More Ginger Beers - Goose Island, Diet, and More

One of the most frequently searched topics on this blog is "ginger beer." A couple of years ago, I wrote a review of our comprehensive tasting of ginger beers. You can find those posts here:

• Taste Test Ginger Beers Part I, listing and describing the contenders, which included the following ginger beers: Cock 'N Bull, Bundaberg, Barritt's , Ginger People, D&G, Fentiman's, Reed's, Sioux City, and one ginger ale: Fever Tree
  

• Taste Test Ginger Beers Part II, where we rated the ginger beers, and rated Bundaberg the best overall.
  

• Ginger Saga Part III, where we added Blenheim's into the mix, and liked them, but they didn't edge out the Bundaberg.

Since then, I've continued using ginger beers in a variety of cocktails, and have tried a few more varieties. Here are some additions to the list, with comments:

• Goose Island Spicy Ginger Soda - this brand is owned by a Chicago company that makes some great beers, so we tried it out. And we liked it. It's made with cane sugar, but with "natural flavorings," so not necessarily any real ginger in there. Nonetheless, it has a nice balance of sweet to spice, and makes a good Moscow Mule and appeals to a wide range of palates. We also like it a lot in the drink below, which we served at a recent cocktail pairing dinner. Plus, it runs about $4 a four-pack and is fairly widely available in the Chicago area.
  

• Fever Tree Ginger Beer - much better for cocktails than their Ginger Ale, which I wrote about previously. Made with ginger root, as well as "natural flavor," and cane sugar. Nice, bright and versatile. Harder to find though, and more expensive.
  

• Maine Root Ginger Brew - found at Whole Foods, this ginger beer is very spicy and rich. While we really like it, it is a bit too much for some folks because of it's intensity. I don't have any on hand right now, so I can't tell you the exact ingredients, but they use cane sugar and at least some real ginger.
  

• Gosling's Diet Ginger Beer - various reports have indicated that Gosling's ginger beer is a repackaging of Barritt's. It is very similar to Barritt's in taste and ingredients, so that might very well be the case. I found the diet version to be about as good as diet tonic. Which, suffice to say, is not so great. If you are worried about calories, and are OK with a rough approximation, then go for it. Otherwise, just take it easy with some of the ones that have sugar in 'em - it'll taste better.

• Housemade Ginger Beer at Heartland in St. Paul, MN - Peder Schweigert, the head bar man at this fantastic restaurant, brews his own ginger beer from scratch. While it can be extremely carbonated (read: opening a bottle resulted in a wide spray all over my hubby), it is absolutely delicious and one of our favorites of all time. Rich ginger, spice, a balance of sweet, with lots of bubbles. Wonderful, and totally worth asking about if you're in the area.

If you see the Goose Island Spicy Ginger Soda, we'd recommend giving it a try. Same for the Fever Tree Ginger Beer and Maine Root. Apparently Bundaberg makes a diet version also, but I've never seen it. Have you?

Here's a fun cocktail we served at a recent event, adapted from this cocktail over at Cocktail Virgin Slut:

Parisian Mule
1 oz Sirène Absinthe Verte
1 oz Housemade Orgeat (also good with Trader Tiki orgeat)
1/2 oz Rosehip Liqueur (also good with Orange Curacao)
1/2 a lime, cut into wedges
Ginger Beer

Muddle lime wedges in glass. Add absinthe, orgeat and liqueur. Fill with crushed ice, then top with ginger beer. Garnish with lime wedge.

Our friend Cleetus Friedman at City Provisions paired this cocktail with a chocolate almond waffle with honey whipped cream and candied ginger. Yum!

Picture of drink is by Christina Noel Photography.

Local Cocktail and Food Pairings

We get invited to participate in some pretty cool events. One of the most fun in recent memory was billed as a Pottery Barn Dinner. We teamed up with our new friend, potter Melissa Monroe, as well as Chef Efrain Cuevas from Clandestino, to design a five-course dinner with cocktail pairings.

As many as possible of our ingredients were fresh and local, including our spirits. Melissa made all the dishes for the meal in her pottery studio, and hosted the dinner in her barn/studio. Chef Efrain and I pulled many ingredients from her fantastic garden for the food and cocktails. She even has some roosters running around in the garden - see pic below.

Here's a rundown of the menu, with the drink pairings. Unfortunately, I don't have photos of the food & drink - we were so busy making them I didn't take pictures! You can find some more photos of the event here and here (in an article about the dinner).

First Course:
Food: Caprese lollipop amuse, then summer gazpacho with shrimp in prosciutto jackets

Drink: Cucumber Caipiroska - posted on my blog last week.

Notes: I was really happy with the garnish for this one, I used a cucumber wheel with a sprig of oregano flowers in it. It was a great starter drink, and the cucumber and herbs played nicely with the gazpacho.

Second Course:
Food: Squash blossoms filled with local cheese, dipped in egg batter and pan fried, served on a bed of fresh greens with vinaigrette

Drink: Muddled Mary

1½ oz Aquavit Private Reserve
½ oz Fresh Lemon Juice
¼ oz Simple Syrup (1:1)
3 Cherry Tomatoes
Few Sprigs of Fresh Herbs (Basil, Oregano, Thyme, etc.)
Muddle tomatoes, simple, herbs and lemon. Add aquavit and ice, shake well. Strain into cocktail glass, garnish with cherry tomato on rim.

Notes: This one was a bit harder to pair with - salads are tough. I aimed more at the blossoms and cheese, and to integrate the flavors of the drink with the vinaigrette. It wasn't my favorite of the set, but I think it worked relatively well, especially with the cheese-stuffed blossoms.

Third Course:
Food: Housemade fettucini with zucchini buttons and wild mushrooms, in a vodka cream sauce

Drink: Grapefruit Basil Fizz
2 oz Distiller’s Gin No. 11
¾ oz Fresh Grapefruit Juice
½ oz Simple Syrup (1:1)
1 oz Club Soda
Large Basil Leaf + Sprig
Combine gin, juice, simple and basil leaf in shaker. Shake well with ice, strain into glass filled with ice. Top with soda, garnish with sprig.

Notes: In this one, I tried to provide a nice foil for the rich cream sauce with some citrus and a hint of bitter from the grapefruit, along with some fresh herb notes from the basil.

Fourth Course:
Food: Grilled (local) chicken with herbs and a maple glaze, pole beans, potato terrine

Drink: Apricot Thyme
2 oz North Shore Vodka
1½ oz Apricot Puree/Juice
½ oz Aperol
1 oz Club Soda
2 sprigs fresh Thyme
Shake vodka, puree, Aperol and one sprig of thyme with ice. Strain into ice-filled glass, top with soda. Garnish with fresh apricot
slice and thyme sprig.

Notes: I was a little worried here too, since chicken is so lean. We went lighter on the drink, and pulled in the Aperol for depth and balance. This drink worked especially well with the maple glaze, it was really spectacular.

Fifth Course:
Food: Olive oil almond cake, grilled peaches, homemade peach ice cream

Drink: Ginger Gimlet
2 oz Distiller’s Gin No. 6
1 oz Fresh Lime Juice
¾ oz Ginger Simple Syrup (1:1)
2 sprigs Fresh Mint
Shake gin, lime, ginger syrup and one sprig of mint with ice. Strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with 2nd sprig.

Notes: This dessert was rich, so I went up a little in alcohol to balance out the fat and intensity of the flavors. The drink worked especially well with the ice cream, the mint and ginger played very nicely with the peach and helped cleanse the palate after the rich ice cream.

All in all, a fantastic evening of food, drink, pottery and conversation.

Absinthe Ice Cream & More

I've been traveling a lot lately, and somehow my blogging has gone by the wayside again. I even missed the last Mixology Monday, which was a good one and I had lots of ideas for it.
In the spirit of getting back into it, I bring you some highlights from my recent road trip. I traversed the middle of Illinois, and a good chunk of Indiana. I know you're jealous!

Most interesting Food: Absinthe Ice Cream
My friends at Radio Maria in Champaign, Illinois worked up a series of small plates that paired with pre-Prohibition cocktails for an event we planned together. And they surprised me with absinthe ice cream for dessert, made with our Sirène. It was fantastic, really kind of like eating your absinthe instead of drinking it. Sweet, but not overly so, creamy and oh so complex. If you find yourself in Champaign, stop by and ask if they still have any, or if they've made more - it was a big hit. In any event, their chef Matt is a genius and I highly recommend the food there.

Best Food & Cocktail Pairing: Ginger Gimlet & Scallop Ceviche
I helped organize four cocktail and food pairing dinners in the last month or so. The award for best pairing goes to Seven Saints in Champaign (sorry, no website), where we paired a Ginger Gimlet (gin, fresh lime, ginger syrup) with a Scallop Ceviche (ginger-cilantro oil, green onion and tomato). It was the most popular of the evening by far among the guests, and stands out in my memory as one of the best I've ever had.

Most Interesting Drink: (ri)1 Whiskey
I only give this award to ri because it was the only thing I drank that I had never had before. I've tasted so many things anymore, it's very hard to find something new that I actually want to try. Thanks to Dennis Cheng at the Irish Lion in Bloomington, Indiana (another great restaurant) for sharing a taste of his new bottle of ri with me. It had a wonderful nose (and a great package), but was a bit lighter on the palate than I expected (especially for a rye). Not sure I'd pay $50+ for it, but it was definitely sippable. Interesting to note that there doesn't appear to be an age statement on the bottle.


Now that I'm back in Chicago, I'll soon be out and about looking for cocktail adventures. Stay tuned!

Chocolate and Cocktail Pairings

Lately, I've been working on a creative cocktail pairing idea. I met a woman here in Chicago who handmakes traditional chocolate truffles, and by happenstance we were at an event together (she was promoting her truffles, I was promoting my distillery). It turned out that one of my cocktails paired perfectly with one of her truffles. It was a classic pairing - each was great on its own, but together, they brought out new flavors in each other and created a different taste experience.

I've heard of wine & chocolate pairings, but only a few people in Chicago are doing anything with cocktails or spirits and any type of food, let alone truffles. It was a fun (and tasty) project, so I kept working with more of her truffles. I came up with some great pairings, and I also made some cocktails that were good on their own, but definitely not with truffles. Here's an update on what I came up with (the good ones, anyway):

Pairing No. 1 - Citrus

• Truffle: Semisweet chocolate, with lemon, orange, and lime; topped with homemade candied orange peel
• Cocktail: 2 oz. NS Tahitian vanilla vodka, 1 oz. fresh tangelo juice, splash of fresh lime and dash of ginger liqueur (I used Massenez); served up
  
• Notes: The underlying vanilla tones heightened the chocolate, and the citrus notes complemented each other well. Surprisingly, the drink did not drown out the citrus notes in the truffle.

Pairing No. 2 - Nuts & Spices

• Truffle: Milk chocolate, hazelnut puree, roasted ground hazelnuts
• Cocktail: 2 oz gin (I used Distiller's Gin No. 6, as you might expect), 1 oz fresh lime juice Juice, 1 oz ginger-infused simple syrup (1:1 ratio); shaken & strained through cinnamon stick resting in cocktail glass
• Notes: This pairing surprised my new chocolatier friend; the ginger, cinnamon & spices in the gin actually accentuated the nuttiness of the chocolate rather than drowning it out (her fear), and the lime balanced the sweetness.

Pairing No. 3 - Tropical

• Truffle: Bittersweet chocolate, dark rum, freshly toasted coconut
• Cocktail: 1 oz NS Vodka, 1/2 oz pineapple juice, 1/2 oz apricot liqueur (Rothman & Winter), and 1/2 oz amaro (Averna); shake, then strain into glass of ice & top with club soda
• Notes: I wanted to use rum here, but alas we don't make one, and I wanted to stay within our product line. At first I tried using coconut in the drink, but any hint of it destroyed the delicate coconut in the truffle. So I went for other tropical flavors, with the pineapple and apricot, and then the amaro to cut the sweetness and add some depth.
  

Anyone else have pairing stories with chocolate? Wanna try your any of these or develop your own? You can get the truffles I was using from Katherine-Anne Confections. Chances are, you'll talk to Katherine herself if you order - she literally makes each truffle by hand (and they are fantastic). We had so much fun with this, we're thinking we ought to offer this more broadly as an event or something. We had one trial run so far, and it went great!

An Absinthe Dinner

Last week, we had the pleasure of attending the Absinthe Dinner put on by the team at The Drawing Room at Le Passage. For $45 per person, we were treated to seminar on absinthe, as well as a series of absinthe cocktails and matching food courses.

The cocktails and food were designed by The Drawing Room’s Chief Mixologist, Charles Joly, and their Executive Chef, Nick Lacasse. As the first-ever event of this kind in Chicago (at least in modern times), it was exciting to see how they presented absinthe to the diverse crowd in attendance.

The sold out room was intrigued with learning about absinthe and tasting it, and Charles began with a brief discussion of the history of absinthe, the reputation it developed, and the truth about what it is (and is not). Throughout the evening, he interjected with stories about absinthe and its rituals.

Here’s a brief rundown of the event:

Beginnings: The Amuse Verté

• Drink: Absinthe, lime, mint and pineapple
• Notes: A light, refreshing pre-dinner cocktail with only a hint of the signature anise flavor from the absinthe. Very popular with everyone around us.
  

First Course: Corpse Reviver and Fennel Pollen Gnocchi

• Drink: Gin, absinthe, Lillet Rouge, fresh sour
• Food: PEI mussels, fresh fennel gnocchi, baby spinach and pepato reggiano
• Notes: The use of Lillet Rouge rather than Blanc was a nice change of pace (never seen/done that before), and it really worked well in the drink. The drink paired well with the saltiness and richness of the food, and each accentuated flavors in the other.
  

Second Course: Forbidden Fruit and “Cobb Salad”

• Drink: Absinthe, elderflower liqueur, peach puree, orange bitters
• Food: Chicken roulade, corn mascarpone, avocado, vinaigrette
• Notes: Another excellent pairing, with the sweetness of the cocktail balancing out the savory flavors in the salad. The cocktail was not as sweet as it sounds from the ingredients, and the salad was much more complex than the description lets on.
  

Third Course: Heightened Senses and Roasted Pineapple

• Drink: Crème liqueur, Absinthe, vanilla cognac liqueur, peach bitters
• Food: Shortbread cookie, yogurt-rosemary sorbet, vanilla-bean caramel
• Notes: Both the drink and the food were delicious on their own. The pairing didn’t quite work though, they didn’t really complement each other; instead they were competing.
  

Grand Finale: Louche Final

• Drink: 3 parts Water, 1 part absinthe, sugar cube optional

This was what many in the audience were most excited about – the opportunity to drink absinthe in the traditional way, with a fountain on each table. It was interesting to see the varied reactions to the cocktails once they were ready.

While some of us really enjoyed them, some did not. Anise is not popular in the U.S., and for some of the attendees, this was the first time they had tasted something with so much anise flavor. The other couple at our table did not finish their cocktails, saying they were just too much licorice flavor for them. We, of course, finished ours and had a second.

It was a great evening. Given the general aversion to anise in the U.S., however, it will be very interesting to see if absinthe really catches on or if it will be more of a fad (or cult) phenomenon.

BYOB Food & Drink Pairings

We have some good friends that share our interest in trying out food & drink pairings, and we often go to BYOB restaurants in Chicago (there are many here). We've had some great successes, some okay ones, and one or two less-than-stellar ones along the way.

Here are a few of our our recent favorites:

• Rye whiskey sipped neat or on ice with BBQ ribs and brisket - David Soto, the spirits guru at Sam's Wine & Spirits, suggested this one and boy was he right! We got some interesting looks for sipping rye whiskey at the restaurant, but it was worth it.
  

• Several chilled Aquavits for classic Swedish and Norwegian food - the restaurant even had the chilled glasses on hand for us. One of our friends is Swedish, so she selected some of our pairings (and brought along some great spirits direct from Sweden).
  

• New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for Lebanese food - we struggled with this one because some of us had red meat and some had chicken or vegetarian entrees, but the wine had enough body & substance, with a nice acidity, to work pretty well for all of us.
  

Anyone got any great (and unorthodox) food & drink pairings we can try for our next BYOB adventure?

Cocktail & Food Pairings

On Tuesday night, we had the pleasure of attending one of John Kinder's Spirited Dinners at MK The Restaurant. For the past few weeks, John has been running this program under the radar, just telling his friends & associates about it. We were excited to have an opportunity to join in this week.

John has been working with MK's Executive Chef, Erick Simmons (click on "About Us" for bio & picture) and Pastry Chef Amy Sampson to develop a menu of cocktails and food pairings.Here's a brief rundown of the eating and drinking delights we enjoyed:

Aperitif & Amuse Bouche
Food: fresh peeky toe crab, with small grapefruit pieces
Drink: House-made forelle pear spirit, clove grapefruit sour

1st Course & Cocktail
Food: Hamachi with yellow tail tuna, hearts of palm puree and pineapple relish
Drink: Gin No. 6 (a nice surprise!), jasmine-lemon sour, champagne, with a flamed tangerine peel garnish, which was a nice complement to the relish

Entree (and the most interesting pairing of the night)
Food: Crispy skin moulard duck breast, with cabbage, apples and calvados emulsion
Drink: Calvados, vermouth, orange juice and duck jus (yes, you read that right, duck jus)

This one was a great pairing, and the flavor from the duck jus was unmistakable in the cocktail. The cocktail was very savory already, and may have been a great pairing without the addition of duck jus, but it was also very interesting with it.

Dessert
Food: buttermilk chocolate cake layered with milk chocolate mousse, bittersweet pave and meringue buttercream
Drink: John called it a Coffee Cocktail, made with cognac, port, sugar & a whole egg - it tasted a bit like coffee, but contained no coffee. John said it was an old-time cocktail, which I'll now have to research further!

This was a fantastic experience, and we were so excited to see John doing this. We've often played around with food & cocktail pairings, but most of the folks we talk to don't seem ready for it yet.

For John, its been a passion of his since he quit his day job to bartend a couple of years ago, so it was great to see him actually doing it (and having people come and enjoy it). If you're in Chicago, and you want to attend, get in touch with me and I'll put you in touch with John. So far, he's not seeking out publicity for this, but at some point its going to catch on and be very hard to get in on!