GUD BLOG: SINGLE POST

Cocktails: Experiments in Coffee and Foam

Deadwood, the HBO series that I’m finally getting around to watching, has been on constant playback in my house of late.  So I’ve been drinking an awful lot of whiskey.  What better way to turn an otherwise passive television experience into an interactive one?

But when Sazeracs, Old Fashioneds, and straight up bourbon aren’t cutting it, I’ve also been tinkering with some new ideas as well.

Variations

Tentatively and uncreatively titled “Rumbaroni,” we have:

• 1 oz aged rum
• 1 oz Carpano Antica
• 1 oz Zucca rhubarb amaro
• Stir with ice, strain, serve over up or on the rocks with orange twist
• This is pretty much awesome.

Foams

Fairly famous west coast bartender Jamie Boudreau invented a drink at his former place of employment, Vessel, called the Vessel 75.  The drink is stirred bourbon and Peychaud’s served in an old fashioned glass and topped with a foam made of egg whites, water, lemon juice, and maple syrup.  Having just acquired an iSi cream canister, I made a couple to excellent results.

But then it got me thinking about other possible variations.  Here’s my first stab, a delicious but yet-to-be-perfected variation on the Mojito / Gin-Gin Mule theme.

Thoroughly Modern Mojito

• Muddle mint with a modest dollop of 2:1 simple syrup and Bob’s Peppermint Bitters
• Add to that 3 oz aged rum
• Stir with ice and strain into an old fashioned glass
• Apply a ginger-lime foam to the top
• Garnish with fresh mint
• The foam as currently constructed, using very similar proportions to Boudreau’s maple foam, is too loose.  The ginger syrup was too strong in flavor and too watery in body.  With a bit of adjustment there, I think this will be in great shape.

Coffee and Coffee Syrup

My friend John shared with me some coffee syrup he used to re-create a drink he had at the Violet Hour in Chicago.  Here’s our effort at duplicating it:

• 1 oz blackstrap rum
• 1 oz tawny port
• .5 oz coffee syrup
• Whole egg
• Shaken, served down, grated fresh nutmeg over the top

Still having tons of syrup left, I’ve played around a bit more.  Thus far, my favorite original drink using the syrup is as follows:

• 1 oz cognac
• 1 oz rye
• .5 oz coffee syrup
• .25 oz maraschino
• 3 drops lemon juice
• Stirred and strained

I also took a stab at a few coffee-based drinks, one of which I’ll mention here.

• 1.5 oz aged rum
• .5 oz green chartreuse
• 1 oz room temp coffee
• .5 oz pineapple juice
• Shaken, served down
• The proportions could stand to get some adjusting, but on the whole, this crazy thing is actually pretty good

Posted on 2011.01.10 by Evan Hansen at 10:40 pm
This entry was posted in GUD Blog and tagged bourbon, cocktails, coffee, foam, jamie boudreau, mojito, recipe, rum, whisky. Bookmark the permalink.