Two At The Most » Vermouth

Pisaq Cocktail and the PDX Cocktail Invitational

Stevi — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 19:04:23 +0000

As mentioned in my previous post, my prize for winning the Live TDN at Portland Cocktail Week was a slot in the semi-finals of the PDX Cocktail Invitational. I had watched the finals of the 2009 competition live-streamed, and already knew many of the bartenders competing this year, so I knew it was a great event to be a part of.

Sun Temple at Pisaq

But I also knew the rules included bringing all your own equipment, and guess who had come down to Portland with no tools, not expecting to be in a competition at all? Yours truly. So when I found out at 9 pm on Friday night that I would be competing sometime the next day, a mad scramble began.

First was getting samples of the products I had to choose from to feature in my cocktail. I learned from Dänny Ronen that my cocktail needed to feature at least one of the three products from the Fair Trade Spirits Company. My choices were the FAIR. Vodka, Goji, and Café. Dänny helpfully brought over samples of each, and lent me some of his bartools so I could start experimenting with ideas.

While I enjoyed the Goji and Café liqueurs, I decided to focus on the Vodka.¹ This product is made from 100% fair-trade sourced quinoa.² It manages to keep hints of the nutty flavor of its base product, with a rich mouthfeel.

Given my short prep time, I decided to go simple in my final cocktail, and chose to do a riff on the perfect martini. I would be competing against bartenders who knew what they would be working with for more than a few hours, and would have more complex signature cocktails, likely including homemade ingredients. I decided that for my first live cocktail competition I would focus on featuring the product as well as I could, and, frankly, not embarrassing myself. This was my first chance to play with the big boys, after all!

The next big step was to gather additional ingredients in sufficient quantities. A big thanks to John the Bastard, who drove me to Pearl Specialty Market, where I was able to choose from several dry and sweet vermouths. Also thanks to Trader Tiki, who gave me his bottle of Urban Moonshine citrus bitters when I made a desperate call out.

Then it was back to my hotel room to make sure my idea would work. I decided to use Cocchi Americano, first because it’s an excellent product, and second, because I thought the cinchona flavor would help create a theme for my variation; as with quinoa, cinchona is a native South American ingredient. I also chose to go with Vya sweet vermouth, as I really enjoy its overall flavor profile and how well it mixes.

I have to say, I was very happy with the result. I felt the Urban Moonshine citrus bitters were aromatic enough to preclude the need for an additional garnish.

Pisaq Cocktail

2 oz FAIR. quinoa vodka
0.25 oz Cocchi Americano
0.25 oz sweet vermouth (Vya)
2 dashes citrus bitters (Urban Moonshine)

Stir over ice until as cold as an Andean glacier, strain into a cocktail glass.

I decided to name this drink after one of my favorite archaeological sites in Peru, Pisaq, located in the Urubamba valley.

Now having created the drink, I had to compete! I was pretty nervous, especially when I arrived at the Great American Distillers Festival, and realized I would be making drinks on a stage overlooking the whole event! Everybody with the Oregon Bartenders Guild was very reassuring, however, and before I knew it, I was up there, stirring and straining, and even talking reasonably amiably with the various attendees passing by for tastes.

Then I was told it was time for judging. I had to make a full size drink for each of my judges. Naturally, I didn’t have my own glassware, so the OBG provided me with wineglasses. I was amused to discover one of my judges would be David Pickerell, former master distiller at Maker’s Mark and mentor to Woodinville Whiskey.³ The judges were very friendly and put me at as much ease as I could possibly manage.

And then they were gone. I mixed a few more drinks for tasting, and then my 45 minute shift was over. I had competed in my first real cocktail competition, and hadn’t embarrassed myself, at least not that anyone would tell me.

Congratulations to the winners of the finals, Ali Tahsini (first), Tommy Klus (second), Art Tierce (third) and Trevor Easter (fourth). Thanks to the OBG and GADF for letting me participate. It was a great experience, and I’m looking forward to next years festivities.

1 I know! Whoda thunk it!
2 Yes, wurmouroboros, you were right, it’s not a true grain
3 It was no doubt bad form, but I had to ask him if it would it help my chances that I used his Headlong White Dog in the cocktail that got me into the competition. He laughed.

No related posts.

MxMo XLIII: Vermouth — The Visconti

Stevi — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:12:28 +0000

Fall is closing in fast, but October refuses to leave until we honor it with a Mixology Monday. Over at Cocktailians, Vidiot is hosting a most excellent theme, Vermouth. He bids us:

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to present a delectable vermouth cocktail for us all to drool over. Sweet/Italian or dry/French vermouth are fair game of course, as are quinquina, aperitif wines like Pineau des Charentes, or for that matter any fortified, aromatized wine such as Lillet (red or white), or Dubonnet (ditto.)

Vermouth is a true workhorse of the classic cocktail world. Without it, a martini is just be cold gin. Fortified wines are among my favorite mixers, and my refrigerator is bulging with various bottles of Lillet, Punt e Mes, sweet, blanc, and dry vermouth.¹

Visconti

One of my favorite ways to change up a drink is simply to switch the vermouth used. Like a martini with dry vermouth? I bet it willl be great with Lillet blanc! Can’t decide between a martini and a martinez? Make a perfect martini with equal parts of each!

Another favorite drink of mine is the Negroni, with equal parts London dry gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth. This is a great base to experiment with, as I have show several times here at Two at the Most. One of my most successful substitutions so far was the Rumgroni, simply using rum instead of gin.

Last time I was in the mood for a Rumgroni, my eye was caught by my bottle of Amaro Ramazzotti. I’ve covered Ramazzotti several times, because it’s a fantastic amaro. I decided to give it a whirl in place of the Campari. While the initial taste was great, to my surprise going full equal parts on the Ramazzotti seemed to make it too dominant — surprising to me since I think of it as much more mild than Campari.

Visconti

1 ounce Jamaican run (Appleton V/X)
0.75 ounces Amaro Ramazzotti
1 ounce sweet vermouth

Stir over ice until well chilled and strain into rocks glass with one piece of ice. Garnish with flamed orange peel.

Dialing the Ramazzotti back to 3/4 ounce and adding a flamed orange twist garnish made for a great balance. This is another drink that will go into rotation in my home bar. Full and rich, yet easy to sip, and made all the better because of the sweet vermouth. I decided to call it the Visconti after the House of Visconti, long time rulers of the Duchy of Milan. Since it’s a take on the Negroni, named after another duke, it seemed apt.

Thanks, Vidiot, for a great topic. Be sure to check out Cocktailians for the wrap-up!

[1] Please tell me you already know to keep your open vermouth in the fridge to make it last longer!

Gloom Raiser

Stevi — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 01:00:29 +0000

I was paging through the delightful Barflies and Cocktails by Harry McElhone, one of the wonderful reprints by Mud Puddle Books. Amongst all the wonderful illustrations by Wynn Holcomb, I found a variation on the martini that was new to me.

Gloom Raiser

Gloom Raiser

1.5 ounces London dry gin
0.75 ounces dry vermouth
2 dashes absinthe (I prefer a white over verte here)
2 dashes grenadine

stir and strain into cocktail glass, garnish with lemon twist.

This is a great variation to my tastes. It takes the venerable dry martini and adds just enough absinthe for that wonderful anise scent and a hint of taste, and just enough grenadine for just a little sweetness.

I tried this with both a blanche (Kubler) and verte (Pacifique) absinthe, and found the blanche worked a bit better. The Kubler brought a great balance while the Pacifique, even at just 2 dashes, wanted to assert itself too strongly in this mix.

In the spirit of Harry’s New York bar, still located at 5 Rue Daonou in Paris, I used Citadelle, a French-made gin.

This cocktail is another great example of how just a little bit of a strong ingredient can change a cocktail for the better.

MxMo XXXVIII: Superior Twists — The Rumgroni

Stevi — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:29:45 +0000

This month’s Mixology Monday is being hosted by Tristan at The Wild Drink Blog. He’s put forth the following challenge:

This month’s Mixology Monday is all about twists on classic cocktails, that for one reason or another do an even better job than the drinks upon which they are based.

This could be as simple as a classic Margarita with a dash with a special touch that completes it, or maybe as complicated as a deconstructed Hemingway Daiquiri with a homemade rum foam/caviar/jus/trifle. It might be taking a classic like a Manhattan and using Tequila instead of Bourbon?

This was a difficult theme for me. Not because it is hard, but because in some ways it is too easy. Creating a new drink by subbing one ingredient for another is how I, like countless others, began my journey into inventing my own drinks.

Rumgroni

Usually I found that my greated substitutions had been discovered long before I tried them. I’ve even reversed engineered a classic or two by starting with the twist, not knowing it was a twist, and figuring out what the drink started as.

I was tempted to write up the Black River Sidecar, a drink of mine that won an early TDN. I had linked to Rick’s great writeup of the drink when he posted it (my prize for winning), but had never posted the recipe here. But I realized I’d never be able to match his funky garnish, and decided I wanted to try something new.

A drink I’m finding remarkably versatile is the Negroni. Initially it seemed to me that this combination of Campari, sweet vermouth, and gin would be hard to tinker with, working largely on its marriage of specific flavors.

Many experiments with it involve subbing another amaro, such as Aperol, for the Campari, or a different aromatized wine, such as Punt e Mes, for the sweet vermouth.

Then I discovered the Agavoni, which trades the gin for tequila, and creates an equally delicious, if very different drink.

Since I was able to participate in TDN Mount Gay XO at Vessel, I still have a fair amount of my bottle left. I realized that it, too, might have the strength to stand up to Campari and sweet vermouth. And so it did. And so I give you the Rumgroni.

Rumgroni

1 oz dark rum (Mount Gay Extra Old)
1 oz Campari
1 oz sweet vermouth

Build over ice.

The molasses and oak from the MGXO are surprisingly dominant on the nose. This is a much drier drink than either the Negroni or the Agavoni. I might be tempted to add a little honey mix next time.

What’s your favorite variation on a cocktail classic? Check out the roundup of the opinions of this months Mixology Monday partipants over at The Wild Drink Blog!

Right Gin and the Zummy Cocktail

Stevi — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 01:30:29 +0000

Right Gin is not afraid to say it – they want to be the gin for people who think they don’t like gin. It is, after all, created by people who thought they should like gin but couldn’t find one that worked for them. As you know, I already know I like gin, but was happy to receive a bottle of this gin produced in Sweden to sample.

Personally, I have to wonder what gins they did try, considering their big complaint was a heavy, oily aftertaste. That’s a problem I find exists mainly in the cheaper gins that come in plastic bottles. Right’s suggested retail price is $40, which means it wants to play in the premium gin category.

Zummy Cocktail

That aside, the makers of Right Gin have succeeded in their mission. There’s just enough juniper in the flavor profile to qualify as a gin. Some of us like to joke that people should view gin as a juniper flavored vodka, and that’s what Right Gin is. This product is made with grain neutral spirit made from corn which is distilled five times and soft water from Lake Bolmen, Sweden. The botanicals are all separately distilled and then blended to provide greater control over the final product.

On the nose, Right has a faint scent of juniper and pepper, but otherwise quite clean. On the tongue, there is also the faint juniper. The coriander and cardamom are also present in a very pleasant way. There is supposed to be lemon, bitter orange, lime, and bergamot, but they were not very noticeable to me. Then comes the aftertaste of the Sarawak black pepper. The marketing materials state this is supposed to be a light aftertaste, but I find it to be quite strong, but still pleasant.

Right does go very well in a gin and tonic. I think here is where I most noticed the contribution of the soft water, which is soft and rich on the tongue.

I’ve begun to notice that the gins I like in gin and tonics are the ones I like least in martinis. Naturally Right Gin is trying to position itself as a martini gin, but for me, it was just flat and unexciting, probably because the flavor profile is so mild.

One drink I did find that Right worked well in is the Zummy. This is a drink I discovered in The Essential Bartender’s Guide by Robert Hess, which has been published by Mud Puddle Books.

Zummy Cocktail

0.75 oz gin (Right Gin)
0.75 oz Bénédictine
0.5 oz sweet vermouth
0.5 oz dry vermouth
1 dash Campari

Stir over ice and strain into cocktail glass.

With this much Bénédictine in the final drink, this is a sweeter cocktail, but very well balanced. This is a case where I’d always go with an extra dry vermouth and not use a bianco or Lillet as a replacement, as it needs the balance to the sweet vermouth and Bénédictine. And you can always up the Campari to add more balance for your palate.

I think Right will make an excellent gateway gin for people who think they just can’t bear it. It may not find a permanent place in my cabinet, but I wouldn’t turn down a Right gin and tonic.

San Martín Cocktail

Stevi — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:31:10 +0000

I’m eagerly looking forward to this week’s Thursday Drink Night. Our sponsor is Beefeater Gin. I’m expecting there will be a lot of fun and interesting drinks invented based on this London dry gin, which is one of my favorites because it brings high quality at an affordable price.

San Martín Cocktail

To get into the spirit, I wanted to try a a new-to-me gin cocktail. I picked up my copy of David Wondrich’s Killer Cocktails, and happened upon the San Martín. Wondrich expanded upon the drink’s history in Esquire Magazine. He quotes from Charles H. Baker’s The South American Gentleman’s Companion, which will soon be reprinted by Mud Puddle Books.

Named after José de San Martín, this was a popular drink in South America at one point. What caught my eye is that it is a natural progression from the Martinez, one of my favorite cocktails (and one I will post about soon). Here yellow Chartreuse stands in for maraschino liqueur and orange bitters. And it’s a great change. There’s just a teaspoon, and I seriously thought about adding more when I first tasted it. But as I sip the cocktail, I find this is a case where more would have been too much of a good thing. There’s just enough for a hint of the herbal richness, while leaving this cocktail, already sweet with vermouth, a great apéritif.

San Martín Cocktail

2 oz London dry gin (Beefeater)
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 tsp Yellow Chartreuse

Stir ingredients over ice until suitably chilled, strain into cocktail glass, and garnish with lemon peel.

In Killer Cocktails, Wondrich calls for two ounces of gin and one ounce of vermouth. In the Esquire article, he keeps to a basic 3 ounce cocktail, but goes 1:1 on gin and vermouth.

In this case, I prefer the 2:1 gin:vermouth version. It makes the final drink a little drier, and gives more room for the yellow Chartreuse to work its magic.

Be sure to join us this Thursday (and every Thursday!) at the Mixoloseum bar for TDN Beefeater!

The Campari Dolce

Stevi — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 18:28:02 +0000

Has this ever happened to you? You invent a new drink, and you think it’s the greatest thing ever. You sweat over a good name, you brag about it to all your friends. And then you forget about it. You remember a few months later, and try it again, and cannot imagine what lead you to think it was a great drink.

Campari Dolce

Happily, this is not the case with the Campari Dolce. I invented this drink at a Thursday Drink Night in October. The ingredient for the night was honey mix. I wanted to balance the sweetness with a good dose of bitterness, and had just started experimenting with Campari, so it seemed a natural ingredient to try. I decided to use gin as my base, and some orange bitters to add depth. It was one of those drinks that came together naturally. I was of course happy when the other participants that night seemed to like it, and even happier when it was declared the winning drink for the night.

In my never ending quest to try new drinks, the Campari Dolce fell off my radar until last night. I thought I would try it again, and see how my old friend was. I was delighted to discover I still really like the drink!

Campari Dolce

1.5 oz London dry gin (Right Gin)
1 oz Campari
0.5 oz honey mix
2 dashes orange bitters (Angostura Orange)

Stir ingredients over ice for 30 seconds or more, strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with brandied cherries.

Honey mix is one part honey to one part water. Heat over low heat until they mix, then store in the fridge. This makes the honey far more mixable than straight.

At the original TDN, I offered up a slight variation for those who are still intimidated by the bitterness of Campari.

Campari Dolce Variation

1.5 oz London dry gin (Right Gin)
1 oz Campari
0.75 oz honey mix

0.5 oz bianco vermouth
2 dashes orange bitters (Angostura Orange)

Have any drinks you invented stood the test of time?

BarSol Quebranta Pisco and the Sol de Oro

Stevi — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:02:32 +0000

I never get tired of mentioning that I first discovered pisco on a trip to Peru. It was also in Peru that I discovered my other love, Peruvian horses.

Imagine my delight when a bottle of BarSol Quebranta Pisco arrived for review. Not only was it a pisco, but it featured a logo of a Peruvian horse and rider, which gave me an excellent chance to refer to my beloved horses on my cocktail blog.

Sol de Oro (V)

On to the pisco. BarSol Quebranta is a pisco puro. Puro indicates that the pisco is made from only one variety of grape, in this case the quebranta, a non-aromatic black grape variety developed in Peru. The BarSol is very dry on the nose, and that holds true in the glass. While this definitely tastes like a pisco, it’s far less sweet and robust than the acholados I tend to prefer. The BarSol is more refined and subtle than most piscos I’ve been able to find in the US. This makes it a very mixable form of grape brandy.

Naturally, when I first opened the bottle, I immediately had to make pisco sours. The BarSol makes a delightful pisco sour, very drinkable. I recommend you experiment with the right ratio of simple syrup and lime juice for your palate. I also like to occasionally use a mix of half lemon juice and half lime juice, but I find a pisco sour with all lemon juice is never quite right. And don’t be fooled into trying Meyer lemons. They do not belong in a pisco sour.

Sol de Oro Cocktail

Next it was time to experiment with a new pisco drink. Aside from the sour and pisco punch, there aren’t that many great pisco-based cocktails. Yes, I do like the piscadora, and apparently San Francisco is attempting to fill the void with a rash of new pisco bars. I live further north, however, and must amuse myself with taunting my local bartenders for carrying Chilean pisco.

I’ve experimented with pisco on several TDNs, but nothing has quite worked. But on a hunch, I started experimenting with apricot brandy, and liked the initial taste. I started with Marie Brizard Apry, but found it a little too robust to find the right balance without resorting to soda water or champagne to lengthen the drink. Instead I switched to Rothman & Winter’s Orchard Apricot, which is lighter, and let the pisco sing through.

I also found that my favorite fortified wine, Lillet blanc, didn’t mix well in this context. Instead, using Martini & Rossi bianco vermouth brought the lightness. As I mentioned, the quebranta is quite dry, so I still wanted a touch of sweetness. I turned to orgeat to give an extra layer of flavor, and was not disappointed. The last note came from Fee Brothers lemon bitters, which adds a final brightness that blends all the ingredients together.

Sol de Oro

1.5 oz pisco (BarSol quebranta)
1 oz bianco vermouth
0.75 oz apricot brandy (Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot)
0.25 oz orgeat
2 dashes lemon bitters

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

Oro Ocultado

I do tend to prefer this a little sweet; if you prefer a drier cocktail, reduce the orgeat, but don’t eliminate it completely. It adds depth to the overall drink.

Since this is my first successful pisco cocktail I want to share with the world, I had to name it after Sol de Oro (Viejo), the most important modern stallion in the Peruvian breed. The port of Pisco is located in the Ica region of Peru, and Sol de Oro was discovered in the quebradas (valleys) of Ica region. Sol de Oro is the grandsire of my first Peurvian horse, Oro Ocultado, so he holds a special place in my heart.

What flavors do you think work best with pisco?

MxMo XXXV: Broaden Your Horizons — The Paquimé Cocktail

Stevi — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:46:01 +0000

Lo and behold, it’s another Mixology Monday! This 35th incarnation is being hosted by The Scribe at A Mixed Dram, and he bids us: Broaden Your Horizons. Try a new base spirit, a new technique, anything, just as long as it’s something new for you.

The Scribe is apparently precognitive, because the base spirit he gave as an example, tequila, is one that’s fairly foreign to me. Just last week I put up my first post that included tequila. In that post, I included a drink that was new to me, the Witch’s Kiss, but not an invention of my own. Because I’ve never tried to create a tequila cocktail.

Well, that’s not exactly true. I did once create a cocktail that included tequila. After trying the Piscadora, and reading that tequila went well with creme de cassis, I tried mixing tequila, lime juice, crème de cassis, and ginger beer. It was fantastic! I was so excited to share this new drink.

Luckily, I did a little research before posting about it, and turns out, I’d gone full circle. The Piscadora was probably inspired by the Diablo, a well-known drink.

Since then, I haven’t had the heart or incentive to experiment with tequila. Thanks to MxMo, now I do!

Paquimé Cocktail

At first, I thought I might try to work on what I knew went well with tequila. If orange liqueur mixed well for a margarita, maybe apricot liqueur would also work. I tried both Orchard Apricot and Marie Brizard’s Apry, and both were total duds. The apricot flavor and the tequila just didn’t blend well, and in fact turned rather unpleasant in my mouth.

I had promised myself I would not resort to crème de cassis, but I wanted something with a strong flavor to take on the tequila. That’s when I thought I might try Cherry Heering. Heering can quickly dominate a drink, but in small quantities, brings a lot of rich flavor. To add some depth, I added some Licor 43 (Quarenta y Tres). To make it a little drier and less potent, I added some dry vermouth. And finally added some Angostura orange bitters to add more balance and some brightness on the nose. I was very satisfied with the result.

Paquimé Cocktail

1.5 oz platinum tequila (Inocente)
0.5 oz Licor 43
0.5 oz dry vermouth
0.25 oz Cherry Heering
2 dashes Angostura orange bitters

Stir over ice and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with brandied cherries.

The tequila is still present in this cocktail, but the Cherry Heering and Licor 43 bring a nice roundness and softness to it, which the vermouth keeps it from being too sweet.

As for the name, Paquimé is an archaeological zone in Chihuahua, Mexico. It’s also the name of a cooperative that is picking cherries that are being grown in Chihuahua. So in honor of them, I name the drink.

A big thanks to the Scribe for suggesting that we broaden our horizons. It’s always fun to be encourage to expand my repetoir, and this experiment taught me a lot about how to match flavors. Be sure to check out A Mixed Dram for the round-up post!

Pineau des Charentes and the Charente Cocktail

Stevi — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 04:52:37 +0000

I rarely make the same drink two nights in a row. I’m developing a large home liquor selection, as well as a robust home library of cocktail books. This leads me to want to continually challenge myself to new-to-me cocktails.

But for nearly a week, I’ve been drinking the same drink almost non-stop. It all started when I bought a bottle of pineau des Charentes. I had seen reference to this vin de liqueur, and it finally stuck in my mind enough to buy a bottle when I saw it. What I found is a brand called Le Coq d’Or, produced by Hardy Cognac.

As the story goes, pineau des Charentes was originally an accident. Grape must was poured into a barrel for fermentation, only the barrel was not empty, it already contained eau de vie.¹ When they opened the barrel later, the mixture of grape juice and brandy created a sweet aperitif that has become a tradition in the department of Charente.

Charente Cocktail

And a fine aperitif it is. On the rocks, this is a delicious drink, comparable in taste to a dessert wine. It comes in at 17% ABV, similar to vermouth.

As luck would have it, right after I picked up the pineau, the latest issue of Imbibe Magazine arrived. It included an interview with Rachel Maddow, who suggested mixing gin and pineau in a 2 to 1 ratio.

I gave this a try. And it immediately became my new favorite drink. The pineau gives a sweet, smooth background that allows the gin to really stand out without being too hot. I’ve tried this with several gins, and enjoyed them all, but really find this to be a great place to use Van Gogh Gin. At two to one, the sweetness of the pineau becomes subtle and silky.

I tried a variation with orange bitters, but didn’t like it quite as much as without. But I did find adding a nice sized green olive stuffed with red pepper makes the perfect garnish. Once again, I find the reward of a savory olive at the end of a sweetish drink makes the perfect palate cleanser.

While Maddow calls this a pineau martini, I felt this delicious drink deserved a name of its own. Going for simplicity, I named it after the river that gives its name to the region that gave us this aperitif.

Charente Cocktail

1.5 oz London dry gin (van Gogh gin)
0.75 oz pineau des Charentes (Le Coq d’Or)

Stir and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with large olived stuffed with red pepper.

[1] How they failed to notice it was not empty, or that they couldn’t put as much must into as they expected, I do not know.