Category Archives: Gin

  • Weekly Cocktail # 54: The Putney Farm Negroni

    June 21, 2013

    20 Comments

    negroni

    The Putney Farm Negroni.

    We have heard that the real-world definition of stupidity is to fail at something and then repeat the same action over and over. And yet, here we are again, trying to find a variation of the Negroni that we enjoy. Stupid? Maybe. But the key word here is “variation”, we keep trying new formulas, gins and sweet vermouth with the hope we can break through. And finally we broke through. We found a Negroni recipe we truly love. So were we stupid to keep trying? No…..Tipsy? Maybe.

    negroni7negroni5Why all the effort? The Negroni is a classic cocktail loved by many aficionados that we respect. If they love the drink so much, maybe we can find a version we like. And the formula makes perfect sense, herbal gin, sweet vermouth, bitter and fruity Campari and that beautiful color. Depth, complexity, beauty- what’s not to like?  Well, for us, the problem has been flavor. Too bitter, too ashy and yet too sweet at the same time. There is alchemy in a good Negroni (or any great cocktail), but we were not finding it.

    negroni6negroni4We played with different gins, but be it Tanq or Plymouth or Bluecoat, they didn’t seem to be the problem. As for the Campari- we can play with the ratios, but you need Campari for a real Negroni (although you can sub for it and get a great cocktail). So the last variable was the sweet vermouth, and this was where we have spent much of our time. We love the Carpano Antica, but it was too strongly flavored and brought out the ashy notes of the Campari. Dolin and M&R just seemed sweet and lost to the Campari. But then we got some Cocchi Americano Rosa and we found our answer.

    negroni3And even this may be a bit of a hack. Cocchi Americano Rosa is technically an Americano, a type of quinquina (aperitif wine with chinchona / quinine), but it is an easy substitute for sweet vermouth. What makes the Cocchi work better for us is its combination of bright fruit flavors and bitterness from the quinine. Think very good sangria, with slight bitter notes. The Rosa is lovely to drink on its own with some ice, but in cocktails that call for sweet vermouth, it brings lighter and brighter flavors. A fun ingredient to play with.negroni9

    When we tried the Negroni with the Cocchi Americano Rosa, it was very good, and the bitter flavors of the Cocchi and the Campari were surprisingly complimentary. But we did want to capture more of the fruity notes of the Cocchi, so we took out a bit of the Campari. As for the gin, a very clean and bright gin like Bluecoat or Plymouth are our favorite here, and we put in a bit more to boost the herbal notes (and because we always like more gin). As for garnish, the traditional orange peel works well. Continue reading →

  • Mixology Monday LXXIII Cocktail: The Strawberry Witch

    May 20, 2013

    9 Comments

    The Strawberry Witch cocktail.

    The Strawberry Witch cocktail.

    Wow, time flies. It’s Mixology Monday again. It seems like we just made our CSA Gin cocktail for the last MxMo and here we are. Happily, we have another theme that is close to this wannabe farmer’s heart, “the witch’s garden”. Here are the details from this month’s host Cardiff Cocktails (an excellent site, worth a visit):

    mxmologoAs far back as we can look, the use of fresh herbs have been prevalent in the world of mixed drinks. From the early days of the julep, through Williams Terrington’s 19th century Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks, to Don the Beachcomber’s ahead of their time Tiki drinks, fresh herbs have always been at the forefront of mixology. So lets take influence from the bartenders that once ruled the world of mixology, raid your herb garden that too often gets neglected, and start mixing. I don’t want to put too many limits on this theme so get as creative as you please, want to use roots, spices or beans as well? Sure thing. Want to make your own herbal infusions or tinctures? Sounds wonderful.

    witchwitch1Well, we certainly have herbs here at the farm. Mint, thyme, basil, tarragon, oregano, sage, marjoram, lemon verbena, parsley and rosemary are all in full swing. But we also have strawberries that need to be used and we wanted to play with Strawberries and thyme for a while. So we chose these as the basis for the cocktail. We also took the name of the challenge to heart and immediately looked at our bottle of Strega (“Strega” means witch in Italian) as a potential ingredient.

    witch2witch4If you are unfamiliar with Strega, it is an herbal Italian digestif that features a rich yellow color (from saffron) and sweet herbal flavors. Strega, is usually enjoyed by itself, but we have been trying to get it into our cocktails. To our tastes, Strega has mint, juniper and citrus notes, so gin seemed like a good match (and one more herbal ingredient). But we were a bit concerned about too many herbal notes, so we added some lemon juice and a splash of sparking wine to brighten, and lighten, the overall flavor of the cocktail.

    witch5So how does the Strawberry Witch taste? In a word, herbal. But in a good way. Strawberries and thyme play very well together, the Strega sweetens without being cloying and the gin, lemon and champagne add the expected bright notes. The sip is tart, with mint and thyme flavors followed by some of the lemon and sweet notes of the Strega. The strawberries do more for color and aroma than flavor, but we are OK with that.The finish is very clean, almost dry.

    witch6(One last note here. Thyme can be strong stuff. At first we muddled it along with the strawberries and some lemon peel. This was a bad idea- the thyme got harsh and bitter. The next time around we muddled the strawberries and lemon first, then added the thyme and gave it just a few nudges. This worked way better, plenty of thyme flavor but not too much. Fresh herbs vary widely in strength and flavor, but be warned, you may want to do a quick test run before you muddle your herbs.)

    witch8Thanks again to Cardiff Cocktails and Fred Yarm at Cocktail Virgin Slut for another great MxMo!

    The Strawberry Witch:

    Ingredients:

    • 3-4 medium strawberries
    • Lemon peel
    • 2 sprigs fresh thyme, plus some extra for garnish
    • 1 1/2 oz dry gin
    • 3/4 oz. lemon juice
    • 1/2 oz. Strega
    • 1-2 oz. sparkling wine or Champagne

    Assemble:

    1. Place the strawberries and lemon peel in the cocktail shaker. Muddle until the strawberries are a smooth purée. Then add the thyme springs and lightly muddle a few times.
    2. Add the gin, lemon juice and Stega to the cocktail shaker. Add some ice and then shake until well-chilled. Double-strain the mixture into a coupé or flute. Top with the sparkling wine and garnish with a thyme sprig. Serve.
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  • Mixology Monday LXXII Cocktail: CSA Gin

    April 23, 2013

    25 Comments

    The CSA Cocktail.

    The CSA Cocktail.

    Another Mixology Monday is here and (hopefully) we got this in under the wire. This month’s theme is “Drink Your Vegetables” and is hosted by Rowen at the Fogged In Lounge (a very good cocktail blog, worth a visit). And thanks, as always, to Fred Yarm of Cocktail Virgin Slut for keeping this whole shindig going. So here are the details of the theme:

    csa2Want to get more vegetables but you’re always eating on the run?… Well then, how about a vegetable cocktail? No, not that nice little glass of red stuff Grandma put at each place setting—we’re talking something with a kick in it. You can definitely start with the little glass of red stuff and expand it to a Red Snapper-style drink like a Bloody Mary. Or how about a cucumber-scented cooler like a Pimm’s Cup, or maybe a cocktail featuring a vegetable-based ingredient like Cardamaro or celery bitters? Maybe you’ve been wondering if you can get more mileage out of that juice extractor before consigning it to the garage sale. However you get them in that glass, be prepared for the most fun with vegetables ever.

    csa3csa4So you would think that a “farm” blog would have this one in the bag, right? Not so, my friends, not so. We struggled mightily. It’s a good theme, and certainly we like our veggies, but somehow it took a bunch of time for us to formulate anything remotely original, interesting or blogworthy. And we aren’t big Bloody Mary fans, so no fallback there, either.

    csa5So what to do? Two things. Firstly, we chose to use fennel, one of our favorite ingredients (we may change the name of our blog to “Fennel Farms”). Secondly, we decided to use veggies to actually craft the base spirit and the cocktail. In this case we use veggies, fruits and spices to make “gin” and then formulate a cocktail.

    csa6And since gin often features the anise and citrus flavors we find in fennel and some gins (Hendrick’s) favor cucumber, we figured we could start with the traditional juniper and build a “gin” with veggies, herbs, citrus and spices. In the end, we used juniper berries, cinnamon (cassia), baby fennel (more citrus notes), fennel fronds, cucumber slices, rosemary, lime peel, lemon peel and Cara Cara orange peel. We muddled like crazy, then added some vodka (a good use for vodka, you could never predict how gin would respond to all these new flavors) and then muddled some more. And then it got interesting.

    csa7Right out of the shaker we got the cinnamon, cucumber and a touch of the rosemary. Good, but not like gin. So we let the mixture steep for 6 hours and the citrus and fennel stared to kick in, while the cinnamon faded. Better, but not there yet. 12 hours later we got more of the fennel, citrus and the sweetness of the cucumber. Basically, we ended up with a ligher (albeit cloudier) version of Hendrick’s. We can live with that. We had to live with that, time was running out.

    csa1Now that we had our “gin”, we made the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) cocktail. With all the flavors here, we didn’t add much. A little lime, a little agave syrup and a few dashes of Angostura. The CSA cocktail opens with  cucumber and citrus nose followed by a sweet cucumber and agave sip. Then you get the lime and finish with the fennel, rosemary (we got more rosemary than juniper, we think) and cinnamon. Not bad, and it certainly would beg the question; “is this cucumber vodka or Hendrick’s?” And that will have to do. Rowen, you made us work on this one.

    The CSA Cocktail:

    (Serves 2)

    • 6 juniper berries
    • 1/2 cinnamon stick
    • 2 or 3 rosemary needles
    • Zest / peel of 1/2 lime
    • Zest / peel of 1/4 lemon
    • Zest / peel of 1/4 orange
    • 1/4 cup baby fennel, roughly chopped
    • 1 fennel frond
    • 4 slices cucumber
    • 6 oz. vodka
    • 1/2 oz. lime juice
    • 1/2 oz. agave syrup
    • 4 dashed Angostura bitters
    • 2 lemon twists for garnish

    Assemble:

    1. Add the juniper berries, cinnamon stick and rosemary to a cocktail shaker. Muddle thoroughly. Add the citrus peels, chopped fennel, fennel frond and cucumber. Muddle some more. Then add the vodka. Muddle again.
    2. Pour the entire mixture into an airtight container and put in the fridge for at least 6, and preferably 12, hours.
    3. Place the entire mixture in a large cocktail shaker with ice. Add the lime juice, agave syrup and bitters. Shake until well chilled and double strain (at least once, maybe twice) into a chilled cocktail glasses, flutes or coupes. Garnish with the lemon twists and serve.
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  • Weekly Cocktail #48: The Florodora

    April 12, 2013

    21 Comments

    The Florodora cocktail.

    The Florodora cocktail.

    What’s in a name? Well in the world of cocktails, quite a bit. We think it is safe to say that some famous drinks remain popular as much from their name as their flavor, and some excellent cocktails lost favor over time when their names no longer seemed macho quite right. Enter the Florodora (sometimes spelled Floradora), a delicious long drink that was one of the most popular cocktails of its day, only to fade into obscurity. And we are pretty sure the name had something to with it. Can you really imagine James Bond striding to the casino bar in his tux and ordering a “Florodora, shaken, not stirred”? We didn’t think so. (Not sure you would see Don Draper sippin’ a Florodora either.)

    flora3flora4Although we have no doubt that Ian Fleming, Bond’s creator, would have enjoyed the Florodora. The Florodora combines gin, lime juice, raspberry liqueur or syrup and is topped by ginger ale (or ginger beer). These are all solid cocktail ingredients, and they play very well together. The Florodora starts with the aroma of gin and lime, on the sip you get the lime plus the sweet berry and sugar from the ginger ale, but the gin and ginger spice keep the finish clean. Like most classic long drinks, these are very easy to drink. Maybe too easy.

    flora5flora6Ironically, in its day, the Florodora name was “cool”. The name comes from a famous musical “Florodora” of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that featured six attractive young women of similar stature (that wasn’t a hard sell back then either). The girls from the show were very popular in New York and legend has it that all six actresses from the original cast married millionaires. Sure, why not? But after a few years the show fell out of fashion and the name faded with it. What was once cool, soon sounded “dated” (at best). Again, we are pretty sure Frank Sinatra never ordered a Florodora. (He was a Jack drinker anyway..)

    flora7But we think the Florodora deserves a real comeback. This is a drink that is easy to make and will please a crowd. The only issue with the ingredients is choosing to use raspberry syrup or liqueur like Chambord. We make our own raspberry syrup, and it is a useful ingredient, but prefer the concentrated berry flavor and vanilla notes of the Chambord. You can also play with the gin to get more, or less, herbal flavor. We like to use a classic like Plymouth, but suggest you experiment. And maybe you can tweak the recipe enough to create your own version of the cocktail and give it a new name. Just make sure it’s a good one….

    flora2The Florodora:

    Ingredients:

    • 2 oz. dry gin
    • 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
    • 1/2 raspberry liqueur (Chambord) or raspberry syrup
    • 3-4 oz. ginger ale or ginger beer
    • Lime wedge for garnish

    Assemble:

    1. Combine the gin, lime juice and raspberry liqueur in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until chilled and strain into a highball or Collins glass filled with ice.
    2. Top with the ginger ale, give a quick stir with a cocktail spoon and then garnish with the lime wedge. Serve.
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  • Weekly Cocktail #47: Hemingway Hated Hawaii

    April 6, 2013

    21 Comments

    The Hemingway Hated Hawaii cocktail.

    The Hemingway Hated Hawaii cocktail.

    Did Hemingway really “hate” Hawaii? It’s hard to say, but he didn’t seem to like it all that much…but more on that later. Meanwhile, the Putney Farm crew is enjoying our trip to Kauai the rainy “Garden Isle”. Knowing that the weather can be terrible unpredictable, we started to build ourselves a tropical bar to help pass the time and make our umpteenth hand of bridge a bit more enjoyable. It is a riff on our “basic home bar” of citrus, sugar, gin, rum, Cointreau and Angostura bitters, but instead of whiskey we have tequila and we slip in some Bittermens Tiki bitters. Tiki drinks, Margaritas, Palomas and old school British colonial cocktails like the Pegu Club and Pink Gin are all on our fingertips. Life is good my friends, very good.

    The "tropical bar". All you need while in warmer climates.

    The “tropical bar”. All you need while in warmer climates.

    hem1But what about a cocktail book? Don’t we want to educate ourselves whist we imbibe? Of course we do. So we brought along “To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion“, Phillip Green’s excellent cocktail book inspired by Hemingway’s love of booze. And whether you liked Papa’s writing or not (we are fans, but with a wink), the man knew how to mix a drink and throw a party. Our kind of guy.

    Our alarm clock.

    Our alarm clock.

    hem4As we worked through the book we found a great recipe for a basic highball of gin and coconut water, and it was extremely tasty. (It may not be an intuitive mix, but the coconut water takes any rough edges off the gin while keeping the best herbal notes.) We then found a recipe for the “Green Issac’s Special” or “Tomini” a combo of gin, coconut water, lime juice and Angostura bitters. Even better. And as we are in Hawaii and exploring long drinks, we wanted to go a bit more tropical/tiki so we added a dash of Cointreau (Hemingway disliked sugar in his cocktails, we like a touch of sweet) and some of the Tiki bitters. The sweet orange and extra spice took the cocktail over the top. So now we had a new cocktail, but no name. Not yet.

    hem5But as we read on, it turned out that Hemingway didn’t really take to all the “Aloha” you get in Hawaii, or at least what you get on cruise ships in Honolulu. Go figure. We would have thought that the big wave surfers, free divers and watermen of Hawaii would have appealed to Hemingway. But Hemingway died in 1961 and missed out on a generation of special athletes and personalities that would match any bullfighter or Caribbean rum runner. His loss. But he was dead, so we will give him a pass.

    hem8But Hemingway’s dislike for Hawaii did give us the name for our cocktail, and we do love a touch of alliteration at the farm. The Hemingway Hated Hawaii is a light, but very flavorful, long drink. You get an aroma of herbal gin, spice and lime, followed by the clean cold taste of the gin and coconut water with a touch of sweet orange from the Cointreau, and a finish of tart lime and spice from the Angostura and Tiki bitters. This drink goes down easy and is perfect on a warm day. We will drink this all summer, wherever we are- even if it is in Hawaii. Sorry Papa, but we think you might understand.

    The Hemingway Hated Hawaii.

    The Hemingway Hated Hawaii cocktail.

    Hemingway Hated Hawaii:

    Ingredients:

    • 4 oz. coconut water (found at most markets these days)
    • 2 oz. dry gin
    • 1 oz. fresh lime juice
    • 1/2 oz. Cointreau or triple sec
    • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
    • 2 dashes Bittermens Tiki bitters (or a drop of Allspice dram)
    • Lime wedge, for garnish

    Assemble:

    1. Combine all the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until well chilled. Strain into a highball or collins glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a lime wedge. Serve.

    —–

    The Green Issac’s Special or Tomini:

    Ingredients:

    • 4 oz. coconut water
    • 2 oz. dry gin
    • 1 oz. fresh lime juice
    • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
    • Lime wedge, for garnish

    Assemble:

    1. Combine all the liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until well chilled. Strain into a highball or collins glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a lime wedge. Serve.
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  • Mixology Monday LXXI Cocktail: The 20th Century

    March 15, 2013

    16 Comments

    The 20th Century Cocktail.

    The 20th Century Cocktail.

    Another Mixology Monday is almost here, but it looks to be a busy weekend, so we are posting on Friday. This month’s edition of the online cocktail party is hosted by Scott Diaz of the excellent cocktail blog Shake, Strain and Sip. Thanks Scott. And as always, thanks to Fred Yarm of Cocktail Virgin Slut, for keeping the whole Mixology Monday thing going, it is great fun and the source of some very inspiring cocktails. So here is Scott’s theme:

    mxmologoThe evolution of the cocktail has been a wondrous, and sometimes, frightful journey… But with all this focus on “craft” ingredients and classic tools & form, it seems we have become somewhat pretentious.  The focus on bitter Italian amari, revived and lost ingredients such as Batavia Arrack or Crème de Violette, the snickering at a guest ordering a Cosmopolitan or a Midori Sour has propelled us into the dark realm of snobbery… Remember, the bar was created with pleasing one particular group in mind: the guest. As such, this month’s MxMo theme… will focus on concocting a craft cocktail worthy of not only MxMo but any trendy bar, using dubious and otherwise shunned ingredients to sprout forth a craft cocktail that no one could deny is anything less.  There are a plethora of spirits, liqueurs, and non-alcoholic libations that are just waiting for someone to showcase that they too are worthy of being featured on our home and bar shelves.  So grab that bottle of flavored vodka, Jägermeister, cranberry juice, soda, neon-colored liqueur, sour mix, or anything else deemed unworthy of a craft cocktail, and get mixin’!

    20-2Create or find a drink that uses one or more ingredients that are not considered “craft”, but are used in a “craft” cocktail.  Sweet & sour, coffee, cranberry juice, most flavored vodkas, Midori, X-Rated, Alize, almost anything starting with creme, etc., are all game.

    20-1Hmmm. At first, we simply had to laugh. We spend a few years building a bar without “crass” ingredients, and now we need to go buy some. We had visions of Midori dancing in our heads (and back in the day there was plenty of Midori…and headaches). But before we bought anything we decided to use what we have, and we still have the back of one cabinet set aside for “all that other stuff” (you know, the stuff we don’t show off). And the first thing we saw was some Dekuyper White Creme de Cocoa. Yup, crass enough.

    20Dekuyper makes many of the most crazily named, colored and flavored liqueurs you can find. They are responsible for “Sour Apple Pucker”, “Razzmatazz”, bottled “Sex on the Beach” shots and dozens of other types of flavored booze. It may all be decent stuff, even fun, but it certainly ain’t “craft”. (But you should check out the cocktail recipes at their website for Spring Break classics like the “Banana Whammer”, “Apple Spazz” and the “Juicy Screw”. And the list goes on, check it out for a quick smile.)

    20-7So what to make with our very sweet and somewhat artificial-tasting Creme de Cocoa? The 20th Century, of course. Created by British bartender C.A. Tuck in 1937, and immortalized in the classic Cafe Royal Cocktail book by William Tarling, the 20th Century combines gin, Lillet blanc or Cocchi Americano (to mimic the “original” Lillet), lemon juice and white Creme de Cocoa. Think “Corpse Reviver #2 with Creme de Cocoa instead of Cointreau”. And while your first thought may be “gin and chocolate, yuk”, it does work very well. The chocolate plays well with the herbal gin, sweet fruit of the Lillet and the sour notes of the lemon. If you get the proportions right, there is just a very pleasant hint of chocolate to finish a tasty gin, Lillet/Cocchi and lemon sip.

    20-8 Continue reading →