Well, my new life as a boozeblogger has forced me to expand my cocktalian knowledge in ways that I never could have expected. Over the last few weeks, I have been spending a lot of time with my contemporaries, and I’ve stumbled upon a weekly online cocktail event. Spending so much virtual time with people who are considerably more advanced than I when it comes to mixology. The first thing I noticed was that I was lacking in a few key bottles, which I’ve tried to remedy (see The Liquor Cabinet). The second problem I ran into was my lack of mixers, and not just any mixers: syrups!
As I sat and watched the chat room, I saw these cocktail enthusiasts talking about odd ingredients like orgeat and falernum. I was intrigued, and totally baffled. Thankfully, cocktalians are a generous bunch, and they pointed me toward a few recipes. That threw me for a loop…”Recipes?!” I said, “Where can I buy it?” They chided me for my ignorance and explained that the store-bought stuff is never quite as good as the stuff you make yourself. Dearest readers, you can guess what happened next…
But first, a quick overview of the syrups. The first syrup I decided to make was falernum, a lime and ginger concoction from the Carribean. Falernum syrup is rum based (duh) and is used most often in tiki drinks (and that family) (again, duh). That being said, a few minutes of watching the chatting opened my eyes to the myriad of uses of this delightful island beverage. I knew if I was going to have a chance at trying some of their drinks, I was going to have to make some falernum.
Enter the recipes. As this was my first time making syrups, I decided to use other people’s recipes. I was pointed to this recipe from Gabe over at cocktailnerd.com, and this recipe from Matt at rumdood.com, and this recipe from Rick at kaiserpenguin.com. I had three to choose from, and so I went with a combination of all three (but mostly Rick’s). My recipe:
Step 1:
All the stuff I used to make falernum.
Zest of 8 limes.
.5 cup of ginger (julienned)
50 cloves.
Whole nutmeg.
Ground allspice (this was due to the lack of whole allspice).
8 oz. of a good rum (I used Wray and Nephew, another find from my besotted buddies.)
Toast the spices for a few minutes. This was something I’d wished I’d looked at sooner; the ground allspice took on a burnt smell rather quickly, but thankfully the carbon flavor wasn’t in the finish. Steep all of this in the rum for a day or so (I got distracted and let mine go for almost 5 days…oops! Hopefully it made it better.) Strain and discard the aromatics.
Step 2:
Make a simple syrup (2:1 sugar to water). Let the syrup cool and combine with the steeped rum.
Isn't it lovely? Isn't it wonderful?
***
The orgeat was a much simpler story; I came across an article on the Mai Tai, and the recipe called for this almond syrup I’d never heard of. A little research made the travesty of my ignorance profoundly obvious. There are a number of people out there that will threaten you with bodily harm if you attempt to make a Mai Tai with anything other than orgeat. That being said, there are a lot fewer ingredients to orgeat syrup, but the process is a bit more involved. Unfortunately for everyone here, I’ve misplaced the recipe (which is boozeblogger speak for ‘I forgot to save the link).
The basic process goes like this: take some blanched almonds, soak them in water. Pull ‘em out and pulverize them, then soak them again. Strain the water through a cloth, wring the almonds well, then replace the mash into the same water. This last step confused me, but then I read further. The purpose of this process is to remove the oil from the almonds while passing the flavor to the water.
The base for the orgeat is either a brandy or vodka, and it’s mixed with a 2:1 simple syrup. Mine didn’t turn out that well, but it was my first attempt, and I’m going to try again.
It’s been a long month, and I have to apologize for my lack of posting. Between taking classes for my MBA and the academic calendar my 9-5 is inextricably linked to, May is a very busy month. I’ll do my best to get something more over the next month, and then of course July is Tales month…armed with my laptop, I’m going to attempt to transmit as much as I can through my mild intoxication.
Caw!
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