bostonapothecary

About seven years ago I worked at a place with a cheese cake factory across the street. Somehow the girls started coming over for cocktails between their shifts. Despite being clad in white these women were wild. Anyhow, I slowly got them all addicted to Wray & Nephews cocktails to the horror of everyone else I worked with. The other bartender would refuse to make the drink or he'd use plain white rum. And the girls would complain. "tropical cocktail" 1.5 oz. wray & nephews .5 oz. goslings "old rum" .75 oz. grenadine .75 oz. tart unsugared passion fruit juice dash angostura bitters

i keep meaning to write a post about the speculative science of barrel aging, glass aging, and just plain old batching based on what i've learn from academic journal articles. unfortunately i'm not confident in understanding it well enough. weird stuff happens and the chemistry is about as complex as chemistry can get. there is also strange sensory science on top of the chemistry. i think that a lot of the smoothed over effects people are getting from their barrel aging experiments are not so much from the barrel as just from batching. for example if i mixed whiskey and vermouth and bitters, quickly stirred it warm and then divided it in two and tested it with a hydrometer the sugar contents would be so even you couldn't detect a difference. but other tiny aromatic compounds would be very slowly coming to equilibrium and strangely enough we can vaguely feel that slight degree of in-homogeneity. some sort of micro-emulsion/macro-emulsion phenomenon exits that we can detect and which influences how we perceive the drink. things also start reacting based on changes in pH when ingredients are combined and averaged together. increasing alcohol content by averaging something like whiskey into vermouth also influences reactions and equilibriums that exist within ingredients. i suggest people experimenting with barrels should also put whatever they are aging in a glass canning jar alongside the barrel as a sort of control.

I just found a mid century distillation paper that explained how sometimes light and heavy rums can be made from the very same distillation runs. the most neutral fractions become the light rum which see very light aging and the concentrated outer fractions go into barrels for a long time (or in hot areas) to become the basis of heavier rums. sometimes lighter rum stock is blended in afterwards. I guess this approach has all sort of unique economies. everybody praises the pot still but even continuous column stills can be operated to make heavy rums if certain fractions are collected and recycled in certain ways to maximize ester formation in the still. one thing that makes the pot still superior is that more of the esters are ethyl-esters instead of esters of higher alcohols like amyl. I guess there is a notorious amyl-ester that smells like bananas and is considered a flaw. this ester is one reason extraordinary brandies cannot be made in continuous column stills. I've smelt banana in some rums like goslings and wondered if it was the product of that amyl-ester. I've always wanted to take lemon hart apart and see what it was like in pieces. especially without the coloring.

1.5 oz. ungodly strong sugar free chartreuse 1.5 oz. centrifuged rhubarb juice 8 g. non aromatic white sugar .75 oz. lime juice dual float of vida mezcal and goslings 151 the resultant 5 oz. of diluted cocktail was carbonated to approx. 8 g/L of dissolved CO2 with the champagne bottle manifold I poured myself a mislabeled glass of something and decided to turn it into a sparkling cocktail. I still had some rhubarb juice so I decided to re-use that successful template. the dual float was something I was into a few years ago when some particularly wild people were hanging in the house. I spent the entire afternoon listening to Acid Mothers Temple which may have some sort of influence on the noisy drink. a fun one.

that explanation sounds pretty good. I have a small colloid mill at my disposal. I stopped playing with it because the experiments got too expensive. I was generating all sort of stuff with no place to sell it. If you come up with an idea I'd love to give it a try. I had really good success running coconut cream through the colloid mill to homogenize it. I could make cocktails without any globs of fat clinging to the glass. the drinks had a beautiful fluidity and the emptied glasses were film less. but when I tried another recipe where I integrated alcohol into the coconut cream to produce a sort of liqueur version, It didn't work the same way. the fat would clump in the usual way. the difference I cannot explain.

orgeat is basically a sweetened nut milk. nut milks can have very high fat content unless they are centrifuged. commerical products are likely either centrifuged or have an added emulsifier to keep them together. i started centrifuging mine to get rid of the nut solids and was astounded by how much fat also separated. i started saving the fat to make nut milk heavy creams. and turned the remainder into syrups. the fat-free syrups still have a ton of favor. in the absence of a centrifuge, adding an emulsifier may help. i also really enjoy adding sugar to commercial almond milks to make a quick cheater orgeat.

1.5 oz noble rot brandy .5 oz rain water madeira .5 oz cynar .5 oz lemon juice dash peychauds bitters I prefer equal parts for things like this but I only had .5 oz. of lemon juice so I let that dictate the shape of the drink. This tastes like a boozed up grapefruit with some serious patina.

it turns out that limoncello is economically significant enough that a few chemists have studied it in depth. I found two papers on the subject and put some bullet point summaries of the good bits on my blog. the research unfortunately doesn't give suggestions or systematically explore the best way to make it, they just observe what is already on the market, but that is still useful. there is definitely no terpene removal in limoncello production because terpenes are a major feature of the product. the papers unfortunately do not touch upon pectin in the peels and I suspect all it really takes to avoid pectin is removing all the pith from the peels. the second paper discovers that many of the syrups producers are using to sugar their products have significant microbiological activity going on... gross!

sow's ear and the silk purse 1.5 oz. apple brandy from bragg apple cider vinegar (55%) 1.5 oz. centrifuged rhubarb juice 8 g. non aromatic white sugar .75 oz. lemon juice 2 dashes peychauds bitters the resultant 5 oz. of diluted cocktail was carbonated to approx. 8 g/L of dissolved CO2 with the champagne bottle manifold the apple brandy from cider vinegar was a strange concept recipe designed to illustrate a few concepts. it is a long story but the spirit was probably very high in ethyl acetate and acetaldehyde and plain old acetic acid despite best efforts to neutralize it. after a year of sitting around it has "mellowed" dramatically and the apple character, though not exactly ready to replace lairds, has improved. the rhubarb juice has been in the freezer since last spring and i couldn't remember if it was sugared or not. weighing it and comparing it to the volume said it was completely un-sugared. i've lost track of so many things that i need new techniques to figure out how much a forgotten project has been sugared or if it has been cut with water. sometimes the volumes are too low for a hydrometer so i'm exploring finding density by comparing mass to volume. this was particularly delicious. when you have the power of the cocktail all flaws can become features.

- from http://ask.metafilter.com/182844/I-wanna-come-down-from-this-cloudThis makes sense - I keep my limoncello around 50% alcohol, so the terpenes never precipitate out. Now I'm really tempted to try a "light" batch, adding water and simple until I do get clouding. another variable causing the haze could be pectin. i'm not so sure that terpenes will make the spirit cloudy if the alcohol content goes below 30% so much as separate as an insoluble oil at the top. but it could take a long time to separate so maybe it just starts as cloudy. joseph merory in his book "food flavorings" describes his terpene separator which is just a large conical separator. i'll have to check and see what exactly he does with it. commercial distilled triple-secs go through terpene separation even though they are above 30% in alcohol. i think they do it to make the aroma consistent and stable.

Great ideas. Out of curiosity, do you serve any of your experiments (with distilled wines, re-distilled gins, reconstituted liqueurs, etc) at the restaurant where you work? Or are they all private projects/research that you do in your own time. I'll give you the long answer because people always wonder why I work where I do and why we keep it so simple. I do more or less all projects on my own time these days but tons of people come by the house and drink them. distilling stuff yourself is illegal so you cannot serve your own distilled stuff anywhere. the reconstituted liqueurs and fake oak aged stuff is legal but I don't use any of that at work. I kept it around for a while but it didn't resonate too well. I'm still serving people their first old fashioneds. my mottoes often are: be patient and its too easy to make money and keep people happy. we patiently serve gin drinks, force local distilleries on people as well as slightly off the beaten path wine varietals. I try to keep the other staff patient. they seem to get bored with our wines and cocktails when our patrons do not. right now the only interesting stuff I'm doing at work is carbonated cocktails in magnums for our events and exploring reflux de-aeration of citrus juices so I can juice twice a week but keep everything un-oxidized. the restaurant is experimental in different ways. I just listen to people. what do they notice? what do they ask for? what language do they use and how do they respond to language? how do they respond to our lack of certain products? how much further do you get remembering peoples names and being charismatic than having the dopest product? someday when I start selling really wild stuff again I think it will have been useful to have just paused and spent a few years listening. I'm also limited by a horrible budget. we are always cash strapped due to all the owner's projects but the challenge is fun. most of my bar manager tasks are trying to keep the boat afloat. someday knowing how to be financially practical will also pay off. I thought someone would offer me a job someday where I could actually use all my accumulated projects but that definitely has yet to happen. I've tried to keep my experience at work very teamwork and service orientated to contrast all the technical experience I've accumulated in my own free time. when people arrange a visit I usually go out of my way to make sure there is extra cool stuff laying around.

Thanks. I wasn't sure which way to go with the bitters so I went with the easy choice. There's a background of bitter in the sweet potato syrup as well, from the sugar caramelizing on the pan, so I didn't want to go to heavy on additional bittering. The spices in the Angostura seemed like a good choice with the sweet potato theme but it would be fun to try others. I have enough syrup left for a few more. Didn't even think about a name. It's not very practical to make. It was just one of those moments when an idea hit me at the right time. Normally, an idea like that would hit me a few minutes after I've already cleaned the pan. in Guyana there is a drink called sweet potato fly that old ladies make. they save the water they boil their sweet potatoes in and use it to make lemonade. its is great as lemonade but i've also used sweet potato water in my ginger beer. a little ginger might be an awesome addition to that syrup.

this was sort of like a resurrection. zombie-brandy sour 2 oz. of noble rot sauternes brandy .5 oz. lemon juice 6.5 g. non aromatic white sugar making a brandy from a botrytised wine seemed like a good idea, but it wasn't. the result smelled like bleach and was scary. i even wrote to Randall Grahm of all people to find out what happened. Randall is the patron saint of strange projects and probably has the most diverse experience in the entire industry. he was making (and gave up on) peach brandy before hipster bartenders knew they wanted it. anyhow, the wine was supposedly high in sulfur, acetaldehyde, and acetic acid. basically the worst possible thing to become a brandy. there would be no gorgeous apricot expression. anyhow fast forward nine months. what scared even me has mellowed. it isn't good but its drinkable. jagged highly volatile aromas that sliced and diced your senses have calmed. there is a little bit of apricot probably because the more attentional distractors have receded. it is kind of card board-y like a white wine that is too old. who knows what happened. post distillation esterification? acetaldehyde coming to equilibrium with ethyl-acetate? is this the real molecular gastronomy? drinking flawed spirits is kind of fun because you get to contemplate what the hell happened.

whittled down 20th century 1 oz. gin (gordon's) .5 oz. cocoa aromatized whitened whiskey (50%) .75 oz. cocchi aperitivo americano .75 oz. lemon juice this was fairly enjoyable. the structure is pleasant enough, not too tart believe it or not. the aromas are kind of plebeian and ordinary. the cocoa in this tart context comes across like coffee grounds. kind of inelegant. but i had no problem finishing it.

judging by these proportions you've used you could likely see some sugar crystalizing. it takes more time than you'd think to happen if you do not have any seed points. a theory i have is that many of the highest quality liqueurs of the 19th century were sugared to the maximum of solubility. as alcohol increases solubility of sugar decreases. there aren't really any charts that predict sucrose solubility for a given alcohol content but one example might be the curacao analyzed by the german agro-chemist joseph konig in 1879. it had 55% alcohol and 285g/l of sugar. i suspect the sugar content for the early chartreuses was also the maximum of solubility for their very high alcohol contents. there are many liqueurs that decoratively grow rock candy crystals. i've seen elaborate recipes for rock & rye that coat the sides of the bottle with crystals. i never add syrup to my liqueurs. i prefer to add only a weighed out measure of granular sugar and to stir it in. granular sugar is 1.6 times more dense than water so we can estimate fairly well what the sugar will displace volumetrically. if you want your sugar content to be 250 g/l just divide 250 by 1.6 and you will figure out how much your are displacing. this will help you hit better end points for sugar and alcohol content. another good trick is to measure the density of that syrup or the alcohol content of your non sugared infusion (if you have lost track of it) with a kitchen scale. density is just mass/volume and a volumetric flask can be made just by filling a bottle to the very top. to find a fairly accurate volume of the bottle just weigh how much water fills it. one gram of water displaces one milliliter. some online converters can be used to turn the mass/volume measure into specific gravity, brix, alcohol content or whatever is most intuitive.

what you are most likely encountering is precipitated pectin. the main reason the pith is removed from the peels is because of pectin and not the bitterness that people usually site. peels also shouldn't be over steeped. the oils are easily soluble so infusing longer just means more pectin. so just let it precipitate and rack it off into a another jar.

1 oz. thomas handy 1 oz. cocoa aromatized "whitened" whiskey 5 g. non aromatic white sugar 4 dashes peychaud's bitters herbsaint rinse expressed lemon peel i went back and added a dash of de-odorized angostura bitters for tannin (i was out of regular ango) the cocoa aromatized whiskey has sat on the shelf for quite a while now and has really transformed. i've been drinking it straight and have gotten into it; a most pleasant dram. i thought if i put it in a cocktail it should be paired with something plenty woody like a barrel proof whiskey. not a bad thought but i had to go back and add some bitters for tannin. i couldn't find regular angostura but then i found an old project bottle on the shelf where angostura bitters were dehydrated to de-odorize them then reconstituted with neutral spirits to the same proof. they really perked up the drink. the way the tannins perk up the aroma has got me thinking a drink with dubonnet or a barolo chinato would be nice.

for those into making liqueurs. I just found some buried treasure. I started collecting old issues of Peter Dominic's WineMine quarterly from the 1960's and 70's. inside one of the issues was an amazing account of rural French liqueurs from a journalist named Joe Hollander who retired to Provence. A La Votre by Joe Hollander from issue #25 from 1973. An account of Provencal drinks “both above and below the legal line”. above the legal line: below the legal line:

to constructively tackle problems that arise from having only one vodka i want to start a formalized adopt a distillery program. instead of having only one choice which can come across as aimless, decadent, hipsterism bars could tell their patrons they are part of a program to support the local distilling industry. the media would probably want to write about it as a trend and could elaborate on all the positive reasons why it is a good idea. that way patrons encountering the phenomenon would have background, see it as a positive, and not be shocked or annoyed. i win as a bar manager because it is so much easier to manage. local distilleries win. patrons will slowly realize they also win.

what is funny about this topic is that i've wanted to start advocating micro-cap bar programs that operate with lots of constraints. not just one vodka or no vodka but one gin, one vodka, one bourbon, one rum, etc. this is how we run it at work and we have been wildly successful. we are in the supposed pickiest, snobbiest, non-foody first suburb of the city. and yet it has been so easy. patrons love it. we are so busy and i've never had more regulars in my career. somehow the staff makes the eccentricity come across as supremely endearing. granted the staff is not normal (they are extraordinarily charismatic) and there are only five of us. prep, ordering, and inventory are so easy. i think part of the success is discriminating evenly. just one of each. the distilleries aren't even my favorites. we didn't select you the "best" vodka but one that works. one you can afford. same with the gin. i enjoy it now, but hopefully the gin will get better with every batch they make. the vodka and gin are local and somehow we've become their biggest non liquor store accounts despite being only a 40 seat restaurant (and a tiny sister place down the street with a similar program). we only use lemon juice, no lime. the cranberry juice is fresh pressed and unpasteurized, there are no sodas, only soda water, tonic, and orangina. we make a lot of lemonades which for some reason people rave about because the ratios are spot on and they are not over engineered. we don't have decaf ("but its early!") there is this cool aura about the program that it was inherited (and it was) and we just make do. some restricted bar programs have a contrived quality. it has been fun to work with less than ideal selections. it is almost a test of your service and charm. our one bourbon is granddad. i keep finding patrons enjoying teasing their companions about turning their nose up at a granddad old fashioned so there is a small element of challenge to it. i'm not trying to punish anyone, but it was there when i started four years ago and seemed like a worthwhile tradition to maintain. our old fashioned is batched and people keep asking for the recipe to make at home (18 oz. GD 4.5 oz. SS 1 oz. Ango). we only have cranberry infused tequila for a hyphenated-margarita (our most popular drink with lemon juice!). no plain tequila ("because the line cooks will drink it all" which has been the truth in the past) so you cannot have a classic margarita. our selections definitely challenge some peoples notions of quality. i'd argue that even deep into the cocktail renaissance, connoisseurship on both sides of bar is weak and notions of quality are horribly flawed. our drinks are delicious and really well received. the cocktail list has become so entrenched with the regulars it can no longer be changed. we are a popular first date spot and one thing i've observed is that people like to test their dates. can they handle our eccentricities gracefully and figure out how to enjoy themselves or do they turn into an ass when there is no makers mark or diet coke or there is a wait or there is no chicken entree. easy going adaptable people without hangups get second dates. challenging people isn't the priority but it happens. the subtlest of challenges are part of the fun, a source of humor and conversation, and can make an evening unforgettable. our program is weird and fun and everything works. i don't know how the NYPost would feel about it. guest: "may i have a grey goose martini" me: "local vodka martini, olives or a twist?" guest: [smiles] "olives" somehow with the right timing, with the right smile, with the perfect inflection its just easy.

my copy is in the mail. i had the pleasure of finally meeting and making drinks for kevin a few weeks ago. kevin is definitely brilliant. i cannot wait to see what he has come up with. i went with a print version but i hear a free kindle version is available on thursday.

1.5 oz. cape verdean tamarind ponche (high acid liqueur) .5 oz. campari .5 oz. tabasco "aromatized" gin .75 oz. lime juice shaken, double strained, diluted to 4.5 final volume, gassed up to 8g/l CO2 using the champagne bottle manifold. my favorite version of the sparkling tamarind drink. in the previous iteration i only used .5 oz. lime juice but i keep finding with these sparkling drinks i cannot stick to my usual even ratios and maintain the harmonies i want.

.75 oz. lime juice .75 oz. rum agricola da madeira .75 oz. hispaniola mamajuana .75 oz. goya coconut cream (caramelized in pressure cooker for 40 minutes) the spirits and coconut cream were run through the colloid mill a few times to homogenize all the fat. the rest of this isn't being served until monday but i thought i'd start today and see how it held up. in the past i've just homogenized the coconut cream by itself. if anything appears to separate i'll just mill it again the day of. quite the delicious take on a colada.

.75 oz. benromach speyside single malt .75 oz. linie aquavite .75 oz. walnut liqueur .75 oz. florio sweet marsala this was quite extraordinary. yet another big marsala success. the linie and benromach contrasted each other wonderfully. this will be made again.

wow. that is pretty wild. thank you for bringing it to our attention. i avoid using diageo and fortune brand products at work as best i can and have switched as much as possible to our new local distilleries. switching has been easy and the new local products keep getting better and better. it would be a big shame to lose products like Ron del Barilito. i've tried for years to make a market for them and i guess i have to step it up and do a little more.