A life revolving around cocktails

I have two types of company, those who open the doors to our bulging full cabinets and smile as they to find that there is no food lurking in these dark abscesses, but rather – bottles upon bottles of distilled spirits.   These are the ones who get giddy with anticipation of a flaming cocktails and a raging house party. But there are also those who catch a peak and cannot understand why any one human being would ever need even a tenth as much liquor as I own. From absinthe, to aquavit, to just plain ol’ vodka – there is a bottle for everyone in there. I cannot help myself if I see a bottle somewhere that I’ve never had before, I must buy it. And before I know it – it is befriending tens of other bottles that only have a sip taken from them. The problem lie when I have company that opens up the cabinets and deems that their son married an alcoholic, which is only exacerbated by the fact that I keep vampire hours and work in a bar.

Thus, I found myself trying to clean out the cabinets today – not quite sure where to stash everything and I finally decided on creating a bar shelf in my office – which now looks like I really can’t stay away for more than a couple of minutes. (But the wholesomeness it brought to the kitchen cabinet cannot be rivaled as the Corn Pops no longer reside wedged between three bottles of tequila and a bottle of Dekuyper triple sec – don’t ask. ) The crazy irony being that now that all the alcohol is right next to me, the bottle of Obsello Absinthe is a lot more tantalizing now that it sits in my peripheral vision.  Surely it is not the wind whispering over to me, “You look soooooo thirsty.”

Anyhow, the exciting news is that I am going to take all of these crazy bottles and do a sort of “open mic” night on Repeal Day with all the local mixologists. It will just be us, a lot of alcohol, and some creativity, which I do believe, equals a good time. If you happen to be in Bend, drop by The Blacksmith and join in on the fun (December 5 is Repeal Day! Mark it on your calendars.)

The Jerry Thomas Project is the re-creation of all of Jerry Thomas’ cocktails from Jerry Thomas’ Bar-Tenders Guide: Receipts for Mixing in their purest form. Jerry Thomas is considered America’s father of mixology publishing the first cocktail book in 1862.

For the meantime, I’ve been plugging away on the Jerry Thomas Project. I made a bunch of the cobblers – but I’m going to make some again after tomorrow’s farmers market (as they call for fresh berries and I’d like to get a nice photo). So I will wait to write about them. For the meantime, I made the Daisy drinks. I made the Whiskey Daisy a long time ago and it is actually on the Happy Hour menu at The Blacksmith. To make any the Daisy drinks you first need to make orgeat syrup, which is an almost syrup, or gum syrup (which is a pain in the ass and I recommend just using simple syrup). But here’s the link if you want to make gum (gomme)  syrup (you will have to purchase gum arabic on-line first – which is hard to find, so here’s the link).

As for orgeat syrup:

How do you say orgeat? OR Szhaaht

The simplest orgeat syrup (although the flavor will not be as complex) is to make a simple syrup and add a dash or two of almond extract.

Easy Peasy Japanesy Orgeat Syrup
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
3 dashes almond extract

Bring the sugar and water to a boil. Take off the heat. Let cool and ad the almond extract.

To make a much tastier Orgeat Syrup, please follow this recipe.

Q’s Orgeat Syrup
2 cups blanched almonds
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
1 orange
1 teaspoon almond extract

Bring the almonds, water, sugar and one cut orange to a boil – take off the heat and let sit overnight.
Squeeze the orange of any fruit juice it might still have and add one teaspoon almond extract after the syrup has cooled. Strain the almonds and orange remnants out of the syrup.

* TO MAKE YOUR OWN ALMOND EXTRACT

If you are really ambitious, I recommend making your own almond extract – which is pretty simple. Take 2 cups 151 proof rum and allow 1 cup blanched almonds (you can toast the almonds for a nuttier flavor) to steep for two weeks. Strain the almonds off and you will have a fantastic almond extract. You’ll find this almond extract doesn’t have the perfumy, amaretto flavor you find in store bought almond extract.

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Brandy Daisy

2 ounces of brandy
2 dashes of Jamaican Rum
1 ounce of lemon
1/4 ounce of orange curaçao
1/3 ounce of gum syrup (if you are using regular simple syrup – please substitute 1 ounce as it is not as sweet as gum syrup)

Shake, strain, add ice and top with seltzer water.

Whiskey Daisy

2 ounces of bourbon or rye whiskey (I prefer bourbon, although my father is a rye man)
1 ounce of lemon
1 ounce of orgeat syrup

Shake, strain, add ice and top with seltzer water.

Santa Cruz Rum Daisy

2 dashes of Santa Cruz Rum (Santa Cruz refers to Virgin Islands rum, but any rum will do)
1 ounce of lemon
3 dashes of orange curacao or Maraschino
1/3 ounce of gum syrup (if you are using regular simple syrup – please substitute 1 ounce as it is not as sweet as gum syrup)

Shake, strain, add ice and top with seltzer water.

Gin Daisy

2 ounces of genever gin (but you can use any gin if that’s what you have lying around – I would like to think that Jerry Thomas wasn’t so uptight that he wouldn’t just use what was in his cabinet)
1 ounce of lemon
3 dashes of Maraschino
1/3 ounce of gum syrup or 1 ounce of orgeat syrup (your choice – I like it better with the orgeat syrup)

Shake, strain, add ice and top with seltzer water.

I do love the Whiskey Daisy – it’s still my fave of the daisy drinks. I have to say that I always find when you mix rum with lemon juice and sugar; it tends to taste like cider – which the Santa Cruz Daisy definitely hints at.

To check out other Jerry Thomas Project recipes – click here.

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