Category Archives: Cocktails

My niece is traveling through Europe this summer (I’m not jealous) and has been sending the family amusing updates on her adventures.  Her last email concluded like this:

“One more thing I would like to share with you.  It is absolutely NOT a stereotype, and I am absolutely NOT exaggerating when I tell you that French people really do often use the expression “ooh la la”.  Sometimes they don’t stop at two “la” ‘s – they continue on with four more “la”s, but there is never an odd number of “la”s, as the “la”‘ s are always accompanied in twos.”

Do you like the house made French flag?

2 oz Dolin Blanc
1 oz Pernod
dash salt
juice of 2 orange wedges

Combine all ingredients in mixer and shake with ice. Strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with orange and optional “French flag on a toothpick”.

By definition, ooh la la is an expression of pleasant surprise and that was my reaction upon sampling this seemingly simple cocktail.  The bright citrus, the spicy star anise and the sweet herbaceousness combined seamlessly and sang.

Speaking of singing, turns out that Ooh la la is also a song from the band, Faces.  The catchy refrain goes like this:

I wish that I knew what I know now
when I was younger
I wish that I knew what I know now
when I was stronger

I bet Rod Stewart wishes he knew about this drink.

You should come by and cool off with a L’Ecole brunch cocktail.  Here are just 3 of the libations we’ll be serving up Saturday and Sunday:

Going Green

Violette Femme

Rhubarb Iced Tea

For the Going Green recipe, click here.  For the Violette Femme recipe, click here.  For the Rhubarb, combine 2 oz. gin, 2 oz. rhubarb mix (recipe below) and the juice of 1/2 lime in a shaker, shake, strain and serve over ice in a rocks glass.  For the rhubarb mix, combine 500 g. rhubarb, 200 g. sugar, 50 g. ginger (2-3 fingers), 3 sprigs mint and 2 L water.  Bring to a boil and when rhubarb is soft, turn off the heat and add 4 tea bags (we used Chinese black tea from Harney – each bag yields about 1 gallon of tea).  Wait 15 minutes, remove tea bags, ginger (leave a bit if you want it spicier) and mint, strain (chinoise is best) and blend rhubarb until very smooth and add more tea liquid back in to taste.  So, yes, this is a restaurant-sized recipe, yielding 5 quarts, but you get the idea.  Plus, it’s just one more reason to have one with us.

I’ve been playing around with some cocktails using the spirits from Finger Lakes Distilling (FLD).

view of Seneca Lake from FLD

First up is their Seneca Drums Gin.  A little about the name – Seneca is the name of the lake the distillery overlooks and it’s one of 11 lakes that comprise the Finger Lakes in upstate NY – it’s 38 miles long and at one point, 618 ft deep.  The Seneca Drums refer to the booming sounds that can occaisonally be heard over the lake on warm summer evenings – some attribute the noise to geothermal reactions while the more mystical among us think it’s a message from the Iroquois who used to inhabit the area.  Given the other things I’ve heard them referred to as – “guns of the Seneca” and “lake farts” – I think FLD made the right choice.

The gin is 86 proof with a 75% (local) grape base/25% grain base.  It’s zippy and fresh and will keep you coming back for more.  The signature blend of 11 botanicals gives notes of citrus peel, juniper, cucumber, clove and light anise.

Since we’re finally starting to feel a little summer, I decided on a very refreshing cocktail.  I started with a cucumber – it’s a great partner with gin and who doesn’t want to be cool as a cucumber?  I removed the skin and the seeds and cut it into small pieces.

I cut enough to fill the bottom of a rocks glass with a single layer, I added the juice from 1/2 a lime and a pinch of salt and then I muddled.

After the cucumbers were sufficiently muddled, I added 2 oz. of the Seneca Drums Gin, 1 oz. of Dolin Blanc Vermouth, and enough ice to almost fill the glass.  I chose the Dolin Blanc because it has a touch of sweetness and I wanted to balance the tart citrus from the lime and the herbal qualities of the gin.  Then I transferred everything back and forth between the glass and a shaker a few times to cool everything down as well as to mix the ingredients.  I topped it off with a splash of tonic water and garnished it with a cucumber ribbon (which I made using a vegetable peeler) and a lime segment.  Voila – summer refreshment in a glass.

Caiprissimo in question photographed by Wendell T. Webber

In this week’s Dining & Wine section of the NYT, they published a recipe for Blueberry Maple Caiprissimo, which calls for Cognac, maple syrup, rosemary, blueberries and lemon juice. I thought caiprissimo may have been an alternate spelling of caipiríssima, so I did a little research. 

You might remember my posting on cachaça, where I gave a recipe for a caipirinha. Well, if you substitute white rum for the cachaça, it’s called a caipiríssima. If you opt for vodka, it’s caipiroska or caipivodka and with sake, it becomes caipisake.

I couldn’t find a definition or any other cocktail using the spelling caiprissimo, other than where the Times had adapted it from: Food & Wine Cocktails 2009.  Is it the Cognac?  Is it because it’s blended? 

Any way you spell it, these drinks should be on your list of summer refreshment.

I recently got a very cool present – The Wine-Drinker’s Manual 1830 Reprint: In Vino Veritas.
 
VintageCocktailBooks.com, in collaboration with Amazon offers several selections, with very fun titles like Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks 1869 Reprint and The Flowing Bowl – What And When To Drink 1891 Reprint: Full Instructions How To Prepare, Mix And Serve Beverages.  All of the books have been digitized from old originals – in my copy you can see traces of Dewey Decimal numbers hand-written on the inside cover as well as a stamp that says, “Harvard College Library.  From the Heirs of George C. Dempsey”.

I want to share a quote with you from the first chapter, “On Wine-drinking”:

“The antiquity and propriety of drinking wine is not, however, matter of question.  The Archbishop of Seville, Antonio de Solis, who lived to be 110 years old, drank Wine; and even that wonderful preacher of propriety, Cornaro, did the same.  All we differ about is quantity; and this is a point on which we do not pretend to reconcile our readers, for that would be too quackical a pretension for any Wine-drinker to aspire to.  Sir William Temple, as good and grave a man as any of the ‘illustrious’ of our country, was pleased to lay down a rule, and limit propriety to three glasses.  ‘I drink one glass, ‘ says he ‘for health, a second for refreshment, a third for a friend; but he offers a fourth is an ‘enemy’.”

25 April 1628 – 27 January 1699

Yes, this book was printed in London.

Sir William Temple was an author, statesman and diplomat who served as the provost of Trinity College in Dublin and acted as a consultant to Charles II.

Doesn’t he look like a thirsty spirit?  Maybe he poured his fourth glass out for his homies.

This cocktail has butter in it and lots of it. 

The following might be daunting for some (it involves xanthan gum), but fear not – you can always join us for one at the bar.   This recipe is courtesy of Nils Norén and Dave Arnold.  For more of their antics, check out their blog Cooking Issues. 

Cold buttered rum being served at our High Tech Cocktails class on 6/12

Cold Buttered Rum
2.75 parts Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum
2 parts butter syrup (recipe below)
0.5 parts strained lime juice
pinch salt
ice
optional garnish: vacuum-infused pineapple

Procedure: mix rum, butter syrup, lime juice and salt in a shaker and dry shake (no ice) for a few seconds to combine.  Add mucho ice and shake.  Strain into chilled martini glass and garnish with infused pineapple

Butter Syrup
200 g water
3 g TIC Pretested Ticaloid 210S (gum arabic and xanthan gum mix)
130 g melted butter
200 g sugar
10 allspice berries, crushed

Procedure: heat water and infuse allspice berries for 5 minutes at a simmer.  Strain out allspice.  Hydrate 3 g Ticaloid 210S in the allspice infused water with a hand blender (you’ll have better luck if you let the water cool).  Add 130 g butter and blend til smooth.  Add 200 g sugar and blend til smooth.  This syrup lasts a long time – it may start to separate, but can easily be stirred back together.

A.B. Smeby cherry vanilla bitters in the small, cute bottle

I recently met with my friend Louis Smeby, who began his own line of bitters about a year ago.  We tasted through his current offerings and he graciously left the samples behind – enough to keep me experimenting all summer long; hibiscus rose, celery, ginger, summer verbena and the list goes on.

I began with the cherry vanilla bitters, thinking its sweet notes could lighten up the “Mixed Nuts” cocktail for summer.  I chose rye for the base because I wanted a little spice and then I added Drambuie (a scotch whisky liqueur) to the mix for its honey and nutmeg notes.  The name Drambuie comes from the Scotish Gaelic phrase an dram buidheach, meaning the drink that satsifies.

This cocktail looks like a cherry coke and tastes like a pie (or cobbler).

Cherry Walnut Cobbler
2 oz. rye
1.5 oz. Nux Alpina Walnut Liqueur
3/4 oz. Drambuie
1/2 oz. simple syrup
4 (healthy) dashes A.B. Smeby Bittering Co. cherry vanilla bitters

Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice, shake, strain and serve in a chilled up glass.  Louis mentioned he rarely added his bitters to the shaker, but rather to the glass because they’re on the delicate side, but I got my desired result in this case by shaking.  Garnish with a cherry or maybe a crushed, spiced walnut rim.

Since he may be the only source of cherry vanilla bitters around, contact Louis directly for the goods.