Wednesday, June 1, 2011

horse tonic

1 1/2 oz Dark Rum, preferably Gosling's Black Seal
1/2 oz Cruzan Black Strap Rum
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Ginger Syrup
1/4 oz Velvet Falernum
1 Egg White

Shake once without ice and once with. Strain into a Fizz glass containing 1 oz of soda water. Garnish with a pinch of espresso (mortar and pestle ground dark roast coffee beans) and an orange twist.

Two Saturdays ago, I was flipping through the new Food & Wine: Cocktails 2011 book and spotted the curious sounding Horse Tonic. The drink was created by Richard Boccato who bartends at Dutch Kills, Painkiller, and Weather Up TriBeCa in Manhattan. Richard designed the drink with mid- to late-19th century Bracers, like the Saratoga Brace Up, in mind. Braces became popular with the advent of sparkling water and were well utilized in the morning as hangover palliatives.
The Horse Tonic's garnishes provided a dark roast coffee and orange oil aroma. On the sip, the pair of dark rums offered a caramel flavor that worked surprisingly well with the lemon juice. Next, the black strap molasses appeared on a swallow spiced by clove and ginger notes. Furthermore, the coffee garnish began to enter the flavor profile over time and complemented the dark rums. Of all the flavor combinations, it was the fresh ginger syrup pairing with the sharp carbonation that was most enjoyable for me.

4 comments:

rafe/lindsay said...

This sounds fabulous. Great summer sipper with some serious flavor. Can't wait to try it. What did you use for the ginger syrup? (what was your recipe?)

frederic said...

Ginger doesn't last long in syrups (the oils break down in water) so I usually make it fresh. The most extreme recipe I saw was to take 3 cubes (1 inch a side) and blend it and strain/filter to yield an ounce or so of juice. Add an ounce of sugar to yield 1 1/2 oz of syrup.

I don't make mine as strong. I take an ounce of sugar and add a cube of ginger (about 1 inch a side) that I either dice up or grate before adding. I muddle the ginger in the sugar in a coffee cup, add about an ounce of water, and gently microwave and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let steep for 5-10 minutes. Then I fine strain out the ginger bits. The yield is about 1 1/2 oz.

We have also bought the Ginger People's ginger syrup which starts out sharp but loses flavor over time.

frederic said...

^^ I just checked the Food & Fine: Cocktails 2011 that I got that recipe from and it's 3 x 3 inch pieces of ginger to get an ounce of juice. Not 3 x 1 inch pieces.

Stew said...

Freaking glorious.