Holiday cocktails

Holidays are a very social time of year—aren't you amazed every year when you try to see everyone you know in about a month and a half? Nonetheless, it is a wonderful time for family and friends to get together and share meals and stories. Part of the fun is trying festive cocktails while you're out and about. This year, we've gathered some of these cocktail recipes for you to try at home; you can stay home once in awhile you know. Your parties will be more spectacular with cocktails from great lounges around town and a little knowledge. So many restaurants generously offered recipes that we'll have a Holiday Cocktails, Part 2 in the December issue.

And you know we have to say it, please drink responsibly. Live to see another holiday season.

One of the excellent benefits of writing about food and beverage is that you get to meet people who love food and beverage. Simon Ford, Brand Relations Manager for Plymouth Gin (part of The Absolut Spirits Company), is a man in love with his product and extremely knowledgeable about the history and making of cocktails. He studied at the Wine & Spirits Education Trust and is currently sitting for the second portion of the Master of Spirits designation, run by the Beverage Alcohol Review (BAR, of course). He's "established some of England's finest cocktail bars" (straight from his bio) and is now living in Manhattan.

Simon Ford

The first references to Plymouth Gin came in 1793. In 1855, a copper pot-still was installed—it's the same one in use today. When you want to make a classic gin cocktail, you know you're getting the same taste/flavor as the original. There are different types of gins—London, Plymouth and Dutch. Dutch has a strong malt-barley taste and is generally served neat and cold, so isn't often used in concocting cocktails. London gin (Beefeater) is a style of gin; slightly more bitter, so good in drinks like gin and tonics. Plymouth Gin is a style of gin and also a designation (Plymouth, England) much like a wine region designation. Plymouth Gin is made with sweet botanicals, meaning it is softer on the palate; great for martinis.

We asked Simon to give us tips on creating or re-creating cocktails at home. Simon's key points:

• Yes, quality of ingredients. Your drink is only as good as the worst ingredient. If you pay for premium alcohol then throw in low-quality flavoring, you've missed the point.
• Balance. You always need to balance the strong (alcohol) with the sour/bitter (citrus) and the sweet (sugar). In a margarita, you have the strong (tequila) with the sour (lime) with the sweet (triple sec or Cointreau). The balance between the lime and Cointreau makes it a good or bad drink. The amount of tequila is not so important. In a Cosmo, you have the strong (vodka) with the sour (lime) and the sweet (Cointreau) and the long (cranberry juice). The "long" being soda, tonic, juice, etc. In a hot toddy, you need to balance the lemon (sour) and honey (sweet).

           General rules of thumb on balance:

• If you're having a party and don't want to be tied to the bar, make the drink in big batches. Just keep the balance the same.
• To make a drink more festive:

• If you're making hot drinks, gently heat the alcohol. Never boil it.
• You can make your own ingredients:

• Use agave syrup instead of sugar. This is especially good in drinks like margaritas since it's from the same plant. It's often organic—see how healthy you're being? You can find it at Whole Foods.
• Muddle! Sugar and lemon or lime—the citrus melts the sugar.

I asked Simon what books he'd recommend on cocktails. Basically, there are many good books, but he likes the older, classic drink books. Look on eBay. He just found one from 1934. Also consider these:

• Shaken and Stirred, Douglas Ankrah, 2004
• Cool Cocktails, Ben Reed, 2005 (can be found at Crate & Barrel)
• Craft of the Cocktail, Dale Degroff, 2002 (this is like the cocktail bible)
• Killer Cocktails, Dave Wondrich, 2005 (he also wrote the Esquire Cocktail Book and is a true cocktail historian)

And one last interesting fact: It's a myth that mixing different cocktails can make you sick. Alcohol is alcohol. Sugar (and alcohol) dehydrates you and puts complex carbohydrates in your system and that can give you a hangover. We're not saying drink more, just that you don't have to be really impressed when someone mixes and matches without ill effect.

The Pumpkin 75  (Simon's fall version of The French 75)
1 part pumpkin purée (purée the pumpkins with some cinnamon and brown sugar)
1 part Plymouth Gin
½ part fresh lemon juice
½ part simple syrup
Champagne

Shake all ingredients (except Champagne) with ice and strain into a flute – top with chilled Champagne!

Warm Birthday Cocktail (created by Simon and Jamie Terrell)
5 liters cloudy apple juice (I used funkin)
Superfine sugar - to taste
2 bar spoons fine cinnamon powder
Juice of 12 fresh limes
Thumb-sized segment of ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 bottle of Plymouth Gin (I used Navy Strength)

Add apple and lime juices into large saucepan and add heat. Add cinnamon powder and fresh ginger. Stir continuously. Do no allow to boil. Add sugar to taste.

Once concoction is well mixed and hot, add gin. Bring temperature back to a hot temp and serve with soup ladle. Do not serve boiling; should just be warm.

All Spice (created by Simon and Sebastion Hamilton Mudge)
1 & ½ oz Plymouth Gin
½ oz fresh lemon juice
½ oz fresh pear juice
½ oz fresh pressed apple juice
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Pinch of Allspice
2 cloves
Grind of black pepper
2 spoons of vanilla syrup

Add all ingredients to your shaker. Add ice and shake and strain into a tumbler filled with fresh ice.

Fall Fashion (created by Simon's colleague Jamie Gordon)
2 oz Plymouth Gin
1 oz apple cider
1/2 oz cinnamon syrup
1/2 spear puréed or muddled rhubarb
Squeeze of lemon juice
Freshly grated cinnamon

Shake and strain into a Martini glass. Garnish w/ shaved rhubarb, cinnamon stick

Blackberry Cobbler (created by Simon's colleague Jamie Gordon)
1.5 oz Plymouth Gin
.5 oz Frangelico
1.5 oz apple juice
.35 oz lemon juice
1.5 barspoons superfine sugar
3 blackberries, muddled

Muddle blackberries and sugar in the bottom of a rocks glass, build rest of ingredients over rocks, give a quick "long island" shake. Garnish w/ a blackberry and crushed hazelnuts.

Pear Strudel Martini (created by Simon with the new Absolut flavor)
1 ½ oz Absolut Pears
½ oz Pedro Ximenez (sweet sherry)
¾ oz apple juice
1 oz Half and Half

Shake ingredients and strain into a Martini glass. Garnish with a dust of cinnamon.

The Port of Plymouth (created by a great bartender named Aisha Sharp)
.5 oz Plymouth Gin
.75 oz lemon juice
.75 oz simple syrup
.75 oz ruby port

Shake all ingredients except the port and strain into a cocktail glass. Add the port and garnish with a flamed lemon peel.

Providence O'Christmas Trees Cocktail Contest
The following three recipes come from the third annual Providence O'Christmas Trees Cocktail Contest, sponsored by Grey Goose Vodka. Ten restaurants vied to see which cocktail would be served at the O'Christmas Trees Gala Auction and Dinner on November 29 (why, yes, thanks for asking, you can find out more about the event and tickets at www.providence.org/otrees). Sky City at the Space Needle won best cocktail with their Ginger Bells (we're just saying). The Westin Seattle won Best Table Presentation for their ice sculpture and Tini Bigs Lounge won The Most Congenial Mixologist.

Photo courtesy of Team Photogenic: Glacier Ice, an 8' neon Chihuly sculpture to be auctioned off at O'Christmas Trees

Sky City at the Space Needle's Ginger Bells
1 ½ oz Grey Goose Vodka
¼ oz Rose's Lime Juice
3 squeezes of lime
½ oz diced fresh ginger, muddled

Mix together. Dip glass in lime juice first, then in a combination of granulated sugar and shaved fresh ginger.

Tini Bigs Lounge's Frost-Tini
3 oz. Grey Goose Vodka
1/4 oz. Sour Tart Cherry Puree
1 1/2 oz. cream on top (with 3-4 dashes of orange bitters)
1 dozen small "French Dragees" in bottom of drink
Finish with a sprig of mint on top of cream

The Westin Seattle's Candy Cane Tini
1/2 oz. Grey Goose Vodka
1 oz. Godiva Chocolate Liquor
1/2 oz. Peppermint Schnapps
Mint garnish

Watch for next month's cocktail recipes from restaurants and lounges around town. Happy holidays!

Click here to buy Shaken and Stirred by Douglas Ankrah

Click here to buy Cool Cocktails by Ben Reed

Click here to buy Craft of the Cocktail by Dale Degroff

Click here to buy Killer Cocktails by Dave Wondrich

Connie Adams/November 2006