A Bitter Spirit

Author: Drew

Day 10: Ten Lords a-Leaping Cocktail
“…to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee.”
― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

Yep, you guessed it. THIS was our white whale.

It started off simply enough .. we thought "Hey, these lords, they probably want a good stiff drink after all that leaping. Let's give them something strong and (traditionally) manly. Let's start with a Blood and Sand and go from there." Aside from the obvious appeal that the original cocktail is from a bullfighter movie (talk about leaping!), it also uses whisky as a base. We try different booze bases to keep you, gentle reader, interested. After all, not everyone are the ardent bourbon-lovers like we are.

We tried several variations and combinations of Jameson Irish Whiskey (because the only scotch we had was Kate's birthday scotch, Glenmorangie with a Sauternes finish, and she'll be damned if she's putting that in a cocktail) with Lillet (instead of the sweet vermouth), orange juice, Cherry Heering, port (see cocktail note 1), Root, Fernet Branca and cranberry sauce (see cocktail note 2).

After multiple hours, we called it a day and resolved to start fresh on the 'morrow.

With a bourbon base.

Ten Lords a-Leaping Cocktail
- 2 parts bourbon (we used Buffalo Trace)
- 1 part Lillet
- 1 part Cherry Heering
- 1 tsp leftover cranberry sauce
- Apothecary Cherry Cedar Bitters
Combine all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake very well. Double strain over ice into a rocks glass. Garnish with a light twist of orange.

Cocktail Notes
1. We had a guest bartender attending during our first session. Part of the time we spent trying various ingredients to see if they would go together. One that surprised us was a 1:1 Lillet/port combo. VERY smooth. Our guest bartender, Marni, dubbed it "The Tipsy Mommy".
2. Jam cocktails are quite popular where Drew hails from (you go into a bar, choose a base spirit and a base jam, then they riff on it a bit and make you a tasty cocktail). We'd been wanting to try something like that. We had some cranberry sauce leftover from Christmas dinner, so we incorporated it. The sauce was homemade with real cranberries (hence the double straining); it also had maple syrup and Grand Mariner in it – so that may effect the taste of the cocktail, depending on what kind of cranberry sauce you use.
January 3, 2016
Day 9: Nine Ladies Dancing Cocktail
Some days, the process is easy. And some days, the process is hard. Once in every calendar, we run into our "white whale" – that cocktail that will just not coalesce into a tasty libation. Sometimes, it's because we don't have a clear idea of what we want (some might say it lacks a strong narrative thread) or sometimes it's because things just don't taste the way we thought they would. So a 20 minute fun exercise turns into a 3-hour, thousand glass-washing, tipsy tirade.

Fortunately, today's cocktail wasn't our white whale this year. This was probably one of the easiest to come together. For our dancing ladies, a pretty pink pomegranate margarita.

Nine Ladies Dancing Cocktail
- 2 parts pomegranate tequila
- 1 part amaretto (we used Sons of Vancouver limited edition, barrel-aged amaretto – I have bottle #17!)
- 1/2 part lime
- bar spoon of Campari
Combine ingredients in cocktail shaker over ice. Shake well. Strain into cocktail glass. Serve with a cute lime twist.

Cocktail Notes
- We originally tried Tuaca, along with the tequila and amaretto – but it didn't add anything new.
- The Campari is surprisingly delightful.
January 2, 2016
Day 8: Eight Maids a-Milking Cocktail
Drew has a tendency to store up random bits of trivia much like squirrels stowing away nuts for the coming winter. Kate has chosen to find it charming. In researching the Twelve Days of Christmas, he latched on to a few "interesting" bits of knowlege. Relevant to today's cocktail, eight maids a-milking, is the phrase "smooth as a milk maid's skin." Prior to vaccines, the general public often had pock marked skin while milk maid's skin frequently remained unblemished. This is due to the maids being exposed to the cow pox virus. Similar to chicken pox, cow pox doesn't leave the typical pock marks on the skin but does offer some immunity to other pock producing viruses. Thus, smooth skin! Fascinating…well, ok…not really, but you just learned something and by now you're thirsty. (Kate's note – ewww)

For today's cocktail, we knew we wanted to make something creamy but not necessarily use milk or ice cream. Kate had recently seen this recipe from Lauren Mote for a "Chartreuse Milkshake" that she thought was nifty. We modded it into a flip; using the full egg in the cocktail makes it extra rich and velvety.

Eight Maids a-Milking Cocktail
- 2 parts gin (we used Wallflower gin)
- 1 part creme de cacao
- 1 part green chartreuse
- 1/2 part orange juice
- 1/2 part lime juice
- 1/4 part simple syrup
- 1 egg
- Fee Brother's Black Walnut bitters
- martini glass
Combine all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker and dry shake it for at least 20 seconds. Add ice and shake until cold. Double strain into a martini glass and top with grated zest and chocolate shavings.

Cocktail Notes

As mentioned above, this drink is a slight riff on a drink by Vancouver bartender and bitter maker, Lauren Mote. We put in a full egg to up the richness and creaminess and added the black walnut bitters to enhance the chartreuse notes.
January 1, 2016
Day 7: Seven Swans a-Swimming Cocktail
Here we are at the half way point of our cocktails and, even better than that, we're at the last of our bird days! Now, swans have a reputation for being cranky, even downright mean. But instead of focussing on this somewhat questionable personality trait for our cocktail's genesis, we decided to emphasize their royal nature: in the UK, swans are protected by the Queen. And what's the Queen's favourite drink? Dubonnet.

An additional factor: it's New Year's Eve and we knew we wanted a sparkling wine-based cocktail. So, we're riffing on the traditional French 75 and have created a "Royal 75", if you will, to ring in the New Year. Happy 2016, everyone!

Seven Swans a-Swimming Cocktail
- 1 part Dubonnet
- 1 tsp (bar spoon) Pernod
- 1 tsp simple syrup
- champagne, prosecco or other sparkling wine
- champagne flute
Combine the Dubonnet, Pernod and simple syrup in a champagne flute. Top with sparkling wine.

Cocktail Notes

We tried two type of bitters with the drink, but ultimately neither added to the cocktail.
- We added lemon bitters, thinking the cocktail might need more of a top note. The bitters flattened out all of the nuisances of the cocktail and made for a boring drink.
- We also tried Conifer Berry bitters from Apothecary bitters but they overemphasized the anise and "green" flavours in the cocktail.
December 31, 2015
Day 6: Six Geese a-Laying Cocktail
Along with being nerds, Kate and I like to think of ourselves as somewhat creative people. Given that, we're not too proud to admit that a cocktail based on geese had us stumped for a while. Kate joked that we could always make a foie gras martini and that it wouldn't be our first foray into savory martinis. After choking down my gag reflex, I just smiled and nodded in that appropriate younger brother sort of way. Who knew that foie gras martinis actually existed…in Vegas of course! Then we took a more practical approach. The type of goose that most people are familiar with is the Canada goose so why not a cocktail made with Canadian liquors.

Several distilleries have opened up in western British Columbia, so we decided to use a new gin find from Vancouver Island. We paired that with a cloudberry liqueur from Montreal to create the Canadian version of a Moscow Mule…a Canadian Moose, if you will. Cheers, eh.

Six Geese a-Laying Cocktail
- 1 part gin (we used Stump)
- 1 part cloudberry liqueur
- 1/2 part lime juice
- ginger beer
Combine the gin, cloudberry and lime in a glass with ice. Top with ginger beer and gently mix.

Cocktail Notes

The Stump gin has a lot of botanicals that pais surprisingly well with the strong ginger beer; the cloudberry adds just a little depth to the cocktail. The base cocktail (gin, ginger beer and lime) is extremely versatile. One part of your favourite liqueur could be added in place of the cloudberry to give a different taste profile. Even maple!
December 30, 2015
Day 5: Five Gold Rings Cocktail
Overhead in the Trgovac Cocktail Test Lab…

So five gold rings. Maybe Goldschlager?

No. What are we, undergrads doing shots to get loaded?

Ok, ok. How about that terrible (terrible!) Hungarian Golden Pear liqueur?

No. NO.

Oooo … banana liqueur?

NO! Look, we want this too be classy. We only have 12 days in this calendar – no joke cocktails.

Oh, how about that really interesting Chrysanthemum and Honey liqueur? That's kind of gold.

Brilliant.

Five Gold Rings Cocktail
- 1 part Koval Chrysanthemum and Honey Liqueur
- 1 part Giffard's Ginger of the Indies
- 1 part smooth, sipping vodka
- lemon twist
Combine all ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake until super-cold. Strain into martini glass. Express a bit of lemon oil from the twist onto the drink. Garnish with fancy lemon peel rings.

Cocktail Notes
- This came together beautifully. Amazing. Fresh. A little sweet. Needs the lemon.
December 29, 2015
Day 4: Four Calling (Colly) Birds Cocktail
Drew and I are a nerdy pair. When we were researching the twelve days of Christmas (the lyrics of the carol, the various feast days, etc.) we came across a lot of interesting (and historically questionable) tidbits. But one of my absolute favourite things is the lyric comparison chart in Wikipedia. I always figured that "gold rings" vs "golden rings" was the most contentious lyric. Not so. Apparently, it is the one from today, Day 4. The original 1790 version of this carol listed the Day 4 gift as "4 Colly Birds". Colly is, it seems, an English regional colloquialism for black. So these should be four black birds. (Sidenote: there are also lyric variants of Canary, Colour'd, and Calling … so black may not be definitive, but that's what we're going with for this cocktail).

Upon reading this, I immediately thought "Black Russian" (possibly because I don't always have a lot of imagination). But then I remembered the challenge my wife, Rose, gave us at the outset, "Why don't you guys try using up some of the liquors you have before buying a bunch of new ones." Indeed. Here was the perfect opportunity to try to use some Root. Root is this very interesting spirit that calls up notes of sassafras, birch bark and, well, root beer. As you can imagine, it's tricky in a cocktail. This seemed like a fun one to try.

Four Calling Birds Cocktail
- 1 part vodka
- 1/2 part kahlua
- 1/2 part Root
- bar spoon creme de cacao
- bar spoon Fernet Branca
- few dashes General Ambrose Bitters
Combine all ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake. Pour over ice in a rocks glass. Serve.

Cocktail Notes
- The Fernet Branca really makes this. It takes that last edge of sweet off of everything and makes this a nice, grownup drink.
- We also tried Whiskey Bitters. They brought up a wintergreen flavour which was tasty, but not what we were going for here.
December 28, 2015
Day 3: Three French Hens Cocktail
Well, here we are on the Third Day of Christmas which, coincidentally, happens to be half way through the gifts of birds in the song. Seriously! If any "true love" decided to gift us that many different kinds of fowl, we'd have to reconsider the future of that relationship. Regardless, we have drinks to make.

For this cocktail, Drew wanted to combine three French liquors to create something magical (or magique, en français)! Kate suggested making a sour so there'd be some kind of egg in the drink to reflect the hens. We settled on using brandy as the base spirit and then added Suze (a liqueur made from gentian flowers) for a little bitter and Benedictine for a little spice. Lemon, simple syrup, egg white and cherry bitters complete the drink.

Three French Hens
- 2 parts brandy
- 1 part Suze
- 1 part Benedictine
- 1/2 tsp simple syrup
- 1/2 part lemon juice
- 1 tsp egg white
- 3 drops of cherry bitters (we used Spirit Fire Cherry Cedar bitters by Apothecary Bitters)
Combine all ingredients into a shaker and dry shake for approximately 30 seconds. Add ice and shake until chilled. Pour into a coupe glass and top with bitters.

Cocktail Notes

The cocktail came together pretty much as we had tasted it in our heads. If you wanted to up the bitterness somewhat, you could increase the Suze by about 1/2 part.
December 27, 2015
Day 2: Two Turtle Doves Cocktail
Today is Boxing Day – it's an official holiday in Canada. It's a big shopping day, but also a good day to do fun outdoorsy things. And also a good day, depending on the weather, to stay inside and cozy up with your new book, game, movie, etc that you got for Christmas. So, we wanted to make something warm and comforting to drink – whether you're enjoying it after a day on the slopes or after the emotional fuckery of a Muriel Barbery novel (ok, so Kate STILL hasn't gotten over Elegance of the Hedgehog).

We were having a family brainstorming session about what a Turtle Dove cocktail might be like .. and Rose shouted out "Make a Turtles cocktail, like the candy!" And so, our cocktail was born.

Two Turtle Doves Cocktail
- 1 part Frangelico
- 1 part creme de cacao
- bar spoon absinthe
- drop of thai green chili cocktail spice
- hot chocolate
Combine all ingredients except for hot chocolate and stir gently. Pour into mug. Top with hot chocolate. Stir and serve.

Cocktail Notes
- tried Apothecary The Darkness bitters – didn't emphasize the right things
- tried an infusion of the creme de cacao with red pepper flakes – flavour wasn't very deep, and not even much heat on the end
- tried green chartreuse in place of the absinthe – was weird with the Frangelico
December 26, 2015
Day 23: (It Must’ve Been Ol’) Santa Claus

The carol inspiration for today's drink is (It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus by Harry Connick, Jr. Recorded for his 1993 album When My Heart Finds Christmas, the song proved to be a funky and jazzy addition to the holiday repertoire.

When we think of New Orleans (hometown of HCJ), one of the images that pops up is that of fresh pecans (often in pralines!). This pecan "milk" punch fits the bill. We added some southern bourbon just for good measure.

(It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus Cocktail
1 cup pecans
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups water
4 dates or figs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 Tbsp cream of coconut
1/4 cup simple syrup (if desired)
1/2 cup bourbon

Toast the pecan pieces in a skillet on the stove over medium heat until fragrant. Turn off the heat; add the cinnamon to pan and toss. After the nuts have cooled, transfer the pecans and cinnamon to a blender. Add the water, figs and vanilla. Blend until smooth. Allow to sit for 3-24 hours. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve or cheesecloth, discarding the solids. Return the liquid to the blender and add the cream of coconut and blend until thick and frothy. Pour mixture into glass and add bourbon (and whipped cream) if desired.

Cocktail Notes
We, more or less, followed this recipe for pecan bourbon punch. Pecan milk is surprisingly easy to make and there are numerous videos online that give demonstrations of making it (or other types of milk). Straining the milk through only a fine sieve will leave some of the nut particles in the milk. Nut milk bags are available for a relatively low cost (5 bucks) that provide a much finer strain.

We used Buffalo Trace in the punch because, as a smoother bourbon, we thought it would allow the pecan flavour to come through. After we added it, the Trace brought out some of the bitterness in the nuts. In retrospect, we might have tasted a couple of other bourbons with the pecan milk to see which one went best.

Listen Along

December 23, 2014

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