Thursday, August 2, 2012

Bienaimé Bubbly







Ok, I’m admitting it I need help with this one. I’ve put together this really great drink, it’s super refreshing and has an amazing citrus flavor. I use honey simple syrup that gives it a balance between the tart and sweet. I’ve also used both Littet Blanc and Dubonnet Rouge both are great and both have a key ingredient in common, quinine. I also like to top this drink off with a little Fever Tree Tonic Water, which also has quinine. So I hope you see the common denominator here, I really enjoy that quinine flavor, a little tart, a little sweet and a perfect acidity. So you might be asking yourself , “Then what in the world does he need help with?”  I don’t have a name for it, I don’t even know where to start. So I’m turning to my readers. I’m going to open this post up as a little competition, post your suggestions for a name for this drink and I’ll choose the one I like the best. Just drop your email address inside your post and the winner will get an appropriate prize.  By appropriate I mean a brand new hawthorn strainer and jigger by OXO.

Here’s the drink, make it, try it and come up with a name for it.

1 oz Bombay Sapphire Gin
¾ oz Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
½ oz Lillet Blanc
½ oz Dubonnet Rouge
½ oz Honey Simple Syrup*
Fever Tree Tonic Water

Combine ingredients in ice filled cocktail shaker, shake and double strain into ice fill double old-fashioned glass. Top it off with tonic water and garnish with lemon peel.

* For the honey simple syrup just use equal parts honey and water and put it over medium high heat until the honey dissolves and thins out. Remove it from the heat and let in cool. You can keep it in the fridge for weeks. 

The Jack Rose Cocktail


The Jack Rose Cocktail dates back to the early 1900s. It first appeared in William Boothby’s, The World’s Drinks and How to Mix Them, 1908. How this drink got its name is not a definitive fact. One theory, and the one I’m sticking with, is that because you use Applejack, and the color of the drink is rose that they just put the two together. A second theory is that the name is a play on the name Jacqueminot Rose or Jacque Rose and a third still is that it’s based on an early twentieth century gangster hit-man. The second and third stories may sound great but I’m willing to bet that like me, the person who first created this libation kept it simple stupid. This drink is surprisingly smooth and has an unbelievably clean finish. Perfect for a hot summer day and super easy to put together.

2 oz Applejack
1 oz Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
½ oz Pomegranate Grenadine

Shake in an ice filled cocktail shaker, double strain into a chilled cocktail coupe. Garnish with dried whole rose buds. If you can’t find the rose buds or don’t really want to try, just use a lime wedge it works well and looks great.