MxMo LIII: Like That? You’ll Love This!

Abraxas Margarita

A big Fogged In thank-you to Chris Amirault at eGullet for hosting this Mixology Monday, and for suggesting the theme Like That? You’ll Love This! Nowadays there’s a lot of call for drinks that are essentially a pile of esters and sugar in a neutral alcohol base, and Chris challenges us to present a recipe to appeal those who already enjoy the fun of mixed drinks but have not been exposed to a cocktailian cocktail.

This seems as good a moment as any to do one that’s dyed funny colors, and this Margarita has been a guilty pleasure of mine for a while. I used to make it with the lower-proof Galliano, which I swear had a different specific gravity, and didn’t even have to pour all that carefully to get a layered drink. Regrettably, that product is going away, but you can still get a nice sunrise effect.



Abraxas Margarita

Liquid ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz reposado tequila
• 3/4 oz Cointreau
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1 tsp blue curacao

Plus:

• 1/4 oz Galliano

Rim:

• several pinches unsweetened cocoa (Green & Black’s)
  
• sea salt, to taste
• cayenne, to taste

Assemble the powdered ingredients in a saucer. (The measures for the rim are given loosely. Not too much cayenne or you lose the flavors of the drink to the heat.) Rub outside edge of chilled cocktail glass with a cut lemon and roll carefully in plate. Combine liquids except Galliano in glass with ice and shake. Pour Galliano in the bottom of the glass. Strain the Margarita mixture, pouring gently over the back of a spoon and down the side of the glass for a sunrise effect.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Heart of the Chartreuse Beast

At a stream somewhere in the Sierra Madre, a large animal laps the water. It makes low, growling, purring sounds that travel through the forest and stop all other creatures in their tracks. It licks its whiskers and speaks a little French.

This latest drink in my current exploration of Mexican spirits is, in outline, a Chartreuse Swizzle transformed by mezcal. (The incomparable Tiare has fun with this too in her Del Maguey Vida review.) For a fan of smoky single malts like me, mezcal is a very exciting ingredient to work with. Like scotch, it has not just smoke but intensity and mystique. And it’s a great pairing for the sweet herbal complexity of Chartreuse.

I based this swizzle on yellow Chartreuse, which tends to inspire me more often than green. I dunno—maybe it’s that I never know when the green plus a lime, delicious though that can be, is going to give me heartburn. Or maybe it’s that I just love the color of the yellow one so much. Yellow Chartreuse is particularly good with pear, and I busted out the juicer again for this one just cuz I could. It’s worth doing a whole bunch of pears at once and storing the juice in the refrigerator.



Heart of the Chartreuse Beast

• 1 1/2 oz yellow Chartreuse
• 1/2 oz mezcal
• 1/2 oz cognac
• 2 oz pear juice (about 1 small-medium pear)
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1/2 oz lime juice
• Black pepper, for garnish
• Mint, for garnish

Swizzle with plenty of crushed ice and pour into a large glass. Garnish with mint and coarse cracked pepper.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Crème Yvette

I have my bottle of the reincarnated Crème Yvette. It is flower and fruit, and every shade of purple. It surpasses all expectations of richness, complexity and beauty. It is royal. The color is elusive and hard to photograph. While the prevailing hue seems to be from its four berry constituents, making a Blue Moon a lilac one, it picks up any hidden flashes of blue light in the room like an amethyst. A touch in a cocktail transforms it, refracting through gin, citrus, vermouth, even cacao. A deep and mysterious spirit.



Of course, after a small glass of awestruck wonder, I whipped up some pretty sweet drinks.

First up was the Blue Moon, so good with Rothman & Winter’s awesome lavender-blue Crème de Violette. As noted, Yvette made for a warmer purple than the Violette. Dr. Cocktail says that an egg white is a nice touch, so I added one white for two drinks, which gave it a lunar translucence. Maybe if I upped the egg, it would have foamed interestingly too. The proportions, minus the egg, came from the version on the official site.



Blue Moon

• 1 1/2 oz London dry gin
• 3/4 oz Crème Yvette
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1 egg white

Dry shake until egg is blended, then add ice, shake and strain through a fine mesh strainer into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: COMPOSITE

After that, I tried the Dr. Cocktail version of 2 oz gin, 1/2 oz Yvette or Violette, 1/2 oz lemon, but I think I prefer those proportions with Crème de Violette. As my housemate notes, there’s something over-the-top about the first version that suits the Yvette better.

We also tried a vermouth version from the CocktailDB. Really elegant.

Blue Moon Variation

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• 3/4 dry vermouth
• 1/4 Crème Yvette
• 1 dash orange bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
SOURCE: COCKTAILDB

Last but not least was one adapted from the Crème Yvette site and also found in the CocktailDB, the Perpetual. This is all vermouth and liqueurs and begged for some gin, so I gave it some. It was the standout, don’t-miss, surprise hit drink of the set.

The Perpetual Fog

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
• 1/2 oz dry vermouth
• 1/2 oz Crème Yvette
• 1/4 oz light Crème de Cacao

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



Very warm thanks to the awesome Robert Cooper for bringing this great liqueur to us, and thanks to all the cocktailians who kept plugging for its return.

Mandarine Napoléon Margarita

Mandarine Napoléon is a liqueur made from mandarin oranges, as the name suggests. Like Cointreau, it has a cognac base, and it’s similarly priced. Neat stuff. I haven’t explored its range beyond this Margarita, but can’t wait to see how it works in some of the other classic cocktails that call for orange liqueur.



Mandarine Napoléon Margarita

• 1 1/2 oz tequila
• 3/4 oz Mandarine Napoléon
• 1/2 oz lime juice

Shake in an ice-filled shaker and strain into a chilled, salt-rimmed glass.
Source: Rowen, Fogged In Lounge

Question from the Befogged: Anybody try this in something like a Sidecar or Between the Sheets?