Before I’m accused of being unspeakably lame for blogging about a cocktail that:

1. has been featured on the menu of one of the world’s most talked-about cocktail bars for the better part of a year, and
2. has already had more than its fair share of press coverage, and that going back nearly a year as well,

let me say in my defense that:

1. I live 3,000 miles away from said bar, and
2. OK, maybe I am that unspeakably lame.

But I’m bringing up this drink for a few reasons (more fun with bullet lists!):

1. it sounds (and is) really good, and I’ve had the piece of yellowing newsprint novelty-magneted to my refrigerator since the day I ripped the recipe out of the New York Times;
2. I finally got around to stocking one of the necessary ingredients, so making this drink is now possible in my home;
3. I recently made snippy comments about the Times‘ “Shaken and Stirred” cocktail column that appears in every other (or thereabouts) Sunday Styles section, prompting an e-mail from the incredibly talented, patient and polite columnist who was wondering why he’d incurred my passive-aggressive wrath, so now I feel like a schmuck and need to highlight one of the drinks he covered that I did find really engaging (see point #1, above); and
4. I have to — it’s Mixology Monday, our host Jimmy Patrick has chosen Variations as the theme, and this tasty, tasty concoction certainly fits the bill.

While it could be argued that the Oaxaca Old Fashioned isn’t actually a variation, since Old Fashioned Cocktails were originally made with whatever booze happened to be lying around, enough time has passed that the drink is now in the mixological lexicon as a whiskey cocktail (actually, so much time has passed that the Old Fashioned is now typically thought of as a whiskey / fruity mess / club soda cocktail, a point I’ve already bitched about but is one that still depresses me so thoroughly that I’m going to end that discussion right here).

I should also point out that the recipe below is actually a variation on a variation — hah, try to keep up with that! — in that I’ve taken D&C’s published recipe and tweaked it ever so slightly, deciding to supplement the Angostura bitters with a couple of dashes of the Bittermens‘ luscious Xocolatl Mole Bitters, which I just can’t get enough of.

Ooh, this is so good — the mezcal gives the drink a really rich smokiness, which the tequila kind of tempers yet maintains with its own gentle peppery character, and then the deep spice of the bitters just rattles around in the glass. The Old Fashioned is one of the oldest of cocktails, but with this side trip to Oaxaca, the old dog has learned a spectacular new trick.

Oaxaca Old Fashioned

• 1 1/2 ounces reposado tequila (D&C recommends El Tesoro; I’m using Don Julio)
• 1/2 ounce mezcal (they say Los Amantes Joven; I’ve got Los Danzantes)
• 1 teaspoon agave nectar
• Dash of Angostura (me: add to this two dashes of Bittermens’ Xocolatl Mole bitters)

Stir with ice then strain into ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Garnish with an orange twist — flame it if you know how.

No pictures, because tonight I’m running even later than Jimmy, but head on over to his joint for the roundup in the next day or two.

Tags: Mixology Monday, Tequila by Paul
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Just a quick word before I move on: viruses suck.

Now that I’ve explained my absence from posting for much of the past week, I’ll note that while I was under the weather the San Francisco Chronicle scooped me on a topic I’ve been really excited about: some excellent new small-batch bitters coming out of New York, traveling under the name of Bittermens Bitters.

I say “coming out of ” in a loose sense; you can’t buy this stuff yet. The makers are still working to obtain approval from the feds, and expect their bitters will be on sale in time for Tales of the Cocktail this summer. But their products — a spicy Xocolatl Mole chocolate bitters; a Sweet Chocolate bitters; a hopped-up Grapefruit bitters; and a rotating seasonal bitters (for the fall they had “Squirrel Nut” pecan-vanilla; winter has brought “Elemakule Tiki Cocktail” bitters, flavored with falernum-style spices) — are already popping up in some of the best bars in the country: Death & Company and PDT in New York, Eastern Standard and Green Street in Boston/Cambridge, Alembic in San Francisco and Milk & Honey in London. And now, thanks to a wonderful care package sent my way by the good folks behind Bittermens, their bitters can be found at Zig Zag Cafe and Vessel in Seattle, as well as in my kitchen (and, should you come across him around town, Robert Hess is also packing some samples).*

I’m always excited to see a new artisan cocktail product come out; unfortunately, however, I’ve learned to temper this enthusiasm, primarily because so many small-batch spirits, bitters and other creations have proved themselves interesting and unique, but not necessarily good.

So it was an even greater surprise to discover how delightful these bitters really are. Many small-batch bitters I’ve tried err in one of two directions: the flavor is either too delicate and fades the instant it’s hit with spirits; or the maker has overcompensated and bulked up some aspect of the flavor (usually bitter) in an effort to keep these fades from occurring. Bittermens Bitters manages to walk this fine line: the Xocolatl, especially, has a very complex balance of flavors ranging from the brightness of cinnamon to the spark of chiles to the depth of bitter chocolate, and when you throw it in a mixing glass with full-flavored spirits, it sails through just fine, with no loss to the balance.

Wanting to see how tough these bitters really were, I even tried a couple of the recipes from Bittermens website, that called for mixing one or the other of the chocolate bitters with full-force bittering agents such as Campari or Amer Picon, or with a full-flavored liqueur such as yellow Chartreuse. In each case, the bitters sailed right through, lending their distinctive flavor to the drink without taking over the show or losing their character.

I’m still in the early stages of using these bitters, but I see a lot of busy winter nights ahead. If you’re near one of the bars listed on Bittermens website, go see for yourself what these bitters are about. Or, if you manage to score a bottle, try a little experiment I’m calling the Camerone:

Camerone

• 2 ounces reposado tequila (I used Don Julio)
  
• 3/4 ounce Amer Picon (I used Jamie’s replica)
• 1/4 ounce Licor 43
• 2 good dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Bitters

Stir well with ice; strain into chilled cocktail glass.

The vanilla of the Licor 43 and the chocolate of the bitters work so well together; to keep it from getting too cloying, the Picon puts a nice orangey bitterness in the middle of everything, and it’s all set against the delicate lusciousness of the reposado.

* One more bar in Seattle will have the Xocolatl, once I finish the last of my deliveries.

Tags: Drinks, Special Projects, Tequila by Paul
3 Comments »

Eeks, did this Mixology Monday fall into a busy time for me. Fortunately, host Natalie over at The Liquid Muse picked pairings as the theme, and since eating and drinking are two of the things I actually make time for in my day, it shouldn’t be too hard to put something together.

Despite my earlier assertions to the contrary, I didn’t do a lot of advance planning for this pairing. I did do a lot of advance thinking and worrying, but when it came down to it, I was just too damn busy this weekend to make a special trip to the store for one of the more ambitious dishes I had in mind. So, I took one of the standard easy meals we occasionally have around here, and made up a cocktail on the fly that I hoped would work well.

And y’know, I think I got lucky. Usually my free-form cocktails kinda suck — they’re either as dull and uninspiring as your cousin who works at the tire store, or they’re such a rude mishmash of flavors that they could be used as grounds for divorce, if I hadn’t learned long ago to stop using my spouse as a guinea pig unless the drink actually had some merit. I’m not saying the drink is all the way there, mind you — I’d like to mix one again sometime, and see if the drink keeps its form, or if I was just caught up in the novelty of it — but when the glass was plonked down next to the plate, it all worked out okay.

Here’s what I did: one of the dishes we keep on hand for easy and tasty mealtimes is salmon kedgeree. While it looks Indian at first blush, I think kedgeree owes more to the English tradition of take-away curry than it does to anything native to the subcontinent. Fortunately, we use some nice Alaska salmon — I think coho was what we had on hand this week — to liven up the dish.

Kedgeree has a pretty mild flavor, but the mishmash of mango and tomato chutneys and a potent lime pickle that I festoon about the top of my bowl really bring it to life. For me, this dish mainly acts as a chutney-and-pickle-delivery vehicle, so I needed a drink that would accomplish a couple of things. First, it couldn’t be too high in alcohol — otherwise, the whole experience would be just too intense. Second, it needed to be fairly mellow, to contrast with the sparkle of flavors I have going on in the bowl, but it also needs some complementary aspect to tie it to the food. Finally, it needed some special little sump’n, to give it some life of its own, and create a unique identity.

Raiding the liquor cabinet and grabbing a few recent favorites, I came up with two closely related drinks. Being crap at the whole naming thing, I’ll just list the recipes here; should I feel they’re worthwhile to come back to, I’ll expend the effort to come up with suitable monickers.

Trial drink #1

• 2 ounces Hidalgo Napoleon amontillado sherry
• 1 ounce Canton ginger liqueur
• 2 dashes Fee’s orange bitters
• 1 barspoon Herradura reposado tequila

Stir with ice & strain into chilled glass; no garnish

Trial drink #2

• as above, except instead of the tequila, substitute 1 barspoon Purkhart Pear Williams eau de vie

While the first drink paired better with the kedgeree, I think the second drink had greater merit for standing on its own as a cocktail. The sherry has a lovely mellow, dry and nutty flavor, and the Canton contributes a subtle ginger burn, without much added sweetness. The spirit in these cases is mainly a flavoring agent; the reposado blended more seamlessly with the sherry, but the pear brandy version had a nice, fruity character, while the eau de vie contributed zero sweetness.

Probably not the most adventurous pairing this week, but hey — it worked, and sometimes that’s all you need. I would have taken pictures, but that would have meant putting down my fork and glass, and some days that’s just asking too much.

Head on over to Natalie’s place to see what other folks are up to this week.

* and, for the kedgeree, if you want to play along. Serves 4, unless the kids decide not to eat it — you never know around here — in which case you have some nice leftovers:

preheat oven to 425 F

put in roasting pan and cover with foil:

• 3 1/2 cups water
• 2 lime leaves or grated zest of one lime
• 1 to 1.5 pounds salmon fillets

Bake about 15 minutes, until salmon is tender. Remove salmon, and save the liquid.

In a big pan with a cover, heat over medium

• 1 T butter
• 1-2 T olive oil

Add one finely chopped onion; cook until soft. Add:

• 3/4 teaspoon coriander
• 3/4 teaspoon cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon tumeric

Continue cooking until the onion is translucent and looks really nice. Add

• 1 1/2 cups basmati rice

Stir around for a couple of minutes; it should start smelling pretty interesting. Then add the reserved salmon cooking liquid, and enough water to make 3 1/2 cups. Stir, cover, and simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes, or until rice is soft.

Once rice is done, turn off the heat and cover the pan with a clean dish towel, then replace the lid and let it sit for a few minutes. Flake the salmon, and add to the rice, along with

• 3 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• juice and zest of one lime
• a few drops of fish sauce

Stir gently and serve with lime wedges, maybe a scoop of plain yogurt and chutneys and pickles out the wazoo. Don’t forget a salad or some other veg on the side.

Tags: Brandy, Drinks, Mixology Monday, Tequila by Paul
4 Comments »

While I’ve already posted my welcome note to autumn, today was the official last day of summer, and it kind of, almost felt that way in Seattle. To truly, finally usher out the season, I decided to follow Marleigh’s lead and finish off the last dregs of the Tequila por Mi Amante in my fridge.

Rather than using it in a Paloma or Margarita variation, however — as delicious as those are with the amante — I decided to try something new (to me, anyway), a drink posted on eGullet by jmfangio several weeks ago. The cocktail takes a dose of the amante, revs it up with a little un-infused reposado, then hits the mix with a full ounce of St. Germain, tempered with some lime juice.

The result tastes even better than it sounded — those fragrant grapefruit notes in the St. Germain work really well with the tequila, and the strawberry from the amante gives the drink a nice glow. Even though it’s dipping down into the 40s tonight, and the human-interest stories on the news are full of pumpkin carving competitions, it’s good to have this one last taste of summer.

[by the way, jmfangio, if you come up with a name, I’d love to hear it]

• 1 ounce Tequila por Mi Amante
• 1/2 ounce reposado tequila
• 1 ounce St. Germain
• 1/2 ounce lime juice

Shake with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass.

Tags: Drinks, Tequila by Paul
2 Comments »

Earlier this summer, I decided the time had come for me to finally start wrestling with tequila cocktails. Until then, tequila had been a big blind spot for me, so over the past few months, I’ve tried to clear that up by playing with different bottlings and recipes to get a better idea of the spirit.

One of the first off-the-beaten-path tequila drinks I was introduced to was composed of (this is from memory, so I could be slightly off) reposado tequila, Lillet, Licor 43 and Peychaud’s bitters. It tasted like it should work, but it never completely did — the flavor was about 80 percent there, and I loved the interplay between the tequila and the Licor 43, but I couldn’t figure out what to do to make it go over the top.

Tonight I tackled it again, substituting amontillado sherry for the Lillet. I think the result is pretty good — maybe a tad on the sweet side — but I’m hoping that some of the licoristes that come by here could take a stab at it and let me know what they — what you – think. And, if it turns out I’ve reinvented the wheel and this drink has been on a bar menu somewhere for the past two years, I hope someone will let me know before I look like a TOTAL jackass.

Here’s the drink:

• 1 1/2 ounces reposado tequila (I used Herradura)
• 3/4 ounce Licor 43
• 3/4 ounce amontillado sherry (I used Hidalgo Napoleon amontillado)
• 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Stir with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass. Grapefruit twist.

So, anybody? Thoughts? Hello, is this thing on?

Tags: Drinks, Tequila by Paul
5 Comments »