Drinks! 2024

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Last night I went to prepare my monthly batch of orgeat.  Till I discovered I was out of Marcona almonds and organic Turkish apricot kernels.  How could this have happened?

 

Tonight's libation was a Knickerbocker:  @Splificator's recipe.  Raspberry gum from @feste's Small Hand Foods.  And for the rum @Ed Hamilton's Zombie Blend.  Not a mai tai by any means, but tasty and the job gets done.

 

[gulfporter]

Margarita Tamarindo at lunch.  Rimmed with Tajin.  

[Craig E]

Last night, a New York Sour. Many layered drinks are a bit gimmicky but this is a real banger tastewise too. 

[haresfur]

Oooh, I have lemons and an open bottle of wine...

[blue_dolphin]

The other day, I made the Salty Margarita Sour from Joe Yonan's Cool Beans.  

He credits the idea to a margarita he had at José Andrés's Mexican restaurant, Oyamel, topped with a foamy layer of "salt air" instead of a salt rim on the glass. Yonan decided to try it with a frothy layer of whipped, salted aquafaba.  I don't really care for the grittiness of salt rims on cocktails but I enjoyed this version.

The recipe is available online at this link.  Scroll down, it's the last recipe. 

 

Edited May 25 by blue_dolphin (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Yesterday I was evaluating a grapefruit juicer for review, so I made a Jet Pilot from Shannon Mustipher's book TIKI.  The Jet pilot is rather like a baby Zombie.  Still having grapefruit juice to use up I think tonight's libation may be her Golden Barnacle.

 

Oh, and I clarified the juice.

 

[MaryIsobel]

If you have fresh squeezed grapefruit juice - a paloma is wonderful. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, MaryIsobel said:

If you have fresh squeezed grapefruit juice - a paloma is wonderful. 

 

I googled and the paloma recipes I saw called for grapefruit soda.  Were you thinking to swap carbonated fresh grapefruit juice for grapefruit soda?  I have seven more grapefruit to use up!

 

As we speak I am enjoying tonight's Golden Barnacle.

 

 

Edit:  Just noticed a paloma recipe that calls for fresh grapefruit juice and sparkling water.  Seems easier just to carbonate the juice.

 

 

Edited May 26 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

19 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I have seven more grapefruit to use up!

Here is a bunch of ideas to make use of your grapefruit.

 

[Katie Meadow]

We are in the Berkshires in Western MA visiting my nephew.and family. They live in the middle of nowhere and it's lovely. Despite the odds there is a wonderful place called the Dream Away Lodge ten minutes from their house.. It's in an old traditional reconverted farmhouse. We all had Porch Swings. I've never had one before, mainly because I thought they were always made with bourbon, which I don't really like, but these were made with gin and they were fantastic. Summer in a glass. And it is hot weather here in MA. The place was packed. We sat outdoors where the kids could run up and down a grassy slope. We all could have had several more Porch Swings but the kids were getting hungry and there were no available tables for food service. Sadly the place was all booked up tonight for dinner, or we would have made a reservation. The Porch Swing is going to replace my G & T this summer if I can figure out how to make one.    

[blue_dolphin]

2 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

The Porch Swing is going to replace my G & T this summer if I can figure out how to make one.  

 

Deb Perelman has a recipe for a Porch Swing cocktail on her website. 

[FrogPrincesse]

I've been playing with Morgenthaler's rhubarb syrup. I used a nut bag to filter and there was still quite a bit of solid stuff left in there, but it sedimented to the bottom of the jar so I was able to avoid it. 

 

Rum version with Paranubes agricole-style Oaxacan rhum. It was a bit too busy, the rum & rhubarb sort of fighting each other.

 

 

Gin version (front) and a whiskey version in the back for my husband. I really liked the gin version. Nikka has peppery notes that worked especially well with the rhubarb syrup. The rhubarb added interesting flavors without screaming "rhubarb", and the drink looked really pretty.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Returning to my grapefruit...

 

Now that I have the Vinci juicer I can quickly and easily juice grapefruit.  I treated the fresh squeezed juice with Pectinex and let it sit overnight in a 1000ml separatory funnel.  (I have to complain grapefruit juice does not clarify as readily as apple juice.)  I took 400ml of the clarified grapefruit juice and added 100ml water and 25g sucrose.  The final Brix measured 12.8.  I have not measured the pH of the soda, but the pH of the juice was 3.1.

 

I charged the soda in an iSi and let it rest in the refrigerator for a few days.  I sampled the first glass this afternoon.  Wow, was I delighted.  Good stuff.  Perfect sweetness and acidity.  I only wish I had the refrigerator capacity to keep the sep funnel cold while clarifying.

 

[FrogPrincesse]

Here is my low tech solution for juicing grapefruit: I cut it in eighths, and I press each eighth using my Hamilton citrus press. It's a bit messy but it works.

 

Out of curiosity, what instrument do you use to measure the brix of your juice @JoNorvelleWalker?

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, FrogPrincesse said:

Here is my low tech solution for juicing grapefruit: I cut it in eighths, and I press each eighth using my Hamilton citrus press. It's a bit messy but it works.

 

Out of curiosity, what instrument do you use to measure the brix of your juice @JoNorvelleWalker?

 

 

I have three refractometers but for the grapefruit soda I used DiFluid brand...

(eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

 

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Assuming that we all know that grapefruit is prohibited for those taking certain meds.

[FrogPrincesse]

1 hour ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Assuming that we all know that grapefruit is prohibited for those taking certain meds.

See corresponding discussion.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

14 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Assuming that we all know that grapefruit is prohibited for those taking certain meds.

 

Orange juice should work as long as you adjust the sugar to get the final Brix in the right range.  I'm thinking blood orange soda would particularly nice.

 

[lemniscate]

I wanted a light tall fizzy drink.   I bought this San Pellegrino Momenti Peach/Clementine for someone else and held a 6 pack back for myself.   It's too....fragrant for my tastes to drink straight.   And it's pretty sweet, but only 35 cals.   I tried it with vodka and the fragrance and sweet were just too much.   Desperation tried a shot of orange liqueur and that fixed it.  Actually had two of these last night.

Edited June 19 by lemniscate (log)