Spirits of the West Vol. 2--Irish Whiskey

Thanks to all who attended the second installment of my ongoing (hopefully) series of cocktail and spirit 'educational' events.  Especially to Lindsay Ferguson of Bluenote Wine and Spirits for providing us with all that excellent Irish Whiskey from Cooley Distillery.

I just want to take a second and post the recipes for the cocktails we had with each whiskey. All three were stirred over ice and strained into chilled cocktail glasses.

First off: 

Belfast Cocktail (Old Country Manhattan)

2oz Greenore 8 year old Single Grain Irish Whiskey

1oz Sweet Vermouth

1 dash Maraschino

1 dash Absinthe

1 dash Angostura

1 dash Peychaud's

Obviously inspired by the Manhattan, I hedged a bit toward the Sazerac with the use of Absinthe and Peychaud's. 

The Greenore Single Grain (the grain being corn) behaves much like a cross between a Bourbon and a Canadian whisky, with notes of sweetness and vanilla. It really bears little resemblance to its Irish malted brethren BUT it is actually a component in it's distillery mate, the blended Kilbeggan Finest, a more traditional Irish Whiskey.

Anyhow the result reminded me a little it of a Crown Royal Manhattan, smooth, balanced, maybe a little too sweet for some in which case you'd simple back off a little on the Vermouth.

Next, the Tipperary Cocktail, it was St Patty's day after all.

1oz Tyrconnell Single Malt Irish Whiskey

1oz Green Chartreuse

1oz Sweet Vermouth

A shockingly tight little tipple, I must extend mad mixology props to Hugo R. Ensslin for being to first to put this little gem (an emerald perhaps) into print in his 1916 book Recipes for Mixed Drinks. If he's the gent who came up with it, I've no idea what common thread he thought would bring these three spirits together and in equal measure to create a harmonious concoction, but he did it. The herbaceous minty flavour of the Chartreuse sings on the finish in chorus with the Sweet Vermouth without masking the malty palate of the Tyrconnell, fascinating. Again, this could prove a slighty sweet recipe for the "wave the vermouth over the glass" set, so use your Cinzano judiciously. 

and lastly, for those of you who remember your third cocktail:

The Gaelic Kir

I must cite Vancouver expat Jamie Boudreau for this little number though his is made with Scotch.

1 oz Connemara Peated 12 year Single Malt Irish Whiskey

1 oz Gehringer Brothers Cabernet-Merlot

dash simple syrup

1/4 oz Creme de Cassis

dash Peychaud's

dash Angostura.

Now, some might say that it's criminal to mix a three figure Whiskey with a one figure wine in equal measure, but this cocktail is all about the whiskey so I didn't mind using a wine whose character I wasn't worried about ruining. Herr Boudreau's logic is flawless when he points out that red wine in the guise of vermouth has been paired with whiskey for many moons and a drier Cabernet offsets the sweetness added by the cassis ans sugar. The funny thing about this one is, it still tastes like whiskey, in kind of the same way that a Negroni tastes like gin. The nose is almost erased by the wine so the peaty finish provided by the Connemara sneaks up on you a little bit, but if you liked the whiskey, you'll like the cocktail, and if you thought the whiskey was just a bit too much for you, you'll really like the cocktail because the wine and liqueur take all of the sharp edges off of the whiskey, but leave behind it's flavour components. Very satisfying.

Birth of a Legend?

I LOVE cocktail competitions. 

They have about as much objective integrity as the NBA slam dunk competition,  but I love em still.

I've never even WON one, and still, I love.

Why?

Because it's an excuse to PLAY!!!!

AND...they somehow almost always birth a brand new cocktail, not not just a freestyle experiment that gets forgotten the next night, but a legitimately original cocktail with a precise recipe and even its own name. I dare say there must be at least a few modern classics that were born out of some lame contest or another.

The latest and greatest of these mixicological over indulgences was put on by the good folks at Grand Marnier via Diageo with the Grand Marnier and Navan Mixology Summitt.    Unfortunatelty yours truly will not be jetting off the Vail in April, thanks to Lauren Mote of Chow, who did a fantastic job of brand evangelism for Grand Marnier and will be a great contributor to the summit in April. 

I still must extend my appreciation to Grand Marnier for wining and dining me and the rest of Vancouver's bartending set, AND giving me a couple of sample bottles to play with, which is all they really needed to do to get me in their corner. 

Sometimes, playing with booze an be a battle, as it was with the Navan Vanilla Cognac

and some other times, things just fall into place perfectly, as they did with the Grand Marnier. 

Either way, the results never cease to amaze me, it's too bad that this wasn't actually a "mixology" contest, more of a brand loyalty one, because I think I've stumbled upon a couple of solid recipes.

As I mentioned, the Navan was a battle for me. The flavour is so distinctly raw vanilla bean that I found it was over powering any other ingredients I attempted to use. That all changed when a couple of the boys from George Ultra Lounge down the street came  by and asked for a Primo Jalisco made with Sagatiba Cachaca instead of Tequila, and a the dim Edison era bulb above my head became a Vancouver Police Service ghetto bird flood light. If anything had the moxie to stand up to the Navan, it was Cachaca.

The rest fell into place quite nicely, with the Primo Jalisco as the inspiration:

The Celladhor

1oz Sagatiba Cachaca

1/2 oz Navan

1/2 oz Grand Marnier

juice of 1/2 lime

3/4 oz ginger syrup

dash Peychaud's bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass and shake. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a cube of candied ginger.

The name of the drink comes from an essay written by JRR Tolkien where he surmises that the phrase "cellar door" is one of the most beautiful sounds in the English language. My spelling is an attempt to approximate how "cellar door" might sound in his English accent.