Bill Rowan on the weekend-long occasion of his 75th birthday and Betsy Lindell, proprietor of Seasoned. Photo: Ian Rowan
I was first introduced to the breakfast martini at the 42 Below Cocktail World Cup in Queenstown in 2011, at a morning seminar led by the creator of this breakfast of champions himself, Salvatore Calabrese. It was a totally new concept to me, and Salvatore talked us through the process of his inspiration and oversaw the preparation of flights of the highly crushable cocktail for thirsty (and doubtless hungover) bartenders, esteemed guests and a couple of lucky writers. I've had and made the drink many times since, but it's never been quite as perfect an experience as that first time at 10:00 in the morning at a sports lodge overlooking Lake Wakatipu. Flash forward 8 years, to a couple Fridays ago, when my dad and all 3 of my brothers came to New Orleans to celebrate our Dad's 75th birthday. When I came home that morning from running around New Orleans picking up things like extra plates, forks and knives (I've never had 5 people to dinner at my apartment before-glassware I have a lot of, thanks to the "experienced cookware" shop Seasoned, found a FedEx package on my doorstep, and opened it to find a bottle of Fords Gin Officers' Reserve inside (and a very nifty little team flag).
I immediately flashed on Jamboree Jams, a one woman local jam maker (small but growing) and thought, I should do some breakfast martinis with this bottle. The next day brother Josh and I strolled the 7 or 8 blocks from my apartment to Seasoned, where Jamboree is always well-stocked. Proprietor Betsy Lindell had kindly kept the shop open a few minutes past closing for us as we were running a bit behind (you try moving 5 Rowans across New Orleans on schedule) and I explained the mission we were on--the closest she had in stock to orange marmalade per se was Brandied Orange, which were both pretty sure it was a marmalade, meaning made with peel--and texts with the jam maker herself Sara Lavasseur confirmed that it was), which I reckoned would work nicely; I said we'd bring a little sample by for her to try.
The next morning the experimenting and tinkering began as my dad and brothers hung out and had breakfast.
Pa and Brother Josh.
Brother Noah.
I followed Salvatore's recipe closely in terms of proportions, although I did not use Cointreau as he does--instead, I used a rich strawberry simple syrup I'd made a couple weeks prior with some almost embarrassingly ripe & sweet berries from Johndale's Strawberry Farm in Pontchatoula that I'd picked up at Crescent City Farmer's Market. Wanting to preserve them somehow, I'd made a small batch of syrup, without any real plans for it--it was sweeter than something I'd typically go for, but as I put this version of Salvatore's recipe together, and with the plummy, almost Antica Formula-esque richnessof the brandied orange marmalde, it just worked. And that intense sweetness of the syrup was offset by the bracing 54.4% ABV of the Officers' Reserve--an instance where that higher proof works to your advantage (Good intro to the virtues of Navy strength gins at VinePair). That proof also allowed me to fudge Salvatore's recipe a bit (well, a lot, really) and to forego the Cointreau (which was good, as I didn't have any.) And the slightly supple quality that comes from aging the gin for a couple weeks in sherry casks connected the dots here, somehow. I did add some orange zest in the shaker to bring that enzyme-y zing you want in a marmalade. Result was pretty delicious, according to brothers and dad.
Littlest brother Ian, the little minx.
We had reservations at Arnaud's at 1:15 PM, and when I finished my extended R & D is was getting close to 12:30. I requisitioned Josh to help me transport the cocktail to Seasoned, about 8 blocks from my house;. We used a Coleman thermos that was branded for Verve Coffee that my friend Andy Salzer of Hiro Clark had given to me years earlier, and I'd never once used--glad I carted it around all this time.
Josh chilled the inside with ice water, then added the drink--I took a sterling silver cocktail pourer I'd gotten (at Seasoned, of course) out of the freezer where I'd had it since Friday rallied the troops, and we all trekked over to Seasoned, passing around a couple cocktails as we went.
Man of the hour, and the entire weekend, on the St Charles Streetcar line with his breakfast martini in tow.
We pretty much ambushed Betsy, 5 of us swarming into the shop with cameras and cocktails.
I'd really wanted my dad and brothers to meet Betsy and to see the place.
Brother Josh, captain of the Schooner Hindu. At this point I was just pimping my brothers out for Fords. I should have given him the flag for The Hindu...but frankly, I wanted it for myself.
Quick round of breakfast martinis and we were off to Arnaud's, feeling rather gay after our breakfast martinis. It truly is an occasion cocktail, and while that occasion could certainly be a random Tuesday, it's best to enjoy in the morning-which may lead you to enjoy the rest of the day just a little bit more.
