Quaff The Raven

Mixology Monday

I have a confession to make.  I really wanted to participate last month, but posting in the month of May  proved to be impossible.  I’ll spare you the details, but three conflicting academic schedules made any attempt to create a new drink unachieveable…I barely had a chance to drink, let alone invent.  So, for anyone who feels let down, mea culpa, but expect the same thing next year.  On to ginger.

I suppose most folks are going to start with a discussion of what their inspiration was in selecting the method of ginger introduction.  I won’t; I knew immediately what I was going to use for my gingered component(s).  At last year’s Tales I met up with the a few ladies who had a new ginger product on the market.  The ladies were the mistresses of the LOFT, and the bottle they opened was a Spicy Ginger Cello. 

An important bottle, and hard to get!

This is where I do a little advertisement for LOFT. You can get a lot of information from their website, so I won’t recite the sales pitch. What I will do is tell you that their ginger cello is unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. Served ice cold, the libation is sweet and finishes with a pleasant spicy tingle. I managed to secure a bottle from them before we parted ways; a fortuitous event, in that I haven’t succeeded in reconnecting with them. Nonetheless, I hope to succeed in securing another bottle at Tales (I’ve seen them on the sponsor list).

My second gingerific ingredient is as easy to determine as looking at my last post. I’ve just recently tried my hand at falernum syrup, and as we all know, falernum is flavored with lime and ginger.  I know, it is quite serendipitous that I’ve got two great ginger ingredients, but why stop there?  One of my favorite cocktails is the Moscow Mule, and I usually keep a fairly sizable inventory of ginger beer in my apartment.

Before anyone starts freaking out on me, I’m not going to use all my ginger ingredients in one drink.  I’m not one who is known for liking things spicy (though I did like the suggestion of including a shredded picture of an anachronistic television starlet.)  Fortunately,  I found myself fresh out of ginger beer, so I couldn’t temp the fates with too much spicy root.

So, the drink:

The Raven's Loft; Spicy

.75 oz LOFT Spicy Ginger Cello
1 oz Yamazaki 12 year
.5 oz Falernum syrup (used my own, but tried it with Taylor’s Velvet Falernum, both good.)
.5 oz water (or less, nothing special. It adds a nice touch.)
3 or 4 drops of Campari
2 drops (maybe less) vanilla extract

The garnish for my contribution is a roll of thinly sliced smoked salmon, sliced thrice and skewered on whatever pointy instrument you have available.  Prior to the garnishing, mix and shake with ice, then strain (remember that the LOFT should be stored in the freezer anyway).

And the name…  Many people greater than I have pontificated on the struggle inherent in the pursuit of cocktalian nomenclature.  I’ve always enjoyed the notion of mixing with LOFT, what with the connection between ravens and lofts, so I think I have to call that out.  Though I’ll catch some flak from my friends for showing my  geek card, I will have to go with the Raven’s Loft; Spicy.

As a final note, yes, I did really garnish this drink with smoked salmon.  I find the salty, smoky flavor complements the whiskey and ginger perfectly.  Of couse, I concepted the garnish before I actually tried it, but upon the writing of this paragraph, I have actually tried this and will consider other non-traditional options for garnishing future drinks.  Try it, you’ll like it.

A special thanks to my testers for going through the mixological crucible that is me.  Another big thanks to Matt at RumDood for hosting this month’s MxMo.

Caw!