Nog you. Nog you very, very much.

If I had to pick the one thing that is wrong with Christmas traditions, it would be that too many Christians live in the northern hemisphere. When the sun is blazing down outside and the mercury is hitting thirty, roasted beefs, glazed geese, Yorkshire puddings and all the trimmings feel as alien to having snow on the ground.

Translating that into drinks, warm noggy custards just about seem the most unappetizing thing you could get close to this Christmas. Excited by the challenge, I left the store with fresh free range eggs, a small bottle of full cream milk, a pound of sugar and a whole nutmeg.

I knew that my nog was going to be cold, but little else. Most of the recipes I could find online were for warm productions, so I decided to do it by trail and error. All of the recipes below are for two drink only. Multiply them by ten if you’ve got a tribe coming over.

The first nog of Christmas.

For my first attempt, I put one egg in the blender with 60 grams of caster sugar. Blitz it until it triples in volume, you could whisk it, but I was incapacitated by a powerful hangover. In an ice filled glass, add 80mls of the egg mixture, 80mls of brandy and 80 mls of cream. shake well and pour over ice into a rocks glass. Grate some nutmeg and you’re laughing. The result is tasty, but not quite the textural experience I was after.

If I ever feel better, I’ll have another nog.

As before, add sugar to the egg and blitz. I also decided the put the cream into the blender too, 60mls, as the volume increases as it whips up. I also added 10mls of Jamesons Irish whiskey to the blend too. Be careful not to over blend, you want thickened cream, not whipped up butter. I added this mixture to a tin with 80mls of Brandy and stirred them together and poured them, again over ice, with a grating of nutmeg.

Roll, roll, roll a nog, twist it at the ends.

Trying new things is important at Christmas, so I thought that making a rum nog might be just the ticket. same recipe as above but with no whiskey and Appleton Estate rum. works well with a little cinnamon I found too.

Don’t you nog who I am?

This one I was lucky enough to sample when made by its creator, Jacob Briars, a true bon-vivant’s companion and erstwhile Professor of Vodka for 42Below. It somewhat unsurprisingly contains vodka. I used a full cream milk, because I don’t remember it being quite as creamy as my previous attempts.

One egg, 50 grams sugar, 100mls 42Below passion fruit vodka, 30mls Chocolate liqueur, 50mls full cream milk. combine well and serve.

Feel free to offer your own recipe or corrections in the comments. I am but a nogice.

Filed under: Uncategorized , 42Below Passionfruit vodka, Appleton's Estate Rum, Brandy, caster sugar, chocolate liqueur, cream, Egg Nog, eggs, jamesons irish whiskey, milk, Nutmeg

Friday Fix: Grandmother’s Minted Pear Cooler

The latest fruit to become seasonally inexpensive in Sydney has been the Packham Pear. Incorporating pears into a drink with resorting to a nasty schnapps has been a bit tough for me in the past, muddling is a lot of work and only seems to impart flavor without that great velvety texture that I associate and love about pears.

With this idea, and a kilo of Packham pears for only 2.99 from Harris Farm markets, I hit the kitchen and got to work making poached pear syrup. First, I peeled the pears, leaving the stalk, as it makes it easy to grab the pear out of the hot syrup later in the process. I used two pears to make my syrup, but if you wanted to have them for dessert you could add one for each guest. Of those two pears, one will be for eating after and one will be for the syrup itself. So on one of them, cut a deep X into the base, halfway up the pear, so it gets really soft. Leave the other one peeled but otherwise whole.

In a saucepan, add 250grams of sugar and 350mls of hot water, stirring it until the sugar crystals dissolve. Add the pears to the pot, put the lid on and set the element to a low heat. (My stove, mark 4 is perfect, it only just simmers but not boils.) Leave it on the stove for a good couple of hours.

The pear with the X might slump a little, so grab some tongs and put it in a blender, put the other pear on a plate, pouring over a couple of tablespoons of the syrup. Add the remainder of the syrup to the blender and pulse until smooth. Strain this over a bowl, you might want to push the pulp through with the back of a spoon and strain it again as well, depending on how much process you can handle.

You should be left with about 350-400mls of cloudy but fine poached pear syrup. While it cools, go and eat the other pear.

The poached pear syrup is great in a Champagne cocktail and makes a fine addition to most sour cocktails.

Grandma’s Minted Pear Cooler.

Combine 60mls Basil Hayden’s Bourbon, 15mls poached pear syrup, 20mls fresh lemon juice, 6 mint leaves and a couple of dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters over ice. Give it a crisp shake and strain it up. It shouldn’t require a double strain due to your efforts earlier on. Garnish with a mint sprig.

I’m also partial to the same drink made with Gin, minus the bitters and I’d love to try it with Fee Brothers Peppermint Bitters too.

You can also serve it in an old fashioned glass with some ice and a splash of soda if you want to summer things up a little, or it’s daytime and drinking from a martini glass makes you feel a touch of a lush.

Filed under: At home, Cocktail , Basil Hayden's, Bourbon, Friday Fix, Gin shaken, Lemon Juice, Peychaud's Bitters, Poached Pear Syrup, Tanqueray No. Ten

The Manhattan Cocktail

Few cocktails are as simply great as the Manhattan. Strong, Simple, beautifully refined at the first, somewhat less at the third. A drinking man’s drink. A simple mix of vermouth, whiskey and a dash of bitters.

Drinks this good always have a number of different histories. One of the best attributes the beverage to Lady Randolph Churchill, mother of Winston. Lady Randolph was throwing a dinner party for Samuel Tilden, 25th Govenor of New York, Bourbon Democrat and erstwhile Presidential candidate in the 1876 Elections. Tilden out polled his opponent Haye’s in the election, but lost as 20 electoral college votes were awarded by the courts. His misfortune didn’t end there either. A short examination of the history books show that Lady Randolph was in France at the time of the dinner, pregnant.

The drink was probably invented at the Manhattan Club, where the aforementioned banquet allegedly took place, so Tilden’s relationship with the drink is not completely extinguished and the window of time is about right too, so he probably tried one, if not had it made in his honor.

Most agree that it is best made with rye, but prohibition introduced Canadian along the American Whiskey, and all are generally acceptable  these days, your own preference really being key here. A lot of people add maraschino, which I find just covers the taste of the spirit but again, to each his own. I’ve chosen Basil Hayden’s primarily as it has a high percentage of rye in the mash.

The Manhattan Cocktail

Add 60mls of Basil Hayden’s, 15mls sweet vermouth and a couple of dashes of Angostura bitters to a well iced shaking tin, stir well and strain up. garnish with a twist and luxuriate.

Variations

Dry Manhattan – substitute dry vermouth for the sweet.

Perfect Manhattan – half dry, half sweet vermouth.

Rob Roy - substitute the whiskey for Whisky

Paddy – Irish whiskey, to be sure.

Fanciulli - substitute the vermouth for Fernet Branca

Ruby Manhattan - substitute port for vermouth

Metropolitan – substitute cognac for whiskey

Cuban Manhattan - substitute dark rum for whiskey

Latin Manhattan – Perfect with light rum.

Filed under: At home, Cocktail , angostura bitters, Basil Hayden's, stirred no, sweet vermouth

Tanning Lamps, Grit & an impending crash

Last night at the Beach Rd Hotel in Sydney’s internationally fashionable Bondi District, the 42 Below Cocktail World Cup rolled into town. After deftly talking my way past the door staff, I was in, a part of it, hanging with Sydney’s glitterati, or it’s bartneder’s at the very least.

The theme of the now semi annual event is Love, Drinks and Rock’n'Roll, which like the title of this article, references something that’s well known but isn’t really the same as saying it out loud. The Bartenders, however, were right into it, helped in no small part with the local obession of drainpipe jeans and rockstar chic. The level of fashion must come at the expense of nutrition, if the skeletal silhouettes and the level of interest in the food was anything to go by.

I was once again stalked by my nemesis, the  plastic tumbler, although thankfully not fresh from the wash. And I must say in all fairness, that the Falling Water brought back a flood of fine memories, despite being sheathed in petrochemicals as opposed to Silica.

The contest itself consisted of heats of mystery box challenges, where contestants are asked to make a drink using an extremely varied list of ingredients. The kiwifruit vodka was boxed with muscat wine, green grapes, cucumber, tarragon and balsamic vinegar. Most contestants seemed to be making liberal use of the available Campari, Aperol and Lillet Blanc bottles.

Professor Jacob Briars, New Zealand’s 8th best bartender and legendary blue drinks enthusiast kept things moving masterfully, having had lots of practice as the regionals have rolled around the world over the past few months. The judging panel had nabbed the best view in the house, local barmaster Blake Head was joined by two locals and unemployed Pete Dougherty impersonator, Martin Newell. Deliberations were swift, although Mr. Head was heard to request more lychee based beverages on a number of occasions.

Noriel Calub from Goldfish managed to leap from his bowl and be crowned the nights winner. Hamish from perennial cocktailing wonderland, the Bayswater Brasserie came in an admirable second.

The format for the NZ is definitely changing, taking place in Summery March instead of the wintry months and will travel from Queenstown to Wellington over the course of the week. Keep your peepers peeled for more info, and you can also head here for the word as 42 tells it.

 

Filed under: Competitions , 42BELOW vodka, Beach Rd Hotel, Cocktail World Cup, Sydney

Friday Fix: Cherry Gin Sour

One of the great things about this time of year in Sydney is the fresh cherries. Head up to the Kings Cross markets on a Saturday and you’;l find at least a couple of stands selling beautiful boxes of cherries.

While the fruit are quite hard to whip up into cocktails, short of making syrups or muddling handfuls and steeping them in spirits, there is another side of the proliferation of these special little fruit, Pressed Cherry Juice. The juice is made from those cherries not pretty enough to move of the shelf, luckily, these are also some of the sweetest and juiciest as well.

The juice is not a manufactured product, so expect a lot of variation between products and you’ll need to tweak the recipe to make sure you don’t just end up with Cherry tasting juice that’s alcoholic.

The Cherry Gin Sour

60mls Tanqueray 10 Gin, 10 mls pressed cherry juice, 15mls freshly squeezed lemon juice, 5mls sugar syrup. Combine all ingredients over ice in a shaker, shake, strain over a sour glass filled with fresh ice. Green garnishes look great against the deep red of the drink.

Filed under: At home, Cocktail , Aviation variation, cherry juice, Gin, Gin shaken, Lemon Juice, sugar syup, Tanqueray No. Ten

Summer Loving

While the Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the warming light of the sun, hot punch recipes are being dusted off. Some provide warmth, others exist solely to bring a tint of colour to the milky white skin of Englishmen.

Rejoice then, that you live in Sydney, where access to sun, surf, parks and beaches are plentiful and open to all.

As you head to any of these places, to meet in large groups or small, the default choice for refreshment is a six pack of coldies or a bottle of wine. I’d ask you to consider for a moment stepping outside of that norm and heading, replete, with a fine jar of tippling punch on your next park sojourn.

Punch was invented back when alcohol was so rough, punters only wanted to mask the flavour enough to get it down and start the glorious journey to intoxication, these days, punches in the summer or the winter showcase flavours of booze,  fruit and herbacious additives. Experimentation is the key here, perfect punch is a very fluid concept, go with what’s fresh and match the flavours as best you can.

Punches are best described in ratios, as everyone will have a different sized jar, bowl or bathtub, depending on the size of one’s frivolity, and frankly your ambition.

My Summer Punch

Fill a preserving jar with ice and slide slices of lemons, limes and oranges down the side with a barspoon. Add 2 parts Tanqueray Gin, 1 part Lillet Blanc, 1 part pomegranate juice, 1 part cloudy apple juice, 1/2 part fresh squeezed lemon juice. Garnish with mint, think bush not sprig.

The walk or drive to the destination should provide sufficient mixing.

Enjoy, and feel free to share your own punch combos in the comments.

Filed under: At home , cloudy apple juice, Lemon Juice, Lillet Blanc, mint, Pomegranate, punch, summer drinking, Tanqueray

Ron Zacapa XO

Now, when global spirits giant, Diageo, took over the world’s best rum brand, things were always going to change, despite what the fine men at Reserve Brands might say.

Thankfully, for those that were lucky enough to stumble into the path of a bottle before Diageo turned rarity to luxury, it appears the product so wonderfully selected by Master Blender, Lorena Vasquez is not amongst the things that will change.

The partnership of families who grew the canes and made the rich, flavoursome rum may slowly be drifting towards a more corporate structure since exposure and the brands flagship, the XO, will lose its Centenario designation, in front of, somewhat predictably, opposition from the company who ‘owns the term’ as the Americans say it, Jose Cuervo.

Now, I’ve written about the 23 year old before, but thanks to last weeks Rum Club, I now know a lot more about this fantastic spirit. To say that it is different from most rums is an understatement in the extreme. Most rum is produced from blackstrap, a type of molasses that is a by product of sugar refining. Blackstrap is a little bit bitter and tastes and smells very cooked. Rhum Agricole, the French version of this most naval of spirits, is produced from the first pressings of the sugar cane juice, in much the same way as the Cachaca spirits form further South in Brazil. Zacapa is made from neither of these. Sugar cane juice is pressed and cooked, purely for the purpose of making the spirit. The cooking process drives off the water, and after smelling the sugar cane ‘honey’  it also provides a measure of carmelisation, although not to the same burnt levels as blackstrap. It is quite literally, somewhere in the middle.

The next difference in Ron Zacapa is the aging of the distillate. It is taken to “The House in the Clouds,” a facility 2300 metres above sea level. Here the distillate is subjected to a Sistema Solera, an aging sytem invented by the Spanish to produce Sherry and brought to the America’s by the invaders. Simply put, a Solera ages the distillate through different levels or ‘criadera.’ The barrels on the first level are filled with fresh distillate, when it is ready it is moved down a layer and mixed with spirit that has already aged. This fractional blending ensures a smooth end product and is used to create a level of consistency between batches, years and decades. That might sound a touch complex, and it is. Zacapa, hopwever, take things one massive step further.

The distillate is taken from the still and poured into American Whiskey barrels. These barrels are first fill Bourbon barrels (FFBB) This means that they have only had Bourbon in them before and no other spirit. The rum stays in these barrels until Lorena or one of her master blenders decide it is ready. This can take between 1-3 years, give or take. The blender has the final say.

Once the rum is ready, it goes to a 17,000 litre American Oak mixing barrel for intermediate mixing (IM). The rum is blended with an amount of Old Reserve (OR) from the Zacapa warehouse. the amount of rum is a closely guarded secret, but the Master Blender is looking for a paticular set of characteristics before it can go back into the barrels.

The rum is then put back into Bourbon barrels, this time though they are highly charred(HCBB), giving an ‘alligator skin’ effect that imparts a lot of flavour. Once again, the rum rests until the blenders nose says it is ready, before once again heading to the intermediate mixing to be blended with the Old Reserve (OR)

The third stage sees the rum aged in Sherry Butts, (SB) I haven’t yet worked out why Sherry barrels are called butts, maybe one of you can enlighten me. The Sherry barrels impart a fruity depth to the rum. Again, only the Blender decides when it’s had enough time, and can go back to intermediate mixing for a third time.

The fourth aging stage is in Pedro Ximenez Sherry Butts (PXSB) This Sherry is very sweet and the barrels impart deeper fruity flavours, sultanas and muscatels. At the completion of the fourth stage the rum is once again mixed with the Old Reserve. At this point, the rum can be bottled as Ron Zacapa 23. Some of the IM barrel at this stage is also sent back to the warehouse to replenish the Old Reserve.

The final stage in aging that sets the XO apart is aging in French Oak Cognac barrels (FOC) This gives the rum a dryness and quality of finish that is hard to find anywhere else in the family of sugar based spirits. French Oak ex-Cognac barrels are some of the most expensive of all barrels that are traded around the world.

The rum is blended one last time with the Old Reserve, again some is held back to fuel the future processes. It then leaves the Solera, is filtetred through Cellulose, bottled and distributed around the world.

The Ron Zacapa XO bottle points to its Cognac finish, and somewhat predictably to its price tag. It’s not the most expensive Rum on earth, but at 200 bucks a bottle here in Australia, it is in pretty special territory. I first tried it in Japan, over a hand carved ice diamond. It cost around 50 bucks a shot, but the memory of it has stayed with me a long time, so I’d have to say it’s absolutely worth it. Anyone who is a rum nerd should try it out at least once…

There are bottles behind the bar at Low 302, Rockpool and the Bayz. With Diageo bringing it in, rarity it might not still be, but luxury it certainly is.

Filed under: Spirit , Cognac finished, Distillationa and aging, Guatemala, Lorena Vasquez, Ron Zacapa, Rum Club, Sistema Solera, The finest rum on earth, XO, You're not in Guatemala anymore Dr. Ropata

The Italian American

One of the great things about becoming known to your friends as a bit of a cocktail nerd is that they will try and bring you weird and wonderful potions from around the world, for you to mix and match for your benefit and often theirs too.

Returning from a buying trip in Italy, Aaron smuggled me back a bottle of Alexander Grappa Amarone. This Grappa is made from a single grape variety, Amarone from the Valpolicella region. It has a dry raisiny taste and it is quite pleasant lightly chilled on its own. After doing a small amount of research, I learned that Italians often drink Grappa in their coffee calling it ammazzacaffè or the coffee killer.

Inspired I set about making a variation on an espresso martini that made the most of the spirit. I have been thinking about making a raisin or muscatel syrup which would work very nicely, but for now the half and half maple syrup and amaretto work fine.

The Italian American.

Combine 40mls Grappa, 40mls fresh black coffee, 5mls amaretto and 5mls maple syrup over ice and shake with some vigor. Strain into a sherry glass and float coffee bean or two on the froth.

If the taste of the Grappa proves too much, you could drop back to a 20/60 ratio, but in my mind that masks the character of the spirit.

Filed under: At home, Cocktail , Amaretto, Coffee, Coffee Bean, Grappa, Ice, maple syrup, shake well

Back to the Club

Well, its taken me a full week to get around to it, but I thought I’d quickly run through what went down at Rum Club last monday.

It was the Ron Zacapa tasting, and the team from Diageo’s Reserve brands did a great job, (although, when you pour Zacapa over ice, there is very little else you have to do really) We tasted the 23yr old and the XO. Before the tasting a little lesson on where the rum is made and what makes it special, with a freshly charred barrel stave and some botanical samples passed around, activating the nose before the tasting certainly improved the flavor of the spirits. I have a draft of a post on the XO going so I won’t go into too much detail, but suffice to say it was a truly fine experience.

There were a few new faces there. James Hudson, of the Rum Diaries and Curtis York from Quittin’ Time. Curtis imports a stack of rums from around the world. Brinley (St.Kitts), El Dorado (Demerara), LA Mauny (Martinique) and Riviere Du Mat (Madagascar) to name them. Prices go up quite high, but you’re getting top quality for your dollars.

Filed under: Training , Diageo, Quittin Time, Ron Zacapa Centenario 23yr old rum, Sydney Rum Club

The Top 50 Most Influential People in Australian Bartending

Australian Bartender magazine has just published a list of the 50 most influential bar personalities in Australia. It’s an interesting snapshot of the industry, as it covers writers, tenders, owners, trainers and ambassadors.

There is an event in Melbourne on the 8th of December to announce the top 10 and I’ll be following @OzBartnederMag on twitter to get the real time results. If you’re going to be down there, it’s at Match Bar & Grill. You need to be invited, so hopefully you know Simon McGoram’s email (or anyone at Spanton), failing that, I reckon taking a bottle of Heradura Anejo along with you to ply Alex Ross with might also get you in the door.

Anyway, here’s the list:

• Alex Ross, Match Bar & Grill, Melbourne
• Amy Cooper, Sun-Herald S
• Andrew McDowell, Crown & Sceptre, Adelaide
• Andy Freeman, Luxe Bar/bamboo, Perth
• Barry Chalmers, Behind Bars
• Ben Davidson, Pernod Ricard
• Ben Walsh, Goldfish, Sydney
• Cameron Birt, The Bowery/Skyroom, Brisbane
• Camillio Ippolitti, Cookie/Revolver, Melbourne
• Con Christopoulos, Melbourne Supperclub/Siglo, Melbourne
• Dave Evans, Hugos Group, Sydney
• David Nguyen-Luu, The Julep Lounge, Canberra
• Fraser Short, Keystone Hospitality, Sydney
• Gary Beadle, 399, Perth
• Geoff Hayward, The Brisbane Hotel, Perth
• Grant Collins, Bar Solutions/Zeta, Sydney
• Greg Sanderson, Reserve/Black Pearl, Melbourne
• Jacob Briars, 42 Below
• Jason Chan, Seamstress/Sweatshop, Melbourne
• Jason Crawley, Mixxit
• Jason Jelicich, Barmetrix
• Justin Hemmes, Merivale Group, Sydney
• Kevin Singh, Taj Hospitality, Melbourne
• Leeroy Petersen, Twisted Liquid
• Linden Pride, Rockpool B&G and Mangkut Group, Sydney
• Manuel Terron, Southtrade International
• Marco Faraone, Flavour
• Marcus Motteram, 24 Moons & ffour, Melbourne
• James Hudson, Re: Love, Sydney
• Mark Ward, Yakusan
• Martin Lange, Sling/Salon, Brisbane
• Mathew Hewitt, Gin Lane, Brisbane
• Matthew Bax, Der Raum, Melbourne
• Maurice Terzini, Icebergs & North Bondi Italian Food, Sydney
• Michael Delany, Honkytonks, Sorry Grandma! & Third Class, Melbourne
• Mick Formosa, Club Suntory
• Mike Chen, Golden Monkey, Melbourne
• Mike Enright, Merivale Group, Sydney
• Naren Young, Locanda, NYC  and Bartender magazine contributor
• Natasha Conte, Black Pearl, Melbourne
• Nigel Weisbaum, Club Suntory
• Pat Nourse, Gourmet Traveller
• Paul Schulte, The Winery & Gazebo Wine Garden, Sydney
• Perry Scott, The Lark, Brisbane
• Phil Bayly, Café Pacifico, Sydney
• Raphael Bickle, Katarzyna Group, Brisbane
• Sebastian Reaburn, 1806, Melbourne
• Sven Almenning, Behind Bars
• Tim Wastell, Blue Diamond, Melbourne
• Vernon Chalker, Gin Palace, Madame Brussels, Collins Quarter, Melbourne

No real surprises there then, including my not making it onto the list (although I think it’s obvious I’d be a 53, should the list have gone that far).

Ah well, there’s always next year…

Filed under: Uncategorized , Bribery, Do these things really have a positive effect on Google analytics?, Influential Bartenders, Jacob Briars - Boulivardier, List Fixing, Lists fot the sake of it