Death in the Afternoon

I wouldn’t ordinarily recommend drinking absinthe in the morning.  Honestly, you need to think twice about drinking it at any time of day.

For anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure, absinthe is the highly alcoholic, anise-flavoured, distilled spirit popularized by bohemian culture in the late-1800s/early 1900s.  It’s rumoured to have effects ranging from mild hallucinations to full-on psychosis, owing to the chemical thujone, which is present in greater or lesser quantities depending on the brand.   Absinthe is still banned in some jurisdictions, and in many places the allowable thujone content is regulated.

I’ve had a few experiences with absinthe, and, as much fun as it is at the time, it’s usually not a good scene the next day (including one notable experience where I didn’t feel right for a week).  So when I saw that the Drake Hotel had an absinthe cocktail on their brunch menu, I threw out any hope of being productive this afternoon and ordered it.

The cocktail, Death in the Afternoon, is named after Ernest Hemingway’s book about the traditions of Spanish bullfighting.  While absinthe, to me at least, doesn’t conjure up images of the corrida de toros, it is true that Spain is one of the few countries that did not ban or heavily-regulate absinthe.

Recipe and Directions:

Fill flute glass 3/4 full with sparkling wine (cava or prosecco)

Top with 1 oz of absinthe (in this case they used Hill’s)

The Verdict:

This looks more or less like a regular glass of sparkling wine, but with a slight blue-green tint from the absinthe.  The aroma, however, is overwhelmingly of the anise-flavoured absinthe.  I could smell it from across the bar.  Yikes.

On first taste, it’s a lot like sipping absinthe, but a great deal milder.  At this point, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to finish it.  However, as I continued sipping, the taste began to grow on me, and by half-way through the glass I didn’t have a care in the world.  And now, four hours later, I’m still not feeling motivated to do much of anything.  Death in the afternoon?  You bet!

Lazy Girl Apple Cider

When it comes to cooking and drinking, I am, fundamentally, quite lazy.  Though I would never compromise for my friends, I have a hard time getting motivated to make something special for myself.  So when I’m craving a warming drink on a cool day like today, I’m apt to take a short cut, and look for the cheater’s way to make a mulled drink like hot apple cider.

This drink caused some minor controversy.  We had to try several variations before we came upon a favourite, but we did come close to consensus.  So here, for the sake of argument, is the quick and easy version of mulled apple cider.

Recipe and Directions:

1.  Warm 1-2 cups apple cider. Keep in mind that ethanol (alcohol) boils at about 73 C, so you want to stay below that temperature.

2.  Add about 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, one cinnamon stick, some grated lemon peel, and 2-3 cloves to warming cider.

3.  Rim glass with dark rum and cinnamon sugar

4. Add 2-3 oz dark rum to glass

5.  Add warm cider

6.  Add cinnamon stick and stir

The Verdict:

This is really good, and very spicy and warming.   Though we tried several versions (brandy, calvados, bourbon and orange curacao), this was probably the best.  Nice after an evening of raking, or just general fortification against the cool breeze.  Certainly easier than mulling an entire pot of cider or wine, but with the same effect.

Staying “liquid” through tough economic times

Though the stock markets seemed to come storming back today (and here’s hoping the Canadian markets do so tomorrow!), there was an interesting article in the Toronto Star today about the intertwined stories of the Great Depression and the rise of cocktail culture.  Some cool mixes for drowning your portfolio-related sorrows.

Killer Koolaid

There are few places more dead than a bar on a holiday.  Not a holiday like the May 2-4, or Canada Day, or Labour Day, but more like the Sunday evening of Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.  But I was a little too wound up to pack it in after turkey dinner, so my brother and I decide to head out to Zorba’s Grill (and Alkazar Sports Bar) in seek of something sedative.

The cocktail menu is uninspired, with more in common with a university pub than a restaurant bar.  But there’s some serious nostalgia there… who doesn’t remember being underage and trying to order some sort of fruity abomination like an Alabama Slammer, or a Bahama Mama, only to have the bartender laugh, card you, and toss you out on your butt?

The drink I picked this evening is a low-brow cocktail classic – Killer Koolaid. Who knows who invented this thing.  I could hardly keep a straight face when I ordered it.  A mix of vodka, melon liqueur, ameretto, and cranberry cocktail, it was served in Hurricane glass with and garnished with cherries on a plastic sword. 

Recipe and directions:

Fill Hurricane glass with ice and add

1 oz vodka

1/2 oz melon liqueur

1/2 oz ameretto

Fill with cranberry cocktail and garnish with a cherry on a sword

The Verdict:

Anyone of actual legal drinking age would probably throw up from the sugar before they could get hammered on this.  It was syrupy sweet, and pretty weak on the alcohol.  This one is best confined to bachelorette parties and the underage kids.  If I were to give it a do-over, I’d up the vodka, cut the melon liqueur and ameretto in half, and swap some of the cranberry juice for soda water.  But that wouldn’t be very koolaid-like, would it?

The Pelican

One of the cool things about being into cocktail mixing is that my friends are never short of gift ideas. The result is that my pantry shelf has, at the moment, at least fifty bottle of miscellaneous liquor from around the world.

While it’s nice to think that I could host a spur-of-the-moment tasting of high end aged rum, or make a couple of colorful pousse-cafes at any time, the reality is I have a lot of dusty bottles on shelf.

So, last evening I dragged out a good bit of my collection, blew off the dust, and started mucking around.  Shortly into it, I realized that I had the stuff to re-create a terrific drink that I had several months back at one of my favourite restaurants, Gramercy Tavern in New York City.  The Tavern, in addition to great food, always has a creative and thoughtful cocktail and wine list, and gets extra bonus points for serving Billecart-Salmon Brut Rose champage by the glass.

This cocktail, the Pelican, is a good example of that creativity.  I ordered it not because I particularly liked any of the ingredients, but because it seemed like such an interesting combination that someone had obviously put some though into it – and to tasty result.

So, here’s my attempt to recreate the Pelican:

Recipe and Directions:

Fill cocktail shaker with ice and add:

1 oz Mount Gay Rum (I substituted Appleton Estate)

1/2 oz Yellow Chartreuse

1/2 oz Luxardo Maraschino liqueur

1 oz fresh lemon juice

Shake and strain into a martini glass.

The Verdict:

Had to try it a few times to get the proportions right, but this is a decent approximation of the original.  The lemon was a little more tart than I recall it, but maybe it’s the lemons I’m using.   This is a great Friday night warm up drink, and not too girly for the boys.  It’s a bit tart, a little bit sweet, but not too sweet to have before dinner.

I scream, you scream, we all scream….

From the good folks at Failblog.

Bond… James Bond…

Ever since this scene I have wanted to try it out.  It’s a little more complicated than “shaken, not stirred”.  I’m no Bond expert, and I expect that folks might correct me about whether this is the “real” James Bond martini, or just a cocktail he named after his leading lady in Casino Royale.  But no mind of that.  The question is: is it good?

Note:  Kina Lillet, a bitter French aperitif wine, is not available.  I’ve replaced it with the closest thing around, Lillet Blanc.  A fellow WordPress blogger, Bartender’s Baby, suggests adding a dash of Angostura bitters to compensate.  I tried it both ways, but prefer it without.

Recipe and Directions:

er… you heard the man.

The Verdict:

Tasty. Aromatic because of the gin, a little milder because of the vodka.  The Lillet and the lemon peel add a slightly citrus tinge.  If you are a fan of either the vodka or the gin martini, you will probably like this. But very strong, and I wouldn’t recommend more than one, especially if you are playing poker like Bond.

Wine and junkfood

Amusing article in the Globe and Mail today.  Beppi Crosariol wrote about matching wine and assorted munchies. In particular, I like his suggestions about matching barbera with pepperoni pizza, and albarino with Pringles.

But it got me thinking about other combos that might work.  Some general thoughts:

Cheetos (or other cheese thingys):  Perhaps cabernet sauvignon, or red rioja, or as Food and Wine suggests,  a verdicchio.

Twinkies: sweet rose or medium dry Champagne

Pogos:  Italian barbera or Australian shiraz

Grilled cheese sandwich:  Australian merlot

Just thinking….

The Sazerac

The Sazerac is one of favourite cocktails (ok, I have a lot of favourites), but this one is special.  The Sazerac is perhaps one of the oldest cocktails, and like the martini, a triumph of simplicity (unlike some of the fruity, over-the-top sugary swill I had in Vegas).  It’s home is New Orleans, and I, of course, sampled many of them on a recent trip there. Here’s a snap I took at Jean Lafitte’s Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street:

Their recipe seems pretty bang on to me, so I won’t revise it much, except to suggest you use absinthe if you can’t find Herbsaint outside of Louisiana (and you don’t feel like chasing your local liquor bureaucracy to order it).

Recipe and Directions:

1 tsp. absinthe or Herbsaint

2 oz. rye whiskey

1 tsp. simple syrup

2 dashes each Peychaud’s bitters and Angostura bitters

Lemon twist.

Coat inside of glass with absinthe.  Pour out excess. Rub lemon twist around rim and drop into glass.  Combine rye, simple syrup, and bitters over ice in cocktail shaker and stir.  Strain into glass.

The Verdict:

This is one of those things that is definitely more than the sum of it’s parts. It’s both elegant, and a little rough at the same time. Both bitter and sweet. Perfect.

Better late than not at all

Ok.  So I’m late with the Sunday post.  I have any excuse though.  I just spent the last three days in Las Vegas, and didn’t get much time near a computer yesterday.  And I flew the red-eye back last night, so am not in the best shape today.

But, without further ado….