EMBURY COCKTAILS

Bill Bash 75, Fords Gin Officers' Reserve & The Brandied Orange Breakfast Martini

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.

Brandied Orange Breakfast Martini

 

1 1/2 oz. Fords Gin Officers' Reserve

1/2 oz. lemon juice

1/2 oz. 2:1 strawberry simple syrup

1 generous bar spoon of Jamboree Jams Brandied Orange

Zested orange peel to zing up the mixture, to  be discarded. 

 

Combine ingredients in shaker over ice, shake vigorously, strain into coupe.

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.

8 Vermouths to Drink in 2018 for Gear Patrol

I had quite a good time researching this one, so much so that I dubbed my new apartment in New Orleans, where much of the research took place, "Chateau Vermouth".  Also, these will all likely still be good to drink in 2019.

Aperitivos, for Douglas Elliman Magazine

I wrote about aperitivos for the Spring/Summer issue of Douglas Elliman Magazine here.

 

Sex on the Beach with Aaron Goldfarb

Photo: Lizzie Munro

My friend Aaron Goldfarb took a deep dive into 80s drinking culture and the brief, weird ascendancy of sickly sweet sexily named drinks for Punch. I love the scope of the piece, starting with the invention of De Kuyper Peach Schnappes and delving into the overt, sometimes goofy sexuality of MTV and pop culture of the go go 80s. I shared some memories of that era with Aaron, and I was particularly insistent he check out Earth Girls Are East, which mints that candy colored exuberant party ethos of the era, as well as the "Aren't I naughty?" posture of pop stars like Madonna and Samantha Fox (both of whom I manage to name check in my quote). The cheeky raunchiness of this scene captures some of the horny zetigeist that produced a drink called a "Buttery Nipple".

 

Cross Training Monday: Black Power Mix for MLK Jr. Day

Happy MLK Jr. Day. I started compiling a playlist of social justice and civil rights minded songs after the events in Charlottesville-a musical coping process. Today seems like a good day to share this one. Featuring Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye & Stevie Wonder (The holy trinity of soul), Aretha, Prince, The Impressions, Badu, James Brown, Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, Meshell Ndegeocello, Mavis Staples, the O'Jays, The Undisputed Truth, Sly & The Family Stone, Parliament, Billie Holiday, A Tribe Called Quest and many more.

The Guillotine, by Antoine Hodges of Baccarat Hotel, NYC

On a very rainy day this past September (my birthday, as it happened) I shot a series of cocktails from Antoine Hodge at Baccarat Hotel, that swanky pile of bricks conveniently located across the street from MoMA.  This signature drink of Antoine's just showed up over on Chilled Magazine's IG, with my photo. The hotel's bar is one of the more opulent drinking chambers I've ever been in. And it made for some pretty shots.

THE GUILLOTINE

1 1/2 oz. Avuá Jequitibá Rosa Cachaça
1 oz. Lemon Juice
3/4 oz. Ginger Juice
1/2 oz. Drambuie
1/4 oz. Cardamom Honey
2 dashes Cardamom Bitters
Laphroaig (for Rinse)
Dired Kumquat and Bee Pollen (for Garnish)

Preparation: Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker and shake. Pour into a stemless, Laphroaig-rinsed Mille Nuit Champagne Flute. Garnish with a dried kumquat and bee pollen.

Winter Whiskey Sour from Zach Patterson at Melrose Umbrella Company

Had to do some fancy footwork to get this last minute assignment for Douglas Elliman Magazine pulled together--not as fast as I made Zach Patterson come up with a wintry, holiday-esque cocktail on a sunny October day in Los Angeles, but I did manage to turn the whole thing around in about 48  hours. That I had to hang out in Melrose Umbrella Company for most of a Thursday afternoon, shooting the drink, snacking my way through the bar menu, interspersing sips of the cocktails-in-progress with macchiatos--not a bad way to bang out a story and photo. Great afternoon light there, in the wood-lined bar, with reflected sunlight bouncing off of Melrose Avenue outside.

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 I did have to corral the forever-in-motion Zach pretty hard to get him to commit to a finished version of the recipe, but he nailed this one in just a couple attempts, allowing me to file photo, copy and final recipe by 6 PM as promised. He then put on a Bram Stoker's Dracula-style vamp costume and went and pulled a guest shift at Big Bar in Los Feliz. He's like the Terminator Bartender...he will never stop.....

 

 

Coming Soon: Cocktails from Baccarat Hotel, NYC

I recently shot some quite glamorous cocktails for the opulent Baccarat Hotel in NYC.  Above, L'Avant Garde: Casa Dragones Tequila, Chartreuse, Capelletti, lime, orange bitters & activated coconut shell charcoal.

Way Back Wednesday: The Gunshop Fizz from Kirk Estopinal at Cure, 2009

I've just moved to New Orleans, and in reviewing my New Orleans coverage over the years I came across this video we did with Kirk Estopinal at Cure, soon after it opened, in 2009.  This improbably successful mostly-Peychaud's fizz is from Kirk and Maks Pazuniak's book, Beta Cocktails, for which they set themselves the challenge of making the most unlikely ingredient combos work. Since then Kirk and his Cure compatriots have opened a now-gone (and sorely missed) Bellocq, as well as my favorite new-ish spot (as opposed to historical) in the French Quarter, the rum-centric Cane + Table. 

In a poorly considered bit of scheduling, I'd lined up this shoot for the Monday after Tales of the cocktail, and I think we were all a bit shaky. But the video, which had Chad Mumm behind the camera and on the lovely edit, doesn't show the signs of our Tales hangover too badly, I think. And the drink remains a delight, particularly for lovers of cocktail bitters.

GUNSHOP FIZZ

2 oz Peychaud's bitters
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup
2 strawberries
3 cucumber slices
3 swaths of grapefruit peel
3 swath of orange peel
Sanbitter

Add all the ingredients except Sanbitter into a mixing tin. Muddle and set aside for two minutes to allow the flavors to blend.

Add ice, shake and strain over fresh ice in a collins glass; top with Sanbitter. Garnish with a cucumber slice.

 

Highlands make The New Yorker, and the New Yorker makes a rare boo boo

Delighted to see that Highlands made Bar Tab in The New Yorker, and shocked to see that the magazine's famously exacting copy editing and proofreading department let the non-Scottish spelling "whiskey" make it into print, not once but twice within the piece.  I'm not sure if that's reassuring, to know that The New Yorker is fallible at getting such details right, the kind of error that makes one's own many, many typos and misspellings and errors of face seem slightly less heinous by comparison, or if it should be profoundly alarming, that this last bastion of immaculate grammar and fact checking fucked up what's a pretty basic one, in the world of spirits writing at least. Anyhow, good for Highlands. Follow bar manager Andrey Kalinin's cheeky Instagram, and his late-summer cocktail,  whiskey * & whisky explorations here. Above, a drink Andrey and I worked on for a special tribute to Chick Corea at Lincoln Center a few years ago.