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PERFECT CITRUS TWISTS | ROSÉ TASTE-TEST | SPARKLING SANGRIA LIQUID CULTURE The New Classics DON’T MAKE ANOTHER COCKTAIL WITHOUT THEM BEST BEERS FOR YOUR BBQ DISCOVER PERU COFFEE ROASTS: WHY THEY MATTER $4.95 US / $6.95 CAN JULY/AUG 2007 BIG WINES, SMALL SPACES IMBIBE JULY/AUGUST 07 1 Gone buł Obscure Vintageno tIngredients F Areorgołłen a Cocktailian’s Holy Grail Story by PAUL CLARKE Photography by STUART MULLENBERG huck Taggart is ordinarily a pretty cheery guy. regional flavors rarely found outside their places of CAuthor of “The Gumbo Pages” Web site and a dedi- origin. What these ingredients share is a common cated fan of fine cocktails, Taggart has a taste for obscurity—but instead of squelching demand, this the classic, the historic and the obscure. But when scarcity seems to fuel it. he’s hankering to mix a drink with something that “The thing most desired is the thing denied,” can’t be found at his local liquor store—or any liquor says Ted “Dr. Cocktail” Haigh, author, cocktail his- store, for that matter—his patience has limits. torian and Imbibe columnist (read about his own “I don’t like being told I can’t have something,” search for the hard-to-find Amaro Cora bitters on Taggart says emphatically. While accustomed to page 18). He’s the one who introduced Taggart to the occasional challenge, he says the ingredient that pimento dram. “The thought that there’s a cock- has particularly stymied him is a sweet rum-and- tail out there that might be good, and the one allspice combination known as “pimento dram,” reason you can’t have it is that there’s this strange, made in Jamaica and available almost nowhere lost ingredient that keeps you from tasting this else. “It brings such an air of mystery to a drink,” flavor—that drives people like me crazy.” Taggart says of the liqueur, which he first sampled Small liquor companies are showing interest at the home of a friend who has an extraordinarily in reviving once-lost spirits, and some mixologists well-stocked liquor cabinet. “It’s really very simple are even replicating these elusive ingredients. This stuff, but it has such a complex flavor. I was frus- was the path Taggart chose with pimento dram, trated that I couldn’t get a bottle.” and it’s a course taken by many professional bar- Taggart is hardly alone in his desire to taste tenders as well. “By re-creating stuff, I’m getting hard-to-find cocktail ingredients. Prompted by flavors that people aren’t going to find at any other recent books and driven by Internet forums and bar,” says Jamie Boudreau, bar manager at Vessel in blogs, a grassroots enthusiasm has blossomed for Seattle. “As a bartender, you have a large number of spirits and liqueurs that can be all but impossible mediums to play with. If you can find more, that’s to obtain. Devotees pursue once-common bar ele- fantastic; if you can find something that no one ments that have faded into history, and unique else has, that’s even better.” 34 IMBIBE JULY/AUGUST 07 Attention A cocktail dating back more than 70 years, the Attention was recently updated for contemporary palates by Jamie Boudreau at Vessel in Seattle. 2 oz. gin 1/4 oz. dry vermouth 1/4 oz. crème de violette or homemade substitute 1/4 oz. Herbsaint, Pernod or other pastis 2 dashes orange bitters Cracked ice Tools: mixing glass, bar spoon, strainer Glass: cocktail, chilled Garnish: lemon twist Combine ingredients in a mixing glass. Fill with cracked ice and stir briskly for 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish. IMBIBE JULY/AUGUST 07 35 Brooklyn Amer Picon and maraschino liqueur lend this classic relative of the Manhattan an intriguing depth and an engaging bitterness. 2 oz. rye whiskey X oz. dry vermouth (sweet vermouth also works well) W oz. Amer Picon, Torani Amer or homemade substitute W oz. maraschino liqueur Cracked ice Tools: mixing glass, bar spoon, strainer Glass: cocktail, chilled Garnish: cherry Combine ingredients in a mixing glass. Fill with cracked ice and stir briskly for 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish. 36 IMBIBE JULY/AUGUST 07 Batavia Arrack by Jeff Hollinger and Rob Schwartz of Batavia arrack is the coelacanth of San Francisco’s Absinthe Brasserie) print spirits, a liquid fossil from mixology’s recipes for cocktails that utilize Swedish primordial era. Produced since at least punsch, an ingredient easily crafted by the early 17th century on the island of creative mixologists who have access to Java (formerly a Dutch colony known Batavia arrack. “The inclusion of this stuff as Batavia), arrack might be the most in current cocktail guides certainly shows influential spirit you’ve never heard of. that the audience is willing to seek out “Along with gin and brandy, arrack these products,” Seed says. “I take their was one of the most important spirits guidance seriously.” ever,” Haigh says. Distilled from sugarcane and fermented red rice—and distinct from Crème de Violette the arracks produced in other parts of the For a product that appeared in minute world—Batavia arrack was an ancestor quantities in century-old recipes, crème of rum. Crisp, vaguely malty and with de violette has inspired a disproportionate an intriguing smokiness, the spirit was level of devotion among cocktail aficiona- commonly mixed with citrus juice, sugar, dos. “Whenever I bring up violet liqueur, water and spice in a concoction known as people immediately have the sense of punch, “one of the most important precur- the fleetingness of a flower,” Haigh says. sor drinks to the cocktail,” Haigh says. “Before they even taste it, they say, ‘Oh, Arrack punch was served at inns, my!’ It’s amazing, the wonderful beauty taverns and gatherings of all types through that people can extract from little, delicate the 18th century. But as rum became things.” widely available and as stronger, sleeker Flavored and colored with violet cocktails displaced punch as the preferred petals, crème de violette lends a sense of tipple, arrack faded. Even then, arrack’s ethereal mystery to the cocktails it graces. companion liqueur, Swedish punsch During the peak of its popularity in the (basically a sweetened arrack flavored 1890s, the purple liqueur—Crème Yvette with ingredients such as lemon zest and was a popular brand—was considered a tea) remained a useful cocktail ingredient ladies’ liqueur, and was typically served in until the mid-20th century, appearing in dainty cordial glasses. It was also layered drinks such as the Have-a-Heart Cocktail, with other liqueurs in pousse-cafés, but it the Volstead and the smoky, rum-based was in the more rugged atmosphere of the Doctor Cocktail. barroom that this Gilded Age relic made Now, Batavia arrack is back. Last its lasting impression. year, Eric Seed, a principal at Haus While still made in Japan and Alpenz—a Minnesota-based company Europe—brands include Hermes, Monin that sources artisan spirits for import and Benoit Serres—crème de violette and distribution—learned of the demand was unavailable in the United States for for these vintage ingredients, and was decades. This drought ended in June, when intrigued enough to reintroduce the spirit Haus Alpenz began importing limited in the United States in June. “There’s a base quantities of Rothman & Winter crème de of customers that simply wants to dig into violette from Austria. traditional recipes that reference Batavia Faced with the long absence and con- arrack and Swedish punsch,” Seed says. tinued rarity of violette, many mixologists He also notes that modern books such have chosen to improvise. A common tech- as last year’s The Art of the Bar (written nique is to mix violet syrup with vodka; IMBIBE JULY/AUGUST 07 37 Amer Replica Boudreau mixes syrup from the French uses was in a distinctive Basque highball maker Giffard with Citadelle gin, using 4 called the Picon Punch. “It’s the drink for Jamie Boudreau replicates the flavor of ounces of syrup for every ounce of gin. “Side me on a summer day,” Haigh says. “It’s just Amer Picon using an Italian bitter liqueur by side, you can tell the difference, but in a delicious when made with the old stuff.” supplemented with orange tincture and cocktail it’s fine,” Boudreau says. Fortunately, alternatives are avail- other flavors. Frequently found in the company of able. Torani produces Torani Amer, a gin, crème de violette appears in pre-Pro- product mostly similar in flavor and 10 oz. Ramazzotti Amaro hibition cocktails such as the Blue Moon, alcohol content to the original Picon, and 7 oz. Orange Tincture the Atty, the Attention (recipe on page 35) Boudreau is experimenting with a replica 2 oz. Stirrings blood orange bitters and the Violet Fizz. Perhaps violette’s most that harks back to the original. The replica, Tools: jar for mixing significant appearance was in the early which he’s planning to use in drinks Aviation, a mixture of gin, lemon juice served at Vessel, “has a little higher alcohol Combine the ingredients in a jar and maraschino liqueur. The original 1916 content, and a little more heat” than the and gently shake to mix. The amer is printed recipe includes a teaspoon of crème current Picon, he says. “In a cocktail, it’s ready to use right away, but the flavor de violette, and this likely earned the drink indistinguishable in flavor, and it has a improves with age. its name. The liqueur gives the cocktail an stronger character. I really like the way the airy appearance evocative of the wild blue orange flavor comes through.” Orange Tincture yonder that beckoned early aviators.

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