Apple Pie Manhattan

Nick was kind enough to invite me to contribute to this site, but it took a while for me to feel like I had anything to contribute beyond "drinking good!" I haven’t been very adventurous lately, booze-wise. Unless you count putting a dash of bitters in some bourbon and calling it an Extra-Dry Manhattan, I'm not big on making up drink recipes; I spend too much money on liquor as it is, I don't want to risk wasting it on experiments. 

But I wanted to do something with some apple cider I'd bought for a recipe (I'm not a fan of apple juice or cider, but it's great for cooking with) and I remembered the bottle of cinnamon whiskey at the back of the bar we'd bought on a lark that was pretty undrinkable on its own. Apple pie! It worked.

Photo by Adam Grosswirth

4 oz bourbon

2 oz sweet apple cider

1 oz cinnamon whiskey

2-3 dashes cranberry bitters (optional)

cocktail cherries (optional)

candied ginger (optional)

tart apple, such as Granny Smith (optional)

Pour all liquid ingredients into a shaker. Shake with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass with cherries. Garnish with a piece of candied ginger and/or a slice of tart apple.

Photo by Adam Grosswirth

I used Maker’s Mark, which is my go-to bourbon, but if you want a stronger bourbon flavor you could use something like Knob or even a rye.

The cranberry bitters were another thing I happened to have in the house, an “ooh, neat!” impulse buy that I can’t really do much with. It seemed like a good Thanksgivingy touch, and it was.

I also tried this with a spoonful of ginger simple syrup, thinking a little sweetness would cut the harsh Fireball nicely, but I found it too syrupy. If you like a sweeter drink, though, that’s a good solution. If you want to get fancy, you could rim the glass with cinnamon sugar or maybe ground ginger and sugar. I am too lazy for that, so let me know how it turns out if you try it!

There’s really no reason for this drink to have cherries, except that I love them and I put them in basically anything with bourbon, including otherwise straight bourbon. I make my own, not because I’m a snob (I love me a classic bright red maraschino cherry) but because they’re so easy and awesome. I use this recipe, ideally with sour cherries (I hoard and freeze them during their very short season at the farmers’ market) but Dole frozen cherries from the grocery store are great too. Hmmm, maybe I should try to concoct a cherry pie Manhattan next? 

Holland Razor Blade

Last month I was in Seattle visiting my friends Rossanna and Tiago, and as usual, a good portion of our time was spent eating and drinking.  The thing I've realized of late is that cold-weather towns inevitably have the best bars.  Portland, Seattle, Boston... even Minneapolis -- which, if you saw my tweets, you know I wasn't altogether thrilled with in most respects -- definitely holds its own in the booze department.  And I'm not just talking about having two or three really fantastic bars; I'm talking about the average level of alcoholic intelligence across a broad spectrum of places.  (This is specifically where L.A. falls short -- sure, we have a few really fantastic bars, but you have to seek them out.  Mostly what we have are the kinds of joints that have one kind of bourbon, two kinds of gin, and fifty-eight varieties of flavored vodka.)

Anyway, I'm getting off track.  Point being: Seattle has many great bars, and according to many people (or at least my friends), Canon is the king of them all.  Having now been there three times, I am more than willing to believe this.  You could get a mild buzz just scanning the massive shelves behind the counter, reading off the names of every bottle of liquor known to man (as well as some that I think the bartenders might have invented themselves).

Since Canon is the type of place where you can literally just say, "Surprise me!" to the bartender and end up with an amazing drink in front of you, I decided to solicit a suggestion.  I've long been curious about Genever, the Dutch spirit that's kind of a cross between gin and bourbon, so I asked the bartender for a Genever-based recommendation.  And this is how I ended up sipping a Holland Razor Blade, and then, upon my return to L.A., buying myself a bottle of Bols Genever so I could whip one up myself.

This drink is definitely a case of -- well, if not "less is more," then at least "less is plenty."  It's about as simple as a cocktail can possibly get (I might not even have ordered it if I'd realized how few ingredients it has, given my strong inclination toward ridiculously complicated drinks), but it doesn't taste simple at all.  And what a name, right?

***

Recipe (from Food & Wine):

2 ounces Genever

0.75 ounce simple syrup

0.75 ounce lemon juice

pinch of cayenne pepper

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the genever, simple syrup and lemon juice and shake well. Strain the drink into a coupe glass and sprinkle with the pinch of cayenne.

***

Some notes:

- Bols Genever is not the easiest spirit to find.  They don't have it any of the BevMos in Greater Los Angeles (as far as I can tell), but K&L Wines in Hollywood and Bar Keeper in Silver Lake both carry it.  K&L also ships.

- The coupe glass is another great bar staple, and also one that's not easily found.  (In fact, I still have yet to acquire any -- the glass I used is similar but not quite it.)  Most standard martini glasses range from 5 to 7 ounces in capacity, which means that if you make a drink like this one that tops off in the vicinity of 3 ounces, you're going to have some awkward empty space at the top of the glass.  Coupes are usually more like 3-3.5 ounces, so they're perfect for little drinks that pack a punch.

Yellow Jacket (modified)

Last Saturday, Alexis and I hosted a wrap party for the short film I wrote and directed, The Spy Who Came to Brunch.  Since we were expecting a lot more guests than my limited bartending skills could possibly handle, we bit the bullet and hired an actual bartender for the evening.  And holy crap, was it ever worth it.  He was a great guy who really knew his stuff (even taught me a better technique for making an Old Fashioned), and it was a lot more fun to not have to run to the kitchen every four minutes when someone needed a refill.

At one point in the evening, I was discussing cocktails with Christian, one of the lead actors, and we started talking about what to do with the bottle of mezcal I had on hand.  He suggested making a Yellow Jacket, which I'd never heard of but definitely found intriguing.  After some quick phone-Googling, we discovered that the drink is actually made with tequila; however, in my humble opinion, there's almost no tequila-based cocktail that can't be improved by substituting mezcal.  So we took our findings to the bartender and asked him to whip us up a couple of modified Yellow Jackets.

The verdict?  Really, really good.  Smoky, sweet, refreshing.  And nicely colored, thanks to the St. Germaine and Yellow Chartreuse.  I was happy to have an excuse to make another one today for the purposes of taking this photo.

Photo by Nick Rheinwald-Jones

***

Recipe (courtesy of Serious Eats, modified by Nick & Christian)

2 ounces Mezcal

1 ounce St. Germain

0.75 ounce Yellow Chartreuse

1 dash Orange Bitters

1 lemon twist, for garnish

Combine mezcal, St. Germain, Yellow Chartreuse, and Orange Bitters in a mixing glass with ice.  Stir until cold.  Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with lemon twist.

***

Some notes:

- The mezcal I happened to have was Sombra, a low-to-mid-range silver mezcal that's only so-so for sipping but great for cocktails like this one, since the rich smokiness comes through even in small quantities.

- Yellow Chartreuse and its sibling Green Chartreuse are great to have around, but also pretty freakin' expensive (usually $65 for a full bottle).  Fortunately, they're also sold in half-sized bottles for half the price -- and even that size should last you a long while, since most cocktails that use Chartreuse don't call for very much of it.

- A long, spiraled bar spoon for stirring is an essential bartending tool for this and many other drinks, and you can find one at pretty much any well-stocked kitchen store (like Sur La Table or Williams-Sonoma) or at BevMo.

Fernet My Heart in San Francisco

This summer, I saw Alie Ward on stage at the Upright Citizens Brigade, doing monologues for ASSSSCAT.  She was funny and charming and mentioned she had a travel show on TV, so I later made the highly unusual (for me) decision to venture outside my carefully curated DVR slate and watch an episode of Tripping Out with Alie and Georgia on the Cooking Channel.  The format of the show is simple and fun: in each episode, titular BFFs Ward and Georgia Hardstark eat and drink their way through a different city; and then, when they get home, they host a party for their friends with food and beverages inspired by their travels.  Two great things that set the series apart for me: (1) the two women legitimately seem to enjoy -- and feel lucky for -- the opportunity to traipse around the country on the network's dime; and (2) there's a lot of drinking.

In the San Francisco episode I watched, we learn that Fernet Branca is a favorite liqueur in the Bay Area, especially when consumed with a side of ginger beer.  Alie and Georgia applied this tradition in inventing a new cocktail, Fernet My Heart In San Francisco, and it looked so good I had to pause the show to mix one up myself.  I was not disappointed with the results.  This is a fantastic summer cocktail, spicy and refreshing and complex enough to make you feel smart for making it (and even smarter if you can get someone to make it for you).

Photo by Nick Rheinwald-Jones

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Recipe (by Alie and Georgia, reprinted from http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/alie-ward-and-georgia-hardstark/fernet-my-heart-in-san-francisco.html):

1.5 ounces bourbon
0.75 ounces lime juice
0.5 ounces Fernet Branca
0.25 ounces Chinese five-spice simple syrup:
    - 1 cup sugar
    - 1 cup water
    - 1 tablespoon Chinese five-spice
Ginger beer
Mint sprigs, for garnish

For the Chinese five-spice simple syrup: Combine 1 cup water, the sugar and the five-spice powder in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Let cool.

For the cocktail: Put the bourbon, lime juice, Fernet and 1/4 ounce of the Chinese five-spice simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into a Collins or highball glass filled with ice. Top with the ginger beer and garnish with a few sprigs of mint. Wax nostalgic about the Bay.

***

Some notes:

• Since there's a relatively small amount of bourbon (1.5 ounces = 1 shot), it's a good occasion to use a high-proof variety like Booker's. 
• Fernet is a very minty herbal liqueur, sometimes consumed as a digestif or after-dinner drink.  If you've ever tried it on its own, you could be forgiven for mistaking it for liquid toothpaste.  As such, it can overpower a lot of other cocktails, but in this one it blends perfectly into the surroundings (like an old-fashioned butler) (or a ninja) (or a ninja butler) (excuse me, I just got an idea for Jackie Chan's next movie),
• As for the ginger beer, the spicier the better -- I'd go with Reed's Extra Ginger Brew or Maine Root, since Fever Tree is a little too subtle for this drink.  Ginger ale is definitely not a suitable stand-in here; take it from someone who was stupid enough to try it once.
• If you've never made a flavored syrup before (or even plain old simple syrup), this is a great time to try. You can store it in a jar or one of those flip-top bottles if you want to get fancy, and it'll last for months. Make a batch of un-spiced syrup while you're at it, because simple syrup is one of the most important cocktail staples there is (and you can use it to sweeten iced tea or coffee, too).
• Chinese five-spice is a combination of star anise, cloves, Chinese cinammon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds.  You might be able to find it in the spice section of Whole Foods (like I did) or an Asian market, but don't fret if you're unable (or unwilling) to locate a supply.  The first time I made this drink I just used added some cloves, cinnamon, fennel, and red pepper flakes to the shaker along with the rest of the ingredients and plain simple syrup, and it still came out great.  (Possibly even better because I definitely over-spiced it that time.)

Introduction

This is a blog about cocktails, spirits, and alcohol-related miscellany.  Drink recipes, informal reviews of new (and old) bars, assorted musings on specific liquors, and whatever else comes to mind.  If you enjoy drinking, I hope not to bore you.

Why Chill the Glass?  Because it's one of the easiest and most useful things I've ever learned about making a good cocktail at home.  Before you mix a drink, take the glass and fill it with ice and a little water and let it sit there while you're shaking or stirring or muddling your ingredients.  Dump the ice water out when you're ready to serve, and voila, your glass is cold and the drink won't lose its chill.

Photo by Nick Rheinwald-Jones