The Cocktail Club: A Year of Recipes and Tips for Spirited Tasting Parties - Hardcover

Christian-Petrosky, Maureen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1617690260 ISBN 13: 9781617690266

Verlag: Stewart, Tabori & Chang Inc, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

With a little bit of history and a lot of flavor, The Cocktail Club is a guide for connecting with your friends over the best-tasting therapy around―cock­tails! Using a format reminiscent of your favorite book club, Maureen Christian Petrosky highlights one specific spirit or drink type each month. Classic favorites like the Martini and the Old-Fashioned, as well as new sips like the Mason Jar Basil Pisco Sour and Blueberry Lavender Vodka Spritzer, will inspire novices and enthusiasts alike to build up their bar vocabulary and taste outside their comfort zone. The book also offers a delicious selection of hors d’oeuvres pairings like Grilled Figs with Prosciutto and Rosemary Lemon Bars. So whether you’ve been curious about absinthe rinses or want to bone up on your bitters, The Cocktail Club gives you the perfect excuse to pull out your shaker and dip into the art of at-home mixology.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Maureen Christian-Petrosky is an author; food writer, television segment producer and one of the forces behind Marcus Samuelsson's recently launched www.foodrepublic.com.

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The Cocktail Club is a monthly guide for connecting with your friends over the best tasting therapy around--cocktails! Maureen Christian-Petrosky takes readers through monthly journeys based on specific spirits or drink styles in a style reminiscent of your favorite book club. Filled with traditional favourites like the Martini and the Old-Fashioned and new drinks like the Mason Jar Basil Pisco Sour and Cucumber and Honeydew Sangria, The Cocktail Club eases mixology novices and enthusiasts alike into building up their bar vocabulary and tasting outside of their comfort zone. With entertainment tips throughout and delicious hors d'oeuvres this book guides you to put together a spirited soiree regardless of space or time constraints.

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The Cocktail Club

A Year of Recipes and Tips for Spirited Tasting Parties

By Maureen Christian-Petrosky, Thayer Allyson Gowdy, Cristina Garces

Abrams Books

Copyright © 2014 Maureen Christian-Petrosky
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-61769-026-6

Contents

Introduction, 
1 January • Gin, 
2 February • Hot Cocktails, 
3 March • Brandy, 
4 April • Vodka, 
5 May • Whiskey, 
6 June • Tequila, 
7 July • Frozen Drinks, 
8 August • Rum, 
9 September • Sangria & Pitcher Drinks, 
10 October • Beer-Tails, 
11 November • Liqueurs & Other Spirits, 
12 December • Bubbly Cocktails, 
Resources, 
Acknowledgments, 
Index of Searchable Terms, 

CHAPTER 1

JANUARY

GIN

More To It Than Tonic — Though That Works Too!

What better way to kick off your cocktail club than with the most famous cocktail of all — the Martini! At the heart of this mix is gin, glorious gin. From the bathtub all the way to the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, this sip is well-loved by newbies and cocktail scenesters alike, making it a perfect pick for your first cocktail club meet-up.

Leave it to the Dutch to add finesse to the distillation process (that's what they call making a liquid into an alcoholic beverage) creating a spirit perfectly suited for sipping, stirring, and shaking with all sorts of delicious partners or enjoying straight up on its own. Rich in history, gin is a cocktail-menu staple, with concoctions ranging from serious drinks, like Martinis and Negronis, to fruitier sips like the Singapore Sling. Once primarily used as medicine to cure everything from belly aches to kidney problems, today it's used as a cure-all for creative blocks, broken hearts, and sullen men and women around the world.

The Gist of Gin

To help you find your way around gin, it's helpful to understand the different styles you'll find hanging around the shelves of your liquor store. Traditionally, gin is a neutral grain spirit flavored with juniper berries, but modern gin can include everything from orange peel to almonds. These plant, fruit, and herb add-ins are often referred to in booze circles as "botanicals." In the beginning, it might be hard to smell and taste past the alcohol fumes, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to identify lots of different aromas.

Modern gins can include spices such as cardamom and nutmeg as well as any of these botanicals: juniper berries, almond, apple, black currant, lemon peel, orange, angelica, licorice, lavender, and cassia bark (cinnamon).

As with every spirit we'll explore this year, there's more than just one style of gin, and the only way to learn the difference is to taste them side by side. Like winemakers, distillers each put their own signature spin on their spirits, so there are always little differences from brand to brand. Here's a guide to the most popular terms you may come across on labels while shopping:

London Dry Gin When you order a gin cocktail, expect to get London dry in your glass. "Dry" implies that it is not sweet. London dry is what's considered the typical English style, where the botanicals are distilled right into the gin, not added later. This creates a light and aromatic flavor, making this the perfect pick for cocktails. One other note: Gin in this style can come from all over the world; it doesn't have to come from London! When you're out shopping, some popular brands you'll find are: Beefeater, Bombay and Bombay Sapphire, Classic Tanqueray, Tanqueray 10, Van Gogh, Boodles, Gilbey's, Old Raj, Citadelle, and Magellan.

Old Tom Gin This is known as old-style gin and tends to be a little sweet. Once wildly popular, this type of gin may be difficult to locate now, as dry gins tend to be more pleasing to our modern palates. Call ahead to your local store before going on a wild gin chase. Famous brands include Hayman's and Ransom.

Plymouth Gin Just as Champagne can only legally come from Champagne, France, British law stipulates that Plymouth gin can only be produced in the city of Plymouth. Its flavors are similar to London dry gin, but amped up — Plymouth has more body, and more variety in aromas that can range from fruity to citrusy. It's also very dry. The only brand is simply Plymouth Gin.

Holland Gin or Genever Known as Dutch style, this has an uber-junipery finish. Like England's Old Tom gin, genever is distilled from malted grain, giving it a slight yellow tinge. While London dry is more similar to vodka, this style is more in line with a very light whiskey. In this category there are subcategories, including the jonge genever, which is a light-bodied young gin that contains more grain than malt wine, and korenwijn, which is wood aged.

Because genever, or Holland gins, are big on flavor, they're best served neat or on ice, as their flavors can be tricky when mixed in cocktails. This type is harder to find, but brands like Bols, Bokma, De Kuyper, and Anchor Genevieve are available.

Modern or New Western Gins In order to compete with the vodka craze of the eighties and nineties, some gin distillers started to mimic that style of aroma-free, neutral spirits. As the cocktail culture continues to boom, new styles of "botanical" driven gins are reemerging. These gins tend to have a more subtle flavor profile with a balanced botanical palate of flavors like vanilla and lavender, as opposed to the classic heavily juniper-flavored pours. Still made from neutral spirits, these gins are not necessarily grain based, and can include an array of flavorings from the area in which they are distilled. For example, Greyling Modern Dry Gin from Michigan uses local lavender. Other examples include Beefeater Wet, which is pear flavored; Hendrick's from Scotland, which features rose petals and cucumbers; and the creamy full-bodied American Aviation gin made with cardamom, lavender, Indian sarsaparilla, and anise.

What is Vermouth?

As you break into the world of cocktail making, you'll quickly see that bottles of both sweet and dry vermouth (pronounced ver-Mooth) are must-haves for your home bar. Vermouth is a fortified (meaning an alcohol like cognac or brandy is added) red or white wine that is flavored with botanicals. There are two main types, sweet or dry, but new lesser-known types like bianco, amber, and rose have been popping up on drink menus lately. Vermouth, like wine, is perishable. It used to have a bad rap in the states because we really didn't know what to do with it. Now we know that vermouth is surprisingly versatile, either sipped on its own as a delicate aperitif in the European style, or mixed up in cocktails.

Dry Vermouth is clear, bitter, and light-bodied, and is used to make the classic martini. Either the French brand Noilly Prat, considered the traditional pour, or the popular Italian Martini & Rossi are suitable for this drink. You may also find Gallo, Dolin, or Cinzano on the shelves.

Sweet Vermouth Typically a ruddy red color, this type of vermouth is full-bodied and sweetened with sugar syrup. You'd use this for cocktails like the Negroni or the Manhattan. The brands Noilly Prat, Dolin, and Martini & Rossi all make quality sweet vermouth.

The History of the Martini

Like most historical successes, the Martini's start is much disputed, with multiple sources claiming to be...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Stewart, Tabori & Chang Inc
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1617690260
• ISBN 13: 9781617690266
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 176
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar