Ingredient Focus!

Delving into interesting kit of the past is a thoroughly entertaining exercise.

This week's cocktail ingredient of interest is Pimento Dram. A flavouring made from the not-so-well diagnosed Pimento; a.k.a Allspice (yes that's right, that stuff on supermarket shelves isn't anise, nutmeg, clove and cinnamon mixed together!).

Perhaps it's called allspice however because it mocks all of those flavours to a degree. And so it goes that I lovingly ground a whole bunch of 'em and patiently steeped them in white rum for two weeks, stopping only once to taste the concentrate which sent my mouth into a wild anesthetic shock. Not recommended unless you're one of those sick puppies who enjoys eating Berroccas...

Anyways, yesterday was the great unveiling when I reverently mixed the coffee-filtered infusion with a 2:1 brown sugar gomme (brown sugar and water). Flavouuuuuurrr Country!!

Now I'm pumped to get down and dirty with some awesome mixing action and happy to shine the light on The Lion's Tail (good drink name - solid) extracted from Ted Haigh's book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails (pretty good, save for the fact that anyone with an eye for a drink recipe can cherry-pick a bunch of recipes from various tomes. All we'd need are the props!). A great place to start, although this recipe is adapted to reduce Dram content from 3/4 of an ounce - a concentration which'd happily let you pull out a few teeth without feeling a thing!

The Lion's Tail

60mls of good Bourbon whisky - get some rye content in there...

20mls of Pimento Dram

25mls freshly pressed lime juice (like, right there and then!)

5mls of sugar syrup (equal parts sugar and water pls - no boiling)

1 healthy dash of Angostura bitters.

Shake the devil out of it and strain into a chilly coupette with a Beazley garnish (which means none!).

This is a slightly off the track application for the dram, which shows its feathers most proudly in the mighty realm of tiki concoctions - get a few rums and some pimp juice (or any of your favourite juices) and have a play. Alternately, check out the Beach Bum's new book, it's full of great recipes! Giddy Up!

Adi

What's in a Name?

After a long weekend of making cocktails and other miscellaneous bevs, I've finally made it back to the keyboard to write about something which is pretty important to me.

Cocktail culture is pretty damn interesting, and many folk who claim to know a thing or two or even threaten to make a decent drink put loads of work into ensuring that everything they turn out is tip-top. This involves lots of work behind the scenes researching, tinkering, prepping, analysing, tweaking and progressing craft and recipes.

That being said, it's a bloody shame to put in all that greasy elbow juice only to waste your hard work by being too serious at the coal face during service. This is a broad topic, and a philosophy that'll need more discussion here - but one thing that's been pissing me off more and more lately is the formulaic and boring approach to naming new drinks.

Now I've copped a bit of schtick lately for creating a drink obtusely named Eric the Cocktail. Fair enough, it doesn't adhere to any of the "rules", and for our benefit I'll list those critters which have got us all bogged in nomenclature boredom here:

1. The cocktail name should be linked to the classic cocktail class on which the recipe is based. For example: The London Fizz (fictional).
2. The cocktail name should be linked to the based spirit which is chiefly used. The Bourbon Whisper (largely fictional and highly gay).
3. The cocktail name should be linked to the culture from which the drink's theme has been extracted. The Tropical Breeze (probably not fictional somewhere).
4. The cocktail name should be linked to its creator: The Calabrese Special (highly indulgent and a cheeky swipe at one of our cocktail "legends"). Gravy.

Well f all that. Know what? Customers don't care! Let's entertain them!!

What about names which are just down right ridiculous? What about names which just inspire customer interest? I want to trigger the mechanism in the human brain that says "well, I've gotta read what's in that!". Let's toss out the rules and have some fun at the bar - maybe it'll even rub off on us industry folk who take the game a bit too seriously.

So, in the name of the cause, I offer some names which haven't been used, but could be bags of fun:

1. The Time Crisis Cocktail (named after a video game - preferably one which needs to be taken quickly!).
2. The Holy Moses
3. The Transplant Cocktail
4. The Sticky Icky Rickey (has a classic name, but makes an awesome Snoop Dog reference!)
5. Hysted's Jethro's No-Doze (JD and espresso. Inspired.)
6. The Crusta Demon of Dirt (ok, another classic reference)
7. The Hard Graft
8. Nashville Cow Juice
9. The Sponge Bath
10. Icy Introspection Cocktail
11. The "Get to the Chopper!" Cocktail

Ok, things are getting weird, and I should probably stop rattling things off the top of my head, but you get the picture! Let's hope we see a bit more imagination, and a bit less Bittersweet Symphony.

Adi

Big Daddy and the Trinidad Sour

Fitzroy this week loses one of its favourite orphans. A staple of Melbourne's North for many a year, big daddy Josh Danart's itchy feet have resulted in an au revoir. Know fondly for his top-class, grade A, platinum and tungsten encrusted banter (which is the top banter rating achievable by a human) the stool next to his at the bar was the place to be to lose a few hours, and ruminate on things over a sazerac or three.

His legacy stays with us in personality and form represented by the insidious and creeping Trinidad Sour. If you can stomach this potion then you've earnt your pay - and your spot at the bar next to America's favourite son. Weighing in with a hefty ounce of Angostura bitters (told ya) it needs to be shaken hard with half ounces of rye whisky, orgeat (almond syrup) and lemon juice with a dash of egg white. Serve it straight up, lift it to your lips and go hard. There's no pussy-footing the Trinidad Sour!

Josh you're a dirty Texan but we'll miss you. I'll catch you on Royal street some time. New Orleans is slow to leave the blood!