orange basil martini

2 oz Citadelle Gin
1 oz Carpano Dry Vermouth
1/4 oz Orange-Basil Lactic Ferment Brine (* See below)

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon twist, pickled onions, or olives.While I was away at the USBG national meeting two weeks ago, I was not gathering any cocktail recipes and photos for the blog and Instagram. Therefore, I figured that I would feature three drinks that I created at Josephine in Somerville besides the Flowers of St. Francis milk punch that I had written about earlier. One of the frequent questions that we had at Josephine was what beers were on tap, and the answer was none. We had a pair of Vodka Martinis and originally our house limoncello on said taps. The limoncello eventually had to be nixed since the oils and particulates were clogging up the valves on the Cornelius keg regardless of how much we strained it through coffee filters, and we bottled it instead. I proposed a Gin Martini to add to the Dirty Vodka and Vodka with Vermouth Martinis, as guests were asking for it and it would be the Martini that I would want to drink. However, I wanted to level up the classic 2:1 Dry Martini with a tie-in with our food program. Therefore, I decided to incorporate basil and orange flavors, but instead of an infusion, I preserved the flavors with a lactic ferment. This came about as I considered our house Dirty Martini at Loyal Nine in 2015 which utilized a healthy amount of the brine from the sauerkraut that the kitchen was constantly generating. I then experienced a more classic Martini with a quarter ounce of brine in Zach Luther's Dandelion Martini at his guest shift at Backbar in 2017 that utilized a touch of dandelion-lemon peel ferment in a circa 3:1 Dry Martini. Using my sauerkraut-derived lactobacillus culture from home, the end result was a success, and it got approval to be on the menu. It appeared as Jo's Draft Gin Martini with a vague description of "Citadelle Gin, Dry Vermouth, Basil & Orange" since I figured that any talk of fermentation or brine might confuse our diners.As for the brininess quotient, it was present but not overwhelming. Standard olive brine is around 10% salt (one range I saw was 8% for ripe olives up to 14% for less ripe ones), so this was on average around 2.5 fold less salty. Our standard Dirty had with a half ounce of olive brine, so this had 5 times less salt per sip (and 10 times less than a very dirty one). It came across as a savoriness to join the bright and floral orange notes and fresh and herbal basil ones, and the effect was pleasantly noticeable but not overwhelming or shocking to someone expecting a Gin & Dry Vermouth Martini.

Orange-Basil Lactic Ferment Brine
• 150 gram Basil Leaf
• 360 gram Orange, Thinly Sliced (approx 2 Oranges)
• 1100-1200 gram 4% Kosher Salt Saline (Sea Salt will work, but avoid Iodized Salt) (4 grams Salt per 96 grams Water)
• ~1 oz Lactic Brine from a previous ferment
Add basil leaves and orange slices into a large Ball jar. Add in lactic brine from a previous ferment and top with 4% salt solution. Keep botanicals submerged (I used a glass ramekin) and away from air to avoid spoilage, and place jar in a tray to catch overflow. Every few days, tilt the jar to release any trapped CO2 gas bubbles and top up with more saline solution brine. Ferments went on average 10 days (and sometimes as long as 14 days) based on gas bubble generation and appearance of the basil. Strain the liquid through a coffee filter and store in quart containers or jars.