As is becoming our yearly tradition, we hosted the 4th of July again this year, an event that plays well to my main culinary strengths: pork and booze. Per my standard party trick, the latter was a non-alcoholic punch base flanked by spirits and wine, a configuration I can't recommend highly enough. Not suggested with fireworks, though; we loaded up on lawn games instead.
I got a bit of feedback that this wasn't my best punch to date, which is fair. I wasn't too much bothered, since this capably performed its dual mission of fueling the party and soaking up a ton of random shit that had accumulated in my fridge, which is a thing that happens. Sigh - such trials and tribulations!
This is about a quarter-serving of the amount for the party, so based on the amount we had left, I'd say enough for 6-8 people or so?
4 oz lemon oleo-saccharum (we've made this before, but it deserves a rundown... just not now)
4 oz mango shrub (a cup each of diced mango, apple cider vinegar, sugar, and water, allowed to steep together in the fridge for 2-3 weeks)
4 oz lime water (a bunch of spent lime shells, infused in water for about 2 weeks)
4 oz lime juice (not the juice of said limes, because 2-week-old lime juice is nasty)
8 oz cantaloupe juice (spiked with about 1/2 teaspoon citric acid for balance)
8 oz green tea
12 oz ginger beer (Reed's)
16 oz soda water
Combine in a punch bowl over copious ice. Serve with your favorite white spirits and wine.
Showing posts with label ginger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ginger. Show all posts
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Independent Island Punch
Why hello! I hope you didn't think I poisoned myself upon returning to booze post-Mocktail Week. Nothing so unfortunate, I assure you - just didn't have much in the way of free time between painting half the house and preparing a massive spread for the 4th of July last week.
In addition to the food, I figured I couldn't just get away with a cooler full of beer. Got a reputation to uphold and all! So I decided on what's rapidly becoming my favorite party trick: a non-alcoholic punch base, served along with a basic white wine for spritzers and a variety of spirits for sundry highballs. Ingredients wound up being dead simple, too; this is probably the easiest punch that I've assembled to date.
The listing below just about fills up a 1-liter bottle of punch base, which makes 2 liters total once combined. I went through about 2 1/2 of these for a mixed group of 14 people, which included some non-drinkers and those who stuck only with the aforementioned cooler of beer. Call it a 1-liter bottle for every 6 people in your party.
8 oz lime juice (you could use fresh, but I used a bottled not-from-concentrate version from the co-op)
8 oz pineapple juice (ditto)
4 oz mint syrup (homemade)
4 oz pineapple-lime syrup (ditto)
8 oz ginger beer (back to my usual Reed's here)
Combine in a 1-liter bottle (or 1-quart mason jar), stuff in a large mint sprig, and fill up the balance with soda water. When ready to serve, pour over ice (straining out the old mint) and top with 1 liter of soda water. Stir to combine, garnish with some fresh mint sprigs, and park next to a couple bottles of chilled white wine, plus whatever spirits you have at hand (gin, white rum, and bourbon in my case). A couple of signs with instructions and some jiggers or shot glasses are helpful too - these will encourage your guests to measure, rather than free-pouring.
Happy belated Independence Day to my fellow 'Mericans!
In addition to the food, I figured I couldn't just get away with a cooler full of beer. Got a reputation to uphold and all! So I decided on what's rapidly becoming my favorite party trick: a non-alcoholic punch base, served along with a basic white wine for spritzers and a variety of spirits for sundry highballs. Ingredients wound up being dead simple, too; this is probably the easiest punch that I've assembled to date.
The listing below just about fills up a 1-liter bottle of punch base, which makes 2 liters total once combined. I went through about 2 1/2 of these for a mixed group of 14 people, which included some non-drinkers and those who stuck only with the aforementioned cooler of beer. Call it a 1-liter bottle for every 6 people in your party.
8 oz lime juice (you could use fresh, but I used a bottled not-from-concentrate version from the co-op)
8 oz pineapple juice (ditto)
4 oz mint syrup (homemade)
4 oz pineapple-lime syrup (ditto)
8 oz ginger beer (back to my usual Reed's here)
Combine in a 1-liter bottle (or 1-quart mason jar), stuff in a large mint sprig, and fill up the balance with soda water. When ready to serve, pour over ice (straining out the old mint) and top with 1 liter of soda water. Stir to combine, garnish with some fresh mint sprigs, and park next to a couple bottles of chilled white wine, plus whatever spirits you have at hand (gin, white rum, and bourbon in my case). A couple of signs with instructions and some jiggers or shot glasses are helpful too - these will encourage your guests to measure, rather than free-pouring.
Happy belated Independence Day to my fellow 'Mericans!
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Mocktail Week #4: Sam's Bitter
This one wound up being something like a take on Sanbitter (which is something like a non-alcoholic Campari & soda) with some intriguing added flavor notes. It was a nice variation from other more citric mocktails so far, veering instead into highly bitter territory but with enough sweetness to balance.
1 1/2 oz mixed berry syrup (leftover from Kader Punch - no shame in recycling)
1 1/2 oz chilled black tea (a fairly mild Darjeeling here)
1/2 oz red grapefruit juice
Stir over ice and top with about 1 1/2 oz each ginger beer (Regatta again) and soda water. Stir again, garnish with a grapefruit twist if you must.
It's too bad that I ended on this one, because it'd be a fantastic apertif. Might have to revisit this one tomorrow.
1 1/2 oz mixed berry syrup (leftover from Kader Punch - no shame in recycling)
1 1/2 oz chilled black tea (a fairly mild Darjeeling here)
1/2 oz red grapefruit juice
Stir over ice and top with about 1 1/2 oz each ginger beer (Regatta again) and soda water. Stir again, garnish with a grapefruit twist if you must.
It's too bad that I ended on this one, because it'd be a fantastic apertif. Might have to revisit this one tomorrow.
Mocktail Week #3: Pineapple Fauxito
After my early break yesterday, I figured I'd probably be able to turn out another success, but nothing much stood above the rest. Today was a much luckier day! I didn't do much experimentation at all, really (for one thing, I'm running out of citrus) but I did manage to turn out multiple winners. All of which is to say: you get two today.
Full disclosure, this one is fairly similar to a non-alcoholic beverage that was featured for years on my old restaurant's menu - similar mix of flavors, distinctly different construction.
1 1/2 oz pineapple-lime syrup
1/2 oz lime juice
8-10 mint leaves
3-4 dashes Bitter Truth celery bitters
Muddle the mint in the syrup, add the juice and bitters, then shake and strain over large ice cubes in a large tumbler. Top with about 1 oz ginger beer (deviating from my usual Reed's here - I found instead a much spicier version called Regatta) and about 3 oz carbonated cucumber water, then stir gently to combine and top with a sprig of mint or a lime wheel.
Overall a very tropical feel - somewhere between a Mojito and a Mai Tai with none of the booze. I'd go so far as to say that this exceeds the original (though to be fair, it could use a better name).
Full disclosure, this one is fairly similar to a non-alcoholic beverage that was featured for years on my old restaurant's menu - similar mix of flavors, distinctly different construction.
1 1/2 oz pineapple-lime syrup
1/2 oz lime juice
8-10 mint leaves
3-4 dashes Bitter Truth celery bitters
Muddle the mint in the syrup, add the juice and bitters, then shake and strain over large ice cubes in a large tumbler. Top with about 1 oz ginger beer (deviating from my usual Reed's here - I found instead a much spicier version called Regatta) and about 3 oz carbonated cucumber water, then stir gently to combine and top with a sprig of mint or a lime wheel.
Overall a very tropical feel - somewhere between a Mojito and a Mai Tai with none of the booze. I'd go so far as to say that this exceeds the original (though to be fair, it could use a better name).
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Kader Punch
Well, I'm into another mixological rut, hence the lack of new posts. Early last week I checked my fridge and found that four different syrups had collected in their squeeze bottles, tucked away on a shelf in the door. Waste is despicable, especially after putting such hard work into each of them (okay, not really hard work) and so it became old-fashioned time, all the time. Not that I object; the old-fashioned is one of the easiest cocktails, and I find almost any variety to be a paragon of virtuous simplicity. But they don't make for interesting blogging. So, instead, today I bring you a rare adventure into non-alcoholic beverages.
One of my favorite things to assemble for a party is punch. Like old-fashioned cocktails, punch is amenable to endless variation, and has a huge advantage in that it can be prepared in advance and without alcohol. Once you arrive, it's just a matter of assembly and ladling, and guests can keep themselves happy the whole night through, including by spiking their cups (or not!) as they prefer. I've retained a couple of large Tanqueray 1.75L bottles with handles, which makes the whole shebang exceptionally portable.
My latest version wasn't assembled especially far in advance, but that's okay too. Some good friends of ours were having a party; I'd offered to bring a specialty beverage, but they forgot to confirm with me until about 6 hours prior to the event. What to do? Rummage around for some frozen berries and tea leaves, and tell them to grab whatever at the liquor store? Yep.
This is a little more involved than some of my other recipes, and it requires larger equipment, mainly a big pot with a lid. But it produces enough for a party: about 4.5 liters once assembled, which has proven to be just about right for a mixed group of 15-20. Bring along a couple 5-pound bags of ice to keep it cold, too.
2 pounds white sugar (the unbleached kind or a light raw sugar like Turbinado would be okay too, but will produce a muddier appearance)
1 pound frozen mixed berries (mine came from a couple half-used bags, and included a mix of strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, and cranberry)
48 oz water (or 3 pints, for those inclined)
1/4 cup loose black tea leaves (I used a fairly mild, floral Darjeeling)
1/4 cup unpeeled, chopped ginger
Peel of 2 large or 3 medium lemons
8 oz lemon juice
1 oz honey
1 12-oz bottle ginger beer (I like Reed's)
1 1-L bottle soda water (or use your siphon)
In a non-reactive bowl, pour about 1/4 cup of the sugar (precision is unnecessary) over the lemon peels. Lightly muddle them until the sugar adheres to the peels and set aside. This is a trick gleaned from David Wondrich's Punch, known as "preparing the oleo-saccharum".
Bring 1 pint of the water to a simmer, then remove from the heat and add the tea leaves. Stir a few times and let steep for 6-7 minutes. Don't let this go too long or it will become bitter. Filter into the storage vessel of your choice (a clean 1.75L bottle is very convenient!) and set aside. Discard the used tea leaves.
Bring the remaining 2 pints of water to a simmer and add the sugar; stir until this dissolves. Add the mixed berries and ginger, and bring just back up to a simmer. While this heats, add about 2 oz of the lemon juice to the oleo-saccharum and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the remaining lemon juice to the storage vessel. When the syrup returns to a simmer, kill the heat, add the lemon mixture, stir, and cover. Let this stand and infuse for anywhere from 2-4 hours as time permits.
Filter the syrup through a couple layers of cheesecloth or a fairly coarse strainer into the final storage vessel. If you wind up with extra syrup, keep it in a separate, airtight container to bring along for the ride. You can use this later like any other flavored syrup.
When ready to serve, break out your finest punch bowl (or relatively clean bucket; I won't judge) and pour in the contents of your transport vessel. Re-fill the vessel with cold water, and pour that into the bowl/bucket as well. Add ice, soda water, and about half the ginger beer. Stir to combine, taste, and adjust with the remaining syrup and ginger beer as desired. Remember that the flavor will become gradually diluted, so you want it on the strong side to begin with.
Serve with white wine on the side (something relatively subtle, like a vinho verde) for the assembly of spritzers (1 part wine, 1 part punch) and with whatever liquors are handy. Provide a shot glass for measurement, so that your guests don't accidentally overpour. This particular punch goes especially well with a mild gin or with brandy. Top off periodically with ice as needed.
Now that makes for a good time. I've got a couple more of these that I've developed, and which I'll be happy to share in future posts.
One of my favorite things to assemble for a party is punch. Like old-fashioned cocktails, punch is amenable to endless variation, and has a huge advantage in that it can be prepared in advance and without alcohol. Once you arrive, it's just a matter of assembly and ladling, and guests can keep themselves happy the whole night through, including by spiking their cups (or not!) as they prefer. I've retained a couple of large Tanqueray 1.75L bottles with handles, which makes the whole shebang exceptionally portable.
My latest version wasn't assembled especially far in advance, but that's okay too. Some good friends of ours were having a party; I'd offered to bring a specialty beverage, but they forgot to confirm with me until about 6 hours prior to the event. What to do? Rummage around for some frozen berries and tea leaves, and tell them to grab whatever at the liquor store? Yep.
This is a little more involved than some of my other recipes, and it requires larger equipment, mainly a big pot with a lid. But it produces enough for a party: about 4.5 liters once assembled, which has proven to be just about right for a mixed group of 15-20. Bring along a couple 5-pound bags of ice to keep it cold, too.
2 pounds white sugar (the unbleached kind or a light raw sugar like Turbinado would be okay too, but will produce a muddier appearance)
1 pound frozen mixed berries (mine came from a couple half-used bags, and included a mix of strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, and cranberry)
48 oz water (or 3 pints, for those inclined)
1/4 cup loose black tea leaves (I used a fairly mild, floral Darjeeling)
1/4 cup unpeeled, chopped ginger
Peel of 2 large or 3 medium lemons
8 oz lemon juice
1 oz honey
1 12-oz bottle ginger beer (I like Reed's)
1 1-L bottle soda water (or use your siphon)
In a non-reactive bowl, pour about 1/4 cup of the sugar (precision is unnecessary) over the lemon peels. Lightly muddle them until the sugar adheres to the peels and set aside. This is a trick gleaned from David Wondrich's Punch, known as "preparing the oleo-saccharum".
Bring 1 pint of the water to a simmer, then remove from the heat and add the tea leaves. Stir a few times and let steep for 6-7 minutes. Don't let this go too long or it will become bitter. Filter into the storage vessel of your choice (a clean 1.75L bottle is very convenient!) and set aside. Discard the used tea leaves.
Bring the remaining 2 pints of water to a simmer and add the sugar; stir until this dissolves. Add the mixed berries and ginger, and bring just back up to a simmer. While this heats, add about 2 oz of the lemon juice to the oleo-saccharum and stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the remaining lemon juice to the storage vessel. When the syrup returns to a simmer, kill the heat, add the lemon mixture, stir, and cover. Let this stand and infuse for anywhere from 2-4 hours as time permits.
Filter the syrup through a couple layers of cheesecloth or a fairly coarse strainer into the final storage vessel. If you wind up with extra syrup, keep it in a separate, airtight container to bring along for the ride. You can use this later like any other flavored syrup.
When ready to serve, break out your finest punch bowl (or relatively clean bucket; I won't judge) and pour in the contents of your transport vessel. Re-fill the vessel with cold water, and pour that into the bowl/bucket as well. Add ice, soda water, and about half the ginger beer. Stir to combine, taste, and adjust with the remaining syrup and ginger beer as desired. Remember that the flavor will become gradually diluted, so you want it on the strong side to begin with.
Serve with white wine on the side (something relatively subtle, like a vinho verde) for the assembly of spritzers (1 part wine, 1 part punch) and with whatever liquors are handy. Provide a shot glass for measurement, so that your guests don't accidentally overpour. This particular punch goes especially well with a mild gin or with brandy. Top off periodically with ice as needed.
Now that makes for a good time. I've got a couple more of these that I've developed, and which I'll be happy to share in future posts.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Different Drum Drinks
A good friend brought over a bottle of Different Drum, which he'd somehow snapped up in a truly insane rush to order the first 1,500 bottles. After a first tasting, he decided that he wanted to try it in a cocktail. I was happy to oblige!
This is funky stuff - rich, smooth, slightly sweet, redolent of roasted coffee. A lot like a quality coffee liqueur but without that cloying sugar component. I dig it, although I think it really shines when paired with another base. Like so:
Fine Grind:
1 1/4 oz Different Drum rum
1 oz armagnac brandy (I used Tariquet VS Bas-Armagnac; a mild bourbon would work too)
1/2 oz red vermouth (Primitivo Quiles again)
1/4 oz Licor 43 (you could scale this back or omit entirely depending on your taste)
1 dash Fee Brothers Black Walnut bitters
1 dash orange bitters (Regan's No. 6)
Stir and strain into a cocktail glass; garnish with a strip of orange peel.
This wound up being the winner in our small tasting group; it's a Manhattan-esque sipper (or more properly a Saratoga Cocktail) that highlights the flavor of the Drum without letting it dominate everything else. But I also wanted to try something less spirit-forward, resulting in this take on a Dark & Stormy:
Drumming in the Dark:
2 oz Different Drum rum
1/2 oz Mathilde Poire liqueur
1/2 lime juice
2-3 oz ginger beer (Reed's Extra Ginger is my favorite)
Shake the first three ingredients and strain over fresh ice; top with the ginger beer, stir, and garnish with a lime wheel.
Overall, I'm sold. Different Drum seems like a solid and interesting way to bring coffee flavor into cocktails without the added sweetness of coffee liqueurs. I'm not sure about the tagline ("A rum for the bourbon drinker") as it seems more like a rum for the espresso aficionado, but I like both those things so it works out.
Be warned, this clearly isn't a simple substitution for other rums, whiskeys, or what-have-you. This occupies a place in my mind next to quality spiced rums (Sailor Jerry's all the way) and overproof dark rums (like Lemon Hart 151): too potent to use as a base in a simple cocktail, but bringing very unique flavors for which it's tough to substitute. Also, Different Drum only seems to be available direct from the La Colombe distillery, so don't go seeking it out at your local liquor store.
This is funky stuff - rich, smooth, slightly sweet, redolent of roasted coffee. A lot like a quality coffee liqueur but without that cloying sugar component. I dig it, although I think it really shines when paired with another base. Like so:
Fine Grind:
1 1/4 oz Different Drum rum
1 oz armagnac brandy (I used Tariquet VS Bas-Armagnac; a mild bourbon would work too)
1/2 oz red vermouth (Primitivo Quiles again)
1/4 oz Licor 43 (you could scale this back or omit entirely depending on your taste)
1 dash Fee Brothers Black Walnut bitters
1 dash orange bitters (Regan's No. 6)
Stir and strain into a cocktail glass; garnish with a strip of orange peel.
This wound up being the winner in our small tasting group; it's a Manhattan-esque sipper (or more properly a Saratoga Cocktail) that highlights the flavor of the Drum without letting it dominate everything else. But I also wanted to try something less spirit-forward, resulting in this take on a Dark & Stormy:
Drumming in the Dark:
2 oz Different Drum rum
1/2 oz Mathilde Poire liqueur
1/2 lime juice
2-3 oz ginger beer (Reed's Extra Ginger is my favorite)
Shake the first three ingredients and strain over fresh ice; top with the ginger beer, stir, and garnish with a lime wheel.
Overall, I'm sold. Different Drum seems like a solid and interesting way to bring coffee flavor into cocktails without the added sweetness of coffee liqueurs. I'm not sure about the tagline ("A rum for the bourbon drinker") as it seems more like a rum for the espresso aficionado, but I like both those things so it works out.
Be warned, this clearly isn't a simple substitution for other rums, whiskeys, or what-have-you. This occupies a place in my mind next to quality spiced rums (Sailor Jerry's all the way) and overproof dark rums (like Lemon Hart 151): too potent to use as a base in a simple cocktail, but bringing very unique flavors for which it's tough to substitute. Also, Different Drum only seems to be available direct from the La Colombe distillery, so don't go seeking it out at your local liquor store.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Glorious Evening Fizz
Here's a somewhat random variation on the "Morning Glory Fizz", a curiously tasty cocktail that I stumbled across in Imbibe! and which has become a personal favorite hangover helper. I made this one on a warm summer evening, hence the name, and it was just too tasty not to write down.
2 oz scotch
3/4 oz ginger syrup (a nice spicy version created by combining juiced ginger and sugar)
3/4 oz lime juice
3 dashes celery bitters
1 egg yolk
Rinse the inside of a fizz glass with absinthe and place in the freezer to chill. Combine the above over ice, shake well, and strain into the prepared glass. Top with 3-4 oz of chilled, carbonated cucumber water to taste, then twist a lemon peel over the top and discard.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
The Oasis
Another very simple, very straightforward drink with some interesting layers.
2 oz London Dry gin (a good strong one: Tanqueray, Beefeater, etc.)
2 oz mango-peppercorn-ginger syrup (not quite the standard procedure with this one; this is nothing more than 4 cups of mango juice, simmered with two tablespoons each of black peppercorns and roughly chopped ginger until it's reduced to about 2 1/2 cups, or roughly 2/3 of its original volume)
1/4 oz Luxardo
1/4 oz lime juice
Pour into a Collins glass over copious ice and stir.
This is aimed at the highball crowd - slightly aromatic, moderately sweet, and very approachable. Since we change our cocktail list every 3-4 months, I also expect that this will remain on our list until the early days of summer, and will definitely get more appealing as the weather gets warmer.
2 oz London Dry gin (a good strong one: Tanqueray, Beefeater, etc.)
2 oz mango-peppercorn-ginger syrup (not quite the standard procedure with this one; this is nothing more than 4 cups of mango juice, simmered with two tablespoons each of black peppercorns and roughly chopped ginger until it's reduced to about 2 1/2 cups, or roughly 2/3 of its original volume)
1/4 oz Luxardo
1/4 oz lime juice
Pour into a Collins glass over copious ice and stir.
This is aimed at the highball crowd - slightly aromatic, moderately sweet, and very approachable. Since we change our cocktail list every 3-4 months, I also expect that this will remain on our list until the early days of summer, and will definitely get more appealing as the weather gets warmer.
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