St. Germain

[Kent Wang]

I just tried a 3:1 Laphroaig 10 cask strength to St. Germain. The combination is pretty interesting as the elderflower comes in first and is then overwhelmed by the peat and smoke. I think I'll play with this combination a bit, probably dial down the scotch.

[Chris Amirault]

Finally found a bottle for $30 and have been experimenting. I don't think that it's quite as mixable as others have claimed. For example, I can't figure out good proportions for a pisco sour using the St. Germain; the Peruvian competition blows those flowers away. Makes me wonder about those peaty scotches y'all have been celebrating.

On a more successful note, I have been fiddling with Katie's Aviation variation:

2.5 oz. Plymouth gin

1.25 oz. fresh lemon juice

.5 oz. Maraschino

.5 oz. St. Germain

Shaken and strained over a maraschino cherry in a cocktail glass.

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I've been calling this combination Par Avion:

2 1/2 Plymouth gin

3/4 St. Germain

1/4 Luxardo Maraschino

3/4 lemon

In a nod to Katie's initial idea, I did toss in a brandied cherry.

[Chris Amirault]

OK, I take it all back. I just made this New Old Fashioned thing:

2 oz Famous Grouse scotch

1/2 oz St. Germain

1 dash halvsies orange bitters

1 dash Fee's Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters

Oh man oh man.

ETA: Halvsies orange bitters is half Fee's and half Regan's.

Edited April 29, 2008 by chrisamirault (log)

[Nathan]

I just tried a 3:1 Laphroaig 10 cask strength to St. Germain. The combination is pretty interesting as the elderflower comes in first and is then overwhelmed by the peat and smoke. I think I'll play with this combination a bit, probably dial down the scotch.

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I've been doing 2 Peat Monster, .75 St. Germain, orange bitters.

(I think the Scotch with Germain concept originated with Philip Ward)

[Liz Johnson]

I'm about to start work on the Badminton Club, which I tasted during this visit to PDT. Thanks to Jane for introducing me to it. She wasn't too specific, but here's what I got out of her:

Over 3/4 St. Germaine elderflower liqueur

2 gin

1/4 simple syrup

3/4 lemon

Couple cucumbers

Mint

Top with soda in a rocks glass.

I'm thinking I'll muddle the cukes?

[lemon_twist]

I'm about to start work on the Badminton Club, which I tasted during this visit to PDT. Thanks to Jane for introducing me to it. She wasn't too specific, but here's what I got out of her:

Over 3/4 St. Germaine elderflower liqueur

2 gin

1/4 simple syrup

3/4 lemon

Couple cucumbers

Mint

Top with soda in a rocks glass.

I'm thinking I'll muddle the cukes?

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Was the mint primarily a garnish or was it muddled in as well?

[Liz Johnson]

I think when Jane made it she only garnished. I tried it with muddling and it's great that way. I used about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons cucumbers and 3 sprigs of mint per drinks. Very refreshing.

[juggles]

Not sure how active this thread still is -- but I've been intrigued with St. Germain with tequila and fresh fruit. Have tried obviously played with lime, but also tried pineapple -- both with a little bit of sugar. Any thoughts out there?

Also did some SG with Bushmills 10 and some blood orange bitters but feel like it's missing something..

[Kent Wang]

You've tried a St. Germain, lime, tequila? Same proportions as a margarita?

[jmfangio]

Not sure how active this thread still is -- but I've been intrigued with St. Germain with tequila and fresh fruit. Have tried obviously played with lime, but also tried pineapple -- both with a little bit of sugar. Any thoughts out there?

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Yup, what Kent said - try it in a Margarita in lieu of the Cointreau. Even better, now that it's strawberry season, make a batch of Tequila Por Mi Amante (I just put my batch up last weekend), and try this recipe out.

[Chris Amirault]

Tried this French Pearl variation.

2 oz Plymouth gin

scant 1/2 oz lime

generous 1/2 oz St. Germain

dash Pernod

10-12 mint leaves

Add all liquids to the shaker. Gently but thoroughly muddle the leaves. Shake, strain with a fine mesh sieve, garnish with a mint spring.

The St. Germain works really well in place of 1:1 simple -- and the nose and mouthfeel of the St. Germain is superior as well. However, this is one of those subtle drinks that requires a straw taste in the shaker to tweak for balance, or else one of the big flavors (lime, mint, Pernod, gin) can overpower the St. Germain.

[brinza]

I just got a bottle of this over the weekend. If it weren't for having read this thread, I probably would have walked right by it, but it kind of jumped out at me. I was rather surprised to see it on the shelf. I grabbed it without hesitation (I have a tendency to ponder a while over new items).

This is one of the most unusual liqueurs I've come across. It's simultaneously delicate and pungent. So far, I've tried it (and loved it) in the Right Bank Martini and the Parisian Martini from the Slashfood site, and in one of plattetude's rye recipes (can't wait to try the other two). I'm also looking forward to trying KatieLoeb's Cherub's Kiss and chrisamirault's New Old Fashioned Thing. There are enough good-sounding recipes right in this thread to work one's way through a bottle of this in no-time. Hmmm, may have to pick up another . . .

[tkd7]

I just bought a bottle of this myself. I played around and made this variation of a Bijou

2 oz gin (Gale Force)

1 oz Punt e Mes

1 oz St. Germain

1 dash Peychaud's

lemon peel

Not bad for my first time playing with this cordial.

[Chris Amirault]

Even better, now that it's strawberry season, make a batch of Tequila Por Mi Amante (I just put my batch up last weekend), and try this recipe out.

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That recipe is here:

I made a batch of Tequila por Mi Amante after reading about it on Cocktail Chronicles, and tried it in a standard 3:2:1 Margarita (delicious), but then decided to give it a try substituting the St. Germain for the Cointreau. Fruity, floral, and dangerously smooth.  For the next round I mixed the Amante with a bit of reposado, just to get a bit of peppery tequila bite.

1 oz Tequila por Mi Amante

1/2 Tequila reposado

1 oz St. Germain

1/2 oz lime juice

Shake, strain, sip contentedly.

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It is a fantastic drink.

ETA: And it needs a name.

Edited May 27, 2008 by chrisamirault (log)

[Kent Wang]

I just tried a 3:1 Laphroaig 10 cask strength to St. Germain. The combination is pretty interesting as the elderflower comes in first and is then overwhelmed by the peat and smoke. I think I'll play with this combination a bit, probably dial down the scotch.

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Instead of an Islay, try a mezcal which is not nearly as smoky. I tried a 3:1 Monte Alban:St. Germain and thought it a much better drink than the scotch one.

[jmfangio]

It is a fantastic drink.

ETA: And it needs a name.

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It's a bad pun, but I think I'm going to stick with my first thought: The Marguerita.

[Chris Amirault]

I had named it "I Heart jmfangio" in my cocktail list, and even I know that The Marguerita is better than that.

[lorib]

We were playing with St. Germain over the weekend and came up with this awesome refreshing cocktail which we named a Lemon Flower Martini.

3 oz Prosecco

1 oz St. Germain

1 oz Limoncello

1/2 oz fresh lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass.

Yummy and it goes down WAY too easy

[Chris Amirault]

OK, I take it all back. I just made this New Old Fashioned thing:

2 oz Famous Grouse scotch

1/2 oz St. Germain

1 dash halvsies orange bitters

1 dash Fee's Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters

Oh man oh man.

ETA: Halvsies orange bitters is half Fee's and half Regan's.

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Just wanted to report that, out for a drink this past week, I couldn't find a good scotch for this combination, so I asked for slightly different version, using what was on hand:

2 oz Power's Irish whiskey

1/2 oz St. Germain

dash Angostura

Still a great drink, and, again, the St. G brings out the peachyness lurking in the whiskey.

[Rob Simmon]

Speaking of peaches, I picked up a bottle of S.t Germain's last week and tried an experiment this afternoon:

1.5 oz. Gin (Bluecoat)

0.5 oz. St. Germain

1 dash grapefruit bitters

1/2 Peach

blend with ice

It was pretty good, but needs some work: possibly a pureed and strained peach rather than a blended one, then shaken with ice & served straight up.

[KatieLoeb]

Goya makes a peach nectar (melocoton on the label) that works well in cocktails. Look for it in the Latino seciton of the supermarket.

[bostonapothecary]

so being from that young generation of sommeliers i'm a madiera freak... (port is for suckers) madeira is probably the sexiest application of induced oxidization out there but its not the only... (noilly prat is a close second)

when you flirt with older white wines you often come across "maderization" which is when wines get over heated in storage and start to break down chemically similar to the natural aging process but faster. if its not the wine maker's intention many people call it a flaw and send it back... well sometimes you can't becaues its got no place to go... and your thirsty so you just drink it because there is nothing else... and you find that its not awful. its just not what you expected... well thats not entirely true sometimes its completely awful...

well long story short, i just ended up with a maderized bottle of saint germain. it was slowly cooking in a friends intensely hot apartment... (i was there to install an air conditioner)

its pretty cool. the freshness of the elderflower's muscat like flavor is gone and now its like an old dessert wine. the color has lost its youthful hues and has become really "honeyed" in color. it even almost looks like brizard apry... i'm at a loss of flavor descriptors but the simple liqueur really reminds me of the winery capanna's moscadello di montalcino... these wines are made of the elderflowerly piedmontese moscato bianco but get some serious terroir influence from the ligurian riviera.

classically moscadellos are paired with baba' al rum (which i've never had... a dough soaked in rum syrup) and confections with almond which seems like good leads for a cocktail...

1.5 oz. 1992 plantation venezuela rum

1 oz. maderized st. germain

1 oz. noilly prat dry vermouth (from a wet year... rainwater madeira style!)

.5 bar spoon luxardo almond liqueur

1 dash regan's bitters

stir over ice...

something new... a good way to use up some cooked liqueur. also gin may work better.

[eje]

[...]

well long story short, i just ended up with a maderized bottle of saint germain.  it was slowly cooking in a friends intensely hot apartment... (i was there to install an air conditioner)

its pretty cool. the freshness of the elderflower's muscat like flavor is gone and now its like an old dessert wine.  the color has lost its youthful hues and has become really "honeyed" in color.

[...]

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Interesting.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the shelf life for many of these natural liqueurs is not quite forever, especially after they've been opened.

I know someone who recently talked about what they felt like was a pretty dramatic change in the flavor of the Rothman & Winter Violet liqueur over a pretty brief period of time after opening. I don't know if they were imagining it or not, but I can imagine heat exacerbates any change like that.

Edited July 30, 2008 by eje (log)

[bostonapothecary]

[...]

well long story short, i just ended up with a maderized bottle of saint germain.  it was slowly cooking in a friends intensely hot apartment... (i was there to install an air conditioner)

its pretty cool. the freshness of the elderflower's muscat like flavor is gone and now its like an old dessert wine.  the color has lost its youthful hues and has become really "honeyed" in color.

[...]

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Interesting.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the shelf life for many of these natural liqueurs is not quite forever, especially after they've been opened.

I know someone who recently talked about what they felt like was a pretty dramatic change in the flavor of the Rothman & Winter Violet liqueur over a pretty brief period of time after opening. I don't know if they were imagining it or not, but I can imagine heat exacerbates any change like that.

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oxidation can be cool. but its graces seem to be random. some things come out tasty and others become appalling... i'd love to hear some people's experiences. especially from the liquor store archaeologists...

robert cooper was generous enough to let people sample a really old batch of forbidden fruit liqueur at tales of the cocktails. it was a pretty cool experience but did taste like an ancient dessert wine instead of a fresh pommello liqueur. age gave it something magical like exotic nut characters and shades of maple syrup but it did also leave the liqueur with a pretty horrible and pungent after aroma. i have no idea where it came from but it may have been something like the geranium smell of potassium sorbate which is used to keep dessert wines from further fermenting and being attacked by molds. i think some of those preservatives breakdown over time and give off aromas.

when you start looking through oxidized, aromatized, and eccentric styles of wine like in the moscadello comparison. you start to find some awesome cocktail flavors for a fraction of the price of over promoted liqueurs these days...

i sometimes finish off bottles of dessert wines in flips... chateau y'quem... no sacrilege.

[brinza]

baba' al rum (which i've never had... a dough soaked in rum syrup)

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That stuff is awesome.

I just bought a set of port sippers (mainly for their aesthetic quality and to add to the glassware collection). I understand their purpose has something to do with the oxidation of port, but I've read a couple different descriptions of their function, which I don't fully understand. I'd like to read your explanation of it.