It had been a while since I made one of these, and my inventory of booze had changed a little bit. But the end result was still quite tasty.
First, the older recipe… And then the newer one below.
Most of the recipes for a Scorpion Bowl I found on-line don’t match the one that I’ve been using for many years. This recipe comes from a bartender (whose name I can’t remember–too many Scorpion Bowls, I guess) from a long-gone Chinese restaurant, ChinaGarden, that was in Warwick, Rhode Island. A car dealership (Inskip) now stands in that spot. This is the best Scorpion Bowl I’ve ever had…and continue to have!
Make sure to use top shelf booze for this or you’ll be a “Suffering Bastard” the next morning! (A little Chinese restaurant drink humor…)
Look carefully, and you may see the flame coming out of the volcano! Hope I don’t need to tell you not to drink the 151 while it’s lit! And yes, it’s an old photo: Disaronno Originale hasn’t been called Amaretto di Saronno for a long time!
2 oz. light rum (I use Don Q silver)
2 oz. dark rum (I use Mount Gay)
1 oz. gin (I use Bombay Sapphire)
½ oz. brandy (I use E&J)
½ oz. Disaronno Originale
½ oz. Cointreau
6 oz. Pineapple juice
6 oz. Orange juice
½ oz. Bacardi 151 rum for the little cup in the volcano
In a blender half-full of ice, add all the alcohol, except the 151 rum. Add the pineapple juice and the orange juice. (Use less if you like it stronger.) Give the drink a quick 1-second pulse in the blender, and pour it with all the ice into Scorpion Bowl or a very large glass or bowl. If you do have a Scorpion Bowl with the volcano in it, add the 151 rum to the bowl in the volcano. If not, you can mix the 151 into your drink.
Although all the proportions remain the same, my newer version had a few different brands than the old recipe.
My dark rum choice this time was a Rhode Island-based rum called Thomas Tew.
I went with the user-friendly Ford’s gin.
Grand Marnier is an excellent substitute for Cointreau.
And Gozio Amaretto is a real almond liqueur. Dissaronno strayed from their almond recipe decades ago, opting for cheaper stone fruits.
Right now, I’m trying out a new eggnog recipe, which I will post later if successful. It’s based on Alton Brown’s aged eggnog recipe, which uses a dozen raw egg yolks. He mixes the yolks with sugar, and then adds a LOT of alcohol to it, in the hopes of killing any salmonella bacteria that might be lurking about. The egg yolk/sugar/booze mix sits in sealed Mason jars in the fridge for at least 3 weeks, giving the alcohol time to do its job. Only then is the dairy added. Seems to make sense, but I’ll let you know when it’s done. But this recipe does take time. So if you want to whip up a pretty darn tasty eggnog in a hurry, my recipe below, one that I get asked about every year, is the way to go…
Let’s face it: there’s no such thing as healthy eggnog. This recipe is absolutely delicious but is also a heart attack in a glass. I updated this recipe a couple of years ago so that you don’t need to worry about salmonella (because you’re not using raw eggs)…though the alcohol will certainly still get you! (So I guess calling it “safe” is a matter of opinion!)
The solution is to buy pasteurized eggs.
Some supermarkets now carry whole eggs in the shell that have been pasteurized, though they are hard to find. But the Whole Foods near me does carry pasteurized real whole liquid eggs under the Vital Farms name, and they work perfectly with this recipe. The original recipe called for 15 (!) raw eggs. A 16-oz. container of Vital Farms liquid eggs is the same as about 9 eggs. So I need one full 16 oz. container, and then another 10 oz. or so for this recipe.
Now the only thing I need to worry about are too many calories and too much alcohol!
1.5 quarts vanilla ice cream (I use Breyer’s)
1 pint half & half
Just over 26 oz. Vital Farms liquid whole eggs (the equivalent of 15 whole raw eggs)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
6 oz. of each:
spiced rum (I use Captain Morgan)
whiskey (I use Crown Royal)
brandy (I use E&J)
I let the ice cream soften one day in the fridge. I carefully mix the ice cream, half-and-half, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a blender.
My blender is pretty big, but I find that it’s full at this point. So I pour everything into a gallon-size glass jar.
To the jar, I add the maple syrup and all the liquor. Then I whisk everything together, making sure I get down to the bottom of the jar.
After it’s fully mixed, I place the lid on the jar, and move the eggnog to the fridge, where I let it sit for at least 12-24 hours for the flavors to blend. Even longer is better.
One final mix and taste to determine whether I want more cinnamon, nutmeg or maple syrup, and it’s good to go!
It goes well with coffee…just maybe not for breakfast!
And by the way, it’s pretty darn tasty with coffee! Just imagine a variation on a White Russian, with eggnog and freshly brewed coffee, and a bit of a drizzle of maple syrup on top!
I love onions! Raw, sautéed, caramelized, yellow, Spanish, Bermuda, Vidalia, Texas Sweets, scallion, pearl, Crimini, Walla Walla…they can do no wrong. In fact, my family gave me the Lithuanian nickname: “Ponas Svogūnas.” (“Mr. Onion.”)
I also love vodka martinis! So if I’m going to buy a top shelf vodka like Stoli Elit or Chopin, I’m not going to ruin it with jarred cocktail onions, brined with cheap vermouth, found in the bar mixers section of my local supermarket. Who knows how long those nasty things have been sitting on the shelf?
No, I’m going to make my own cocktail onions to enjoy a proper Gibson!
The Gibson martini is simply one with onions instead of olives, and the story of its origin is somewhat unclear. According to one story, it was invented by Charles Dana Gibson, who created the popular Gibson Girl illustrations. Supposedly, he challenged Charley Connolly, the bartender of the private club, ThePlayers, in New York City, to improve on a martini. Connolly simply substituted an onion for the olive and named it after Gibson.
Another story claims a man named Gibson dropped an onion in his water-filled martini glass to differentiate between his own drink and that of his colleagues, who were imbibing heavily.
Some stories about the Gibson don’t even mention an onion. (?)
And yet another story, now considered the more probable one, is that the Gibson martini was invented at the BohemianClub in San Francisco in the 1890’s by Walter D. K. Gibson. There is documentation as early as 1898 to back that up.
Whatever story you want to believe, the Gibson martini was originally made with gin, not vodka, but that’s strictly a personal preference–and I don’t use any vermouth. (I think the biggest injustice you can do to high-quality vodka is ruin it with low-quality vermouth. But that rule applies to any alcohol and any mixer. It’s only as good as its worst ingredient–and that includes the ice!)
My first attempt at homemade cocktail onions was not a success. I bought pearl onions and did what the package instructions said: I dropped them in boiling water for a couple of minutes, then moved them to ice water to let them cool. Then a gentle squeeze on one end of the onion would make it pop right out of its skin. Easy, right?
Well, it didn’t work out that way. For one thing, the onions got soft…not what I wanted. I had to cut one end of the bulb with a knife. And even then, when I squeezed the onion, the part that popped out was about half the size of the original onion…there was a lot of waste.
After brining, they tasted OK, but they never had that crisp bite I wanted. They were mushy. I realized that boiling was not the way to go.
A lot of waste.
I knew there had to be a better way. Then I discovered already peeled pearl onions at Whole Foods. I have to be honest…I won’t use any other onions now. They’re big, plump, and exactly what I want. Some might say they’re too big…but I don’t have a problem with that.
Sure, these are much larger than the onions you find in a jar. But tell me how that’s a problem!
1 lb. pearl onions, peeled, ends cut off
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar (I like turbinado sugar)
10 peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt (per quart-sized Mason jar)
2 cloves garlic
Combine the white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, water, sugar, and peppercorns in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring it to a boil, making sure the sugar dissolves completely. Remove it from the heat.
Slice the ends off the onions.
I’ve found that if I allow the brining liquid to get inside the onions, especially these larger ones, they’ll get tastier faster…and who doesn’t want that? So I take a thin metal or bamboo barbecue skewer and push it through the center of the top of the onions, all the way through the center of the bottom of the onions. Now there’s a little “tunnel” for that brine to get in, and it can work its magic from the inside out!
Not skewering the onions simply means it’ll take longer for that brine to seep in…but that’s perfectly fine if you want a not-so-briny onion.
In a quart-sized Mason jar, add the teaspoon of salt and garlic cloves. Pour a little of the hot vinegar liquid in the Mason jar to dissolve the salt. Add the onions to the jar, as tightly as you can, then fill the jar to the top with the vinegar liquid.
Screw the top of the jar on tightly, and turn it upside-down a couple of times to mix everything together. If it looks like the level of the liquid has gone down a bit, open the jar and top it off with the vinegar liquid, then re-seal it.
Let the jar cool to room temperature, then move it to the fridge. You can use the onions as soon as the craving hits you, but they’ll taste better if you give them a few days to a week.
OK…so if after reading this, you just don’t want to go through the whole process of making your own cocktail onions, there is one product that I just recently discovered that does the trick: Aunt Nellie’s. You can find them in the jarred veggie section of just about any supermarket, next to pickled beets and things like that. It’s a milder brine, and so the onions taste quite good. No nasty cheap vermouth to ruin your good martini.
I recently rediscovered a story I wrote a couple of years ago, after my trip to New Zealand. I had hopes of getting it published somewhere, with no luck. So, what the heck…I’ll reprint it here, adding a few photos to help with the story.
A Guy Walks Into a (New Zealand) Bar…
I recently returned from a two-week trip to New Zealand, touring the northern half of the South Island, clocking over a thousand miles by car and train.
My journey started and ended in Nelson, the oldest city on the South Island. It was a great home base to explore the famous Abel Tasman National Park, ending each day with dinner and drinks.
One of my favorite stops was the Urban Eatery and Oyster Bar in Nelson, where fresh, creative seafood filled the menu. I walked in and noticed there were no seats at the bar, my spot of choice when I’m traveling solo. I had made a reservation, but I saw a bar stool in the corner and pulled it up to the bar, much to the surprise of the bartender and manager.
The manager explained that no one usually sits at the bar in New Zealand, opting for small tables, but it being obvious that I was an American, if I chose to do so, I was more than welcome to. I did get some interesting glances as I pulled my barstool up.
Bar view.
The bartender, a lovely young woman who perhaps wasn’t used to having someone to talk to in her workspace, asked me what I wanted to drink. I was craving for a vodka martini, very dry, expecting what I got at most American restaurants: 3 to 4 ounces of vodka, chilled, in a martini glass with olives. But instead, she hesitated.
She explained: “Here in New Zealand, if you order a ‘double,’ you get 30 mls.” (I quickly Googled it to find it was only 1 ounce.) “But, legally, I can pour an extra 30 mls into a shot glass that you can then pour into your glass yourself.”
Doing quick ounces-to-mls math in my head, I explained that a martini in the States can be almost 4 ounces, or 120 mls, and I could see her eyes widen in disbelief. “That’s irresponsible!” she gasped.
I laughed as I told her that two of those monstrous drinks were commonly referred to as a “businessman’s lunch” in the States, and she shook her head as she poured my first ounce in a rocks glass and then poured my side shot. (There were no martini glasses in sight.)
I poured my extra ounce into my glass and it still looked really low. “I’m guessing not too many people order martinis,” I said. “What do you usually fill the rest of the glass with?”
“Tonic, olive brine if it’s dirty, something like that.”
Ordering beer in New Zealand was simpler. It was served mostly in pints. Wine glasses, however, had a clearly marked line on each glass, a regulation set nationally. No “nice pours” the bartender would sometimes give you at the end of the bottle.
Clos Henri Vineyard, Marlborough
They allowed me to order as many drinks as I wanted, as long as I wasn’t inebriated, but it felt a little embarrassing to have to order so many drinks.
Down the street in Nelson, I visited Kismet, a very well-stocked cocktail bar, though their choice of vodka was small due to its limited popularity. The drink of choice is gin, and there are a good number of distilleries in New Zealand, many in Marlborough wine country, that produce delicious floral, herbaceous gins. My own experience with gin was limited to a whatever-and-tonic, but here…gin was something special.
Kismet in Nelson. Great bar!
I tried a couple of brands: Victor, with powerful floral notes that reminded me of Hendrick’s on steroids, and Roots, another Marlborough product. The Roots bottle was labeled “Navy strength,” registering at 54.5%, and I soon realized that if I ordered a “double-double,” as I came to call it, I’d get more alcohol in my drink with gin. I was sold.
(“Navy strength” refers to a time when gin was stored on Navy ships in wooden barrels next to the gun powder, and if there was an accidental gin spill, it had to have enough alcohol in it to still allow the gin-soaked gunpowder to ignite. Hence: “Navy strength.”)
A Roots double-double with just a splash of New Zealand’s own craft-made East Imperial tonic, and I was a happy man.
Wherever I went in New Zealand after that, my use of the phrase “double-double,” with a little smile, made the bartender understand I was here for the alcohol, and not for the filler. I couldn’t be more obviously American if I wore a red-white-and-blue bandana on my head.
A double-double of vodka (they all seem to serve only Finlandia, despite a couple of New Zealand brands I’ve had in the States) with olives at Bamboo Tiger in Blenheim. A double-double of bourbon in my Manhattan at Amazonita in Christchurch. A double-double of Mt. Gay with a splash of Coke at Oxley’s Bar & Kitchen in Picton. I got the hang of this!
Oxley’s Bar & Kitchen
Many wineries in New Zealand have wonderful restaurants, and sadly my attempt at humor by ordering a double-double of wine didn’t go over too well. But, I was able to enjoy more than one filled-to-the-line glass of Chardonnay at Black Estate Winery in Canterbury or Sauvignon Blanc at Saint Clair Family Estate Vineyard Kitchen in Marlborough.
Black Estate, outside of ChristchurchSaint Clair Family Estate Vineyard Kitchen, BlenheimGin tasting in Marlborough
Back on my homeward bound 17 1/2-hour non-stop from Auckland to JFK, I asked for a double-double of vodka on the rocks, and got it, along with a look from the flight attendant like I was some kind of lush. I wonder if her attitude would change when we crossed into US airspace…
Sometimes, a cool adult beverage is just what you need after a long day of yard work. The cucumber plants in my garden have started producing, so it’s time to make this refreshing cocktail!
4 fresh cucumbers, peeled and seeded
Small ice cubes
1 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
2 teaspoons granulated organic cane sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 oz. vodka (I like Tito’s or Ketel One)
1 oz. orange liqueur (I like Cointreau)
Peel and seed the cucumbers. Coarsely chop them and then purée them in a food processor until smooth. Strain them through a fine sieve, pressing the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Or, if you have one, use a juicer. Set the extracted cucumber juice aside.
To a large glass pitcher, add the mint leaves, sugar and lime juice. Muddle the ingredients so that the mint leaves release their oils. Add 3/4 cup (at least) of the cucumber juice. Add the vodka and Cointreau. Muddle again briefly.
Fill tall drinking glasses with ice cubes. Strain the cocktail into the glasses. Garnish with a cucumber spear or peel…or mint.
If you grow your own cucumbers and mint in your garden, this cocktail tastes even better…a fine reward for a job well done!
The inspiration for this incredibly easy to make cocktail is the famous Capital Grille Stoli Doli. I think I’ve done it one better with my Velvet Elvis.
A Stoli Doli is simply Stoli vodka that has been infused with fresh pineapple. If you sit at the bar at the Capital Grille, you won’t be able to miss the very large jar of freshly-cut pineapple pieces swimming in vodka. They literally pour it “from the tap,” and serve it straight up, like a martini, or on the rocks. It’s delicious, and I’ve certainly had my share of them.
I decided to make my own at home one day, to serve to my friends at an upcoming party. But to my disappointment, I didn’t have any Stoli vodka in the house. (An embarrassment to most Lithuanians.) But…I found a bottle of Stoli Vanilla, and it changed everything! I used that instead of regular Stoli and I came up with a sweeter, smoother drink that is now legendary among my friends.
Find a gallon-sized glass jar with a lid. Peel, core and slice the pineapples and drop the pieces in the jar. Pour the vodka in, mix well, and seal the jar. Keep it at room temperature for 7–10 days, giving it a gentle shake every day.
After 7–10 days (don’t worry…a little longer won’t hurt anything), strain it, squeezing the pineapple pieces to get every bit of liquid out. Discard the pineapple pieces. (As much as you might think they would be fun to munch, they’ve given up all their flavor to the cocktail, and taste terrible!)
Keep the Velvet Elvis refrigerated. Serve with rocks (or 1 big rock!), or shaken and poured into a martini glass.
It’s that time of year when friends are coming over, and you want to make one drink you can serve everyone, rather than playing bartender all night. This one hits the spot.
There’s only one thing better than a freshly made mojito…and that’s a pitcher of freshly made mojitos! Organic raspberries and blueberries are in the markets right now, and my mint plants are taking over the yard! All the ingredients for a great mojito!
Very often, I’ll use raspberries or blueberries alone, but mojitos are even better when you combine them! I stock up on organic berries, rinsing them and placing them in plastic bags that go in the freezer until I’m ready to make my mojitos. I always go organic with berries. Pesticides should never be a cocktail ingredient! Pay a little extra and get the good stuff…it makes a difference!
Once you make mojitos by the pitcher, you’ll never have them any other way. (Even if you’re drinking alone!)
Make ahead of time…
1 1/2 cups fresh squeezed lime juice (don’t use the bottled stuff!)
1 1/3 cups turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw is a common brand)
Mix both ingredients together, letting it stand at room temperature for a few minutes. I like to combine them in a Mason jar, then shake really hard until the sugar has dissolved. I keep it in the fridge, and it’s good for up to 3 weeks…ready to use any time. Shake it well again before using.
For the Mojitos…
1 cup sugar/lime mixture
1 cup mint leaves, packed
1/2 pint blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 pint raspberries (fresh or frozen)
3 or 4 cups white rum (I use Don Q Cristal rum)
3 or 4 cups seltzer (or club soda)
Combine the mint leaves and 1/2 cup of the sugar/lime mixture in bottom of a pitcher. Muddle the mint up very well to release mint oils.
Add the remaining sugar/lime mixture, rum and berries. Mix well. Just before serving, add the club soda and ice. Stir. Pour into tall glasses.
Or…for drinks one at a time, I put in a shot (1 oz.) of the sugar/lime mixture into a tall glass. I throw in about 8 mint leaves and muddle them for a minute. Then I add 2 shots of rum, and a few berries. I add ice, and I top it with the seltzer, stirring well. I garnish with a mint leaf.
I’ve always loved Manhattans and Negronis…two different cocktails, yet similar in certain respects. Both use sweet vermouth. Both have a touch of bitterness: Manhattans will often include a few dashes of angostura bitters, where a Negroni gets its bitterness from Campari. So when I visited Food Network chef Geoffrey Zakarian’s The Lambs Clubrestaurant in NYC many years ago, and tasted my first Boulevardier, I was instantly hooked.
Loosely translated, a boulevardier is a “man about town.”
The cocktail was created by Erskine Gwynne, the publisher of “Boulevardier,” a magazine for expats living in Paris in the 1920s. It’s basically a Negroni with whiskey instead of gin.
My personal preference for whiskey is bourbon, and one of my favorite bourbons to mix with is the very affordable 1792 Small Batch, though Buffalo Trace is another great choice. And for sweet vermouth, nothing beats the grandaddy of them all: Carpano’s Antica Formula.
I was just reading an interview with food blogger and cocktail expert, David Lebovitz, in the Wall Street Journal, and he mentioned the Boulevardier as one of his favorite cocktails. I hadn’t had one in ages, and started digging in my bar inventory. Bourbon is something I always have…but I also found Campari and an unopened small bottle of Antica Formula. I was all set!
Be very careful, especially with the vermouth. If you stray and buy some cheap brand, the drink will resemble nothing even close to what it could truly be!
Eagle Rare is a great choice for bourbon as well, but its prices have skyrocketed recently.
Many recipes go for the classic 1:1:1 ratio, like you’d find in a Negroni. Others boost the bourbon to 1.5 ounces. But I actually prefer a 2:1:1 ratio.
2 oz. bourbon, whiskey, or rye
1 oz. Campari
1 oz. sweet vermouth (Antica Formula preferred)
Add some ice to a cocktail shaker. Add the ingredients and stir. Strain into a rocks glass with a large cube.
Some add a twist of lemon or orange. Others, a maraschino cherry. I like it as is.
Perfection.
1792 Small Batch bourbon: Everyone has their favorite bourbon, and I really enjoy this one, because it mixes well and, at about $40 a bottle, is very affordable. Made by the Buffalo Trace distillery, who can pretty much do no wrong. (Which is why I also recommend Buffalo Trace bourbon itself.)
Campari: A liqueur, invented in 1860 by Gaspare Campari, considered an aperitif. Its alcohol content depends on the country it’s sold in. It’s unique bitter flavor is obtained from the infusion of herbs and fruit in alcohol and water.
Carpano Antica Formula: First invented in 1786 in Turin by Antonio Benedetto Carpano, it has survived in its original recipe thanks to the Fratelli Branca Distillerie. It costs more than the typical 5-buck bottle of vermouth, because it’s simply the best you can get. Buy it once and you’ll never buy another sweet vermouth again.
The 151st running of the Kentucky Derby is today and although I’m not a big horse racing fan, I am a huge fan of the official drink: the Mint Julep!
The Mint Julep is such a perfect, classic and historic bourbon drink, it seems silly to wait until Derby Day to have one. Of course, as any aficionado of spirits will tell you, there are as many right ways as wrong ways of making one.
The first step in my Mint Julep is making the simple syrup. Learning from one of my old radio buddies, my pal Rick O’B, I infuse mint into my simple syrup to take my cocktail to the next level. I use the standard ratio of 1 cup of clean, filtered water to 1 cup of sugar. I place the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat until just boiling. I’ve found that it needs to reach this stage for the sugar to really dissolve.
Waiting for the sugar to dissolve.
As soon as it starts to boil, I remove the saucepan from the heat, and throw in a handful of freshly picked mint leaves, stirring to make sure the mint gets in there, and then I leave the saucepan to cool to room temperature.
Once it’s at room temp, I strain the simple syrup into a bottle with a tight sealing lid, and place it in the refrigerator to cool. It will keep for about a week.
An equally important ingredient for a perfect Mint Julep is the ice: specifically, crushed ice from clean, filtered water. Don’t even think of using tap water for any cocktail much less this one. Why ruin an expensive bottle of bourbon by going cheap on the ice? I make my own ice cubes, then put them in an untreated canvas ice bag and bash them with a mallet to the perfect crushed size. But if you don’t want to go through all the trouble, just buy a bag of good ice. Untreated canvas bags for crushing ice can be purchased online from bar supply companies for about $30. I got an untreated canvas tool bag (the exact same shape and size) at Home Depot for 3 bucks.
Da bag.
The next step is a little tougher: which bourbon to choose. The explosion of choices on the bourbon market has made it all but impossible for the average imbiber to know which bourbon is best for their tastes. If you’re a beginner, I suggest you go to a trusted bartender and explain that you’re new to the bourbon world, and could you have the tiniest of tastes and sniffs of what he’s got at his bar. Chances are, you’ll get a sampling of some of the better known brands: Maker’s Mark, Woodford Reserve, perhaps Buffalo Trace or Bulleit, and the standard Jim Beam. This is a very good start. (Also, hinting to wife and friends that “I’m trying new bourbons” around your birthday or Father’s Day inevitably gets you a few bottles as well!)
My go-to bourbon for Mint Juleps used to be Eagle Rare 10-year-old when it was around $32.99 a bottle. Now it’s up to $80! My latest go-to bourbon is 1792 Small Batch. At $29, it’s almost unbelievable, like someone made a mistake in the stock room! Very tasty on its own and great for mixing. Others that work well and are around the same price range include Buffalo Trace, and Larceny.
Finally, a Mint Julep needs a metal–not glass– Julep cup. Made of pewter or aluminum, it frosts on the outside as you stir your drink, keeping your beverage ice-cold on even the hottest of days.
3 oz. bourbon 1 oz. mint-infused simple syrup crushed ice Julep cup Fresh mint for garnish
Crush the ice and pack it into the Julep cup, even letting it dome slightly over the top. Don’t worry…the alcohol will melt it.
I like to add 1.5 ounces of bourbon, then the ounce of simple syrup, another 1.5 ounces of bourbon on top, and then a quick squirt of simple syrup to top it off. Break off a few mint leaves from the stem and push them into the ice. A beautiful layer of frost will form on the outside of the cup. Add more ice, if necessary, and garnish with a sprig of mint.
A nice selection of bourbons. This is an old photo: that Pappy Van Winkle is long gone…but I saved the bottle!
Starting in the mid 1700’s, sailors in the British Navy were given a daily ration of rum. They called it a “tot,” and the practice of daily “tot” distribution lasted for almost 200 years, until July 31, 1970. When it ended, not only were there many sad British sailors, but there was also a vast amount of leftover rum. Much of it was sold off at high prices because the taste was excellent and the methods of its distillation were no longer used.
It made sense. In the old days, when liquids were stored in wooden barrels aboard ship, water, beer, and wine would go bad very quickly. Only something with a much higher alcohol content wouldn’t spoil. Rum was the answer. And getting the sailors drunk every day kept them from deserting…it was good for morale!
But while the sailors drank rum, Royal Navy officers drank gin. The use of exotic spices in gin was made possible by imports from Africa and Asia. Gin’s prevalence around the world is largely due to the fact that sailors set foot in many new cities on new continents.
And though the British Navy stopped the practice of issuing alcohol to its sailors in 1970, the Royal New Zealand Navy abolished the practice as late as 1990!
Until a recent trip to New Zealand, I was not a huge fan of gin. Don’t get me wrong: I liked it. A gin and tonic was a nice refreshing drink on a hot summer’s day. And my fascination with the Vesper martini, a combination of gin and vodka, made me appreciate gin even more.
But it wasn’t until I went to New Zealand, and tasted their magnificent gins, in combination with delicious tonics only available in that country, did I really start to appreciate the subtle differences between them.
The first thing that caught my eye when I was served a sample of Roots gin, distilled in Marlborough, was the label: “Navy strength dry gin.” I asked what that meant. Well, for one thing, it had more alcohol. And the reason for that was surprising. Since gin, like rum, was stored in wooden barrels on ships, very often next to barrels of gunpowder, the gin had to contain enough alcohol so that if it spilled onto the gunpowder, the gunpowder would still ignite! Not enough alcohol in the gin would waterlog the gunpowder and make it useless. So tests were actually done by pouring gin on gunpowder to see what the minimum percentage of alcohol was required to keep the gunpowder burning. The answer was about 57%. Anything below that and the gunpowder would not burn. They coined the term “Navy strength.”
(Although the bottle of Roots gin above weighs in at 54.5%, it’s properly called “Navy strength.” In 1866, to keep sailors from getting completely hammered, the British Royal Navy reduced the alcohol content of the rum they were distributing to 54.5%. Hence, a new “Navy strength.”)
I was allowed to take only 1 bottle home from New Zealand, but, as you can see, it was not Navy strength. Still delicious!
The other advantage to a Navy strength gin is taste. If you’re not diluting it with water, not only are you getting more alcohol, but you’re also getting more of the herbaceous flavor you want in a gin.
Up until my trip to New Zealand, my experience with gin was limited to the usual list of suspects: Tanqueray,Bombay Sapphire, and Hendrick’s. I also more recently discovered Ford’s, a very nice London dry gin I sometimes use in my Vesper martinis.
But in New Zealand, many of the gins were floral and herb-forward, and I found that I like that. I like that a lot. For example, Victor, another Marlborough gin, was like “Hendrick’s on steroids.” I said that to my bartender at the Urban Eatery and Oyster Bar in Nelson, NZ, and she agreed. Delicious.
Although gins may vary in alcohol content, rules about serving liquor in New Zealand are very strict, certainly by US standards. For example, a “double” in New Zealand is 30ml. That’s 1 ounce! And that’s a standard pour for a cocktail. You can, I found out, ask for a “double-double.” And in that case, they would serve you a 1-ounce shot on the side with your drink, and you would have to pour it in yourself.
When I told the bartenders in New Zealand that we have 4-ounce martinis at any decent steakhouse in the US, and they realized that was 120 mls, their jaws pretty much dropped and hit the bar. One bartender gasped: “That’s irresponsible!” I told her that two of those drinks is widely considered the “businessman’s lunch” here in the states. She just shook her head.
Much to choose from at Kismet, my favorite bar in Nelson, NZ.
The phrase “proof” also has a very different meaning.
In the states, it’s pretty simple: it’s double the percentage of alcohol. So a bottle that’s 40% alcohol is 80 proof.
But the phrase “proof” comes from there British Royal Navy’s “proof” test. They would take the gin, pour it onto gunpowder, and if it ignited, that would prove there is sufficient alcohol in the gin. They would say that the gin was “gunpowder proof,” and it would be allowed onboard the ship.
So in the UK, a spirit with 57.15% is 100 degrees proof. A spirit with 40% alcohol is 70 degrees proof.
For me, it’s easier to simply remember to check the percentage of alcohol, and go from there.
One of the reasons I fell in love with New Zealand gin was because it was often served with East Imperial tonic, a New Zealand product that was not available in the United States for some time. But when I returned from my trip, I googled it and found that it was now being distributed in the US! When the amount of alcohol you’re allowed in your glass is limited (by our standards, anyway), what fills the rest of it up becomes incredibly important. East Imperial was the best line of tonics I’ve ever tried. (I’m saying was now, because, sadly, the company went under last year, and I managed to purchase a couple of 12-packs of the last of the available inventory. Once it’s gone, it’s back to Fever Tree.)
It stands to reason that a great cocktail is the sum total of its parts: great gin, great tonic, great ice.
I was enjoying a few Roots and tonics at the Bamboo Tiger, a bar inside the D’Urville Hotel in Blenheim, NZ, when we felt earthquake tremors. (My first!) It only lasted a few seconds, and when the chandeliers stopped moving, everyone pretty much went right back to business!
I spent about 10 days last summer in Scotland and Ireland, and though they’re known for their whiskey, it was their gins that really impressed me. But I’ll save that for another blog.
Live the Live ™ 