genever gimlet

2 oz Bols Genever
1 oz Swedish Punsch
1 oz Clarified Lime Juice (*)

Paint the inside of a cocktail glass with two stripes using citrus paint (**) and a pasty brush. Stir ingredients with ice and strain into the glass.
(*) Instructions on how to clarify lime juice can be found on the Cooking Issues blog. The drink can be made with regular lime juice if need be, but it will taste slightly different.
(**) The paint was the product of lemon and lime juice pellets after being thickened and gelled with Ultra-Tech and centrifuged. Food coloring was added to the final product for added contrast.

For my second drink at Clio, bartender Todd Maul wanted to show me his Clarified Genever Gimlet. This Gimlet showcases a few of the things that makes the bar stand out. First, their Swedish Punsch recipe is rather good for Todd and Randy Wong have fine-tuned their recipe using a bottle of the real deal that a guest brought them from Sweden as a flavor model. Next, the use of high tech toys like centrifuges and cane juice extractors (not shown here) and processes to improve the drink's taste and presentation. Unfortunately, this makes replicating the recipe at home a little difficult, but a rough approximation of this Gimlet can be made using regular lime juice and skipping the citrus paint. As a recipe, the Gimlet reminded me of a cross between the Dr. Cocktail and the Royal Wedding.
The Gimlet's aroma was rather malty from the Bols Genever. The sip was lime-like for clarified lime juice tastes a bit different and brighter than freshly squeezed; moreover, over time as the paint came off the glass, a different combination of citrus flavor elements entered the drink. Lastly, the swallow was rather drying with a combination of the citrus, the Punsch's tea tannins and Batavia Arrack, and the Genever's botanicals. Interestingly, the Bols Genever and the Swedish Punsch (and perhaps in conjunction with the clarified lime juice) together came across with a funky note that reminded me of rhum agricoles or Cape Verdean rums.