Mixology Monday: Variations (Mix-treme Makeover Edition!)
Monday, February 11th, 2008
Permalink
There are a few reasons why I’m more excited than ever for Mixology Monday this month. First of all, I’m beside myself because our host is Jimmy Patrick, who is a fellow bartender and a good friend.
Bartenders are a surprisingly rare breed in this little cocktail blogger community of ours, so he and I are often awash in a sea of pundits. Sometimes I need to write to Jimmy and ask, “How are we supposed to make 100 of those on a Friday night?”, or “What the heck are they talking about?” when something is too difficult for me to grasp either technically or intellectually. Jimmy also took over my duties when Dewar’s scotch called on my Mixology Monday and told me to pack my bags for a 10 AM flight to Manhattan the next morning. I love Jimmy Patrick.
But I’m especially enthusiastic this month because Jimmy has chosen the theme of variations for his Mixology Monday. The idea really spoke to me, because it sums up exactly what I’ve been obsessing over for the past four weeks at my new job: the makeover of Bel Ami’s cocktail menu.
Taking over an existing drink menu is a bit of a balancing act. While we didn’t want to alienate our customers and servers by jettisoning drinks that had been a part of their experience for many years, we felt that the cocktails needed a facelift. So in the end, we came up with variations of some of the house drinks as a way of introducing a bar program that focused on fresh ingredients, culinary technique, and classic proportions. I’ll illustrate this today with three cocktail case studies.
Case Study #1: The Ginger Lemon Drop
The beautiful, expensive decanter of booze labeled “Ginger-Flavored Vodka” was like a bright red flag to me, and I knew that in order to set the tone of our new cocktail program, this would have to be the first drink to go.
This was the original recipe:
1½ oz Yazi ginger-flavored vodka
¾ oz triple sec
1 oz lemon juice
splash simple syrup
The biggest problem with the Yazi ginger vodka was that it didn’t taste like fresh ginger, which wasn’t going to work with our new plan. So to create something new while still offering a comparable experience, we presented the Gingered Honey Sour: Oregon’s Crater Lake vodka, freshly-grated ginger, honey syrup and fresh lemon juice.
Gingered Honey Sour
2 oz Crater Lake vodka
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz ginger-honey syrup*
Shake ingredients over cracked ice and strain into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice. Garnish with a thin slice of fresh ginger.
*To make ginger-honey syrup, peel and grate 1 ounce (by volume) fresh ginger. Add to 8 ounces honey and 8 ounces boiling water. Let steep for at least one hour, strain through cheesecloth, bottle and refrigerate.
Case Study #2: The Rude Cosmopolitan
A tequila Cosmopolitan is like a raspberry Mojito: it’s a really unimaginative way to spice up what has already become a tired, pedestrian and often poorly-made cocktail.
Here’s the original recipe:
1½ oz well tequila
¾ oz triple sec
splash lime juice
cranberry juice
The Rude Cosmo tasted like it sounded: a well-tequila Cosmopolitan. To impart a more intense, fresher cranberry flavor we made a cranberry gastrique, which is a traditional French fruit-and-vinegar sauce commonly served with meats.
We tried a number of tequilas with our gastrique, and settled on Sauza Hornitos for its sweetness and that unmistakable tropical fruit flavor on the palate. Adding some fresh lime juice back in to the cocktail rounded it out nicely.
Flor de Baya
2 oz Sauza Hornitos tequila
¾ oz fresh lime juice
½ oz simple syrup
2 barspoons cranberry gastrique*
Shake ingredients over cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lime.
*To make cranberry gastrique, boil 1½ cups white vinegar with 1½ cups sugar, 10 oz fresh cranberries, the juice and zest of 1 lemon, 1 star anise and 4 cloves for 20 minutes, using a wooden spoon to help break up cranberries. Strain mixture through cheesecloth, bottle and refrigerate.
Case Study #3: The Sazerac Manhattan
Shaking Sazerac whiskey with a splash of well vermouth is a lot like shaking a baby: first there’s going to be a lot of foam, and then you’ll be staring death in the face. Finishing the job with a maraschino cherry is quite literally adding insult to injury.
The original recipe:
2 oz Sazerac 6-Year rye
Splash sweet vermouth
Dash Angostura bitters
We updated the Manhattan by swapping the rye for a much bolder Rittenhouse 100-proof, bumped up the vermouth and switched to Carpano Antica Formula, added a dash of our housemade orange bitters, and finished the drink with a housemade brandied cherry. The name comes from the fact that the bar is located in the Midtown Marketplace.
Midtown Manhattan
2 oz Rittenhouse 100-proof rye
1 oz Carpano Antica Formula vermouth
Dash orange bitters
Dash Angostura bitters
Brandied cherry*
Stir first three ingredients gently with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Finish with brandied cherry.
*To make brandied cherries, strain a 16-ounce jar pitted cherries and reserve syrup. Reduce syrup by half in small saucepan. Allow to cool. Add ½ cup brandy and two tablespoons Maraschino liqueur to cherries along with reduced syrup. Refrigerate for one week before serving.
So there you have it. Cocktail menus like the one I inherited can be found all over the country these days, but they’re never beyond repair. It just takes a few fresh and natural ingredients, simple culinary techniques, and some very basic mixological proportions to give a drink menu a makeover.
Thanks for hosting, Jimmy. This was my favorite Mixology Monday so far.
11 Feb 2008 at 7:12 am 1. Anita
Yum! (to all the new drinks, that is…) The Flor de Baya photo is cool
Your Midtown Manhattan is pretty much our house recipe in the wintertime… sometimes we use Bulliet, but the ratios and other bits are really close.
11 Feb 2008 at 7:58 am 2. Dominik MJ - the opinionated alchemist
Bravo! Your drinks a truly change the menu to a high quality bar!
Cranberry gastrique? Now I really need to try this stuff.
It is quite difficult to change “signature drinks” of a bar - to offer make overs is a very clever option.
Great MxMo from your side… but wait - I have also still to do mine…
11 Feb 2008 at 8:12 am 3. John Claude
I literally just three days ago put a Rye Manhattan with Fee’s Orange Bitters on our drink menu. I still used Sazerac Rye (as I can only seem to find Overholt, Turkey, or Jim variations otherwise here in Portland). I called mine the “Nick And Nora” though (ala the The Thin Man movies). I also very specifically designated that it was stirred on the menu which sends the other two bartenders into fits as they think it “takes too long”. *sigh*
11 Feb 2008 at 9:01 am 4. Alex
Them’s some fantastic looking drinks right there. The Flor de Baya has me wanting to ditch work for a morning eye-opener. Out of curiosity on the ginger front, have you had a chance to try the Canton ginger liqueur?
11 Feb 2008 at 10:18 am 5. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Thanks, everyone! I look forward to reading all of your entries.
Alex, I haven’t tried the Canton ginger liqueur, I don’t believe it’s been listed in Oregon. Living in a control state means I don’t always have access to a lot of the products bartenders living in other states do.
11 Feb 2008 at 10:41 am 6. Eugenia
Lovely. I’m so lucky to live in Eugene. Are these on the menu now, or still in development? It’s been too long since I’ve been to Bel Ami, and I’m looking forward to going back. I just started an affair with Carpano Antica, and am thrilled to see the Midtown Manhattan, especially.
I’m no mixologist, and I feel shy to even suggest this, but I wonder if it might be fun to try muddling a wee slice of fresh ginger for the ginger-honey lemon sour, to add another layer of punchiness.
11 Feb 2008 at 10:53 am 7. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Welcome, Eugenia!
All three drinks are currently gracing the cocktail menu at Bel Ami, so do stop in and try one!
I don’t think that muddling the ginger would do much more than what’s already happening when I run it over a Microplaner in order to add it to the honey syrup.
However, gently muddling a lemon peel or adding a dash of lemon bitters would definitely add another layer of punch.
11 Feb 2008 at 1:08 pm 8. Lance J. Mayhew
Great post! I’m quite surprised that you aren’t a fan of Yazi though. We must still have our original bottle (before they redesigned it to the more square version you have pictured) behind the bar. I don’t think I could give that stuff away.
11 Feb 2008 at 2:08 pm 9. Jamie Boudreau
Isn’t a Manhattan with orange bitters a Trilby? (Not that I’m being picky…)
Love the gastrique….
11 Feb 2008 at 3:12 pm 10. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Gosh darn it, I forgot to mention the Angostura bitters in the recipe, we’re doing one of each.
Now fixed.
Thanks, J-Beau.
11 Feb 2008 at 3:17 pm 11. Eugenia
Thanks! Yeah, you may be right about the ginger, especially if you went after it with a Microplane. I’m gonna try it at home!
Even if the Manhattan with orange bitters is a Trilby, the customers will be mesmerized either way.
11 Feb 2008 at 4:17 pm 12. Jessica H.
Jeff, I’m going to quote you the next time a bartender shakes my Manhattan. Of course I won’t be going back to that bar after offending other patrons and freaking out the bartender.
I think you guys did a really great job updating the drink menu. I was really impressed with the Gingered Honey Sour. The fresh ginger over the glass is simple but elegant and the aroma with every sip is genius. Having that strong aroma adds a dimension of ginger that is far more pleasant in my nose than I could have imagined.
12 Feb 2008 at 11:47 am 13. Dane
Mr Morgenthaler,
Your improvements to these drinks are fantastic. And, thank you again for experimenting with me. It made me really concentrate on the subtleties of each ingredient and how they interact with each other. Thanks again!!! Your Midtown Manhattan puts the shizzle on the mizzle!
I have no idea what that means….
12 Feb 2008 at 11:58 am 14. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Thanks, Dane
I’m glad you enjoyed the bourbon-cranberry gastrique concoction we came up with last night. I’ve always enjoyed bourbon with the flavor of cranberry. I guess we’ll have to revisit the matter in November!
And, for the record, I have no idea what that means, either.
12 Feb 2008 at 1:11 pm 15. SeanMike
Goshdarn it, I’m drooling like crazy for a Manhattan right now - specifically the one you list off.
My previous brandied cherries were made by taking a batch of dried cherries and soaking them in brandy and a dash of Grand Marnier. Your way sounds much better. Do you have a preferred brand of cherries you use?
12 Feb 2008 at 1:22 pm 16. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
SeanMike
I like to use Trader Joe’s Morello Cherries. They’re small and have a flavor similar to the real Maraska cherries. I just haven’t found anything that simulates the texture I’ve gotten from the Maraska cherries I’ve tried.
12 Feb 2008 at 9:07 pm 17. Dan
Nice to see Carpano getting some use.
It’s a fantastic vermouth, if a bit hard to find. Vya also works extremely well.
I love the addition of orange bitters to the Manhattan. I’ve been using them in my Manhattans for quite some time now.
13 Feb 2008 at 5:56 pm 18. Marleigh
This post makes me very sad that I don’t have a trip to Oregon on the calendar for this year…
Guess I’ll have to go home and make a gastrique to console myself.
13 Feb 2008 at 9:04 pm 19. Jon
I tried the ginger sour tonight — delicious, though I had to add a little soda to cut the sweetness…
Next time, I’ll try more ginger and less honey.
20 Feb 2008 at 6:28 pm 20. Jeff Frane
I’m sipping on a Midtown Manhattan right now, using the last two ounces of Rittenhouse I had. Gary Regan calls a Manhattan the greatest cocktail of all, but his version is too fuzzy: the big rye and the Antica Formula put this in the range of the Pan Galactic Gargleblaster, the greatest cocktail in the known universe.
25 Feb 2008 at 8:55 am 21. Natalie - The Liquid Muse
Hey Jeffrey,
Great job on those drinks. You’re making me thristy at 9:00 am!!
I wanted to speak to your comment about most cocktail bloggers not being bartenders…
Keep in mind that while bartenders are (assumed) good at making drinks, they are not always good writers. And, blogging, above all is writing.
There are a few who are blessed with talents both behind the bar and in front of a computer… like you and Jimmy… but that’s rather rare…
26 Feb 2008 at 10:34 am 22. keith waldbauer
Nicely done, Jeffrey. I especially like what you did with the vodka cocktails on the menu. As quite a few of us have bitched before, vodka is just not a spirit I’m inspired by. To appease the populist crowd, I just stick the Moscow Mule and the Vesper on there to give vodka some representation, but I’m thinking of challenging myself to come up with something utilizing classic technique with something refreshing and new. In any event, bravo on the revamp. Gotta get down to Eugene. Oh, whipped up some Richmond Gimlets the other night and they went over spectacularly. Cheers.
26 Feb 2008 at 11:24 am 23. Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Thanks, Keith! I’m trying to be more tolerant of vodka because, well, I live in a small town and that’s what people drink here. But if I can come up with something interesting and use vodka or gin as a “gateway” liquor, then all the better.
I’m trying to get to Seattle to see all of you soon!