Juliet and Romeo

[MattJohnson]

A while back my wife and I were at the Violet Hour and she had a drink called Juliet and Romeo. I feel like it had rose water, cucumber and some other stuff. Does anyone recall having this? Alchemist, would you be willing to share the recipe? She was recently waxing poetic about it and I'd like to make it for her sometime.

[prasantrin]

I think Alchemist posted at length about it in the TVH topic. If you do a search in that topic, you'll probably find more information.

[slkinsey]

Named rather indelicatly after the rose and cucumber aspects of this cocktail.

The Juliet & Romeo

2.0 oz. Hendrix

.75 oz. lime

.75 oz. simple (1x1)

6 mint sprigs

3 slices cuke

pinch of salt (or in a pinch 1/2 barspoon of olive brine)

3 drops of rose water

serve up, garnish with a floating mint leaf, then spank the rest of the sprig.

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On the LTH Forums posted a few weeks later it's given by Toby as:

Juliet & Romeo

2 oz Beefeater

.75 oz Fresh Lime Juice

.75 oz Simple Syrup

3 drops Rose Water

3 drops Angostura

3 slices Cucumber

3 sprigs Mint

Tiny pinch of salt

Glass: Coupe

Garnish: Mint leaf and 1 drop rose water/3 drops of Angostura Bitters.

Ice:  None

Muddle cucumber, mint and pinch of salt. Add rest of ingredients. Let sit for 30 seconds (time allowing). Shake. Strain. Garnish with 1 floating mint leaf and 1 drop rose water on top of leaf, and 3 more drops of angostura on the surface of the drink.

You can buy rose water at Sultans Market on North Ave. I would get an eye dropper at the container store as well as a couple of extra drops will make this drink way to much like the jewerly box of a very old southern belle.

The pinch of salt is really, really small. It should be muddled with the cuke to bring out it's freshness

Edited December 1, 2008 by slkinsey (log)

[MattJohnson]

Thanks so much. Clearly, my search skills need some work.

[MattJohnson]

They turned out great. This drink is a great example on how not to over muddle. The first one I made had a real bitter note to it because I smooshed everything to pieces. I did light tamping on the second and it came out great (once I double strained it to get the cuc seeds out...doh!)

[Alchemist]

I think that might be the cuke you had. The skin is the bitter part. Either peel your cuke or go for the hothouse ones. I like muddling the beJesus out of the cuke with the salt to break down the cell walls and get the sodium all in there.

Toby

[MattJohnson]

Ah, good tip. I have some limes and mint that needs using up so I'll try it tonight. Also have a new gin (made in Milwaukee) to try.

[MattJohnson]

I peeled the cuc's this time with great success. Thanks again for sharing the recipe and tips.

[Alcuin]

I tried this one for the first time last night--I have to say this is one of the most elegant drinks I've ever had. I'd even call it beautiful like a Renoir painting is beautiful. Thanks for this great drink.

[FireAarro]

I made two of these for the first time the other night, for friends, and they turned out wonderfully. Unfortunately I did not get to make one for myself but the tastes I had revealed a delightfully complex flavour. Will definitely be serving a lot more of these (though they take me a while to make!). A few thoughts though:

1. The flavour profile of the drink changes dramatically with the amount of cucumber muddled. The two drinks I made were pretty much completely different (though I added more cucumber to the second after tasting to correct for this). I think from now on I'll be muddling the cucumber into a pulp and measuring out the juice used for consistency (sounds more reliable than cutting out even cucumber chunks, for me).

2. In the photos I've seen of the drink, people seem to get their Angostura drops on top to stay in a little red circle. Mine just splash and swirl everywhere (which looks pretty cool anyway). Should I just be dropping them closer to the surface? I might actually prefer the swirls though. Also, should the drink be a slightly muddy colour or does this indicate I've put too much Angostura in to shake?

3. My mint plant is dying

I hope page 3 isn't too old a thread to revive on these forums!

Edited August 12, 2009 by FireAarro (log)

[Alchemist]

I have yet to figure out why the Angostura sometimes scatters and sometimes just sits in dots. I think that there is some correlation between how aerated the cocktail is, if you garnish right after shaking sometimes you get this great whooshing drops that send the mint leaf from one side of the glass to the other.

If you are going to measure the cuke I would measure the weight and not the volume. Because you need all the solids in the shaker not just the juice.

Yes you need to be very careful with the incorporated Angostura. I think that 3-7 DROPS are enough.

I am glad you are enjoying the cocktail.

Cheers,

Toby

[KD1191]

2. In the photos I've seen of the drink, people seem to get their Angostura drops on top to stay in a little red circle. Mine just splash and swirl everywhere (which looks pretty cool anyway). Should I just be dropping them closer to the surface? I might actually prefer the swirls though.

←

I don't make this very often, but have a friend who makes them at least once a week and he was wondering about the same issue. We brought it up to one of the bartenders at TVH the next time we noticed him making one. He said that the bitters tend to do one of three things: Sit in a nice circle on the 'head' of the cocktail, spread out and bleed across the entire surface, or drop under the surface momentarily before resurfacing and staying put. He drops for a pretty decent height (not right up against the surface), and didn't say what exactly would account for any one particular behavior of the bitters. It was busy, so we didn't press the issue.

Personally, I think it has something to do with the length of time between shaking and pouring/applying the bitters. I've noticed that when I poor shortly after anything resembling vigorous shaking that most drinks have something of a head to them, which I would think would allow the bitters to sit nicely and not bleed as much. Someone with a better understanding of surface tension and relative densities of the various components could surely explain or debunk this, but my thought would be if you want the bitters to 'stick', shake harder and poor/dash immediately.

ETA: 'Great whooshing drops' (!) oops...there goes my theory.

Edited August 12, 2009 by KD1191 (log)

[MattJohnson]

I do enjoy the whooshing drops. I don't think mine have ever stayed as nice little dots.

[FireAarro]

If you are going to measure the cuke I would measure the weight and not the volume.  Because you need all the solids in the shaker not just the juice.

I'm curious about what effect leaving the solids in for shaking has, I thought most of the cucumber's essence would've been extracted during the heavy muddling? Also, do you fine strain the mint specks out to serve this? I fine strained the whole thing because I didn't want any possibility of cucumber bits floating around but mint specks can be quite effective visually.