Cocktail Hacker

Well folks, the eve of the new year is upon us.  For some it’s already here.  For everyone I wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.  Though, before we get too carried away with the revelry I think there’s still time for one last cocktail.  I’m going to take a quick look at the Violet Fizz from The Bubbly Bar as I promised earlier in the week.

Violet Fizz (The Bubbly Bar)

4 oz Brut Sekt or Prosecco
1/2 oz Monin Violet Syrup
1 oz Delicate Gin
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
1/2 oz Pasteurized Egg White
2 Pieces of Candied Violet for Garnish

1) Pour the prosecco into a cocktail glass
2) Combine other ingredients in a shaker
3) Shake with ice until well chilled
4) Strain into cocktail glass
5) Garnish with Candied Violet

Reading the recipe for this drink in the book it sounded really good.  Plus it’s a twist on the Ramos Gin Fizz, one of my favorites.  Mixing up the drink I ran into a few problems, but nothing that some recipe tweaking can’t handle.  First, I don’t have Monin violet syrup.  I do, however, have a bottle of Creme de Violette that would be delightful here.  Second, I don’t have any prosecco on hand and I’m comfortable enough to admit I’ve never heard of sekt.  After a bit of googling it seems that sekt is the German word for sparkling wine.  Now you know.  (I’ll let you insert the G.I. Joe reference)  Not to worry, I’m sure the Gruet Brut I’ve been mixing with this week will work fine.

Third, I don’t think the Creme de Violette adds as much sweetness as the Monin syrup would.  In my subsequent attempts I added a bit of simple syrup which sorted that problem out nicely.  Finally, my drink didn’t come together nearly as well as the one pictured.  When I poured the shaken components into the Champagne, I ended up with about six ounces of foam.  Not optimal.  I switched up the method and mixed it like you would a Ramos Gin Fizz.  I mixed the ingredients, poured them into a collins glass and topped it with the Champagne.  Same result, way too much foam.  I tried reducing the amount of egg white I added to no avail.  Simple enough, I just dropped the egg white all together and moved on.

Now that you’ve patiently read this rambling story I’d like to make a point as to why I wrote it all down.  When you’re looking at cocktail recipes and you don’t have the exact ingredients needed or don’t like the results, improvise!  Whatever you’re mixing should make you happy first and foremost and only after that adhear to classic recipes.  Cocktail recipes, as with those for cooking, are just guidelines after all.

Violet Fizz (Cocktail Hacker)

4 oz Brut Champagne
1 oz Gin (Hendricks)
1/2 oz Creme de Violette
1/4 oz Simple Syrup
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
Lemon Twist for Garnish

1) Add the Champagne to a cocktail glass
2) Combine other ingredients in a shaker
3) Shake with ice until well chilled
4) Pour gin mixture into the cocktail glass
5) Garnish with a lemon twist

So there you have my recipe.  I have to say, I really enjoy this drink.  It’s reminiscent of an Aviation, another favorite, which is definitely not a bad thing.  The color is a light sea green and the Creme de Violette gives the aroma a very delicate floral note.  The flavor is really well balanced and harmonious, with each ingredient coming through.  Note that I opted for a delicate gin as the original recipe suggested.  Good call.  Too much punch from the gin would overwhelm the Creme de Violette and Champagne.  Finally the effervescence from the Champagne is really refreshing.

Happy New Year all.  Enjoy your drinks tonight.

I’ve been tantalizing you with Champagne cocktails all week but haven’t really been pointing you in any specific direction on the choice of Champagne.  Let’s see if we can’t rectify that with this post.  I’m going to offer you two paths.  The first is to do your homework, understand the basics, seek some advice and then make an educated decision.  The second path is way simpler, just use my suggestions and happily enjoy.

Path One

While this is the more complex path I’m going to keep it relatively simple for you.

Step 1 - Do some basic research.  I’d start with a quick read of Wikipedia, as any good geek would suggest.  There is a lot of great info on there about growing regions, naming requirements, etc.  Given that wealth of information, I’d recommend you focus on a few facts.  One, if the wine isn’t from the Champagne region of France it’s not really Champagne.  One-B, despite this regulation, there are some great “Champagnes” from other places around the US and the world.  Two, there are a range of sugar contents and each has an associated name.  For most mixing I’d stick with Brut.  It’s a dry option which will allow you to adjust the sweetness of your drinks as you see fit.  For drinking straight I also lean towards Brut, but there are other options depending on your preferences.  Three, there are a variety of Champagnes that are classed based on their grape composition.  For example a “Blanc de Blancs” is composed completely of Chardonnay grapes, whereas a “Blanc de Noirs” is a combo of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes.  That said, a lot you find simply won’t say, and that’s fine too.

Step 2 – Okay, now you’ve got the basics down, how about some suggestions?  Well, naturally you can go lots of places to seek this advice.  My personal suggestion is to first talk to friends and family.  Chances are, if they’re wine appreciators they’ll have some suggestions for you.  As a second option here are some resources that know more about wine than I do.  Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV has a number of episodes about sparkling wines.  This episode is one of my favorites and covers a huge range, both in style and price.  Ben Carter of Benito’s Wine Reviews put up a post last year on some of his personal recommendations.  Finally, I’ll point you to a series of posts on Fredric Koeppel’s blog Bigger Than Your Head where he covers a lot of sparkling wine options.

Path Two

Okay, here’s the compressed, ADHD version for the attention challenged among us.

Mixing – Gruet Brut.  It’s fairly cheap, my bottles were on sale for $12.49, usually $16.99.  Better still, it’s good stuff.  I’d drink it straight and it blends well in cocktails.

Drinking Straight – Schramsberg Brut Rose.  Although my personal choice is the Rose their Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs are also very good.  These are more expensive choices, about $40.  You could certainly use them for mixing, but I’d say just drink they alone in a flute instead.

So there you have it.  Some guidance on education and selection and the quick approach to the problem.  Let me know if you have any great recommendations to share with everyone.

In flipping through The Bubbly Bar I noticed a classic Champagne cocktail that I’ve been wanting to mix up for a while now, the Kir Royale.  This drink has an interesting past as well.  The drink that started it all was blanc-cassis, a blend of dry French white wine and creme de cassis.  After World War II the drink was renamed to honor the then mayor of Dijon and prominent member of the French Resistance during the war, Felix Kir.  And thus, the original Kir was born.  There are a number of variants on the classic Kir.  The best known being our pick for today, the Kir Royale.

Kir Royale

1/2 oz Creme de Cassis
5 oz Champagne
Lemon Twist

1) Add the creme de cassis to a Champagne flute
2) Top with Champagne
3) Garnish with a lemon twist

The Kir Royale is truly elegant in its simplicity.  The color that the creme de cassis brings is a lovely maroon.  The berry flavor is bright but not overpowering or overly sweet.  In this drink’s case that lemon twist isn’t solely for decoration, either.  It adds a nice citrus note to the aroma and flavor.  This really is a delicious drink and I think it would work great for a party.  It’s a tasty twist on standard Champagne, simple enough that people can mix their own and packs a bit lighter punch than a French 75.

Have you ever sipped an $8 Gin and Tonic and felt like you were somehow getting screwed?  Well, chances are good that you were.  Drinks are a very high profit item for restaurants and bars.  To give a better idea of the true costs check out the Cocktail Calculator that Rob whipped up over on Cockeyed.  I have to admit I spent about 20 minutes playing with different combinations to see the results.  True geek fun.

To give an example, one of my perennial favorites the Gin and Tonic contains about 36 cents worth of ingredients when made with well spirits.  That’s even cheaper than my budget recipe that rang in at 83 cents.

A few months ago I received a review copy of Maria Hunt’s new book The Bubbly Bar.  Unlike most cocktail books, this one centers entirely on Champagne based cocktails.  The book starts, as it should, with the classics.  Some I’ve featured already (eg The Champagne Cocktail and the French 75) and some I have not (look for the Bellini and the Kir Royale later this week).  After the classics are laid down Maria goes on to cover more recent creations.  Amongst these are  riffs on other cocktails (like the Aperol Flip and Ruby Red Sangria) and original cocktail creations (like the Violet Fizz, which I’m going to mix up later this week, and the Cucumber Cooler which I’ve listed below).

The recipes are straight forward, using fairly common ingredients for the most part.  Another definite high point is that Maria put some effort in to making the drinks balanced.  Which, in a world where a lot of restaurant creations are much too sweet, is very welcome.  In addition to the well thought out recipes, the photographs are also quite stunning.  Overall, the book is well done and worth checking out if you’re looking for some new ways to enjoy an old classic.

Cucumber Cooler (The Bubbly Bar)

6 Thin Slices of Cucumber
1/2 oz Vodka
Juice of 1/2 Lime
3/4 oz Agave Nectar
5 oz Dry Sparkling Sake
1 Cube of Cucumber

1) Muddle vodka and cucumber in a rocks glass
2) Add lemon juice and agave nectar
3) Stir to mix thoroughly
4) Fill glass 3/4 full with ice
5) Top with sparkling sake
6) Garnish with a cucumber cube

---

† The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample. If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy.

Fellow cocktail enthusiasts, I’m back from a relaxing week and ready to talk cocktails.  With New Year’s Eve and Day coming up quick I thought it would be good to look at some Champagne cocktails this week.  Before we get rolling too quickly, I’d like to clear something up.  I’m going to use the term Champagne for these posts.  That said, I’ll likely be mixing with slightly cheaper domestic sparkling wines.  I know it’s “technically” incorrect to use the name Champagne for these wines, but it’s just a lot simpler.  So, in this case, my laziness wins.

Here’s a quick overview of the week.  I’ve got a book review for you on a title dealing exclusively with Champagne based recipes. I’m going to cover a couple cocktails, obviously.   Finally, I’m going to point you to some good advice on Champagnes for your parties.

To kick the week off and get you, and me, in the right frame of mind, I want to point you to a cocktail that I covered about a year ago.  The French 75 is definitely my favorite Champagne cocktail that I’ve mixed thus far.  It combines gin, which you know I love, Champagne, which I’m also a huge fan of, and some citrus for freshness.  It’s truly a fantastic drink and you definitely need to mix one up.  In fact, I’m sipping one right now for some motivation.  I think this drink would be a great addition to a New Year’s party.  They’re quick to mix, can be customized easily by switching up the syrup and are a great way to switch up the traditional Champagne.  A word of warning that is echoed in my previous post.  These drinks pack a punch.  Serve and enjoy in moderation.

I’m going to take a break from cocktail blogging this week and enjoy some time with friends and family.  Fear not, I will definitely not be taking a break from cocktail drinking!

I have a couple interesting tidbits to post and I’ll be back in full force next week with some Champagne cocktails to get your New Years party started right.

If you take a look through my liquor cabinet, you’re sure to notice that I like love whiskey, a lot.  If I’m sitting down to something other than a cocktail, it’s most likely a glass of single malt scotch.  I think Ron Burgundy summed it up nicely in Anchorman “I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly…”  Well said good man, well said.

So, I was understandably excited when I got an email telling me that the Booze Fairy was bringing me samples of Chivas Regal 18 and Johnnie Walker Blue Label.  I’ve tried quite a few scotches, both blended and single malt, but I’d never had either of these.  I was giddy, to say the least.

The idea behind the combo shipment is not to contrast the two as much as it is to show that Chivas 18 is a great product on par with Blue Label.  You see, the problem with Blue Label is that it’s quite expensive ($230 for a 750ml at my local store).  Chivas 18 is much more affordable ($85 for a 750ml at the same store).

Being a man who likes to share, I invited some friends over to share the bounty and enjoy a whisky sampling with me.  There were 7 of us total ranging from whisk(e)y newbies to experienced enjoyers of the golden elixir.  I poured us each a dram and we got down to the task at hand.

Let’s start with the Blue Label.  It’s become somewhat of a legend in the whisky community.  It’s name spoken in hushed tones with a distinctly excited tone.  Understandably so.  The aroma is primarily of fresh caramel sweetness with a noticeable smokiness. It’s flavor starts with a medium level of smokiness followed by a very light sweetness.  Overall, this whisky is extremely smooth and truly delicious.  One of my friends summed up the experience intrestingly “You know what it tastes like to me?  Money.”  Well put.

Okay, now for the Chivas 18.  While quite less well known, I’d certainly like to think that this will change because this dram was equally delicious, but in other ways.  The aroma in the Chivas 18 includes a lot more fruity notes and nearly no smokiness.  From the smell you’re led to believe this whisky is going to be very smooth.  Your nose does not deceive you.  This dram has nearly no smoke with only subtle hints rolling in at the very end of the palate.  Rather, you get more fruity notes and still get a very nice caramel sweetness.  Overall another fantastic whisky.

Now it’s time to wrap this up.  First, let me say that I am deeply saddened that both of the small sample bottles were drained during the tasting because both of these whiskies are fantastic.  I would love to have both in my collection for slow sipping.  Second, I’d like to direct your attention to the title of this post.  Note that there is no versus up there.  That’s because it’s exceeding difficult to compare these two whiskies as their style and flavor are so different.  The one thing I will say is that I would definitely consider both of these to be on par as super premium drams.

The question that naturally follows is, would I spend the money for a bottle of Blue Label or would I reach for the Chivas instead?  Well, that’s tricky.  If I had $200 knocking around, I would love to have a bottle of Blue Label to call my own.  But, more realistically, I’d likely reach for the Chivas 18 much more often.  In addition, I would proudly present a bottle of the Chivas 18 to a friend as a gift and not feel that I was shorting them in the slightest.  Excellent tipples both.  Thank you, Booze Fairy.  You made 7 people very happy this week.

May your holidays be filled with drams as delicious as those we’ve sampled here!

---

† The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample. If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy.

Okay, I have another imagination experiment for you.  Think of nearly any adventure movie.  You know, Indiana Jones, National Treasure, pick your favorite.  Good, now that we’re on the same page, I want you to think about what happens when the hero needs more information to reach their goal.  They go to an expert who undoubtedly has a giant library of ancient tomes upon which to draw.

In the case of cocktails Greg Boehm is that giant library having expert.  I was introduced to Greg and his work when Aaron and I first started Cocktail Hacker.  Our first six cocktails were David Embury’s six essential cocktails.  I thought it would awesome to have a copy of Embury’s book for my collection.  Slight problem, good copies of the early versions of The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks go for hundreds of dollars.  Then I heard about Mud Puddle Books.

Greg Boehm not only has the giant cocktail library from which to pull knowledge, but he also makes incredible reprints of these classics for the rest of us to enjoy as well.  Shortly after I heard about the books that the folks at Mud Puddle books create, I was participating in a TDN over at the Mixoloseum and Greg gave away a book for answering his trivia question correctly.  I won and subsequently received my first Mud Puddle printed cocktail book, Harry Johnson’s Bartender’s Manual.

I really had no idea what to expect.  When the book arrived, I was stunned, to say the least.  The cover of the book is an exact replica of the original down to the binding style.  Each page is as it first appeared in the original book.  All of the engraved plates are crisp, clear and, well, damn near perfect.  Even down to the original advertisements, the book is perfectly reproduced.  Suffice to say I was in love.

In addition to the books from Harry Johnson and David Embury, Mud Puddle also prints books from other legends including William  Boothby and Jerry Thomas.  In all, they now offer 13 reprints of cocktail classics and two new books from contemporary cocktail masters.  All of them reproduced to as closely match the originals as possible.  If you’d like  a bit more info about Greg and how his work started, I’d highly suggest you take a look at this article from the New York Times.

So, now that I’ve gushed for over 250 words, let me get to the point.  If you have a cocktail fan in your life and you’re looking for a great gift, the books from Mud Puddle would certainly make their day.  Head over to Cocktail Kingdom and you can check out their entire line.  In addition, they’re now offering hard to find barware and bitters.  If you decide to pick up a book or two, I certainly hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy mine.

When you hear the words coffee liqueur, I’m betting that the first thing that pops into your head is Kahlua.  They’ve been the brand leader for years and with the help of their new ad campaign, (which I actually rather enjoy) they’re getting back into the fore-brain of consumers.  As part of that strategy, they’ve released a new limited edition liqueur that I’ve been lucky enough to be sent a sample of, Kahlua Coffee Cream.

My immediate thoughts on opening the package is that Kahlua is making a bid to do battle with Irish cream.  Upon sampling, I’d agree with my first thoughts, to a degree.  You’re going to first notice the difference in the aroma.  Rather than the coffee aroma being a light background note as it is in Irish Cream, the coffee is much more forward in Kahlua Coffee Cream.  The coffee aroma you get is very clean and bright.

The flavor profile definitely follows the aroma in this case.  You still get the vanilla, chocolate and caramel notes coming through, but the coffee is definitely the star.  Although, while the star, it’s not overwhelming and a good balance still exists between the flavors.

As I was sipping the two side by side for comparison, (they’re similar, but quite different) an idea came to me.  This could be basically an instant White Russian.  All you’d need to do is add some vodka and ice and you’d be set.  Interesting.  More on that in a bit.  I find Kahlua Coffee Cream to be a bit less sweet than standard Kahlua and really like that.  In general I find Kahlua straight up too sweet for me and wouldn’t drink it straight.  Kahlua Coffee Cream, on the other hand, I’d willingly reach for and pour over a bit of ice as a nice nightcap.

So, what of the White Russian?  Well, interestingly enough, the press release for this product (which I read after my tasting) actually lists a recipe for the Curious Russian.  This drink being an equal parts combo of Kahlua Coffee Cream, Kahlua and vanilla vodka.  While the drink sounds pretty good I’m guessing most people don’t have a ready supply of vanilla vodka in their cabinets.  So, being the thoughtful experimenter, I offer you a simpler alternative.

Coffee Cream Russian

1 1/2 oz Kahlua Coffee Cream
1 1/2 oz Vodka

1) Build in a rocks glass over ice

My overall verdict on the Kahlua Coffee Cream is that it’s very good.  If you’re a big fan of White Russians, (or fancy a mudslide) I’d give this a go.  Finally, with a SRP of $17.99 you really can’t go wrong.  Salud, mis amigos!

---

† The product reviewed here was provided to me as a free sample. If you’re wondering what that means check out my sample policy.