Infusions and Cocktails: Update

A vacation in the woods seemed a good time to demo several new infusions and cocktail preparations. Captive audience, friends who would presumably tell me the truth and apparently – mostly success. The biggest winner without a doubt was the fennel vodka infusion, both solo and as a mixer. Annoyingly, supermarkets trim the crap out of the fronds of fennel, meaning I'll have to wait until the farmer's market on Wednesday to replenish my stocks (not that that's the worst thing anyhow), but I also think that the freshness of the fronds was a major contributor to the success of the infusion.

Typically I'm not a huge anis-flavor fan, but this came out less licorice and greener, fresher and sweeter. Really tasty chilled on its own, it was also the hands-down cocktail winner as follows:

Tupper Lake Special

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz. fennel-infused vodka
• ice, crushed or cubes
• large lemon wedge
• bitters
• vanilla seltzer (or plain)

Procedure:

1. Add ice to cocktail glass
2. Pour shot of fennel-infused vodka over ice
3. Add dash of bitters
4. Squeeze lemon wedge fully, and drop in drink
5. Fill with seltzer
6. Enjoy!

Verdict:

Obscenely tasty and refreshing

Another favorite of mine on the week:

Mos Isley Bandit

Ingredients:

• 1 oz. fig eau de vie
• 1 oz. cardamom-infused vodka
• 1/4 oz. chili-infused vodka
• 1/4 oz. dry vermouth
• ice, crushed
• lime wedge

Procedure:

1. Pour all booze in shaker with ice; shake thoroughly
2. Put ice in cocktail glass; pour shaker over ice
3. Squeeze lime and add to glass
   
4. Enjoy!

Verdict:

Spicy and weird, bitter and sour, I was definitely the biggest fan of this drink. Not bad for anyone else but certainly an acquired taste.

And a new summer number on my return:

Carrboro Carass

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz. clove-infused vodka
• bitters
• 3 oz. San Pellegrino Limonata
• ice, cubed

Procedure:

1. Mix as many shots of the clove vodka and bitters as you like in a shaker
2. Put ice in cocktail glasses
3. Pour shaken mixture over ice
4. Add Limonata
5. Enjoy!

Verdict:

Unsurprisingly, clove and lemon work well together. Super-tasty.

Next time, on Friar Lane infusions:

...currently working up the next batch of old favorites, and a few new special guest stars. Hint: rhymes with gin.

Vodka Infusions

This post is a long-overdue follow-up to the series of experiments first referenced here. The results are in for the first rounds of schnappses, and they're relatively unambiguous. By far the best is the Horseradish Schnapps, recipe repeated below:

Horseradish Schnapps

1. Wash, peel and slice a small piece of horseradish root.
2. Put the slices in a clean glass jar with tight-fitting lid.
3. Cover the root slices with clear, unflavoured vodka - 40% alcohol content (80 proof).
4. Let steep for 3-4 days in a dark place at room temperature
   
5. Shake lightly and taste from time to time.
   
6. Strain and filter your infusion into a clean glass bottle or jar with tight-fitting lid.
7. Let sit for a few days and enjoy. Storing in the freezer works well.

The only unambiguous failure of these infusions was the rosebuds - they just didn't take, other than giving a bit of a golden color to the vodka. That batch is currently infusing with a variety of other herbs - lavender and raspberry leaves - and I'll post updates on that when it's ready. There's also a straight-up lavender that's infusing, has imparted a great bluish color and lovely floral smell but not yet tasted. Other verdicts and directions (same as above save for time and quantities)

Solo Stars

• Cardamom: takes about a week or so for the pods (5-6 per 500 mL) to get properly infused, and very well worth it. Very warming, lovely nose, goes down really smooth and mixes well with a few others below (I'll get to that) - good served room temp or chilled.
• Clove: given how much harder they are, give the whole cloves (8 per 500 mL) about two weeks to infuse. Very nice golden color and definitely best served chilled.

Excellent Mixers

• Ginger: You'd think this could carry it alone, but not quite. The palette of the ginger (half a small root section, sliced, two weeks) doesn't quite cover all the alcohol, so it's really best left as a compliment to others.
• Chili: Fine as a shooter, but also lovely as a compliment to the horseradish in a dry, spicy martini. Several small chilis, two weeks.

Mixed Drinks

One great outfall of this is the Masalatini. Incredibly smooth and with a range of flavors you don't normally get in mixed drinks, I highly recommend keeping enough of each of these in stock to mix up a few of these.

Masalatini

Ingredients

• 1 oz. cardamom schnapps
• 1/2 oz. ginger schnapps
• 1/2 oz. clove schnapps
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
• several dashes bitters

Directions

• Combine all in shaker with ice; mix thoroughly
• Serve up
  

So now it's all down on paper. Pixels, rather. Another recipe upcoming soon.

Sortilége - Liqueur made with Canadian Whisky and Maple Syrup

Choosing a digestif after a pretty good and way-too-expensive-but-that’s-how-it-goes meal was a happily difficult task. Go with one of the two kinds of grappa? The pear eau de vie? The framboise? No, I’m in Canada - maple whiskey it is. Not only was I not disappointed, I was floored. I could drink a gallon of this stuff, drink it like juice. The nose starts with the familiar gasoline burn of whiskey but doesn’t continue to incinerate your sinuses - instead the full, sweet and malty maple takes over and glides through. The taste is even smoother, with just a hint of whiskey bit to begin with, maple throughout, but with none of the saccharine disgustingness of so many flavored liquors. Southern Comfort this ain’t. I suppose I’ll have to get around to trying some of the other Canadian whiskys while I’m here, but I don’t expect any of them will be quite so pleasant an experience as this.