Stomping Through the "Savoy" (2006–2007)

[eje]

Chocolate Cocktail (No. 1)

1 Teaspoonful of Powdered Chocolate (heaping teaspoon of Scharffen Berger cocoa powder)

1 Egg

1 Liqueur Glass Maraschino (1 oz Luxardo Maraschino)

1 Liqueur Glass Yellow Chartreuse (1 oz)

(dash Pierre Ferrand Cognac)

Shake well and strain into large glass.

Now, I'm not sure if "Chocolate Powder" means something other than cocoa powder; but, if you're going to use Cocoa Powder, it's going to be a bit more complicated than the above instructions, unless you want a lumpy mess.

Extra equipment: 2 small bowls, rubber spatula, and a whisk or fork.

Dump a generous teaspoon of unsweetened Cocoa Power into one of your bowls. Add a teaspoon of water and mix until it starts to form a paste. Add a little more water at a time and continue mixing until it reaches the consistency of melted chocolate. Whisk up your egg in the other bowl and pour it into chocolate. Whisk together. Measure the liqueurs into your mixing tin or glass. Pour in the egg and chocolate mixture. Add ice and shake well. Strain into cocktail glass.

Like the Cafe Kirsch Cocktail, I had no real hope that I would enjoy this. And like the Cafe Kirsch, this is a really tasty cocktail. The Yellow Chartreuse and Maraschino combine in really interesting ways with the cocoa. My wife even enjoyed it.

The two ounces of liqueur might seemed like a lot. However, using unsweetened cocoa powder, that's about what you're going to need to balance the bitterness of the chocolate. It seemed on par or less sweet than most hot cocoa or cold chocolate drinks.

If you have a choc-a-holic friend, this might be a nice change for them from the usual "chocotini".

[bostonapothecary]

a new egg cocktail for me... that looks like the chronic...

my malt mixer will make a mockery of trying to integrate that cocoa powder....really looking forward to this....

[eje]

Chocolate Cocktail (No. 2)

The Yolk of 1 Fresh Egg

1/4 Yellow Chartruese (1/2 oz Yellow Chartruese)

3/4 Port Wine (1 1/2 oz Warre's Warrior Port)

Teaspoonful of Crushed Chocolate (heaping teaspoon of Scharffen Berger cocoa powder)

Shake well and strain into medium size glass

Yes, well, again, I am not sure what might be meant by "crushed chocolate". I couldn't imagine how crushing a chocolate bar would result in anything except a mess.

Dump a generous teaspoon of unsweetened Cocoa Power into one of your bowls. Add a teaspoon of water and mix until it starts to form a paste. Add a little more water at a time and continue mixing until it reaches the consistency of melted chocolate. Separate the white from the egg and whisk the yolk into the chocolate. Measure the liqueurs into your mixing tin or glass. Pour in the egg and chocolate ixture. Add ice and shake well. Strain into cocktail glass.

While I enjoyed the previous cocktail, and I know port and chocolate are supposed to go together, this reminded me of that old reese's peanut butter cup commercial: "Excuse me, you got Port in my Chocolate. Why, no sir, you got chocolate in my Port."

Unfortunately, they don't really seem like, "two great tastes that taste great together," at least in a cocktail. I dunno, maybe tawny port would work better.

[thirtyoneknots]

Port and chocolate is one of the most overrated "classic" food and beverage combos I know of. It is slightly less bad with tawny, but really chocolatey things wok better with something like Tokay Aszu. To me, Ruby Port and chocolate is a nonstarter, and verging on being a bad pairing. The one exception I know of is a local winery here called Messina-Hof which otherwise makes relatively undistinguished wines (though their high end stuff is impressive for Texas, but would be barely better than average for half the price out of California), but their "Ports" are quite distinctive and actually work decently with chocoloate and chocolate desserts, partly, I think, as a result of having had the fermentation stopped with heat vs. fortification.

Oh yeah, chocolate works ok with vintage port as well, but thats a rare treat for most people and I don't think you'd want to be pouring it in a cocktail.

-Andy

[eje]

I think I probably agree with that.

When having a chocolaty dessert, I usually pick a ruby port or dessert, and don't try to combine them.

I was thinking about the cocktail, and actually instead of port one of the sweeter sherries might be nice. At least it seems more inspiring when I imagine it.

[bostonapothecary]

I think I probably agree with that.

When having a chocolaty dessert, I usually pick a ruby port or dessert, and don't try to combine them.

I was thinking about the cocktail, and actually instead of port one of the sweeter sherries might be nice.  At least it seems more inspiring when I imagine it.

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i pair chocolate with bourbon.... to clear the mouth so you can go back for more.... chocolate kills so many ports and turns them into mere alcoholic sugar water.... charlie trotter recommended a very young vintage port if you really wanted one to stand up to chocolate....

[Nathan]

bourbon and cacao do go well together...throw in a citrus component and I've been able to come up with a couple decent drinks using that combo.

[eje]

Choker Cocktail* (6 People)

4 Glasses Whisky (1 1/2 oz Binny's Select Buffalo Trace Bourbon)

2 Glasses Absinthe (3/4 oz Lucid Absinthe)

1 Dash Absinthe Bitters (Angostura)

This Cocktail is to be very thoroughly shaken and no sweetening in any form should be added.

*Drink this and you can drink anything: new-laid eggs put into it immediately become hard-boiled.

With such a menacing quote, I think I would have trouble finding 6 people willing to share this one with me!

Never did resolve the "Absinthe Bitters" issue. No one I talked to was aware of any commercial bitters which might have been referred to as "Absinthe Bitters". There have been a number of bitter wormwood based elixirs made through history. Purl(e), Malört, etc.

As in the Bunny Hug, I went with the Binny's Select Buffalo Trace for this Cocktail, as it seems to have the Cojones to stand up to the Absinthe.

It's not a cocktail I'll be making again any time soon; but, I think I did prefer the whiskey, bitters and absinthe to the whiskey, gin, and absinthe of the Bunny Hug.

[jmfangio]

*Drink this and you can drink anything: new-laid eggs put into it immediately become hard-boiled.

With such a menacing quote, I think I would have trouble finding 6 people willing to share this

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You're a brave man - I thought that this was going to be another one of those moments when you'd mysteriously skip ahead a few recipes.

[eje]

Chorus Lady Cocktail

The Juice of 1/4 Orange

1/3 Dry Gin (1 oz BlueCoat Gin)

1/3 Italian Vermouth (1 oz Cinzano Rosso)

1/3 French Vermouth (1 oz Noilly Prat Dry)

Shake well and strain into medium-size glass. Add slice of orange and a cherry.

A few people have told me that BlueCoat mixes well with citrus, so I thought I would try it in this Bronx-like cocktail.

I think my taste might have been a little off the night I tried this; but, my initial reaction was that the Cinzano Rosso completely overwhelmed the cocktail, and that I might as well have been using vodka for all the BlueCoat added.

After the cocktail warmed a bit, it seemed like there was some sort of bitter menthol/eucalyptus aftertaste. I dunno if that was the Eastern Mediterranean organic Juniper berries or the leftovers of a slight overdose of Thai Basil in the Phở I had for dinner. Something seemed weird. Anyway, to me, BlueCoat didn't seem to work in the Chorus Lady.

[eje]

This is the first of what I hope is an ongoing series in the Savoy Topic.

I experimented by asking the bartender at Montgomery Place to make me a Bombay Cocktail No. 2 earlier this year; but, this just seemed to result in a grumpy bartender.

To make it less of a shock, I thought I would contact some local bartenders and give them a choice of one of the 5 of the Savoy Cocktails that might be coming up in the next week.

Surprisingly, some actually seemed game.

Victoria Damato-Moran's Bio:

I was born and raised in San Francisco, North Beach, daughter of a bartender and craftsman.

Dancin' Danny, they called him, the original bar top dancer !

We had a family bar called Damato's on Broadway St, back in the 60's, Dad was always tending bar, so I grew up in the business, watching him make the best Manhattans,

Side Cars, Pink Ladys, Grasshoppers,  etc.......

At the age of 21, I thought that my Manhattans should be made in a bar legally, so in 1984,

I was hired by Jeramiah Tower as a cocktail waitress  at Stars Restaurant and tend bar once and a while.

I really loved bartending and danced like my Dad, so I continued to work in  the restaurant/bar biz.

I enjoy all forms of art, though creating cocktails in my art form now, in my spare time I make jewlery with vintage beads from my collection of beads from around the world.

The likely upcoming cocktails this week included the Champs Elysees, Chanticler, Charles, Charleston, and Cherry Blossom.

Victoria picked the Chanticle(e)r and I also convinced her to make the Champs Elysees.

Champs Elysees Cocktail (6 people)

3 Glasses Cognac (3 parts Hennessy Cognac)

1 Glass Chartreuse (1 part Green Chartreuse)

1 1/2 Glasses Sweetened Lemon Juice (A little more than 1 part Sour Mixer)

1 Dash Angostura Bitters

Shake well and strain into cocktail glasses.

There was some discussion here about which Chartreuse to use. Victoria thought yellow would probably make a more attractively colored cocktail with the Cognac. Unfortunately, we only had green on hand. With Green Chartreuse, the herbal character is pretty out front, overshadowing pretty much everything else in the cocktail.

All the same, if you like Green Chartreuse, this isn't a bad cocktail at all. If you don't know if you like Green Chartreuse, it may not be the best place to start.

Chanticle(e)r Cocktail

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

1 Tablespoon of Raspberry Syrup (Victoria made from scratch)

The White of 1 Egg

1 Glass Dry Gin (2 oz Plymouth Gin)

Shake well and strain into medium size glass.

This seems to be a variation on the Breakfast or Pink Lady Cocktail with Raspberry Syrup instead of Grenadine. As Chanticleer is a rather well known rooster, (Nun's Priest's Tale from Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales",) I suspect this particular cocktail's DNA comes from the Breakfast Cocktail. I have to say, even if raspberry syrup makes this a bit girly-er than the Grenadine version, the flavor of the fresh raspberry syrup definitely made this cocktail a keeper. Now if I can only get her to give me the recipe for the syrup...

While I was there, she also made me a really tasty tequila and watermelon smash with a touch of cayenne. Mmmmm!

If you're lucky enough to find Victoria behind the bar from you, ask for one of her original cocktails. She is one of the rare bartenders who brings both the people skills to make anyone feel comfortable on the other side of the bar from her and the taste to make truly outstanding original cocktails.

[David Santucci]

All the same, if you like Green Chartreuse, this isn't a bad cocktail at all.  If you don't know if you like Green Chartreuse, it may not be the best place to start.

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The Champs Elysées is probably my favorite Chartreuse cocktail so far. Try it with a lighter Cognac such as Pierre Ferrand Ambre or Remy Martín, and cut back on the lemon juice from 2:1 to something like 4:1. Then just balance the sour with either just Chartreuse or some Chartreuse and some Simple, if you want a less herbal note (I like it both ways). I've only tried it with Green Chartreuse.

It's one I make quite often and, in those proportions, most people seem to like it.

[BTR]

If you're lucky enough to find Victoria behind the bar from you, ask for one of her original cocktails.

But where might one do that?

[eje]

I had wanted to include an original cocktail of Victoria's with my post, sorry slipped my mind when I added the drink posts.

Here is the recipe for the drink which won her the bartender recipe contest at Rye a few months ago:

Valentino

Makes 1 drink

INGREDIENTS:

1 ounce Aperol

1 ounce reposado Tequila

1 ounce rhubarb juice*

1/2 ounce Agave Pomegranate Ginger Syrup**

3 ounces grapefruit juice (Ruby Red or Texas)

1 fresh lime

Splash club soda

Grapefruit and lime garnish

INSTRUCTIONS:

Instructions: Pour the Aperol, Tequila, rhubarb juice, Agave-Pomegranate-Ginger syrup and grapefruit juice into a chilled tumbler. Shake and strain over ice into a chilled double-rocks glass (8 to 9 ounces). Add a slight squeeze of fresh lime juice. Top with a splash of club soda.

*To make rhubarb juice, cut fresh rhubarb into chunks, parboil, then steam, until the rhubarb is tender. Extract the juice by mashing the pulp through a fine-mesh sieve.

**Agave Pomegranate Ginger Syrup

2 cups agave nectar

1 cup pomegranate juice

1 large finger of ginger, sliced

Instructions: Pour agave nectar and pomegranate juice into a pot. Add ginger. Bring to a boil. Turn off and let steep until cool. Remove the ginger and store in a glass bottle in the refrigerator.

[eje]

If you're lucky enough to find Victoria behind the bar from you, ask for one of her original cocktails.

But where might one do that?

←

Sorry for the delay, wanted to check with her that it was OK to post first.

She's behind the plank at Monaghan's Bar at Pierce and Chestnut here in San Francisco. She usually works early-ish shifts Monday through Wednesday.

Try to get there early, as it gets crazy and full of Marina types later on.

Edited July 24, 2007 by eje (log)

[eje]

Cinzano Cocktail

2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

2 Dashes Orange Bitters (Regan's)

1 Glass Cinzano Vermouth (2 oz Cinzano Rosso)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass (Build over cracked ice in a medium glass. Stir to chill. - eje), and sqeeze orange peel on top.

As usual, rocks, thank you very much, for my vermouth cocktails.

Got myself a fresh bottle of Cinzano Rosso and quite enjoyed this.

[thirtyoneknots]

Cinzano Cocktail

2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

2 Dashes Orange Bitters (Regan's)

1 Glass Cinzano Vermouth (2 oz Cinzano Rosso)

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass (Build over cracked ice in a medium glass.  Stir to chill.  - eje), and sqeeze orange peel on top.

As usual, rocks, thank you very much, for my vermouth cocktails.

Got myself a fresh bottle of Cinzano Rosso and quite enjoyed this.

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This reminds me of the Vermouth Cocktail as listed on the Gumbo Pages, credited to Gary Regan: 1 oz each of sweet and dry vermouth, serially double-dash grenadine, Angostura, and Orange Bitters, stir/strain/up, twist. I really enjoyed these quite a bit upon a time, and I always thought the herbals in the vermouth and bitters (some herbal liqueurs like Benedictine do this too) combined to form a vaguely chocolatey essence. Anyone else ever get this?

The page says Regan adapted his recipe from a Prohibition-era bar guide. Popular drink back then I guess.

-Andy

[bostonapothecary]

no 9. park does the half sinner half saint.....

half sweet

half dry

spoonful of absinthe....

[eje]

Woops!

Jumped a couple tracks on the record!

I guess I was carried away by the current discussion on vermouth!

Fortunately, the cocktail that was supposed to come after the Chorus Lady is also a vermouth heavy one...

Chrysanthemum Cocktail

3 Dashes Absinthe (Lucid Absinthe)

1/3 Benedictine (1 oz Benedictine)

2/3 French Vermouth (2 oz Noilly Prat Dry)

Shake (stir - eje) well and strain into cocktail glass. Squeeze orange peel on top.

Well-known and very popular in the American Bar of the S.S. "Europa."

Sorry about the photo. Yes, that is my enormous greasy fingerprint on the far rim.

In any case, this really surprised me. I expected it to be far too sweet and/or vermouth-ey.

It really isn't.

The sweetness is about on level with that of a not too sweet gewurtztraminer or glass of apple juice.

Deliciously complex, yet every ingredient is there to be savored.

It's true I am a sucker for pretty much any cocktail with Bendictine; but, this is one of my new favorites. Definitely something I will make again.

By, the way, the S.S. Europa had its own interesting history:

S.S. Europa

Launched on March 19, 1930, she served peace time passengers for Germany, participated in war time activities for the Third Reich, was confiscated by the US in 1945, took part in troop movement for the US soldiers, then back to passengers for France after WWII as the S.S. Liberté. Finally the scrap yards of Italy in 1962.

Edited July 25, 2007 by eje (log)

[bostonapothecary]

that is now next on my list of things to drink....

mostly for the benedictine....

hmm. it might also be good if you sub half the benedictine portion for coffee liqueur.... i'm still hooked on that dry vermouth coffee liqueur combo....

[thirtyoneknots]

I adore Chrysthanthemums, but haven't had one in forever. It's gentle enough to be a good 'beginner' cocktail but has enough complexity to hold the attention of The Afflicted as well. I think the comparison to Gewurtz is very apt indeed. With pastis it's a little sweet for before dinner but I really ought to try it with the Edouard. I would think it makes quite a difference.

-Andy

[David Santucci]

Just tried one of these -- what a fantastic drink! Summery too. This drink is "so right now".

Per bostonapothecary's suggestion, I added dash of Kahlua as I got down to the end. His instincts are right on -- the resulting drink is a very different beast, but quite rewarding in its own right. The flavors work together well and the result is chocolatey-yummy.

[bostonapothecary]

Per bostonapothecary's suggestion, I added dash of Kahlua as I got down to the end. His instincts are right on -- the resulting drink is a very different beast, but quite rewarding in its own right. The flavors work together well and the result is chocolatey-yummy.

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[bostonapothecary]

Chrysanthemum Cocktail

3 Dashes Absinthe (Lucid Absinthe)

1/3 Benedictine (1 oz Benedictine)

2/3 French Vermouth (2 oz Noilly Prat Dry)

i drank this both ways.... keeping the benedictine intact and subbing half for coffee liqueur.... a delicious highly regarded cocktail either way.... due for its renaissance....

it makes me wonder if the dry vermouth i'm dreaming up in my head would fit into this cocktail....

[eje]

Church Parade Cocktail

2/3 Plymouth Gin (1 1/2 oz Plymouth Gin)

1 Dash Orange Curacao (Brizard)

4 Dashes Orange Juice

1/3 French Vermouth

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass

After the last few "cocktails" I was kind of excited that I would get to make one with an actual portion of booze.

Then I decided to google and find out more about Church Parades.

Dum, de dum, English and Scottish tradition, parades of church goers walking from here to there. How Quaint. Certainly could use a drink before one of those sorts of things. Oh look! The most (in)famous Church Parades of all are the Orange Marches in Northern Ireland...Oh, wait one second: Orangemen, Orange Juice, Orange Curacao, English Gin...Goddamn it!

I can tell you it looked like this before I poured it down the sink:

Frankly, it could use some bitters, if for no other reason than poetic license.