wicked games

1 1/2 oz Pineau des Charentes
1/2 oz Clairin Vaval
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao
1 tsp Cinnamon Syrup
4 drop Saline Solution

Shake with ice and strain into a Nick & Nora glass.Two Thursdays ago, I ventured down to Assembly Row in Somerville to visit my old co-worker Lucy Comer at Parla XXI. For my first drink, I requested the Wicked Games by Steve Matin and subtitled "Get lost in the thrill of temptation." When Steve sat at my bar a few weeks ago, he showed off a few of his recipes for the new menu on his phone, and I made the comment that the Wicked Games reminded me of a Pompadour. He confirmed that he based it off of Frank Meier's 1934 recipe; his choice of lime instead of lemon reminded me of my tequila riff that I created called The King's Mistress that I created for Loyal Nine (the only bar that I have worked at where we had Pineau des Charentes other than at Drink which seemed to have everything). After Lucy shook and strained the Wicked Games, it greeted the nose with funky rum, melon, and orange aromas. Next, white grape and melon notes on the sip let go into funky rum, lime, and orange flavors with a hint of cinnamon on the swallow.

everything nice

1 1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac
3/4 oz St. George Spiced Pear
3/4 oz Pineau des Charentes
1/2 oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram

Stir with ice, strain into a rocks glass, and garnish with an orange twist.
The drink that Andrea requested at Brick & Mortar was the Everything Nice that was perhaps dubbed after the "sugar & spice" nursery rhyme to describe girls given the recipe. In the glass, Everything Nice's orange oils accented a fruity grape aroma. Next, grape and orchard fruit on the sip led into Cognac on the swallow with a pear, allspice, and clove finish. Just like the rhyme, the Everything Nice was a touch on the sweeter side, and it did not let down on the spice aspect.

the king's mistress

1 1/4 oz Tequila (Espolón Blanco)
1 1/4 oz Pineau des Charentes (Chateau de Beaulon)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
2 dash Orange Bitters (Regan's)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Two Saturdays ago, I was inspired by my work-bar getting in both Pineau des Charentes and Floc de Gascogne which are unfermented grape must fortified with Cognac and Armagnac, respectively. The sweet grape juice and the spirit's ABV puts both of these contenders in the same ABV as other Lillet Blanc (16-22%) but somewhere between Lillet and triple sec in sweetness. One of the first Pineau des Charentes cocktails that I made at home was the Pompadour from Frank Meier's 1934 The Artistry Of Mixing Drinks which pairs the Pineau with rhum agricole and balances its sweetness with lemon juice. The Pompadour in question was an old brand of Pineau des Charentes called for in the classic recipe. As a starting point for a riff, I decided to switch the rhum to tequila since I have not tinkered much with it since I crafted the Chutes & Ladders. While the Pineau des Charentes did a great job bridging the gap between rhum agricole and lemon juice, I figured that I could relieve it of some of its chores by switching to a more complementary lime juice here. And the whole mix seemed like a good candidate for some orange bitters as well.
For a name, I honed in on the Pompadour. While I could not make a great drink name connection to the hairstyle itself or the defunct liquor brand, there was a famous Madame de Pompadour who was a member of the French court. She was trained from childhood to be a mistress and later rose to being the official chief mistress of Louis XV. Therefore, the King's Mistress seemed like a good homage to all her hard work advising the king, organizing his schedules, and making nice with the queen! Once mixed, the cocktail offered tequila and floral notes. Next, white grape and lime on the sip gave way to tequila with a clean, mineral grape finish.

backpedal

1 1/2 oz Pineau des Charentes (Chateau de Beaulon)
1/2 oz Byrrh or Dubonnet Rouge (Bonal)
1/2 oz Dry Curaçao (Pierre Ferrand)
1 dash Blood Orange Bitters (1 dash each Fee's and Angostura Orange Bitters)

Stir with ice and strain into an absinthe-rinsed (Butterfly) glass; garnish with a flamed orange twist (not flamed).

Two Wednesdays ago for the cocktail hour, I reached for The Art of the Shim and spotted one that called for Pineau des Charentes called the Backpedal. The drink was created by Shaher Misif when he was at Cantina in San Francisco back in 2013; a year later, Shaher moved here to Boston where he now works at the Highball Lounge with such drinks as the Rubberband Man on the menu. I initially skipped over the drink for I lack either quinquina option listed, both Byrrh and Dubonnet Rouge, at the home bar, but I decided to make it with a third quinquina, Bonal, that currently graces my refrigerator shelves.
The Backpedal began with an anise and orange oil aroma. A floral and grape sip gave way to bitter orange elements on the swallow with a hint of anise on the finish.

cooper

1 1/2 oz Riverboat Rye
3/4 oz Pineau des Charentes
3/4 oz Averna

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass.
For my first drink at the Barrel House in Beverly, I asked bartender John Wierszchalek for the Cooper for I had honed in on the Pineau des Charentes in the ingredients list. There is something about how elegant and floral that this fortified wine is that repeatedly draws me in. That, and how well it paired with Averna in the Marksman at Craigie on Main. Once mixed, the Cooper began with a floral, herbal, and caramel nose that later gave way to a more rye-driven aroma. On the sip, caramel and malt led into rye spice on the swallow and herbal notes from the Averna on the swallow.

pinky ring

1 1/2 oz Pineau des Charentes
1 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse
1 dash Regan's Orange Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail coupe.

After working a tough New Years Day brunch shift, I sought refuge at Kirkland Tap & Trotter on the way home. There, Kenny Belanger and Tyler Wang were tending bar, and I ended up getting a drink made by both of them. For a light starter, I started with Kenny's Pinky Ring which reminded him of the Chrysanthemum. With Pineau des Chartentes in the mix, I was definitely interested.
The Pinky Ring shared a white grape and floral bouquet. A grape and honey sip led into a herbal swallow with a minty finish. Overall, the Pinky Ring had a delightfully light and elegant feel to it.

[everell's nightwatch]

3/4 oz Old Overholt Rye
3/4 oz Hispaniola Mamajuana Spiced Rum
3/4 oz Nocino Walnut Liqueur
3/4 oz Pineau des Charentes

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass.
Two Mondays ago, we ventured over to Brookline Village to eat at Pomodoro. For one of our cocktails, bartender Stephen Shellenberger made us a straight spirits drink using a Dominican spiced rum, Hispaniola Mamajuana, that he was excited about not only for the great price point but for its great flavor profile. He mixed it in an autumnal way with walnut liqueur and rye, and he capped off the four equal parts drink with one of his other favorites, Pineau des Charentes. For a name, I paid tribute to Pomodoro's neighborhood; the James Everell in question is the first person who reported an UFO in what later became Brookline. His sighting recorded by Governor John Winthrop was backed up by other people's reports, and Winthrop vouched for his character as a "sober, discreet man." Once mixed, the drink offered up a walnut and whiskey aroma. A dark malty and grape sip gave way to a nutty whiskey swallow with a spiced finish.

carlsbad flip

1 1/2 oz Becherovka
3/4 oz Pierre Ferrand Pineau des Charentes
1/2 oz Cream
1/2 oz Honey Syrup (1:1)
1 barspoon Simple Syrup
1 Whole Egg

Shake once without ice and once with ice. Strain into a rocks glass and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

Two Sundays ago, Andrea and I paid a visit to Bergamot for drinks and dessert. Hidden away on the dessert menu beside the Cambridge Tea was the Carlsbad Flip which seemed quite tempting. Bartender Paul Manzelli explained that he had created it one night for a guest who wanted an Egg Nog. The use of Becherovka in place of a spirit seemed Eastern Standard-inspired, such as with their Bees' Knees-like Metamorphosis and their Pisco Sour-like Kysely, but the use of Pineau des Charentes was very Bergamot. For a name, Paul chose the Carlsbad Flip after the locale where the Czech herbal liqueur is made.
The nutmeg garnish combined with the Becherovka's clove to generate a gingerbread-like nose. The creamy sip contained honey flavors and perhaps a wine note from the Pineau des Charentes. Finally, the liqueur's clove and cinnamon spice rounded out the swallow.

cappa cocktail

1 1/2 oz Plymouth Gin (Ryan & Wood Knockabout)
1 1/2 oz Pineau des Charentes
1/2 oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Two Saturdays ago, I decided to make a cocktail that Gary Regan posted about called the Cappa Cocktail. The drink was created by Ms. Franky Marshall of The Tippler and The Monkey Bar in New York City, and the spirit-fortified wine-Maraschino trio and proportions reminded me of the Creole Contentment. Instead rye and Madeira in the Creole Contentment, the Cappa called for gin and Pineau des Charentes, and this recipe won her a recent Plymouth mixology contest.
The lemon twist's oils and the Maraschino liqueur aroma also contained a floral note. A clean, sweet grape sip was followed by gin and then Maraschino on the swallow. Overall, I was quite impressed at how well the Pineau des Charentes worked with the Maraschino liqueur.

[the blue hour]

3/4 oz Eau de Vie de Mirabelle (*)
3/4 oz Pineau des Charentes
3/4 oz Aperol
3/4 oz Lime Juice
1 dash Peychaud's Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a glass. Twist a lime peel over the top.
(*) A dry plum; other fruit eau de vie would probably work well here too.

Monday two weeks ago, we went to Pomodoro in Brookline when Stephen Shellenberger was bartending. Stephen mentioned that he has been enjoying the pairing of fruit eau de vie and Pineau des Charentes, and he asked if I was interested in trying one. The drink he made contained a Mirabelle plum spirit that was sweetened by Pineau des Charentes and Aperol. For a name, the Mirabelle made me think of French New Wave film maker Eric Rohmer's Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle; the first of the four adventures was "L'Heure Bleue."
The lime oil aroma gave way to a wine and plum bouquet over time. A crisp lime sip shared fruity orange and grape notes that became more wine-like as the drink warmed up. Next, a dry plum swallow was chased by Aperol on the finish. Indeed, I could definitely see other eau de vies working well in this basic equation.

the third man

This month's Mixology Monday theme, "Fortified Wines" (MxMo LXIX), was picked by Jordan Devereaux of the Chemistry of the Cocktail blog. Jordan's challenge was, "Fortified wines began, in large part, as a way to deal with the difficulties of shipping wine long distances in the holds of sailing ships. Without the rigorous sterilization that is possible today, wines would often spoil en route. However, increasing the alcohol concentration... was enough to keep them from going off... These wines held an important place in... punch and have continued on in cocktails proper. [These wines include] sherry, port, and, to a lesser extent, madeira and marsala, all find their way into various mixed drinks... They can play many different roles -- from taking the place of vermouths in classic drinks, to providing richness and sweetness in winter tipples, to serving as a base for lighter aperitifs. Whether forgotten classics or new creations, let's see what you can put together."

In thinking about this theme, I was curious about marsala wine since I have not seen it in that many recipes, but I was unable to find one tempting enough to go out and buy a bottle for this event. Instead, I thought about one of the lesser used fortified wines, Pineau des Charentes, which has appeared in some delicious recipes. Pineau des Charentes is a French fortified wine made by blending lightly fermented grape must with Cognac eau de vie, and this sweet spirit comes in both white and red/rosé varietals. The earliest Pineau des Charentes recipe I know about is Frank Meier's Pompadour from 1934 The Artistry Of Mixing Drinks. Moreover, I have enjoyed two out on the town here in Boston, namely Craigie on Main's Marksman and Bergamot's Oaxaca Moon.
While searching for a good article about Pineau des Charentes usage in cocktails to put on the Mixology Monday Twitter even before I had chosen a wine, I stumbled on this one from StarChefs. Attached to that article was a recipe for the Third Man by Dan Greenbaum of The Beagle in Manhattan. The recipe was alluring for it followed a familiar pattern of spirit, wine product, and small amount of gentian liqueur that I have been pleased with before in drinks such as the Harry Palmer.

The Third Man
2 oz Blue Gin (Barr Hill)
3/4 oz Pineau des Charentes (Chateau de Beaulon)
1/4 oz Suze Gentian Liqueur (Salers)
2 dash Peychaud's Bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass containing a large ice cube. Garnish with a lemon twist.

The Third Man began with a lemon oil and floral aroma with the latter perhaps stemming from the gin made from a honey distillate. On the sip, the Pineau des Charentes donated a mouthfeel and grape flavor, and the swallow then offered gin, gentian, and Peychaud's spice with lingering pine notes. It was definitely a gin-forward drink that would especially appeal to a classic Martini lover looking to branch out; perhaps some of this could stem from the flavorful gin that we had just opened for this drink.

Cheers to Jordan from Chemistry of the Cocktail for hosting this month and for picking such an excellent theme!

oaxaca moon

1 1/2 oz Del Maguey Mezcal Vida
3/4 oz Pineau des Charentes
1/2 oz Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Orange Juice
1/4 oz Turbinado Sugar
1 dash Falernum Bitters

Shake with ice and double strain into a rocks glass containing 3 ice cubes. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Two Mondays ago, Andrea and I stopped at Bergamot for drinks with bartender Paul Manzelli. For my first drink, I asked Paul for the Oaxaca Moon which was new to the cocktail menu. I was lured in with the Pineau des Charentes, an underused cocktail ingredient. Pineau is an aperitif fortified wine made from a blend of lightly fermented grape must and Cognac eau de vie; one of its most famous cocktail uses is in the Pompadour from Frank Meier's 1934 The Artistry Of Mixing Drinks. It did not occur to me until later that the Oaxaca Moon appears to be a riff of the Scotch and St. Germain-laden Northern Lights that Paul used to make at Craigie on Main. Interestingly, in the write up for the Northern Lights, I recommended Zirbenz as a substitute for its Douglas Fir Eau de Vie; evidently, the bartenders at Bergamot thought the same thing.
The Oaxaca Moon began with a smoke and citrus aroma. The citrus continued on into the sip where it mingled with the Pineau's wine flavors. Finally, the swallow offered up smoky mezcal and Zirbenz's pine notes to round out the drink. Overall, it was less floral and more smoky than the Northern Lights and came across more as an unique drink than a slight tweaking of the original.

pompadour

1/2 St. James Rhum (1 1/2 oz J.M. Rhum Ambre)
1/2 Pompadour Pineau des Charentes (1 1/2 oz Chateau de Beaulon)
Juice 1/4 Lemon (1/2 oz)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. I added a lemon twist.

Two Fridays ago, we wanted to make use of our new purchase of a bottle of Pineau des Charentes. Pineau is a fortified wine that is a blend of grape must and Cognac eau de vie which is then aged in oak barrels; the end result is sweet and full bodied and often drank as an aperitif. For a recipe, I chose the Pompadour from Frank Meier's 1934 The Artistry Of Mixing Drinks which pairs the Pineau with an aged rhum agricole and balances its sweetness with lemon juice. It might seem odd that a drink created in France would use rum as the base spirit, but Meier was an American who traveled to Europe to continue his trade during Prohibition, and the rum he used was made in the French colony of Martinique.
With the format of rum, sweet fortified wine, and citrus, the Pompadour reminded me of the Fig Leaf, but the lemon and Pineau took the drink in a very different direction than the Fig Leaf's lime and sweet vermouth. The Pompadour's nose contained citrus notes with a little bit of brininess from the rhum agricole. The Pineau des Charentes' wine flavors entered into both the sweet lemony sip and the dry, funky rum-containing swallow. The Pineau performed a great job of balancing both the lemon's crispness and the rhum's hogo notes; moreover, without the Pineau, I doubt that rhum agricole and lemon would have worked together as superbly.

marksman

1 1/2 oz Rosemary-infused Tequila
1 oz Pineau des Charentes
1/2 oz Averna
2 dash Housemade Pear Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass pre-rinsed with Laird's Bonded Apple Brandy (* see text for other options). Garnish with a piece of dried pear skewered on a cocktail pick.

After the Bénédictine event at the Franklin on Sunday night, Andrea and I traveled up the Red Line and stopped into Craigie on Main for a nightcap. When I asked bartender Ted Gallagher if there was anything that he had been working on, he started to describe this drink and said that he was still trying to figure out the final touches. Originally he was working on a whiskey drink for the new menu; however, Carrie came up with a rye drink first, so he switched spirits for diversity's sake. Ted commented that he thought the drink still possessed some whiskey-like notes since the barrel-aged apple brandy donated a similar set of wood notes.

Ted was still playing around with the garnish (including flambéing the dried pear in overproof spirit), the rinse, and the name. Midway through my drinking it, Ted asked if I had ever heard of a drink named the Marksman; when I replied that I had not, he dubbed it such. One of the intriguing ingredients in the Marksman was the Pineau des Charentes, a French fortified wine often flavored with pine as well as fruits such as pear. To complement the pine, Ted infused the tequila with sprigs of rosemary, and to supplement the pear, he added housemade pear bitters, a dessicated pear garnish, and an apple brandy rinse. The final ingredient, the bitter liqueur Averna, helped to round out the flavor of the Marksman.
The Marksman started with a tequila nose. Overall, the drink was dark and complex with rosemary notes on the swallow. Upon the second swallow, the tequila began to appear and paired well with the bitter and herbal flavors. The Marksman was full of intrigue but was not overly challenging to drink. When Ted gave Craigie's owner Tony Maws a taste, Tony wanted to see more pine notes and suggested that the glass be rinsed with Clear Creek's Eau De Vie Douglas Fir instead. I replied that the rosemary did a good job of bolstering that flavor in the Pineau des Charentes, and that the pear flavors needed assistance. When I mentioned a pear liqueur such as Rothman & Winters, Ted let me smell the Clear Creek pear eau de vie which still retains a lot of pear aroma. Therefore, I also suggested that a rinse of both eau de vies might solve the problem. I have no clue what Ted finally decided on for his rinse. From a twitter I read a few days ago, he has been making more Marksmen this past week, so please go in and try one and report back on what the rinse winner was.