The Pineapple Julep.“This is a tricky time of year for cocktails. We’ve turned the corner into fall, and yet it’s still hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. How can we ease the transition from frosty summer concoctions to warm winter imbibements? Make a bowl of punch!”
This week, I’ve got an article up on The Spirit ( thespir.it ) on fall punches. For a brief history of punch and delicious recipes, read the full article here.
Ruby Punch.My dear friend Eva has always wanted to taste Cherry Bounce, an infusion of dark, ripe cherries in bourbon. Well Eva: this post is for you.
I had to commission my friend Mike in Cleveland to make the Bounce. It involved fermeting things in jugs in dark cool places for months at a time. I live in a Tenement with two roommates. It’s not the ideal brewing environment. Mike has a normal person house and is also an avid brewer.
Below is Mike’s account of Bounce creation; it will take about 3 months to infuse, so we’ll do a tasting around Christmastime. The results will be a mystery until then!
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Cherry Bounce
Adapted by Mike from Directions for Cookery By Eliza Leslie
Philadelphia: E.L. Carey & Hart, 1840.
I weighed out the cherries with my digital scale; hand pitted them and crushed them into the jar one by one. My mortar and pestle was far too small for all those pits, so I put them in a sandwich bag and used my meat tenderizer to crack them open (Pro tip: If you pit and crush cherries by hand, don’t wear a white shirt and use an apron). I got about 70% of them well shattered and the rest should at least be cracked.
Cracking the pits.I added 385ml of water from a filtered tap source.
I next weighed out 8 oz. of brown sugar and mixed it with the cherries.
I added the bottle of Wild Turkey, sealed the lid, and wiped down the outside of the jar.
The jar sits in my basement near my lagering fridge and will be agitated daily throughout August.
I expect to yield approximately 2 pints at 70° proof.
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Do you have a challenge for the blog? A recipe you’ve always been curious about? A food you want to subject me to? A mystery to solve? Leave your requests in the comments on this post!
Today’s post is contributed by Kristina Sutter, a Scotch Whisky Expert and cocktail enthusiast.
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When creating a delightful cocktail, I take the same approach as choosing friends, clothes and décor. I want character, flavor and integrity. I love spirits that spend time resting and relaxing in a delicious oak barrel. However, in the summer time, when in need of a refresher, I will easily forgive those that lean towards clear spirits. But rather than reach for vodka, go for the original flavored vodka: Gin.
Gin was originally created to mask the harsh flavor of 17th century spirits. Gin and Tonic was recognized as a medicinal drink to settle the tummy.
There are a handful of recognized types of gin, but the common theme is the final distillation (usually in a pot still): distilled with juniper berries, coriander, orange peel, lemon peel, other herbs and roots. Gin was the base spirit in the classic cocktails, NOT vodka. The true cocktail connoisseur will always reach for Gin.
My favorite gin-based, summer-time cocktail is quite simple. It has many things in common with the original recipes for many other patio style drinks: A base spirit, sour (FRESH lemon/lime juice) and sweet (sugar, simple syrup). Margaritas, Mojotos, Caipirinhas, Caipiroskas, and even the original daiquiri all have this flavor profile in common.
My friends, Meet Mr. Tom Collins! This drink goes back to the 19th century and has variations made with Vodka and whisky as well.
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Tom Collins
First appeared in How to Mix Drinks by Jerry Thomas, 1876 ed.
1.5 oz your favorite Gin
1 oz simple syrup
¾ oz FRESH squeezed lemon juice (it’s not that hard)
Club soda to top
Shake first three ingredients with ice, and strain into an ice filled Collins glass (tall, skinny), then fill with soda and garnish with a cherry and orange slice, or frankly whatever you want.
You may have also heard of a gin fizz, which is the same recipe, but in a shorter glass. A gimlet simply leaves out the simple syrup.
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Get your shakers chilled and get going!
Cheers
The Cherry Smash is a modern take on an anitquated classic: the smash. Jerry Thomas says of them “This beverage is simply a julep on a small plan.” Ouch. It is julep-like, but has the addition of fresh fruits, and can be made with gin, brandy, or whiskey.
Although the Cherry Smash appears in cocktail historian David Wondrich’s book Imbibe!, the version comes from Food & Wine magazine. It’s simple, delicious, and worth purchasing a few special ingredients.
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Cherry Smash
From Food & Wine magazine online
Recipe by Nick Fauchald
8 sour cherries, pitted
Ice
2 ounces bourbon
3/4 ounce Cherry Heering
Club soda
In a rocks glass, gently muddle the cherries to release some of their juices. Fill the glass with ice, add the bourbon and Cherry Heering and stir well. Top with club soda, stir again and serve.
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I had to make some major substitutions when creating this drink. I had Maraschino liqour, not Cherry Heering. I couldn’t find sour cherries at my local grocery store, despite having seen them all over Manhattan. And the bodega was out of club soda, so I used seltzer water. All things considered, the drink still came out pretty good, but I would give it another go with the proper ingredients. My roommate pointed out that the cherries look kinda gross by the time you get to the bottom of the drink — all bloated like a corpse — but they taste magnificent.
UPDATE: I have it on good authority that this drink is best with Cherry Heering.
This week: summer cocktails to help you beat the heat of the particularly sultry summer. Today, a refreshing glass of Roman Punch.
You can pick up a hard copy of this recipe in Edible Queens this month, but I also wanted to make it available on this blog because I really cannot endorse this drink enough.
This recipe is adapted from the first cocktail guide, Jerry Thomas’ How to Mix Drinks published in 1862. My friends, who were my guinea pigs the first time I mixed this cocktail, demanded round after round with enthusiastic chants of “Roman Punch, Roman Punch!”
This recipe calls for a dash of Curacao; but don’t use the bright-blue version, which will turn the cocktail an unappealing shade of army green. If you can’t find clear Curacao, Cointreau is an appropriate substitute. You can buy commercially available raspberry syrup, or you can make it from scratch according to the recipe below.
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Roman Punch
1 tablespoon simple syrup
1 tablespoon raspberry syrup (commercially available, or made from scratch using the recipe below.)
1 teaspoon Cointreau
2 ounces dark rum
2 ounces brandy
Juice of half a lemon
Dash of port wine
Fresh raspberries or strawberries
Fill a rocks glass with crushed or shaved ice; add the first six ingredients. Stir until the ingredients are combined. Finish drink with a dash of port wine, and garnish with fresh raspberries or strawberry slices.
Raspberry Syrup
1 pint raspberries
1 cup superfine sugar
1 cup water
Line a small saucepan with a double layer of cheesecloth; place raspberries inside and mash with the bottom of a glass. Sprinkle with ¼ cup of sugar and set aside for 30 minutes. Lift cheesecloth, wrapping the raspberry mash; squeeze the mash in the cloth, allowing the juice to drain into the saucepan. Add remaining sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring until all the sugar is dissolved. To store, keep in the refrigerator in a sealed container.
Illustration by Angela Oster.
Whiskey is my drink of choice, so I admit I love the unintentional whiskey theme of this week.
The Whiskey Sour was invented sometime in the middle of the 19th century; Jerry Thomas describes a brandy and a gin variation in his 1862 book. Other variations: a dash of egg white makes it into the Boston Sour, and Boston also gave birth to the Ward 8 in 1898, which adds orange juice and grenadine.
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The Whiskey Sour
From The Cocktail Book: A Sideboard Manual for Gentlemen, 1926
2 teaspoons simple syrup (or super fine sugar)
2-3 dashes lemon juice
1 tablespoon seltzer
2 ounces whiskey
1. In a rocks glass, add simple syrup, lemon juice and seltzer. Stir to combine (or until sugar is dissolved).
2. Fill glass with ice, and add whiskey. Stir until the outside of the glass is cold. Garnish with a cherry and orange wedge, or seasonal fruits.
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And if you like a Whiskey Sour, try the Ward III at the 19th C. Pub Crawl’s last stop, Ward III: “Made with bourbon, strawberries, egg whites and nutmeg, it’s actually ‘a derivation of the classic Sour,’ explains (owner) Neff. A historical classic, viewed through rose-colored glasses—and given a healthy dose of red berries, too.” (Metromix New York)
For a full list of Ward III’s “exquisite libations”, go here.
Illustration by Angela Oster.
David Wondrich, cocktail historian and Jerry Thomas expert, says the Manhattan “…Probably dates to the Manhattan Club, which was a social club for rich Democrats at Fifth Avenue and 15th Street in the 1870s.” Accustomed to the maraschino cherry standards of a modern-day Manhattan, I was pleasantly surprised when I was recently served a variation from Wondrich’s book Imbibe! Remarkably smooth and even a touch sweet, this has been my favorite drink I’ve quaffed in a long time.
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The Manhattan
From Imbibe! By David Wondrich, 2007.
Based on a recipe by Jerry Thomas.
2 ounces rye whiskey
1 ounce Italian sweet vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash Absinthe
1 barspoon (or one teaspoon) Maraschino liquor
1. Fill a tumbler with ice; add all ingredients and stir until the outside of the glass is cold.
2. Strain into a martini (cocktail) glass, and garnish with a cherry or a twist of lemon peel.
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Ready for another variation of this classic drink? Try Madame X‘s Dirty Cherry Manhattan. The second stop on the 19th C. Pub Crawl, Madam X serves up a Manhattan made with Basil Hayden’s 8-year-old bourbon, sour cherry syrup and sweet vermouth. For a full list of Madame X’s cocktails, go here.
Illustration by Angela Oster.
When Absinthe became legal in the states, the first drink cocktail enthusiasts began mixing up was the Sazerac. Invented in New Orleans circa 1870, it’s based on an even older Cognas drink invented by Antoine Amédée Peychaud; his bitters are indispensable in creating this cocktail.
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The Sazerac
From The Cocktail Book: A Sideboard Manual for Gentlemen, 1926
four dashes absinthe
2 ounces rye whiskey
3 dashed Peychaud bitters
1 teaspoon simple syrup
Mint
1. Pour absinthe into a rocks glass, and swirl it around until the bottom and the sides of the glass are coated. Pour out absinthe.
2. Add ice, then whiskey, bitters, and simple syrup. Still until the outside of the glass is cold. Garnish with a sprig of mint and enjoy.
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For an updated version of this recipe, order the 17th Street Sazerac at Rye House, the first stop on the 19th Century Pub Crawl on Saturday. Metromix New York, who inspired this post, had this to say about the modernized cocktail: ”Made from Rittenhouse Rye, Hine Cognac, demerara syrup, Peychaud and Angostura bitters and Marteau Absinthe, the drink has all the anise zip of the original, but a deeper tone as well. Not a traditional 1835 pour by any means.”
Sounds ok to me, but I may be more tempted by the Rye House Punch, a combination of chai infused Rittenhouse rye, Batavia Arrack, lemon, grapefruit, Angostura bitters, and soda. Not only do I love a good chai tea, but I am fascinated with Batavia Arrack, a popular 19th century spirit only recently re-introduced to the market. I’m going to pick up a bottle to experiment with some 19th-century recipes, but I can’t wait to try it in a Victorian-inspired cocktail on Saturday.
For a full list of Ryehouse’s cocktails, go here.
When the weather gets all warm and luscious like this, all I want to do is drink. I want to sit under a tree and sip a frosty cocktail. So, to lead up to Saturday’s 19th C. Pub Crawl, I’m declaring it Cocktail Week. Everyday, I’ll be posting the recipe for an iconic 19th-century cocktail and featuring a pub crawl bar that serves up their own version of a classic concoction.
Let’s get ready to imbibe.
