opened up the show, and then he moved on to some introductions of the Hemingway Code Hero, French 75, and something he invented, the Errol Flynn Fizz.
Now, I'm a sucker for cocktails with egg whites in them. There is something very appealing to the textural mouth-feel you can achieve with an egg in a drink. So, I knew this was something I needed to try...

Errol Flynn Fizz:
1-1/2 oz rum
3/4 oz lime juice
1/2 oz falernum
1/4 oz grenadine
1 egg white
soda water

Dry shake (shake without ice) the rum, lime, falernum, grenadine, and egg white. Add ice and shake again to chill the drink. Strain it into a chilled champagne flute and top with cold soda water. Garnish with lime and whatever other tropical fruits you feel like."

Overall, this is a pleasing drink, though it could probably use some tweaking. I used home-made Grenadine, instead of that fluorescent-red-citric-acid-corn-syrup-industrial-waste that comes in a bottle, so the drink turned out the palest color of pink. Just a bit more color would make this drink more appealing. Hmmm.. Hibiscus grenadine? And one egg white for the proportion of ingredients is overkill. You could easily double the liquid ingredients for one egg white. The club soda adds it's own foam as well.
All in all, I would certainly serve this at a backyard summer party, or at a ladies get together.
Or if the ghost of Errol Flynn visited me.
Which he might.
I followed up the EFF with two Mai Tai's.

Making Your Own Rock and Rye whiskey

My dad used to talk about Rock-and-Rye all the time.
"You can't find it in liquor stores anymore," he would say, "I've asked the sales clerks and they all look at me crazy. I found one older guy who knew what I was talking about, but he told me no one makes it anymore."

So I knew that making him a batch of home-made Rock-and-Rye, would be the perfect gift for Father's Day.

That older guy at the liquor store wasn't entirely correct. You still can buy a product labeled Rock-and-Rye at some stores. Two liqueur brands, Mr. Boston and Jacquin’s, continue to make syrupy liqueur versions, (a rock-and-rye cordial, if you will) but they are a far cry from the honest-to-goodness thing. The syrup version may have supplanted the original version because of Rock-and-Rye's historical reputation as a cough suppressant.
Real Rock-and-Rye should be a sweet and stiff drink and, as the name states, is basically American Rye whiskey mixed with rock candy. Why rock candy specifically you may ask? Well, so that you can give it to your four-year-old when they have a cough. Oh wait, strike that. You must use rock candy instead of simple syrup as the sweetener, because the water in the simple syrup reduces the proof of the final concoction.

Rye whiskey with rock candy is probably pretty good on its own, but after a few searches on the net, I read that citrus and cherry were also traditional ingredients. So I set to work on trying my first batch of Rock-and-Rye, and my Dad would be the test subject, err... lucky recipient.

1 750 bottle of American Rye Whiskey ( I used Old Overholt)
2 1-quart canning jars
1 orange
1 lemon
pieces of rock candy
4 brandied or fresh cherries
(Good God! Don't use those fake day-glo maraschino cherries)
2 small cubes of pineapple if you have them in you kitchen. I did.

Place 2 or 3 pieces of rock sugar in each of the jars. You can experiment with the amount of sugar, based on how sweet you like your drinks. My dad isn't a huge fan of really sweet drinks, so I used 2 three-inch pieces in each jar. Slice the lemon and orange into thick slices, discarding the point ends to juice later, and throw 2 or 3 or each into each jar. Toss in two cherries and the pineapple cube if you have them. Fill the jar with the whiskey. The 750 bottle should be enough to cover all the fruit in both jars. It is important that the fruit be covered.

Let sit a day, and then gently shake the jar once or twice to mix the sugary whiskey with the not so sugary at the top. Taste and see how it is coming along. Within a day or two, the rock sugar will be completely dissolved on the bottom. As you serve the drink, top off the jar with more fresh whiskey and sugar, keeping the fruit covered at all times. If the fruit starts to discolor, it can be removed and replaced. The alcohol level is high enough that it will prevent spoilage of the fruit.

LeNell Smothers, a New York City bartender, and former liquor store owner, has her own recipe that calls for, among the standard ingredients, fresh cherries, dried apricots, pineapple, and horehound, a bitter herb that is thought to suppress coughs.

Pineapple Sage Infused Tequila Part Two

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The first batch of Pineapple & Sage infused Tequila went so well, I thought I would try another batch - and perhaps try to increase the flavor.
If a little is good - more must be better, right?
Well, not necessarily.

I used the food processor to puree the pineapple before adding the sage and tequila, and the end result, after a week of infusing, was a 'juicier' product, with more pineapple flavor, but less alcohol kick, as I obviously extracted more liquid from the fruit. I am still not sure if I extracted more flavor, all I succeeded in doing was adding pineapple juice to tequila.

So a word of advice to those infusing fruit flavor into spirits.
Increase surface area, yes.
Pulverize into a pulp with food processor, no.

Rita Hayworth attempt #1

My experiment with the house-made pineapple-sage infused tequila resulted in a very intensely flavored spirit, and I was in a big hurry to try recreating Elettaria's Rita Hayworth cocktail.

Having never had the pleasure to try this, I had to take a wild guess at the proportions, and after a quick shake and a taste, the wife said it was perfect for her - but probably too sweet to serve to our friends. A quick adjustment in the ratio of flavored tequila and unflavored silver tequila resulted in a cocktail that was deliriously fruity, perfectly balanced, and mysteriously complex. While my infusion may need some more adjusting, I may have nailed a new cocktail for us, on the first try.
Cheers, across the state, to Joseph at Elatteria.


2 oz. Home-made Pineapple-Sage Infused Silver Tequila
1 oz. Silver Tequila
2 oz. fresh squeezed lime juice
.5 oz. honey
.5 oz simple syrup

Pre-chill a cocktail glass with ice and dump. Squeeze a portion of lime peel into the glass so that the lime oil tinctures the glass and rub the peel over the rim of the glass.
Shake ingredients in the shaker, with ice until very cold, and fine strain into the glass.
Garnish with a lime wheel.

Rhubarb Infused Gin

I went to the farmer's market early last Saturday morning. It is rhubarb season here in balmy Buffalo, and I picked up a few stalks for two bucks.
On Sunday morning, I sliced 'em up and added them to a pint of gin. I used Tanqueray, because it was the least fancy gin that I had on hand.
I left it on the counter, and when I returned from work, I saw that the rhubarb slices had quickly given up their color. It took just a day to tint the gin a rosy pink, and two days before I thought it might be getting too tart. A quick strain through a coffee filter, a tablespoon of simple syrup, and I have a new pink-tart ingredient to play with.
I am curious to find out how to scale up the recipe for larger proportions. A recipe I found online calls for equal amounts of rhubarb and sugar, and having the mixture sit in gin for two months.