Whether its Mother’s Day, or graduation, or Memorial Day, or just a darn good day for a party, many occasions for serving a group of people drinks are coming up. Make it easy for yourself and pick up a punch bowl and punch it up. That is, if you don’t have a punch bowl already, but maybe you do? I was on the radio (you kids might not remember such) once, on a call in show, talking about having two punch bowls, one fancy, one not, and a caller called in to say they had eleven punch bowls! Eleven! Now, that person knows how to party. Not saying you need eleven, but one or two, yes. And then, you can make this punch in one of them. It sounds like a Shakespeare character, and admittedly hearkens back in a way back-a-ways, with a hearty red wine base (like a Cabernet or other robust red wine) mingling with some juice (grape, here), and sweetened with some simple syrup. But then! We are also adding mysterious French herbal liqueur Bénédictine, and a heaping helping of brandy, plus club soda (which helps lighten it up, and make it okay for brunching as well as later affairs). The first item in that list really gives this punch an intriguing personality, and one that is sure to make your late April, May, and June events memorable (as well as events in the other nine months, to be clear). Punch it!
1. Add the block of ice to a large punch bowl, or fill the bowl halfway full with ice cubes. Add the brandy, grape juice, Benedictine, and simple syrup. Stir well.
2. Add the red wine to the cast, and stir again.
3. Smoothly add the club soda, and stir a final time (or maybe a few final times—you want to get it good and combined). And a handful or two fresh red seedless grapes, if you want. Sometimes I feel the grapes, sometimes I don’t. I’m weird. Serve in punch glasses. Or with straws.
Not but weeks ago (a short time in the grand scheme of time, which is quite a scheme indeed, and when you think about it, sort-of a mug’s game in a way, but one we can’t get out of, outside of one ending way, much is the pity) I had a variation on The Bobby Burns called The Midshipman Burns. And now, already, I have here another sort-of variation on the theme – but it’s a mighty good theme! This variation takes us a little farther afield, but also, not so far afield. Man, I’m musing today! Which is what happens when you drink a drink as flavortastic as this one, but also one that has a decent-sized wallop of Scotch as the base (going Speyburn single-malt 10 year, which is tasty, and also mixes well while maintaining its Scotch-ness). Makes the mind move, as Mr. Robert Burns himself would agree with. And then our other ingredients, legendary French herbal monk-a-rific liqueur Bénédictine, itself a wonder of time, and spicy, rich, smokey wonder Ancho Reyes chili liqueur, another wondrous number, are such intriguing players on this particular cocktail stage, which bring a very individual nature to this drink, a nature given another highlight via our last ingredient, earthy Peychaud’s bitters. Altogether, they won’t stop time, but they sure will make it more fun to follow.
I am a little late for suggesting this be a new edition to your Burns Night celebrations, that holiday being January 25th. But you know how the days go. And, honestly, I’m not sure this is a perfect match anyways, for two reasons. Reason one being that the classic cocktail known as The Bobby Burns, which The Midshipman Burns is based one, might not have even been created for the poet Robert Burns, said poet being of course the person celebrated on Burns Night – heck, the cocktail might have been created for a vacuum salesman from Queens or the Bronx. The Bobby Burns cocktail does make a nice accompaniment to the holiday even if it wasn’t originally created for the poet, just due to the base of Scotch, he being famously Scottish. Which brings us to reason two why this take on said cocktail might not be a perfect fit: it changes that Scotch base to a base of dark rum, while keeping some other core ingredients from the drink, so unless Robert Burns spent some time in the Caribbean, it’s probably best I didn’t post this drink on Burns Night, so-as to keep the Burns Night purists from cursing me. However! This is a fine variation on the theme, all poetic connections or not aside, so just drink it tonight, love it, and forget all my ramblings.
The Midshipman Burns
Cracked ice
2-1/2 ounces dark rum
1/2 ounce Carpano Antica
1/2 ounce Bénédictine
Lemon twist, for garnish.
1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add the rum, Carpano, and Bénédictine. Stir well.
2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the lemon twist.
Thought I’d have another, another Cocktail Talk, that is, from this book by A.A. Fair, aka, Erle Stanley Gardner. I just can’t resist a good Benedictine quote! If you missed the Beware the Curves Cocktail Talk Part I, well, don’t miss it any longer (and you might as well catch all the A.A. Fair Cocktail Talks while you’re at it).
“I’m a hell cat,” she said.
She got up to pour more liquor. She was wearing some kind of a filmy white thing. The bottle was getting empty. She had another bottle in the kitchen. She opened the kitchen door to go get the bottle.
Bright lights were on in the kitchen. The lights flooded through the doorway and silhouetted every curve of her figure against the white gossamer.
Halfway through the doorway, she thought of something, turned, and said, “Would you prefer brandy and Benedictine to crème de menthe, Donald?”
I took a little time debating the matter. “You’ve got both?” I asked.
“Yes.” She shifted her position slightly.
The light behind her did its stuff.
“Brandy and Benedictine,” I said. “But just one, Stella.”
Once, I, and some athletic and newsworthy and hilarious and thirsty and running pals made a very silly Class of the Race video, which you should watch cause you like fun, and you like drinks (or why would you be here). But you can watch it without a pen in hand to write down the recipe for the drink had in the video, The Class of the Race that is, because I have the recipe directly below. It’s a swell sipper, too, one worthy of any race winners, and, though bourbon-based (well, bourbon and bubbly-based), one that I believe can be had in summer, due to said bubbly, chilled. A little simple syrup, to sweeten things up, a little Benedictine, to add those monastically-herbal notes, and a little Peychaud’s bitters to underline it all, round the drink out and make a worthy finishing line for your July Friday.
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the bourbon, Benedictine, simple syrup, and bitters. Shake well (but not so well that you expire from the effort).
2. Strain the mix into a Champagne flute. Top with the bubbly.
A Note: Pheidippides was the original marathoner, running from Marathon to Athens after a battle in 490 B.C. without stopping once, announcing, “We have won,” and then reportedly dying. I feel this is something you should know when having this, but don’t let it flatten your bubbles.
Ah, Poirot. Hercule Poirot, that is (are there other Poirots? If so, I feel for them). I know that with many books, shows, films, poems, and sculptures, some may feel a Poirot overload at times – and this isn’t even to mention the many, many, Poirot imitations and bowdlerizations. But I still love the egg-shaped Belgian, in book and movie and TV show form. Thank you Mrs. Christie! Somedays, dipping back into a Poirot yarn is just the relief a long day needs. Especially when Poirot starts hitting the sweet liqueurs (you could probably guess this), which I’ll admit also loving, probably a rarity among English speakers in his day (well, the day his adventures were set within, that is), though hopefully something not as rare today, with our lucky-for-us wider palate of bar bottle resources and consumption. Hopefully! Anyway, this is all to say, I was re-reading the classic Poirot book Mrs. McGinty’s Dead, which has it all – a murder, a perhaps wronged potential murderer, small town England townies, historical murders, more murders, and very tight patent-leather shoes. Plus: well-groomed mustaches of course! And, a wonderful listing of Poirot’s fav sweet tipples, and beer.
Poirot pressed his guest with refreshments. A grenadine? Crème de Menthe? Benedictine? Crème de Cacao…
At this moment George entered with a tray on which was a whisky bottle and a siphon. “Or beer if you prefer it, sir?” he murmured to the visitor.
Superintendent Spence’s large red face lightened.
“Beer for me,” he said.
Poirot was left to wonder once more at the accomplishments of George. He himself had had no idea that there was beer in the flat and it seemed incomprehensible to him that it could be preferred to a sweet liqueur.
When Spence had his foaming tankard, Poirot poured himself out a tiny glass of gleaming green crème de menthe.
Not too long ago in the scheme of things (depending on your scheme!), I was lucky enough to receive a bottle of Bib & Tucker bourbon (along with some swell glasses and such – it was a very lucky day!). Coming in one of the more memorable bottles I’ve seen in some time – lovely glass shape and glass lettering and overall aesthetic set up – Bib & Tucker isn’t just a pretty package. Made in Tennessee in a hearkening to the 1880s as they say, the time of “boldness and refinement,” it’s a bourbon aged 6 years in low char white oak barrels (there are some older siblings, too, on the years-aged front) and has won a fair amount of awards. Deservedly so, me thinks, as it’s very smooth, very drinkable. Starting with a nose of vanilla, caramel, and spices of the pastry variety, it flows into a vanilla, cinnamon, spice flavor, with a hint of nuttiness, pecan style, and then finishes with a little oaky caramel spice-ness. Made from 70% corn, 26% rye, and 4% malted barley, it’s a swell number to sip solo, with or without a cube of ice.
However (as you might have guessed!), it’s also a really fine base for cocktails in my humble opinion, as the people say. If going the mixing route, I’d suggest a recipe that lets the bourbon shine, with only one or two other liquid pals along for the ride. Which is what we’re doing here, in the way of the classic Kentucky Colonel cocktail, which I was reminded of when browsing the old The Art of Mixing Drinks, 1961 edition (not to be confused with the also venerable and perhaps more well-known The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. The lack of “Fine” volume I have comes in a little box, with plastic cover and ring binding, and is fun if you can find it). We’re altering the title a bit here, cause our Bib & Tucker is from TN not KY, but keeping the basic combo of bourbon and monastic herbal liqueur Bénédictine. You see this cocktail with various ratios of our two players, and with the addition of bitters (a good plan, though not used here as this book’s recipe didn’t have it and I wanted to pay homage properly), served up instead of with a big cube (but the big cube felt ideal) and with different twists – I’ll admit, at first the lemon felt off, but its bright citrus notes worked a treat above the bourbon and liqueur intertwining flavors. Delicious.
Hey sunshine daydreamers! Guess what today is? That’s right beach beauties, it’s the first day of summer, and you know what that means? Smear on the sunscreen and take off your sweaters, slip on your sunglasses and slip into some short shorts (or whatever your hot weather wear of choice), and start enjoying the rising mercury and retreating clouds and cold. All of that, plus make this this drink, which slides you straight into summer, while remembering that winter, like all seasons, isn’t gone for long. How does it do that? Well, the rum is a summer standby, of course, but dark rum can really play year round, and its pal here, Bénédictine, has that rich herbal monastic thing going on that keeps one warm when the temperature is chillier, but also fits into a number of sun-tastic tiki type drinks. See where we’re going? The final player: Crabbies ginger beer, superficially Orange Spiced variety, but if you can’t find it, go with the regular variety. Ginger beer is of course a refreshing refresher, but the orange spice, well, that’s winter time. Really, though, forget my shoehorning – this is a nice one to sip as the seasons change.
