Have a Cocktail: Greta Christina's Half Century

I don't read Greta Christina's wonderful blog for cocktail recipes any more than I follow Rachel Maddow for them... but the latter's occasional cocktail moments spurred my interest in mixology, and now the former has provided my latest favorite drink.

Taking a bit of a break from blogging to work on her forthcoming book, Greta had been reposting some older articles, and it was my (and everyone's) good luck that one of them was for the Half Century, a drink she'd devised a couple years before to celebrate her 50th birthday. The drink itself, which Greta describes as "roughly a whiskey sour made with lime juice and cardamom simple syrup," is straightforward:

• 2 oz rye whiskey
• 1 oz cardamom simple syrup
• 1/2 oz fresh squeezed lime juice

Regular readers (are there any) will know that she had me at "rye," but it's really the cardamom simple syrup that makes it magic (and I'm going to make you actually go read Greta's post to get that recipe¹). It's awesomely good smelling to make, and awesomely delicious. It makes this a go-to whiskey drink and I can't wait to find new ways to use it!

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¹ Be sure to read the comments for clarification on exactly what kind of cardamom you need and how to source it.

Have a Cocktail: The Easterner

So when I finally joined the 21st century and got an iPhone, I did what I assume every new smartphone user does: I gorged on apps. Things being (as a coworker used to say) as they are, rather than as they should be, one of the apps I downloaded first was a cocktails app called Mixology.

As with most of the apps I downloaded, I haven't really scratched the surface of what it can do, but I have discovered one feature that is really cool: You can search for drink recipes by ingredient. So when you have an item and you think, "I wonder what I could do with this," the answer is no farther away than your phone.

One of the items I've had handy recently is grapefruit juice: My wife and I have gotten into the habit of splitting a fresh ruby red grapefruit as an evening snack, and I find that after I've eaten all the segments, my half will yield an ounce or two of juice. Normally, I'll just drink it off, but so many great cocktails call for fresh citrus juice, and it seems a shame to waste it.

The obvious (to me, at least) pairing for grapefruit juice is gin, and there are, in fact, any number of delicious-sounding recipes for gin and juice (including Gin and Juice), but I was in the mood for something different tonight, so I keyed in grapefruit juice and... rye. And what Mixology offered me was:

The Easterner

• 2 oz. Rye Whiskey (I used Willet Single Barrel Straight Rye)
• 1 oz. Grapefruit Juice (fresh ruby red, in this case)
• 1/2 oz. Maple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

That last ingredient was a bit of serendipity for me: I happen to have some local Connecticut maple syrup (from Maple Leaf Farm in Canterbury) that I purchased in a silent auction at a Democratic fundraiser, and I'm always looking for interesting ways to use it. This turns out to be a very interesting way: The maple is a perfect sweet pairing with the smokiness of the rye, and the grapefruit juice adds just the right bit of acid brightness to keep the overall drink from being... well, syrupy.

A quick search around the web turned up (on several sites) a different version that uses 2 ounces of juice and only 1 1/2 ounces of rye, and that adds grenadine, and maybe I'll try that at some point, but I doubt I'll like it better than this version, which is distinctly a whiskey drink, smooth and sweet and bright, but always with the rye out front.

Besides, with this recipe I had enough grapefruit juice to make a second. And that was a Very Good Thing™.

Have a Cocktail: The Old-School Chocolate Martini

Today I attended a the annual holiday party for the Quiet Corner Democrats, a service organization that helps facilitate coordination between local Democratic party groups, activists, and candidates here in Eastern Connecticut.

Before you wonder why I'm not writing about this at my other blog, let me just say that we Democrats worked hard this year, and had a pretty good November, and were ready to party with some good food and drink. The event was a pot-luck dessert reception, and soon enough I'll blog about the chocolate brownie cookies with Chinese 5-spice that I made, but the occasion for this (brief) post is the featured drink at the open bar (yes, liberal parties are better).

My friend Chris Pitts, one of the QCD founders, was serving a a chocolate martini... and no, this was not one of those "martinis" that shares virtually nothing with the classic martini other than the shape of the glass; this was old school: A generous serving of premium vodka mixed with a much smaller amount of secondary liquor — in this case, white creme de cacao — and served up in a classic cocktail glass.

I don't have a proper recipe, but from watching the bartender build more than one of them, I'd say it was about...

• 3 to 4 parts Pearl vodka
• 1 part white creme de cacao
• Shake with ice
• Strain into cocktail glass rimmed with cocoa powder.

What a delicious way to begin the Christmas holiday season; enjoy!

Emerging Foodie Test Kitchen... Er, Make That Bar

In my previous post about my foray into pickling, I mentioned that I had a few fresh cucumbers left over, which I planned to combine with the first gleanings from the jalapeno plants in my garden to make the cucumber-jalapeno margarita my buddy Andy Jackson had published as his Margarita of the Month for July at his Disney food blog Eating (and Drinking) Around the World.

Today, coming home after a few hours of doorknocking with my favorite candidate for state senate, I needed a drink, and what better one than this? I won't detail the procedure — all I did was follow Andy's recipe — but the short version is that I combined (homegrown) jalapeno, (locally sourced) cucumber, cilantro, lime juice, agave nectar, silver tequila, and Cointreau to make a genuinely delicious cocktail.

The earthy tang of the tequila, the smooth cool of the cucumber, the heat of the jalapeno, and the acid of the lime are all in perfect balance, with just the right amount of sweetness coming from the agave nectar. Even with the spice, it was the perfect ending to a long, hot day.

I urge all my readers (all two of 'em!) to try Andy's other margaritas of the month(s): I've never failed to enjoy one of these recipes.

Weird Booze

In typical HuffPost fashion, the headline of this piece is, I’m pretty sure, wrong: Where they said “worst,” I think they must have meant “weird.” Mind you, some of these flavors might be truly awful — personally, I can’t imagine peanut butter as a flavor in vodka, jelly or no — but the article doesn’t even claim they taste bad; only that they seem odd to the author. Well, most of them seem odd to me, too (actually, the whole concept of flavored vodka seems odd to me, but that’s a whole different rant), but many — bubble gum, cake, fluffed marshmallow, cotton candy, etc. — are simply “cute” variations on sweet and/or creamy. Several of them, though, I find intriguing:

• I came across a bottle of Bakon bacon-flavored vodka in the liquor store, and I just couldn’t resist buying it. I know the whole business of bacon obsession is kind of “so last month,” but I’m nothing if not a trailing-edge foodie.
• The smoked salmon vodka seems like it’d be ideal for a variety of takes on the Bloody Mary (and I promise I thought that even before I noticed it says so right on the label.

• I have so got to find a bottle of the Green Geisha wasabi-flavored vodka! The cocktail is already coming together in my head: Chilled wasabi vodka with a piece of toro sashimi as an edible garnish, with a clump of fish roe (or, perhaps, faux fish roe made from spherified whisky) and a drop of soy sauce (in lieu of bitters) artfully swirled into the drink. Yummmm….

Seriously, way too many people automatically equate weird with worst; in fact, weird is, I confidently insist, good!

The True Test of a Spacefaring Civilization

Aside from food and drink, one of my other enthusiasms is space exploration. One of the things we space cadets dream about is a spacefaring civilization... which is to say, a future in which space travel is not an exotic pursuit, but routine and fully integrated into human life in the way air and sea travel are today.

Not unrelated to food and (especially) drink, this is a step in the right direction!

Cheers!

Dining Out: Indigo Indian Bistro

It's been far too long since I posted here, and tonight I return for a happy reason! The Lovely Bride™ and I had dinner with our daughter at Indigo Indian Bistro for their Wednesday dinner buffet, Pan Indian this week. Dinner at Indigo is always a happy thing in and of itself, and tonight was no exception. I especially enjoyed the tandoori vegetable and mixed vegetable Porriyal (stir-fried veggies with coconut and mustard seed) appetizers and the Meen Manga Charu (fish cooked in coconut and raw mango sauce), while my wife enjoyed the Aloo Banarasi (fried potato with onion and tamarind) and onion Spinach Packora (think Indian-style onion rings, but with a gluten-free lentil batter) appetizers, along with her signature Chicken Tikka Masala. My daughter isn't particularly partial to goat, but she loved the sauce on tonight's goat dish so much that she took a small bowl of the sauce alone, just to dip her naan.

A meal at Indigo is always a delight, but the really happy news is that since my last visit there, they've gotten their liquor license, and are now serving beer and wine (and cocktails, it appeared, though they're not on the menu). If you're like me, and like to match "indigenous" beers to their cuisines, you'll go for a Kingfisher or, better yet, the 22 oz. Taj Mahal... but there's also a nice selection of other imports, and the domestic beers include the wonderful Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA. (I'll let someone else comment on the wine selections; what the heck do I know about that?)

All in all, a great evening... and another step forward for Sheen's little slice of heaven.

Cocktail of the Day: Tequila Sunburn

Okay, this'll be quick: Yesterday my friends at Pharyngula were talking booze, and the subject of the Tequila Sunrise came up. I'm not a huge fan of orange juice — too thick and too sweet for my tastes — but then I got to thinking about the habanero-infused tequila I used in the Spicy Ginger Basil Margarita I wrote about last week.

Now, man does not live by Margaritas alone, and I've been trying to think of other cocktails that would benefit from the fiery tequila. Suddenly it dawned on me that the habanero, which adds not only heat but a smoky richness to the tequila, might well cut the sweetness of the orange juice in a Tequila Sunrise quite nicely. And so, it turns out, it does! Thus was born the...


Tequila Sunburn

• 4-5 oz orange juice


• 2 oz habanero-infused tequila (or mix with straight tequila to moderate heat, to a total of 2 oz)


• 3/4 oz grenadine syrup

Stir together orange juice and tequila with ice cubes in rocks glass. Pour grenadine into drink without stirring and allow to settle. Enjoy!

Breaking News! New Local Microdistillery

A story (curse you, paywall!!) in this evening's Journal Inquirer announces the forthcoming opening of Onyx Spirits, a new microdistillery in nearby (to me) Manchester, Connecticut. Apparently the initial products, to be released in April, will include a limoncello, a vodka, and a "moonshine" (corn whiskey, perhaps?). Watch this space for more information; you can bet that if public tours are available, I'll be there!