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Sharing the Sherry Shrub

In Gary Regan's weekly cocktail newsletter, he shares with us Neyah White's recipe that won the Vinos de Jerez cocktail competition. The recipe is below. It sounds easy because it's only two ingredients, but naturally one of those two ingredients involves seven other ingredients and takes two weeks to make.

To see the recipes for the runner-up winners by Nate Dumas of the Clover Club, Joel Baker of Bourbon and Branch, and Daniel Eun of PDT, you'll have to go to Gary's website. They're a pretty amazing variety of drinks.

Sherry Shrub

Adapted from a recipe by Neyah White, Nopa, San Francisco.

Winner of the 2008 Vinos de Jerez Cocktail Competition

22.5 ml (.75 oz) House-Made Shrub*
60 ml (2 oz) La Gitana Manzanilla sherry
1 lemon twist, as garnish

Stir over ice and strain into a small sherry glass.  Add the garnish.

*House-Made Shrub

Adapted from a recipe by Neyah White, Nopa, San Francisco.

1 quart fresh elderberries, trimmed from stems

1 cup fresh huckleberries

5 cups evaporated cane sugar

1 quart cider vinegar

1 oz kosher salt

5 brown cardamon pods

1 oz. jigger of white pepper corns

In a large bowl, mildly press fruit with bottom of shaker tin till every berry is at least bruised.  Muddle spices in a mixing glass till all the corns are at least cracked.  Add sugar, cover and let sit 5 hours or until a good syrup has formed (this should happen in a cool place, refrigerate if not available.)  Add salt and vinegar and stir till salt has dissolved, cover and return to cool storage and let age for at least a week.  Then filter successively through a china cap then a cheesecloth.  Bottle in clean, sterile bottle leaving a few inches of air under the cap.  It is now ready to use, but another week of aging allows for a deeper, more lingering flavor.  The beauty of this cocktail is seasonality and custom flavors.  It must be stressed that this is a seasonal concept and it should be made with whatever produce is peaking the week you make it.

Manhattan to Martinez to Martini

If you haven't already, check out Eric Felten's story tracing of the evolution of the drink from the Manhattan to the Martinez (the focus of the story, called the "missing link") to the Martini.

Great stuff as always from Felten.

Glossy Booze: November Edition

Glossy Booze is a round-up of cocktails and spirits stories in magazines.

Men's Journal has this story on the increasing popularity and price of bourbon, along with some recommendations by Wayne Curtis, a few recommended brands of merlot, and a review of The Wettest County in the World.

The December issue of Men's Journal is also out, and has a recipe for the Midnight Manhattan,  a mention of Palo Santo Marron as a good winter brew, an endorsement of Three Thieves Bandit wine in the box as "adventure-ready wine," and a list of "Top Shelf Hooch" including Bluecoat Gin, Vodka 14, Nouvelle-Orleans Absinthe, and Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey.

In San Francisco's 7x7 Magazine, Jordan Mackay lists some steak-pairing red wines, and feature's Jennifer Colliau's Small Hand Foods, her vintage syrup business.

In Details, Rob Willey has a story on eggnog, with some recommended products to put in it- Remy Martin CROP cognac, Old Forrester Signature 100-proof bourbon, Brugal Anejo rum, and El Dorado 15-year-old rum.

Esquire is also on the rum kick, with David Wondrich telling us about how rum ages faster in the hot environments, and recommends a few to try: Clement Cuvee Homere, Angostura 1824, and English Harbour 10-year-old Reserve.

And finally, Bon Appetit has a slew of stories: A recipe for the Algonquin Bar Punch, some suggested champagnes, a fun list on what drinks cost around the world, a recipe for Christmas Caipirinhas (with ginger, ginger beer, and mint added to the usual mix), and a whole vintage cocktail party feature with food and old-style drinks.

Also from the Bon Appetit website, check out these pictures of bartenders in New York making the Blue Blazer.

Relax, Your NutraSweet Margarita is Safe

I posted about the new legal definition of the Caipirinha demanding real sugar, but luckily for these folks, no such legislation exists for the Margarita.

Yes, it is a box of aspartame-sweetened portable Margarita packets that you can take to the bar. From the press release:

According to Johnson, Zilch Sugar Free Margarita Mixers are a delicious alternative to high carb, high calorie Margaritas. "Before Zilch, I couldn't enjoy Margaritas with my friends at restaurants. Now, I just order Tequila and water on the rocks, and add my little packet of Zilch."

Tequila and water on the rocks? YES. Order that in a Margarita glass with a spoon for stirring and watch the bartender's head explode.

Homework for the weekend

More reading material from the internet:

A travel story on seeking the best vodka in Warsaw.

Ayyyy.com has a quiz on the lady lushes of television. (Answer is here.)

Lauren Clark writes about breaking up with your favorite beer. I've had that happen with booze. I love St. Germain but I'm no longer in love with it.

Le Mixeur lists a whole bunch of recipes with my favorite ingredient: Vinegar! VinegarWatch continues...

The Underhill Lounge geeks out on why Savoy Cocktail Book drinks aren't very bitter.

Chuck Cowdery gets all up in your grill about micro-distillers who are not craft distillers.

Matt Rowley lists about a zillion synonyms for "drunk." I like "tangle-footed," because it would be impossible to enunciate while still in that condition.

SF new cocktail menus

I love that every new restaurant comes with a new cocktail menu to try out. Here are three of them that just have or are just about to open, with their full drink menus listed after the jump.

Miss Pearl's Jamhouse. The restaurant once located at the Phoenix Hotel (now Bambuddah Lounge, previously Backflip) will reopen in Jack London Square in Oakland in mid-August. The menu is rum, rum, and more rum in fun tropical drinks like the Bushwacker, Pusser's Painkiller, and even Jell-O shots.

Zare at Fly Trap. The classic restaurant has reopened with food that "reflects the culinary traditions of Spain, Greece, Italy and Zaré’s native Iran." Reza Esmali's cocktail menu does too- it's half "Barbary Coast Era" classics like the Martinez and Trader Vic' Original Mai Tai, and half "Mediterranean Style" drinks that include ingredients like figs, cardamom, and pistachio. I have a really good feeling about these drinks.

Urban Tavern. The small selection of cocktails at this place are mainly vodka, gin, and sparkling/still wine-based. But then they stick a Sazerac at the end to make you go: Huh? It seems a bit unfocused to me but I'll reserve judgment until I try them out.

See the full menus, after the jump.

Oh rickey, you're so fine

Jason Wilson has a nice story in the Washington Post on the rickey cocktail. I didn't realize it was named after a person and invented in DC. He also took a bar tour to taste some local variations of the drink as part of Rickey Month in DC. This one is my favorite:

I take my hat off to Justin Guthrie, bar manager at Central and winner of the rickey contest, who made a delicious black pepper-lime soda, simply mixed with gin over ice, that also ratcheted up the rickey's flavor quotient.

Mmm, pepper.