pairing

[by john]

the flavor bible is my kind of non-cookbook cookbook - it's an encyclopedia of flavors and flavors that go well with them. so under 'pumpkin seeds', you'll find caramel, chile peppers, coriander, cumin... (who knew! well, apparently, a ton of chefs they interviewed.) i was showing off this early xmas present to naveen when he remarked how useful this would be for making up new cocktails. well, uh, yeah....but i hadn't thought of that.

of course we had to put this to the test. to start, i wanted to attempt a friend's challenge - balsamic in a cocktail. browsing to 'vinegar, balsamic', i found a bunch of ingredients more non-drinkable than balsamic, plus cherry and apricot. i decided on the apricot, and after a couple iterations, settled on a 3:1:1:1 rye:balsamic:apricot brandy:lillet blanc. the apricot wasn't forward at all, but it did sweeten up the balsamic enough to make its bitter ending beguilingly light. the drink, by the way, is evil black. cool. not perfected yet by any means - i really need a good apricot eau de vie - but it's a promising start.

next, another challenge, this time self-imposed. i stole some of a friend's amazing raw cranberry sauce (literally just blended cranberries, whole orange, and whole lemon) from thanksgiving. could i take a passage from the flavor bible to make it into a well composed drink? it suggested apples and (more) orange - so i thought armagnac, cider syrup, the cranberry sauce, orange bitters, and some bitter truth decanter bitters, which have big cinnamony notes. an average drink, in the end, but a good direction.

reading the flavor bible will require a lot of culinary exegesis. jesuit education, don't fail me now.

Daring

[by Mike]

When making drinks at home, experimentation is a mostly slow and deliberate process.  Usually I'll start with an established recipe and build, substituting spirits or tweaking flavors until the drink has become something entirely.  Spontaneity is left for when a great bartender can be responsible for the challenge of bringing an idea to fruition within minutes.

While making drinks for some friends tonight, I was given my first challenge when a friend requested a something with the bottle of Domaine de Canton sitting on my shelf.  Now I haven't had much time to play with the spirit since picking it up last month, and for a second I just stood there looking flustered.  Eventually my gaze drifted to the orange that was out for a previously made Old Fashioned and some serendipitous decisions were made.

The Domaine de Canton was paired with a fresh squeeze of orange juice, while Sailor Jerry provided a spicy base and vanilla note that complemented both the citrus and the ginger.  A dash of Regan's orange bitters finished everything off.  I might want to experiment with the choice of bitters, but overall I was quite pleased how everything came together.  

Feshbach Resonance

1.5 oz Sailor Jerry spiced rum

1.0 oz orange juice

0.75 oz Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur

1 dash Regan's orange bitters

The drink was christened a "Feshbach Resonance" to honor the friend who brought the initial challenge.  I think some of my compatriots may be less than pleased in my resorting to physics for a name, but sometimes it just has to happen.  Sometimes, in fact, you have a scientific name so good that a drink must be designed around it.  At least I have a little time to work with that challenge.