A Maple Bourbon Sour, We Begin Again

Hello to you from 2014.  December has come to a smashing halt.  And we have a lot to talk about. 

We have Belgian waffles and a Buddhist-inspired dumpling soup to make.  Plus room-silencing butterscotch pots de crème and a whole host of recipes that have yet to be discovered.  Who knows what other bits 2014 will bring. 

I had wanted to talk about cranberry-spiced muffins today.  I had wanted to suggest if you squirreled away holiday berries you can repurpose them for a very fine breakfast.  But since I ended 2013 like this, a recipe on leftover frugality seemed a little lacking in the festive department.

So I have frothy booze and a coupe glass for you instead.   

I made a pair of these Sunday night to christen a dinner party Dave and I were about to prepare.  Dave went on to make a regal lamb roast and clam spaghetti, and some very wonderful melty Italian broccoli.  I served up some homemade quince marmalade and spelt sourdough as cheese companions, plus the aforementioned pots de crème. 

The drinks were the first of many delicious things.  So I thought it only fitting to feature them today.  On day one.

This is an adaption of a recipe from Molly and Brandon, courtesy of Food52’s craft cocktail column.  No matter what goes down in 2014, it’s comforting knowing these two are around to sling drink suggestions.  

This one happens to involve raw egg whites, which sometimes scares people.  All I can say is I lived to see 2014 and—if you are reading this you probably did too—so perhaps it’s time to take a walk on the wild side.

The cocktail is easy to make and easy to love.  It is also easy to transform from brandy to whiskey-based, if your bar has a Pisco deficit.  Whatever bitters you have will add additional drink flare; I enjoy Peychaud’s.  If you have lemon and an egg, plus something distilled from grapes or grain and some sweet tree sap, you’re pretty much there.

It’s a silky cocktail, balanced by citrus and maple.  The top turns bright white on you, once shaken and poured.  You’ll then want to lightly pepper it with drops of Peychaud’s and swirl them with a toothpick.  It helps if you have a dropper, but just wing it with a steady hand if you don’t. (As you can see, mine went rogue.) Either way you can’t really go wrong. 

A baptism in bourbon may be just the thing this year.

Maple Bourbon Sour

Adapted from the Maple Pisco Sour at Essex

Ingredients:

1¾ ounces of bourbon

¾ ounce fresh lemon juice

½ ounce maple syrup, preferably grade B

1 egg white

8 drops Peychaud’s bitters

Instructions:

In a cocktail shaker, place the bourbon, lemon juice, maple syrup, and egg white and dry shake it (meaning without ice) for about 20 to 30 seconds.  Add ice and shake for another 30 seconds. 

Strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with the drops of bitters and swirl with a toothpick.

Makes 1 cocktail

Notes:

-The original recipe also notes you can try shaking with ice (avoiding a dry shake altogether) for as long as your hands can take the cold.

-Though I didn’t do this, you could try it with liquid egg whites.  It’s about 2 tbsp egg white per cocktail.

The Aquinas Amaro Soda by Way of Safe Passage

According to Thomas Aquinas, drunkenness isn’t a mortal sin if your intention (and I’m paraphrasing here) isn’t to get plastered.  My friend Theresa calls this—in her own scholarly way—“accidental drunk.”  Which—per Thomas—is a “venial.”

For those who weren’t raised Catholic, I’ll quickly move this along.  Venial sin = not good.  Mortal sin = very, very bad.  So you can imagine the irony: me reading Thomas’s views on sobriety whilst drinking an Amaro cocktail.

Though I should come clean.  I’ve technically had one of these beverages four out of the last six nights.  They’re good.  The original hails from Kenaniah Bystrom, the bar manager of Essex, in Seattle.  (Which was inspired by a drink from Franny’s, in Brooklyn.)  Essex calls their cocktail, “Safe Passage.”  Here’s what you need to know. 

If you are going to have a lone intoxicant on a Monday night, best not to open a bottle of Prosecco, which is what Safe Passage originally called for. (This would not, in fact, be a “safe” “passage” for one.)  You are treading into mortal sin territory.  (Bubbles don't last.)

So I substituted club soda and the perfect light aperitif was born.  It has quickly become my go-to drink pre-dinner, or when trying to digest scholasticism.  It’s a perfect balance of salt, sweet, bitter, plus bubbles.  Which is everything I could ever ask for in a cocktail, plus hints of licorice, citrus, and vanilla delivered by way of liquid coral-colored sunset. 

As the name implies, it’s a safe passage for all.  So hey, Aquinas, make mine a double. 

The Aquinas Amaro Soda

Inspired by Molly Wizenberg and Brandon Pettit's cocktail column in Food52

Ingredients:

2 ounces Amaro (Nonino is my preference)

½ ounce Aperol

½ ounce fresh lemon juice

½ ounce Castelvetrano olive brine

3 ounces club soda, cold

2 Castelvetano olives

Instructions:

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine the Amaro, Aperol, lemon juice, and olive brine.  Shake vigorously for 5 to 10 seconds.  Strain into a cocktail glass (I love coupe glasses).  Pour in the club soda and garnish with olives.

Makes 1 cocktail

Notes:

-I doubled the original amounts of Amaro, Aperol, olive brine, and lemon juice because it's so light in booze.  The recipe for the original is here.  Though I like this drink before food, it would be equally as good after—if you are in need of a digestif—given the Amaro.

-About that Amaro.  If you can’t find Nonino, others you could try include: Lucano, Montenegro, Zara, or Nardini (there’s a wealth out there).  Amaro is essentially a spirit made with roots, herbs, and flowers blended with citrus, combined with another alcohol (Nonino uses brandy), and sweetened with sugar. 

-The recipe calls for Castelvetano olives, and I can’t stress this enough.  They are fairly mellow and have soft vanilla notes which are really lovely in this cocktail.  I also used Fever-Tree club soda.

-Theresa, I do believe this drink is right up your alley.  Beware of accidental drunkenness.