Gift for lover of Jack+Coke, Rum+Coke?

[Dave the Cook]

I seem to recall that cooking Coke or other soft drinks will alter their flavor in a negative way, thus making reductions difficult. I really wanted to try this same idea some time back except with aged rums. Finding Coke syrup not in a bag proved difficult, and the next closest thing, Rose's Cola Tonic, didn't yield the hoped-for results (I think the Rose's is lacking in vanilla flavor).

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Have you tried reducing Coke? Richard Blais still serves a dessert that features cola "rocks." They start with a few liters right out of the bottle and cook it down to a syrup, then pour it into a sheet pan, freeze it with nitrogen and break the sheet into rocks.

I don't think they add anything to the syrup while cooking it. The end product still tastes quite a bit like cola.

[Alcuin]

I think it's amazing and unexpected that there's so much variation in whiskey-and-Coke blends. I would have loudly proclaimed, before reading here, that it's a total waste to use a better whiskey in this application -- I'd have said the Coke makes them all taste the same. Now I know it's Old Grand-Dad 114 all the way.

As others have pointed out, these are iconoclastic highballs he's making there. A typical highball would be something like 1.5 ounces of spirit in a 9 ounce glass with ice and a fill-up of lengthener to the tune of 4 ounces or so. And I should point out that these wouldn't necessarily be crap drinks, either. This is a fairly classic ratio. In contrast, db_campbell's version would be around 3 ounces of spirit with 2 ounces of lengthener. It's no surprise that the quality and qualities of the spirit would be much more important in this kind of drink.

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Wouldn't that then make these more cocktail-like drinks than highballs or long drinks? I'm saying that even though the second ingredient is in fact soda, the proportion in which it is used in more like what would be used in a cocktail. And thinking of the sweetness of the soda, it's being used more like a liqueur than a lengthener. I wonder what it would be like to use flat cola. It sounds strange, but it could be interesting. The drink would have an entirely different texture.

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Couple of dashes of bitters and I think that would pass as a cocktail in anyone's book, recognizeable even to the Ancients of Mixology.

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Another possibility might be to reduce the cola into a syrup. Build 2 oz bourbon/rye, 1/2 oz cola syrup, bitters, lemon twist could be an interesting Old Fashioned variation (the "Cola Fashioned"?).

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I seem to recall that cooking Coke or other soft drinks will alter their flavor in a negative way, thus making reductions difficult. I really wanted to try this same idea some time back except with aged rums. Finding Coke syrup not in a bag proved difficult, and the next closest thing, Rose's Cola Tonic, didn't yield the hoped-for results (I think the Rose's is lacking in vanilla flavor).

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I was thinking of coca-cola chicken in which the cola is reduced quite a bit for the final product for the principle. I've never tried it myself though--perhaps some experimentation is in order.

I would speculate that reducing some soft drinks might intensify the flavors, some of which might not be that good at that degree of intensity--perhaps that's the trouble with soda reductions?

[Fat Guy]

Isn't Coke made from syrup? I mean if you have a restaurant Coke machine. I bet that syrup could be used, rather than a reduction of bottled soda.

[tsquare]

We used to have a bottle of coke syrup in the house. Came from a pharmacy. Not sure what it was meant to treat, but I sure liked sneaking a gulp when I could.

[Marmish]

We used to have a bottle of coke syrup in the house. Came from a pharmacy. Not sure what it was meant to treat, but I sure liked sneaking a gulp when I could.

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db_campbell, you rock! This is why I love eGullet. I see you are pretty new around here, so welcome, we definitely hope you stick around. Tsquare, I think coke syrup is used to settle a queasy stomach.

[thirtyoneknots]

If I ever attempted this myself it was quite some time ago and I didn't get very far. The soft drink syrups from a restaraunt type of soda fountain are more likely to make a mess all over your work space than they are to get syrup out in a manageable fashion, or so I've been lead to believe, and even then you're left with a HFCS syrup that will potentially lend an off-putting texture to your cocktail. All this naysaying aside, I'm willing to give it a try. Might have to make a Sam's run once the hurricane blows over.

I do know there are sources for Cane Sugar sweetened Dr. Pepper syrup online, maybe I'll try to dig one up tomorrow. They sell it to put on pancakes and such, but presumably it's the same thing as goes in to the famous Dublin Dr. Pepper.

[Mike S.]

I'll chime in with what many might consider a great heresy: I actually prefer my "X & Coke" drinks made with Diet Coke. Much less sweet than regular Coke (although what sweetness exists does inevitably have that artificial tang that DC addicts crave), so the you get a drier drink even if you use more soda than liquor. My standard ratio for any "X & Y" highball is 2 oz booze to about 3 oz soda/cola/tonic/etc. A good rum and DC with a wedge of lime is, to me anyway, especially delicious.

Edited August 8, 2008 by Mike S. (log)