The Bon Vivant’s Companion

I’ve been working on this blog post since March.  Not because it’s so special, but because life happened, and then death did.

Originally, my plan was to write about the St. Francis Hotel’s newly opened Clock Bar and their best selling cocktail, the Persephone — a new drink done in a classic style by mixologist Marcovaldo Dionysos (who, unless he’s using a nom de plume, was clearly born to be a bartender.)

The Clock Bar, run by Chef Michael Mina, features world-class bar snacks and a cocktail menu that thinks it’s 1935.  But it’s not 1935.  It’s not even March any more, and this blog post has lingered unwritten long enough…

I’m a sucker for all things mythological and the Persephone, a cocktail made with Charbay vodka, homemade grenadine, and pomegranate juice, struck me as clever (and made me wonder why more libations aren’t named after Olympians…the Hephaestus anyone?)

Persephone, the goddess of spring, and daughter of Demeter (harvest) and Zeus (everything) was a hottie, devil-may-care kind of Olympian until Hades fell for her, dragged her to the underworld, and made her his queen.

Demeter, unable to find her daughter, rendered the earth barren while Persephone was missing.  Needing live people to worship him, and seeing no upside to mass starvation, Zeus stepped in and forced Hades to release his new bride.  Persephone was returned to her mother, but having eaten several seeds from an underworld pomegranate, she was tied to Hades forever.

(Travel advisory – skip the roadside snacks in hell.)

In a rare compromise, the gods decided to share, and Persephone spent the rest of her days splitting time between her mom’s house and her husband’s kingdom.

Mythology meets modern mixology. That was the concept.  That’s what I planned on talking about back in March, but as I said, life happened, and then, ironically, death did.

Shortly after I got home, and busy, and sick, my cousin Jamie died.  She was more than the word cousin implies, she was my little sister, my friend.  Jamie died suddenly, and young, and without much explanation.  Reeling is what I’ve been up to since it happened. In general, mornings have not been seen, work has not been done, and blogs have gone unwritten.

In dealing with the loss of Jamie, and my aunt’s grief, the myth of Persephone has taken on a whole new meaning.  I understand it better.  I know first hand that, if she could, my aunt would make it snow every day until someone gave her Jamie back.

So as the weeks have passed, and the fog has lifted, I’ve decided to revisit the Persephone.  After doing research, and discovering that there isn’t a definitive version of this cocktail (all apologies to Mr. Dionysos) I decided to come up with my own.

Because it’s summer now, I turned to gin as my base spirit.  I added homemade grenadine, pomegranate juice, and a little muddled mint.

Turns out, mint is a sacred plant closely tied to Persephone.  As the story goes, Hades cheated on Persephone with a nymph named Menthe.  When she found out, Persephone trampled on Menthe until she became a sprig of mint.

Maybe I find retribution funny, but I get a kick out of that story.  I think Jamie would too.

Here’s the recipe:
The Persephone
1 ½ oz Plymouth Gin
1 oz Pomegranate Juice
¾ Homemade Grenadine (I chose a recipe created by Jeff Hollinger, owner of Absinthe and author of “Art of the Bar”)
¼ Fresh lime Juice
3 or 4 pieces of mint
Fever Tree Bitter Lemon to taste
Mint for garnish
Put 3 or 4 pieces of mint in a Boston shaker, cover with Grenadine, and muddle ingredients until completely mixed.  Add gin, pomegranate juice, and ice, and shake until chilled.
Pour entire contents of shaker into a rocks glass.  Garnish with mint.

Jamie

What to serve a cocktail virgin?  Not just someone who’s never had a drink before, but someone who’s dabbled in drinking and wants to trade up from Milwaukee’s Best to mixed cocktails.  Where to start?

I say, let them drink lemonade.  Everyone past the age of five has had a glass of the stuff, and lemonade is a resilient mixer.  It’s an easy base for batched cocktails and it holds a lot of liquor.  So go ahead, subtly layer flavors, or dump in a ton of booze.*

(*See everclear punch, and my first two years of college…)

Lemonade is also incredibly accessible.  Its natural balance of sweet and citrus reduces the need for multiple, flashy ingredients — more good news for beginners.

Dovetailing with the newbie theme, this post is my first for Mixology Monday.  I felt the need to present a sufficiently road tested cocktail.  So last night I played bartender for my book club ladies, a group of women whose feedback on literature, poor life choices, and cocktails is always appreciated.  They are a tough group, and there’s not a cocktail virgin among them, but who doesn’t remember their first time?  After much sipping and discussing, I’m pleased to say this rag-tag group of readers gave the lavender lemonade a unanimous thumbs up.  The virgin version even worked for our mom-to-be in the group, who declared her mocktail “good for the soul.”

Which, I feel, takes lemonade to a whole new level.

Here’s the recipe:

Lavender Lemonade:
1 ½ oz Vodka (preferably citrus flavored)
½ oz Lavender-ginger simple syrup
Mint
Blueberries
Fresh squeezed, or organic lemonade

Prepare in the glass portion of a Boston Shaker so you can see the cocktail as you build it.
Place 3 or 4 medium mint leaves, and 4 to 6 blueberries in the shaker.  Cover with ½ oz of the simple syrup.  Muddle ingredients.  Add ice.  Add 1 ½ oz vodka.  Add 4 oz lemonade.  Shake ingredients.  Pour contents of shaker into a tall glass.  Garnish with mint leaves and a straw.

Lavender-Ginger Simple Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
½ inch slice of ginger cut into thin pieces
1 tsp food quality lavender

Place sugar and water into small pot.  Once the sugar has dissolved all lavender and ginger.  Slowly reduce over low heat for 10 minutes.  Should produce about 1 ½  cups of liquid.  Store in fridge for up to a month.

Wanted to take a minute to brag a little about my guys, the Bon Vivant Bartenders.

Over the last two years I’ve developed a team of bartenders for catering events, private parties, and corporate clients. They are smart, funny, creative mixologists, and a hell of a lot of fun to work with. (Unfortunately, not all of them are pictured.)

I was filing away event pictures yesterday and (besides being struck by how cool my guys look) was amazed by the number of events we’ve executed in the last twelve months.  We’ve been in Prince’s living room, at the Kentucky Derby, the SAG Awards, the Golden Globes, and behind every bar at every party thrown by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  (We spend so much time at the Academy, they’re thinking about getting us an office.  Actually, we could use a statue….)

We’ve been to San Francisco for the Black and White Ball, to Vegas for the Tiger Woods Foundation, and Phoenix for the NBA All Star Game, and that’s just a random sampling.  Last year, as a team, we knocked out more than 200 events.

Recently, we’ve taken our our act global (or at least international), with one guy representing me at a Michael Jordan event in the Bahamas, and another in Cabo with Chelsea Handler & Friends overseeing her birthday cocktails on the beach.  Tough job, but as the saying goes…

The BV Bartenders are a group of really great guys.  I’m thankful for their hard work, impressed by their talent, and moved by their sense of teamwork and loyalty.  (Occasionally, I want to hold one of them down in a tub of ice until they’re unconscious, but overall, I’m a very lucky girl.)  Their professionalism and talent is the reason for my company’s growth and success.  I, quite literally, couldn’t do it without them.

Thanks guys,
Jen

To learn more about these highly-trained cocktail professionals,

check us out at:
www.bonvivantevents.com

Below is a recipe based on the one created for Chelsea Handler’s Birthday extravaganza.

(Ms. Chandler pictured above)

Grey Goose “Margarita”

The “We know it can’t really be a Margarita without tequila, but this is pretty damn close, cocktail”
Based on a Recipe by Randy Evans

2 oz Grey Goose Le Citron
Homemade sour mix to taste (recipe below)
½ oz Cointreau
Salt for Rim
Lime wedge

Pour vodka, Cointreau, sour mix, and ice into a shaker.  Shake gently.
Pour entire contents into a glass rimmed with salt.  Garnish with a lime.

Homemade Sour Mix:
(Randy’s recipe is top secret.  This one is mine)
1 cup lemon juice
¾ cup lime juice
1 cup simple syrup
2 egg whites (the egg whites are optional).  They add a really great texture and mouth feel to the finished cocktail.

If you are worried about the raw egg, I recoment using pasturized Eggology Egg Whites.

The Gimlet was my first foray into big girl cocktails.  It taught me that alcohol wasn’t (entirely) meant to be consumed from plastic cups in someone’s dorm room…

After college, I lived down the block from Chicago’s iconic Green Mill, an old Capone hangout, and a really great jazz bar.  A serious establishment that, I felt, demanded a serious cocktail.  My novice attempt at “serious” was to order a martini — straight up.  It almost killed me.  I was 22 and had heard about martinis, had seen martinis (mainly in the Thin Man movies), but did not realize martinis were solid vodka, and an acquired taste.

Luckily, the Green Mill’s no-nonsense bartender was a highly trained professional.  He watched my seizure-inducing fist sip, laughed, and rescued me with a vodka gimlet.  (A drink that, to my untrained eye, seemed remarkably similar to the one I had just choked on.)  Using almost the same ingredients, the bartender tweaked the flavor profile by adding the Gimlet’s signature ingredient, Roses’ Lime.   I was amazed that such a small adjustment could transform a drink so completely.  The cocktail, still elegant in its up glass, now had a subtly, tart sweetness that cut through the chilled vodka making it far more palatable.   In an instant I went from being overwhelmed by bold alcohol, to having a new “go to drink” that was sophisticated, but simple enough to order at any bar.

These days I live in LA, appreciate a well-made martini, and prefer my gimlets with gin, fresh lime, and homemade simple syrup.  But I recognize that the Green Mill Gimlet was my gateway cocktail, and my introduction to mixology as conversation.

Gimlet

2 oz. Vodka or Gin
1/2 oz. Simple Syrup*
1/2 oz. Fresh Lime Juice*
(*Or substitute 1 oz. Roses’ Lime juice for Syrup and Lime Juice)

Pour ingredients into a Boston Shaker over ice
Shake until chilled
Strain into a martini glass
Garnish with a lime

In the Midwest, ice the size of a golf ball is something you run from as it falls from the sky, in LA it’s something you swirl in a cocktail.

At Bar Centro, part of the newly opened SLS Hotel near Beverly Hills, ice is the centerpiece of their “Ultimate Gin and Tonic”.  Floating in edible flowers, herbs, and your choice of tonic, is a perfect, frosty sphere.  No clunky rocks, nothing from a 1,000-pound machine, just an elegant, crystal-clear ball of ice.  Thick and round it melts slowly, chilling the cocktail without diluting it.

Throw in cucumbers, spices, and greenery, and you have a garden in a glass; a deconstructed gin and tonic if you will.  Perfect for a party, and with the right tools, easy to recreate at home.  A trip to the produce department, and a spherical ice mold is all you need.

I recommend the mold from the MoMa store. Its thoughtful design is compact and doesn’t require an engineering degree, although filling it takes a little patience.  Running water slowly through a pour spout (the kind you put in a bottle of spirits) inverted over the mold’s tiny hole helps it fill faster.  The resulting little ice balls are fun and worth the time.

Having survived an icy Chicago Christmas, these cocktail spheres are the closest I’m getting to snowballs or ice for the rest of the winter.  Home in LA, I will gladly sip my perfectly chilled gin and tonic in 75-degree weather, and think fondly of friends and family stuck in subzero temperatures.  (Those suckers are going to need all the good thoughts they can get…)

If you are in the LA area, Bar Centro is worth a visit.  The bar is filled (almost exclusively) with Sex and the City-type women, and has been designed by uber hipster Philippe Stark.  The lounge buzzes and whirs with a modernity that will go out of style quickly, but be remembered fondly (like disco lights and Halston jumpsuits) so catch it while it’s hot. There are two restaurants and a sweet shop on the bar level as well.

Bar Centro @ SLS Hotel
465 S. La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Phone: (310) 247-0400
Monday-Wednesday, Sunday 6pm-12am; Thursday-Saturday 6pm-2am
Map

Looking for a cocktail to serve at your Inauguration party next week?  Try an Obamartini or Biden Beer Bomb. I created these cocktails during the presidential debate season last fall, and they were two of my most popular posts for ’08.  Interest in them seems to be spiking again, so I thought I’d present them together.  Besides having catchy names (if I do say so myself) these cocktails are easy, festive, and in the case of the Obamatini, downright patriotic.

Throw your own Inaugural Ball next Tuesday. Invite friends and family over, huddle around the big screen (while our fellow citizens freeze in DC), and raise a very full glass to the peaceful transfer of power, a new era, and a whole lot of hope.

Fun Party tips:

-Buy a life sized Obama cutout at a party supply store for photo ops.
-Burn a copy of the Inaugural address and loop it all night long.
-Treat your guests to a West Wing Marathon.  Even on mute this series (democratic porn, really) will raise hopes and elevate spirits.

The Obamartini

2 oz original Grey Goose Vodka
1 oz fresh pressed blueberry juice
½ oz simple syrup
¼ oz Chambord
¼ oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
Pour all ingredients over ice into a Boston Shaker
Shake until cold and strain into a martini glass
Skewer blueberry, marshmallow, and piece of strawberry (in that order) onto an olive pick and garnish away.

The Biden Beer Bomb

½ bottle of Sam Adams Cherry Wheat Beer (or beer of your choice.  Wheat beer or hefeweizen works best)
1½ oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon
½ oz Cherry Brandy
¼  oz simple syrup

Run water over beer mug and put in freezer while preparing cocktail.

Place bourbon, cherry brandy, and simple syrup in a Boston shaker with ice.  Shake until cold.
Pour mixture into the bottom of an ice-cold mug.  Add beer to taste.

There is something iconic and beautiful about a single shot of Whiskey.  It’s the drink of choice for cinematic tough guys who sidle up to bars and drink from dirty glasses before demanding the bottle.  The drink of writer’s and poets on their road to self-destruction, and of Chris, my best friend from college, who slugged whiskey from the bottle (and then chased it with Coke from a Big Gulp).  Personally, the Big Gulp ruined the aesthetics for me, so when we drank together, I’d belt my whiskey unflinchingly straight, no chaser.  Grrrrr.  When you’re really badass, no mixers or glassware required.

Years have passed, Chris has turned to German beer, and I’ve learned to use a rocks glass (and when really being fancy, rocks).  Whiskey is still my drink of choice, and occasionally, when the situation calls for it, I embrace the simplicity of the single shot.

Like when I couldn’t move, a shot of bourbon got me into the car for my grandfather’s funeral.  After a harrowing week on the road, it helped me celebrate my move across the country, and when my college diploma arrived in the mail, after a decade of being held hostage, Jack Daniels and I met it at the door.

This year, while visiting family for Christmas, a single shot of whiskey eased me into my holiday.  For some reason, it was a long road back to Chicago, and it’s negative five-degree weather.  I was alone, didn’t want to be, and while the evening before had been perfect, everything went wrong the day of my flight.  I’d broken the mirror off of my car while parking, forgotten my winter gloves, smashed my cell phone’s headset, and when I checked into the newly built hotel, depressingly located in a suburban shopping mall, record snow was falling.  I watched it come down as I tracked my lost luggage on a website that barely worked.

Starving, and too late for room service, I raided the mini fridge looking for jellybeans.  That’s where I found him.  Jack, wearing a teeny, tiny airport bottle.  After some quick hellos, I powered down my computer, took a long, warm shower, and from the comfort of my “heavenly bed”, sipped a pure shot of whiskey.  I sipped it slowly, and unflinchingly, from the bottle.  No glassware required.

For the rest of the week I enjoyed juices, punches, and the odd Christmas margarita, but that single shot had set the tone.  No matter how cold, or far away from home, I was a badass, and was going to be fine.

Thanksgiving dinner was a family affair this year.  My sister provided delicious experimental cheeses, my cousin threw down with me in the kitchen, and my boyfriend kept a stiff upper lip while my relations teased him about – well –everything.  It was a tough crowd, and we needed a cocktail that would pair well with food, football, and anger management.

I settled on Cornucopia Sangria, a cocktail recently published in the San Francisco Chronicle.  Written by Stacy Finz, this great article suggests holiday cocktails for every imaginable occasion. (Except maybe hating the holidays, which, I guess, is what whiskey and a dark room are for.)

Adapted from “Peterson’s Holiday Helper,” by Valerie Peterson, the Cornucopia calls for chopped whole cranberries, oranges, apples, and red Rioja (a deeply colored, medium bodied Spanish wine with hints of berry).   Macerate (which is a fancy way of saying marinate) the chopped fruit in triple sec for a bit, and then stir the Rioja and sparkling cider into the mix.

Cocktail notes:
*Add the sparkling cider slowly, and to taste.  Depending on the quality and flavor of the Rioja you are using, too much sparkling cider can dilute the flavors of the wine.

*Let the mixture sit for a while, the flavor becomes richer over time.

*Although, not traditionally part of a sangria recipe, for a cocktail with a little more body (and a lot more kick) try mixing in a touch of vodka — we added a little Grey Goose.  By the time dinner rolled around the turkey was a little on the dry side, but we weren’t.

This sangria is great for groups, daytime sipping, and helping you through holiday duties like present wrapping, cookie baking, and the hauling out of ornaments (or fighting about the hauling out of ornaments). Whatever happens in your house.

For the full SF Gate article on holiday cocktails, including the Cornucopia Sangria recipe, click here.

Hot Toddy.  Hot Toddy.  Hot Toddy.  I defy you to say that several times quickly without smiling.

I love the name of this cocktail.  To me, a Hot Toddy conjures images of roaring fires, ski lodges, and Clarence (the angel from It’s a Wonderful Life).  Technically, Clarence orders a flaming rum punch in the movie, but I’m pretty sure (had he not been kicked out of the bar) a Toddy would have been next on his list.

Hot Toddies have been around since man discovered spirits could be consumed warm (so — five minutes after spirits were discovered at all – right?).  Typically brandy based, there are hundreds of variations on the classic recipe.

In the 1860’s Jerry Thomas, author, and mixologist extraordinaire, offers no fewer than seven examples of this cocktail.  In the Bon Vivant’s Companion, he gives brandy, whiskey, and gin all equal Toddy treatment.

While the Gin Toddy never caught on, Thomas’ Apple Toddy is worth a second look.  In addition to the traditional ingredients, his recipe calls for ¼ of a baked apple to be placed in the warmed cocktail.

Now, I don’t know if in baked apples were just hanging out in every kitchen and tavern in the 1860’s, but in 2008 that seems a long way to go for garnish.  (A garnish that requires patience, a pre-heated oven, and tons of butter.)

I traded the baked apple for apple cider, and came up with my own take on the Hot Apple Toddy:

Hot Apple Toddy
2 oz Brandy (rum or whiskey can be substituted)
1/2 oz honey
¼ lemon juice
1 cinnamon stick
1 or 2 whole cloves
Apple Cider
Boiling Water
Slice of apple garnish

While boiling water, gently warm the cider and cinnamon stick and cloves in a small pot.  Once it begins to steam (do not boil cider).  In a tall glass add brandy, lemon juice, and honey.  Once warmed, pour cider and spices over the brandy/honey mixture.  Top off with boiling water and stir.

The warm water cuts the sweetness of the juice, and the cider adds a comforting apple flavor to a traditionally simple cocktail (minus the oven, butter, and 45 minute cooking time).  But none of this is set in stone.  Play around with this recipe and find variations that work for you.

There are as many different uses for the Toddy as there are recipes.  Sip one as a festive winter cocktail, on a restless night let the Toddy lull you to sleep, or let it kick the ass of a tough winter cold (cause believe me, it will).  Hear that Clarence? It is a wonderful life.

It’s fall and the mind turns to crisp cool air, fuzzy sweaters, and crackling fires.

Not in LA. Here the October winds are hot and thick, short-shorts are acceptable after labor day, and crackling fires…well, if you check the news, we seem to have that covered.

Having come from the Midwest (and never having been a short-short kind of girl) I miss cold weather, changing leaves, and fire in actual fireplaces.

I’ve been working on a cocktail that captures a little of that fall feeling. I intend to serve it this year at my West Coast Thanksgiving.

I use vodka as the base, add brandy and Licor 43 for a blend of warm flavors that are sweet without being cloying, and top off with a slice of apple.  For the syrup I used a cinnamon cider syrup I found at a specialty food store (pictured below).  It’s a reduction of apple cider, maple syrup, and cinnamon.  You can find specialty syrups like this one all over in October and November.  In a pinch, cinnamon simple syrup works well in this cocktail.  When making simple syrup, add a cinnamon stick as it is simmering for a similar flavor.

Licor 43 is a particularly interesting mixer. A Spanish liqueur with gentle vanilla undertones, it’s made from 43 ingredients (hence the name). Exactly which 43 ingredients is not quite clear –the recipe is a carefully guarded secret which dates back 1000 years.

Autumn Harvest Cocktail
1 ½ oz Grey Goose Vodka
½ oz Licor 43
½ oz Cinnamon Cider Syrup*
½ oz Brandy
¼ oz lemon juice
Apple for garnish

Pour all ingredients into a Boston shaker over ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a slice of apple.