Egg-Pic Easter Sunday Cocktails

If you're a cocktail enthusiast Easter means one thing for you, egg drinks and lots of them!  Eggs and liquor have been close friends since the 1600's and possibly earlier.  Of course in that time it was only the wealthy that could afford to mix their brandy and ales with dairy products of any sort.  Eggnog, the most famous of all egg drinks started it's birth in England during the 17th century and in the 1800's sailed it's way to the new world where rum and dairy was plenty.  Which eventually lead to it's mass popularity and resulting, it's mass production.  Like many of the great cocktails eggnog has been bastardized, now an over sweet pasteurized product that usually only sees the fluorescent glow of grocery stores during the winter months.  But there is no need to spend your hard earned money on something that can be made at home for cheaper and of better quality.  Below is Jeffery Morgenthaler's Eggnog recipe.  This was the first time I've done a home made eggnog so I've yet to experiment with my own but Mr. Morgenthaler's recipe is top notch and stupid simple to make.

Eggnog

- 2 Large Eggs

- 3 oz (by volume) granulated sugar

- 1/2 tsp fresh-grated nutmeg

- 2 oz Brandy

- 2 oz Spiced Rum

- 6 oz Whole Milk

- 4 oz Heavy Cream

Mr. Morgenthaler's Eggnog

Beat eggs in blender for one minute on medium speed.  slowly add sugar and blend for one additional minute.  With blender still running, add nutmeg, brandy, rum, milk and cream until combined.  Chill thoroughly to allow flavors to combine and serve in chilled wine glasses or champagne coupe, grating additional nutmeg on top immediately before serving.

This recipe is for 2 servings but just multiply the proportions for how ever big of a bowl you need for your easter dinner.  Also, don't feel restricted by the above recipe.  This is a great starting point for your unique eggnog, and for garnishing feel free to top with grated cinnamon, angostura bitters or what ever you feel works well.

But don't limit your egg consumption to strictly eggnog this Easter Sunday!  I find adding egg white to nearly any shaken drink adds an extra layer of texture that really brings a drink from good to great.  Try it in a Margarita, Daiquiri or make any one of my original recipes you'll find below.  Feel free to comment with your favorite fizz, flip, sour, eggnog or what ever drink you fancy with egg!

Fire Side Sour (Revised from previous post) 
- 1.5 oz  VS Cognac
- 0.5 oz Benedictine
- 1 table spoon fresh blended ginger
- 1 oz Fresh squeezed Lemon Juice
- 0.5 oz Honey Cinnamon Syrup (1 cup honey, 1 cup water, 4 cinnamon sticks over medium heat for 10 min.)
- 1 Egg White

- Add all ingredients excluding egg white to one half of your shaker
- Add egg white to other half of shaker (just incase you break the yoke you don't ruin the entire drink) 
- Add the spring from your strainer into shaker (this acts as a whisk and gets that egg white really foamy)
- Dry shake (Shake without ice)
- Remove spring, add ice and shake
- Double strain into chilled rocks glass

- Garnish with Angostura/151 Brulee

Revolving Barrel
- 1.5 oz Black Grouse Scotch
- 0.25 oz Galliano
- 0.25 Honey Cinnamon Syrup
- 1 Whole Egg
- 1.5 oz Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer

- Add to shaker all ingredients excluding egg and beer to shaker
- Add to separate half of shaker one whole egg
- Add the spring of your hawthorn strainer to the shaker
- Dry shake
- Remove spring, add ice and shake
- Strain into chilled wine glass
- Top with Innis & Gunn

- Garnish with fresh graded nutmeg or cinnamon

Autumn Ethereal

- 1.5 oz Apple Cinnamon Vodka *

- 0.5 oz Navan Vanilla Cognac 

- 0.25 Rich Demerara Simple Syrup (2 parts Demerara sugar to 1 Part water)

- 2 Dashes Fee Brothers Chocolate Bitters

- 1 Whole Egg

- Add all ingredients excluding egg to shaker

- Add to separate half of shaker one whole egg

- Add the spring of your hawthorn strainer to the shaker

- Dry shake
- Remove spring, add ice and shake

- Strain into chilled cocktail glass**

- Garnish with fresh grated nutmeg

Autumn Ethereal

* To make apple cinnamon vodka place one 750ml bottle in a jar along with one apple sliced into eighths and 6-10 cinnamon sticks.  Let infusion occur for one week, shaking the mixture once a day.


** The Cocktail glasses I used in the picture of Autumn Ethereal cocktail can be found here.

Classic Cocktail of The Month: Corpse Reviver #2

In order to bring some kind of regularity to my blog I thought of starting a monthly blog post to highlight some great classic cocktails.  Some of which will be the obvious classics as well as some more unknown recipes that I've took the time to uncover.  But these posts will not stop at just a recipe and a brief history of the cocktail, I will also demonstrate how knowing your classics is vital in being able to begin creating your own memorable drinks.

To begin my first "Classic Cocktail of The Month" post, I will be feature one of my favorites.  The Corpse Reviver #2, a perfect balance of sweet, sour and savory notes.  To those unfamiliar with cocktails or anyone who says "I don't like gin", this is the drink I make for them.
 The Corpse Reviver #2 makes it's first appearance in "The Savoy Cocktail Book" written by Harry Craddock.  Along with being an author, Harry was also head bartender of The American Bar in London England.  Published in 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book essentially became the hand book for bartenders across London.

Corpse Reviver #2
- 0.75 oz Gin
- 0.75 oz Cointreau
- 0.75 oz Lillet Blanc
- 0.75 oz Lemon Juice
- Absinthe Rinse*

- Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker
- Add ice and shake
- Double strain in to absinthe rinsed cocktail glass*
- Garnish with lemon or orange zest

Corpse Reviver # 2

* To Prepare absinthe rinsed glass, put 2 oz absinthe into a olive oil mister and coat the inside of the glass entirely.  This processes will add a wonderful subtle taste and nose to the cocktail.

Remember, like the book says "Four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again."


Epitaph
- 0.75 oz Saffron Gin
- 0.75 oz Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
- 0.5 oz St. Germain Elder Flower Liqueur
- 0.5 oz Lemon Juice
- Islay Scotch Rinse (I used Laphroaig Quarter Cask)

- Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker

- Add ice and shake

- Double strain in to Islay Scotch rinsed cocktail glass

- Garnish with Grapefruit Zest

Epitaph

I originally tried this recipe with all equal parts like The Corpse Reviver #2 but I felt that the Dry vermouth and Gin were lost amongst the other powerful flavors. Lighting up on the St. Germain and Lemon juice really balanced out the drink.  Post your variation on the classic Corpse Reviver #2 and I'll be sure to try it out.

Brewing New Ideas

I am not a beer guy by any means and it's not that I haven't tried many.  I've tried probably between 40-50 beers but none have ever stood out enough to even make me say "I would consider buying this".  Given the choice I would order a cocktail over a beer 100% of the time but this past week I heard some co-workers talking about a beer aged in oak casks.  Although not a beer drink I am indefinitely a lover of whisk(e)y, Scotch to be more specific.  So when I heard about Innis & Gunn, a Scottish beer aged in oak casks I had no choice but to go to my local liquor store and get a bottle.  Upon tasting the beer I noticed it was quiet different from any other beer I've tried.  A great mingling of sweet and spice mixed with the clear presence of the cask to make for a perfect beer suited to my palate.  I wasn't going to stop at just drinking the beer straight, I had every intention on making a cocktail with it.


Revolving Barrel
- 1.5 oz Black Grouse Scotch
- 0.25 oz Galliano
- 0.25 Honey Cinnamon Syrup*
- 1 Whole Egg
- 1.5 oz Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer

- Add to shaker all ingredients excluding egg and beer
- Add to separate half of shaker one whole egg
- Add the spring of your hawthorn strainer to the shaker
- Dry shake with spring
- Remove spring, add ice and shake hard!
- Strain into chilled wine glass**
- Top with Innis & Gunn
- Garnish fresh graded cinnamon or nutmeg

Revolving Barrel

* Honey cinnamon syrup is 1 cup honey to 1 cup water with 4 cinnamon sticks over low heat until a even consistency has been achieved.  Let cool and bottle in fridge.

** Because you are not double straining this cocktail make sure your hawthorn strainer is pressed down all the way so the holes in the strainer and the spring line up.  This will make sure no ice chunks go into your drink.  I didn't want to double strain this one because I wanted the most foam possible.