Next Song for the Jukebox

(Bermuda) Rum Swizzle

Saturday was one of the sweatiest days in recent memory. On one hand, it served as a fine instrument for purging the rotten alcohol in my tired bloodstream. On the other, comfort could be found only in an air conditioned breeze. Boat drinks were in order - exhibiting in one glass the feeling of tropical waters and the kiss of an ocean spray.  

I like to think that the inherent social nature of cocktails reveals an entirely alternative angle to the term “boat drinks.” It seems to me that booze notoriously eases the inhibitions of two complete strangers toward some manner of solidarity. And this solidarity (permit me to stretch a bit) can best be described as two people having that existential feeling of "being in the same boat;” hence, boat drinks.

Anyway, I'm not a tiki-bartender. But I do admire the occasional indulgence of these exhilarated flotillas of alcohol and juices. One of these attempts has been with the Rum Swizzle. 

To clarify, the addition of Gosling's or other Bermuda rum would require the salutation of "Bermuda" Rum Swizzle. But one mixes drinks with the bar that he/she has (something former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld might have been inclined to say) and I was fresh out of Bermuda rum. Life goes on. 

Rum Swizzle

- 2 oz of rum (I use Myers's Jamaican Dark Rum)
- 1 oz of fresh lemon juice
- 1 oz of fresh orange juice
- 1 oz of pineapple juice (preferably fresh)
- 1/2 oz of falernum
- 1 oz of simple syrup
- 2 dashes of Angostura bitters

Glassware: pint glass

Pour 2 oz of dark rum into the pint glass.

Pour in 1 oz of fresh lemon juice.

Pour in 1 oz of fresh orange juice.

Pour in 1 oz of pineapple juice.

Pour in 1/2 oz of falernum.

Pour 1 oz of simple syrup and Angostura bitters.

Add ice and stir a dozen times.  Garnish with a cherry and a lime wheel.  Enjoy.

As usual, I’ve pulled a combination of recipes. One recipe for the Rum Swizzle came from Dale Degroff's legendary book The Craft of the Cocktail and the other recipe at DrinkBoy.com. It's a very bright cocktail that couldn't quite taste the same without the exotic spice of the falernum. Some sites seem to suggest grenadine is an acceptable substitute. Resist this assertion. The falernum makes the drink.

So as my friend (and professional renegade) Virginia Lee say: “boat drinks!”

"I drink, therefore I am."

Since I'm in a Monty Python sort of mood today I've decided to revisit one of my favorite drinking songs. 

Bruces' Philosphers Song

Immanuel Kant was a real piss-ant who was very rarely stable.

Heideggar, Heideggar was a boozy beggar who could think you under the table.

David Hume could out-consume Schopenhauer and Hegel.

And Whittgenstein was a beery swine who was just as sloshed as Schlegel.

There's nothing Nieizsche couldn't teach 'ya 'bout the raising of the wrist.

Socrates, himself, was permanently pissed.

John Stewart Mill, of his own free will, after half a pint of shanty was particularly ill.

Plato, they say, could stick it away, half a crate of whiskey every day!

Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle,

And Hobbes was fond of his Dram.

And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart:

"I drink, therefore I am."

Yes, Socrates himself is particularly missed;

A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's pissed.

For Sh*ts and Giggles: Homemade Falernum

It seems as though nearly all of the mixology heavy weights have descended upon New Orleans, Louisiana (or "NoLa" as the kids are so artfully abbreviating it) for Tales of the Cocktail.  Not me.  I'm here in DC as an observer from afar.

Ah, but opportunity presents itself!  As Camper English, a San Francisco journalist, demonstrates on his blog Alcademics, there will be a significant outage in the communications from the blogger elites.  What a perfect occasion for rendition of their readership. 

Right.

Anyway, making my way through the tribulations of fresh homemade ingredients, I fell upon falernum.  Since the temperature outside is crying havoc its perfectly appropriate to get bamboo straws, little umbrellas and toss together "boat drinks."  And since falernum can be found in a number of such cocktails I took time to build this strange ingredient from scratch.

I sought guidance from RumDood's blog and his journey to make was seems to be a great homemade falernum.  Sooner or later I stumbled upon another promising recipe at Cocktail Chronicles.  I perused several other sites but relied primarily on a constituency of these two approaches. 

Falernum


Stage One:
8 oz of Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum
2 oz fresh shredded ginger
Zest from 8 limes (this is a pain in the trousers)
40 whole cloves
2 anise stars

Stage Two:
14 oz simple syrup (2:1 - cold processed)
1/4 tsp pure almond extract
4 oz fresh lime juice

Necessary tools: a zester, cheesecloth

Stage one: steep the shredded ginger, lime zest, cloves and anise stars in the rum for twenty-four hours.

Stage two (24 hours later): collect the resulting liquid using cheesecloth.  Add simple syrup, lime juice, and almond extract.  Mix the combination and it's ready to serve.

I'll be making Bermuda Rum Swizzles at Tonic today.  If you're hoping to slip global warming for a moment and reinvigorate yourself with a fresh boat drink, step into Tonic and put me and my homemade falernum to the task. 

Next Song for the Jukebox

Joyeux Quatorze Juillet!

Happy Bastille Day!  

Thank god for the Age of Enlightenment.  Its hard to fathom a world without liberty, equality, and brotherhood.  The French call it "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité!"  Ideas like these led to revolutions.  Including, but not limited to, the American Revolution followed by the French Revolution.

I've elected to post the French 77 in honor of Bastille Day.

French 77

- 1 3/4 oz of St. Germaine Elderflower Liqueur
- 1/2 oz of fresh squeezed lemon juice
- champagne
- 1 lemon

Glassware: Champagne glass

Pour St. Germaine and fresh squeezed lemon juice into the glass.  Fill the rest of the glass with champagne.  Garnish with lemon rind.  Enjoy.

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

Traveling in Pennsylvania last weekend, Nicole and I couldn't resist a slight digression in our route back to DC.  Cursed with the Irish flu and in need of something notoriously unhealthy, we invaded Philadelphia.  We were bound for the markets on 9th street. 

"Pat's or Geno's?" you would invariably ask.  That day, we introduced ourselves to Geno's.

Why am I blogging about this?  I may simply be fascinated with food shows that endeavor to track down the self-proclaimed originator of this or that in junk food.  As with my previous posts for Anchorbar and Jim's SteakOut I find its a fun exercise to show some of these places.  Maybe even provide a recommendation or two. 

So was the taste of Geno's Philly cheese steak the one and only true vicar of the food gods?  Was it the one-of-a-kind comfort food that was so delightful it found its way onto almost every menu in the country... like Buffalo wings, quesadillas, or Cobb salads?

Eh. 

Now don't get me wrong... I mean who am I to doubt one of "the originals."  The steak and onions were generous and juicy.  It was messy like the cheese steaks in my dreams.  But I wouldn't say it was the best. 

Moreover, I wasn't too amused by the "This is America... When Ordering Please Speak English" sticker on the service window.  I mean this has nothing to do with the taste of the food... but really, Geno.  Really. 

Otherwise, Geno's cheese steak was delicious.  The venture felt all the more worth the effort once we visited a long lost friend and yeoman-chef, Kenny Bush.   Hopefully, I'll be writing a blog post of my experience at his restaurant.  Stay tuned.

"Anybody mind if I take off my pants?"

At the risk of appearing excessively crude I gotta say that a good Old Fashioned is kind of like taking off your trousers.  I can also tell you that, since the passing of my binge drinking youth, Old Fashioneds go down with a lot more ease and comfort.

I'm fascinated by what my friend Virginia Lee told me one day about the sudden interest in this quintessential cocktail (she writes a blog on the Wisconsinite's take on the drink).  She said, "haven't you been watching Mad Men?"  I must admit I'm a new-comer to the show.  I have catching up to do but I'm excited for the upcoming 4th season. 

Presumably, bartenders around the world rue the day Mad Men made it cool to order an Old Fashioned again.  While this subject has been covered many times and many tine tanies.  I can't help myself.

The Old Fashioned

- 2 oz of bourbon or rye whiskey (I used Maker's Mark)
- 1 oz of simple syrup
- 3 dashes of Angostura bitters
- 1 lemon

Glassware: a rocks glass or an old-fashioned glass

Pour 1 oz of simple syrup into the glass

Add 3 dashes of Angostura bitters. 

Add a slice of lemon rind.

Muddle the 3 ingredients together keeping in mind that you're trying to release the oils of the lemon into the sugar water and the bitters.  This combination will make kind of a syrup.  This syrup will become the additive to smooth out the rough edges of the whiskey.

Pour 2 oz of whiskey into the glass.  Stir gently approximately 20 times to ensure that the concotion has mixed and that it is chilly.

Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Before I finish, in honor of Mad Men's upcoming season, I give you - interaction between the sexes according to Mad Men:

"It's a Long Way to Tipperary..."

Unlike many of the more renowned mixologists that I read about or are acquainted with I haven't studied the holy books.  I've never read the volumes authored by these legendary bar chefs before the Volstead Act (or those great ones after).  I was exposed but only by promotional corporate cocktails: the margajito, the "big apple"-tini, the low. carb. margarita. 

My education has come from less traditionally academic mixologist realms.  In other words... thank god for the Internet.

I discovered the cocktail for this blog post at Cocktails With M.  I visit from time to time.  It's called Tipperary and its name lays claim, from what I can tell, to Irish sensibilities by its Irish whiskey ingredient (it's other ingredients are French and Italian).  Its name, Tipperary, is a town in Ireland which became the topic of a popular WWI marching song. 

I love whiskey and have become a recent Chartreuse enthusiast, so I decided to give it a go.

Tipperary

- 2 oz of Jameson Irish whiskey
- 3/4 oz of sweet vermouth
- 1/2 oz of green Chartreuse
- a lemon

Glassware: cocktail glass

Combine ingredients into a mixing glass.

Add ice and stir until cold.

Pour mixture into glass.

Garnish with a lemon twist.

Enjoy.

It's a hearty drink.  Once past the introduction, there's a layer of zesty flavor that leaps up with the Chartreuse flavor.  For a first attempt, I was very satisfied with what I had done.

Happy Birthday Campari

A little Campari history for you.  There's a reason this apéritif is one of the ingrediants in the 25 classic cocktails that every bartender should know.