I know, I know, all I ever talk about any more is cherries, but isn’t it comforting to know that despite all the changes life can throw at you, some things remain constant? One such thing being cherry season which always comes around this time of year without fail.

I specifically get excited about sour cherry season not just because sour cherries are the most useful for doing anything with, but because it means I can once again make my yearly pilgrimage up to Cherry Tyme in Leona Valley for a day of cherry picking. For the past three years I have followed this tradition, and I don’t plan to change anything this year.

I served up this recipe for homemade maraschino cherries in a cocktail called the “The Corpse Reviver #2″ at my sisters wedding last year and it was a big hit. Since then, people haven’t quit bugging me for more info on how I make the cherries, so here’s everything I know:

Pre-Temperance Maraschino Cherries

Ingredients:

• Sour cherries with seeds and stems
• Luxardo or Maraska Brand Maraschino Liqueur
• Glass canning jars like this, or you can use the half pint sized ones which make nice gifts

Method:

1. Pick out the largest, most beautiful, firm, and intact cherries you have and rinse them thoroughly without bruising them.
2. Pack them into your jars as efficiently as possible.
3. Pour your Maraschino liqueur over the cherries until they are covered by 1/4 inch.
4. Seal the lids tightly.
5. Put them away in a cool dark place.
6. Inspect once a week for the first month or two, flipping the jars over each time you put them away.
7. If lids are bulging with pressure, loosen, and let gas escape, then re-seal (this is normal).
8. Cherries should be ready in about three months.

Notes:

• Through extensive testing I have found that the Balaton variety of sour cherries is the most suitable for this recipe. Morello would be my second choice, and Montmorency would be a distant third. I found that the Balatons were the only cherry that still looked good after a year of pickling, while the others ended up somewhat shriveled and ugly.
• I like to keep the pits and stems intact because the pits give a nice almond flavor and the stems look nice. If you don’t want them for a specific application you can remove them at that time.
• If you can’t wait three months, an expedited method is explained here.
• These cherries are delicious for eating straight, garnishing cocktails and ice cream, and even as an ice cream ingredient along with chunks of chocolate truffles. Yum!
• For more info on the history of Maraschino cherries don’t forget to read my other post “Sour Cherry Pickin’” (same link as above).

Sometimes life is like a bowl of sour cherries… but I’m not complaining!

Yes you heard me right, sour (tart) cherries are now ripe and ready for picking in the Leona Valley (just North of Los Angeles, CA near Palmdale).  SOUR cherries?? you’re probably thinking, why would I want those?  Because, let me tell you my friend, they are the way to true cherry pie bliss.

And cherry jam bliss…

and real Maraschino (pronounced “maraskino”) cherry bliss.

No, you don’t need any red #40 to make these, but you do need real Maraschino Liqueur.

I have to admit that two years ago I had never tried a sour cherry.  To be fair to myself though, most Californians haven’t.  It’s more of an East coast/European/Persian thing.  Why that is, I’m not really sure.  Maybe because sweet cherries grow so well here.

This all started when I discovered the Manhattan cocktail a few years back.  I loved this cocktail, but hated the garish garnish.  For some reason those noxious things people call “maraschino” cherries just freak me out.  I knew there must be something more.  What was the origin or inspiration for these cherries?.  A little googling around and I was on to something.

The first Maraschino cherries were cooked up somewhere on the Dalmatian coast near Croatia and Italy.  They were made from small, black, sour cherries that grow wild on the hillsides around those parts.  Their name was the Marasca cherry.  A sweet liqueur known as Maraschino had long since been distilled from the fruit, stones (pits), and leaves of these wild cherry trees, but until the 1800′s no one had ever tried to pickle the Marascas in their own liqueur.

Some years later American tourists discovered Maraschino cherries and brought jars home to share with their friends.  They were a big hit and news spread quickly.  Before long, they were all the rage in America’s finest saloons acting as garnish for delicious pre-prohibition cocktails like the Manhattan.  But, sad as it is, the salad days of the real Maraschino cherry in America were numbered.  Things changed when a guy from Oregon, with too many cherries (and chemicals) on his hands, developed a way to preserve them in a less than appetizing way.

How on Earth did these offensively colored new substitutes catch on?  I can only guess.  I’m sure the Temperance Movement didn’t help.  God forbid children should be tempted to sneak one of these liquor soaked cherries!

The new and improved “Maraschino Americano” was also incredibly cheap compared to the imported varieties, and you know how we Americans are when it comes to the cost of food.  The cheaper the better.

Yum…

Thus began my personal quest to re-create the original Maraschino cherry as closely as I could.  A google search for “sour cherries Los Angeles” yielded few results, but I finally found what I was looking for.  It was a place called Cherry Tyme Sour Cherries in the Leona Valley about an hour and a half North of Los Angeles.  Bingo, I thought!

But wait, it was August and all the sour cherries were long gone according to the pleasant lady on the phone.  I had just missed the season!  As you can imagine I was devastated, but the lady offered me one bit of consolation.  I could leave her my e-mail address and the next year they would let me know when the season opens.

Sure enough, the next July I received an e-mail stating it was “Cherry Tyme!”  I recruited my dad to go up there with me and help pick.  We came away with 13 pounds of fresh, sour cherries of three different varieties: Montmorency, Balaton, and Morello.  The Montmorency were large, pale, very sour, and extremely delicate.  I used them for my pies, and they left me with memories I won’t soon forget.  The Balatons were small, firm, dark skinned, and not quite as sour as the Montmorency.  I thought these seemed most like the wild Marasca cherries of the old country, and used them for my Maraschino cherries with great results.  It’s been a year since I put them up and they’re still firm and delicious!  The Morello cherries were medium sized, dark fleshed, sour, and very flavorful.  For some reason they were the most attractive to me.  They embody a perfect balance between the other two varieties, and I used them to make my preserves.

Pitting was a bit of a challenge without a proper cherry pitting tool, but we got pretty good with bamboo skewers after the first hundred or so.

The cherry massacre!

The fun starts tomorrow morning June 27th at Cherry Tyme in Leona Valley.  Their hours are from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm; open daily until all the cherries are gone.  Bring your own boxes!

Cherry Tyme Sour Cherries:

39913 107^th St West

Leona Valley, Ca 93551

(661) 270-0649

cherrytyme@email.com

Hope to see you there!  Recipes coming soon.

The Sidecar cocktail is said to have been invented by an American Army captain living in Paris during the first World War.  He was driven each night in a motorcycle sidecar, so it goes, to the small bistro where he helped conceive and christen this drink.  On those wintery Paris nights, having been chilled to the bone by his ride in the sidecar, the captain found nothing more warming and rejuvenating than the combination of Cognac Brandy, Cointreau, and lemon juice mixed in equal parts.

Perhaps he was nostalgic for a Daiquirí back home in Florida, and with no access to rum or limes, started improvising with what was on hand.  I can only guess at what his true inspiration was, but it led to a cocktail that could be considered one of the most classic and well known around the world.

On a more sinister note, the Sidecar’s popularity has noticed a steady decline over the past few decades.  This is due in large part to the fact that many bartenders are using cheap brandy, triple sec, and commercial sweet and sour mix to prepare this drink, instead of Cognac, Cointreau, and freshly squeezed lemon juice.  Trust me please, it would be false economics to cut corners on this particular drink.

I should mention, before posting the formula, that there are two popular schools of thought when it comes to the proportions of ingredients in this cocktail.  The more classic “French School” adheres to the equal triad described above, whereas the newer “English School” swears by a ratio of 2:1:1.  Having tasted both variations side by side earlier this evening I have to conclude that neither school is in the wrong.  The French Sidecar is light, refreshing, delicate, and well balanced, with prominent, though not overpowering citrus elements.  It felt like Spring in Paris.  The more complex and serious English Sidecar felt like fall or winter.  The Cognac was able to take center stage while Cointreau and lemon played backup.  The harmony was beautiful!  I recommend this method if you’re using a really fine Cognac or Armagnac and want it to to shine through.

Sidecar Cocktail (French School)

Ingredients:

• 1 oz Cognac or Armagnac
• 1 oz Cointreau
• 1 oz Freshly squeezed lemon juice

Sidecar Cocktail (English School)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz Cognac or Armagnac
• 3/4 oz Cointreau
• 3/4 oz Freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method:

1. Combine ingredients in a shaker half full of ice.
2. Shake or stir vigorously until very cold (no less than 20 seconds).
3. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
4. Garnish with a strip of organic or well scrubbed orange or lemon rind (optional).
5. Enjoy!

Notes:

• Any quality brandy can be substituted for the Cognac.
• Any quality orange liqueur can be substituted for the Cointreau (Grand Marnier, Marie Brizard Grand Orange Liqueur, etc.).
• Always use fresh squeezed lemon juice (Meyer lemons can be used with delicious results, but you may want to cut back on the Cointreau to avoid an overly sweet drink).
• Some people like to sugar the rim of the cocktail glass, but I’m not one of them.
• Experiment with different proportions and find the combo you like the most.
• For more good reading on the Sidecar cocktail go here.

So . . . what do all of these dishes have in common?

• crab apple blossom drops with Meyer lemon sour mix
• warmed olives with fava beans and rosemary
• nasturtium pesto
• watercress, nasturtium, and miners’ lettuce salad with pine nuts and fresh flowers
• and braised dandelion and nettle with wild mushrooms

Yep – they are all made from ingredients foraged from the Bay Area! We cheated a bit, I’ll admit, buying a few things that couldn’t be conceivably foraged, and allowing for a few other foods that could have been foraged with a lot of difficulty – i.e. pine nuts and wild mushrooms. We also admitted the fava beans that conveniently came in our most recent Eatwell Farm box.

Another admission: I’m more likely to be found “foraging” for my house keys than clipping nasturtium leaves from the backyard. But oh, what abundance awaits those who go looking through local fields and paths (and even farmers markets) for edibles.

Now, please don’t go stealing the first tomatoes from someone’s community garden plot, and don’t go eating every wild plant you can get your fingers on! Foraging should be about about finding the fascinating and nourishing foods that surround us, overlooked, every day, but it’s important to use careful judgment, both about what to eat and what to pick. Don’t eat anything you can’t positively identify (as edible!), and always leave some behind for other people, for the birds, and to allow the plant to continue thriving.

We assembled all of the dishes for a small dinner party that some friends held, and the cocktail and the nasturtium pesto were the biggest hits. I can already see a completely foraged dinner party in our future!

Crab Apple Blossom Drops

We used the delicious Hanger One from St. George Spirits, and it was well worth it.

Ingredients

• 7 oz vodka
• 1 cup crab apple blossoms (reserve enough flowers to garnish each drink)
• Rind of 1 Meyer lemon (in wide strips, pith removed)
• 3 oz lemon juice
• 3 oz simple syrup
• 3 oz triple sec
• Sugar (for rims)

Method

Place the vodka in a glass jar and add the lemon zest and flowers. Gently bruise the flowers in the vodka, cover, and allow to infuse overnight. The next day pour through a fine strainer or cheesecloth to remove flowers and lemon rind.

To assemble the drinks, coat the rim of each glass with lemon juice and dip in granulated sugar. Place infused vodka, triple sec, simple syrup and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Adjust flavors if you like, adding more simple syrup, lemon juice or vodka as your tastes dictate. Strain drink into glasses and garnish each with an edible flower. Makes six small cocktails, or twice as many shots.

Nasturtium Pesto

Ingredients

• 1 lb nasturtium leaves (or use half nasturtium leaves and half Italian parsley leaves)
• 1/2 cup good quality olive oil
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Method

Combine ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth, adding a little more olive oil if necessary. You could use a mortar and pestle, but with the nasturtium leaves, the pesto tastes better very smooth, so be prepared to grind for quite a while! Adjust seasoning to taste and use as you would traditional basil pesto.

• crab apple blossom drops with meyer’s lemon sour mix
• warmed olives with fava beans and rosemary
• nasturtium pesto
• watercress, nasturtium, and miners’ lettuce salad with pine nuts and fresh flowers
• and braised dandelion and nettle with wild mushrooms

Tonight we’ll make a shopping list, and tomorrow try to prep what we can in anticipation of Thursday. We’re hosting Thanksgiving for the first time this year, which, in an odd way, feels more like a milestone than the 30th birthday I’ll be celebrating in a few weeks. Andy’s parents will be there, as well as my mom and my stepfather Ben, Andy’s cousin, our housemate Keith, and a few good friends. In lieu of a turkey, we’re preparing a whole, wild, line caught salmon, which we plan to parchment steam and serve with a Bearnaise sauce “gravy.” On the side, we’ll have a wild rice pilaf, potatoes mashed with garlic, wasabi, and savoy cabbage, cornbread, and a salad of citrus and bitter greens.

Will is also hosting a Thanksgiving celebration this year, and he is soon to add his more classic version of a menu. We’ll both be adding recipes as we find time today and tomorrow, but for now, I’ll leave you a starter . . .

Rose’s Thanksgiving Menu

To Start

Champagne Cocktails

• Dry champagne
• Brandy
• Angostura bitters (or homemade!)
• Sugar cubes
• Unsweetened dried cherries

Plump the dried cherries in brandy at least one hour beforehand. Thread the cherries onto toothpicks (about three to a toothpick is nice – two is bad luck according to old bartending lore) making enough for all of your cocktails. Place a sugar cube in each champagne flute and moisten the sugar with a few good shakes of bitters (be careful though, you can overdo it!) Fill glasses with champagne, and garnish with the brandy soaked cherries.

• Endive boats with Roquefort and caramelized walnut – I stole the idea for these from Le Zinc, a charming little French place in Noe Valley. They make a light and tasty accompaniment to the cocktails. Simply separate the endive leaves and place a small cube of Roquefort cheese and a caramelized walnut at the white end of each.

• Curried almonds

• Fruit and cheese plate

The Feast

• Whole parchment steamed salmon stuffed with shiitake mushrooms and edameme beans
• Eggless Bearnaise sauce “gravy” – The cooking juices made such a nice sauce that we did away with the additional “gravy.”
• Potatoes mashed with garlic, wasabi, and savoy cabbage – Cube and steam 3-4 lbs russet potatoes, leaving the skins on. While potatoes are steaming, thinly slice a small savoy cabbage and place in a large bowl with 3 cloves crushed or diced garlic and 3 tsp powdered wasabi (or to taste). When potatoes are very tender but still firm, toss them with the cabbage until it begins to wilt. Add about 2 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup milk or cream, and plenty of salt and pepper to taste. Mash until potatoes are soft, but not entirely uniform.
• Citrus salad with bitter greens
• Wild rice pilaf - Combine 8 cups water, 1 1/2 cups wild rice, 1 1/2 cups long grain brown or white rice, 1/2 cup sliced almonds, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, and 1/2 tsp salt in a rice cooker, or add ingredients to the boiling water in a large pot with a tight fitting lid. Return the pilaf to a boil, lower heat, and cook covered for about 1 hour, or until the wild rice is firm but tender to the bite. Fluff and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

• Wine pairings

Dessert

• Pumpkin pie
• Orange whipped cream
• Quady Essensia Orange Muscat dessert wine

***

Will’s Thanksgiving Menu

I’m not sure how classic this really is, but here goes:

To Start

The Gin Buck

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. gin (I use Junipero Gin for its robust flavor and ability to stand up to a strong ginger beer)
• Ginger Beer ( I’m a huge ginger beer fan, and my favorite brand other than my homemade stuff, is Fentimans out of the UK, now available at Cost Plus World Markets)
• The juice of 1/2 lemon
• Lemon wedge to garnish

Method:

1. Pour the gin and lemon juice into an ice filled highball glass
2. Top off with ginger beer
3. Add the lemon wedge as a garnish
4. Enjoy one of the best highballs known to man

Fresh sourdough bread with butter
Cheese plate
Olives

The Feast

• Fresh (never frozen) pasture raised Heritage Turkey roasted to perfection with stuffing, leeks, carrots, and quince
• Gravy
• Mashed potatoes made the old fashioned way without any “new fangled” fixins
• Hashed Brussels Sprouts With Lemon Zest
• Fuyu persimmon salad with cumin-lime vinaigrette
• My original home cooked cranberry sauce (see recipe below)
• Wine pairings

Will’s Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 bag fresh cranberries (rinse thoroughly and discard the rotten ones)
• 1 organic orange, zested and then squeezed
• 1/2 tsp. freshly grated ginger (heaping)
• 1 pinch black pepper (my grannies trick)
• 1 pinch grated nutmeg
• 2 dashes orange bitters (optional)
• 4 Tbs. real maple syrup
• 1/2 cup cane sugar
• 3/4 cup water

Method:

1. Combine orange juice (about 1/4 cup), water, sugar, maple syrup, orange zest, ginger, bitters, black pepper, and nutmeg in a sauce pan over medium heat
2. Stir to dissolve all the sugar
3. Add the cranberries
4. Stir often, and wait until all the berries have popped
5. Continue stirring as the mixture foams up
6. When the mixture calms down and turns a deep red it’s time to turn off the heat (the whole process should take less than ten minutes)
7. Let cool
8. This recipe keeps very well and can be made well in advance of Thanksgiving

Dessert

• Mary’s Cranberry yam apple crisp
• Butternut squash pie
• Cointreau flavored whipped cream (I’ll let you know how it turns out)
• Bonny Doon Muscat “Vin de Glaciere” (ice wine)

With any luck things will turn out as delicious as they sound and i will be posting more recipes in time for the next round of holiday festivities.

One such recipe was the “New 1920 Cocktail” which looked like a worthwhile variation on the Manhattan (my all time favorite cocktail). Unlike your Classic Manhattan though, which generally calls for a 2:1 ratio of whiskey to sweet vermouth and a dash of aromatic bitters, this one calls for a 1:1 ratio of whiskey to vermouth (half sweet/half dry) and a dash of orange bitters. This half and half combination of sweet and dry vermouth in any drink is commonly referred to as a Perfect (insert drink name here, e.g. Martini, Manhattan, etc.) these days, but perhaps this book was written prior to that terminology catching on. The orange bitters are the other biggest difference, and they have the potential to match very well with the peppery rye whiskey I plan to use.

New 1920 Cocktail:

Tasting Notes:

I prepared this recipe using Wild Turkey Straight Rye Whiskey paired with Noilly Pratt sweet and dry vermouth, topped off with a generous dash drizzle of Regan’s Orange Bitters. The only liberty I took while following this recipe was to squeeze the lemon peel over a lighted match in order to further enhance, and bring out the aromatic oils of the lemon. The results were quite tasty! The drink was dryer than your typical Manhattan, but not overly so, and it had a lighter, spicier, more zesty personality than its somber, buttery, sometimes cloying brother. Don’t get me wrong, I love a balanced, well made Manhattan. This is just a nice change of pace when you’re in the mood for something a little more bright and bitter.

I finally completed the straining, bottling, and (most importantly) tasting of my homemade bitters this weekend and am generally pleased with the results. I began the process of making bitters at home back on July, then followed up with recipes a few weeks later. Now for a little more about the process and results.

I made two version of an aromatic bitters — one that included the addition of cherry bark and vanilla beans, and the other which was more or less traditional. I have to admit, I wasn’t wowed by the appearance or flavors of either right off the bat. Both liquids remain a bit cloudy, though I tried a variety of straining methods, including passing them through a Britta Filter (a trick Will found online). And since the flavor of spices in both was more prominent than in commercial bitters, I first wondered if they would be effective in cocktails.

I tried them first alone alongside the other aromatic bitters we have on our bar – Angostura, Peychaud’s, and Fee Brothers. Compared to the commercial versions, mine had a lighter color and a milder taste. I cut down on the amounts of water both recipes suggested, but I think next time I might forgo the added water altogether. Mine were also both drier than the commercial brands. The Cherry Vanilla Bitters was the driest by far and also had the most pronounced bitterness.

Of the commercial brands I tried, mine most resembled Angostura. Peychaud’s has a syrupy smell and taste similar to Campari, while Fee Brothers, though we liked it, had a very pronounced taste of cinnamon. Alone, I preferred the flavor of my straight aromatic House Bitters, but mixed into a Manhattan, the Cherry Vanilla Bitters shone, adding complexity and bite to the cocktail and rendering the Makers Mark we used as a test bourbon a little closer to a rye. The Cherry Vanilla Bitters were my hands down favorite in our test Manhattan, while Angostura and my homemade House Bitters shared second place. For drinking straight with soda water, Fee Brothers or the House Bitters top my list, while think I would prefer the Cherry Vanilla Bitters with ginger ale. I plan to experiment a bit more with both, testing them in rye cocktails as well as with other alcohols and mixers.

More on the methods:

For the recipes I used visit this post. For background and where to order ingredients, go here.

House Bitters (from Robert Hess)

1) This recipe doesn’t specify the amounts of water and sugar. I used about 1 cup water in step 2 of the recipe and then added slightly less than called for in step 8. Instead, I suggest using about 1.5-2 cups water in step two and adding it slowly to taste in step 4.

2) Omit the additional water in step 8, or add a little at a time, tasting carefully.

3) I used about 1/4 cup sugar (step 5) but you may want to add up to about 1/2 cup. When I carmelized the sugar and stirred it into the cool liquid, I had one of those “what did I get myself into” moments common to these kinds of home projects. Rest assured, the sugar, which immediately solidifies in the liquid and onto the spoon, will eventually dissolve.

Cherry Vanilla Bitters (from Jeff Hollinger and Rob Schwartz)

1) Use 1-1.5 cups water in step 3 and add little by little to taste.

2) This recipe doesn’t include sugar, but if you want it to resemble the commercial varieties, you may want to add 1/4-1/2 cup sugar. Carmelize as in the House Bitters recipe and stir into the spice infused water before adding it to the alcohol.

A few tips:

• Invest in a funnel if you don’t have one – some of the liquid invariable gets lost in the various transfers and strainings, and a funnel cuts down on the spillage and makes straining easier.
• Taste carefully as you add the sugar and water, you may want less than the recipes call for.
• I used wire mesh and cheesecloth to strain, followed by passing the liquid several times through a Britta filter. The cheesecloth is good for removing the solids and squeezing out any remaining liquid, but doesn’t remove the smaller particles that make the liquid cloudy. It might be worth trying a coffee filter or cheese/butter muslin if you can find it.
• To strain, line a funnel with a coffee filter or muslin, and lay cheesecloth over it. Wrap solids in cheesecloth and squeeze out any remaining liquid.

(Note – I reduced both recipes significantly and the amounts above are for the smaller batches I made. If you make a full size batch, revise accordingly.)

A few days ago I made a trip over to my favorite (big kids) candy store- Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, which doesn’t just have one of the finest wine selections in California, but also one of the finest liquor selections. I don’t know whether it’s their self service tasting bar, their extensive underground caves (bring your jacket), or their amazing supply of hard to find spirits that gets my heart racing and empties my wallet every time I visit, but this time was no exception.

I was trying to locate some Peychaud’s bitters when I met Forrest, the store’s own liquor guru. We got to talking, and the conversation quickly settled on his homemade Pimento Dram endeavors. It was while he was describing the trials he went through to locate Jamaican allspice berries that I knew I had met my new go-to man for obscure and forgotten spirits. He informed me, with an excited look of approval seeking anticipation on his face, that something very rare and special had just come in, and that I might like to take a look. I took the bait, not wanting to disappoint him, and he ran off to fetch the bottle. When he returned, grinning ear to ear, holding a dark green bottle with the care you might see in a new father, he pronounced, “Batavia-Arrack”.

To tell you the truth, I’d never heard of Pimento Dram nor Batavia-Arrack until that day, but I’m always game for new things, and this guy impressed me with his passion and knowledge of all things booze. According to Forrest, for the first time in many many years, Batavia-Arrack, a rare and exotic spirit imported from the island of Java Indonesia via a blending plant in Amsterdam and a bottling plant in Austria, has been reintroduced to the U.S. market thanks to the fine folks over at Haus Alpenz. The product is painstakingly distilled, so it goes, from a mixture of sugar cane and fermented Java red rice using pot stills and ancient Chinese methods to produce a distinctive high proof spirit reminiscent of a spicy, smoky cachaca. “It’s an ingredient indispensable”, Forrest informed me, “to the adventurous mixologist trying to recreate such things as Swedish Punsch from scratch”.

Well, you may laugh, but I was sold on it. I forked over a hefty $31 bucks for the bottle (available online from Hi-Time Cellars here), and left the store with a strange bottle of hootch and a photocopied list of some drinks to be made with it.

I chose to make the Swedish Punsch recipe from the list because it’s the most common use of Batavia-Arrack, and it went something like this:

Swedish Punsch:

Produces enough for two small cocktail glasses

• 2 oz Batavia-Arrack
• 1/2 oz Rum
• 3/4 oz Fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 oz Simple syrup (2:1 sugar and water)*
• 3 oz Water
• Ground cardamom or nutmeg
• Lemon twist

Method:

1. Combine Batavia-Arrack, rum, lemon juice, simple syrup, water, and spices in a shaker.
2. Stir until well chilled.
3. Strain into a vintage (small) cocktail glass.
4. Add the twist of lemon.
5. Enjoy.

Notes:

1. Try preparing this recipe hot instead of chilled (pre-19th century style).
2. Try it over ice in a rocks glass.
3. Try using it in other cocktails.
4. Try replacing the spices and simple syrup with the spiced (not so simple) syrup recipe bellow:

Spiced (not so simple) Syrup:

• 2 cups Demerara sugar
• 1 cup water
• 6 whole cloves
• 8 cardomom pods broken open and lightly crushed
• 3 sections of a star anise broken open
• 1 small cinnamon stick broken up
• just a little grated nutmeg (less than 1/16th of a tsp.)
• a little ground ginger
• 1/16th tsp. ground cardamon
• 1/2 vanilla bean split open

Method:

1. Combine everything in a saucepan.
2. Bring to a low boil stirring constantly for two minutes.
3. Shut off heat, and cover for two hours.
4. Add an ounce of vodka to help preserve.
5. Strain through a sieve.
6. Store in a cool dark place for later use.

Having no special connections in the spirits industry, I’ve been waiting patiently to get my bottle of Lucid absinthe for several months. The first true absinthe to reach the U.S. market since the drink was banned nearly 100 years ago, Lucid has caused quite a stir in the spirits world. But so far it’s only distributed in New York and New Jersey. And according to the friendly folks at John Walker Co., who I went and pestered recently, it won’t be available for another month or more. They did let slip, however, that St. George Spirits is about to release an absinthe of their own – did I hear that right?! Reason to check back next month, but not good enough right now.

After a little sleuthing online, I discovered that Drink Up NY not only carried Lucid, but it was $5 off, and they offer free shipping on all orders of $50 or more. Done. My bottle was delivered to the office yesterday, and Andy and I cracked it open for a tasting last night.

I haven’t tried any of the absinthes available on the international market, but for what it’s worth, I was impressed by the crispness, balance, and complexity of Lucid’s flavors. Though it is not as thick or rich looking as some of the varieties I’ve seen pictured online, it has a pleasant, silky mouthfeel and an excellent aftertaste. Even as other quality absinthes arrive on the market, the accessibly and reasonable price of Lucid will probably make it my default absinthe for cocktails.

How to Drink Absinthe

Absinthe should be prepared very slowly. Though you can omit the sugar, and even the water, this is the most traditional method and brings out the flavors beautifully.

1. Pour 1-1.5 ounces absinthe into a glass. Rest an absinthe spoon – or a common kitchen fork :) – on the rim of the glass and place a sugar cube on top.

2. Very slowly, drip ice cold water over the sugar cube until it dissolves. You may need to continue adding water until you’ve reached a ratio somewhere between 3:1 and 5:1 of water to absinthe.

3. As the sugar dissolves and the water drips into the absinthe, observe the liquid as it begins to grow cloudy. Eventually the whole drink will be opaque.

4. Stir a few times with the spoon and enjoy.

Notes: For a charming demonstration on preparing absinthe, take a look at this video clip. For more on the legality of absinthe, here’s a good article from the Washington Post.