Tonic water
This is something that I’ve been meaning to work on for a long time. I bought quinine powder over a year ago and messed around with it a bit, but never was that happy with the results. I want to thank Jeffrey Morgenthaler for his tonic water recipe, as it gave me a base to work with and my tonic water turned out delicious. I’m going to use it for happy hour, as I am trying to make a muddle-free, almost shake-free cocktail list for happy hour.
1 large grapefruit cut in pieces (with rind)
1 lime cut in pieces (with rind)
1 lemon cut in pieces (with rind)
1 tablespoon allspice berries
1 oz quinine powder
2 cups sugar
In addition to making tonic syrup, I spent most of the evening making fruit caviar.
They turned out great considering I don’t have a scale and I didn’t have Matt (who is the chef who originally showed me how to make them and has been there every time I’ve made them in the past). I was extraordinarly proud that they turned out so perfect but as always, now I will see if I can figure out a way to sell them. I’m going to start them out similar to the jello shot presentation where we have a long glass tube with four indentations on it. Three indentations will have fruit caviar, the fourth will have a shot of 360 vodka. Underneath will be three litecubes, lighting up the caviar to make it look more glammy.
360 vodka is one of my favorite vodkas on the market and has actually decreased in price in Oregon – which never happens. It is four times distilled and five times filtered. It is very easy on the palette, and I will put it up to Grey Goose any day as to which drinks cleaner. The bottle is post-consumer recycled glass, as is the paper label. It comes with a reusable Grolsh style lid that can be mailed back as part of a recycling program and the company donates $1 for every lid received to renewable energy projects. The case box is the same size as a filing box, so it can be used in the office after you drink 12 bottles of vodka. McCormick Distilling, who makes 360 vodka, is very progressive and green. As their vodka is fantastic and so are they, it was an easy choice as to which vodka to have flatter the caviars.
Fruit caviar
I used 10 oz of hot water in which I blended 2 teaspoons of algin into. I used a very high powered bar blender. I added 12 oz of fruit concentrate and a couple drops of food coloring – as I’ve noticed the algin makes the color fade in the bubbles. I blended this three times and then dropped it into very very cold water that had two teaspoons of calcium chloride dissolved in it. The caviar came out perfect. An absolute success after the last two times I tried on my own – the first to have absolutely nothing happen when I dropped my fruit gel into the hardening agent. And the second time to make little fruit globs that looked just like nasty scabs.
4 cups water
Bring to a boil. Let rest until cool (probably two to three hours) Strain off syrup and dispose of waste. Use one part syrup to three parts soda water.
- Columbine Quillen I am a mixologist bartender and this is my blog.