It's happened to all of us at one time or another. I'll find a recipe I love, usually in preparation for a holiday or an occasion, buy the requisite bottles, and batch the drink. Weeks go by and the whiskey gets sipped on and the fresh ingredients go into my ever-questionable culinary experiments, but the modifiers remain. Those orphaned bottles, that are so good in specific cocktails, end up dusty and forgotten on my back bar.
Luckily for you (and me), I'm going to attempt to create a compendium of lesser known cocktails that use up some of these ingredients. Usually these liqueurs are relegated to their seasonality, but I'll try to shake that up a bit too.
Allspice Dram is one of those liqueurs that is usually purchased during the fall through holiday season. Also known as Pimento Dram (Pimentos being what the Spaniards mistakenly called the Caribbean-native allspice berries, due to their resemblance to black pepper), it has a Jamaican pot still rum base that is heavily infused with allspice. It's deep, dark and a little smoky. Overall, it's a lovely liqueur, although a little goes a long way. Anything more than a quarter ounce per cocktail (in general) will overpower even the mightiest of drinks. I'm always wary to order a Lion's Tail if a bartender is free pouring, because the allspice will burn more than the overproof whiskey if it's overdone.
The Important Stuff
Dilution. Always shake(or stir) your cocktails! Dilution is essential. Imagine the difference between lemon juice and lemonade. Sugar is only half the battle when it comes to a well balanced cocktail. The batched drinks call for the inclusion of water as a way to keep you from having to shake 60 plus ounces of liquor.
Measurements. Ounces are the go-to measures for American bartenders. When it comes to making single cocktails, do yourself a favor and invest the $15 or so that it takes to get a multimeasured jigger. It will save you time and once you get handy with it, it looks pretty cool to play with. I recommend this, this or this one. When it comes to batched drinks, aim for your nearest liquid measuring cup. OXO has a great one, but they all serve the same function.
Ingredients. It's well worth your time to juice the limes fresh. Once you get handy with a juicer, it'll take about 10 minutes of added effort to make your batch, but it'll make all the difference in terms of quality. For a quick juicing guide, check out this post. Or, just get yourself this hand juicer at any grocery store and have at it.
Garnishing. Get down with the garnish. In the Jean Lafitte and the Ancient Mariner it gives off incredibly important aromatic notes. The drink just won't taste the same without them.
Lion's Tail
This is the classic, and potentially why you picked up the bottle of Allspice Dram in the first place. However, if you haven't tried it, this is a great place to start. It's a bit of an all weather whiskey cocktail. Because the brightness of the citrus counterbalances the spiced notes, this cocktail shines in any season - although considering its strength and crushability, I wouldn't make this your Sunday brunch day drinking pick. It's more of a Friday night out (or in) of a drink.
3-4 Mint leaves
.25oz Allspice Dram
.5oz Rich Simple Syrup
.5oz Lime Juice (fresh is best!)
.5oz Ginger Liqueur (Domaine De Canton is a good choice)
2oz Bourbon (whatever you've got on hand that is in the $20-$30 range)
No need to muddle the mint, it's just there in a supporting role for the rest of the ingredients. Simply fill the shaker with everything listed above plus ice and shake.
Double strain into a coupe or a martini glass and enjoy. No Garnish needed.
Batch it
Makes 1/2 Gallon
5-6 sprigs of mint, leaves pulled
27oz Bourbon
6.75oz rich simple
6.75oz lime juice
6.75oz Ginger Liqueur
3.25oz Allspice Dram
13.5oz water
The night before service, put the mint into the rich simple and store in the fridge to infuse. Several hours before service, combine all ingredients and put the liquid in empty bottles or a well sealed pitcher and chill for at least 2 hours. This drink doesn't have ice in glass to keep it cold, so don't leave the pitcher out unless it's in a chill bucket.
Jean Lafitte
This is an original cocktail from my much younger years, when I was New Orleans obsessed and working my way through the classics. Everything had to have a riff, and this was my rum-based take on the mighty Sazerac (a cocktail that really needs no adulterating, but like most bartenders, I couldn't help myself).
4 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
1 dash angostura bitters
.25oz Rich Simple
.25oz Allspice Dram
2oz Pyrat Rum
1 Lemon Peel (Use your potato peeler to get a section of the skin. It shouldn't have very little white pith on the underside)
Wash the glass with the allspice dram. Pour the rest of the ingredients into a separate mixing glass and stir for 15-20 seconds. Strain your stirred cocktail into the washed glass and squeeze the lemon peel, outer part facing the drink, over the glass. If you look closely, you should be able to see the oils express as you squeeze. Toss the peel out(in traditional Sazerac fashion) and enjoy the drink, no ice, no garnish.
Batch it
Makes 1/2 Gallon
2 Peychaud's
.5 Ango
4.75oz Rich Simple
38oz Pyrat Rum
14.25oz water
Allspice Dram for washing
Combine everything but the allspice and stir well. Chill for at least a few hours before serving.
There are two ways to tackle the allspice wash. One is to pre-wash each cocktail glass and have them set up and ready to be poured into. The second one is a bit more elegant, but does require an $8 commitment.
Among the toys that bartenders have appropriated, the atomizer is one of the least expensive, and has the most useful application. Buy one of these tiny squirt bottles and fill it with allspice dram to be gently misted over the glass before you pour the drink. Not only do they save you product (the mist requires about 1/10 the amount of dram that the traditional wash does), but it allows your guests to feel like they're part of the action.
You have officially created an immersive experience in your own living room. And it'll translate for you too. Guaranteed you'll be thinking of all sorts of things you can atomize once you have five more empty atomizers to play with. Wash the glass, spritz something aromatic on top of your cocktails, go wild.
Ancient Mariner
The world of tiki cocktails is massive and complex. The "who did it first" and "who did it better" of every drink in the canon is generally up for debate, but it always boils down to Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic. We'll save the history lesson for another day, but it's a melodrama worth looking into if you're getting curious and I haven't managed to put fingers to keys about it just yet.
The Ancient Mariner is actually a concoction created by Jeff Beachbum Berry. In the simplest terms, he's new school cool in the tiki world. He has revitalized tiki recipes and history (and debates) and opened a fantastic little tiki bar in New Orleans called Latitude 29.
History aside, tiki cocktails can also be a little overwhelming in terms of ingredients. This isn't to say that they're impossible to create at home, but they employ a technique called split basing, in which you use two spirits that complement each other in the cocktail instead of just one (eg, in a margarita, instead of using 2oz of tequila, you could use 1oz of tequila and 1oz of mezcal). The Ancient Mariner is an approachable tiki cocktail that is light, dry and a little funky (as a result of the Jamaican rum).
.25oz Allspice Dram
.5oz Simple Syrup
.5oz Grapefruit Juice
.75 Lime Juice
1oz Demerara Rum
1oz Jamaican Rum
1 Sprig of Mint (for the garnish)
Shake all ingredients and strain over crushed ice, garnish with the mint and enjoy!
Batch it
Makes 1/2 Gallon
12.8oz Demerara Rum
12.8oz Jamaican Rum
12.8oz water
9.5oz Lime Juice
6.5oz Grapefruit Juice
6.5oz Simple Syrup
3.2oz Allspice
Combine everything and chill it for at least a few hours before serving. Prepare the mint for self service garnishes.
Technique Notes
Double Strain: Put your hawthorne strainer in the tin as usual, but run the liquid through a small finemesh strainer as well. This keeps small slivers of ice, fresh ingredients such as mint, etc from getting into the drink.
Mint Prep: Most bartenders will use a reverse blanching technique (first submerging the tops of the mint sprigs in ice water, and then flipping them and putting the freshly cut stems in lukewarm water), but that's because most bartenders have to make mint stay fresh for as long as physically possible. Unless you're planning on serving this cocktail for the next four days straight, don't worry about reverse blanching the mint.
Rich Simple: Easy peasy. Just two parts sugar to one part water, dissolved. Make a few cups of it, and keep it in your fridge for quick cocktails or a less labor intensive sweetener for your morning coffee.
Simple Syrup: This is even easier than rich simple. Equal parts sugar and water, dissolved.
Wash: Pour the selected liquid directly into the glass in which you'll be serving the drink. Roll the glass around, coating the sides of it with the liquid and then discard the rest. This will give aromatics to the drink and allow for a little bit of flavor to come through without it being too overwhelming.
Simply pull the lower leaves off (so you have what looks somewhat like a flower head on long stem), trim the bottoms of the stems, and submerge them in room temperature water. Like the roses that you might arrange in a vase, mint sprigs look best in a vessel on the longer/thinner side (think collins glass or champagne flute).
Comments