EMBURY COCKTAILS

Key West Literary Seminar 2012 Cocktails: The City Of Tomorrow

Photo: Nick Doll

For a champagne reception on the grounds of the Audubon House in Key West, I recruited my pal Che Bastien (above) to help with bartending duties. I put him in charge of making The City Of Tomorrow, named after a poem of KWLS returning champion, Billy Collins. The man has a voice like a fine scotch followed by a shot of warm honey, and he seems like the scotch type but I happen to know he favors vodka and so I felt correct in dubbing this one in his honor. I'd taken some Kettel One and infused it with lemons and oranges--like seeing a red door and wanting to paint it black, I've rarely met a vodka I didn't want to infuse, at least for cocktailing.   

Then I went out and got an assortment of fruit, including the most perfectly ripe pineapples I've ever tasted.  My somewhat grandiose vision for the drink and the link to the title was that this future city would embrace all different peoples from all parts of the globe, thus the assortment of fruit, bringing different flavors together from different regions. Perhaps a conceptual stretch, but the resulting fresh fruit cocktail was simply delicious, and simple to make-if a bit sticky. Cutting, muddling and shaking fruit and citrus can be a messy job, and we both were living in a world of stick for a couple hours. Worth it, though.

THE CITY OF TOMORROW

1 1/2 oz citrus infused Kettel One Vodka

1/4 oz lime juice

1/4 oz demarara simple syrup

Fruit. Lots and lots of fruit.

In a mixing glass muddle a small handful of fruit (we used pineapple, raspberries, blackberries, apples, strawberries and honeydew melon, mixing freely, and taking requests). Top with the rest of the ingredients and ice, shake rigorously, pour into a tall rocks glass, mint sprig garnish.

It's really just fruit and good vodka and just a touch of raw sugar to pull it all together. It's a much better version of the sickly sweet spring break girl drinks that cause so many problems. So perhaps in this city of the future we shall drink fresher, and drink better. Jason Rowan

Photo: Michael Blades

Above: The Key West Of Tommorrow, Enjoying Cocktails Today: L-R, Marky Pierson, ringleader of Key West Burlesque Theatre, public artist Momo, who collaborated on the KWLS set, Photographer Nick Doll (who shot the images up top and below), Lighting director and Cicero reader Jolly Benson, Cayman Smith-Martin who designed the set and Shane Benowitz who worked on social media during the Seminar.

The Set Of Tomorrow

Key West Literary Seminar

Billy Collins

2012 Key West Literary Seminar Cocktails: The Neurogibson

I've spent the first couple weeks of this year working on cocktails for the many parties of the 30th annual Key West Literary Seminar. Team Embury and I made drinks in honor of several of the attending speakers including Margaret Atwood, Billy Collins, China Miéville and William Gibson. The pickled scallions in the above photo were used as an onion sub in the Neurogibson, inspired by both Gibson's book "Neuromancer" and Jonathan DeLeon of Sorella's Flying V, where the idea for this recipe oringinated. We departed quite a bit from his original formulation but the principles remain similar--gin, picked green onions, an herbal liqueur and Sriracha Bitters. Jonathan went lean and mean for his Gibson riff, tapping Death's Door Gin & Cocchi Americano.

THE FLYING V

2.5 oz Death's Door gin
1/4 Cocchi Americano
Splash scallion pickling liquid
3 dashes Sriracha bitters
Pickled scallion (pickled with rice vinegar and aromatics, mostly ginger).

Rinse a large chilled glass with the Cocchi Americano. Over ice,
combine gin and pickling liquid. Stir well and strain into the chilled
glass. Finish with Sriracha bitters, garnish with the pickled
scallion, and serve!

Once I had the William Gibson/Gisbon name connection light bulb moment I instantly wanted to start with Jonathan's elegant creation and take it someplace a little more far flung, unexpected and audacious-- hopefully something like Gibson's bold work. Briney, piney Tanqueray, herby, swampy Chartreuese, a little lime juice, even less simple, the nub of a pickled scallion stalk and a dash of the pickling juice. The heavy ginger in the pickles is a nod to the Asian element in Gibson works and indeed in cyberpunk as a whole--I was thinking of "Beat" Takeshi in the Gibson film adaptation "Jonny Mnemonic", as well as the strong Chinese and Korean elements in the not-too-distant-future of other KWLS guest Gary Shteyngart's "Super Sad True Love Story." 

NEUROGIBSON

1 1/4 oz Tanqueray Gin

1/4 oz Chartreuse

1/2 oz lime juice

1/4 oz demarara simple syrup

1 bar spoon pickled scallion pickling juice

In a pint glass take 2 leaves of lemon balm (I pulled mine from my host and KWLS Board Member Nancy Klingener's garden, check out her blog here) and lightly tap, adding all elements and topping with plenty of ice, shaking vigorously and strain into a rocks glass ( we used stemless wine glasses), topping with a couple drops of Brooklyn Hemispherical Sriracha Bitters to add a little apocalyptic heat.

The resulting cocktail was pretty damn cool, but not one you'd drink all night unlike many that we made for other parties.These considerably more approachable ecipes to come this week. 

The Best Drink I Had This Year: Rhubarb Gimlet

Francine Cohen  of Inside F & B and I came up with the idea of doing a roundup of cocktail folks' favorite drinks--and drinking experiences--of the past year. The group of 14 bartenders, brand ambassadors and cocktail writers hail from all around the world--Sydney, Wellington, London, Austin, Portland, San Francisco, New York and beyond. Read about all the contributors' favorite drinks here, inlcuding mine, a Rhubarb Gimlet at London's Drink Facotry.

Wednesday's Cocktail: The Ghost Of Christmas Past....

This louche riff on a French 75 comes from DJ and Beefeater and Plymouth's man about town Nick Van Tiel. It's a bit flash with the Be24 and the P.J., but it is the holidays after all, and one ought to treat one's guests to something special. And oneself. The honey syrup is simply 3 parts honey to one part water--Nick pours the honey in a mixing tin, adds the water  and shakes vigorously---cold  water is fine when you shake honey, it blends up nicely, something I didn't know. The Angostura pulls it back from the cusp of too-sweet, or too-tart. If you make several at once, which is only natural with champagne cocktails, this is actually a rather simple recipe--as simple as Nick's crisp handwriting on the page of my notebook. I could drink these until New Year's Eve.

Friday Night Cocktails: Spiced Orange Daiquiri

 

Sampled this one the other night when Santa Teresa's man in New York Jim Wrigley pulled a guest spot at Mother's Ruin, the bar that's a new contender for NY's off-duty bartender hangout. It was the night after Repeal Day with its many events and there was some heavy post-holiday energy afoot. Team members from Brooklyn Gin, Bols Genever, Sailor Jerry made appearances as well as bartenders from Lonsdale, Kenmare & Highlands, Greg Seider from The Summit Bar and a host of consulting gigs, plus cocktail lenswoman Jenny Adams whose presence always signals serious good times.

 The first drink Wrigley poured was the most memorable, a simple daiquiri splitting the rum between the Orange Clement and Blanco STs, set off by a balanced medley of holiday spices from his Spice Syrup. There's always potential to overdue the cloves/allspice/nutmeg part of the flavor spectrum in cocktails this time of year and go over the edge into cloying, thick and  almost offensive to the tongue, but this one gets it just right and keeps it subtle.

SPICED ORANGE DAIQUIRI

1 oz Santa Tersa Claro

1 oz Santa Teresa Rhum Orange

1 oz fresh lime juice

1/2 oz Spicy Syrup (equal parts runny honey, simple and water--infused with cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, anise and allspice.)

Shake and strain into a chilled coupe, orange twist garnish.

Hot Toddy Quartet From Houston Eaves (In Austin)

 

While visiting Austin I was lucky enough to be invited to the local branch of the USBG's holiday party where I met a whole slew of local bartending talent. The evening was held at Franklin's BBQ, recently rated best BBQ in the country by Bon Apetit, and thus I was able to neatly bypass the daunting lines that one must brave to get in to sample the justly lauded food. There was also some pretty balls-out karaoke (Neil Diamond sounds somehow better when sung by a woman, I learned), a Makers punch with beet juice served in a water cooler (hot or cold option) and plenty of laconic Texas charm. Coupled with the herculean partying stamina of bartenders, this all made for a great night and a treat for this visitor. 

Met Houston Eaves of Contigo at the party amd found myself perched at his bar the next night, along with Bill Norris of The Alamo Drafthouse (and the unofficial ringleader of the Austin cocktail scene.) We sampled most of Eaves' toddy menu--toddies were on offer at lots of bars around town, as the weather was cool and damp, but these were on different level. Complex like a proper cocktail, and created with an ingenious heating method using a short weighted tin (only $7.95 from Cocktail Kingdom) propped on top of hot water in a pint glass to warm the elements gradually. 

MEXICAN MONK

Fill your mug and half-fill a pint glass with hot water. Place a short metal tin in the pint glass. In the metal tin, add:

1 oz añejo tequila

.5 oz chartreuse

.5 oz honey syrup

.5 oz lemon juice

1 dash housemade ginger/citrus bitters*

Stir to blend ingredients, dump hot water from mug, add contents from tin, and top with 4 oz hot water. Express oil from wide lemon swath, and drop in the drink. 

(*From H.E.: It's just a blend of dried ginger,  lemon, tangerine, bitter orange, & gentian. It's pretty good without the bitters as well, but they add a little extra depth.)

ESPADIN TEA

Fill your mug and half-fill a pint glass with hot water. Place a short metal tin in the pint glass. In the metal tin, add:

1.25oz Wahaka Espadín Mezcal

.75oz Licor 43

.5oz lemon juice

Stir to blend ingredients, dump hot water from mug, add contents from tin, and top with 4 oz strong-brewed black tea. Garnish with lemon wheel on mug. 

WINTER AT WIMBLEDON

Fill your mug and half-fill a pint glass with hot water. Place a short metal tin in the pint glass. In the metal tin, add

1.5oz Pimm's No. 1

.5oz London dry gin

.5oz Domaine de Canton

.5oz lemon juice

.25oz mint simple syrup

Stir to blend ingredients, dump hot water from mug, add contents from tin, and top with 4 oz hot water. Express oil from wide lemon swath, and discard. Garnish with mint sprig. 

BRANCA-MENTA HOT CHOCOLATE

Warm a mug with hot water. Discard the water. Build in mug

1.5oz Branca-Menta

5oz Salted Almond hot chocolate

Top with a couple of barspoons Fernet-Branca whipped cream. Garnish with 1 mint leaf. Enjoy!

Houston behind the stick.  

Sunday Morning Cocktails: Palm Springs Eye-Opener

Sometimes the ones you come up with on the fly and with a minimum of conscious thought work out perfectly, and sometimes you even make a breakthrough to a new combination you'd never considered. When I was given a strict 24 hour deadline to come up with all the recipes for 3 upcoming parties at The New Traditionalists I had to pull a few out of thin air, from the dimly-lit back reaches of my cocktail consciousness. At one point I'd thought of doing a Rat Pack-themed party and banged out some aptly-named cocktail ideas--the Ring-A-Ding Zombie being my favorite. This was going to be an afternoon event and when I tried to imagine what Dino or Frank might debut their days' drinkng with I thought of rye, orange juice, and something with a kick, like a bullshot, but spicy--and that led to the Palm Springs Eye-Opener.

Originally chile-infused rye, orange juice and simple syrup, it evolved quickly into chile-infused bourbon, fresh orange juice and a strong simple syrup (1.25 sugar: 1 water) lightly infused with some chiles too, just to get that heat into another layer of the drink, add some complexity. If follow a very basic 2:1:1/2 ratio:

PALM SPRINGS EYE-OPENER

 2 parts chile-infused bourbon

 1 part fresh orange juice

1/2 part chile simple syrup (to taste)

Simply build the drink in a large rocks glass, stir, garnish with a section of red chile, and serve.

 As far as how hot to take it--again, all to taste, and it's always tricky to quantify heat. For me this should have a significant kick but no burn. Interpret as you will.  I took a serrano pepper purchased in New York in early November with a sort of medium heat, sliced it open and dropped it into a bottle of Old Michter's Bourbon and let it sit for about 1 1/2 hours. Worked for me. With the simple I simply dropped in a few slices of serrano just as the demarara sugar and water mixture began to get near boiling, let it go for a couple moments, then scooped 'em out and used as garnishes for the final drink. 

Bourbon and chiles. Fusing the smooth-but-firey spirit with actual vegetal heat--just fantastic. They must have been combined before, but I've never come across it, and no one I've turned onto the almost-too-obvious combination seems to have, either. And I've been to Kentucky recently, where I mixed some up for the crew at Garage Bar. If anyone know of other chile & bourbon numbers I'd love to hear about it in the comments. J.R.

Holiday-Cocktail-In-Progress

Worked this one up over the weekend at a friend's home upsate. Juniper plants ring the house, and I cut  a couple sprigs and stuck them in a bottle of Beefeater 24 and let it sit overnight (about 9 hours).

While brazenly retrofitting the meticulously crafted riff on the classic Beefeater recipe I felt a pang of anxiety; mucking about with master distiller Desmond Payne's elegant gin is a bit like playing God. But the result was good good I got over it-- the juniper actually melded in to the grapefruit and tea-inflected profile, adding a crisp, mineral complexity to the subtle gin. I chilled a coupe, then gave it a rinse with Dolin dry vermouth, shaking well. Stirred the B24Juniper about 30 times then strained into the glass, garnishing with a fresh sprig of juniper and some small red berries called crab apples that came from the field in front of the house. The finished martini was zingy and ennervating, with a more crisp menthol note from the leaves of the juniper than you get from the oily, denser berries that are distilled in the gin already. Cranberries, huckleberries or even a red grape could work as a subsititure for the crab apples for the choice visual flourish. No name yet-open to suggestions. J.R.

Juniper on the lower right, Autumnal beauty straight ahead.

More Bars, More Places: The Tippler, Meatpacking (Adjacent) District.

   
The massive Chelsea Market building has, as it turns out, a massive basement. Newly opened in one corner of the buildings' lower depths is The Tippler (425 W. 15th St), a space and an endeavor on a fairly massive scale for a bar focussed on proper cocktails. But the design team has managed to turn out a rather comfortable room with lots of nooks and crannies, making it the most intimate tennis court-sized room in town. A clever cocktail menu overseen by the Tippling Brothers navigates between 

Wrought iron fixtures, oriental rugs, acres of exposed brick and customized retro-styled fridges forge a pleasingly but not cloyingly turn-of-the-century atmosphere, with an array of classic cocktails to complete the scenario.

The cocktail list overseen by the Tippling Bros. swings between classsics and inventive, even ballsy creations like the "Gin & Chronic": Plymouth, hopps, spcied lime and tonic, garnished with a sprig of hopps that looks nothing so much as a bud of weed. Mad drinkable.

But the simple-but-smashing innovation that stands out may be the "lushies"--(primarily) classic cocktails served in frozen slushy form (or, in Simpson's parlance, "Squishee") . The bar had been slated to open mid summer but of course scheduled opening dates rarely go as planned, and in late September a frozen drink might not seem to make sense. But it does. The "Snow Growni" was a perfect way to hold onto something of summer, and as one who abused his Negroni privileges over the warmer months this seemed to reinvent and extend a halcyon season  by reimaging the drink. And one even forgives the punny titles such as "Spazerac" (also surprisingly succesful). And one must applaud the ribald spirit it took to name a drink the "Pearl Harbor Necklace" (Finlandia, house melon syrup, pineapple & tapioca pearls).

The Tippler is a welcome addtion to an area crowded with flashy and crowded and short on the tucked away and properly adult. After fighting through the midday mob scene that is the Chelsea Market's indoor promenade of meandering tourists, helicopter parents and New Jersey cougars on shopping sprees one wonders how long it can retain its chillness. But as a neighbor I'm crossing my fingers.

Wellington, Baby, Wellington.

Photo: Melissa Cowan, NYT

My piece on Wellington's bars, restaurants, shops and the oft-bearded astisans who run them for the T Fall Travel issue is out now. Above, a clean-shaven bartender at retro-tastic Motel.