COCKTAILS | Homemade limoncello is easily done
Maxwell Eaton III, a frequent ejforbes.com contributor, set out to make his own limoncello. He succeeded.
Maxwell Eaton III
ejforbes.com Contributing Writer
A few months back, my sober half came home from work with two canvas bags full of lemons that a coworker had unloaded on the office. This is a common occurrence when it comes to grapefruit as the moldy oldies of Tucson have a penchant for the hardy citrus trees, an unbound willingness to water the hell out of them, but apparently no taste for the fruit as from one neighbor to another they’re about as welcomed as a bag of pine cones. Lemons, however, are a much harder to come by, so we jumped at the chance and took full advantage.
Of course, the first thing one ponders when faced with a kitchen full of lemons is, “How can I turn this into booze?” I was quickly led to my cocktail notebook where I dug up an unfortunately un-credited formula for the classic Italian liqueur, Limoncello. In the end, the effort was minimal and the payoff extraordinary. Here’s how it’s done:
• Using a mircoplaner or the finer gauge of a cheese grater, shave the yellow zest off of a dozen good-sized lemons. You’ll want to take them right down to the white pith, but no further. (Make sure to hold onto the lemons when you’re done, as they’re still good for cocktails.)
• Place your pile of citrus zest in a large jar (a thoroughly cleaned growler might do in a pinch) and add an entire 750 mL bottle of 100-proof vodka.
• Steep this mixture for two weeks, shaking vigorously daily.
• After two weeks, strain the mixture through a mesh strainer or cheesecloth and into a second jar or bowl. To avoid sediment, strain again, but this time through a coffee filter. I simply held one around the mouth of a jar with a rubber band and slowly poured the mixture through. It’ll take quite a few filters, and a lot of pouring and waiting, but it’s worth the clarity.
• Once you’re all strained and clear, add a second bottle of 100-proof vodka to keep the first one company.
• Now, in a pot, dissolve two cups of sugar into two cups of water. Briefly bring to a boil and then cool to room temperature. Add this to your vodka mixture and make sure everything is blended nicely.
• Finally, pour the mixture into clean bottles, seal, and let sit for another week. You’re now ready to distribute among friends or hoard aggressively. I was able to make four 16 oz. bottles with this recipe, and they were the perfect thing to pull out of the freezer and nurse on a hot monsoon evening. Also consider adding a bar spoon of the concoction to your favorite cocktail.
COCKTAILS | Take flight with the Aviation
The Aviation cocktail.
Gin continues to be my muse — it worked for Cheever, too, as ejforbes.com contributor Maxell Eaton III recently pointed out — and I’ve been itching to try the Aviation.
A classic that’s not much served in the mainstream, the Aviation is allegedly the creation of Hugo Ensslin, a bartender at New York’s late Hotel Wallick. The original recipe called for the addition of crème de violette, but a later, 1930 offering from Henry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Book omits it. I opted for Craddock’s version and both Mrs. F. and I were pleased with the results.
The Aviation takes flight on energy borne from the marriage of gin and maraschino liqueur. The latter is not something everyone stocks, but I was able to find Luxardo at Westchester Wine Warehouse in White Plains. The drink can be viewed as either a refresher or an apertif. It’s well worth a try.
Ingredients
• 2 ounces gin
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• 1/2 ounce Luxardo maraschino liqueur
• 1/4 ounce crème de violette
Directions
Combine ingredients in a shaker over ice. Shake or stir vigorously and serve up in a cocktail glass. Garnish with one maraschino cherry. Enjoy.
COCKTAILS | This Bastard hardly suffers
The Suffering Bastard, a new fascination.
First concocted as a hangover cure at the old Shepheard’s Hotel in Cairo during World War II by Joe Scialom, the Suffering Bastard is a classic cocktail I stumbled across in the realm of Robert Hess earlier this week.
The eyeopener, originally dubbed the Suffering Bar Steward by its progenitor, calls for either brandy or bourbon, lime juice, Angostura and ginger ale. Scialom (pronounced Shalom) explained the drink’s origins to the Winnipeg Free Press in 1972:
“During the bleak war days, Shepheard’s ran short of cognac, gin and most imported liquors. “We had to make do with stuff that wasn’t so smooth,” he said, “and the British officers began to complain that they were getting bad hangovers”.
“I decided to seek a cure, and I finally dreamed up a drink that I named The Suffering Bar Steward. It consisted of gin we borrowed from the South African post exchange, brandy from Cyprus and bitters made by a chemist across the street from the hotel. To this we added lime juice made in Cairo and a local ginger ale provided by a Greek merchant of dubious character.
“The result was a drink with an unexpectedly pleasant taste and a delayed action effect.”
Scialom is something of a cocktail legend: his name pops up all over the Times’ archive. In 1957, when the new Shepheard Hotel opened (the original was torched during the fire riots of 1952), it was lamented that Scialom, who had decamped to Caribbean parts, would not be tending the plank. In 1971, a letter to the editor clarified that Scialom had invented the bastard and that he was working as the head of beverage service at The Four Seasons. In 1980, a lengthy piece on the origins of the Bloody Mary has him retired from Windows on the World and living in Fort Lauderdale.
But the drink. It’s a tasty one that gets billed as having tiki heritage, as Hess suggests in his presentation. Hess calls for bourbon, not the brandy I’ve found recommended elsewhere. The lime juice is a big player here and would probably temper the brandy in much the same way it does the bourbon. I can’t trace the gin, but it’s in there somewhere.
Ingredients
• 3/4 ounces of bourbon or brandy
• 1 ounce gin
• 1 ounce lime juice
• Dashes of Angostura bitters
• Ginger ale or beer
Directions
Combine the gin, bourbon (or brandy) and lime juice in a highball glass. Add ice and top with ginger ale. Stir and garnish with an orange slice (or other citrus — I used a lime) and a cherry. A mint sprig wouldn’t hurt either. Enjoy.
GIN MILLS | Treated for drinks at the Pegu Club
A Gin-Gin mule and a Whiskey Smash, two cocktails we recently enjoyed at the Pegu Club.
Widely heralded as the high cathedral of artisanal cocktails in New York, the Pegu Club was launched some years ago by Audrey Saunders. A luminary in the cocktail world, Saunders had previously worked as the beverage director at the Carlyle, where her influence is still felt in drinks like the Old Cuban.
Mrs. F. recently treated me to a couple of rounds to honor my 30th birthday.
Pegu takes its cues from a famous British officers’ club in Burma, where the signature cocktail was the eponymous gin and curacao number I enjoy on a regular basis. The bar is situated on the second floor of an odd 1980s Eastern bloc-esque building on Houston Street. The door is essentially unmarked, save for an etched crest that serves as the club’s seal. Up a set of dimly-lit stairs, one emerges into a long corridor of a room that feels quite a bit like a terrace in a tropical setting. The place immediately reminded me of “South Pacific.”
We were seated in the back in a couple of well-worn but comfortable chairs. I had two rounds: a Whiskey Smash, a Rye cocktail from Dale DeGroff that features lemon juice and mint. Mrs. F. had a Gin-Gin Mule that she was very pleased with. We’ve made the latter at home before, but ours didn’t compare. My second drink was a Pegu Club, and I was quite pleased at how closely it resembled my efforts.
I strongly recommend that any cocktail aficionado make a stop at Pegu during a trip to New York.
Pegu Club
77 W. Houston St.
2nd floor
New York, New York 10012
(212) 473-7348
COCKTAILS | The Southside is a perfect summer choice
The Southside, a refreshing gin cocktail that draws on lemon and mint to hit a home run.
I was surprised last week when, upon doing a search of this blog, that I hadn’t yet written about Southsides. A variation, the JB Combine, had been covered, but we had not yet dabbled in the Southside proper, a summer classic enjoyed across the land.
Though its origins are unclear — Chicagoans take credit for its invention while Hamptonites also lay a claim — it is a terrific drink that continues my love-affair with gin. Reporting for NPR in 2004, East Hampton Star editor Laura Donnelly explored the drink’s heritage and its variations through a tour of Long Island’s private clubs. It’s well worth a listen.
A friend mentioned to me this morning that she was quite satisfied with the decision to substitute vodka for gin. I’ve also come across variations that employ rum and substitute lime juice for the lemon component. I think it’s a gin drink through and through.
Here’s a recipe:
Ingredients
• 2 ounces gin
• 1 ounce simple syrup
• 1 ounce lemon juice
• Sprigs of fresh mint
Directions
Muddle your mint — but not too roughly — at the bottom of a shaker, putting some aside for garnish. Add ice, simple syrup, lemon juice and gin. Shake vigorously and serve up in cocktail glasses, garnishing with that reserved mint. Enjoy.
COCKTAILS | Planter’s Punch, emperor of rum cocktails
A recently-consumed and much appreciated Planter’s Punch, enjoyed aboard a friend’s boat on the Long Island Sound off Rye.
Ten years ago, I set off for a 10-day adventure with good friends Johnny and Sean. Besides getting epic sunburns and a good bit of sailing and boating in, we predictably did a bit of drinking.
If we had to pick one cocktail to sum the trip up, it would have to be the Pain Killer, concocted expertly by the bartender at the Colonna Resort, where we stayed. Another, equally enjoyed, was Planter’s Punch.
A complicated stew of rum, curacao, syrup and juices, it’s a perfect remedy for steamy days like those we’ve enjoyed in Cheever Country of late. I enjoyed one during a sunset cruise aboard a friend’s boat a week or so ago. It was glorious.
Mrs. F. and I are going to try to reprise the cocktails this weekend with this recipe from cocktail maestro Dale DeGroff:
Ingredients
• 5 oz. Dark Rum
• 5 oz. Light Rum
• 3 oz. Orange Curacao
• 6 oz. Fresh Orange Juice
• 6 oz. Pineapple Juice
• 3 oz. Simple Syrup
• 3 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
• 3 oz. of Grenadine
• 1 tablespoon Angostura Bitters
Directions
Mix all ingredients together in a large pitcher. To serve shake the drinks individually in a cocktail shaker with ice and a goblet filled 3/4 with ice. Garnish with pineapple orange and lime slices. Yields 1 liter and serves 6.
SCENE | A wedding in Tucson
Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell E. Eaton III, center, and their attendants, Alexander Eaton and Mrs. F., after they signed their marriage license a few weeks ago in Tucson.
Let’s put it this way: If you decide to throw your wedding in the courtyard of a 150-year-old adobe building in Tucson, you’ve pretty much guaranteed a memorable situation.
Our dear friends, Max and Kristin, delivered on that guarantee. Their wedding a few weeks ago in Tucson was remarkable in every way. The setting was like something out of a romantic comedy. I kept looking over my shoulder to see if Reese Witherspoon or Julia Roberts had crashed the thing. The Eatons selected Old Town Artisans, a block in El Presidio, the oldest section of Tucson. The place is what it sounds like: a collection of art galleries in connected adobe buildings that’s anchor by a restaurant. And, for good measure, there’s a charming bar.
A healthy gaggle of Laurentians made their ways west and turned the charming Hotel Congress, home to four separate bars, all of which serve terrific cocktails, into a glorified Dean-Eaton.
More on Tucson TK, but for now, here’s a long-overdue gallery of the festivities and those who took part in them:
COCKTAILS | The Fourth Regiment, a British twist on the Manhattan
The Fourth Regiment Cocktail, another classic from Charles F. Baker Jr.
Mrs. F. was tied up with a work commitment well into Thursday evening and so, with the cat away, the mouse played. She’s not a rye drinker and so it seemed as good a time as any to experiment with the Manhattan.
Charles F. Baker Jr. offered one recipe that I thought was well worth a try. From his inestimable catalog I selected a cocktail with roots in the final hours of the British Empire.
The Fourth Regiment cocktail, which Baker writes, “was brought to our amazed attention by one Commander Livesey, in command of one of His Majesty’s dapper little sloops of war off Bombay in 1931,” is essentially a Manhattan adapted for equatorial palates. Of course, the whiskey and vermouth are present, as is the Angostura. Joining them aboard the Fourth Regiment are orange bitters, a twist of lime, and if you have them available, celery bitters.
I found the lime did wonders to this old standard, as did the additional varieties of bitters. It’s a wonderful cocktail and I recommend it strongly.
Ingredients
• 2 ounces rye whiskey (or whatever you prefer in your Manhattans)
• 3/4 to 1 ounce sweet vermouth
• Dashes Angostura
• Dashes orange bitters
• Dashes celery bitters
• Twist of limec
COCKTAILS | Mexican Firing Squad Special takes dead aim
The Mexican Firing Squad Special, another classic from Charles F. Baker Jr.
The steamy nights of recent weeks have called for cocktails whose cooling effects are a bit out of the ordinary. We’ve turned again to Charles F. Baker Jr., whose travels took to him to equatorial destinations around the globe.
With a Mexican menu planned for dinner, we selected a Mexican entry from Baker’s cocktail diary.
“[The] Mexican Firing Squad Special … is a creation we almost became wrecked upon in — of all spots — La Cucuracha Bar in Mexico City in 1937,” he writes. “Now and again we found ourselves just a little fed up with rather casual Mexican mixes, and the guidance of two young Mexican caballeros whose parents mattered in official circles in that city of Mexico. We were herded into fancy, rather dull places, served too warm drinks. And finally on one occasion we broke quietly by ourself, sought out this bar — where an aristocrat native ought’n be seen! — and ordered things in our own way.”
Tequila was evidently rare north of the border when Baker’s “The Gentleman’s Companion” was published, as he goes on to describe the distillation’s background and advises his readers to “purchase a good brand, for there are many raw distillations.”
The Mexican Firing Squad Special is a nice mixture of tart citrus and tequila with the additional complications of bitters and grenadine added in. As I’ve written before, my palate has a deep appreciation for all things lime, so I was particularly keen on this cocktail.
Ingredients
• 2 jiggers tequila
• Juice of 2 small limes
• 1 1/2 tsp of grenadine or simple syrup
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• Garnishes: all optional: orange slice, lime slice, pineapple slice and a red cherry
Directions
Mix the ingredients together well in a shaker and serve over cracked ice in a collins glass. Garnish and take aim!
COCKTAILS | Corpse Reviver No. 2 breathes life into any cocktail hour
The Corpse Reviver No. 2.
The Vesper, which warms any winter night and is always my choice at Bar and Books, relies on Lillet, the French apertif.
So too does the Corpse Reviver No. 2, a classic pick-me-up Mrs. F. and I have been coming back to again and again these last few weeks. For some reason or other, I thought this was a Charles Baker drink, but I can’t find anything in my pieces of his canon to prove that point. The recipe Mrs. F. has been following comes from a relatively recent Food and Wine Cocktail guide.
Gin is the primary ingredient and, like the Pegu Club cocktail, it is our view that the Corpse Reviver No. 2 makes a good introduction to gin for those who’ve previously avoided this intimidating and important spirit.
Lemon juice brings a tropical taste to the table that makes this one a good choice for cocktail hours on warm days (It would, I imagine, warm on a cold day as well). Triple sec bears a bit of the burden too, and, should you have it on hand, so does a dash or three of absinthe.
Given its title and its ingredients, I’d recommend this cocktail early in the day or, at the latest, at the start of a good cocktail hour run. It will complete the job its title advertises!
Ingredients
• 3/4 ounce gin
• 3/4 ounce Cointreau or triple sec
• 3/4 ounce Lillet blanc
• 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice.
• 2 dashes absinthe, Herbsaint or other pastis.
Directions
Combine in a shaker with cracked ice; shake and strain. Garnish with a lemon rind or a cherry. Do yourself a favor and release the lemon rind’s flavor by lightly toasting the fruit’s exterior skin before adding it to your cocktail.
