Drink du jour- The Monkeytown Cocktail

Its been blazing hot here in Portland, unseasonably so, and I've been looking for something new to cool off with. Yesterday, I was at Uwajimaya, the best asian grocery store in the area and I spotted some interesting drinks. I ran across Yeo's Sugar Cane drink, and I thought that it might make a great base for a cocktail, so I picked up a few cans.
After rolling it around in my head for a while, I realized that I had a bottle of Cabana Cachaca that had been generously provided to me for blogging about Tales of the Cocktail. I've been really intrigued with cachaca recently, and have really enjoyed having Cabana in the house. It seemed like a natural fit, a distilled cane sugar spirit with a cane sugar beverage, but I wanted a little more complexity, something to add depth and interest to the drink and keep it from being too one dimensional. So I turned to an old standby, green chartreuse, and a new favorite, Bittermens Xocolatl Chocolate Mole Bitters. Both added needed notes to this drink, and the combo of green chartreuse and Bittermens chocolate mole bitters won't be soon forgotten.
The only downside that I can think of with this drink is that it did come out almost the same color as Midori, an almost neon green, but the drink is both tasty and complex, so I'll live with the color.
One last thing, as I'm sure people are going to ask. What or where is Monkeytown? Well, I liked the name, and its a suburb of Monroe Utah, and I have no idea why that area is called Monkeytown. I just felt like calling something Monkeytown more than anything. So there you have it, the Monkeytown cocktail.

The Monkeytown Cocktail

1oz Cabana Cachaca
1/2 oz green Chartreuse
2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Chocolate Mole Bitters
4 oz Yeo's Sugar Cane Drink

Build dry
add ice
enjoy

Cocktail Du Jour- The Radar O'Reilly Cocktail

At work today, I noticed that that I'd received some comments on my post last night. A mysterious poster, who goes by kevin (the all lowercase letters make me suspicious), asked when the Radar O'Reilly Cocktail would be appearing. Never one to disappoint a fan, I made the decision then and there to create a cocktail in honor of Radar when I got home today. For the record, this is the last cocktail that I will ever create that will be named after anyone real or fictional that hails from Iowa (Radar is from Otumwa, IA). I commented back to lowercase kevin that I thought Radar would probably not be a whiskey drinker like Fred Grandy, but would instead favor rum drinks, when a certain JT posted that Radar was a grape soda man. I decided then and there to create a cocktail using rum and grape soda (I always love a good challenge).

On my way home, I started trying to formulate a grape soda based cocktail in my head, but I wasn't getting very far. I knew that I ought to avoid the cloying, diabetic coma inducing, sugary goodness of Nehi Grape Soda, but not being a soda fanatic,and nor having consumed any type of grape soda since the onset of puberty, I was at a loss for what other options might be on the market. Luckily, I live close to a Whole Foods Market, so I thought I'd run in and see if, perhaps, Boylan's makes a grape soda (if they do, my WFM doesn't carry it). Instead, I found two grape soda products. R.W. Knudsen Grape Spritzer, has all the color of Nehi grape, that royal purple color that would be at home on a King's robe. Unfortunately, other than color, it doesn't offer much. Its flavor is reminiscent of stale dishwater, slightly effervescent and with a mild grape flavor, but not something that I would pay money to consume, even with alcohol in it. My other option was a pink/grey colored soda, Natural Brew Organic Grape. As ugly a soda as it is, this stuff makes me think about Grape Crush or Nehi Grape when I taste it. I bought both and came home.

I decided to follow Lance's 23rd Rule of Bartending when I got home, "Make most new drinks in a bucket". I poured 2 oz white rum, 2 oz meyer lemon juice, a couple of dashes of Fee's lemon bitter and then topped it off with a little of the Knudsen's. Godawful is a kind description, although disgusting would be about as apt. The drink had no balance and little flavor. The meyer lemon juice dominated, making this an unpleasant start to my mixing. Next, I decided a little of the other soda was in order to balance the flavors out. The Natural Brew has more of the traditional grape soda non-grapiness but i still added it to foster an attempt at success. Swing and a miss! Strike 2! I'd tried, but the inherent sweetness made it exceptionally difficult to balance this cocktail.

I'd just about given up on this cocktail, when my much better half came into the kitchen and tasted my work in progress. Her mouth puckered and she frowned. "Why don't you add chartreuse to it? You like chartreuse". I was desperate so I ran to the liquor cabinet, grabbed a bottle of green chartreuse and added a 1/2 oz, stirred it and tasted. Brilliant! What was a cloying and sugary sweet concoction, suddenly developed some balance and depth. While this isn't ever going to be a world class cocktail, the end result was a well balanced cocktail that incorporated both rum and grape soda in this drink.

The Radar O'Reilly Cocktail

2 oz white rum
1/2 oz green chartreuse
2 oz meyer lemon juice
equal parts RW Knudsen Grape Spritzer and Natural Brew Organic Concrod Grape, to fill
3 dashes Fee Bros Lemon bitters

Build over ice in an double rocks glass, stir to incorporate and enjoy. This really did make a nice cocktail once i added the chartreuse. And for the record, this is my last cocktail to be named after a former tv character. Garnish this drink garishly, I think Radar would appreciate it.

Mixology Monday- The Plagiarism Cocktail

This is my first attempt at the internet sensation known as Mixology Monday. This session is hosted by Marleigh over at Sloshed and the theme this time is brandy. We're lucky enough here in Portland Oregon to have the premier distiller of eau de vie ("water of life") style artisan brandies in the United States, Clear Creek Distillery which is a mere 2 blocks from the restaurant that I bartend at, Meriwethers . While I definitely enjoy the breadth and depth of brandies, a quick perusal of my liquor cabinet revealed a bottle of 1982 vintage armangac, some Remy Martin VSOP and a bottle of Clear Creek's Pear Brandy. I didn't want to sacrifice the armangac and the Remy just didn't appeal to me for some reason, so I went with the pear brandy. Additionally, my friend JT has developed a recent fascination with chartreuse, so I wanted to incorporate some chartreuse into my cocktail and the pear seemed like a good match for the herbal notes in the chartreuse. A little tinkering around in the bar, adding some fresh squeezed Meyer lemon juice (I love Meyer lemons) and some St Germain Elderflower Liqueur, and a few dashes of grapefruit bitters and I had a delicious, complex and well balanced cocktail. Without further ado, here is the Plagiarism Cocktail

2 oz Clear Creek Brandy
1 oz St Germain Elderflower Liqueur
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1 oz Meyer Lemon Juice
2 dashes grapfruit bitters

Chill and serve up, garnished with one lightly bruised sprig of thyme to release some of the essential oils.

So why would I name a cocktail after plagiarism? One of the great things about food and cocktails is that there are no copyrights on a particular dish or recipe. This is a good thing, it encourages people to recreate and improve upon recipes and allows talents and techniques to be shared. I can make Jeff Morgenthaler's Richmond Gimlet behind my bar without worries about a lawsuit, and while some bartenders may try to lay claim to others creations, I always try to give credit where credit is due, attempting to educate my guests about the history behind the cocktails they are enjoying.

While food and cooking are one thing, plagiarism in the world of writing is anathema. It is a sign of intellectual laziness and dishonesty. I've recently had my first magazine article published in the January/February Issue of Imbibe Magazine (yep, thats me on the Elements page), and I understand the hard work it takes to craft an article for publication, or even how hard it can be to craft a coherent blog (which, in the interests of full disclosure, I write without revisions). Unfortunately, here in Portland, there is a chef at one of the newer restaurants in town who has just been caught plagiarizing from others works on a scale that I've never seen before. Since this is the hot topic du jour on Portland restaurant boards, I thought I'd name my cocktail after this scandal. Oh, and if the chef in question (or anyone else for that matter) happens to read this little posting, I'm giving up all copyrights on this particular posting in perpetuity. Feel free to plagiarize this all you'd like. After all, it was Pablo Picasso who said, "Bad artists copy, good artists steal".

And the journey continues... Enjoy the cocktail, its a true original and delicious to boot.