I've been talking about doing this for a while now, and I think it's finally time. I need to start posting cocktail recipes. Cocktails are vegetarian too, after all, and will fit in nicely among the casual dishes of veggies, grains and herbs. I also need a place to record the cocktails I like the most and are worth repeating. I've been experimenting quite a bit since the quarantine started and I've now lost track of the various attempts. Some were definite keepers from the first sip; some met their fate in my sink drain; and, others were good or questionable and perhaps need another chance.
While I enjoy certain beers and can appreciate a nice glass of wine, I've long been more of a cocktail gal. Like cooking, I find it fun to learn what combinations work well together and the possibilities are endless. I have no interest in home brewing my own beer or making my own wine, but I have great interest in having the knowledge to choose and make a cocktail just right for the occasion or for someone's individual tastes. Unlike cooking, however, it can be a bit more of an investment to experiment. Purchasing an entire bottle of a spirit or liquer to determine whether you like it is a bit riskier than buying a bunch of rainbow swiss chard from the local farmers' market or a few scoops of amaranth from the bulk food section. Of course there are investments to be made with cooking too, but I'm finding my cocktail endeavors to be a bigger hit to my credit card. Since I don't have the option these days of sitting down at a well-appointed bar to chat with the bartender and order a drink to try a particular alcohol, I've had to take the leap and purchase often large bottles of liquid I'm not sure I'll like.
One of my main sources of inspiration in the last few months has been Drinking French by David Leibovitz. It was a great way for me to start getting more serious about cocktail making. It provided me a genre to get started with so I could narrow the playing field with what I needed to buy. It's also a beautiful book with inspirational pictures, and stories and descriptions to provide some knowledge about the various spirits without being overwhelming. He has a fun, light-hearted approach and I highly recommend the book for you or as a gift for a cocktail enthusiast in your life.
While Drinking French helped me to narrow the playing field in a much larger landscape of the cocktail world, there are still quite a lot of items necessary to build a proper French bar. I'd look at a recipe I'd want to try and very frustratingly be missing one of the four ingredients. In the beginning, I picked a couple of cocktails to get started with and I've expanded from there.
Since summer is winding down, I'm going to get started with what I think of as good hot weather cocktails. This one David Leibovitz refers to as The Yellow Cocktail for obvious reasons. It's bright and summery, but I don't think it's for everyone. It's both bitter and tart with a tad of sweetness. If you like Amaro, my guess is you'll like Suze. As for the Chartreuse, it's strongly herbal. I'm now stocked with both green and yellow. I remember buying my first bottle of green to make a Last Word wondering "How will I ever use this all?" Well, I have, and replenished it. They both make good digestifs. I'm not yet good at describing the flavor composition of a cocktail, but hope to get there with more practice.
I am fond of cocktails that are equal parts of all the ingredients because they're easy to remember. The Yellow Cocktail falls into that category. If you live locally I am happy to provide you with some Suze if you don't want to buy a whole bottle to try it! (I can say this without worry because no one actually reads my blog except for maybe my mother once in a while and she doesn't drink cocktails.)
I will discuss dry gins for cocktails in a future post. I have more work to do on that.
Click here to listen to David talk about The Yellow Cocktail
The Yellow Cocktail by David Leibovitz
3/4 oz dry London gin
3/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse
3/4 oz Suze
3/4 oz lemon juice
1. Remove a strip of lemon peel to use as a garnish; set aside.
2. Put some ice into coupe glass to chill.
3. Put all ingredients into a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously.
4. Pour into chilled glass and top with lemon peel garnish.
