A Bitter Spirit

Day 4: Yaldā Night

Next up in our Solstice or Festival of Light drinks, a cocktail celebrating Yaldā. What is Yaldā, you ask? To the tape (or, Wikipedia, in this case!) ...

Shab-e Yalda ("Yalda night" Persian: شب یلدا‎‎) is an Iranian festival celebrated on the "longest and darkest night of the year," that is, in the night of the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice. The longest and darkest night of the year is a time when friends and family gather together to eat, drink and read poetry (especially Hafez) until well after midnight. Fruits and nuts are eaten and pomegranates and watermelons are particularly significant. The red colour in these fruits symbolizes the crimson hues of dawn and glow of life.

Now, we're not really fans of watermelon. But who doesn't love drinks with pomegranate!?!

Note: no poetry was read during the creation of this cocktail. You can decide for yourself if that is a good thing or a bad thing. 

The Yaldā Night Cocktail

• 1 part - Pomegranate Juice
• 2 parts - Brandy
• 1 part - Sea Buckthorn Liqueur from Okanagan Spirits
• 1/2 bar spoon - Pernod

Combine ingredients in shaker. Shake over ice. Garnish with the pomegranate seeds that Drew REALLY didn't want to dig out of the pomegranate but he did because he loves his sister. Have them immediately sink to the bottom of the glass so you can't see them (pro-tip: pomegranate seeds don't float). Feel secure in knowing that they are there, quietly imbuing the drink with their essence - much like Hafez imbues post-14th century Persian literature with the wisdom found in his poetry.

Cocktail Notes

• We started off thinking about this as a pomegranate sour. That didn't work out as planned. We tried with Poire William as well as another pear brandy plus lime. No.
• Then we thought about a variant on a cosmo. So we tried the Sea Buckthorn (which has a tart note) and East Van Vodka (which is slightly floral). Not enough deep notes.
• So we went with a variant on a sidecar - putting in brandy as the main spirit. Kept the Sea Buckthorn. And added a 1/2 barspoon of Pernod as a slight nod to Persia's anise-flavoured arak liquor. This combo worked quite well. We think it would be very good with grilled meats (and now we're craving kebobs!).

Day 11: Eleven Pipers Piping Cocktail

Hello, fellow cocktail drinkers.  Here we are at the penultimate cocktail in our Twelve Days of Christmas cocktail calendar.  For the cocktails thus far, we've made some connection to the given verse of the carol, whether it was a literal ingredient or inspired by the words or tone of the verse.  With this cocktail, we fully admit that the cocktail we made has nothing to do with the number 11, pipers or piping.  We found a recipe that adds olive oil to a brandy sour to make the cocktail a little deeper and richer in flavour.  We took that idea and riffed on it, making the sour out of a cherry and fig infused brandy.

Eleven Pipers Piping Cocktail

• 2 parts cherry and fig infused brandy (see cocktail notes below)
• 1/2 part lemon juice
• 3/4 part simple syrup
• 1 tsp good quality olive oil 
• 1 tsp egg white
• spritz of Pernod

Combine the brandy, lemon juice, simple syrup, olive oil and egg white in a cocktail shaker.  Dry shake for at least 20 seconds.  Add ice and shake until the cocktail is chilled.  Pour into a coupe glass and mist with Pernod.

Cocktail Notes

• For the brandy infusion, we used 1 cup of brandy, 1/4 a cup of dried cherries and 2 dried figs (roughly cut up).  Let that mixture set for at least 2 days to get the full flavour of the fruit in the brandy.
• The original recipe called for a mist of Herbsaint which we didn't have but found that Pernod married nicely with infused brandy.
• Make sure your olive oil is fresh!  We found out the hard way that some of the olive oil in the kitchen had turned.
• The dry shake is extremely important to help emulsify the ingredients together.  Without that, the cocktail won't taste like an integrated drink.

Day 3: Three French Hens Cocktail

Well, here we are on the Third Day of Christmas which, coincidentally, happens to be half way through the gifts of birds in the song. Seriously! If any "true love" decided to gift us that many different kinds of fowl, we'd have to reconsider the future of that relationship. Regardless, we have drinks to make.

For this cocktail, Drew wanted to combine three French liquors to create something magical (or magique, en français)! Kate suggested making a sour so there'd be some kind of egg in the drink to reflect the hens. We settled on using brandy as the base spirit and then added Suze (a liqueur made from gentian flowers) for a little bitter and Benedictine for a little spice. Lemon, simple syrup, egg white and cherry bitters complete the drink.

Three French Hens

• 2 parts brandy
• 1 part Suze
• 1 part Benedictine
• 1/2 tsp simple syrup
• 1/2 part lemon juice
• 1 tsp egg white
• 3 drops of cherry bitters (we used Spirit Fire Cherry Cedar bitters by Apothecary Bitters)

Combine all ingredients into a shaker and dry shake for approximately 30 seconds. Add ice and shake until chilled. Pour into a coupe glass and top with bitters.

Cocktail Notes

The cocktail came together pretty much as we had tasted it in our heads. If you wanted to up the bitterness somewhat, you could increase the Suze by about 1/2 part.

Day 22: Tennessee Christmas

The song inspiration for today's cocktail is Tennessee Christmas, written by Amy Grant and Gary Chapman. Originally recorded for Amy's 1983 A Christmas Album, it has since been recorded by several different artists.

Tennessee Christmas reminds us of homeyness and homeyness recalls holiday traditions like fruit cake. Fruit cake? Yes, fruit cake. Because we thoroughly enjoy fruit cake. Well, fruit cake done properly with lots of booze like rum and brandy. Of course, rum and brandy together harkens to the classic Between the Sheets cocktail. Similar to a Sidecar, a Between the Sheets combines brandy, rum, cointreau and lemon. For this incarnation, we decided to try and create a fruitcake-like infusion in the brandy.

Tennesse Christmas Cocktail
1 part infused brandy
1/2 part cointreau
1 part rum
1/2 part lemon juice
1/2 part spiced syrup

Place all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

First, a Pro Tip: even though you've finished the bottle, you shouldn't put it in the recycling bin until you've taken the picture; otherwise, you end up with a sticky note on a bottle of Baileys. Second, there is technically no actual fruitcake in this cocktail. The fruitcake represents the myriad of fruits and spices we infused the booze and syrup with.

Cocktail Notes
While you could just slice up a couple of pieces of fruit cake and stick it into some brandy, we decided to build an infusion from scratch. In making it, it was a dash of this and a bit of that kind of concoction but here's the best guess as to the components:
1/4 cup pecan pieces
2 Tbsp raisins
1 Tbsp dried cherries
2 prunes
peel of half an orange, whole piece (not grated)
peel of half a lemon, whole piece (not grated)

Place all the ingredients into a large container and allow to sit for at least 6 days. Strain and use.
Note: originally we had added about 6 prunes, but the infusion was way too sweet after just 3 days so we removed them. One or two will add the depth of flavour without making it too sweet.

We decided to make a spiced syrup so we could control the level of spice better than was possible in an alcohol infusion. For the syrup we used:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cinammon stick
2 cloves
2 cardamom pods
1 tsp nutmeg

The syrup can easily be made in the microwave by placing all the ingredients into a heat proof container (a 2 cup Pyrex measure would be perfect) and slowly heating it until the sugar dissolves. Allow to cool and then strain.

Listen Along

 

Want to know how to feel old at Christmas? Look for a video of one of the favourite holiday songs of your youth and then realise that some guy has cut 30 years of the same artist performing that song together into one video. THIRTY YEARS! ZOMG.

Day 17: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Today's cocktail inspiration is the carol, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. The text of the carol is based on a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, Christmas Bells, published in 1865. The poem's narrator opines that the hate in the world mocks the song of peace carried by Christmas bells. But ultimately, the bells triumph and the narrator finds a renewed hope for peace throughout the world. Perfect for our "Spirit of the Season" theme week.

When creating most of our cocktails, we start with a specific ingredient that the carol text inspires or we research a traditional drink from the country of origin. This particular cocktail, however, was inspired by a very specific version of the carol sung by The Civil Wars. It is breathy, warm, and a little sultry (a different kind of Spirit of the Season - wink, wink). To us, the cocktail that best represents these qualities is a sidecar. To make it extra sexy, we used B & B instead of regular brandy and infused it with figs. We also infused the Cointreau with some thyme and made a cardamom syrup to round out the flavours.

I Hear the Bells on Christmas Day Cocktail
2 oz fig infused B & B (Benedictine and Brandy)
1 oz thyme infused Cointreau
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz cardamom syrup
coupe glass

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake until cold. Strain into a chilled glass.

Cocktail Notes
To make the fig infusion, chop up four dried figs and add to 1 cup of B & B and let it sit for at least 3 days.

To make the thyme infusion, add the leaves from about 6 sprigs of fresh thyme to 1/4 cup of Cointreau. Steep the thyme in the Cointreau for at least 4 hours or longer depending on desired strength.

The cardamom simple syrup is a 1:1 syrup with about 1 Tbsp of green, gently cracked cardamom pods in it.

Listen Along

We couldn't find a version of the Civil Wars doing this live, so you'll have to settle for this rip from the holiday CD. So many other great videos on their site - sad they broke up.

Day 10: Gabriel's Message

The carol inspiration for today's cocktail is Gabriel's Message. Popularized by Sting in the 1980s (YES! The 1980s), Gabriel's Message (aka The angel Gabriel from heaven came) is a traditional carol from the Basque region of Europe. The carol recounts the biblical Annunciation and quotes Mary's Magnificat from the Book of Luke.

To translate this carol into a cocktail, we researched drinks from the Basque region. Basque immigrants to California were known for making a drink called Picon Punch which used a bittersweet French aperitif Amer Picon. It became so popular in the Basque communities of the American West that it was shipped back to Europe where it also achieved a high level of popularity.

Amer Picon is no longer available in North America and its substitute is reputed to be a poor copy of the original. Knowing that the predominant flavour of Amer Picon was bitter orange, we combined two Italian bitters, Campari and Aperol, to try and recreate the idea of Picon. We kept the additions of grenadine, club soda and brandy as noted in the original recipes.

Gabriel's Message Cocktail
2 oz Aperol
1 oz Campari
1 oz Brandy
1 barspoon high quality grenadine (we used Jack Rudy Small Batch Grenadine)
Club soda
Collins Glass

Pour the Aperol, Campari and grenadine into a cocktail shaker to mix. Fill a collins glass with ice and pour in the mixture from the shaker. Fill glass with club soda. Float the brandy on top of the club soda.

Cocktail Notes
We obviously don't know what Amer Picon tastes like, but we were pleased with the bitter orange taste of this cocktail. The grenadine and brandy add just enough sweetness and the club soda makes it feel more like a punch than a cocktail.

We tried adding some Dubonnet to the mix but resulting drink tasted too "grapey" (it's a word) for us. We also tested three types of bitters but none of them contributed to how we envisioned the drink.

If you can, find a good quality grenadine or even make your own. In this day and age, Rose's ain't cutting it anymore.

Listen Along

This is the old school performance from 1987 that made us fall in love with this carol. Sure, there are a lot more cleaner and more modern videos of this carol, but you can't beat this original. Or Sting's original hair. Oh, my!

Day 7: Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

Our cocktail today is inspired by the carol, Jesus Christ the Apple Tree, a hymn that Drew often used to sing in his university choir. There are two origin stories of this carol. One - that it references the apple tree in Song of Solomon which is often interpreted as a metaphor for Christ "As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love." The second - that it comes from an attempt to Christianize several English winter season songs that were often used in wassailing the apple orchards.

We like the second origin story better.

Jesus Christ the Apple Tree Cocktail
1/2 an apple (a good crisp fall apple - we used a Pink Lady)
1 part bourbon (you want something smooth - we used Trace - we tried Maker's Mark, but it was too fiery)
1 park calvados (we used Père Magloire)
1 part Sortilège (a Canadian whiskey & maple syrup liqueur)
1 dash Apothecary's General Ambrose's Bitters
fresh egg
ice
random cool glass

• Coarsely chop apple into shaker. Muddle it.
• Add alcohol to shaker. Shake to combine. No ice.
• Strain it.
• In a clean shaker, add the strained liquid and the egg - no ice.
• Dry shake for a good long while (listen for a change in viscosity). Once you hear that, add the ice in and continue to shake.
• Since this is a flip, it will probably take longer to shake than you think it will.

Cocktail Notes
When you're making a lot of cocktails there's always one that turns out to be your white whale. It just doesn't usually happen this early in the process. Turns out apple is a tricky flavour profile. At one point we thought, to hell with this, let's just make a Sour Puss Green Apple Martini. But we persevered.

First draft: brandy, Apfelkorn and Giffard's Ginger of the Indies. Hmm .. that base ain't right. Is it the ginger? Must be the ginger - ditch the ginger. (Spoiler alert: it wasn't the ginger).

Second draft: brandy and Apfelkorn. We need a bitter element. We tried Fernet Branca (No! HELL no!!); Dubonnet (No - tastes like spoiled vegetables); Suze (better, but you lose the apple so what's the point); B&B (no, terrible).

Third draft: bourbon (we used Trace), calvados and Apfelkorn. OK, pretty good base - moving to bourbon was a good idea. Needs some sweet. B&B (no); Tuaca (no).

ARGH!

Here's where Drew says "Eff it. I'm muddling an apple."

Fourth draft: Muddled apple, bourbon (again, the Trace - it is really smooth), calvados (this is so nice and subtle) and Sortilège (maple to the rescue!). OK, this is a great base. Ditching the Appelkorn was a good idea. Let's finish it with some bitters: Apothecary Smokey Pear (Drew's preference - works well); Apothecary Latin Lime (Kate's preference - brings out the right apple notes); Apothecary General Ambrose (the one we can agree on).

And that's how you concoct a cocktail.

Oh, if you don't want to muddle an apple, you can try plain fresh apple juice. We did in a 1 part ratio. It was not as apple-y. Fresh ingredients are better, kids. It might taste OK with a double part of apple juice.

Listen Along

Day 21: Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

The final spirit to visit Scrooge is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.  Hooded and mute, the ghost arrives in a phantasmal mist and shows Scrooge a number of individuals rejoicing and pilfering belongings from a recently deceased individual.  The revelation that the man who died and of whom the others spoke so unkindly was, in fact, Scrooge himself causes his change in character.

Day 13: Karen

Kate has a special place in her heart for Karen, the heroine of Frosty the Snowman (the classic animated special). Back in the day, Kate was known as Karin and she thought it was pretty awesome to have the hero of a story a) be a girl and b) have the same name (homophonically-speaking). Karen clearly makes the Nice list (she freakin' saved Frosty!) and deserves her own drink. Her classic scene in Frosty where she is shivering on the train is where our inspiration started.

Day 11: The Sugar Plum Fairy

Perhaps the most recognized piece of music from the Nutcracker is the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Slow and haunting, the bell-like sound of the piece evokes a lullaby and a sense of just drifting off to sleep.