Two Classic Drinks with Homemade Grenadine

Having read in a number of places that you really can't make a Jack Rose with fake grenadine (basically red syrup), I bought a bottle of pomegranate juice to make my own.

Grenadine (from Imbibe):
1 cup pomegranate juice
1 cup superfine sugar (which you can make in a food processor or blender)
2 tablespoons pomegranate
2 tablespoons vodka
1 tablespoon orange blossom water (I would dial this back next time)

Stir all ingredients until dissolved.  Refrigerate.

Oddly enough, the orange blossom flavor is very pronounced when the syrup is cold (and consumed alone), but much more muted when the syrup warms up.  It fades into the background when mixed, of course.

While I bought the juice for Jack Roses, I realized I had not applejack and settled on two other classic cocktails from Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, the Monkey Gland and the Scofflaw.

The Monkey Gland
1.5 oz. Bluecoat Gin (buy American!)
1.5 oz. fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tsp. Sambuca
1 tsp. grenadine.

Shake over ice and strain into a glass.  Add a few drops of orange bitters.  Nice and herbal and just sweet enough.


The Scofflaw
1.5 oz. rye (I used Redemption)
1 oz. dry vermouth (I used Martini and Rossi Bianco, which is on the sweeter side)
3/4 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4 oz. grenadine

Shake over ice and strain into a glass.  This one really lets the pomegranate shine through, but came out a bit sweet.  Would definitely make again, but recommend using the driest vermouth you can find.

More with my new bitters

We went to Acqua al 2 Monday night and had a great dinner and some tasty cocktails, including their take on a spicy lemon drop.  I didn't have any chili cordial to add heat, but the Rhubarb bitters certainly add depth.

Shake over ice and strain:

2 oz Plymouth gin

1 oz Cointreau

3/4 oz lemon juice

1/2 oz home made lime cordial

10 dashes rhubarb bitters

Add a few drops of meyer lemon tincture at the end.

Peach Pit

Went to the liquor store Sunday to pick up a bottle of Italian white to go with dinner.  Came home sans wine, but with a bottle each of peach and rhubarb bitters.

The bitters brought to mind receipe I saw last year for making amaretto by roasting peach pits and soaking them in cognac.

The Peach Pit
Stir well with ice:
1.5 oz cognac
1.5 oz amaretto
10 dashes peach bitters

When you don't have cloves...

I had some leftover pineapple juice Friday night that I wanted to use up.  I found a recipe for pineapple drink that calls for muddling cloves.  Well, I couldn't find whole cloves, but I did find a bottle of Fee's whiskey barrel bitters, which worked very well with the pineapple.

Shake over ice and strain:
2 oz. pineapple juice
1/2 oz. lemon juice
2 oz. rum (I used Barbancourt 4-star)
1 oz. St-germain
10 dashes whiskey barrel bitters.

Garnish with sage leaf.

Nutty Dove

New goal for February: drink half a bottle of amaretto.  I bought a bottle of it for a party years ago and it needs to get off my bar.  Though its pretty tasty, its sweetness and marzipan-like flavor makes it less than versatile.  Probably great paired with Middle-Eastern pastries, but otherwise I'm not won over.

The other ingredient I have on hand is a pile of grapefuits and grapefruits are the backbone of two of my favorite drinks.  The first is a paloma, a tequila highball made with grapefruit soda (though its much better with fresh grapefruit juice, syrup and club soda).  You can get a solid one at Bar Pilar, where I think they use Jones, or great one at Cafe Atlantico, where they use house-made soda, dress it up with cinnamon and call it a spicy dove.  The second is a bourbon punch which Gina makes.  Of course, neither of these include amaretto.

So, getting to my point...riffing on a paloma has two major upsides: grapefruit juice pairs will with bourbon, providing the brown liquor bridge to amaretto, and amaretto is super sweet so it can be subbed in for syrup, bringing us to the...

Nutty Dove
Shake and strain into a collins glass filled 3/4 with large ice cubes:
3 oz. bourbon (I used Rebel Yell, because it's $10 in MoCo)
1.5 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
1 oz. amaretto
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Top with club soda.

A Drink and a Smoke

I spent some time on Difford's Guide Friday afternoon looking for recipes that would help me use up a bottle of Pimm's No. 1.  It's not that I don't like Pimm's (actually it's pretty tasty, if a bit tame), it's just that it isn't that handy - that bottle is taking up precious real-estate on my bar that could be better occupied by any number of spirits or liqueurs.  In the process, I came across a recipe for the Breakfast Club cocktail.  The original calls for cold lapsang souchong (a smoked black tea), white rum, honey, and orange marmalade.  Lacking white rum and still possessing a bottle of quince syrup, I modified the recipe a bit to suit my pantry.

A Drink and a Smoke
Shake and strain:
3 oz. aged rum
1.5 oz. cold lapsang souchong tea
1/2 ounce quince syrup

The smokiness of the tea works beautifully with the aged rum, Barbancourt 3-star in this case.  The overall reduction in ABV and and the sweetness of the quince syrup bring out the vanilla flavors in the spirit.  This is perfect cocktail for someone who doesn't want anything too boozy.  While the smokiness of the tea and the viscosity of the quince syrup make this a wonderful winter cocktail, but I could drink these all summer served tall over ice.

Vin d'Orange

Lillet is a French, wine-based aperitif which I have never had the pleasure of tasting.  So, when I saw a recipe for vin d'orange - a supposedly Lillet-like infusion of wine, citrus, and spices - posted on Serious Eats, I filed it away for safe keeping.  Star.  Keep as Unread. Never got around to it.

When another vin d'orange recipe appeared on Imbibe, it really lit a fire under me.  After a vanilla-bean-, meyer-lemon-, and navel-orange-laden trip to Costco, I was on my way.  I had also recently purchased a case of budget-friendly, but slightly over the hill white and rose wines, so I had everything I needed.

I know a lot of time is spent talking about how important it is to use fresh, high-quality quality ingredients.  Not this time.  I used a vanilla bean leftover from roasting pears and the wine was not one I would generally serve to guests.  Regardless, the final product was delicious and a big hit out our recent Ottolenghi dinner - another story altogether.

Vin d'Orange
Place in a large jar, and let sit, covered, one week in a cool and dark place:
1 bottle dry rose wine
1 meyer lemon, quartered
2 navel oranges, quartered
1/2 cup vodka
1/2 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 vanilla bean
Strain after infusing.  Drink chilled.

UPDATE: works great in a Twentieth Century.

Spiced Pear Martini with Core Vodka

Still playing around with last night's pear puree, so I turned to my last few drops of Core vodka, figuring the apples and pears would play nicely together.  Core is distilled from 100% Hudson Valley apples - we picked up a small bottle when we were there in September.  I'm not generally a vodka enthusiast, but Core is a great product.  It's a little hot, but wonderfully viscous and somehow tastes more like caramel apples than fresh fruit.

Spiced Pear Martini
Shake and strain:
3 oz. Core Vodka
1 oz. Martini and Rossi Biano Vermouth
1/2  oz. spiced pear puree

Good drink - the caramel flavors in the vodka works well with the spices in the puree.  A touch of acid and maybe some Peychaud's bitters next time, but definitely something worth making again in the fall or winter.

Pear Puree and Spiced Pear Punch

My father bought me a case of Royal Riviera pears for Hannukah.  Well, lucky for me, Harry and David made a mistake and and shipped my gift twice.  That meant twice as many absolutely delicious pears, but it was more than the wife and I could finish.  So, in need of a project, I opened up the November/December 2010 issue of Imbibe and made the pear puree and a modified spiced pear punch.

For the puree:
Peel, halve and core 5 pears (I used a mix of red anjou and Royal Riviera), and place in a small roasting pan. 
Add 8 star anise,
12 cloves,
6 cinnamon sticks,
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped,
4 tbsp sugar,
1/4 c. apple brandy, and
1/4 c. rhum agricole. 
Roast 30 minutes at 350. 
Remove spices and puree.

For the punch (modified for a single serving and to suit what I had at home):
Shake and strain-
1 shot Laird's 7 1/2 year apple brandy
1 shot Bokma genever
1/2 shot Amaretto di Amore
1 shot Yogev Cab/Zin Rose
1 shot pear puree
1/2 shot lemon juice

Punch was very good - apple brandy and genever mix surprisingly well.  Original calls for prosecco, which probably would have been better.

Another use to consider: pear bellini.