BETWEEN THE SHEETS PERFECT CHEAT ~~ MXMO

What makes a perfect cocktail?

In this sense, it's an equal division of spirits. A formula where very few examples achieve a great result. Equal parts can often end up in competition rather than harmony. Perfect symmetry is the challenge for this month's MXMO and it's deceptively difficult to use an even split of ingredients that wind up tasting great on the palate

I decided to help myself out and borrow the back bone of an already nearly symmetrical classic cocktail, Between the Sheets.

It's a mix of equal parts rum, brandy and orange liqueur with a 1/2 part or less of lemon juice. It's a rare drink that is symmetrical it's even rarer to have two base spirits. So, to have both in one cocktail is really a dream.

Except, the lemon juice. 

Why lemon? 

Why?

I just couldn't deal.

I was compelled to find a way to bring this drink into harmony. Perfect symmetry with base spirits wasn't going to cut it. I needed all or nothing.

It's not possible to just add more lemon because there isn't enough natural sweetness to hold it up, even when I tried using a sweeter rum and an orange liqueur with more sugar in it.

To the Cheating.

I decided to cheat by making the lemon juice sweeter and a little bitter so that I could use it in equal proportion to the spirits. By making a burnt, brown sugar, lemon syrup I was able to control the balance of sweet and sour while adding just a little bitterness. I allowed the results of the syrup to dictate my choice of an aged rum and a dry curaçao. 

I wish you could see that it was actually on fire when I took this.

the sweetness/symmetry conundrum also helps to illustrate one of the difficulties in learning to bar tend at home. 

Unless you are already a cocktail nerd, (ahem, fellow MXMO-ers) you probably don't have a fully flushed out home bar yet with every ingredient under the sun. I talk about this frequently because I think its important not to allow yourself to become stuck on the idea that you need a huge selection or to spend tons of money to make great drinks at home.

It just becomes more important to experiment and work with the ingredients you have on hand. This comes with other bonuses.You'll get practice in balancing drinks and figuring out what makes them work. You can also more easily identify the ingredients that will be worth spending the money to have, when you constantly wish you had an orange liqueur that wasn't so sweet you 'll know it's time for a bottle of dry curaçao. 

In this case maybe you only have one brand of rum or brandy, great, problem solved. You don't have to choose. Brand snobbery and choosiness can come in down the line when you have nine rums from six regions in three styles. This is your bed to make and your sheets to get in between, perhaps you don't care about perfect hospital corners... Use what you have to make the drink you and your guests will like. 

Between The Sheets Perfect Cheat

3/4 oz rum 

3/4 oz brandy

3/4 oz dry curaçao

3/4 oz burnt lemon syrup

Method

In a shaker combine all ingredients, fill 3/4 with ice, shake for 30 seconds, strain into chilled glass, garnish with a lemon twist

Burnt Lemon Syrup

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Method

In a heat proof container add sugar, bruleé (torch) for 25-30 seconds. Add lemon juice, stir to dissolve sugar, strain. 

*alternately regular brown sugar and lemon will work, you'll just lose some of the bitter dimension from the burnt sugar

Thank you to MXMO  and Southern Ash for providing yet another inspiring theme. Although, now all I can see is the lack of symmetry every where, this blog, my bar shelves, every other recipe I've ever written..

Here is the Roundup. All of the other drinks look awesome you should check them out, the symmetry lends well to home bartending. 

Do you need perfect symmetry? Tell us about your balancing battles behind the bar in the comments below.

Find the window pic.

DIY G&T 2&3

As jobs go, I'd have to say I'm very fortunate.

I get to wear so many hats as an entrepreneur. The most overtly rewarding of my many assignments (no, not the recipe testing) are the events. I have the great pleasure of doing something creative and celebratory that gives me a platform for interaction (working from home with a two year old on your lap limits this), education and fun. Everyone likes a party, and the gal making the drinks is always popular.

Yes, you can have this at your party!

This past week I was invited to make some drinks for a birthday celebration. The man being feted loves gin and tonic. So much so that I was asked to make two different house tonics for the evening. My inner nerd was very excited. As an added bonus the weather was very cooperative and gin & tonics in their gorgeous backyard were a perfect fit.

If you have already made my Tonic #1, this will give you a chance to play with the technique. If not you can still start here, the method is exactly the same.

I made two simple variations on the recipe that yield drastically different results.

If you love bitter with your bitter, this is the one for you.

G Cubed
2 oz Victoria Gin
1 oz Tonic #2 (see below)
1/2 oz fresh grapefruit juice
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
3 oz soda water
3 drops orange bitters (twisted & bitter)
grapefruit zest for garnish

Method
In a mixing glass combine gin, syrup and juice, stir to combine. Fill an old fashioned glass with cracked ice, pour in mix, top with soda and drops of bitters. Stir and garnish with fresh grapefruit zest

I  use these small bowls to stay organized

Tonic #2 Grapefruit Ginger
2 C sugar
1 C water
2 grapefruit (juice and zest)
3 inches fresh ginger, sliced 
1 limes (juice & zest)
1 lemons (juice & zest)
2 tbsp cinchona bark
2 tsp citric acid
pinch salt
pinch cracked black pepper








Method
Peel then juice citrus, set aside. In a heavy bottom sauce pan over medium heat, add sugar and water, bring to the boil, reduce to low heat, add remaining ingredients, stir gently. Simmer 20 mins, remove from heat, let stand, cool to room temp. Strain syrup through cheesecloth or coffee filter over a fine mesh strainer.
Refrigerate in an air tight glass container for up to 3 weeks.

If you prefer something herbal and savory, this will be your new G&T

Tanglad Tonic
1 1/2 oz Bombay Sapphire East
1/4 oz Martini Bianco vermouth
1 oz Tonic #3 (see below)
1/4 oz fresh lime juice
3 oz soda water
5 drops Black Pepper Bitters (twisted & bitter)
fresh lemongrass and lime zest for garnish


Method
In a mixing glass combine gin, vermouth, syrup and juice. Stir to combine. Fill and old fashioned glass with cracked ice, pour in mix top with soda and bitters. Stir and garnish with fresh lime and lemongrass.


Tonic #3 Lemongrass Black Pepper
2 C sugar
1 C water
3 stalks fresh lemongrass or 1/2 C dried
2 limes (juice & zest)
2 lemons (juice & zest)
3 tbsp fresh cracked black pepper or 3 tsp ground
2 tbsp cinchona bark
2 tsp citric acid
pinch salt

Method
see above for Tonic #2

A very special thank you for the gents who invited me to help at their party and make these new syrups.

Have you made your own tonic yet? Do you need me for your next party? Leave a comment or send me an email. 
 

CANADA DAY

Even if you're reading this from elsewhere in the world, I hope you too have a day dedicated to gratitude for all of the amazing aspects of your country. Festivals, family picnics and fireworks are the standard celebration here but having this cocktail at your party won't hurt either.

I love having a small business in Canada and I'm so thankful for the opportunities it brings. One of which happened to be the super cool request to craft some uniquely Canadian cocktails for a current promotion at the LCBO.

This choice from the collection, The Loganberry cocktail is no coincidence. I'm from the area where these berries are grown, a huge fan of Forty Creek and I had been looking for an opportunity to use one of their whiskies with Campari. The Gruppo Campari recently purchased the Canadian company. 

Here we expand on the original recipe by adding the whites of a fresh egg or a 1/2 oz  of pasteurized egg whites and going insane with a Campari maple leaf stencil.
The version in the magazine is already crazy delicious  and also simple to make. This just shows you how to take a very easy, tasty drink and transform it into a show piece.













If you want to blow the minds of your guests tomorrow, you'll need an X-Acto blade knife and an atomizer. Carve out your image from a thin piece of clear plastic, I used a lid from a takeout container. Hold the stencil just over, but not touching, your foam. Fill your atomizer with Campari and mist from about six inches away to avoid any large droplets.



Have a safe and Happy Holiday, remember to always enjoy responsibly.





How do you celebrate your country's national holiday? Have a flag cocktail of your own? Tell us about it in the comments.

5 Easy to Make Cocktail Ingredients Using Blood Orange

At first glance, a cocktail recipe calling for an infused vodka or seasonal shrub might appear too far out of reach. But, if you're a budding home bartender, you will not believe how easy these cocktail ingredients are to prepare, they will launch your cocktails to the next level and each one only takes a few minutes to prepare!



We keep it simple by using one star ingredient for all five of our recipes. It's almost the end of Blood Orange season but it's by far the most popular time to use them in recipes. If you're unfamiliar with these beauties, they have the tang of a navel orange with the floral notes of a tangerine. The thing that makes them truly special is the exquisite colour inside. They can be somewhat acidic and so they're not quite as popular for eating out of hand, but it's for this reason that they have the perfect profile for our cocktail ingredients.

Every home bartender can make these!

1. Bitters

2. Vodka

3. Syrup

4. Shrub

5. Cordial

1.Blood Orange Bitters

These bitters are just a combination of blood orange vodka (see recipe #2) and wild cherry bark bittering agent, the bark is found at the herbalist, the same place you found the cinchona bark for your tonic syrup.

1/4 C Blood Orange Vodka
1/8 C Wild Cherry Bark bitterant

Shelf stable, keep in a small glass jar, a recycled jam jar will work 

Bitterant
1/4 C wild cherry bark
3/4 C vodka

Combine in 500 ml jar, (the extra space in the jar is needed for the bark to expand), set in a cool dark place for one week to one month, [you can keep adding more vodka over time (longer = more bitterness)], strain and store, it's shelf stable.

I keep all of my bittering agents  and components separate, only ever blending the final product. 

2. Blood Orange Vodka

You might want to make a few jars of this one. The vodka is used in two of the other recipes. I particularly love the colour it lends to a drink.

1 blood orange, sliced
1 C vodka

Combine in 500 ml jar, set in a cool dark place for one week, discard orange slices, strain vodka, store in the same jar

3. Blood Orange Syrup

Flavoured syrups offer an opportunity to build extra flavour into any cocktail that calls for simple syrup.  

3 blood oranges, juiced, reserve juice and shells
2 C sugar
1 C water
1/4 tsp salt

Optional, additional awesomeness: 1/4 tsp citric acid to brighten flavour and increase shelf life.

In a heavy bottom sauce pot, over medium heat bring sugar and water to the boil. Add shells and reduce heat to low, simmer for 20 mins. Remove from heat, cool and fine strain. Add juice and salt, stir and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

4. Blood Orange Shrub

Shrubs are a great way of adding acidity to a cocktail, they're delicious, unusual (friends will be very impressed) and so simple.

1/3 C fresh blood orange juice

1/3 C sugar

1/3 C red wine vinegar

Combine juice and sugar stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves, add vinegar. Store in a glass jar, this one is shelf stable and will even get better with time.

5. Blood Orange Cordial

This isn't my usual method for making cordials but in the interest of saving time and since you just made these two recipes, you might as well...

1/2 C Blood Orange Vodka

1/4 C Blood Orange Syrup

Combine and store, it will last on the shelf but will do even better in the fridge.


Did you try any or all of these? Did you use them in an existing recipe? Let me know how it turned out!