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Thirsty Thursday: The Cherry Lime Gimlet

Hello Booze Log Readers,

Today, I am mixing up a cocktail inspired by two other classics: The Gin Gimlet, and The Cherry Lime Rickey. Both of these drinks were extremely popular from the 20's straight through to the late 50's. Gin Rickey's are ordered by Gatsby in Fitzgerald's classic, and many know the gimlet as Betty Draper's (Mad Men) poison of choice. The Cherry Lime Rickey was a popular soda fountain drink around the same time, using sweet cherry syrup for a refreshing summer pop. Cherry season is still in full swing here in Northern California, and with the hot days driving me for a refresher, I've looked to these classic summer cocktails for inspiration. The result? The Cherry Lime Gimlet. Shaken hard and strained, like a gimlet, this drink looks beautiful in your fanciest cocktail glass.

The Cherry Lime Gimlet
2oz Napa Valley Distillery Cherry Brandy
0.75oz El Guapo Lime Cordial Syrup
0.25oz Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
2 dashes Bittercube Cherry Bark Vanilla

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake hard until shaker frosts. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with lime wheel and Luxardo Maraschino Cherry.

Until next time,
Your ever humble, antiquated mixologist,
Aaron Lahey

*Napa Valley Distillery always recommends drinking responsibly.

May 28, 2015 at 11:50 AM Permalink Comments (6)

Temperance Tuesday: As Bittersweet Cocktail Example

Dear Readers,

In my last post I promised a nonalcoholic cocktail recipe based on the format I laid out in the crash course. If nothing else, I try to be a man of my word, so here it is! Please refer to my post last week for more information about how I came to this recipe!

Something I forgot to note last week: When you have created a signature concoction, make sure to name it something fun!

South of Wherever
2oz Small Hands or Liber Pineapple Gum Syrup
1oz fresh orange juice
1oz fresh lime juice
2 dashes Mr. Bitters Honeyed Apricot & Smoked Hickory Bitters
12oz soda water

Shake first four ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker. Pour unstrained into a pint glass. Top with soda. Garnish with lime wheel. Makes one 16oz bittersweet cocktail.

As you can see this drink follows the format. It has the pineapple gum as the sweet component, fresh citrus for the sour, bitters that complement the other flavors in the drink, and soda water to dilute.

Hope this helps in your home mixing adventures!

Until next time,
your ever humble, honest mixologist,
Aaron Lahey

May 26, 2015 at 3:57 PM Permalink Comments (3)

Tardy Temperance Tuesday: Bittersweet Cocktails at Home (A Crash Course)

Dear Readers,

Over the past few months I have written about several of the non-alcoholic Bittersweet Cocktails that we serve in our Oxbow Tasting Salon and Bar Shop. Today, I am going to show you how to start creating your own Bittersweet Cocktails at home. Everything here is a rule of thumb, and there will almost certainly be exceptions to the rules. The important thing to remember is to have fun and to experiment!

The Framework
Every Bittersweet Cocktail has a basic framework to it, certain components that will always be there. These components are sweet, sour, bitter, and water.

Sweet
Every drink is going to have a sweet element. If at all possible avoid using refined sugar in your drinks. Examples of sweet components include demerara sugar, infused syrups, fresh muddled fruit, molasses, maple syrup, brown sugar or agave. 

Sour
A sour flavor balances sweetness and is what makes a drink taste refreshing. The sour flavor is produced by one of several types of acids commonly found in food. Citric acid being the most common, as well as acetic acid (vinegars), tartaric acid (grapes), or malic acid (berries). Citrus juice is the most common sour component in cocktails, but various vinegars, and tart fruit juices also fill this role.

*note* Shrubs, also known as drinking vinegars, and tonic syrups, as well as sweetened lime juice, lime cordials, and sweet and sour mix fall into both the sweet and sour categories. With some being on the sweeter side (cordials, sweetened lime) and others on the more sour side (drinking vinegars, tonic syrups) with some being balanced in themselves. Experiment with these ingredients until you get it balanced the way you want.

Bitter
In non-alcoholic cocktails, bitters add a complexity that makes them as satisfying as a "real drink" as well as tempering the sugar. Bitters tend to play more of a forward role in the flavor profile of non-alcoholic drinks, and can even be the featured flavor in the drink. Feel free to use two or even three different bitters in one drink.

Water
Whether it’s sparkling, still, or flavored, you are going to need to dilute your drink to make it light and palatable.

Proper Proportions
Proportions are important in drink making, and will require some experimentation and practice to perfect, but here are some rules of thumb that have served me well:

In total you want between a 1:3 to 1:4 ratio of flavorings to water. So your sweet, sour, and bitter components should never equal more than 33% of the total volume of your drink.

In general, sweet and sour components should be in a 1:1 mix to stay balanced. If you want a tart drink like a lemonade however, do a 2:1 mix of sour to sweet. Certain sweet and sour ingredients will also be more concentrated than others. Here is where experimentation comes in.

Check back next week for a simple Bittersweet Cocktail I developed based on these rules and framework.

Until then, Happy Mixing!
Your ever humble, sober mixologist,
Aaron Lahey

May 13, 2015 at 3:20 PM Permalink Comments (6)

Thirsty Thursday: The Cherry Sling

Not a Cocktail...

Here in Napa Valley the first fresh cherries have hit the farmer's markets; and to me, that's something worth celebrating. And Napa Valley Distillery has the perfect spirit for all your cherry based cocktails, our Cherry Brandy. This spirit is one of my favorites for mixing in cocktails, because it simultaneously functions as a whiskey and a brandy. You get the soft, fresh fruit note from the cherry, as well as a sharp, dry, peppery oak from the whiskey barrels it was aged in. The drink I am going to share with you today features this distinctive brandy, and falls into a category that actually predates the cocktail: The Sling.

Before the Cocktail
Many assume that a cocktail refers to any mixed drink, and in many places today the two are indeed synonymous. However, once upon a time, a cocktail had a very specific definition, and was just one more in a long line of mixed drink categories. The original definition of a cocktail is a mix of spirituous liqueur with water, sugar, and bitters. Stirred or shaken with ice and strained into a cocktail glass, with a fresh fruit garnish. Other mixed drink categories at the time included The Smash, The Punch, The Julep, The Sling, The Sour, The Fizz, The Flip, The Crusta and many more. Eventually all these families of drinks would fall under the blanket term "cocktail."

For your edification, here are the old definitions for some of these mixed drink families:
-Julep: Alcohol, sugar, water, and sometimes fresh fruit/herbs served in a julep cup with crushed or shaved ice.
-Smash: Like a Julep, but not particularly in a julep cup, and with only shaved ice.
-Punch: Alcohol, fresh fruit juice, and other mixers, normally served in a large bowl for entertaining.
-Sour: Liquor, lemon or lime juice, and a sweetener, sometimes with an egg white.
-Fizz: Alcohol, sugar, and soda water. The soda water makes it a fizz.
-Flip: Has an egg in it.
-Crusta: Has a sugar rim.

What is a Sling then?
A Sling is simply a mix of liquor, water, and sugar, served hot or cold, strained into a glass. Truly the most basic of mixed drinks. I have found very few true Slings that I like. Usually combining sugar and alcohol without bitters produces a drink that cloys at the throat, like cough syrup. The bitters are an integral part to the balance of the cocktail. There are, of course, exceptions.

Sour Cherry Syrup
The syrup I use in this drink makes all the difference. It has a real tart note that offsets the sweetness and provides balance without the use of bitters. The brand I used was D'Arbo, an Austrian company famous for their preserves. Their sour cherry syrup is the best I've found. Our sister store, Napastak, carries it here in the Oxbow Marketplace. If you can't find that, a 50/50 mix of Tait Farms Sour Cherry Shrub and Luxardo Maraschino Syrup makes a good substitute.

The Cherry Sling
1.5oz Napa Valley Distillery Cherry Brandy
1.5oz D'Arbo Sour Cherry Syrup
Fresh cherry, stem on, for garnish

Shake hard in a cocktail shaker with ice until shaker is frosty. Strain into a small cocktail glass. Garnish with a fresh cherry. Give to your Mother this Sunday. She deserves it. Makes one 3oz cocktail.

Until next time,
Your ever humble, antiquated mixologist,
Aaron Lahey

May 7, 2015 at 4:23 PM Permalink Comments (1)