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Cocktail Hour: The Brooklynite

Posted by Arctic Wolf on March 14, 2016

The Brooklynite Cocktail comes to us from the Stork Club Bar in Manhattan, New York. (It appears in the 1946 edition of the Stork Club Bar Book.) It is a simple cocktail, basically a daiquiri made with dark Jamaican Rum, lime juice, and honey. At least one source I researched (The Internet Cocktail Database) adds bitters to the recipe.

Brooklynite SAM_2426

Today, I have switched out the dark Jamaican rum for a lighter bodied, but more fully aged column distilled rum from Columbia (Dictador Amber 100 month Aged Rum). I have also used honey syrup rather than straight honey in the recipe. These changes result in a different final cocktail. This is because Jamaican Dark Rum has strong molasses flavours which dominate the original cocktail. The lighter bodied Dictador Rum creates a lighter bodied cocktail and the less sweet honey syrup allows us to enjoy the subtle flavour nuances of the well aged Dictador rum .

Brooklynite

2 oz Dicatador Amber 100 Month Aged Rum
1/2 oz Honey syrup (1:1 ratio honey and hot water)
1/2 oz Lime Juice
dash of Angostura Bitters
ice
Twist of Lime Peel

Add the four ingredients into a metal shaker with ice
Shake until the outside of the shaker begins to frost
Double Strain into a cocktail glass
Garnish with a twist of lime

If  you are interested in more cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

Note: My review of Dictador Amber 100 Month Aged Rum will publish tomorrow.

Chimo!

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Review: Doctor’s Orders Gin

Posted by Arctic Wolf on March 12, 2016

Doctor's OrdersLegend Distilling Smalltown Spirits is located in Naramata, British Columbia, where they create small handcrafted batches of Gin and Vodka. Their craft distillery is housed in an old doctor’s office and that is the inspiration for their Doctor’s Orders Gin.

The craft spirit is produced from a base wheat spirit which was produced upon a still which comprises of a pot and 20 plate column. The botanicals are locally foraged juniper berries, coriander and citrus as which are mixed with local Okanagan flavours (locally grown lavender, elderberry, mint and apple). The final spirit is bottled at 40 % alcohol by volume.

Here is a link to my full review:

Review: Doctor’s Orders Gin

“… Juniper comes across more clearly upon the palate than it had upon the nose, and the fruit speaks clearly as well. In particular I can taste firm apple flavours alongside the juniper with zesty citrus and coriander laying just a little further underneath. Impressions of mint and lavender seem to provide a light cooling sensation upon the palate …”

Please enjoy my review of this new Okanagan Spirit.

Chimo!

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Cocktail Hour: The Doctor’s Orders Gimlet

Posted by Arctic Wolf on March 11, 2016

The Gimlet is perhaps my favourite gin cocktail. This simple serving though, is not without its share of controversy as over time a growing group of ‘cocktail police’ have insisting that the libation must be made in a particular way in order to properly be called a Gimlet. Any other construction they insist is not a proper Gimlet. At the center of this controversy is a lime cordial called Rose’s Lime, which according to those aforementioned protectors of the cocktail must be used in the bar drink’s construction rather than sweetened lime juice. (My own point of view is that although Rose’s Lime certainly shares a history with the Gimlet, it is not an essential agreement, and may be replaced with alternative lime sweeteners at the bartender’s discretion. I feel we should embrace evolution not stagnation.)

I did a bit of research and found that the controversy over the Gimlet stretches back to at least 1953 when a description found in the Raymond Chandler novel, The Long Goodbye, stated:

“a real gimlet is half gin and half Rose’s lime juice and nothing else”

The fact that this statement made it into Chandler’s novel indicates that bartenders of the time were already arguing over the proper form of this simple cocktail, and it very well could be that this controversial statement has fueled the  belief amongst some cocktail purists that this is the only construction that should be considered.

However; we can go back in even further in time (all the way to 1928) and find a very different point of view put forward by D.B. Wesson in his book, I’ll never be Cured, where his description of the Gimlet is:

 “gin, a spot of lime, and soda.”

Apparently, in this earlier time in the cocktail’s development, the recipe for the Gimlet was more generic and even included soda as the sweetener. I suspect the popularity of Raymond Chandler as a novelist and screenwriter contributed greatly to the false narrative that a proper Gimlet must be constructed with Rose’s Lime; however, when a recipe formulation exists twenty-five years previously, I think assumptions must be reassessed.

Doctor's Orders Gimlet SAM_2386 The truth is that no definitive starting point for the recipe we call the Gimlet is known for certain. It is also true that almost all bar servings evolve over time as better ingredients are discovered, and newer versions of servings are put forward. Even the word ‘cocktail’ has evolved over time from its beginnings when the term referred to a very specific style of bar drink to the present when it now refers to a large variety of bar drinks.

I say, let the evolution continue!

Here is a wonderful Gimlet recipe which uses both Doctor’s Orders Gin and Shadow in the Lake Vodka in conjunction with fresh sweetened Lime Juice. And yes, even though the serving contains both gin and vodka, and lime juice rather than Rose’s Lime Cordial, I will continue to call this serving a Gimlet!

Doctor’s Orders Gimlet

1 oz Doctor’s Orders Gin
1 oz Shadow in the Lake Vodka
1 oz Fresh Lime Juice
1/2 oz Sugar Syrup (1:1)
Ice
Lime Slice

Add the first four Ingredients into a cocktail Shaker with ice
Shake until the outside of the shaker frosts
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass
Garnish with a Lime slice
Enjoy Responsibly!

If  you are interested in more of my original cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

Note: My review for Doctor’s Orders Gin will publish tomorrow!

 

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Review: Death’s Door Gin

Posted by Arctic Wolf on March 9, 2016

Death's Door SAM_2355Death’s Door Distillery (completed on June 4th, 2012) is located in Middleton (just west of Madison), in the middle southern part of the Wisconsin. However, it is Washington Island, located about 150 miles to the Northeast (in between the waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan) which the company credits with providing the heart and soul of their growing line of distilled spirits.

Death’s Door Gin is named for the treacherous water passage between mainland Wisconsin and Washington Island (Death’s Door Passage). It is produced from a double distilled base of Washington Island wheat and malted barley from Chilton, Wisconsin. Only three botanicals are used, juniper berries which grow wild on Washington Island and coriander and fennel sourced from within Wisconsin, making this gin very much a local spirit combining the ideals of craft production and promoting the local economy.

Here is a link to my full review:

Review: Death’s Door Gin

“… When I took my first taste I was happy to receive a stronger impression of juniper in the flavour profile than I had suspected. Whereas I felt the coriander was dominating the aroma, the juniper takes a very slight lead across the palate. A nice undercurrent of black licorice rides under the juniper and the coriander is expressing itself with a light spiciness and lemon flavour. There is also an undeniable floral element in the flavour profile …”

Please enjoy my review of this new craft Gin.

Chimo!

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Cocktail Hour: The Paper Lion

Posted by Arctic Wolf on March 8, 2016

This genesis of this recipe can be traced all the way back to 1933 when Arthur Tarling created a simple gin recipe which won a cocktail competition in jolly old England (Source: 1937 Café Royal Cocktail Book, Coronation Edition). The recipe he created, the Red Lion, mixed equal parts gin, orange liqueur, and a combination of lemon and orange juice. In most recipes I have seen, a dollop of grenadine is used as the sweetener which gives the cocktail a pale red hue. Tarling’s recipe has stood the test of time, and it can usually be found in the gin section of most good cocktail books.

Last year, I tweaked the Red Lion Cocktail, changing the ratios slightly and swapping the grenadine for simple syrup. Of course the cocktail lost its pale red colour and the name no longer suited the cocktail. Thus I renamed my tweaked version, The March Lion and published the recipe as part of a gin review at the beginning of March when the real March Lion (the constellation Leo) was beginning to dominate the southeastern sky each evening. (This spring if you are star-gazing, take note of the very bright star just under the March Lion. That bright star is the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, and this spring and summer the gas giant travels with the Lion across the sky.)

Paper Lion SAM_2383This spring I bring you another “Lion” recipe using that same combination of gin, orange liqueur, lemon juice and orange juice. However, this year I wanted to rein in the flavour of the gin without taming the cocktail. In the manner of James Bond, I swapped a portion of the gin for vodka thus retaining the alcohol punch, but bringing the firm gin flavour down a notch. My new construction deserved it own name, and after giving things a little thought, I decided upon the Paper Lion.

(If you are wondering about the James Bond reference, take a little time and research the Vesper Cocktail. In a manner of speaking, I have “Vespered” the Lion.)

The Paper Lion

1 oz Death’s Door Gin
1 oz Death’s Door Vodka
1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Orange Juice
1/4 oz Sugar Syrup
ice
Lemon slice for garnish

Add the first six Ingredients into a cocktail Shaker with ice
Shake until the outside of the shaker frosts
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass
Garnish with an orange slice

And of course enjoy responsibly!

If  you are interested in more of my cocktail recipes, please click this link (Cocktails and Recipes) for more of my mixed drink recipes!

Please note: My gin reviews continue tomorrow with Death’s Door Gin.

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