Picon Punch

I've been working on a bitters recipe lately, for the upcoming Bitters Exchange (more details to come). My underground lab has been full of strange herbs and spices including Bitter Orange, gentian, cinchona and even tonka bean. I've even been combing the local forests for some artemisia californica for someone else's bitters recipe.

This Month's Mixology Monday is hosted by Gabriel over at cocktailnerd. The theme is "fizz." Since I've been preoccupied with bitters, I thought I'd cover a traditional basque fizz, the Picon Punch.

One of the key ingredients in the original recipe is Amer Picon, a type of bitters based on bitter orange and gentian. Amer Picon is no longer widely available, at least in it's original form. It seems at some point in the past, the Amer picon went from 78 proof to 39 proof. The best substitute for the original Amer Picon is Torani Amer. The consensus view seems to be that the Torani product is more like traditional Amer Picon than the current version Amer Picon. The Torani product seems to be more widely available as well.

Picon Punch

2 ounces Torani Amer
2 - 3 dashes of real grenadine
Soda water
Lemon peel

Dash some real pomegranate grenadine into a tall glass. Swirl to coat the glass and fill with ice. Add 2 ounces of Torani Amer and top off with 1 - 2 ounces soda. Twist a large swath of lemon peel over the top.

"We'll set about ya!"

He gave the terrorists a good kickin'. He's met Big Yin and Gordon Brown. He's become an internet superhero. He's been featured in the Wall Street Journal and every newspaper in Britain. John Smeaton is the toast of Glasgow and the world. Now he has his own cocktail.

Home bar in Glasgow’s Albion Street is serving the Smeaton Cocktail. It contains Bells whisky, Angostura bitters, lime juice and is shaken with crushed ice. Assistant manager Becky Task, 24, said: “It’s called The Smeaton because it’s got one hell of a kick."

The Smeaton

2 oz. Scotch Whisky
1/2 oz. Lime juice
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake over ice and strain into a bucket filled with crushed ice.

Cheers to you John!

French Quarter Cocktail

Recently bartenders from all over the country entered the Tales of the Cocktail competiton. The winners and their recipes are listed over at the Tales website.

Unfortunately my cocktail was not among the winning entries. Fortunately, Jeffrey Morgenthaler is recognizing the "losers" over at his fantastic website.
Jeffrey's got his creation, "Brazil '66," Sean Bigley's "Bayou Pearl," my "French Quarter," and Jamie Bordreau's "Colt's Neck Swizzle." These recipes all look good and I'm proud my drink is mentioned on the same page with those three superstars.

Here's my non-winner entry:

French Quarter
2.5 oz Moet White Star Champagne
1 oz. Plymouth Gin
2 dashes Fee’s Old Fashioned Aromatic Bitters
2 dashes Simple Syrup

Shake gin, bitters and simple syrup over ice and strain into a champagne flute.
Gently stir in the Champagne and garnish with a thin layer of cassis foam.

Since Tales is taking place in New Orleans, I thought it would be appropriate to use traditional Mardi Gras colors. Two of the traditional colors are gold (power) and purple (justice). I wanted to balance the golden Champagne with the purple Cassis. A nice touch would have been a sprig of mint to bring in some green (faith).















Cassis Foam
1/8 oz. Gelatin
4-5 oz water
12 oz. Marie Brizzard Cassis de Bordeaux

bloom 1/8 oz. gelatin (about 2 sheets) in an ounce or so of cool water. Add 3 0z. warm water and whisk in 12 oz. Marie Brizzard Cassis de Bordeaux. Chill and then charge in a dessert whip dispenser. (I charge about 300mls in my 500ml ISI dispenser)

So there it is. If you try it out, let me know what you think. The foam is easy to make and the texture is really nice, so if you have a whipper, try some experiments with foam. Campari foam on a Orange Blossom anyone?

Habanero Orange Blossom

Gary Regan mentioned this one in the Chronicle, and now people are bugging me to get the recipe up here. Here it is:

Habanero Orange Blossom

1.5 oz. Sarticious Gin
1 oz Orange Juice
1 dash Orange Bitters
2 slices habanero pepper

Carefully remove all seeds and pulp from habanero pepper and cut it into slices or rings. (Wear rubber gloves when you're messing around with these pappers, they're hot!)

Dash the orange bitters into the cocktail glass. Shake the Sarticious Gin, orange juice, and a slice of habanero pepper and double strain into the cocktail glass, garnish with a slice of habanero pepper.

I used Sarticious Gin in this one because it has a lot of unique botanicals that go really well with the pepper. Jeff Alexander, the man behind Sarticious, mentions cilantro, coriander, cardamon, and orange among other secret ingredients. Orange juice is traditionally used to tame the heat from habaneros, so this cocktail seemed like a natural. The heat from the pepper goes really well with the orange juice and botanicals. It is hot though. If you don't like spicy, you probably won't like this one.

I'd like to make a habanero/gin infusion to use a drop or dash at a time like bitters. I think it would give a bit more control over the heat level in this cocktail. If you try this one, let me know what you think.