Mocktail Month: Gunpowder Fizz

Now that we're burned out on sodas, we must find alternatives. While seeking inspiration, I found an article on Imbibe's blog about Five Watt Coffee, a local shop that features a changing selection of coffee-based drinks. I love this as a concept. Good baristas and bartenders both have a common obsession with fine, finicky detail, and it's fascinating to cross the boundaries a bit.

This is not a coffee drink, although I have a couple ideas in the works. Tea is also a great non-alcoholic base, aided by the fact that there are a huge range of varieties. I picked a few different types up and thought that putting them through their paces would be fun. Thus we wind up with this.

4 oz brewed, chilled gunpowder tea (a jasmine variety here)
1 oz lemon/orange oleo-saccharum
3/4 oz half-and-half (you could use whole milk if you prefer, but I wanted a heavier foam and texture)
1/4 oz lemon juice
3 dashes Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter bitters

Shake well and strain into a Collins glass over large ice cubes. Top with a couple more dashes of bitters as garnish (I also thought about a smoked sugar, but that's an entirely different post).

More tea-based drinks to come! I have a couple others brewed that I'm itching to try out. It'll likely be a busy last week of Mocktail Month, to end on a high note.

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.