devil's whisper

1 oz Smith & Cross Rum
1 oz Amaro Braulio
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Apple Brandy (Laird's Bonded)

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass with ice, and garnish with a grapefruit twist. Two Saturdays ago, I returned to a relatively recent set of online recipe flashcards that I found for Attaboy, and I picked the Devil's Whisper. While there are four Braulio-Yellow Chartreuse drinks on the blog such as the Inside Job, this is the first time that I had seen Braulio paired with Green Chartreuse. In the glass, the Devil's Whispered communicated a grapefruit, caramel, rum funk, and herbal aroma to the nose. Next, caramel and apple notes on the sip revealed funky rum, caramel, herbal, and herbaceous flavors on the swallow with a pine finish.

tight five

1 1/2 oz Tequila (Olmeca Altos)
3/4 oz Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi)
1/2 oz Apple Brandy (Laird's Bonded)
1/4 oz Cynar
1/8 oz Benedictine

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube, and garnish with an orange twist.Two Sundays ago, I reached for my copy of the Raising the Bar book by Jacob Grier and Brett Adams, and I landed on the Tight Five that they crafted with tequila and apple brandy in an herbal-tinged Manhattan of sorts. In the glass, the Tight Five unfurled with orange, vegetal, and minty aromas. Next, a grape-driven sip led into agave, apple, and herbal flavors on the swallow.

mexican tricycle

1 oz Mezcal (Fidencio)
1 oz Cynar

Build in a 10 oz Highball glass, fill with ice, top with Bantam Wunderkind Cider (3 1/2 oz Harpoon Craft Cider), garnish with a lime wheel (omit).

While grocery shopping at Trader Joe's, I spotted a bottle of hard cider in the singles rack, and I recalled that there was a cider recipe with mezcal and Cynar recipe that I wanted to make. When I got home, I was unable to find the tab with the recipe on my browser, so I searched the web and discovered the Punch Drinks article for the Mexican Tricycle. I could not remember the other ingredients, but I figured that this one was probably it (and there were no other ingredients either). The drink was created by Andrew Volk at the Hunt and Alpine Club in Portland, Maine, as a riff on Jeffrey Morgenthaler's Broken Bike (Cynar, dry white wine, soda water) which in turn was a riff on the classic Bicicletta (Campari, dry white wine, soda water). Apple and Cynar have been a great duo  in cocktails like the Michigander and the Detroiter, so I could see why I had mentally flagged this recipe.
The Mexican Tricycle opened up with a smoke, caramel, and apple bouquet. Next, the caramel and apple continued into the sip, and the swallow offered smoky agave and funky herbal flavors with an apple finish.

the clermont

1 oz Wild Turkey Rye Whiskey
1 oz Laird's Applejack
1/2 oz Cider Syrup (*)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass.
(*) Cloudy apple cider boiled down (perhaps by a third to a half) with cinnamon and clove. Dissolve an equal part of sugar and let cool.
Two Tuesdays ago, Andrea and I had dinner at Trina's Starlite Lounge. For a first drink, I asked bartender Kevin McNally for the Clermont that seemed like an interesting riff on the Stone Fence. I later asked bartender Isaac Sussman about the syrup, but I regret now not asking about the drink's name. If it were made with a Jim Beam whiskey instead of Wild Turkey, the name would make sense due to the Beam distillery's home in Clermont, Kentucky. Regardless, the Clermont greeted the nose with apple and cinnamon aromas. Next, lemon and apple flavors mingled on the sip, and the swallow offered rye and apple notes with a bitter finish.

autumn pimm's cup

2 oz Pimm's No. 1
1/2 oz Chai Tea Syrup
1/2 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice, strain into a Collins glass with 2 oz hard cider (Eric Bordelet Nouvelle Vague), top with ice, and garnish with an apple slice and freshly grated cinnamon.
Two weeks ago, the theme for drink of the day was apple cider, so that Sunday I decided to do a harvest version of the Pimm's Cup using the cider in place of the lemon-lime soda or ginger ale. For a vegetal element, I regretted not bringing in some of my borage from the garden, and instead, I opted for a chai tea syrup which has mint leaves in the mix along with apple-complementary spices. While cinnamon is not in our chai mix, I added it to the nose by way of the garnish.

tapestry of stone

1 oz Hamilton's Demerara 151 Proof Rum
1 oz Cloudy Cider (not fermented)
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.
For Eater's Cocktail Week this week, I was asked to submit a recipe utilizing this year's chosen ingredient -- apple cider (see the complete list here). For a starting place, I thought about the Stone Fences that I used to drink a bunch of at Green Street; their version was rye whiskey, cloudy apple cider, and Angostura Bitters. The drink is perfectly Colonial and the Green Mountain Boys drank them for courage in attacking Fort Ticonderoga in 1775. Their version was more likely rum with fermented cider though according the David Wondrich. Rum and apple cider? I can work with that concept; however, I did not want a tall drink or even one served in an Old Fashioned glass with ice. Therefore, I utilized our double strength Demerara rum to the fullest to maximize the flavors while keeping the build to 3 ounces. Originally, I wanted the sweetener to be Benedictine, but it was a bit subtle in the mix and it added extra ABV to an already bold drink. Instead, cinnamon syrup worked better. For a name, I worked with the stone fence or stone wall thought and uncovered this gem from under-appreciated New England poet Helen Keller. In her 1910 poem "The Song of the Stone Wall," she contains the drink name-worthy "tapestry of stone":

Come walk with me, and I will tell
What I have read in this scroll of stone;
I will spell out this writing on hill and meadow.
It is a chronicle wrought by praying workmen,
The forefathers of our nation--
Leagues upon leagues of sealed history awaiting an interpreter.
This is New England's tapestry of stone
Alive with memories that throb and quiver
At the core of the ages
As the prophecies of old at the heart of God's Word.

In the glass, the Tapestry of Stone offered apple and nutmeg aromas. Next, caramel, apple, and lemon on the sip transitioned into rum, apple, vanilla, and cinnamon on the swallow. Over time, the nutmeg spice also incorporated into the flavor profile.

:: drink[craft]beer fall to winter fest ::

Last Friday, I went to session 1 of Drink[Craft]Beer's Fall to Winter Fest. I returned to their event after enjoying their Summerfest for the moderately sized event felt rather intimate; not only was it easy to visit every booth and not just visit mostly the familiar, it was not overly crowded such that you could not spend time talking to brewers and the brewery staff as well as sample multiple tastings from the booths. Each brewery and cidery had to have at least one fall- or winter-themed offering; while some had seasonal offerings in already in their lineups, others seemed to have brewed beers and ciders for the event for I was unable to find any information online about the products. Moreover, I was quite surprised and pleased to see that apples were playing a bigger role in the event than pumpkins.
As for my favorite apple products and one pumpkin one:
• Nightshift (MA) @NightShiftBeer - Fallen Apple. This golden ale brewed with fresh local cider was amazing especially tasty with the undertones from the rum and brandy barrels used for aging. The sour apple notes were complemented by the spice finish.
• Bantam Cider (MA) @BantamCider - Persian Spice. While at Thirst Boston, I enjoyed their Le Grande aged in Bourbon barrels, this time my favorite new-to-me product was spiced with a bounty of Middle Eastern botanicals with cardamom and cinnamon being the most identifiable all with a floral finish. See the spices in the second picture.
• Urban Farm Fermentory (ME) @Fermentory - Chai Sour Cidah. The Untappd beer app seemed to suggest that this was a new offering, and it was a hybrid of their kombucha and their cider. Indeed, the sour and tea tannin notes of the fermented tea worked well on the finish of the apple.
• Downeast Cider House (ME) @DowneastCider - Barrel Project #2. I love their regular unfiltered cider that we sell at work, and the unfiltered nature here came across as very yeasty. The Bourbon barrel notes a definite richness to the apple.
• Blacksmiths Winery (ME) - Fatty Bampkins. While a little on the sweet side, it had a great honest apple flavor.
• Cape Ann Brewing (MA) @CapeAnnBrewing - Imperial Pumpkin Stout. I do not generally hunt out pumpkin beers, but I am not averse to trying them. When I saw that Cape Ann was offering an imperial pumpkin, it reminded me of Southern Tier's that we had on cask. Likewise, it was very pumpkin but with a decent dark caramel malt and no bothering with pumpkin pie spices.
For favorite dark beers:
• RiverWalk Brewing Co. (MA) @RiverwalkBeer - Rye Stout. Another offering that was first entered into Untappd that night so I have to assume it was made for this event. While the coffee malt notes clouded a lot of the rye spice, the hops from the Kent Golding did shine through quite well.
• Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project (MA) @PrettyBeer - Babayaga. Technically not new to me, but new to me utilizing the Untappd beer app, this rustic stout with great smoky notes from rosemary-smoked malts was all around delightful.
• Nightshift (MA) @NightShiftBeer - Taza Stout. My tasting notes read, "Chocolate blending into coffee from chicory. Ginger builds over time."
• High Horse Brewing (MA) @HighHorseBrew - The Business. High Horse Brew Pub was out of this offering when we visited them a few months ago in Amherst. Luckily, I had a chance to try this imperial stout that was black as night and full of coffee roast flavors.
• Tap Brewing Company (MA) @TapBrewingCo - Joshua Norton Imperial Stout. Quite delightful with chocolate and caramel notes on the sip and a smoky coffee finish.
And my favorite non-fruit and non-dark brews:
• Idle Hands (MA) @IdleHandsBeer - First Pitch. No wonder I could not find this Belgian rye pale ale on shelves for it is keg-only right now. My tasting notes read, "Caramel balanced by rye spice and Belgian notes. Tart apple." Also notable was Lucia's Bounty, their pale weizenbock, which showcased caramel notes and a rosemary-like bite.
• Nightshift (MA) @NightShiftBeer - Chinooknation. A Belgian-style double brewed with a single type of hops that offered resiny, lemon, pine, clove, and cinnamon-like spice.
• Smuttynose Brewing Company (NH) @SmuttynoseBeer - Winter Ale. Unlike many of the winter offerings, I obviously enjoyed this one's angle for I wrote, "Good to see a winter beer go Trappist style instead of spiced. Fig/date notes."
• Notch Brewing (MA) @NotchBrewing - LP IPL. This was certainly not their fall or winter offering, but it was great to see others besides Jack's Abby doing India Pale Lagers. LP IPL had nice pineapple, pine, and citrus notes.
• Wormtown Brewery (MA) @WormtownBrewery - Wintah Ale. Perhaps this should be in the dark beer section, but it was a touch lighter as a brown ale. Elegant nutty brown, chocolate, and earthy flavors.

fever tea

1 oz Laird's 7 1/2 Year Apple Brandy
1 oz Linden-infused Old Overholt Rye (*)
1/2 oz Cider Syrup (1:1 cider to sugar, cold process)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1 dash Fee's Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a Highball glass filled with ice. Top with 2 oz prosecco and add a straw.
(*) Ted was vague with his description of the infusion. Use the time and tea concentration in the Earl Grey Marteani post as a guide (and scale down accordingly to your needs).

Two Thursdays ago, I decided to brave the crowds and go shopping at the Boston Shaker's midnight madness sale. Afterward, I was rather close to the Red Line, so I hopped on the subway to visit the bar at No. 9 Park. One drink that bartender Ted Kilpatrick wanted to showcase for me was his new creation he called Fever Tea. With linden flower-infused rye and apple notes, this Highball sounded quite delicious.
The Fever Tea began with floral notes from the linden-infused rye and apple ones from the brandy and cider syrup; the combination of the two came across as an almost honey aroma. There were no honey notes in the sip though, for it contained crisp carbonation, lemon, and apple flavors instead. The rye appeared on the swallow along with the linden tea's tannins, and it finished with a lingering floral flavor. Furthermore, as the ice melted, cinnamon notes from the bitters began to spice the swallow. I was quite intrigued how the Fever Tea started tart but ended dry, and I was impressed at how the Fever Tea proved to be a refreshing late Autumnal tall drink.

the hunter

2 oz Sage-infused Santa Teresa Rum
3/4 oz Honey-Bourbon-Lemon Syrup
3/4 oz Sparkling Cider
1/2 oz Clarified Apple Cider
1 dash Willet 110 Rye
1 dash Smoking Ban Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass flavored with cinnamon smoke and containing a large ice cube. Garnish the ice cube with mace, flower petals, and a small sage leaf.

After the crowded No. 3 Gin event at Eastern Standard, I decided to relax at the bar at Clio a few blocks away. One of the drinks that bartender Todd Maul wanted to show me was the Hunter where he strove to recreate a Fall afternoon in a glass. The last time he tried to capture a seasonal feel like this was in April with the Spring in the Afternoon. The similarities between the two drinks included a botanically infused rum. For the Spring drink, it was a fresh and clean fava bean leaf, and here it was an dark, earthy, and spiced sage leaf. Another was the smoke-flavored glass; for the drink in April, Todd utilized a smoldering dried black loomi lime, and here it was cinnamon.
The smoke worked rather well here to fill the Hunter's nose, and unlike many smoked drinks, there was not an acrid burnt taste on the sip. Instead, the sip portrayed a very apple flavor that was complemented by the honey and citrus notes from the syrup. The honey continued on in the swallow where it mingled with the rum and whiskey elements. With the darker flavors, the apple and honey notes, and the smoke reminiscent of burning piles of leaves, the Hunter did indeed capture many of the elements I associate with Autumn.

lux cider

1 1/4 oz Lustau Los Arcos Dry Amontillado Sherry
1/2 oz Hayman's Old Tom Gin
1 oz Charred Apple Cider (see below)
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1 dash Fee's Old-fashioned Bitters (Fee's Whiskey Barrel)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Twist an orange peel over the top.

As I mentioned in the Highland Games post, we recently received the recipes for the twelve finalists for the 2010 Vinos de Jerez Cocktail Competition. Dean Hurst's Lux Cider recipe did attract my attention, but the recipe required a bit of kitchen prep. Since I had all of the ingredients save for the charred apple cider, I decided that the recipe was tempting enough to make the extra effort worthwhile. With help from SideBern's Restaurant in Tampa's chef, Chad Johnson, Dean was able to come up with this delicious flavor combination. I scaled down the chef's recipe for the apple cider from a dozen apples to a single one (I used a Mutsu or Crispin apple), and the effort yielded a tasty caramelized apple syrup that was well worth my time in the kitchen.
The Lux Cider's aroma consisted of the Amontillado sherry combined with orange oil from the twist. On the first taste, I was impressed at how well the sweet apple sip melded with the dry, nutty sherry on the swallow. After the initial mouthful, the lemon crept into the sip and dried things out a bit, and this was followed by cinnamon from the bitters on the swallow. The Old Tom gin provided a boozy backbone to the drink but it was hard to specifically discern its flavor in the mix. Lastly, the caramelized or burnt aspect of the cider contributed a lingering almost bitter note to the drink, and this blended in well with the dry toastiness of the sherry.

Good luck to Dean and Chad as this drink competes soon at the finals held at the Clover Club in Brooklyn, NY!

Charred Apple Cider (scaled down)
• 1 Apple (cut into eighths).
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 2 tsp Brown Sugar
• 8 oz Water
Stir apples with sugar and leave for 30 minutes.
Place pan on high heat until smoking. Add sugared apples with any juice that was extracted. Cook with stirring until apples caramelize and begin to turn black on edges.
Add water and brown sugar. Scrape solids from bottom of pan. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 60 minutes.
Strain through tea towel.
Note: I found my cider to be rather dilute so I boiled mine down in half at this point.

[chamomile collins]

1 1/2 oz Applejack
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Lemon-Chamomile Tea Syrup (1:1)
4 dash Nasturtium Bitters (*)

Dry shake the ingredients and pour into a Collins glass filled with crushed ice. Top with 1 1/2 - 2 oz of Harpoon Cider. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg and a straw.
(*) Substitution suggestions: Bittermens Boston Bittahs (floral and citrus) or Tiki Bitters (cardamom), Fee's Whiskey Barrel or Aromatic Bitters (cinnamon), or good old orange bitters.

On Friday night, Andrea and I ventured over to Brookline to have dinner at Lineage. For my first drink, bartender Ryan Lotz recommended a highball that he had recently created. The idea of applejack paired with lemon-chamomile tea was quite appealing, but the top off of sparkling cider was the deal closer.
The grated nutmeg garnish provided much of the aroma to the drink. On the sip, apple and lemon created a pleasing fruit medley, and the swallow contained the cardamom and chamomile from the bitters and tea, respectively. Between the apple spirits, it was the cider that came across the best in the drink. Overall, this highball was rather floral and summery, and like the season, it disappeared all too quickly.

kivik apple market

2 oz Karlsson's Potato Vodka
3/4 oz Apple Cinnamon Syrup (see here)
3/4 oz Meletti Amaro
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1 dash Fee's Whiskey Barrel Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Last Saturday while Andrea was working at the Boston Shaker store, I went over to visit bartender Aaron Butler at Russell House Tavern. One of the new drinks on the menu pairs up the same apple cinnamon syrup in the Wigglesworth with Karlsson's Vodka which is more like a potato eau de vie. For a name, Aaron combined the spirits' country of origin and the syrup's fruit base to create the Kivik (pronounced "Shivick") Apple Market after a giant festival held in southern Sweden every year.
The Kivik Apple Market's nose was full of apple and spice aroma with some darker notes mixed in. The sip was rather appley with a rich mouthfeel of a swallow; the swallow contained some herbal complexity which meshed well with the apple flavors. Moreover, the aftertaste was a zingy cinnamon which combined with the other flavors to produce an almost gingery effect. Overall, the drink was savory and refreshing with a delightful autumnal feel.

[billybob appleseed]

2 oz Tea-Infused Bourbon
1/2 oz Cider Syrup (*)
1/2 oz Martini & Rossi Dry Vermouth

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail class. Twist a lemon peel over the top.
(*) To make the syrup, boil down cider in half. Add an equal amount of sugar. For the tea infusion, use this as a guide.

For my second drink at Ben Sandrof's Sunday Salon, I inquired about one of the ingredients he previously mentioned that he might be making for the night, namely tea syrup. While Ben got distracted by the other syrups he had made for the night, he did have a black tea-infused Bourbon at his disposal. Instead of a tea syrup, I wondered what he could do with that whiskey combined with an apple cider syrup he had just made. The options of going shaken with lemon juice or stirred with dry vermouth were bandied about. Since I had just had a citrus drink, I thus opted for the vermouth.
The drink started with a pleasing combination of lemon and tea on the nose. A fruity apple sip was dried out by the tea, vermouth, and barrel flavors on the swallow. When I let Andrea try it, she commented that there was a "spread out Bourbon taste on the swallow that ends with buttered corn."

hayride

1 1/2 oz Whiskey (Old Overholt Rye)
1 oz Apple Cider (nonfermented)
1/2 oz Benedictine
1 dash Angostura
1 Egg

Shake once without ice and once with, and strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with 7 drops of Allspice Dram on the egg foam and an apple wedge.

For Mixoloseum's Thursday Drink Night, the theme was apple cider, and I decided to go the flip route using some nonfermented apple cider (hard cider was another possible interpretation of the theme). As a starting point, I chose the Jerry Thomas classic, the Stone Fence. To spice things up, I added Benedictine which has complemented apple flavors before in drinks such as the Honeymoon Cocktail, Full House #2, and the Essence of Winter Sleep. Moreover, I added the floated garnish of Allspice Dram which worked rather well in the Judgment Day. For a name, I stuck with the autumnal theme and dubbed it the Hayride.
The Hayride started with an apple and allspice aroma from the garnishes. The Benedictine spice and rye whiskey complemented the apple notes as hoped for, and the egg donated a luxurious smoothness to the drink. When I was planning the drink on my drive home from work that day, my whiskey concept was actually a blended Scotch. When it came time to mix the drink, I forgot this part of the brainstorming session and grabbed the rye. I think a light or medium smoky Scotch might work rather well with the other flavors, although I was definitely not disappointed by how rye worked in this flip.

wigglesworth

2 3/4 oz Makers Mark 46 Bourbon
3/4 oz Apple-Cinnamon Syrup (*)
1/2 oz Fernet Branca
2 dash Urban Moonshine Maple Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass.

(*) The syrup was made as a two-fold reduction of apple juice which was heated with cinnamon sticks (15 per gallon). Remove the cinnamon sticks and add an equal part of sugar.
On Saturday afternoon, I was off running errands and found myself with an hour or so to kill before meeting Andrea for dinner after she got off from work. Since I was heading toward that end of the Red Line, I got off the subway at Harvard Square and paid a visit to Russell House Tavern. The drink I requested from head bartender Aaron Butler was the Wigglesworth. The drink was modeled after the Toronto, and Aaron added a great autumnal touch with a spiced apple syrup. Wigglesworth is a freshman dormitory on the Harvard Campus not too far from the tavern. Unfortunately, I did not ask which of the Wigglesworth clan (many of whom went to school at Harvard from the seventeenth century onward) he named it after, but I sure hoped it was the day-of-doom Michael who greatly influenced the Puritanical population. Even from an early age, the man thought he was damned after suffering the depravity of a few nocturnal emissions. Michael, however, did not find it damning that he married his own cousin; he suffered from a great inferiority complex and felt that she was the best he could do. Okay, so this has nothing to do with the drink, but this bit of 1600's Puritanical perversion has to make up for the fact that I neglected to ask Aaron about the etymology of his cocktail.

The Wigglesworth's nose was a pleasing apple and cinnamon aroma, and the syrup surprisingly overpowered the Fernet and whiskey in this arena. The sip was a sweet whiskey flavor followed by cinnamon and Fernet's menthol note on the swallow. Lastly, there was an interesting lingering honey-like note at the end; when I mentioned this to Aaron, he attributed it to the honey-thick apple syrup.

naked apple

1 1/2 oz High West Silver Western Oat Whiskey
1 oz Apple Cider, reduced and clarified (*)
1 dash Bitter Truth Lemon Bitters

Shake (or stir?) with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a baked disk of cider and caramel; serve with a straw.
(*) Reduce two-fold with heat. Add gelatin and freeze-thaw through cheesecloth as described in the Cooking Issues link below.
Last week, I stopped in at Clio to visit bartender Todd Maul. Todd asked if I was looking to try something new that would be on the menu the following week; without any further information, his enthusiasm was surely contagious and I gave the go ahead. The drink he prepared for me was in theory a riff on a Manhattan that used a lightly oaked whiskey made from 85% oat and 15% barley. The "in theory" part was that he did not use a vermouth, port, or even an amaro to balance the spirit; instead, he used a modified apple cider that acted like a vermouth. Todd had concentrated the cider and stripped it of its color so that it was like "apple juice on steroids." I had just read in the last round of Mixology Mondays about Jacob Grier's experiments to do similar clarifications of lime juice; furthermore, Jacob referenced a more comprehensive article in the Cooking Issues blog where this technique and others were explained in great detail. Instead of Angostura Bitters in this Manhattan facsimile, Todd chose lemon bitters for he found that it accentuated the apple notes in the drink. Overall, the drink was clean and rich tasting with the essence of a Stone Fence with the barrel aging notes of the whiskey and thick fruity flavors of the cider stripped away.

norman conquest

2 oz Pimm's No. 1
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a champagne flute. Top with ~2 oz dry sparkling cider from Normandy and garnish with two slices of strawberry.

On Wednesday evening, Andrea and I returned to Central Square to finish up the trilogy with Rendezvous. For my before dinner drink, I spotted the Norman Conquest on the cocktail menu and asked bartender Scott Holliday about it. His reply was that "It's just a tarted up Pimm's Cup," which was fine by me since it was hot out and I needed a refreshing beverage. Moreover, the concept of dry sparkling cider in place of the more standard lemon-lime soda pushed me over the edge into ordering it. Historically, the Norman Conquest was when the Duke of Normandy, William the Conquerer, invaded England in 1066 A.D., and here symbolically, cider from Normandy was invading the space of the traditional English spirit Pimm's No. 1.

The Norman Conquest's nose was fruity from the Pimm's, lemon juice, and the cider, and those three ingredients on the sip made for a delightful flavor combination. In addition, the balance was dry enough to be perfect as an aperitif. Lastly, the strawberry slices were entertaining besides delicious -- they were thin enough to catch the cider's bubbles so they floated up and down the inside of the champagne flute.

bean's necktie

3/4 oz Bourbon
3/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse
3/4 oz Orchard Syrup (recipe)
1 dash Fee's Whiskey Barrel Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a champagne flute. Top with Champagne (~ 2 oz) and garnish the inside of the glass with a long red apple peel (6 inches or so, Crusta/Horse's Neck style).

A weeks ago while reading my RSS feed, I spotted Embury Cocktails' contest for a drink inspired by the Fantastic Mr. Fox movie. The contest gave pointers for ingredients and plot moments, and along with some movie summaries and Wikipedia, I started to brainstorm. One part of the movie that grabbed me as rather dark is that Mr. Fox gets his tail shot off during one his raids and he later returns to fetch it, except he learns that the farmer, Mr. Bean, has taken to wearing it as a necktie. I thought that it was too morbid to name the drink after until a google search alerted me that Mr. Fox tail neckties were given away as promotion for the movie. Alas, not too dark for a movie based on Roald Dahl's work.

Next came the drink idea. The contest gave some suggestions about apples, champagne, fox-colored, and the like, which got me thinking. Earlier that day, I had read a post from Erik Ellestad that mentioned orchard syrup -- an ingredient that I saw a few days before in Harry Johnson's Bartenders' Manual. Orchard syrup was surmised to be an apple syrup made from boiling down cider into a honey-like consistency. With the apple part of the recipe in place, the Woxum from the Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book popped into my head of how apple flavors paired up rather well with yellow Chartreuse. The addition of some whiskey and bitters helped to solidify the base for a champagne cocktail concept. And to lock in the fox-like imagery part, I thought that a strip of red apple peel reminded me of a fox tail.

My tasting notes say that I made ours with Eagle Rare 10 Year Bourbon and Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs. The nose had elements of the five spice powder which was used to flavor the orchard syrup. The sip was full of apple notes with nice crispness from the sparkling wine's bubbles; lastly, the yellow Chartreuse sung out on the swallow. After tasting the drink, I knew my recipe was ready to submit to the contest.
The competition was held at Louis 649 in New York City on Monday night where the top 4 drinks were made and voted upon by a panel of judges. Pictured above bartender Eryn Reece (soon of Mayahuel) preparing a round of Bean's Neckties! A further description of the event can be found here, but the short of it is that the Bean's Necktie was voted the judges' favorite!

whiskey crusta

1/2 oz Orchard Syrup (* see below)
1-2 dash Boker's Bitters
1 dash Lemon Juice (1 tsp)
2 dash Maraschino Liqueur (1 tsp Luxardo)
1 1/2 oz Whiskey (Jim Beam Rye)

Wet outer edge of a wine glass with a slice of lemon and coat with sugar. Add a long wide lemon peel to a wine glass, and fill with crushed or finely shaved ice. Shake rest of ingredients separately with ice and strain into glass. Garnish with fruit.

On Friday, I read about one of Erik Ellestad's Sazerac variants which intrigued me not for its use of pig-infused whiskey but for its use of "orchard syrup" as a sweetener. Orchard syrup was a cocktail ingredient in the late 1800's and I had just spotted a few recipes in my copy of Harry Johnson's Bartenders' Manual a few days earlier. After two instances in a week, I decided that I needed to make my own (see recipe below). At the scale I made mine at, it took about 90 minutes to boil down the apple cider to a quarter of its original volume. At that point, the sweetened and spiced cider took on a honey-like consistency when cooled.
For an orchard syrup recipe, I went with the Whiskey Crusta since apples and whiskey seemed like a good pairing (see Stone Fence) and I have not made a crusta at home in quite a while. The drink started with a sharp, hot rye flavor, and this was tempered somewhat by the fruity sweetness of the apple syrup and Maraschino liqueur. The sugar on the rim helped to mitigated the various sour, rough, and bitter notes in the drink by providing a sweet respite when needed through rotating the glass to a fresh part of the rim. While most Whiskey Crusta recipes lack apple syrup, the drink definitely benefited from the richness of flavors from its inclusion.

Orchard Syrup
• 6 cups Apple Cider
• 1 tbsp (1/2 oz) Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp Chinese 5 Spice Powder
• 1/2 cup Sugar
Pour ingredients into a pot. Heat to reduce ingredients down to 1/4 original volume (around 1 1/2 cup) while stirring every 10 minutes or so. Easiest way to determine the end point is to mark the initial liquid depth on a wood skewer and then measure what 1/4 the height would be with a second mark. Should be lightly adherent to a spoon when done (and still hot) and honey-like when cold (easier to measure out when warm or at least room temperature). Recipe modified from here with spice suggestion from Jennifer Colliau of Small Hand Bartender.

cold turkey

1 1/2 oz Wild Turkey American Honey Liqueur
1/2 oz Calvados
1 dash Monin Cinnamon Syrup
2 oz Sidre Doux Sparkling Cider

Shake all but the cider with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Top off with cider.

On Tuesday, I went down to the Beehive to wait for Andrea to be done with her hair appointment. I sat down at the bar with my friend Bukowski (Portions from a Wine Stained Notebook) and picked out the Cold Turkey off of their cocktail list for Russ the bartender to make for me. I was a little surprised when I saw him top off the drink with sparkling cider when the menu stated that it contained Champagne; however, the cider probably worked a lot better with the Calvados and cinnamon flavors than Champagne might have. The cider did impart a nice crispness to the drink similar to a sparkling wine's effect so it was indeed a good substitution. In the end, it was a decent autumnal-themed cocktail albeit a little on the sweet side of things but not overly so.