The Waiting Game

My wife suggested this as a cocktail name a few days ago, inspired by our current situation involving a baby who refuses to emerge on schedule. I haven't been drinking a ton of cocktails lately (being on call and everything) but this spontaneous variation on a simple scotch & soda fits the bill. The fact that it's fairly strong doesn't hurt.

1 3/4 oz blended scotch
3/4 oz Laird's Straight Apple Brandy (a product that I absolutely love)
1/4 oz blueberry syrup
2 dashes Bitter Truth Xocolatl bitters
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine in a highball glass with large ice cubes and 3-4 oz of soda water to taste. Stir gently, drink slowly, and be patient.

Beauregard Gin Fizz

The Ramos Gin Fizz is one of those well-regarded classic cocktails that you will never see on any cocktail menus (except maybe in its hometown of New Orleans). Reason being, it's a damn tasty drink but it is also a horrific pain in the ass. Egg is finicky enough to integrate that it takes its own technique to properly emulsify; add cream, and you've got a drink that takes at least a minute of sustained shaking to get right. That's troublesome even at home (after every round, I swear my arms are going to fall off) but I can't even imagine cranking out dozens each night.

Still, every now and again a floral, refreshing, richly textured cocktail is worth it.  Winter must be eroding my brain again.

2 oz gin (I'd have used Old Tom if I had any)
1 oz lemon juice
3/4 oz blueberry syrup
3/4 oz half-and-half
3 drops rose water
1 small egg white (or 1/2 a large egg white)

Dry shake (as in, combine everything and shake without ice) until you can't take it anymore, then add ice and shake some more. Keep shaking. Do your arms hurt yet? Keep shaking. You're not done. Keep shaking. Curse eggs and dairy, curse yourself for choosing such a beverage, curse your cruel and capricious God. Keep shaking.

After a subjective eternity, strain into a tall, footed fizz glass if you've got one (or your thinnest, tallest glass if you don't) and top off with 2-3 oz of chilled soda water. Stir gently, garnish with a little drizzle of extra blueberry syrup for super-fanciness. Such a difficult cocktail should not go undecorated.

St. Andrew's Sour

Hey, a picture! I actually remembered to take one this time, before the entire thing disappeared.

This is a really straightforward sour, complicated only by a wee dash of bitters and my beloved blueberry syrup (I think I'm making more when this batch is through). There's a little bit of soda in here already, but the flavor's concentrated enough that you could pull this out into a highball if you increased the volumes.

2 oz scotch (blended Speyside)
3/4 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz blueberry syrup
1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake and strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass, top off with a brief splash of soda water (~1 oz). Garnish with a lemon wheel if you like (I juiced my last lemon instead).

Yeah, okay, this is just a cold version of another recent cocktail, but who cares? Versatile stuff, this blueberry syrup!

Dutch Cognac

This started off because I wanted a Dutch Quarter, but I had blueberry syrup instead of blackberry, and I recalled from my new Death & Co book that chocolate pairs surprisingly well with the malty notes of genever. It took a little tweaking to get there but I like the result.

2 oz Bols barrel-aged genever

1/4 oz blueberry syrup

1 dash Luxardo maraschino liqueur

2 dashes Regan's No. 6 Orange Bitters

3 dashes Bitter Truth Xocolatl Bitters

Build over a large ice cube in an old-fashioned glass; stir to combine and don't even think about garnishing.

Accretion Disc

Ah, now here we go. A proper wintery drink featuring my previously-featured blueberry syrup, and equipped with a fantastically nerdy name. I submit that there is none better, at least this time of year.

2 oz scotch (a Speyside blend)
3/4 oz blueberry syrup (up to 1 oz, to taste)
1/4 oz lemon juice

Add 6-7 oz boiling water to a heatproof mug; add the above and stir to combine. Garnish with some ground nutmeg.

Ice Blue

Winter is normally a time for brown spirits, rich spices, and warm drinks. But sometimes I paradoxically find that I need a tall, cool, refreshing beverage right when it's coldest. It's like I have to fool my body into thinking that it's high summer based on my cocktail choice, nevermind the thick sweater and blankets everywhere.

Then again, maybe I'm weird (hah - maybe?!?) or perhaps I just wanted an excuse to test-drive this blueberry syrup. In any case, we'll revisit this one in six months or so.

1 1/2 oz gin (Tanqueray, naturally)
1/2 oz blueberry syrup*
1/2 oz cryo-cucumber juice
1/2 oz lime juice (lemon would easily do)

Combine over ice in a tall glass; top with 3-4 oz soda water to taste. Garnish with a couple of fresh blueberries, as though you can get fresh god-damned blueberries in the middle of fucking winter; maybe in a few months' time. Keep drinking until then.

* You could juice your own blueberries, although it'd be a mess; instead we found a pure blueberry juice (from concentrate, but at least it's all blueberry) on sale down at our local "hippie grocery place", as my sister dubbed it recently after a couple cocktails. I added 12 ounces of this stuff to a saucepan, added 8 ounces of natural sugar, brought the whole thing to a simmer, and reduced it back down to 12 ounces. I then added 1/2 teaspoon citric acid and about ten drops of rose water, just to get some of that perfume-y essence back. You can probably tell by the fact I'm recording it that the result was pretty fucking tasty. I expect to use it in more appropriate winter cocktails very soon.

Baby Blue Punch

One last stop before we break the non-alcoholic streak, I promise.  This is a recipe that I've been meaning to record for some time; it was the first large-scale non-alcoholic punch that I produced and presented in my beloved self-mix format.  Seemed appropriate since it was being served at a baby shower (also hence the name).  Alternative name: Caias' Punch, after the baby in question.

For once, a picture!  I can't take credit for the punch bowl, unfortunately, but I can claim the garnish.

I'm recreating this as best I can - I didn't write down the recipe at the time, which I regret, but I did a lot of adjusting on the go anyway.  Consider this a consolidated, streamlined version.  This also makes a lot of punch - about 9 liters in total - and I'm not going to scale it down here, but it's pretty easy to cut in half.

8 cups water
4 lbs sugar (a standard bag of the regular white stuff)
2 lbs frozen blueberries
2 vanilla beans, split
2 tbsp black peppercorns
Rind from 4 medium lemons
16 oz lemon juice
12 mint sprigs

Place the lemon rinds in a non-reactive bowl and pour a couple ounces of sugar over them.  Muddle the peels until the sugar begins absorbing the oil and set aside.  Combine the water, sugar, vanilla, and peppercorns in a large stock pot over medium heat and bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes.  Add the blueberries and lemon peels, including the oil-soaked sugar, and bring back up to a simmer.  Turn off the heat, add the mint sprigs, and let stand and cool for 2-4 hours.

Add the lemon juice and adjust to taste; you can easily add a bit more lemon juice, sweetener (honey would be nice here) or vanilla extract if desired.  Carefully strain the whole concoction into the storage vessels of your choice - I love my reserved pair of 1.75L Tanqueray bottles, featuring convenient transport handles!

To serve, pour your storage vessel into a large punch bowl over ice, and add an equal volume of cold water.  Top off with soda water to taste; a full liter was just about right for 1.75 liters of syrup plus 1.75 liters of water.  Yep, that's 4.5 total liters, and that's why you want a large punch bowl.  Keep refreshed with plentiful ice and serve next to some chilled white wine for spritzers, a bottle of gin for highballs, a couple of jiggers for measuring, and brief instructions.  My personal favorite combination wound up being about 1 oz gin, 3 oz wine, and 5 oz punch.

Optionally, garnish with lemon wheels, speared with mint sprigs for a nice flowery look.  I took some pictures of this one which I'll add here later.

Gin & Juice, Fancy Style

Are you familiar with the Minnesota State Fair?  I went along today at the family's behest, and it was only a flask of Few Standard Issue Gin that kept me alive through the experience.  Turns out that it serves as a wonderful spike for all manner of mixers.  Here is a drink that I made afterward to carry forward the trend.

1 1/2 oz navy strength gin (most brands should work in this)

1/2 oz pomegranate-blueberry syrup

1/2 oz lemon juice

Shake and strain over fresh ice.  Top with 2-3 oz carbonated cucumber water to taste.  Stir and spritz a quick blast of absinthe over the top using an atomizer.

Black & Blue

One final Sazerac version, this one with a strong dark fruit focus.

1 1/2 Clear Creek Blue Plum Brandy (yum; one of the best digestifs I can imagine)
1/2 oz rye whiskey
1 barspoon blueberry-blackberry-black pepper syrup

Rinse a rocks glass with absinthe and set in the freezer.  Pour listed ingredients over ice and stir, then strain into the prepared glass.  Squeeze a lemon coin over the drink; drop in if you're feeling straightforward, discard it and add a blueberry instead if you're feeling fancy.

I admit that this one doesn't work perfectly with the standard Sazerac preparation - I'd rather see it in classic, straight-up Cocktail form with a nice dash of bitters to round out the unaged brandy and rounded fruit flavors.  Not that this is entirely unsuccessful, or I wouldn't post it here.