MxMo LXXIII: Witches’ Garden—Reynardine

It’s time again for Mixology Monday. This month, Mark Holmes of Cardiff Cocktails invites us to show off our mad herbalist cocktail skillz with his awesome theme, Witches’ Garden. I was expecting this challenge to help me welcome in the summer time with something light and bright, but ended up with a velvety room-temperature potion of rosemary, sage, and port wine goodness.




Reynardine

• 1 1/2 oz cognac
• 1 1/2 oz port
• 3-4 sage leaves
• 1 sprig rosemary (an inch or so)

Bruise the herbs lightly but thoroughly in a splash of the cognac. Add the remaining cognac and the port, stirring well. Strain through mesh into a snifter or other balloon-shaped glass.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

The herbs bring out savory notes in the port and brandy. Rich and subtly aromatic, this would be just the thing for a winter night. On a May afternoon, it’s contemplative and still, and casts a strange spell.

Martini Time (and a Thyme Martini)

Greetings from the bleak shores of post-holiday confusion, where those of us in northern latitudes stumble around in the cold and dark, numbly bumping into things. (“Stupid parking meter!”) Martinis help a lot. It’s true that they increase the delirium but then you don’t mind it as much as you did before. They seem so astringent and boozy that you can’t help but think after a sip or two that they’re good for everything that ails you. (They’re not, but even so….)

And there’s something comforting in that trace of brine from an olive. Its savoriness is sort of bracing—like soup for people who drink. That’s why I like a garlic-stuffed olive. Big flavor. Substantial. Add a green herb and it’s practically a meal. I’ll just illustrate with a recipe here:

Thyme Martini

• 2 oz London dry gin
• 1 oz dry vermouth
• thyme sprig
• lemon peel
• scant pinch sea salt

Gently muddle a 2- or 3-inch sprig of thyme with a wide, thin piece of lemon peel and a pinch of sea salt. Add plenty of ice and the gin and vermouth. Stir and double strain. (Second one is mesh to catch the bits.) Garlic-stuffed olive.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

This is exactly what it sounds like, a Dry Martini with stronger herbal notes. Think about going easy on the muddler since the thyme can get pretty assertive if you mash it hard. (I guess you could add more booze to dilute it. Heh.)

What’s that salt doing there? Why not extra olive brine? I gotta say I’m not crazy about the Dirty Martini for some reason. I understand why other people like them but to me, they always taste, uh, dirty. But a small pinch of sea salt in a cocktail like this is very nice indeed.

Parting Shot

Thanksgiving week in the United States means that the holidays are upon us once again (quick—the pepper spray!) and I’m reminded that for various reasons, you need to have some booze-free recipes on hand. So how about the other beverage kick, caffeine?

Now I’m not talking about some gigantic dairy-laden thing in a paper cup. This is a shooter that your guests can slam before going off into the night in a car. And you can prepare it in advance and have it waiting in the refrigerator. You’ll need to make an anise syrup for it, and you’ll need to make or buy some espresso.



Parting Shot

Start by preparing anise syrup:

• 1 c water
• 1 c sugar
• 3-4 Tbs anise seeds
• 2 Tbs fennel seeds
• 4 star anise pods

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring gently about 15 minutes. Cool and strain. Refrigerate if preparing in advance.

Combine syrup with an equal amount of espresso and chill before serving in chilled shot glasses.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Big Yellow Curry

A banana was sitting around the kitchen for days trying to talk to me but I couldn’t understand what it was saying. Finally I recognized the accent and away we went.



Big Yellow Curry

• 3 oz gold Jamaica rum
• 3 oz pineapple juice
• 1/2 ripe banana
• 1 tsp simple syrup
• 1/8 tsp yellow curry powder

Blend with a cup of crushed ice about 20 seconds at high speed and serve in a tall glass. Mint garnish.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

A Pair of Pimm’s Cups

Summer’s sort of here, more or less, so yesterday I headed off to the farmers market at the Ferry Building to buy herbs. (It was in a driving rain, but never mind. Keeps the crowds in check.) My haul included some lemon basil that I didn’t really have a plan for, but it’s generally true that if you come back with some weird herb you don’t know what to do with, stick it in a Pimm’s Cup. Truly, this works with just about anything. (Avoid those garlic chives.) Lavender? Throw it in there. Hyssop? Have at it. (What is hyssop, anyway?) There ought to be Pimm’s Cup bars, where you can choose your garnish, choose your mixer, and then head out onto a lawn to stumble around till you get hit with a tennis ball.

For those who haven’t had a Pimm’s or haven’t even heard of one, this is a classic English long drink with a gin-based, bottled concoction called Pimm’s No. 1 (there have been other numbers with different bases) and bitter lemon, fizzy lemonade, ginger beer or the like. The traditional garnishes include cucumber, fruit and fresh herbs. Personally, it was the cucumber that got me. As someone with a deep, compulsive desire to stick weird stuff in his glass, I knew I had to have this thing.

Pimm’s Cup is not particularly strong, which is nice, I suppose, if you want several of them on a hot day. Of the recipes I found in the house this afternoon, Gaz Regan’s has the best feeling for form. (He’s English, of course.)

Pimm’s Cup

• 2 oz Pimm’s No. 1
• 5-7 oz ginger ale, lemon-lime soda or club soda (Fever Tree bitter lemon)
• 1 sliver cucumber rind, for garnish

Build in a 16-oz glass. Add the garnish.
SOURCE: GAZ REGAN, THE JOY OF MIXOLOGY

Basically, you grab a beer glass of ice, pour in two ounces of Pimm’s No. 1 and a bottle of bitter lemon and your garnish. I did a long spear of English cucumber. Scoring the cucumber with a zester is a nice touch and gives you more of the peel aroma. I added my lemon basil and a few slices of Meyer lemon. For the photo, I used a battered old pint glass to demonstrate that you don’t need fancy glassware to make this look good.

I’m sipping this in a closed bedroom right now. A butterfly settled on the glass. It’s sort of like Tiki only imagine you’re sitting in the garden with someone who chain smokes and has a voice like Marianne Faithfull.

Not everybody likes cucumber. I am reliably informed that a small minority find it unbearable. My housemate happens to be one of them. No matter. Stick something else in there. If you feel like it, you could go really crazy and add liquor. I recommend gin, which makes the drink a Turbo.



Pimm’s Turbo

• 1 1/2 Pimm’s No. 1
• 1 oz gin (Tanqueray)
• bitter lemon or ginger (Fever Tree ginger beer)
• garnishes to taste

Build in a pint glass over ice. Add garnishes.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE

I used ginger beer this time—my favorite soda for any Pimm’s drink. I also went crazy with the citrus, which looks cool and makes for a very fresh drink as the flavors develop—if you can resist sucking the whole thing down in one go. For the leafy part, I had some mint, which smelled good with the ginger. (Note the bee, who liked it too.) Remember to spank your mint—not just because Pimm’s is sometimes associated with the boarding school set, but to release the aroma. Slap the sprig once gently between your hands and arrange it in the top of the glass.

Basilisk

I’m on an herb kick lately. (Or do I mean a herb kick? I live with a Canadian. So confusing.) I woke up thinking about the ingredients of this cocktail, and headed straight for the farmers market.



Basilisk

• 2 oz bourbon (Knob Creek)
• 3/4 oz Aperol
• 2 large basil leaves (use 3 if small)
• 3 drops absinthe
  

In a shaker, muddle basil well with bourbon. Add Aperol, absinthe and ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. I garnished this one with a spring of basil flowers, though you could use a leaf too.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

White Sage

I have to admit that I don’t really get the White Lady Cocktail, at least as it appears in most recipes. For my money, I’d rather have the complexity of a Pegu Club or a Sidecar instead. But on a visit to Clyde Common several months ago, they had a nice cardamom-scented version that got me to thinking about herbal additions to this classic.



White Sage

• 2 oz dry gin (Junípero)
• 1/2 oz curacao (Seniors)
  
• 1 tsp Poire Williams
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 3-4 fresh sage leaves

Muddle sage leaves in lemon juice. Add remaining ingredients and shake with plenty of ice. Use an assertive gin for this, and avoid over-dilution or you lose the edge. Strain through mesh into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Juniper from the gin accents the sage, which dries down the pear and orange. I tried leaving little broken bits of muddled sage in this, which looked good but were a little leathery in such a light-bodied cocktail. I strained them out. I also considered a sage leaf for garnish, but didn’t like the way it sat in the glass. Maybe I’ll try an egg white version.

Since I called this cocktail White Sage, I guess I should note that the recipe refers to culinary sage—the soft, velvety, green kind you buy with the other culinary herbs—and not the white sage that gets burned like incense. Different plant. Don’t use a smudge stick to make this drink. It just wouldn’t be the same.

Tamil Nadu Cocktail

My housemate has headed off to an Indian dinner with an old friend. I’m babysitting the dog and playing in the bar. (The canid is a little impatient and grumpy.) I have a drawer full of citrus, and the Mandarine Napoléon is already at hand from the previous cocktail. I’ve mixed two versions of this, one with the addition of gin, one without. Still deciding.



Tamil Nadu Cocktail

• 2 oz North Shore aquavit (variation: 50 percent Tanqueray)
• 1/2 oz Domaine de Canton
• 1/2 oz Mandarine Napoléon
• 1/2 oz lime juice

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

North Shore aquavit has a cumin note that is incomparable in every sense of the word. It is perfect in Red Snappers (a.k.a. Bloody Marys) and in Indian-themed cocktails such as this one.

The gin version of this drink is lighter. The pure North Shore one is more intense.

The Dragonflower

I love Scotch whisky. It's a world unto itself in its variety and complexity, and the things to know about it are endless. And it's a great cocktail ingredient, though an underrated one—probably because of its smokiness. But it's less challenging than it might seem, and pairs well with citrus zest and spices.

When I learned that Gary Regan likes the Rob Roy with Peychaud's bitters, I was inspired to do an anise-scented Scotch cocktail of my own. I first made this with Ledaig, a very smoky, seaweed-y Isle of Mull single malt which is great with the rich orange note of the Cointreau, but something milder, like Johnnie Walker Red Label, would be just fine.

The Dragonflower

2 oz Scotch
1/2 oz Cointreau
2 dashes Fee Bros Aromatic bitters
3 star anise pods

Reserve one star anise pod for garnish. In a shaker, crush the remaining 2 star anise pods lightly in the Scotch with a muddler. Let them steep for a few minutes. Then add ice, Cointreau and bitters. Stir until well chilled. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the whole star anise pod.

By Rowen, Fogged In Lounge