EMBURY COCKTAILS

The Tom Collins: Built Ford Tough

Above, Pernod Ricard's Cocktail Ninja Simon Ford with a copy of "The Ambassadors", gamely going along with a photo project I've been working on for a couple years now. I'm trying to to get all the brand ambassadors I come across to pose with the Henry James book. (Side project: actually finish the book.) Ford's got a pleasing combination of heavy-duty cocktail erudition coupled with an insolent, even slightly punk irreverence. Sort of a smart-ass schoolboy who skips class, but aces the test anyway. And a great laugh, as you'll see at the end of this Tom Collins how-to.

The Naming Of The Drink

In an era of unparalled experimentation and invention in cocktails the need for new, fresh names can add a thrilling additional layer to the creative act. Coming up with that perfect title can bring the whole project together, capping it off with a pretty verbal bow, le mot juste--or it can induce mindlock and inertia. Most bartenders probably experience both side of the naming coin, with it coming easily in one instance and then not coming at all in another. I recently tasted something really lovely and uncommon, a marriage of El Buho mezcal, tangerine, chamomile grappa, citrus and thyme. Jonathan DeLeon of the Lower East Side's Piedmont-style Italian spot Sorella had come up with a few winners in the short time I've known him, often involving unexpected, seeminlgy improbable combinations. He seems to have his own palate and picks some odd flavors on the color wheel of herbs and spirits that you'd never noticed before, but are pleased to have found in his cocktails. Naming the things, however, is not his strong suit. Perhaps that's in keeping with his off-the-beaten-path cocktails--it can be hard to put a name to a new construct.  But this cocktail wound up involving 5 people in a periptatic sequence of half-hearted brainstorming sessions, reluctant emails, listless conversations, most of which ended in a semi-satisfied detente of sorts, a "good enough" name. I'm not sure every cocktail needs its own name. But this one really defied any resolution.

When Jonathan first made it for me a couple weeks ago they were just calling it a "Mexcal, tangerine and thyme cocktail", which may still be the best name. It turned out that the mezcal was actually the very, very new one that my friend Redford was involved in making and importing, and given that less than 50 preview bottles were circulating around New York City it felt like a pretty big and very cool coincidence . (El Buho will be available April 2nd through Faropian, more on the subtle, 89 proof mezcal shortly.) 

Various iterations of the name include, but are not limited to: Mezcal T Thyme (from Sorella partner Sarah Krathen), El Buho Nido (The Owl's Nest) from Embury cohort Jason Schell, but that somehow didn't land, either. As fitting as it was a bird's nest isn't necessarily something you want to drink.

Then I had a cinematic brainwave and decided to insert myself into the equation, which doubtless only added to the confusion. The tangerine juice made me think of Kate Winslet's compulsive hair-dyer in "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind", and  the scene where she runs in to the bedroom and jumps on Jim Carrey with freshly tangerine-d hair. The unmoored quality of the film seemed apropos to this drink without a clear antecedent, but Winslet's character's name, Klementine Krucynski, seemed unwieldy to Jonathan, and he was probably correct. Still, fun idea. 

 

The Tango Thyme was in play for a minute, followed by a brief flirtation with Tango Mezzo Forte. Then, moments before press time a note from Jonathtan showed up in my inbox. "Disregard all previous emails. "A Tango And A Smoke" is my pick." So, without further ado: 

A TANGO AND A SMOKE

1 oz El Buho Mezcal
1oz Montanaro chamomile grappa
2.5 thyme twigs, leaves pulled off into drink mixture
1.5 oz tangerine juice
1/4 oz ginger syrup
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz lime juice

Shake well, strain over fresh ice, top with club soda and a few thyme leaves. 

And depsite being quiten taken with the cocktail, somehow I'm still not completely sold on the name. Once you open that Pandora's Box, it can be hard to close. J.R.

 Sorella

El Buho Mezcal 

Jonathan behind the wheel. You might not know that the quietly luxurious small-bites & wine bar Sorella even rocks cocktails, but don't overlook them.

El Buho arrives....

Jameson Laborers' Nicknames Provide A Wealth Of Cocktail Name Possibilities

Above, an illuminated cutaway of a whiskey barrel at Bow Street.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day I thought I'd dust off this little gold mine of brilliant nickames I came across while visiting Jameson's Bow Street Distillery in Dublin, a facility dating back to 1780. (The modern distillery is across the Isle, in County Cork). As the coopers, distilllers and other laborers were historically positions passed on from father to son, the preponderance of Joyces, Keanes & McCarthys led the crew to make nicknames universal and compulsory. You got one shortly after starting work, after you'd been properly sized up, and aftwewards you were never referred to by any other name. The cheekiness of these nicknames reveal a pretty wicked  collective sense of humor; "Gorgeous Gus", "Gamebird", "Philosopher" "Jellybelly"  and "Snow White"* are some of my personal favorites. But I think these names could serve another purpose--as great monikers for cocktails--ideally featuring the Irish whiskey, obviously. Naming cocktails is a realm where some find a fun challenge, and others find only dread and creative stalemate. Let the smartasses of history do some naming legwork for you. I've typed a partial list below, and by clicking on this blow-up of the nickname manifest you should be able to see them all. Sláinte!

 

Partial list:

The Laughing Cavalier

Lump

Manchester

Duckegg

Ducky Woman

Looney

Ya Ya

Chinstrap

Cock

General 

Nizzler

Snow White

Greenskin

Daddy

Shaky

Scrapper

Gew Gaw

Harpo

Little Rowdy

Jibber 

Flop 

Hump

Banjo

Lippy

Swank 

Fourty Ten

Forty Elleve

Misere

and, of course:

 

Twitterdick.

 

 

A Civilized Alternative To Countless Pints On St. Patrick's Day: Jameson Black Barrel Select Reserve

(Note: This post was originally published on newnownext.com, the online side on the Logo network. When I first tasted the Black Barrel my instant reaction was: gateway Irish whiskey for the unitiated and the second thought was: I could see this bracing iteration of Jameson landing with the gays. Thus, the open shirt come-on of the photo (below) I shot for the piece. But rest assured: all are welcome to enjoy this fine spirit. J.R.)

Irish Whiskey has fallen off in popularity in the last couple generations in the U.S. but as drinkers' palates get more sophisticated and complex subtleties are starting to come back into the forefront of sprits (see: mezcal, pisco) the category is swiftly coming back into vogue. One bold new expression of a classic should further hasten that return. From the gold standard of Irish whiskies, Jameson, comes a subtle, restrained new iteration that falls well below the aged versions in terms of price, but holds up beautifully on flavor profile.  Jameson Black Barrel Select Reserve is made from a combination of rare grain whiskies and pot still malted and unmalted whiskies, and aged in sherry & bourbon casks for an average of 12 years (as opposed to standard Jameson's 7), Then a team of distillers blends them in a wickedly tasty ratio that has the sock in the jaw you expect from Irish whiskies, but without the more maltly, almost syrup-y quality of Jameson. Where Jameson has a green apple sweetness the Black Barrel goes more autumnal, with notes of vanilla, toasted oak and stone fruit, set off by a touch of welcome spice and heat that gives each sip a complex and evolving arc. Bracing and supple, this sipper may just be the gateway Irish whiskey that seduces you.

Jameson Black Barrel Select Reserve is only available in New York right now but will be rolling out to other markets in the months to come. It clocks in at about $44, and it can be ordered from Astor Wine & Spirits. J.R.

Key West Literary Seminar (& Cocktails) Finale: Volunteer Bloody Marys.

The schedule for the final day of the Seminar, including Bloody Mary time. Fun to be on the same line-up as Margaret Atwood, Jonathan Lethem and Billy Collins.

In the midst of the marathon of parties for the this year's KWLS Media Director Arlo Haskell reminded me of a tradition where the Seminar's volunteers all have Bloody Marys on the final afternoon of the session. I had no recollection of this from years prior, and I'm still not convinced it wasn't something he just made and somehow manipulated me into helping out--which I respect, if so. And while you can get a damn fine Bloody Mary at the Green Parrot a block away from the San Carlos Institute where the Seminar is held, Arlo pretty much insisted I take care of this last round of the week. After 3 nights of making cocktails for hundreds of guests I was a bit weary and not very inspired to create something amazing--but I had plenty of fixins, to say the least. With Bloody Marys I'm always taking a cue from Alberta Straub's 4-part video series on how to make her elaborate and delicious version, and while I didn't have time to do all the infusing and witchcraft she busts out I did have a lot of elements that she favors, which I knew would be a good foundation. So I threw a bunch of ingredients into a box, including several bottles of leftover citrus-infused Kettel One, and from the Neurogibson the pickled green onions and the pickling juice. In addition I pulled a big piece of ginger, some sliced and lightly pickled serrano peppers, white pepper, Tabasco, Worcestershire, good horseradish, and an assortment of bitters, both the indespensible Bitter Truth Travelers Set & Brooklyn Hemispherical Sriracha Bitters. Somehow I managed to get all this balanced on a bike and safely delivered to volunteer HQ.

There I did the best you can do when inspiration fails you--delegate. Mike Cook is a writer & bartender who's been on staff at the Seminar a couple times, and when I showed up with my kit I told him, "you're in charge" and left him to his own mixing devices.

A month or so later I entreated Mike to recall the recipe, below are his notes. 

Let's see if I can remember what I did for the Bloodies. I started
with the V8 juice, then added that smashed garlic. Next I added a lot
of horseradish. Three or four tablespoons for the pitcher.
Worchestershire sauce and hot sauce next. There was something else as
well.... ah yes, white pepper. I put probably a table spoon of that
in. I think that was it.

As various weary volunteers wandered through the room I watched them revive almost instantly upon sipping a Volunteer Marys. I encouraged everyone to play with bitters in theirs--Sriracha sort of writes itself, but the Bitter Truth Celery Bitters really made Jolly Benson's Bloody Mary stand out. You get that tradeamark celery salt vegetal bite without that sodium. With all the ingredients left out folks could tinker and adjust their own according to their inclinations. I think we got everyon back on track for that final afternoon.

KWLS Stage Manager (and Embury Little Brother) Ian Rowan with Arlo Haskell.

Lighting Director Julian "Jolly" Benson.

The Seminar couldn't exist without a massive volunteer effort, from the folks who work the door adn clean up the auditorium between sessions, to the social networking and blogging team, to the board members who put time in year round. I couldn't have presented as well-coordinated a cocktail front without some indespensible volunteers, myself, so many thanks to Erin Kelly, Aimee McNally, Che Bastien, Richard Congdon, and board member Nancy Klingener whose kitchen was annexed for the duration with my experimentations and preparations, and who chaffeured Team Embury to events and made sure to get us home in one piece. Eventually.

And finally, as we sat in the volunteers' lounge my fatigued eyes drifted across the titles of the books on the wall--and lit upon one called Bloody Mary, which in our collective punch-drunk state we took as some sort of pleasingly ominous sign or affirmation.

Embury Revisited: Mark Buettler's Perfect Louis

On the occasion of his birthday I've decided to revisit Mark Buettler's Perfect Louis. While Mark and I are partners in Brooklyn Hemispherical Bitters and he makes some very delicious celery bitters, we don't sell them--but the Bitter Truth Celery Bitters work very, very nicely in this riff on a Perfect Manhattan. I recall Mark used some lovely light organic honey from the Bay Area for his white honey syrup--make sure to get something delicate.

PERFECT LOUIS

1 oz Bourbon (Mark prefers Old Forresters)
1 oz Dry Vermouth
1 oz Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz White Honey syrup (equal parts white honey and hot water)
2 dashes Angustora bitters
2 dashes Celery bitters 

Stir 30-35 times, Strain up, No garnish

 

Literary Cocktails '12: Chocotopia

Another drink we made at the Key West Literary Seminar this year was essentially just a really, really good Mexican hot chocolate, leaded. We took Dagoba Xocolatl Drinking Chocolate with good milk, added Don Julio Reposado and topped with 365 lite whipped cream. Ordinarliy using the canned stuff would be considered cheating but when making a couple hundred of these I absolved us of shame over this corner-cutting. Then a little drizzle of dark agave on top of the whipped cream, and a couple healthy dashes of Bittermen's Xoacatl Mole Bitters, giving it that heady, spicy nose and the massive complexity of mole. We shaved some dark chocolate with chiles on top to finish it off, and watched the chocolate fiends go nuts. We had folk coming back for thirds, and grabbing four at a time.

There was a lot of discussion at the "Yet Another World" themed Seminar of utopian vs. dystopian visions of the future. Guest speaker Margaret Atwood posited something a little less definitively cheerful or gloomy with her word "ustopia", which posited that a post-apocalyptic futureworld would merely be defined by us, by society, or its remnants. When KWLS Board Member Nancy Klingener was polling guests and players at the Seminar on what their essential skills might be in a post-apoco society (read here) Atwood's response was, "You're assuming there will be a society." So in fact maybe it is rather gloomy. At any rate we took her term as an inspiration to posit a world where chocolate, and tequila, flows freely for all, the the "Chocotopia" was born.

CHOCOTOPIA

1 1/2 oz Don Julio Reposado

 1 1/2 oz Dagoba Xocolatl Drinking Chocolate

Add the tequila to the chocolate, top with whipped cream. Drizzle some dark agave on the cream and a couple dashes of Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters. Finish with shaving some chile dark chocolate on top of it all, and enjoy while dodging zombies, mutants and extreme survivalists.

Key West Literary Seminar

Bittermens Bitters

 

Literary Cocktails '12: China Miéville Double Header

The lighhouse at the Key West Lighthouse Museum. All photos: Nick Doll

One of the great pleasures of the Key West Literary Seminar every year is discovering writers you're not familiar with,  and who completely captivate you with their erudition, humor and charm onstage. A couple years ago astrophycisist Janna Levin was a compete surprise to me, and since then I've followed her writing closely. This year a new find for me was China Miéville, a genre writer who both embraces and refutes the label. Passionate and a bit irreverent, and armed with a seemingly effortless volubility,  he more than held his own a formidable panel the included Margaret Atwood and Joyce Carol Oates, whose witty, pointed sparring called to mind a more intellectual  Joan Crawford & Bette Davis. For  a crash course in Mielville read his interview in The Believer from 2006 here, and there's a recording of one of his brisk talks at the Seminar here.

For a party at the Key West Lighthouse museum we decided to christen a couple cocktail in Miéville's honor. When I saw that one of his books was called "Kraken" I decided that a phrase ruined by the CGI atrocity that was the remake of the 1981 film "Clash Of The Titans" had been redeemed, and so dubbed a high-octane rum punch we made that evening "Release The Kraken". 

 RELEASE THE KRAKEN

3 parts Ron Zacapa 23 Rum

1 part lime juice

1/2 part lemon juice

1/4 part orange juice

A few slugs of Bulleit Bourbon (This really Krakens it up)

Combine ingredients in a large punchbowl, adding round slices or orange, lime and lemon. Muddle some strawberries and raspberries, shake them up with some of the punch and throw it in there.  Soak Pineapple cubes in dark agave and Grand Marnier, then toss in. Cut up some Braeburn apples and throw them in as well.  Add ice, ideally a  couple large cubes made in a soup take-out container/yogurt container/etc.. Stir well, adding club soda to taste. Add liberal dashes of Angostura Bitters, Peychaud's Bitters & Brooklyn Hemispherical Rhubarb Bitters.

KWLS Speaker Jennifer Egan Releasing The Kraken.

Our other headliner that evening was a slightly tweaked version of the big cocktail hit of the KWLS 2011, the avo-jalapeno margarita. The original version and template came from my partner in Brooklyn Hemispherical Bitters, Mark Buettler as the Lovely Rita, video here. I've changed it a bit for Key West, adding a generous pinch of Pink Flake Murray River Salt directly ontop of the drink, and with Rhum Clement being unavailable in Key West I used Grand Marnier and a bit more dark agave, which I'd made more mixable by turning it into a 1:2 water/agave syrup. The local avocadoes we used were really nice and fatty, I think that's the key--a  couple nice ladies who'd had the drink they year before had tried to make it from my previous notes and hadn't had much success. Good avocadoes are vital, and getting them emulsified rather than leaving chunky bits floating makes the flavor more evenly distributed--I used a wand this year which worked very well. As far as the heat of the jalapeno--that's all very subjective. I'd sliced open some pretty fiery jalapenos and let about 6 of them sit in 2 quarts of Don Julio Repo for about 4 hours, then fished them out. It's a tricky metric to describe--for me you should feel the heat slowly, and have it linger, extending the experience of that sip--but it should not burn or cause you to catch your breath. In the simplest form it's:

FANTASTICAL VICTORIANA*

2 parts jalapeno & avocado infused Don Julio Reposado

1 part fresh lime juice

1/4 part dark agave syrup (1:2 water/agave)

1/8 part Grand Marnier (to taste)

Combine over ice, shake well--you want it creamy, almost foamy--and pour onto fresh rocks. Add a liberal pinch of Murray River Pink Flake Salt to the top of the drink.

*The name comes from Miéville's off-the-cuff descritption of the steampunk aesthetic at a talk that very morning. A podcast of his talk on TK is up on the Key West Literary Seminar's site here.

China Miéville audio at KWLS. And don't miss his own site, Rejectamentalist Manifesto.

Miéville with KWLS Board Member Judy Blume.

Formidable bunch: "Faster" author and KWLS 2012 Program Chair James Gleick, Miéville & Jesse Soodalter, and William Gibson.

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 Yellow 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 Yellow 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.