Cocktail Hacker

I finally got around to watching Quantum of Solace last night and there’s a scene where Bond is sipping a cocktail (his sixth) consisting of gin, vodka, Kina Lillet and a lemon twist. Now, I won’t get all ranty about the fact that he was sipping said cocktail in a private jet with bar that happened to have exactly what he needed or that Kina Lillet is no longer available. Nor will I gleefully ramble about the fact that Bond is finally drinking cocktails other than Vodka Martinis. No, I’m turning to this scene for inspiration.

The drink Bond was quaffing was a Vesper, which he created and named after his love interest, Vesper Lynd, who we were introduced to in Casino Royale. Being a fan of Lillet this drink sounded like a perfect one to explore this week. The recipe for the Vesper Bond explains both in the book and movie Casino Royale:

“A dry martini,” [Bond] said. “One. In a deep champagne goblet.”

“Oui, monsieur.”

“Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?”

“Certainly, monsieur.” The barman seemed pleased with the idea.

“Gosh, that’s certainly a drink,” said Leiter.

Bond laughed. “When I’m…er…concentrating,” he explained, “I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink’s my own invention. I’m going to patent it when I can think of a good name.”

– James Bond (Ian Fleming), Casino Royale – Tip o’ the hat to Wikipedia for that one

While there is a bit of discussion of the Wikipedia page about the recipe calling for measures, which the page’s author insists must mean a jigger (1 1/2 oz), I don’t think this is necessarily true. Nor is it crucial to making this drink. Like most drinks you can use whatever you damn well please for your measure. I’ll be using 1/2 oz as it makes for a more manageable cocktail.

Vesper (Original Recipe)

1 1/2 oz Gin

1/2 oz Vodka

1/4 oz Lillet Blonde

Lemon Twist for Garnish

1) Shake (shudder) until very cold

2) Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

So, I’m having a bit of trouble finding ginger beer around here. Andy suggested Regatta which is available from Kegworks.com for those of us not lucky enough to not have it available in our area. I’m certain Regatta is quite tasty but I couldn’t bring myself to spend $40 for 12, at least not right now. Alan also had a good suggestion, namely Goya’s ginger beer. Sadly, also not readily available around here. I’ve checked the markets around here, including all the awesome hippy markets and nada. So there was only one alternative left. Make my own.

I went searching on the intertubes for a good recipe and stumbled on a couple. One of the “traditional” recipes called for creating the ginger beer mixture and allowing it to sit out for up to a month with the idea that the mixture will spontaneously ferment as a result of the naturally occurring yeast in our environment. While I have some doubts about whether this is the way ginger beer is created traditionally at this time there is certainly the possibility that this was once done. Slight problem that I ran in to with this plan, though. I’m a huge fan of immediate gratification. So, I kept searching.

Next I found Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s recipe, which is an interesting occurence unto itself as his recipe appears higher in the google search results than the Chow.com recipe, but that story can wait. Jeffrey offers two options. Option one, you can mix up his ginger beer recipe and pass it through a iSi Soda Syphon to carbonate. Option two, you mix up the same recipe, add a very tiny bit of champagne yeast to each bottle and let it ferment for a couple days. This fermentation creates natural carbonation.

I’ll reference you back to comment about immediate gratification so we’re on the same page for this next anecdote. I figured the solution was very simple. I own a Soda Stream carbonator, I’d simply mix up the ginger beer per the recipe and carbonate as I have hundreds of bottles of water in the past. Now, the Soda Stream manual clearly states that only pure clean water should ever be carbonated with the machine. But what do they know, right? More than I do it’s now clear. After a half dozen presses of the button the mixture was carbonated and it was time to remove the bottle.

Herein lay the problem. Plain water in a seamless plastic bottle has very few nucleation points. Therefore most of the CO2 remains in suspension when the bottle is unscrewed. Ginger beer on the other hand has all manner of tiny floaty bits that act as perfect nucleation points. Thus, as soon as I unscrewed the bottle it overflowed filling the unit with sticky ginger beer residue. Good news though. I rescued the bottle of ginger beer and it was fantastic. I was also able to completely clean my carbonator and it’s back in perfect working condition.

However, seeing as that option isn’t exactly a repeatable experiment I opted for the yeast fermented recipe for my next batch. They’re currently residing in my guest bathroom shower in the event that they uncerimoniously explode during the next 48 hours of carbonation. Check in Saturday for an update on how these turned out.

Seeing as we’re coming in to summer it seems only right that I look at more highball drinks. You know them and I would certainly hope you love them. Well, at least some of them. When made right these simple cocktails can really be a perfect drink for the summer.

On that note, it’s been raining in Boulder pretty much non-stop since Friday afternoon. Truly summery no? It’s not been anything particularly major, but it does seem like a fitting start to this week’s cocktail, the Dark and Stormy.

Dark and Stormy

2 oz Dark Rum

3 oz Ginger Beer

Lime Wedge for Garnish

1) Build in a Highball glass over ice

One slight problem. I’ve not been able to track down ginger beer proper. I’ve found a lot of different ginger ales, which should likely make due in a pinch, but I’d really like to find the real deal. The good news is, it can also be made at home. Stay tuned for progress on that one.

Today marks the end of my Mint Julep week and you’ve still got a little over three hours to get ingredients if you’d like to enjoy a couple before the start of the Kentucky Derby. What’s my verdict? This cocktail is good, but not something I’m going to find myself craving. Were I to attend the Derby I would certainly partake of one (or several :). I won’t, however, be mixing these up regularly. I simply didn’t find the Mint Julep to be all that exciting. The sugary bourbon concoction reminded me of an Old Fashioned without the addition of bitters, which to my mind make the Old Fashioned delicious.

Where the Mint Julep shines though is in it’s use of a mint sprig as a garnish. Don’t for a second think that the mint is there purely for decoration. Rather, it is an integral part of the cocktail experience. Key to this is forcing the consumer to bury their nose in the mint for each sip of the cocktail. This increases the mint quotient exponentially. The mint should be lightly rubbed or clapped between your hands before garnishing. This will open up the mint and allow for a stronger mint aroma.

In my searches and experimentation with this cocktail there seem to be three primary schools surrounding muddling.

Light Muddling: Add simple syrup (not granulated sugar) to a glass with the mint. Then gently muddle the leaves to encourage them to express their oils. If you’re breaking up the leaves with your muddling you’re doing it too hard. Once muddled add your bourbon and ice, then stir to chill.

I found that of the two muddled preparations this one was much more visually pleasing. The resulting drink is lightly minty and the mint leaves remain large enough that you won’t be sucking them up your straw. This method would definitely be my choice for one off Mint Julep making.

Hard Muddling: Add granulated sugar to a glass with the mint and a dash of water. Muddle until the mint is broken up and the sugar has dissolved into the water. Then add your bourbon and ice, stirring to chill.

This technique works fine if all you have on hand is granulated sugar. However, I found two problems. One, when muddled in this way the mint can break down to such a degree that you end up with a bitter flavor from the chlorophyll. Two, I don’t enjoy tiny bits of leaf floating in my cocktail. The mint is broken down so much in this preparation that you would definitely end up with bits getting sucked up your straw. Assuming you haven’t gotten to the bitter qualities of the mint the resulting drink is still nicely minty and interestingly not that much more minty than the lightly muddled version.

No Muddling: This preparation requires that you make up some Minted Simple Syrup using the recipe I posted earlier in the week. To prepare the cocktail add your desired amount of Minted Simple Syrup along with your bourbon and ice to a glass. Stir to chill and top off with more ice if you like.

This is definitely my preferred preparation and the one I would use were I making this cocktail for a Derby party. There are no mint bits to get sucked up and the resulting drink is still nicely minty from the infused syrup. At this point there is one final level of easy preparation you can go to. You could buy premade Mint Julep mix. This is basically bourbon that already has the sugar and mint flavor added. Simply pour over ice, stir until chilled and garnish with fresh mint. A few of the high quality bourbon makers also have this available, particularly around Derby time. While I didn’t get a chance to try any of these this go round, I think they could be a good option for a party.

While each of these methods results in a tasty cocktail, I’ll repeat myself that the absolute key is the addition of the fresh mint garnish. This simple addition elevates this drink to a higher level. A final note before I list my recipe. The amount of sugar called for in most of the recipes was too much for my taste. That in mind, this drink is supposed to be sipped over a long period of time and would, therefore, become more and more diluted as the ice melts. So, take my recipe with a grain of salt. Modify it as you see fit and enjoy your Mint Juleps.

Mint Julep (Cocktail Hacker)

3 oz Bourbon

1/2 - 1 oz Minted Simple Syrup

Crushed Ice

Mint Sprig for Garnish

1) Add syrup and bourbon to a glass

2) Add crushed ice to fill about 2/3 of the glass

3) Stir until very cold

4) Fill remainder with ice

5) Garnish with mint sprig

Not being from anywhere near the South I find it easy to say that by my way of thinking there is nothing so quintessentially Southern than the Mint Julep. Now certainly that’s a stereotype and likely a bad one. But let’s take a moment for a thought experiment. Think about the words “Mint Julep”…what’s the first thing that pops in to your head? Is it a grand porch on a colonial home, the light is low and crickets are chirping? See! Southern! Well, no matter what popped in to your head you have to agree that the Mint Julep truly is a classic.

For a large portion of Julep drinkers the only time during the year that they’ll be consuming one of these cocktails is on Kentucky Derby day. Being a man of at least some forethought I decided that this week would be perfect to highlight the Mint Julep as the 2009 Kentucky Derby will be run this coming Saturday, May 2nd. I’ll spend this week covering at least the basics of the Mint Julep so you’ll be well prepared to mix some up on Derby day for yourself.

The recipe from the Joy of Mixology isn’t the most classic recipe that you’ll find as it uses mint infused simple syrup, but I think it’s still a great place to get started.

Mint Julep (Joy of Mixology)

Finely Crushed Ice

3 oz Bourbon

1 or 2 oz Simple Syrup or Minted Simple Syrup

5 or 6 Stems of Fresh Mint

1) Fill a Julep cup or Collins glass 2/3 full with crushed ice

2) Add the bourbon and syrup

3) Stir for 10 - 20 seconds

4) Add more ice

5) Stir again until a layer of ice forms on the glass

6) Add more ice until glass is completely full

7) Garnish with mint sprigs

8) Add straws slightly taller than the glass

9) Serve with a cocktail napkin or coaster

Minted Simple Syrup (Joy of Mixology)

1 cup Water

1 cup Sugar

1 bunch Fresh Mint

1) Combine ingredients in a sauce pan over medium heat

2) Bring the mixture to a simmer

3) Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes

4) Remove pan from heat and allow to cool

5) Remove mint before storing