Drinks on the Road, San Francisco, Part II, Absinthe, Plus the Pegu

Beyond Blackbird (which I detailed earlier and which I was a big big fan of), when I was in San Francisco recently I also stopped in at Absinthe Brasserie and Bar. First off, let me mention that I accompanied the wonderful and charming Sally and Corinne from the Lisa Ekus agency (the best agent, pr, media training, and more firm in the firmament) and some other folks associated with that fine orgnaization. If you have company like this, well, the restaurant or lounge you’re lounging in can probably serve almost anything and you’ll have a dandy time. However, if the drinks are as good as they were at Absinthe, the evening goes quickly up to wonderful. I started my drinking with a Ginger Rodgers, which is a variation on a drink called, simply, “Favorite Cocktail” from the classic pocket-sized cocktail book Drinks, written by Jacques Straub in 1914. It was everything a first drink before dinner should be: light-but-flavorful, bubbly, and a good appetite inducer:

After that, I was eating some delicious food (the mac-and-cheese was especially nice – and I should have taken a pic but was too busy eating and talking), and wanted something with a lot of flavor to accentuate the edibles. I went with a classic: the Pegu, from way back in the 1920s. It was tasty, tangy, and with a kick:

Heck, you should have one at home if you never have. It’s famous and fabulous. Here’s the recipe from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz:

Ice cubes

1-1/2 ounces gin

3/4 ounce Pierre Ferrand orange curaçao

1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice

Dash of orange bitters

Dash of Angostura bitters

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the gin, orange curaçao, lime juice, and both bitters. Shake well.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass, and dream of days when this classic was (according to Harry Craddock in The Savoy Cocktail Book) a drink “that has traveled, and is asked for, round the world.”

After the Pegu, I had something with whiskey that I forgot to write down as the conversation was in full swing. But it was good, so just try all the whiskey drinks and you’ll get there. Here’s a photo, anyway:

Overall, an amazingly awesome evening spent with some of the swellest folks in the land, some delicious cocktails, and some scrumptious eats in a classy-but-comfy spot. Absinthe gets a “A” in my book (if I had some sort of book I put letters in, that is).

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What I’m Drinking: Coney Island Baby

Okay, this one looks pretty un-2013, with its pairing of out-of-favor-with-snooty-bartenders favorites crème de caco (perhaps the finest drink ingredient to say out loud, if you say it with the right ending emphasis) and peppermint schnapps. Between us, I haven’t consumed as much peppermint schnapps in the last 28 years as I did 29 years ago. Maybe there’s a correlation there? Who knows? However, with the sun starting to shine and the temperature starting to go up, it’s good to get the Coney Island Baby into your repertoire, because it’s an ideal thirst quencher for the summer months. Refreshing, minty, and working well with white outfits, and from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz, forget about your schnapps bias and stock up for summer. You’ll thank me later.

Coney Island Baby

Cracked ice

2 ounces white crème de cacao

1 ounce peppermint schnapps

Ice cubes

Chilled club soda

Fresh peppermint sprig, for garnish

1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add the crème de cacao and peppermint schnapps. Stir well.

2. Fill a highball glass three-quarters full with ice cubes. Strain the mixture over the ice. Fill the glass almost to the top with club soda. Stir, and garnish with the peppermint.

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What I’m Drinking: Canadian Sour

Now and then, something shows up on your doorstep that just makes you shake your head confusedly. Maybe it’s a baby unicorn, maybe it’s a basket of bran muffins, and maybe it’s a bottle of Canadian rye whiskey combined with maple syrup. The latter happened to me recently (maybe you, too) in the form of Tap 357. At first, I was as mentioned shaking my head, being generally opposed to pre-blended flavored spirits. But I’m nothing if not adventuresome (with the scars to prove it), so naturally I tasted it. And then tasted it some more. And then a little more. And you know what – it’s pretty swell stuff. Not too sweet, not too maple-y, but with just the right amount of both. It’s nice to sip solo over a little ice, with a little of the trees and the fields about it, and a nice slow ending of grain and syrup. But I’ve also been playing around with it in cocktails, starting with something that seems like it would be just north of awful: a plain whiskey sour but with Tap 357. I keep my sours simple, and this was no different: Tap 357, lemon juice, ice. I figured the lemon and maple would butt heads, but you know what? It was darn tasty. The lemon comes in bright at first, then the whiskey notes, then that maple finish with a touch of tang. Good stuff. Now, if I could just figure out what to do with that unicorn.

The Canadian Sour

Ice cubes

2-1/2 ounces Tap 357 Canadian Maple Rye Whiskey

1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice

Lemon slice, for garnish

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway up with ice cubes. Add the Tap 357 and lemon juice. Shake like a logger.

2 Strain through a fine strainer into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the lemon slice.

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What I’m Drinking: The Silver Jubilee

Some days, I want to drink a drink with banana in it (rare days, but sure). Some days, I also want to wear a bowler hat, walk around the house saying “pip, pip” and talking in perhaps the worst English accent of all time. Some days, I also like to have a bit of gin. Some days, I’ve been known to don spats. Some days, I’ll read Agatha Christie until my eyes get tired. Some days, I do every single one of the aforementioned things at the same time. On those days, I’ve probably had more than one Silver Jubilee (using this recipe from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz).

Silver Jubilee

Ice cubes

2 ounces gin

1 ounce crème de banana

1/2 ounce heavy cream

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the gin, crème de banana, and heavy cream. Shake well.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass. If you’re having one of those days, garnish with a piece of dark chocolate and a thick banana round.

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Cocktail Talk: The Old Curiosity Shop, Part II

If you didn’t read The Old Curiosity Shop, Part I, you might want to, or just check out all Charles Dickens Spiked Punch posts. Cause I don’t want to take a lot of pre-amble, as this post will have a quote from that classic book, as well as a recipe that relates to the quote (cause I like to have Friday Night Cocktail recipes on Fridays, and wanted to somehow tie it all together. Make sense?). So, here’s the Cocktail Talk, Dickens’ style.

Presently he returned, followed by the boy from the public house, who bore in one hand a plate of bread and beef, and in the other a great pot, filled with some very fragrant compound, which sent forth a grateful steam, and was indeed choice Purl, made after a particular recipes which Mr. Swiveller had imparted to the landlord at a period when he was deep in his books and desirous to conciliate his friendship. Relieving the boy of his burden at the door, and charging his little companion to fasten it to prevent surprise, Mr. Swiveller followed her into the kitchen.

Now, to follow that up, here’s a recipe for Purl from Good Spirits, so you can make your own to sip on while reading Dickens on a cold spring night. Or, to have with friends while you’re acting out scenes from your favorite Dickens’ books. This is something you do, right?

Purl

6 ounces porter

6 ounces ale (a pale ale works)

1 ounce gin

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1. Add the porter, ale, and ginger to a small saucepan. Heat over medium-heat, until warm but not boiling.

2. Carefully pour the porter-ale mixture into a pint glass that has been slightly warmed (by running it under warm water).

3. Add the gin. Stir once with a spoon. Sprinkle the freshly grated nutmeg over the top.

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What I’m Drinking: The Trocadero

Sometimes, you can’t improve on genius. You can try, sure, but, well, you’ll fail. Which is why instead of writing some new post about the Trocadero, I’m just going to quote myself, from Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz:

We think often of dry and sweet vermouth of being like Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier fighting it relentlessly in Zaire, or like two large dogs gnawing on one big bone in the backyard (the bone here would equal a bar, if you don’t mind following a thinly stretched metaphor). This train of thought though, is out of wack. We should think of the vermouths more like A.J. and Rick Simon, brother detectives who are very different in style, dress, and tone of voice, but working together to solve a crime (the crime here is, as you might guess, the crime of a bad drink).

The Trocadero

Cracked ice

1-1/2 ounce dry vermouth

1-1/2 ounce sweet vermouth

1 dash orange bitters

1/4 ounce grenadine (I suggest making your own – there’s a recipe in the book by the by)

Lemon twist for garnish

1. Fill a cocktail shaker or mixing glass halfway full with cracked ice. Add the vermouths at the same time to show no favoritism, and then the bitters and the grenadine. Stir well.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the lemon twist.

PS: Sure, I just called my own writing genius. But I was being silly, silly.

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What I’m Drinking: Caribbean Bloom

The end of March is when you should start really thinking about summer: rum drinks, shorts, bikinis, rum drinks, beaches, rum drinks, and ukulele music. If you just don’t want to wait the extra months you could plane up and fly on down or over or such to an actual beach. Or, you could make this drink from Dark Spirits, which is a tangy tasty tempting treat. It does have one quirky ingredient: hibiscus flower. But knowing how resourceful you are, I’ll bet you can find them. Check your local herborium. But they really add a bunch of goodness to this mix, so track them down (one place that usually has them is Dandelion Botanical: www.dandelionbotanical.com).

Caribbean Bloom, makes 2 (cause being summer-y isn’t nearly as much fun alone)

1 teaspoon dried hibiscus flowers

4 lime wedges

2 teaspoons sugar

Cracked ice

4 ounces dark rum

1. Add the hibiscus flowers, lime wedges, and sugar to a cocktail shaker. Using a muddler or sturdy wooden spoon, muddle well.

2. Fill the cocktail shaker halfway full with cracked ice. Add the rum. Shake very well, for at least 15 seconds.

3. Strain the mix into two fancy cordial glasses.

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What I’m Drinking: The Snow Ball

As we’re leaving winter in the rear view mirror, it’s become less painful to think about – and easier to consume the brandy-y sipper that’s called the Snow Ball. What’s funny about it, really, is that this drink is a very refreshing bubbly bit of beauty, suited for the springtime (and summer, too, but that’s still a few months away) like flowers, romance, and crackerjacks. Because it has an egg in it, you can also feel good serving this up for breakfast, as long as you use this recipe from Dark Spirits.

Snow Ball

Ice cubes

2 ounces brandy

1 ounce Simple Syrup

1 egg

Chilled ginger ale

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the brandy, simple syrup, and egg. Shake very well.

2. Fill a Collins glass three-quarters full with ice cubes. Strain the well-shaken mix over the ice.

3. Top the glass off with ginger ale. Stir, but calmly.

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