The Daily Tippler

All though we like to joke about the damage prohibition did by preventing people from getting tipsy it actually did some real damage to the country and society.

Prohibition froze the budding American Whiskey and Wine industries in their tracks and a lot of the popular drinks of the early days of the Republic are lost forever.

Over the next seven decades the country would search for it’s cocktail identity traveling through a number of phases; many of them taste-bud numbingly sweet. We drank things straight and on the rocks. We enjoyed Tiki’s, Galliano, and Rum with Diet coke. Cosmos became flavored Martinis which gave way to the low point of drinking culture: Red Bull and Vodka.

Sex on the Beach:

-1/2 oz. Vodka
-1/2 oz. Peach Schnapps
-1 1/2 oz. Cranberry Juice
-1 1/2 oz. Orange Juice

Build in the order given in an ice-filled highball glass

World Cocktail Week Starts Today!

In honor of world cocktail week 2010; I’m going to try to distill (pun intended) the history of the drink into seven posts. Because this will be brief at best, and because I make no effort to hide my plagiarism, for anyone who wants more info I highly recommend “Imbibe” by David Wondrich.

One supposes that I would start with the inventor of the cocktail, but trying to figure that out is like trying to figure out who decided to drink water first. Cocktails by today’s definition have been around as long as distilled beverages; since they consist of mixing any distilled beverage with something else. As early as 1880 there was scholarly, albeit inconclusive, research about the invention of the cocktail. Therefore, from a purely organizational standpoint, I offer the following incomplete time line:

-Wine Punch: wine being the earliest of spirits and made by every know civilization mixed with something

-Punch: wine gives way to other stronger spirits as the base for punch

-Collins, Fizz, Sour: the punch bowl behind the bar gives way to the single drink mixed on the bar

-Slings, Juleps, Toddies: Enter Sugar

-Cocktails: Enter Bitters

The word cocktail starts to appear in print at the very beginning of the 1800s; one can assume it had been around for a decent time before that. In the beginning and for awhile it is used to refer to drinks with Spirit, Sugar & Bitters; all though that is no longer really the definition I’ll leave it at that for today.

Plain Cocktail:
Jerry Thomas 1862

-3 or 4 dashes Simple Syrup
-2 Dashes Bitters
-1 Wine Glass (2 oz.) Spirits
-2 Dashes Curacoa

Squeeze Lemon Peel in a glass; fill 1/3 with ice and stir.

I have a friend who likes to do shots of Calvados. Not really my thing, but I wanted to come up with something that features the taste of the Brandy itself a little more. So I came up with this Vodka punch that features Calvados, the recipe should yield about 30 drinks.

Fall Punch:

-1 Liter vodka
-1/3 Liter Calvados
-2 Liters Apple Juice
-1 Liter Seltzer
-1/6 Liter Simple Syrup

This past Sunday the NY Times Cocktail Column highlighted the explosion of tomatoes on cocktail menus this summer. The drink recipe they featured didn’t really do it for me; but they mentioned a drink from the Vue, the restaurant at the Hotel Le Bleu in Park Slope, that sounded intriguing. I have attempted to reverse engineer the recipe here as best I can. The key to this drink is tomato water; which comes from straining the water out of puréed tomatoes. You can purée them yourself our buy canned ones, place them in a colander with a bowl under it, throw some kosher salt on top and let them sit for a couple of hours; press them every once and awhile for good measure.

Bloodless Mary:

-2 1/2 oz. Vodka
-1/4 oz. Dry Vermouth
-1/4 oz. Tomato Water
-Dash of Hot Sauce
-Squeeze of Fresh Lemon Juice

Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Today’s recipe is by Modern Master Jamie Boudreau. Jamie has recipes for a couple of Ale Liqueurs and he is basically using the vodka to fortify it. I think it is a pretty cool idea and you can try it with your favorite flavored beers and have your own collection of liqueurs.

Pumpkin Ale Liqueur

-12 oz. Pumpkin Ale
-14 oz. Sugar
-10 oz. Vodka

Place beer in a glass and stir to release CO2. Refrigerate over night, so it goes totally flat. Place the beer in a pot over high heat and slowly stir in the sugar. Once a head has formed remove from heat, skim off head and allow to cool. Once cool, if any head remains skim it off. Pour syrup in a clean glass bottle, add vodka and shake well.

In the past, well not that far in the past I’m talking about the 1970’s, Vodka was used in a drink that was wildly popular at suburban swing parties and the like. The drink was mostly a vehicle for an Italian Liqueur call Galliano; which, if you’ve never had the pleasure of trying, tastes like Triaminic. The drink is basically a screwdriver with a little Galliano floated on top and the trick to making a good one is to use as little Galliano as possible. Below is my own version, I think it’s not half bad even with the Galliano.

The Tangy Harvey Wallbanger

-2 oz. Absolute Mandarin
-3 oz. Orange Juice
-1 oz. Grapefruit Juice
-1/4 oz. Galliano
-Dash Simple Syrup

Build in an ice filled highball glass and stir. Garnish with an orange slice.

There are plenty of moderately famous Vodka cocktails, Cape Cod, Vodka Martini, The Cosmo. All of these have been immortalized by pop culture. And Hip-Hop has contributed it’s fair share of recognition to Vodka branding. But, let’s be honest, most of these don’t really hold a candle to the true classic cocktails. One, however, has been notably followed on a cult like level:

The White Russian:

-1 oz. Vodka
-3/4 oz. Khalua

Combine ingredients in an ice filled Highball glass, stir. Float Cream on top.

Like I said yesterday, Vodka has very little flavor on it’s own and this means it is ripe for flavor infusion. The great thing about vodka is that you can infuse it with anything from fruit to spice. If you ever get a great idea for a drink and think, “hey this could use some Garlic” go ahead and make Garlic Vodka, you won’t be the first. If you are going to really start infusing things you will need to develop some trial and error experience, but here are a couple of basic rules:

1. The stronger the ingredient the shorter the infusion time. Most spices can be done in a 2-3 days and Peppers, god bless you if you leave a Jalapeno in there for more then a day. Fruits, on the hand will take at least five days and usually more like a week. The good thing is you can taste test and lock it back up if it’s not ready.

2. Cut up fruit and break sprigs of spices in half to help release the flavor.

2. Mason jars probably work best and will look the coolest on your shelves if you want people to see what you are up to. But, if you only have a passing interest just drain some booze out of the bottle and replace the space with your ingredient of choice.

3. Always strain the end product through Cheesecloth when you are done infusing.

That’s basically it, you just add your ingredient to Vodka and let it sit; it’ll soak up the flavor. Also, keep it in a cool dry place not in direct sunlight; I figured that would be obvious.

The Rosemary Screwgie:

-2 oz. Rosemary Infused Vodka
-3 oz. Orange Juice
-Sprig Rosemary
-1/2 Tablespoon Simple Syrup.

Add Simple Syrup to a highball glass. Break Rosemary sprig in half and insert into Syrup, set aside. Combine Vodka and Orange Juice in a shaker over ice. Remove rosemary from Syrup, fill highball with ice and Strain the shaker contents in. Garnish with a new Rosemary Sprig.

I haven’t spoken much about Vodka and it’s not because I have a problem with it. A lot of people, lately, have been somewhat disparaging about Vodka because, in truth, it is not much more then alcohol and water. Because of this Vodka serves a purpose behind the bar and, frankly, it is not totally devoid of character.

Vodka has a fairly long history; originating probably in Scandinavia or Eastern Europe some time in the 14th century. Vodka is usually made from the distillation of Fermented Grains, like Rye or Wheat, or Root Vegetables, like Potatoes or Beets. It is usually filtered multiple times to remove color, taste and odor. What it lacks in character Vodka makes up for in alcohol content; usually from 35% to 50%. Because of this it can be used to fortify any drink without effecting its make-up.

Atomic Cocktail:

-1 1/2 oz. Vodka
-1 1/2 oz. Cognac (VSOP or better)
-1 Teaspoon Amontillado Sherry
-1 1/2 Chilled Champagne

Combine all ingredients, except Champagne, in a shaker over ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and top with Champagne.

There’s no denying that the move from stirring to shaking cocktails was pretty monumental.  Stirring works fine for most cocktails that contain only Spirits, but once you get into juices, fruits and spices a little shaking helps. Originally bartenders would just pass the cocktail back and forth between two glasses. Of course this led to spillage, which gave someone the idea of joining the two containers. A regular bar glass and a metal cup large enough to fit over the rim of the glass, thus the shaker is born. There are three basic types of shakers:

The Boston Shaker: Described above, this requires a julep strainer or, in the case of a skilled bartender, you can spilt the two just enough to let the liquid out and keep the ice in.

The French Shaker: Also in two pieces this is basically a cup with a lid and is seldom used. Like the Boston it usually requires a strainer or some practice.

The Cobbler Shaker: This is the three piece shaker that, all though seldom used in bars, is great for at home. It has the strainer built in with a cap on top of it. It requires little skill to operate and you can confidently shake the hell out of things.

All though shakers probably arrived in the early 1800’s the first shaker related patent appears around 1872: Patent #134,274 by William Harnett of Brooklyn, New York — a turntable with 6 shakers  for mixing 6 drinks at once.

Now back to the James Bond thing; “Vodka Martini, Shaken, not Stirred.” Martini’s are really made with Gin and always stirred, so in other words he has deconstructed the whole thing and it has ceased to be a Martini. This is what he drinks in Casino Royale, feel free to shake:

Vesper

-3 oz. Gin
-1 oz. Vodka
-1/2 oz. Lillet Blanc

Combine ingredients in a Boston Shaker, French Shaker or Cobbler Shaker over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist.