MxMo XVI

[eje]

If any of you read (or write) blogs which cover cocktails, you might know that Paul over at Cocktail Chronicles has been organizing a monthly online cocktail event he calls Mixology Mondays.

This month's event is being hosted by Anna on her Morsels and Musings blog. The theme is crème de la crème.

To quote Mr. Clarke:

First, Mixology Monday XVI is upon us. This coming Monday, June 18, post your favorite drink for the theme “Creme de la Creme,” using cream-based liqueurs (or, as host Anna says, “lazy bums can include cream in their cocktail if they have no cream based liqueurs at home” — a category I suspect I’ll find myself in come Monday). Anna’s posted more details over at her site, Morsels and Musings, so take a look and either grab the Bailey’s or head for the dairy cooler, and we’ll see what you’ve got come Monday.

If you would like to participate, please write up a cocktail made with cream or a cream based liqueur in this topic before Monday, June 18th at midnight. I will compile a list of cocktails posted and mail them to the organizer.

Moo! Honor the Cow!

[bostonapothecary]

maillard fizz.....

i started trying to make a chocolate liqueur like godiva.... it started out beautifully then gelified mysteriously after more than 24 hours of delicious liquidity.... this led me to accept chocolates limitations and try to accentuate certain properties. chcocolate can be like cream and if prepared right can be substituted for it.

the drink uses a ramos gin fizz for a template and tries to achieve the same texture. initially i didn't want to use egg white or cream but it didn't quite work out and the egg white became necessary. i created a giardelli semi sweet chocolate emulsion with espresso that i had bloomed gelatin into.... i though this would crystalize and take in air bubbles like chantilly cream when super chilled in a shaker..... it sort of happened but was not thick and stable without the egg white.

the drink is simply

2oz. chocolate emulsion*

2oz. african rye whiskey for a penetrating cigar box character

1 egg white

shaken to death or whipped in a malt mixer

the emulsion is 50/50 espresso with gelatin and semi sweet chocolate. super easy to make and lasts 24 hours. the flavors try to capture maillard reactions like browned meats and bread crusts with flavors of coffee and cocoa etc....

the texture of the drink is the most important part. it should be exactly like a ramos. subtle sweetness from the chocolate with a defining bitter.... rich but not over the top, sophistication from three flavor notes and unique texture.... integrated booze that sneaks up on you....

this took some preperation but was well received tonight....

[bostonapothecary]

at the restaurant we consume alot of clayton's kola nut tonic.... i've been told to cut down my drinking on the job and its challenging complexities fullfill my need for a drink without the booze. i also drink alot of "jamaican root tonic" for sexual potency. along the same lines is "irish moss", drank in milk or cream, which is very popular in jamaica as a male aphrodisiac. and since women seem to be in heat this spring, it might be useful for this mixomonday to help men keep up. i prepared an irish moss cream liqueur and served it with applejack to get a result akin to jerry thomas' "white tigers milk"....

the drink is the "kingston snake charmer"

kingston snake charmer

1oz. irish moss cream liqueur*

1/2oz. apry, creole shrub, blackberry shrub, whatever....

2oz. applejack

shake, strain, your mojo is ready.

*2oz dried irish moss steeped in 6oz. hot milk with 1/4 cup of sugar, spoon of cocoa powder, 1/4 cup dried fruit. (strawberries) strain and blend in two egg yolks, wisk in 8 oz. of appleton's rum. bottle and it probably lasts a week.

it was good, just like white tigers milk, i should probably try to perfect the irish moss cream liqueur recipe....

[Dan Ryan]

Only one entry for me this month. Just couldn’t get round to drinking some cream in this summer heat, so I’ve gone for an old friend. I did have visions of doing an aviation-leaning version of the Angel’s Tit, with cream, maraschino, gin, crème de violette and lemon juice, but that will have to wait for another day, or maybe another time of year. Anyway, here’s one I made earlier:

The Cavalletta

1½ shots crème de cacao

1½ shots Branca Menta

1½ shots cream

Shake with ice, and serve straight up in a cocktail glass.

A little variation on the Grasshopper. To my mind Branca Menta is so much more interesting than crème de menthe, and it doesn’t do any harm to inject just a little bitterness. Let’s face it, any drinks using crème de menthe could probably use it… Anyway, yes, it’s sweet. But it’s not the worst after-dinner drink in the world. You wouldn’t want more than one, though, unless perhaps you slapped a good measure of brandy in there. Hang on: equal proportions of brandy, crème de cacao, Branca Menta and cream, and we might be going places…

[eje]

Barbary Coast Cocktail

1/4 Gin (1 oz Beefeater's Gin)

1/4 Scotch Whisky (1 oz Compass Box Asyla Scotch)

1/4 Creme de Cacao (1 oz Bols White)

1/4 Cream (1 oz Cream)

Cracked Ice

Fill highball glass with crushed ice, build ingredients in glass, stir until outside of glass frosts over.

I'm really not much for cream based liqueurs or dairy in general. I was pretty tempted to do something with Goat Milk Yoghurt, which seems to make my stomach less unhappy.

But, this cocktail from the "Savoy Cocktail Book" has proved to be something of a guilty pleasure for me, so here it is.

Also, based on the assumption that this cocktail is named after the San Francisco's Gold Rush era Barbary Coast neighborhood, here is a great quote, from Benjamin Estelle Lloyd, writing in 1876:

The Barbary Coast is the haunt of the low and the vile of every kind. The petty thief, the house burglar, the tramp, the whoremonger, lewd women, cutthroats, murderers, all are found here. Dance-halls and concert-saloons, where blear-eyed men and faded women drink vile liquor, smoke offensive tobacco, engage in vulgar conduct, sing obscene songs and say and do everything to heap upon themselves more degradation, are numerous. Low gambling houses, thronged with riot-loving rowdies, in all stages of intoxication, are there. Opium dens, where heathen Chinese and God-forsaken men and women are sprawled in miscellaneous confusion, disgustingly drowsy or completely overcome, are there. Licentiousness, debauchery, pollution, loathsome disease, insanity from dissipation, misery, poverty, wealth, profanity, blasphemy, and death, are there. And Hell, yawning to receive the putrid mass, is there also.

Edited June 19, 2007 by eje (log)

[bostonapothecary]

that looks good enough to convert the big labowsky....

i can't believe this Mixo Monday didn't go very far....

cream liqueurs are so frivelous easy to make....white tigers milk was a great drink for all those classic cocktail freaks out there....

skip the cream and synthesize creaminess with the yolk of an egg....creaminess is a concept and a system that can be created in many ways.

leo engal's "kalidoor"

yolk of an egg

1/2 oz. benedictine

1/2 oz. raspberry syrup

shake and strain into a flute...top with champagne

creamesque decadence....

i save most of the yolks from my ramos gin fizzes to make kalidoors....

the ramos.... creamy yet paradoxically tart....

[Nathan]

i can't believe this Mixo Monday didn't go very far....

←

its summer.

[thirtyoneknots]

i can't believe this Mixo Monday didn't go very far....

←

its summer.

←

In the words of Ron Burgundy: "It's so damn hot... milk was a bad choice."

Speaking for myself though, I sort of ran out of time.

[eje]

Well, the host hasn't published the official list of participants; but, my rss reader tells me participation was actually not bad.

I guess it helps to remember the host is in Australia, where it is fall right now!

I'm really pretty surprised I haven't seen a Ramos Gin Fizz yet. That's a pretty good warm weather drink.

By the way, bostonapothecary, what is "African Rye Whiskey"? Is it a trade secret? Or can it be divulged?

[bostonapothecary]

start with overholt

i found some weird african flowers that taste much different dissolved in alcohol than water....(much better)

and then i add some vanilla beans to synthesize the oak aging and add body....

you add no sugar but get a dry vibrant infusion that is super easy to clarify.

the color is beautiful. the nose is of intense cigar box.

it is intense and really fun to drink on its own but expresses itself beautifully through other intense flavors when in a cocktail.

i love it in a sour with the whiskey.... pimento dram.... lemon juice.

i like anything that has cigar box character.... it contrasts fruit in such a sexy way.

i used the same flowers again in an ethiopian coffee liqeuer. using yirgacheffe, madagascar vanilla beans and african turbinado.

cheaper than kahlua/tia and i controlled the sugar content as well as all the other variables....

[eje]

Morsels and Musings roundup of MxMo XVI here:

mxmo crème de la crème: round-up

Hosting this event was an interesting experience for me. I knew this theme would be a challenge – I’ve read from various industry sources that a serious mixologist wouldn’t touch cream liqueurs – which is why I provided the cream escape clause, but I was kind of surprised to learn two things:

1. that people don’t realise quite how many cream liqueurs there are out there

2. that people don’t reconcile cream liqueurs with summer drinks