Cocktails

This one’s a success– a slightly sweet, tart, fragrant liqueur made from unripe green pluots (in the vein of umeshu) that stimulates the taste buds. Good on the rocks or mixed with a bit of soda water: This wasn’t where I’d started– instead, this summer I was thinking about how I loved the flavor of Japanese pickled plums* ( umeboshi). While I didn’t have a line on green ume plums in the Bay Area, Hannah had a tree covered in green pluots in her backyard– perhaps those could be used similarly? And once I decided to pickle some pluots, why not also try to make a pluot liqueur along the lines of umeshu? ...

This summer we spent 5 days backpacking in and around the stunning Caribou Wilderness. Inspired by my past brewing with foraged plants ( yarrow, mugwort) in lieu of hops, an afternoon vermouth class, and following Pascal Baudar’s photos– everywhere I looked I saw components for beer, gin, or vermouth– such as sap and wild yeast on freshly-opened pine cones: Or juniper branches and berries in gnarled old trees overlooking glacial ponds: ...

We threw a cocktail party / trip slideshow inspired by the food and drink of our trip to Iceland, squeezing about a dozen people into my tiny apartment. It started as an excuse to share the Brennivin (somewhat harsh icelandic schnapps with caraway), Lava Smoked Imperial Stout, and a cocktail centered around Birkir, the excellent birch-branch-infused liquer we’d carried back in our luggage (Birkir + lemon juice + simple syrup + soda water). ...

A week and a half ago, I was here. Walk into a flower shop: Head through the back door and down metal stairs: Have a drink: Just one page of the loosely themed menu: One of the best cocktail bars I’ve been to in my life, by far. Every single cocktail was remarkably good, and distinctive– glass jars of eucalyptus, cocktails infused with smoke from the grill, beer and amaro, a cocktail in pieces you combine as you drink… but none of it felt ‘conceptual-cute’ or forced. Really well executed cocktails that happened to have some structure to the presentation. I’m in awe. ...

Peels of each type of citrus (meyer lemon, lime, and bergamot) soaked in vodka for a month in a dark cupboard, swirled gently every few days. After a month, I strained the peels out of the vodka. Instead of just adding a simple syrup, I got another set of each type of citrus (meyer lemons and limes from friends’ back yards, and I was fortunately still able to find fresh bergamot at Bi-Rite) and made each into an oleo saccharum– and then used that citrus-oil-infused sugar as the sweetener. ...

After last year’s enjoyable experience making shrubs (a shelf-stable way to preserve fruit with vinegar and sugar, for mixing into soda water, cocktails, salad dressings, and so on), I’ve spent a few more weekends trying new citrus, new vinegars, and different ratios, as well as using oleo saccharums (citrus oils extracted from the peel with sugar: I posted some photos of the process yesterday). Bergamot / Cider Vinegar Shrub ...

This is now my favorite way to extract intense citrus flavors, especially from fragrant citrus (bergamot, other sour oranges, Makrut limes, and so on). I’ve started using this in both shrubs and [citrus]cellos. Basically, you slice the peel off citrus, painstakingly scrape off any white pith so you have thin, translucent strips of peel, then pack them in sugar for about 10 hours, periodically kneading them as the oil diffuses out of the peel and liquefies the sugar. Bergamot through the afternoon, in photos: And knobby Makrut limes getting the same treatment (I spent more time after the first photo removing pith before packing in sugar): ...

Once I heard it was anise-based (like Pernod, Pastis, Ouzo, and so on, but unsweetened, unlike Sambuca), I had to try the unofficial national drink of Turkey, Raki. Not bad, though better with food (cooked meat).

Along with eating in Singapore, I had drinks at a few memorable places. The stout and blonde at the scenic Level 33 brewpub were my favorite: I had an unremarkable beer (maybe a Tiger?) on the rooftop deck at Prelude, a bar above the Boathouse restaurant adjacent to the Fullerton Hotel. Another nice place to spend a balmy winter evening. Finally, I had a “Tony Stark” (a transparent and successful attempt to sell a “manly” cocktail): it involved caramelized pineapple and black pepper, and was cute but a waste of money at $24 Singaporean ($18 US)). The 57th-floor views from the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino made up for that, though: ...

I’m more into beer, but an A+ cocktail at Millenium: “House Infused Manchurian Crabapple & Chipotle Tequila, Makrut Lime, Pomegranate, Cane Syrup, Peychaud’s Bitters”. A tart and smoky slow burn. Cue grainy cell phone photo: