Cocktail Hacker

The final hackable component of a special occasion cocktail is its color.  This hack is what I’ve spent the majority of the week experimenting with.  I started simply enough by making a black Margarita.  The food coloring I used is seriously powerful mojo, but it doesn’t dissolve well in the shaker while you’re shaking with ice.  What I found works best is to use a toothpick and spread a very thin layer inside your shaker.  Add all the ingredients and swirl or dry shake until the color is completely integrated.  Then you can add the ice and finish your cocktail.

For Halloween the obvious color choices are black, orange and blood red.  Black is very simple, just use the color straight out of the container.  To get a pumpkin kind of orange I used orange coloring with just a touch of red to deepen the color.  As for the blood red I used two toothpick loads (scientific, no?) of red and one of small load of black.  This deepens the red to a more blood color.

Once I had the basic colors down I decided to try something a bit more interesting.  Since I’d been working with Margaritas all week I decided I’d keep with that base and try making a foam of another color for the top.  I originally started with Cointreau to flavor the foam but couldn’t get the consistency I wanted so I switched to a new recipe.  My foam recipe is one egg white, 1/2 oz simple syrup and 1/2 oz lime juice.  I used a hand mixer to get a really nice consistency, soft peaks if you’re wondering.  Then I spooned the foam on to the top of the prepared cocktail.  My first attempt was definitely not a success.  I tried an orange cocktail with a black foam.  However, as the picture below contests, I ended up with a muddled dark orange cocktail with a gray foam.  Certainly not optimal.  The second attempt, a black cocktail with orange foam, worked much better.  Although the work involved to make these is a bit steep I think the results are worth it.  You could make a large batch of the foam and top a number of cocktails at once if you were wanting to do something like this for a gathering.

A brief note on the food colors themselves.  For all of my experiments I’ve been using Wilton’s Gel Food Colorings.  I find that the colors are much more intense than the liquid colors you get at the grocery store and they dissolve nicer than the powdered colors.  I bought an assortment pack of colors a couple years ago for another project and I bolstered my supplies this year with some individual bottles.  I think you could easily make about 50 cocktails from a single bottle and at about $2 per large bottle they’re really a great deal.  I picked mine up at a local cake decorating store but they’re also available online.  I have the twelve color assortment shown at the top of the linked page and I think that’s a great starting point.  You get small containers of a wide assortment of colors.

Wilton Food Colors [Referrer Link]

So, what did I learn from all of this color experimentation?  I learned that light colored cocktails take a color better than darker ones.  I tried making a blood red Manhattan but ended up with only a slightly redder cocktail than original.  Another benefit of coloring lighter hued cocktails is that they take colors much more readily.  I also learned that adding a dark colored foam to a light drink ends up with a very muddled looking cocktail.  The better choice is a light colored foam on a dark drink.  That way if the foam color bleeds in to the drink it’s not as noticeable. These are all great things but the true culmination of this week is my signature Halloween cocktail.

The Demon Blood Margarita

[Ingredients]

2 oz Milagro Reposado Tequila
1 oz Cointreau
1 oz Fresh Lime Juice
1-3 Dashes Hell Fire Bitters
2 Dashes Regan's Orange Bitters
1 Dab Wilton's Black Gel Food Coloring
2 Dabs Wilton's Red Red Gel Food Coloring
Salt and Cayenne Pepper

[Directions]

1) Rim glass with salt and cayenne pepper
2) Apply food coloring to the interior of the shaker in a thin layer
3) Add all ingredients and swirl until color is fully dissolved
4) Add ice and shake until well chilled
5) Strain in to rimmed glass
6) Garnish with a lime wedge

As any well educated cocktail slinger knows Demon Blood is hot, firey hot, like it just came from the depths of hell.  Enter the Hell Fire Bitters.  These are homemade bitters based on an original recipe by Charles Baker Jr.  The current batch that I have aren’t quite hot enough for my liking so I ended up using about 6 dashes.  Once I get the recipe nailed down I’ll be sharing it with all of you.  Until then, suffice to say they’re hot.  The base is neutral spirits and the flavoring is lime, hot chiles, and cinchona for bitterness.  When mixed in the right proportions this cocktail has a great balance of what you would expect from a Marg and a nice kick of heat from the chiles.  It all works together really well.  The food coloring doesn’t add any flavor so it could easily be left out if you wanted to make a non-blood colored cocktail.

I had a great time experimenting with Halloween cocktails this week.  Next year I think I’ll have to do more experimentation with the various recipes.  Until then there are plenty of un-hacked cocktails yet to be tinkered with.

I’m of the opinion that garnishes by no means “make” a drink.  A good drink can always stand on its own, but in that same breath garnishes can raise a good drink to greatness.  Garnishing improves a cocktail’s visual appeal and, as we all know, we eat (and drink) with our eyes first.  I think that sentiment goes doubly for themed or special occasion cocktails.  You can take a relatively run of the mill Manhattan and add a special garnish and suddenly it’s a blood colored theme cocktail perfect for Halloween.  Here are some of my favorites from around the web.

I’ll start with the Eerie Eyeballs from The Spirit World, these are great.  I think the radish and olive eye would be quite tasty.  The Lychee eyes are good too, but I like the ones from Hostess Blog a bit better.  I think the blood looks more realistic.  If you’ve not had lychee before they have a flavor a bit like a slightly bitter green grape.  I think they would work well with almost any fruit based cocktail.

I also like the Jack Daniels O’Lanterns that Cocktail Times employed in their Halloween Cocktail.  Some seriously delicate knife work required for carving tiny faces in to those olives.  I’d recommend you execute that procedure before sampling the cocktail recipes.

Talk of Tomatoes has some awesome shots of their Halloween concoctions including the Liquefied Ghost, Purple People Eater, Maggotini, and Black Widow.  These are awesome!  The tiny cucumber chunks in the Maggotini are just classic.  But, let’s face it, the clear winner is the skeleton crazy straw in the Liquefied Ghost.  And you know why?  Cause crazy straws are awesome, duh.

Cook and Eat throws down the gauntlet for garnishing/decorating with their Dark Chocolate Martini.  This presentation is just absolutely gorgeous and I think it’s the glass that really sets it apart.  It looks like chocolate syrup drizzled inside the glass.

There are a couple of other ideas that I’ve been tossing around.  One could hollow out a tiny pumpkin and serve the cocktail inside.  You could even freeze them before hand.  The problem with this plan is that the pumpkin may add a bit of an off flavor to your cocktail.  Maybe I’ll explore this next year.  The second idea, which isn’t really my own, is the use of everyone’s favorite chilling ingredient and bomb component, dry ice.  Dry ice is just a classic.  If you’re going to be serving any sort of punch at a Halloween party, alcoholic or otherwise, dropping in some dry ice will give it that “witches brew” look that just works with Halloween.  I’ve also seen it used with great success in large bowl drinks, like the Scorpion.

You’ll note that the main similarity between these two uses is that both keep the dry ice away from direct skin contact.  Dry ice is cold, like supremely cold (-109F).  If it comes in contact with you skin it can burn you, well quick freeze you actually.  So, it’s use in individual cocktails needs to be done so with caution.  Make sure to warn people about the dry ice and you should be good to go.  A tiny piece, marble size, will provide plenty of good looking fog for an individual drink.

Tomorrow I’ll be covering the third hack which is what I’ve been spending the work experimenting with and also be unveiling my signature Halloween cocktail.  Until then eat some candy and enjoy a delicious cocktail.

From my research I’ve decided there are basically three families of cocktail hacks that can be applied to nearly any holiday or event.  The first, which I’ll be discussing in this post, is cocktails named or based on a theme.  The second is cocktail garnishes that highlight the holiday or event.  The third is changing a cocktail’s color to match those of the occasion.  For this first post I’m going to highlight themed cocktails.  Themed cocktails generally means cocktails that are either created with the theme in mind (eg the Candy Corn Cocktail) or cocktails with names that work with the theme (eg the Corpse Reviver).  Below are some instances of both.  I have been spending my time on another of the Halloween hacks this week so I don’t have much in the way of commentary on these.  That said, imbibe at your own risk.

The Corpse Reviver #1

[Ingredients]

1 1/2 oz brandy
3/4 oz apple brandy
3/4 oz sweet vermouth

[Directions]

1) Stir in mixing glass with ice
2) Strain in to a chilled cocktail glass

The Corpse Reviver #2 - Savoy Cocktail Book

[Ingredients]

1/4 Wine Glass Lemon Juice (3/4 oz Fresh Lemon Juice)
1/4 Wine Glass Kina Lillet (3/4 oz Cocchi Aperitivo Americano)
1/4 Wine Glass Cointreau (3/4 oz Cointreau)
1/4 Wine Glass Dry Gin (3/4 oz Bombay Gin)
1 Dash Absinthe (Verte de Fougerolles)

[Directions]

1) Shake well with ice
2) Strain in to a chilled cocktail glass

[Notes]

The Corpse Reviver is one of the all time classic cocktails and
will doubtless get a week all to itself so stay tuned.

The Zombie

[Ingredients]

3/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Grapefruit Juice
1 1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1/4 oz Falernum
1 1/4 oz Gold Rum
1 oz Dark Rum
1 oz 151 Proof Demerara Rum
3/4 oz Maraschino Liquer
1/4 tsp Grenadine
1/8 tsp Pernod
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

[Directions]

1) Blend briefly without ice
2) Add ice, blend to chill
3) Serve in a Hurricane or Collins glass

Black Cat Cocktail

[Ingredients]

1 Shot Russian Standard Vodka
1 Shot De Kuyper Cherry Brandy
2 Shots Cranberry Juice
2 Shots Coke

[Directions]

1) Pour ingredients into highball glass with some cubed ice
and stir well

Cruel Ghoul

[Ingredients]

1/2 oz Malibu Rum
1/2 oz Peach Schnapps
1/2 oz Blue Curacao
7-Up

[Directions]

1) Combine Rum, Peach Schnapps and Blue Curacao over ice
2) Add 7-Up to Fill

Pumpkin Pie Cocktail

[Ingredients]

2 Scoops Vanilla Ice Cream
1/2 Cup Crushed Ice
1 Tbsp Canned Pumpkin
1 oz Half-and-Half
1 oz Spiced Rum
1/4 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

2 Tbsp Whipped Topping
1 Pinch Pumpkin Pie Spice

[Directions]

1) Combine the first six ingredients in a blender
2) Blend until smooth
3) Pour into a serving glass
4) Top with whipped topping
5) Sprinkle with pinch of pumpkin pie spice

Candy Corn Cocktail

[Ingredients]

1/2 oz Licor 43
1/2 oz Orange Curacao
1/2 oz Cream

[Directions]

1) Carefully pour the Licor 43 into a shot glass
2) Layer Orange Curacao on Licor 43
3) Layer Cream on top of Curacao

Candy Corn Martini

[Ingredients]

3/4 oz Absolut® Vanilla Vodka
1/2 oz Creme de Cacao
1/2 oz Butterscotch Schnapps
2 oz Orange Juice
1 Tbsp Dark Cocoa Powder

[Directions]

1) Rim a cocktail glass with OJ then Cocoa Powder
2) Combine spirits and OJ in a shaker with ice
3) Shake vigorously and pour into glass
4) Garnish with an orange twist and 3-4 pcs of Candy Corn

[Notes]

Not sure what this cocktail has to do with candy corn
other than the garnish.  On the plus side it sounds like
the flavor might not suck.

Now I’m guessing that eight cocktails is simply not enough to fulfill the needs of a crowd reading cocktail blogs so here are some compilations done by other sites.

Halloween Cocktail Recipes from The Nibble

Ghostly Cocktails for Halloween from Suite 101

Scary Halloween Cocktails from Art of Drink

10 Happy Halloween Cocktails from Fine Living

Ok, now that you’re thoroughly startled its time for a drink.  But as this week is Halloween week no ordinary drink will do.  I’ll be covering Halloween specific cocktails this week and should have some good tips for you for your Friday Halloween parties.

I chose the Brown Derby Cocktail for this week as a semi-tribute to the Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs.  Once I started doing a bit of research on the drink I realized that this was an epic fail on my part.  The Brown Derby was the signature cocktail of the Vendome Club in Los Angeles, CA and was created to honor its neighbor and rival the Brown Derby.  Despite the fact that they were competitors the clubs were such close friends that the Vendome wanted their signature cocktail named as such.  The Brown Derby’s most notable feature was its distinct design.  The building was built to look like a large brown derby hat.  So, other than the similarity of name, the cocktail bears no relation to the Kentucky Derby.  D’Oh.

In addition to my slip up with the cocktail’s name it is not particularly tasty.  None of the flavors shine through and although the cocktail is not bad, it’s definitely not something I would make again or order at a restaurant.  It’s just, as the post title says, meh.  I was able to hack up a slightly better version, but the cocktail is still not great.  The lime juice increases the sourness which is quite nice and the bitters, as in other recipes, increase the flavor complexity.

Cocktail Hacker Brown Derby

[Ingredients]

2 oz Bourbon
1 oz Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz Honey Syrup
1/4 oz Lime Juice
3 Dashes Orange Bitters

Bafferts was the first unique Gin I added to my collection.  I received it as a gift for my 22nd birthday from some close friends.  I have consumed nearly none of it in the time since then (almost 7 years).  From our review I now see that that is due partly to its lack luster flavor profile.  To start it seems quite promising with a pleasant, almost Scotch-esque nose.  However, once you start consuming you get unpleasant metallic notes at the outset.  No strong flavors shine through, which led one of our tasters to comment that its like you “cut Gin with neutral spirits”.  Overall little juniper flavor comes through.  Our overall take on this gin is that its not so much a bad Gin as simply not a good Gin.  It might be a good choice for someone looking to start a Gin drinking career, but I think there are better starting point.  Bombay Sapphire for example.

Today Jennifer and I toured Churchill Downs.  When we arrived we took a quick walk through the museum then took the standard 30 minute tour that comes with museum admission.  The museum itself was a little less interesting than I had anticipated, but the quick tour was nice.  Following the quick tour we went on a Behind the Scenes tour of the race course.  This tour was fantastic!  We were able to see inside the jockey’s quarters, saw both of the Millionaire rooms and even got to check out the track announcers booth and press area.  All very interesting.  From up there you have a spectacular view of the race track and grounds and can really get a feel for what goes on behind the scenes on race day.

Next weekend is the first race of the season for Churchill Downs so today the track was pretty empty, save the few people enjoying some OTB.  I can only imagine what the track must be like on Derby Day when our tour guide said they’ll have upwards of 150,000 people in the stands and the infield.  In honor of this amazing race, this week we’re going to feature the Brown Derby Cocktail.  To begin the investigations we’ll be using the recipe listed on the Splendora website.

Maker's Mark Brown Derby Cocktail

[Ingredients]

2 oz Maker's Mark Whiskey
1 tsp honey
Splash grapefruit juice

[Directions]

1) Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker
2) Shake with ice
3) Strain into a cocktail glass

Why didn’t we go with the Mint Julep, you ask?  Because we have grand plans of investigating that particular cocktail during Derby week 2009, so stay tuned.

Spent a wonderful day touring Buffalo Trace distillery today with Jennifer.  The distillery in Frankfort, KY is nestled along the Kentucky river and is very picturesque.  On the tour we visited Warehouse C where they are aging Buffalo Trace, Van Winkle’s and some of their experimental barrels.  From there we went to the Benton’s Bottling hall where they bottle their products.  After explaining the details of the bottling process our guide took part of the group, ourselves included on a special tour of the rear of the distillery.

In the rear of the distillery we saw the grain delivery areas and one of the large Vodka stills.  Then we went to the Mash room where they were fermenting batches of upcoming spirits.  Next we were taken through their small batch still room where they produce special spirit runs for one off customers.  Following that we were introduced to the big daddy still.  A column still does the first distillation, then the spirits are further distilled in pot still to produce the final unaged product “White Dog”.  We were lucky enough to get to sample a bit of this White Dog and I must say it was very good.  You could really taste the corn back notes and despite its high proof it was still quite smooth.  The final step in our tour was the tasting room where we sampled the distilleries vodka (Rain), Buffalo Trace’s Bourbon and Eagle Rare, one of my personal favorites.  Overall the tour was fantastic.  Below are a number of pictures from the day.

As for the week of Bourbon experimentation, it was a nice refresher on America’s native spirit.  This is certainly not the last we’ll speak it.  Until then keep trying different Bourbons there are a lot out there and all have something special to offer.

Blueprint of a Sazerac in the Buffalo Trace gallery

Inside Warehouse C

Grain Silos

Mash Fermenter - 92,000 Gallons!

Small Batch Still - Combination Pot + Column

Column of the Big Daddy Still

Thunder the Buffalo Monitors the Still Output

Warehouse Window

Barrels on the Bottom Level of the Warehouse - "Old Pappy Lives Down Here" as our Tour Guide Said

So, when we covered the Old Fashioned some weeks ago there were a few variations that we didn’t end up trying.  There were various reasons that they got glossed over, but none the less I felt there was a hole in our investigations.  Bourbon Week to the rescue!  Revisiting Bourbon gave us a perfect chance to mix up these overlooked variations and give you the real low down.  To start we have the perennial restaurant Old Fashioned…

The Muddle Fruit Old Fashioned

[Ingredients]

2 oz Bourbon
3 Dashes Angostura Bitters
1 tsp Sugar
Orange Slice
2 Maraschino Cherries (the fake ones)

[Directions]

1) Combine fruit, sugar and bitters in an Old Fashioned glass
2) Muddle until sugar is dissolved
3) Add ice
4) Add Bourbon
5) Stir until well chilled

I have to say, I was a bit frightened about this one when I started mixing it up.  As the orange started to break down and the cherries turned to red pulp I had visions of nastiness dance through my head.  That didn’t turn out to be the case though, at least not entirely.  The muddled orange added a bit of extra sweetness and a nice orange flavor which was not objectionable.  The cherries on the other hand added nearly nothing except for a slight hint of almond and were not pleasant to encounter when sipping.  Overall the drink was fairly pleasant though and although the muddled fruit isn’t strictly traditional I wouldn’t turn one down were I served it.  Were I to make these again, which I must admit I’m not likely to, the classic is just a better cocktail, I would omit the cherries and possibly sub in a fresh raspberry or blackberry if they were on hand.  I think these would add more flavor and color to finished cocktail.

The next Old Fashioned variant we tried was a bit more on the experimental side, The Bacon Old Fashioned…

The Bacon Old Fashioned

[Ingredients]

2 oz Bacon Infused Bourbon
1/4 oz Maple Syrup
3 Dashed Angostura Bitters
Orange Twist

[Directions]

1) Combine all ingredients over ice
2) Stir until thoroughly chilled
3) Strain in to an Old Fashioned glass with ice

We got our inspiration for this cocktail from this article and the associated YouTube video.  My first attempt at infusing the Bourbon I used woefully underflavored bacon drippings and the result was a Bourbon with no bacon flavor at all.  Not to be out smarted by bacon I went to the store and picked up a pound of hickory smoked bacon.  Seemed like the route to take so home I went and rendered up about a 1/3 of the package.  Once rendered the warm drippings were applied to the Bourbon and allowed to steep overnight.  I tossed the jar in the freezer in the morning and skimmed off the fat when I got home that night.  This time the infusion took, but was still lacking the bacon flavor I was after.  Aaron felt the Bacon Bourbon was quite good, but lacked the real smokiness he was looking for.  I agree, but I didn’t give this first batch even as much credit as Aaron did, it needs serious work.  The lads at PDT use Benton’s Bacon which is heavily smoked and as such has a very deep smoky flavor.  I think if we could find a bacon here in CO that matched that level of smokiness that this cocktail would be a completely different animal.  After Aaron’s sampling of my Bacon Bourbon he has taken it as a personal mission to recreate the Benton’s Bourbon flavor so I assure you this quest is not yet completed.

Also, I finished my Bacon Old Fashioned with a flamed orange twist as you can see in the picture above.  Took a fair bit of creative camera work to get that shot and I think it turned out fairly well.  You could really taste the carmelized orange oils in the final cocktail which was a great addition to the flavor profile.  I’d highly suggest giving this a try the next time you make an Old Fashioned.

Why do you need to discuss Bourbon, its just another whiskey right?  Well, yes, but there’s more to it than that.  All Bourbons are whiskies, but not all whiskies are Bourbons.  In the same way that to be called Scotch a whisky must meet certain criteria in order to call a product Straight Bourbon Whiskey a distiller must meet certain requirements.  Wikipedia summed it up nicely so rather than regurgitate, I’ll just quote them.

• Bourbon must be made of a grain mixture that is at least 51% corn.
• Bourbon must be distilled to no more than 160 (U.S.) proof (80% alcohol by volume).
• Bourbon must be 100% natural (nothing other than water added to the mixture).
• Bourbon must be aged in new, charred oak barrels.
• Bourbon which meets the above requirements and has been aged for a minimum of two years, may (but is not required to) be called Straight Bourbon.
• Bourbon aged for a period less than four years must be labelled with the duration of its aging.

The first step in the Bourbon production process is the selection and processing of grains.  As per the rules this grain mixture has to include at least 51% corn.  The remainder is then made up of any of the other fermentable cereal grains, e.g. rye, wheat, barley, rice I suppose, etc.  The grain mixture is one of the deciding factors in the final flavor of the Bourbon.  As an example Bulleit Bourbon uses a high percentage of rye which gives the resulting spirit it’s characteristic spiciness.  Since its this specific recipe of grains that makes each Bourbon unique it makes sense that the specifics are tightly guarded secrets.  The distiller then takes the selected grains and mills them.  Milling the grains maximizes the surface area allowing a more complete starch conversion, the next step in the process.

Once the grains have been milled water is added and heat is applied to the mash.  The application of heat causes the starches in the grains to break down in to fermentable sugars that can then be consumed by the yeasts.  Once the mash has been cooked a small portion of the previous mash is added to the new mash.  The acid from this “sour mash” slows the growth of bacteria and creates the pH balance that the yeast requires for alcohol production.  Which brings us to the fermentation itself.  Depending on the chosen yeast this process can take anywhere from days to weeks but the result is the same a low alcohol content wash.

The wash is then transferred to a still where it will undergo distillation into a clear alcohol.  When you buy a bottle of Everclear you are buying un-aged whiskey straight from the still.  The maximum alcohol percentage that can be obtain through standard distillation is 94%.  In order to go higher you have to employ a process called vaccuum distillation which is considerably more complicated, not to mention a story for another post.

At this point the un-aged Bourbon is transferred to new, charred oak barrels for aging.  There are varying degrees of barrel char that can be utilized to produce specific characteristics.  Once filled the barrels are moved to a barrel house for aging.  As the temperature varies throughout the year the Bourbon is pulled in to the wood (as temperature increases) and pushed back out (as temperature decreases).  This aging produces two distinct results.  First the char on the barrel serves to filter the Bourbon to some degree.  Second as the alcohol moves in and out of the wood it picks up color and flavor.  There are lots of compounds in wood that help to give the Bourbon it’s unique final flavors.

Bourbons are aged for a minimum of two years and the sky seems to be the limit.  Once aging is complete there are a few more options.  One, the Bourbon can be bottled without dilution at what is called cask strength.  Bourbons from the larger distilleries are typically blended to produce a consistent flavor and then diluted to the proof desired.  Some distilleries however and choosing to bottle the product un-blended from single barrels.  These single barrel Bourbons, such as Eagle Rare, one of my personal faves, will vary in flavor from barrel to barrel slightly depending on the barrel itself and where the barrel was aged.  As such, you end up with a product that although similar will never be exactly the same.  I like this as it gives cocktails a bit, although not too much, variability.

Well I hope this overview has been interesting for you.  I’ve glossed over some subjects intentionally (e.g. the specifics of distillation) and I’ll be covering those in more detail later on.  Some topics (e.g. barrel chars) I’ve skimmed over due to a lack of knowledge.  As I know more about these I’ll be sure to write update posts.  I’ll be visiting a couple distilleries this weekend in Kentucky and hope to find out a lot more interesting info and get some good pictures.