Sunday, September 13, 2009

carra-ryed away

1 1/2 oz Rye (Sazerac 6 Year)
1 oz Aquavit (Krogstad)
1/2 oz Grand Marnier
1 tsp Amaretto (Disaronno)

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe glass.

Last night we were looking for a good digestif so we flipped through the after-dinner drinks section of Food & Wine: Cocktails '09 that Jeff Grdinich curated. Jeff bartends at the White Mountain Cider Co. in New Hampshire and can often be spotted at various cocktail events in Boston. The Carra-ryed Away stood out and provided a good cocktail to use our newest aquavit, Krogstad (we are now up to 3!). While the book does not attribute credit to the Carra-ryed Away, we assume it is Grdinich's creation.
The richness and spiciness of the rye paired well with the caraway seed notes in the aquavit. The sip contained a hint of orange and sweetness from the liqueurs. Interestingly, the amaretto came out more in the nose than in the taste. The Krogstad had an absinthe sort of note to it that was most likely from the star anise in its botanical mix; therefore, perhaps a floated star anise would have made a great garnish for this drink. Between the whiskey's grain and the aquavit's caraway, it was like imbibing liquid rye bread.
posted by frederic at 2:13 PM
ingredients: , , ,

2 comments:

Craig said...

Interesting. I just emptied my only bottle of Aqauvit (Aalborg Jubleamans) and would like to sample some other. I do have a bottle of Gilka Kummel that I've been scratching my head about, until...

I was making dinner the other night, a recipe for pork chops braised w/ cabbage and apple brandy and caraway, among other things. I opened the lid, and was hit by inspirations, so I mixed up a cocktail: 2 oz. Lairds bonded, .75 oz. lemon juice, .5 Kummel. It was nice, needed a bit more sweet to balance it, so I'm thinking maybe some home-made grenadine, as a play on the Jack Rose... maybe a "Johannes Rose?"

September 14, 2009 at 2:55 PM
frederic said...

Sort of an apple brandy instead of gin Silver Bullet.

There seem to be more classic (and post classic) kümmel recipes although they seem to trail off in the last 2 or 3 decades. I know I've seen a few in Patrick Duffy, Calabrese, and the Savoy. The Weeper's Joy is one of the more famous and appears in Imbibe! There are also some tasty ones on CocktailDB including the Kingston (Heights) or Surprise Cocktail.

Fewer recipes focus on kümmel these days with an increase in Aquavit cocktails (practically none in the classic cocktail books, but more and more in the newer ones).

The Krogstad Aquavit reminded us more of our kümmel (with some star anise notes) than did our other two aquavits (North Shore Distillery and Aalborg) which both seem to have a more diverse botanical mix and less caraway signature.

September 14, 2009 at 4:11 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)