Bibulo.us - We plead the 21st.

Hoffman House

"The Hoffman House Hotel maintained New York City's best bar at a time when New York had nothing but great bars... It pulled in a strictly A-list clientele until it got hauled down and replaced with an office building. That was in 1915. Their version of the Martini is one of the most suave known to science." - David Wondrich

Again we turn to Killer Cocktails for another party winner.

• 2 ounces gin, Martin Miller’s or Plymouth is encouraged
• 1 ounce Noilly Prat dry (white) vermouth
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• To finish: orange peel strip

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Squeeze peel over glass & drop in.

Delightful.

Bibulo.us Special Report: Plymouth & Beefeater spirited dinner at Absinthe

On May 21st a scientist attempting to locate gin's gravitational pull would have found many orbits drawn to the vicinity of Absinthe Brasserie & Bar due to the powerful influence of the twin suns, Beefeater Master Distiller Desmond Payne and Plymouth Master Distiller Sean Harrison.

These two gentlemen shared observations on gin in general and their specific products in particular while the small crowd enjoyed a bright little opening cocktail featuring Beefeater 24 called the Twinkle Toes (created by Jeff Hollinger and named by Jackie Patterson for its sprightly effect).

As we tasted the gins neat - with a drop of water, on our distillers' advice - Mr. Payne spoke on the non-industrialized nature of juniper farming. "It's a business of men hitting bushes with sticks". He also emphasized the importance of using botanicals wisely with traditional techniques saying "It's an exploration, not a colonization."

The food, from executive chef Jamie Lauren, was delicious and the drinks very tasty. We began with a Kampachi crudo amuse paired with a Martini Cocktail (with Beefeater) and a Marguerite Cocktail (with Plymouth). The first course - asparagus with burrata, roasted peppers, charred onion vinaigrette, wild arugula and speck - was paired with a Sensation (using the Plymouth and mixed by Steven Liles).

Our entree, a sublime slow cooked pork confit, was paired with an original drink by Jeff Hollinger, Desmond's Harlot. The drink is named for Mr. Payne's statement "Gin should be like a whore; it should go with anything" and, per Jeff, may be casually referred to as a "Dizzy's Ho" when not at a white tablecloth event. It consists of Beefeater gin, Plymouth sloe gin, cherry gastrique, Angostura bitters, Hellfire tincture, rosemary, and soda. It is unclear if one of Mr. Payne's other comments during the tasting, ostensibly about finishing flavors, might also bear on this general principle: "A good gin has to keep its tail up."

New-to-Absinthe pastry chef Luis Villavelazquez (known to Bibulo.us to be a gin fan as well as formidable force in the kitchen) showcased his skills in the form of a dessert of Japanese Kabosu Lime Parfait with green tea biscuit, tobacco foam, and grapefruit. This was paired with an original drink from Jackie Patterson using Beefeater 24 gin, lemon blossom & black pepper infused Dolin Blanc vermouth, and Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur. This exotic and wonderful mouthful was dubbed "Hey Jealousy" by Absinthe bar manager Jonny Raglin.

Jacques Bezuidenhout closed us out with a nice Pink Gin and everyone left with a smile.

We really must advise anyone in the area to get on Absinthe's mailing list to be alerted of these occasional dinners. They'd be worth it for the food alone, but the drinks are fantastic, the price reasonable, and the company top drawer, even when you aren't as lucky as we were this time to be seated across from the ever enjoyable master distiller of Beefeater.

Bibulo.us Special Report: Beefeater 24 San Francisco Launch Party

It's been a busy time around the Bibulo.us homestead, so we apologize to our gin-loving friends for the delay in telling you about the launch party for Beefeater's new super premium gin, 24, which was held back in April. 

Thanks to the worldwide revival in classic cocktails - particularly in cities like London, New York, and San Francisco - interest in gin is on the rise. "Gin is back and that's a great thing," said the creator of this newcomer with a prestigious pedigree.

24 is a classic London dry gin with a slight tannin sensation or taste on the finish. It's named for the 24 hours during which the botanicals steep prior to distillation. It's great in a simple Martini presentation like the one we were treated to in which it was augmented with Lillet Blanc and orange bitters.

Brand ambassador Jacques Bezuidenhout introduced master distiller Desmond Payne for some of the background on this new gin. Mr. Payne has been distilling gin for over four decades, first at Plymouth and then at Beefeater, and is arguably the most experienced gin distiller in the world. For most of his career he's been focused on maintaining consistency in traditional recipes (dating to the 1790s and 1860s respectively), so the creation of a totally new gin which honors the past but forges new ground was a special treat.

24 has three additional ingredients beyond Beefeater's usual ones (juniper, of course, plus Seville orange peel, almond, coriander seed, orris root, angelica root, liquorice, lemon peel, and angelica seed). Grapefruit peel adds additional citrus complexity, while Japanese sencha tea and Chinese green tea bring fresh aromatic notes. This range of botanicals provides the flavor of gin and, as Mr. Payne put it, "If there is an art in terms of gin, it's getting balance in terms of flavor."

He did not set out to make a flavored gin; his firm belief is that all botanicals used in making gin should be decent, honest, and needed. His views are traditional: "The bitterness in gin should come from juniper in my opinion."

He had tried green tea as a mixer with gin in the past - on a journey where good tonic water was not available - and that plus the tea merchant history of the father of Beefeater distillery founder James Burrough inspired him to experiment with tea in exploring alternative botanicals for this new gin. Green teas were the ones that really worked well to provide the fresh aromatic notes he was seeking. It took a lot of experimentation to find the perfect blend: "The moment you change one thing in a recipe, you totally change the balance." Two years of trial & error and two tasting panels of gin experts later he had it. The final addition was the Japanese sencha tea to bring more dimension on the aromatic side with its grassy, hay notes.

If you're seeking a traditional London dry gin with a bit of something extra going on, 24 will serve you well. It is understated and elegant, with a beautiful bottle. All class and just a touch of whimsy (take a peek through the swirl on the lower front of the bottle to see a raven of the Tower of London!), rather like its justifiably proud creator.

The Bibulo.us Guide to Your Home Bar: Part 2

Our strategic approach in this guide is laid out in a series of steps, let’s call them adventures, which build upon each other and which space out the expense of building your collection of tools, ingredients, and resources. The speed with which you take on these adventures is up to your budget and time, but our goal is for each one to provide an immediate reward and a new array of possibilities.

Through these adventures you will be introduced to the core set of classic cocktails and techniques. Many of the tools, ingredients and other resources described are available through our shopping links.

The first adventure, Tabula Rasa, introduced the Old Fashioned.

Adventure #2: Waltz Time

It can’t get much more classy than a true Martini. Nick Charles may have, alas, advocated shaking rather than stirring, but otherwise he and Nora had the right idea when it came to dry Martinis: small, cold and excellent. (“Leo, line them right up here.”)

Ingredients: ice, gin, dry vermouth, orange bitters, lemon twist.

New techniques: Chilling Glassware, Straining.

Shopping:

• Oxo Hawthorn cocktail strainer (~$11)
• cocktail glasses (no larger than 5.5 oz capacity, e.g. Ikea’s “Soda”, set of 6 ~$10, and/or keep an eye out for nice old ones at thrift stores)
• Plymouth gin (~$30) (If unavailable, substitute 209, Martin Miller’s or Beefeater)
• Noilly Prat dry vermouth (~$8, try to get the newer formulation with the curvy bottle if you’ve got a choice)
• Fee Brothers orange bitters (~$6)

Preparation:

Store all opened vermouths in the refrigerator. They do lose their luster over time, so this is one place where smaller bottles may be a smart move.

Wash your cocktail glasses and allow them to dry completely. Polish with a clean dish towel and then store upside down in the freezer. Ensure they aren’t crowded by other things so they don’t get broken. If you want to store them on the door you may need to make a supportive tray with the corner edge of a cardboard box in order to avoid disaster if the door is opened too fast; even top down, cocktail glasses can tip over easily.

Find a mixing container to use for now (you’ll be buying an official one on a subsequent adventure). A pint glass or mug will suit the job as long as your strainer can fit in the top without falling in.

Making the drink:

1. Wash your hands.
2. Rinse the lemon.
3. If you don’t have a chilled glass at the ready in the freezer, take a glass and fill it with ice, setting it by to chill as you make the drink.
4. Set out the cutting mat, gin, dry vermouth, orange bitters, lemon, mixing container, jigger, barspoon, Hawthorn strainer, and channel knife.
5. Measure .25 oz of dry vermouth and add it to the mixing container.
6. Put one drop of orange bitters in the jigger and top it with 1.5 oz of gin, then add to the mixing container.
7. Add cracked ice and stir for at least 20 seconds (we’ll refer to this step henceforth as “stir with ice”).
8. Get a chilled glass from the freezer or dump the ice in the sink from the one you’ve been chilling that way.
9. Hold the strainer in the top of the mixing container and strain the drink into the chilled cocktail glass.
10. Garnish with a lemon twist as for the Old Fashioned.
11. Rinse your bar tools.
12. Enjoy your cocktail.

Progress report:

You now have the tools for stirred drinks which are strained. You have a second type of glassware allowing you to adjust the presentation of your drinks. You also have a choice of bitters, which gives you flexibility in matching flavor profiles of different spirits with the other ingredients in a drink.

Where you can go from here with these skills:
This is a 6-to-1 Dry Martini. We recommend you experiment with other proportions trying increased amounts of vermouth (2 oz gin:.5 oz vermouth; 1.5 oz gin:.5 oz vermouth; 1 oz gin: .5 oz vermouth; 1 oz gin: 1 oz vermouth) to see where your favorite is. In general, the more vermouth, the further back in time you’re traveling. You can also try it with and without the drop of orange bitters to understand the impact of that ingredient. Also try getting some green cocktail olives and garnish with one of those rather than the lemon twist to understand the impact of the garnish.

You can also try some other recipes using these other new ingredients, with specific recommendations where we have them noted:
With a barspoon of olive juice from the jar it’s a Dirty Martini.
A black olive garnish makes it a Buckeye.
If you garnish a 5:1 proportion with a cocktail onion instead it becomes a Gibson.
Make it at 2:1 or drier (less vermouth) and add a dash of Absinthe for a Third Degree.
Gimlet (buy Rose’s lime juice)
Vesper (buy Stolichnaya vodka (~$24), Lillet Blanc (~$16), orange for garnish)

Technically, you’re ready for the Manhattan now, but it’s the basis for so many things that we’ll cover it in our next adventure.