bostonapothecary

i tried to test the ransom for sugar and think that it might have 30 g/l or less. i can't be confident because that is near the margin of error for the testing method (narrow range hydrometer and a couple charts) i think the sugar is in there just to aid with first impressions. the old toms supposedly have more dissolved aroma (dry extract) than london drys. the aromas are very aggressive, so if the sugar was not there, you might be more likely to not "get it".. and not believe it would be so much fun to mix. when i mix it i do not factor in its sugar content to my recipes.

i swear by the acme centrifugal juicers. they are built like tanks and can be had used on ebay cheaply. the problem i've had with the leftover pulp is that it ends up being higher in pectin than the juice and precipitates in your infusion. the acme juicer gets a 99% yield with pomegranites. it does break the seeds but i don't think it necessarily makes the juice more tannic than a citrus press would. i've come to positively regard the tannin. it adds a little structure to things while never being an obtrusive distraction.

if you end up enjoying "Eeyore's Requiem", i can recommend a thirtyoneknots inspired drink i was served recently from Will @Drink that looked something like this: 1.5 oz. cognac .5 oz. orgeat .5 oz. cynar .5 oz. zirbenz stone pine liqueur grapefruit twist Will's recipe was a rendering of this: today i made this for a few guests: 1.5 oz. blanco tequila (agavales) .5 oz. randall's pacific rim heirloom framboise .5 oz. lemon juice .5 oz. del maguay creme de mezcal scant spoonful of non aromatic white sugar the sugar content of the framboise is largely self contrasted with its own acidity and the creme de mezcal does not have enough sugar to create a broad shouldered tension between an equal volume of lemon juice so i added a little extra non aromatic sugar to stretch the drink into a shape that wouldn't be so dry as to distract from the aromas. the aromas of randall's liqueur is well worth the funny ratios you have to fit it into. excellent foil for tequila and/or mezcal.

1.5 oz. vale d'paul "nova" unaged cape verdean rum (fresh cane juice rum) .5 oz. kuchan peach eau de vie .5 oz. green chartreuse .5 oz. cape verdean cinnamon liqueur 1 oz. lime juice dash peychaud's bitters cape verde it has been so long! to vale d'paul, i could devote the rest of my liver..

one sugar ethic issue that has dawned on me lately is that there are two popular approaches to contrasting sweetness in high acid cocktails. one varies sweetness around a fixed point of acidity and the other varies acidity around a fixed point of sweetness. for example. 2:1:1 2 oz. tequila 1 oz. orange liqueur (substitute different brands for different sugar contents) 1 oz. lime juice 2:1:?? 2 oz. tequila 1 oz. orange liqueur (one brand, doesn't rotate) .5 - .75 oz. lime juice people that use the first approach tend to keep their drinks in very simple ratios but change brands based on their different properties. they also tend to think of recipes more statically and select specific drink for specific tastes (consonance, dissonance). the second approach seems to hold all recipe as suggestions and therefore be dynamic. the point of variance in the recipes is mainly the acid. for some reason i always use the first approach. even though i can remember the sugar contents of nearly every liqueur (because i've measured them all), i can't remember strange ratios for the life of me. i see drinks from brand PR materials with wacky ratios and it makes my head spin. any thoughts on this?

1.5 oz. 1995 guyana rum finished in chateau yquem barrels (renegade rum co.) .75 oz. ames farm dandelion honey syrup .75 oz. lemon juice ames farm dandelion is doing a stint as our honey of choice so i thought i'd run it through a series of tests... serious aromas. next time i would even consider splitting the lemon juice quotient with dry vermouth and stirring...

somehow, sugars at certain relative levels render gustation innocuous. sugar also can't be considered alone. that soda has acidity and carbonation which are attention grabbers from the sweetness of its sugar. those relationships form tension which we like. the lemonade, orange juice, etc. also feature lots of tension. "refreshing" usually refers to the tension of sweetness, acidty, and coldness. because flavor is multisensory, and there is an order to how our attention gravitates across those senses, if you render one of those senses innocuous your attention can climb to the next harder to reach sense. beverage largely renders texture innocuous which eliminates a big variable to perceiving the other senses. if you simplify gustation by basically creating a sweet drink, your attention can more easily focus on aroma. now that you've streamlined the path to aroma, you can explore it. cosmo is fairly boring aromatically while a manhattan is compelling and extra-ordinary. the innocuous is not therapeutic and aroma isn't the most therapeutic aspect of a flavor experience either... particular tensions for a particular mood.

if people are curious about this topic i may have addressed some of the issues in a blog post called Sweet Rebellion: a short theory of acquired tastes and an unsavory explanation of harmony. it is definitely not a complete theory but hopefully partially valid and definitely an interesting idea. kent, do you have a recipe for any of those drinks? i made a few drinks a couple nights ago for some co workers. one of the drinks ended up being very jolly rancher like and it wasn't enjoyed. i think the reason could be that there was no aromatic contrast and the tonal effect of the one dimensional aroma was not "extra-ordinary" and therefore evoked the memory of something common like a jolly rancher. the problem drink was this: .5 oz. primi frutti strawberry liqueur (fairly low sugar. maybe 200g/l, intense aroma) .5 oz. simple syrup .5 oz. lemon juice 1.5 oz. cognac the cognac and the fruit liqueur both have aromas that increase the perception of sweetness, but the fruit liqueur is so high in extract (dissolved aroma) that it largely overshadows the cognac and produces no cool aromatic "overtone" like a sidecar does. you largely get this mono strawberry experience and it is boring like a jolly rancher. another similarly structured drink i made looked like this: .5 oz. pacific rim framboise (huge aroma and very comparable sugar to the primi frutti) .5 oz. simple syrup .5 ozl lemon juice 1.5 oz. mezcal (del maguay vida) this drink was a big success and the commonness of the raspberry aroma was rendered extra ordinary by simply contrasting it with the mezcal. (sweet aromas contrasted with aromas that decrease the perceptions of sweetness. simple aromatic tension) because it was "extra-ordinary" no common experience (jolly rancher) was evoked. when you hit extra-ordinary territory you can't stop staring (with the mind's eye). it can be a very therapeutic distraction. the first drink was fixed on the next iteration by adding more aroma that decrease the perception of sweetness: .5 oz. primi frutti strawberry .5 oz. simple syrup .5 oz. lemon juice 1 oz. gin .5 oz. cognac dash angostura bitters more aromatic tension created more of an "extra-ordinary" experience. and she drank it faster than the first...

May I ask what a sugar ethic is? I guessed it was a gastronomy term, but couldn't find any definition other than the obvious ones. Or are you saying that it is right in some way (ethic) for the drink to be quite sweet and that you enjoy it (excellent)? Thanks. my intention was to make a drink with a sweetness that could elicit a favorable emotional reaction. i have a very personal range of what is favorable, but for the most part it overlaps with a lot of other people. the drink in question was funny because i knew what i wanted but not what the sugar sources i used (plus aromas) would yield. malt extract is not exactly the most intuitive thing to use. a coworker whom i make a lot of drinks for has a very unique sugar ethic. she doesn't enjoy anything that doesn't have a lot of acid and a very specific range of contrasting sugar. she would not enjoy this (too sweet): 1.5 oz. gin .75 oz. (1:1 by volume simple syrup) maybe 400g/l of sugar .75 oz. lemon juice she would enjoy this: 1.5 oz. gin .75 oz. triple sec (250 g/l plus more alcohol) .75 oz. lemon juice i think a lot of people out there share her "sugar ethic" but cocktail menu's don't really cater to it and she can't exactly articulate what she wants.

i love sipping them. my favorite restaurant doesn't always have cocktails i want to explore so i usually order a whale's tale pale ale and a buffalo trace white dog. so many spirits these days are over aged in my opinion, like the california chardonnay's of the roaring nineties... i find myself rebelling against the barrel. my favorite ways to use white dogs in drinks ends up looking like this: 1 oz. ransom old tom gin .5 oz. wasmund's rye spirit 1 oz. bianco vermouth .5 oz. brandymel honey liqueur the white dog is just a fraction and adds extra aromatic tension to the drink (aromas that increase the perception of sweetness plus aromas that decrease it). kirschwasser plus white dog is also great: 1 oz. hiram walker kirshwasser 1 oz. buffalo trace white dog 1 oz. lemon juice bar spoon non aromatic white sugar 2 dashes angostura bitters white dog has become a staple for me.

brewer's old fashioned 2 oz. ransom old tom gin bar spoon of hiram walker kirschwasser level teaspoon non aromatic white sugar level teaspoon breiss dried malt extract 2 dashes angostura bitters excellent sugar ethic and elegant aromatic contrasts.

brewer's sazerac heaping spoon of breiss dried malt extract 2 oz. ransom old tom gin 2 dashes peychaud's 2 dashes angostura rinse of herbsaint more or less all the aromas line up, but next time around i'll dilute the malt sugar with non aromatic white sugar and make a syrup. that way i'll avoid overshadowing the gin with a more elegant amount of malt aroma. affordable aromas... i'm pretty sure amer picon used malt extract. cheap lager plus cheap picon equals poor man's chimay.

I don't think so. As Erik and Eric intimated upthread (eje and eas, respectively), the big attraction of eaux-de-vie is the the way they capture the aroma of a fruit. As aromas are considerably diminished at freezer temperature, serving an eau-de-vie ice cold is not advised. most respectful of aroma is really stuff like pineau des charentes, pommeau, and fruit liqueurs that are fortified with an eau de vie of the same fruit (certain framboise like bonny doon's pacific rim bottling) the commonality here is that there are less barriers to the perception of aroma. high alcohol is a distraction. so is extremes temperature. thats all in theory of course. in practice the emotional aspect of the alcohol is often more fun than the aroma. and the tension between the two is often awesome as well.

1 oz. mezcal (vida) .5 oz. medronhos (unaged arbutus brandy) 1 oz. bianco vermouth (cinzano) .5 oz. randall's pacific rim framboise randall's framboise is wildly cool and was the starting point for this drink. the aroma is gigantic and requires penetrating spirits than can resist its overshadowing nature. hence the use of mezcal and medronhos which provides at least two types of aromatic tension to juxtapose with the sweet-roundness of the raspberry aroma. the framboise is also largely self contrasted by its own acidity so even though this is an elaborated 50/50 sort of drink, i do not find it to be too sweet for me.

1 oz. ransom old tom gin. .5 oz. wasmund's "rye spirit" (high proof rye white dog) 1 oz. cinzano bianco vermouth .5 oz. "brandymel" honey liqueur from the algarve dash peychaud's bitters i have no anxiety to dispel so i scratched my usual high acid drink. i think i'm also desensitized to the distractions of high alcohol. oh well.. this drink is all about gorgeous aromas. the aromas come out more when it warms because the distractions of the stinging chill wear off... brandymel is by far the coolest pre-made honey liqueur on the market. extraordinary sensoriality!

i like when i get a request for perfect manhattans. they are always for interesting people. the term "perfect" being associated with what it does to the drink is awesome. it also reminds us of a lesson we forget a lot. there is no correctness of taste. there is only authenticity of taste. do you really like it? so many food writers look for correctness (often with their evil "balanced" term), but that obviously constrains the expressive power of works of culinary art. we don't all have to like the same things and as long as your liking is authentic then "to each their own". we can also learn to like things and that is a key to sustainability. according to the theory of cognitive dissonance, when confronted with something you don't like (fernet?), you have a motivational drive to reduce the dissonance. one option is simply starting to like it. and of course that happens every now and then. if we analyzed the phenomenon we'd find service techniques we could use to make it happen quicker and easier (foot in the door strategy). wouldn't that be cool? its gonna take a lot of work. for starters we have to learn to speak differently. there is no "too" salty but rather saltiness which goes beyond the role of increasing the threshold of perception of an aroma (flavor enhancer) and instead becomes a distraction from the other senses. ...and not the favorite distraction of a particular culture. sometimes we love the blinding distraction of acidity or other times the burning distraction of high alcohol. either way they draw your attention away from aroma, but sometimes that is cool. distractions can clear the mind and dispel anxiety. used carefully they can also make you pay attention to what you're consuming and what artist doesn't want their work to get attention? the journal of contemporary aesthetics published an interesting paper on taste.

"boll weevil" (inspired by the alan lomax recording of vera hall and for my newfound love of the cotton ball "rinse". i'm sure a few bygone people have drank sazeracs while contemplating the boll weevil) 2 oz. ransom old tom gin spoonful non aromatic white sugar 4 dashes peychaud's bitters inhomogeneous lemon oil from a peel inhomogeneous application of absinthe (herbsaint) this drink tries to apply the "simplified gustation principle" to allow perception of as much of the aromas as possible with the minimum of distractions. this is done by basically creating a sweet drink free of the distractions from various gustatory modes of "dryness". i then wanted to add care to separate the other aromatic adjuncts. discard the peel. and i used a cotton ball to apply the herbsaint so it didn't leach into the drink. you get a good separation for a few sips then it is all a delightful sensory blur. i have a feeling that the extra water content of simple syrup would have simplified gustation even more by diluting the alcohol and even amplifying the aromas. delicious.

1 oz. mirabelle (yellow plum eau de vie, trimbach) .5 oz. mezcal (vida) 1 oz. melata di bosco (spruce tree honey 1:1 dissolved in rye) 1 oz. espresso some potential lurks in here somewhere. my bar at work stocks no coffee liqueur or walnut so the darkest sweet thing i had was the alpine spruce tree honey. the espresso also sucked and had this burnt popcorn kind of aroma that couldn't be overshadowed. tragic really. next time i'll go across the street to starbucks for the espresso to at least give the drink a fighting chance. instead of the honey i think i'd like to explore a darkly roasted malt syrup like something a brewer would put in a black lager or a stout. mirabelle, mezcal, and espresso belong together somehow.

1 oz. ransom old tom gin 1 oz. lustau dry amontillado 1 oz. carpano antica formula barspoon hiram walker kirshwasser finally got a bottle of the ransom old tom gin. i put off trying it for quite a while because i have a hard time rapping my head around premixing sugar in gin. i did try to measure the sugar and found that is pretty near negligible. maybe even 30g/l which is near the margin of error of the testing method so its really hard to be confident. basically the sugar isn't going to make or break your drink so you can throw caution to the wind and let the aromas fly. spectacular!

1.5 oz. blanco tequila (agavales very cheap 100% agave) .75 oz. lime juice .75 oz. pear-ple-sec nice but not the most memorable. the aromas seem hard glean with such distracting gustatory features... maybe i need to experiment with less dryness.

2 oz. cognac (gaston de lagrange VS) 1 oz. lemon juice 1 oz. "pear-ple-sec" * pear-ple-sec is a triple sec like product but with pear aroma instead of orange. it is based on a 250g/l sugar model (like most triple-secs) which is approximated by 850 ml of pear eau-de-vie and 250 grams of non aromatic white sugar which has a dissolved volume of about 150 ml. i of course made a quarter batch. this really simple to create product differs from others like matilde poire (which is modeled after pineau des charentes) and maybe the haus alpenz pear liqueur in that there is no pear juice (triple-sec has no orange juice) and the alcohol is very high like a triple-sec which is a big contributor to the emotional content of drinks featuring it. use intuitively like triple-sec but get different aromas. hmm, what to try next?

"duende" .5 oz. mezcal (vida) .5 oz. prunelle sauvage ("wild" sloe berry eau de vie) .5 oz. M&R rose vermouth .5 oz. alvear's fino sherry .5 oz. cynar .5 oz. randall grahm's heirloom framboise the idea was to find federico garcia lorca's "duende" in a drink. duende being a "demonic earth spirit embodying irrationality, earthiness, and a heightened awareness of death". natalie portman looks for it in aronofsky's "black swan". lorca thought dance, music, and bull fighting were arts most susceptible to capturing the spirit, but i'd like to bet it could also be found in the acquired tastes we drink. who better to include in the search than randall grahm? randall always thinks he is looking for "terroir" but he might just be trying to find lorca's duende... the drink's creative linkage is a poetic collage which probably fails by being too redundent in the "sweet" aroma spectrum. bianco vermouth might have been a better fit. juggling six ingredients (that you only think you know aesthetically) might be the only way to capture irrationality without actually free pouring... the search goes on!

1 oz. smith & cross 1 oz. creme de mezcal 1 oz. clement creole shrub 1 oz. lemon juice scant spoonful of herbsaint i made this one big because i have to go to work in a few minutes. i'm not a fan of smith & cross and prefer lemonhart for a heavy rum, but someone has got to finish the bottle... to me, smith & cross smells like bubblegum and doesn't exactly come from the noble end of the "hogo" aroma spectrum, but yet it still can be mixed with other aromas to create extra-ordinary overtones that beg to be payed attention to. creme de mezcal has a sugar content inline with lillet and preserves the same sugar-acid ethic as a corpse reviver no. 2, but of course averaging the alcohol up a bit. this is an ambitious drink. good thing i don't drive a forklift. i think the original inspiration from this drink came from the dual float (mezcl & lemonhart 151) that i was using in the summer.

"mami wata" (named for the mermaid that gave sir victor uwaifo his magical powers) 1 oz. grenadine (fresh, not freeze concentrated; no aromative adjuncts; 400g/l sugar) 1 oz. lemon juice 2 oz. gin (olive oil infused) dash peychauds egg white i haven't played with grenadine nor eggs in quite a while. the idea was to see if the grenadine would overshadow the olive oil aromas extracted by the gin. the results were quite favorable. a beautiful frothy sour with strange, mermaid-grotesque, fruity aromas.

i named the drink "gilgamesh" after the poet who hangs in our restaurant. he wrote a famous rendering of gilgamesh in the 1990's that is taught in most high schools. we have awesome long running conversations on poetry, art, and all things epic. perhaps my favorite bar regular ever. "orange whips" (for, real its like being whipped) .75 oz. sour orange juice .75 oz. sweet vermouth (stock) 1.5 oz. aguardente de medronhos (nova) expressed oil of a sour orange twist (luckily it didn't have too mch oil) aaw, this is the flavor of fetish. virgil (of Aeneid epic fame) would have to hold some people's hand through drinking this one. i had some sour oranges left and wanted a riff on a bronx cockail (of course my bronx is tart). medronhos as opposed to gin adds an awesome sense of tension. the aromas create dryness, but in a completely different way than juniper. one thing i've found when using aggressive aromas is that if they are too aggressive for people, you can bury them in the aromatic top notes of a sturdy twist. one of my coworkers has a serious aversion to mezcal, but if i double up a twist on a drink i split with her (mine gets none), she is okay with it. lately, i try and avoid twists because i don't want their overshadowing-attention-distracting effect on my drinks.