The Private Walker

I have a couple of friends who complain about visiting Perth and finding a fruit accompaniment on the side of every serve, admittedly they’re from Melbourne and tend to think anything that can’t be reached on a tram can’t be up to much. It did however raise a smile when I noticed that the Perth entrant  came with a bright orange fruit accoutrement.

The drink sounds as though in would work well, and I’m a sucker for a PX rinse these days, perhaps the subliminal use on Masterchef masterclasses is making an impact.

The Private Walker

45ml Apricot Infused Johnnie Walker Platinum Label
10ml Bertrand Nougat Liqueur
5ml Maple Syrup
Dash of Walnut bitters
Dash of Peychauds bitters
Pedro Ximinez (Alvear) rinse
Apricot soda and nougat on the side

This drink was created as part of the launch of Johnnie Walker Platinum Label in Australia. Eight bars, across the country, were selected to receive the liquid ahead of general trade and had the chance to come up with a signature serve to make the most of the spirits versatility and showcase their bars style and service.

MixMarch #18: Lotus Club Special

My copy of David Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks arrived last night. Once the gauche dustcover that was obviously designed by a blind man in the late seventies was removed I was quite taken by the powder blue embossed hardcover and sat down to read the words I have heard so much about.

Embury would have done extremely well in a world of social media, and there is little wonder in my mind why his book has remained popular. He exudes a point of view, not content with listing ingredients or defining methods, he defines opinion. He is right, and you, dear reader, are most likely wrong and have been for some time, for that matter.

After thumbing through the pages, wondering what I would make, I stumbled on the section containing the Sazerac. It seems very clear that Embury was not a fan, claiming the drink satisfied neither whiskey fans nor those with a taste for herbsaint or absinthe. He goes so far as to call the drink an old fashioned flavoured with absinthe and to declare that he had never met a Sazerac fanatic, even in Nawlins.

I felt the grate a little on this, being as I am, a Sazerac fanatic. While the taste does perhaps not permit the best of either the base nor modifier to shine through, it is the interplay between them that makes me love this drink. That ordering one requires a bartender to make a little effort and is usually the start of a discussion and a number of drinks. For me, at least, the Sazerac is very much an “enlivening tonic”.

Embury focuses on cutting the corners from the somewhat finnickity practices of the absinthe wash that make a Sazerac so time consuming and offers up this method in its place.

The Lotus Club Special

In a rocks glass, place a sugar cube soaked with three dashes of Peychaud’s bitters, a few drops of absinthe and a small amount of whiskey. Muddle the sugar and stir thoroughly until dissolved. Add a curative measure of Whiskey and stir in ice until the drink is cold and the glass covered in condensate. Garnish with the peel of lemon.

I used the La Perruse 100% cane sugar cubes, about 5mls of Green Fairy absinthe at 75%abv and a slug of about 60mls of Jim Beam Rye Whiskey to make the drink in the picture. It was delicious, a little muddier than the carefully prepared Sazerac, but the time saving means I’ll be doing it again…

I think Mr. Embury ande I are going to have a lot of fun together.

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.

UPDATED: Jim Beam Small Batch Bourbon

I received a very special little present yesterday. The newest in the line of small batch bourbon’s from Jim Beam. I am a big fan of Basil Hayden’s and this bottle at least matches that. It was even signed by the Fred Noe, 7th Generation distiller of these fine Kentucky bourbons.

This latest small batch has port added to the spirit. The small batch website hasn’t been updated to talk about this new release, so I’m not sure as to how much port has been added, but the spirit still carries 40% ABV so I’m guessing not much. If you’ve tried the port finished Glenmorangie, which is single malt finished in a port cask, the addition of liquid port is noticeable in the Jim Beam product, but it works very well.

I’ve just been contacted by the Jim Beam team here in Sydney. This little beauty has been developed out of this market, which is why it doesn’t make an appearance on the website. Hopefully that means that it will only be sold down here, adding to the modest haul of great products that are exclusive to, rather than excluded from, this market.

Anyone who has tried a Ruby Manhattan before will know that port deepens the cakey, sugary, fruity flavours in a good bourbon. This bottle from Jim Beam certainly delivers on that front with a complex, rich, almost Christmassy flavour to the spirit.

The bottle is the same as the one used for the Knob Creek, and the wax seal feels very plasticy. Unwrapping it uncovers what looks like a piece of duct tape and I ended up cutting of the bottom part of the wax, as it just seem to get in the way.

You’ll forget about all of that as soon as you smell the product though, so let’s not get too hung up on the little things.

It makes an excellent Old Fashioned with Peychaud’s bitters and a truly wonderful Manhattan with an amazing colour and one of the richest spicy finishes I’ve ever been lucky enough to experience. It’s very well distilled, and the port makes it incredibly smooth.

At $46.99, this is the bargain of the Small Batch range. You can pick it up online here as well. Shipping Australia wide. This would be the perfect little glass to be leaving out for Santa this Christmas Eve, just don’t be surprised if the bottle is gone by morning.

The Sazerac

The Sazerac is one of the world’s oldest recorded cocktails, there are many stories about its origin, but the modern version we drink today must be made with Peychaud’s Bitters. These Bitters were made by a Creole gentleman who arrived in the late 1700’s to New Orleans, and was commercially producing them in 1830. Bitters produced around this period were considered tonics for health and vitality, and traveling apocatheray and snake oil salesmen. They were sold mixed with cognacs, brandies and whiskeys as an ‘enlivening tonic’

The strict Sazerac is made by icing and washing a rocks glass with absinthe. Another rocks glass, or boston is used to contain a Peychaud’s Bitters soaked sugar cube, a generous measure of Rye Whiskey, Buffalo Trace, who manufacture Peychaud’s, offer Sazerac Rye as an original approximation, but the aforementioned Rittenhouse Rye would do just as well. The recipe does not stipulate the addition of ice to the mixture, but it undoubtedly makes for a smoother, more pleasurable experience. The absinthe soaked ice is discarded and the drink is served straight up, with a twist for a garnish. 

The best example of this drink I have ever come across was at Tara57 Cocktail Lounge in Shanghai, mixed by Lee Linford. It contained half a measure each of Woodford Reserve Bourbon and Martel XO cognac. The glass was washed with real czech absinthe and was made as a gift for my donation of my bottle of Peychaud’s Bitters before leaving Shanghai to move to Australia. 

They say free drinks always taste sweeter, but this was magnificent.

The Sazerac is a wondefully complex and strong experience, when made well it is also supremely balanced and a true classic.