A Flemish Old Fashioned

If you’ve made it to this blog you probably already know what genever is. For those unfamiliar, it is a Dutch or Belgian spirit that’s been produced in those territories since the seventeenth century. 

Genever is also an AOC protected spirit like cognac or scotch.

The story goes that the British once consumed this delicious distillate en masse until they began producing their own version, called gin. 

The Dutch and Belgian might tell you it is a poor knock-off. In fact, genever is often referred to as the predecessor to the classic London Dry Gin.

Diep 9 is a Belgian genever imported to the US and branded by Flemish Lion. 

Diep 9’s portfolio leads with the two classic styles of genever: the young and the old. Yet, the company also includes a variety that are naturally flavored.

My favorite, the old genever, is aged and then bottled in distinct clay containers. The old genever carries the rye, barley and wheat notes that whiskey lovers recognize. 

I also get that "Grapenuts" cereal aroma one experiences whenever grains are synthesized into a beverage. I also find the taste to be delightfully light and delicate - a nice alternative to whiskey.

A few months ago, owner Veronique Beittel invited me to be a brand ambassador and consultant for Diep 9. I cheerfully accepted the task. It's a product I already enjoyed.

The offer begat a first assignment which was to create a classic cocktail, such as an old fashioned, with their product.

Now I’m not breaking any ground here with a genever old fashioned. It stands to reason that it's been done before by far better barmen than I.

Not only that the old fashioned cocktail is after all a formula that works for nearly every spirit.

However, Diep 9’s old genever old fashioned (or Oude Fashioned) deserves a little shout from a mountain top. The flavors come together in their blend magnificently in this cocktail format. 

I’ve gotten very familiar with the Oude Fashioned for the past month. Then again, as Paul Kemp said in The Rum Diary, I drink "on the upper end of social."

Oude Fashioned

2 oz Diep 9 Old Genever

1/2 oz simple syrup

3-4 dashes Angostura bitters

3-4 dashes orange bitters

Add spirit, sugar, and bitters into an old-fashioned glass. Add ice. Stir 40 times. Garnish with an orange zest.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication 

Spirited Remix Improves Upon The Improved Cocktail

I'll be attending the Cocktails & Spirits Online Writers Group (CSOWG) event Drink.Write this December in D.C. At this event, I'll finally get a chance to meet DJ HawaiianShirt of Spirited Remix. I'm continually impressed with his blog and often find new things.

 

Recently, one of those new things was the Improved Cocktail.

"2 oz spirit

1 dash simple syrup

1 dash aromatic bitters

1 dash Maraschino

1 dash absinthe

Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist."

DJ loves this easy tipple and it's not hard to understand why. He writes:

"It doesn't sound like much, but [Jerry] Thomas knew what he was doing when he codified this thing into the printing press."

Now, like me, a thought that DJ has grappled with is unintentionally creating a cocktail that might already exist. No decent person would plagiarize and anyone could suffer from cryptomnesia. 

Making things worse, the craft cocktail movement has progressed to the point that stealing has become a significant discussion. At the end of the day, it leaves an amateur like myself wondering what the most prudent course of action would be. One could certainly scour the internet for the beverage in a Google search - or at least give it the old college try.

DJ finds peace of mind from some fellow cocktailians:

"Since then, I've gotten encouragement to shed humility by going ahead and naming cocktails that I've made, even if doing so seemed a bit exorbitant."

And the original remix that DJ formulated?

"Oklahoma

1.5-2 oz Cruzan Black Strap rum

heavy dash simple syrup

heavy dash aromatic bitters

heavy dash Maraschino

heavy dash absinthe

Build over ice in small tumbler. Garnish with orange twist."

Cheers!

NEW: Darcy O'Neil has some guidance.

Note: This post has been revised since its original publication 

Chilcano de Pisco

So there is an expatriate in Peru who writes a vivid account of her life in a foreign country. She includes recipes for Peruvian food and drink. I've never met this nice lady. But I find her record of recipes and meals interesting to read.

In fact, I'm going to try out one of the cocktails that she's written about when I'm at Tonic today. It's called the Chilcano de Pisco. This cocktail is similar to one that use to be on Tonic's cocktail menu called The Chufflay. I also happen to be a fan of pisco. Cheers!

The Chufflay

- 2 oz pisco (Bolivian)
- 1 1/2 oz of fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 oz of simple syrup
- 2-3 dashes Angostura bitters

Glassware: highball glass

Pour pisco, lemon juice, simple syrup, and bitters into the glass. Add ice. Shake the ingredients just to get a good mixture. Garnish with a lemon rind.

If you happen to be in Foggy Bottom today, do not be afraid to drop by Tonic and try one of these delicious cocktails.

The Columbia Room: Bitters Class Part I

In the summer of 2010, I missed several opportunities to secure a spot in one of Derek Brown's classes in the Columbia Room. The class was a tutorial on everything bitters. A wait-list was available which I joined. And in September, Derek revealed the dates for the fall/winter bitters classes (there are two sessions to fulfill the entire lesson). I eagerly signed up and prepared to absorb as much as possible about one of the most mysterious items in American taverns, even to many barkeeps themselves.

Bitters once occupied a realm in society that is somewhat recognizable to the contemporary imbiber: snake oils, tonics, curatives, et cetera. In other words, they supposedly supplied a remedy by which human beings could affect their "humors" and, by consequence, their constitution. An assertion, Derek noted, that has since been discredited.

But what about the bar?

Like the Archaeopteryx to rest of the dinosaurs, bitters sits perched on the bar shelf like some transitional fossil from the cretaceous epoch. Never truly concluded on whether it is a spirit or some kind of condiment, some bartenders pretend it's not even a part of their cache of ingredients. I guess some could say bitters became lost.
        

But as Bob Dylan once said: the times they are a-changin'. Clientele are becoming more aware of a whole market of bitters brands besides the ubiquitous Angostura. They are being exposed now to mixologists who specialize in different iterations of bitters. Among the more unconventional examples, successful flavors include tobacco, leather, cola, and cannabis. That’s right… cannabis.
             

Students took their seats to place-setting of raw materials. From the top left, down: bitter orange peel, anise, caraway, cinnamon. From the top right, down: gentian root, dandelion, quassia bark, wormwood. Together, Derek told us, these elements constituted the greatest commonality between the various bitters.

The class was a whirlwind of information for booze lovers. All the while, the two darling assistants, Katie Nelson and Adriana Salame-Aspiazu, fashioned the students a bourbon-based drink called the Seelbach:

The Seelbach

- 1 oz bourbon whiskey

- 1/2 oz curacao

- 7 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters

- 7 dashes Peychaud's Bitters

Shake with ice. Strain into a chilled champagne flute. Top with sparkling white wine. Garnish with a lemon twist. Enjoy.

      

 A Manhattan cocktail without bitters is kind of like the Manhattan island without skyscrapers: flat. Derek demonstrated this feeling perfectly serving his class two Manhattans, one with and one without bitters. Any student could have distinguished the richness of the beverage by studying the color alone. The Manhattan with bitters possessed a robust amber pigment while the one without appeared pale and sickly (but still consumable... it is whiskey after all).

Amazingly, the drink sans the spice tasted neutered and absent of the savory flavor that makes the Manhattan sui generis. The point was made and the significance of bitters began to take root, so to speak.
 

 

The final cocktail of the evening (at least as far as this bitters class was concerned) rested on a full 1 1/2 oz of Angostura Sour.  While that amount was quite the declension from the typical amount of bitters used, I was captivated by the concept.  The volume of the Angostura and the inclusion of a small egg white, among the other ingredients, demonstrated a pleasantly unique taste. 

"Let's taste them all together," Derek concluded as he passed around each bottle in his menagerie of bitters. He encouraged everyone to dribble a few drops of the ink-like liquid onto their hands to try. Impressive as Derek is at crafting a drink, his incredible generosity and curiosity far outshines the talent or the attention to detail he so obviously possesses.  He also has to be one of the tidiest bartenders I have ever met. 

Sadly, the class was running close to its allotted time. Each bittering agent was added to vodka (a neutral grain spirit) for maceration. In two weeks, when we return to the Columbia Room, Derek will resume the final half of the lesson with home-made bitters.  Look for Part II of this post in the weeks ahead.

I am really hoping the lesson will include a detailed unit on that cannabis bitters.  Maybe, just maybe, if I wish hard enough…