Grilled Pineapple Old Fashioned – News Flash

On March 26, 2016March 16, 2016 By The Boozy NewsieIn News Flashes, Reviews1 Comment

I saw this drink over at ToGatherCuisine and thought it sounded delicious. He’s got all sorts of good stuff on the blog, so definitely check it out.

I tested out his pretty original take on an old fashioned, with the unique twist of allowing the fruit to make its own simple syrup! Sadly, I found it wanting, but I’m pretty sure this was either my fault or the pineapple’s fault, not the recipe. Notes to follow.

It’s a pretty simple recipe, copied below in its entirety.

Grilled Pineapple Old Fashioned

4 oz. bourbon. (Bulleit was [his] weapon of choice)
1 slice of fresh pineapple, 1/2 inch thick.
Using an indoor grill pan or an outdoor grill, grill the pineapple for 3 minutes on each side over medium to medium-high heat. Add the slice of pineapple to a shaker filled with 1 cup of ice. Muddle for 20-30 seconds, leaving only a few cubes of ice still frozen.
Add the bourbon to the shaker and shake for a few seconds, just enough to incorporate the pineapple and the alcohol.
Pour the contents of the shaker into a tumbler filled with ice through a strainer, making sure none of the pineapple chunks fall into the glass.
Enjoy while cold!

Tip: While using an outdoor grill with charcoal and/or wood will add another layer of depth and smokiness to the drink, just make sure to clean the rack your pineapple will be resting on well before grilling the fruit. The last thing you want is remnants of the burgers you grilled floating around in your glass.

Tasting Notes:

BN: I really wanted to like this, but it wasn’t sweet enough and was too watered down. I think therefore that was some issue with my ratio of ice to pineapple, or the fact that maybe I didn’t grill the fruit for long enough to really pull out those caramel-y sweet flavors. Maybe it needed to be fresher pineapple — I’m not sure how good the one I had was. Alternately, maybe canned pineapple would be syrupy enough.

Also, I think this would be an even better recipe with the inclusion of bitters, a) for Old Fashioned’s sake and b) because bitters make everything better. I will try this again, maybe in the summer when I have more grilling confidence, because I love the idea, and I think I just didn’t do it justice. But wrote about it anyway.

PiC: I don’t like Old Fashioneds very much in general, and this one didn’t really have much taste which was too bad because I do like pineapple.

The Craft Cocktail Movement – Op-Ed

On March 23, 2016March 23, 2016 By The Boozy NewsieIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

A week or two ago, an article from Thrillist popped into my inbox, and I gave it a read. “The Crappy Craft Cocktail Revolution is Upon Us.”

The author, Dan Dunn, is basically saying that a lot of places say they have craft cocktails but really they’re just pretending, they’re making them not well and only to make money. While this is probably true of some bars, I think it’s a gross generalization, and that he’s coming at it from a really odd angle. Honestly, it basically seems like he’s saying that the younger generation (millennials, us) doesn’t deserve to make cocktails, because they weren’t around when the cocktail revolution happened in the 80s.

He goes on two main tangents in the article, one about punk music selling out which is… whatever, and the other one which I think is bullshit. He complains that his bartender has sleeve tattoos but “[t]here was no way in his short time on the earth that he could have come by those babies honestly.” What the hell does that mean? You have no idea what this guy’s story is, what his reasons for getting the tattoos are, what he’s been through. Which is almost besides the point but it isn’t — his whole stance on the cocktail movement is that the new bartenders, the new mixologists can’t possibly have had the experience they need to really be bartenders. Which, again, is bullshit.

We make drinks because it’s fun, because it’s interesting, and it’s a way to experiment and show off new ideas. We’re not doing it just to make money, but we equally can’t very well do it without making money. He’s very hung up on selling out and being indebted to The Man, and I’m pretty sure that’s just called having a job.

He also seems very incensed by the fact that this particular Last Word, a cocktail that I’ve never had but seems kind of interesting, had too much green chartreuse. What’s the big deal? Sometimes people don’t make cocktails super well. You can’t expect every bartender in the city, even every bartender in an establishment to be at the top of their game. Some bartenders don’t know certain drinks. I was at Patina once, a classy Los Angeles spot, and they couldn’t make me a Vieux Carré, my favorite drink, because they didn’t know what it was. Did I make a fuss? No. It’s natural to not know everything, however much you might want someone to.

We also need to be taught. It’s not always said, but let’s face it. I’m here learning tricks from Jerry Thomas. If I worked at a bar, I’d expect to learn a thing or two from the older bartenders, find out about some new drinks, and so on. But what does Dan Dunn do when his drink isn’t made correctly? He says nothing about it, and instead makes some asinine joke about a drink that involves punching the bartender in the head. It might just be a literary device, rather than what happened, but either way that’s not how you get a good Last Word. Tell us what we’re doing wrong, and maybe we’ll make it right.

Finally, I just looked at his other articles on Thrillist. He only has two, this one lamenting the loss of the “true” craft cocktail movement, and another lamenting the loss of the cool culture in Abbot Kinney, stating that “Venice is dying.” It must be a sad life to be Dan Dunn.

I’m not saying it’s all him. I’ve definitely seen some overpriced “craft” cocktails before, Moscow Mules being toted as awesome new inventions, and the like. And I’ll probably still take those over an equally crappy rum and coke. But for Dunn to just scoff and reminisce about the good old days instead of doing something about it, that doesn’t help us. We want to learn, we want to make great drinks, and we try every day to do so. Don’t knock us down just because we don’t fit with your ideal of the classic bartender.

12. Champagne Punch

On March 12, 2016March 11, 2016 By The Boozy NewsieIn Bon Vivant's Companion1 Comment

Champagne Punch Hero

We were going to have a dinner party a few weekends ago. The party didn’t end up happening, due to the flu (LOOK OUT!), but that meant we had a lot of ingredients lying around. So why not still make a drink? We weren’t the ones that were sick, so we could have all the alcohol we wanted.

Easy to find news this week. A 78-year-old Trump supporter punched a protestor for essentially no reason at a rally on Wednesday. Thankfully, he’s now been charged with assault and disorderly conduct, even though he wasn’t detained at the event itself. He said, after he punched the protestor, “We don’t know who he is, but we know he’s not acting like an American…. The next time we see him, we might have to kill him.” I will refrain from being political. Mostly. Let’s hope Trump never drinks champagne to celebrate a nomination.

Champagne Punch Ingredients

12. Champagne Punch

(Per bottle.)

1 quart bottle of wine. [This is, annoyingly, 1.25 750ml champagne bottles. I ended up roughly proportioning everything else in 4/5ths as well. My guess is it would work fine if you just took this as a regular champagne bottle.]
¼ lb. of sugar. [~half a cup.]
1 orange sliced.
The juice of a lemon.
3 slices of pineapple. [I took this to mean rings? Up to you.]
2 oz. raspberry or strawberry syrup. [I used the syrup I made for the Brandy Punch!]
Ornament with fruits in season, and serve in champagne goblets.
This can be made in any quantity by observing the proportions of the ingredients as given above. Four bottles of wine [So five of OUR bottles] make a gallon, and a gallon is generally sufficient for fifteen persons in a mixed party. For a good champagne punch [Umm… Is this one NOT good? Sending mixed signals here, Jerry.], see “Rocky Mountain Punch,” No. 43.

Champagne Punch Creation GIF

Tasting Notes:

BN: First, we really need champagne glasses… I liked this a lot. He stuffs a lot of his drinks (or at least the punches) full of fruit, which is often a little much for me, but all of these have worked out well so far. It actually tastes very different from the brandy punch, which is surprising since it’s almost the same exact ingredients. I wish it were a little bubblier, and a little less sweet, but that could just be the André.

PiC: I really liked it. I imagine it’s a deadly drink because it’s very sugary and doesn’t taste at all like alcohol. It’s almost like drinking a juice. Plus, it’s very pretty – almost a rose gold which is very trendy right now.

143. Gin Sour

On February 27, 2016February 22, 2016 By The Boozy NewsieIn Bon Vivant's Companion1 Comment

There are a large number of drinks in The Bartender’s Guide that are modifications on other drinks that he lists, and there are also some pretty classic ones. The Gin Sour manages to be both. I stupidly didn’t also make the Gin Fix (141) which is literally the exact same as this, but with seasonal fruits on top (and no lemon juice). I probably will wait a while to make that one, though, so you can just imagine it for now. In terms of sours, I’m much more used to whiskey and amaretto sours, but it stands to reason that you could make them with other spirits as well.

I couldn’t find anything super relevant for Gin or Sour on the news front, but I did find this cool article from The Daily Beast from a few weeks ago talking about the rise of gin‘s popularity in 1700s England. They equate it to meth, in that everyone was making it in their basements, and it was causing all sorts of trouble in society (more crime, obviously more drunkenness, etc.) Everyone developed a taste for it on the continent, and it was cheap and easy, so they brought it back. A fun quick read, and I’ll work on getting more punny news articles next week.

Gin Sour Ingredients

143. Gin Sour

(Use small bar glass.)

1 tablespoon of sugar.
¼ of a lemon.
1 oz of water
2 oz of gin.
Press the juice of the lemon in the glass. Fill two-thirds full of shaved ice. Stir with a spoon. [Technically I’m combining two recipes, the Gin Fix and the Gin Sour, to make the one understandable without the other. Don’t worry about it.]

Gin Sour Process

Tasting Notes:

BN: This was pretty good. It’s pretty sweet (I wonder if a tablespoon might have been smaller back then and I therefore put too much in), and I’m not the hugest gin fan. The herbal notes of the gin, though, might distract from how sweet it is (a good thing), so maybe with another spirit it would be too much. If I made it again, I’d like something to cut it, maybe a bitters?

PiC: I liked this. It tastes like what I might imagine a lemon drop martini would taste like, or one of those lemon drop candies. It’s a little medicinal (the gin, probably). I’d drink this — but I’d like a sugar rim on it! [BN: Jerry Thomas actually does do this for some drinks, which he calls “crustas.” Stay tuned!]

205. Scotch Whiskey Skin

On February 20, 2016 By The Boozy NewsieIn Bon Vivant's Companion2 Comments

Hoo boy. Well, you can’t win ’em all. That’s really the only intro I have for this drink.

On the current events front, in something that will be old news by the time this goes up, Scotland is really sucking in the Six Nations rugby tournament. Sucking almost as bad as this drink does (eight straight losses). Rugby, though, is really cool actually, and the USA’s own Pro Rugby league is starting up this spring! Just don’t drink this while you’re watching.

205. Scotch Whiskey Skin

(Use small bar glass.) [Or a mug, because it’s hot. Or just don’t make this.]

2 oz. Scotch whiskey.
1 piece of lemon peel.
Fill the tumbler one-half full with boiling water.

Tasting Notes:

BN: In case it wasn’t abundantly clear, I hated this. It tasted like really hot watered-down scotch that was slightly bitter (from the lemon peel). So, exactly what it was. I generally like toddies, but they really need a sweetener in there. I’m not sure how anyone can drink this. There’s a small chance a stronger-flavored scotch could have made it better, like a Caol Ila, but I sincerely doubt it.

PiC: Eugh.

228. Soda Nectar

On February 13, 2016February 9, 2016 By The Boozy NewsieIn Bon Vivant's Companion2 Comments

This was a very exciting drink for me, less for the particular flavors and mix itself, and more for the interesting technique it allowed me to learn. In short, if you put a little baking soda into an acidic drink, it makes it bubbly! Which totally makes sense, but it’s not something I had ever thought about before. Who needs a SodaStream when you have baking soda? (But note that I still do have one.)

The Soda Nectar is also notable for being non-alcoholic. Thomas actually has a number of non-alcoholic concoctions in his book — a lot of various lemonades, among other things — and I’m excited to go through those as well. Especially the orgeat lemonade, but that’s another entry.

One note about this one: he uses “carbonate of soda” which is technically different from baking soda (Na2CO3 versus NaHCO3) but may not actually be edible? Obviously it’s basically edible (you can actually make it just by heating up baking soda for a while) but there were enough conflicting sources online that I chose not to use it. Also it’s hard to find. “Washing soda” is the other name for it.

In a surprisingly relevant piece of soda news, Pepsi is going to be opening a restaurant in New York Meat Packing District this spring called the “Kola House,” with cuisine “inspired by the exploration of the kola nut.” Which actually sounds kind of cool, as long as they’re open to serving Coke instead of Pepsi.

228. Soda Nectar

(Use large tumbler.)

Juice of 1 lemon.
¾ tumblerful of water.
Powdered white sugar to taste. [I probably used about 3 tablespoons, which shows you how sweet sodas are.]
½ teaspoon of carbonate of soda. [Again, I used baking soda here.]
Strain the juice of the lemon, and add it to the water, with sufficient white sugar to sweeten the whole nicely. When well mixed, put in the soda, stir well, and drink while the mixture is in an effervescing state.

Tasting Notes:

BN: As I mentioned before, the drink itself was not super fascinating; it’s basically just bubbly lemonade. However, I just can’t get over the baking soda thing. It kept it bubbly for a while, too — it wasn’t like a grade-school volcano — and I definitely want to try it again in other circumstances!

PiC: It was cool! It was basically like a lemon soda — it’s a cool way of doing that and it didn’t taste like baking soda which was good. Let’s try it with other flavors! (And can we do it with non-acidic flavoring? SCIENCE!)

88. Mint Julep

On January 30, 2016January 24, 2016 By The Boozy NewsieIn Bon Vivant's Companion1 Comment

In case you hadn’t noticed (since the first recipe was #125), I am indeed skipping around a bit. This is partially due to the availability of ingredients, and partially because I don’t necessarily want to be making punch after punch after punch, and then julep after julep after julep. What is an effective categorization method in a book is not the most fun in the kitchen.

So for this one I wanted something I had heard of before. Was this first version a classic Mint Julep? Short answer: no. It’s pretty different, except for shaved ice and mint, but is a really nice drink on its own. Score another one for Jerry Thomas.

In other news, the U.S. Mint recently announced the national parks that will be on this year’s America the Beautiful (read: fancy) quarters: Shawnee National Forest in Illinois, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in Kentucky, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia, Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, and Fort Moultrie (Fort Sumter National Monument) in South Carolina. The first will be on shelves (in wallets? What do you say?) on February 8th. Riveting news, I know.

88. Mint Julep

(Use large bar glass.)

1 table-spoonful of white pulverized sugar. [Powdered sugar.]
2½ do. water, mix well with a spoon. [do. is “Ditto” in ye olden days.]
Take three or four sprigs of fresh mint, and press them well in the sugar and water, until the flavor of the mint is extracted; add one and a half wine-glass [3 oz.] of Cognac brandy, and fill the glass with fine shaved ice, then draw out the sprigs of mint and insert them in the ice with the stems downward, so that the leaves will be above, in the shape of a bouquet; arrange berries, and small pieces of sliced orange on top in a tasty manner, dash with Jamaica rum, [I took this to mean dark rum] and sprinkle white sugar on top. Place a straw as represented in the cut, [I didn’t have a straw, but we’re getting some! By “in the cut” he means the image on that first Jerry Thomas post, which appears to just be in the drink. Not sure where else you’d put it.] and you have a julep that is fit for an emperor.

Fit for an emperor, eh? Pretty cool. Apart from the spirit choice (brandy instead of whisky), this started out like a pretty classic julep, but then he just goes crazy and adds all sorts of things to it. Only modifications I made (besides no straw) were to use new mint sprigs for the garnish because the muddled ones were kind of gross-looking.

Tasting Notes:

BN: I found it interesting that he didn’t use whisky, as that is a pretty common spirit back then — but I guess that wasn’t how he heard about the drink. I’ll look into when that switch occurred. The addition of the fruit and rum was really delicious though, especially the citrus — it gave it a lot more depth than I’m used to in a simply sweet and minty julep. I wanted a little more mint flavor but I should have just muddled more. I also liked the ombre (PiC is proud of my vocabulary) effect that was made when the rum was added to the top – dark rum to orange brandy to green sugar-mint water.

PiC: A little alcoholic for me, but i like it. Even making it a little sweeter would be good. I especially like eating a raspberry off the top and then taking a sip.

The Deep Blue Sea – Shark Week

On July 10, 2015July 10, 2015 By The Boozy NewsieIn Originals1 Comment

It’s Shark Week, the only time people care about the Discovery Channel! And so, to a drink.

I tried something a little bit different this time, taking a pre-existing drink more specifically and modifying it. And I think it worked out well! The original recipe is the “Fred Collins Fizz,” from the New Guide for the Hotel, Bar, Restaurant, Butler, & Chef (that’s a mouthful) by Bacchus & Cordon Bleu, 1885. Instructions are copied verbatim, except for the last two. Adjustments were made by the replacement of orange with blue curaçao, as well as the addition of grenadine. To bring the blood into the blue ocean water.

The Deep Blue Sea

2 ounces bourbon
1/2 ounce simple syrup
juice of 1 fresh lemon
1 teaspoon blue curaçao
6 ounces fizzy lemonade
a dash of grenadine

Mix the bourbon, simple syrup, and lemon juice in an iced cocktail shaker and shake.
Strain into a large bar glass that is half filled with shaved (or finely crushed) ice.
Add the curaçao
Pour the lemonade into a collins glass, and pour the contents of the bar glass into it.
Dribble a little bit of grenadine into the top of the glass, and watch with satisfaction as it settles to the bottom
Enjoy, while deciding that you won’t go into the ocean for at least another year. Maybe July of 2016 you’ll give it another shot.

Tasting Notes:

BN: This was really good. Normally I say that because I’m proud of myself but this was awesome. It wasn’t super alcoholic, and the tartness of the fresh lemon worked incredibly well with the hint of grenadine. I tried it without the grenadine and it wasn’t quite the same. Well done, bartenders of 1885. Only disappointment was that it ended up green and red instead of blue and red, and kind of looked like it should taste like watermelon.

PiC: YUM. So tart and so tasty. *dives face into glass for more*

The Loving Cup – #LoveWins

On June 28, 2015 By The Boozy NewsieIn Originals1 Comment

The Supreme Court made a number of good decisions this week, but the one that seemed most apt for drinkifying was the Obergefell v. Hodges case, which is mostly known as the case that decided same-sex marriage was a right in the entire United States.

In honor of this decision, generally (and by me) regarded as a triumph of love over adversity, prejudice, and all that bad stuff, I decided to put things I love into a cocktail and see if it was any good. Slightly less thought through than SCOTUS’ decision, but hey, it ended up working.

The Loving Cup

1.5 oz not-too-intense scotch (Highland Park is great!)
.75 oz St. Germain
2-3 shakes rhubarb bitters (go easy on this)
juice of 1/4 lemon, or to taste
rainbow sour strips, for garnish

Combine ingredients in a Boston shaker, over ice.
Shake briefly and strain into a martini glass
Layer in the sour strip for garnish, gently.
Enjoy, while basking in the good sense (in this case) of this country.
Pro tip: eat the sour strips after they’ve had a good long soak in the cocktail.

Tasting Notes:

BN: I really liked this. Weirdly, I didn’t like the combination of the ingredients before adding the sour strip, and the sour strip itself was pretty cherry-medicinal which is never good. But together, they melded nicely (and you should probably wait a bit before drinking to allow them to do so). It had just the right amount of sweet and sour, and wasn’t too strong on any one flavor. Also, the alcohol-infused sour strip was delicious.

PiC: I really liked this! I mean, I love sour candy and I wanted this to be a good one given the awesomeness of the event that inspired it, but to be honest I thought it was gonna be super alcohol-tasting, which is not really my thing. But it actually was dangerously drinkable and went super well with the sour candy garnish, so yay! #LoveWins!

The Winds of Winter – Game of Thrones Season Finale

On June 12, 2015 By The Boozy NewsieIn OriginalsLeave a comment

I started this season of Game of Thrones with a drink, and I should probably end it with one too. Now, I’ve made this in advance, so I have no idea whether it will actually have anything to do with the events of this Sunday’s episode, but I imagine we’ll get at least a bit of Jon Snow, and maybe a white walker or two. We’ll see!

An important note about this drink: the base recipe for the White Russian was taken from a good friend of mine, so direct any praise to him. We originally tried it with the official recipe on the Kahlua website which was, well, not very good. Also, I’m doing parts instead of specific amounts in case you want to make a smaller one than we did.

The Winds of Winter

2 parts vodka
1 part Kahlua
1 part cream
1 part Blue Curacao
1/2 part malted milk powder (it was about a teaspoon for a full 16oz glass with ice)

Combine everything but the curacao in a mixing glass with ice. Shake and strain into a tall glass over more ice. Pour the blue curacao in from the top (not necessary, but it makes a cool streaky looking effect at first before mixing in fully.) Enjoy, while watching the finale. Or being cold.

Tasting Notes:

BN: My goal for this was to make it taste like a creamsicle. I thought the orange from the curacao would mix with the malt and of course the cream, and it didn’t really at all. But that wasn’t a bad thing! It was more complex than a normal White Russian and did have a little bit of orange. You could also really taste the malt which is never a bad thing. Also the blue color that it resulted in was pretty cool. A little greener than I expected but still fun.

PiC: Whoa. That’s kinda strong for such a big drink…but I like it. The malt is nice. Plus, it looks great. I don’t think you can taste the Blue Curacao that much, though I’m not sure I entirely know what Blue Curacao tastes like. Or maybe I don’t want to know.