Zester Daily

5.16.13 -

Sangria is a simple concoction of fruit, sugar, water and wine and a staple in sunny, tapas-minded Spain. Grown-up fruit punch, it’s refreshing and versatile, taking on more savory lemon and lime tones if that’s the fruit you choose, or slightly sweet if peaches are your preference.

But if you can’t be bothered to make your own, increasingly bars are making inventive versions, and good bottled versions abound.

Eppa SupraFruta is a bottled sangria, available in both red and white versions, made from organically grown Mendocino County wine grapes.

The red combines Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah with a base of organic pomegranate, açai, blueberry, blood orange and lemon juices, while the white mixes Chardonnay with mangosteen, white peach, mango and blood orange juices. After the wine and fruit juices are blended, the sangria is left in stainless steel tanks for a few weeks before bottling.

Slices Sangria is the new creation of Mike Kenton, the founder of OFFbeat Brands. Kenton spent much of his career at Codorniu in Spain, where he fell in love with the traditional drink.

He uses wine made from Spanish grape varieties such as Tempranillo and Verdejo, blended with fruit juices such as orange, lime and blackberry (for the red); or lime, lemon and pineapple (for the white).

“Sangria has been on my family’s dining table for as long as I can remember,” said Slices’ Spanish winemaker, Miguel Gúrpide.

Gurpide also makes a sangria rosé (the fruit used includes lime, lemon and strawberry) and two sparkling sangrias, one rosé and one white.

Relatively light in alcohol (usually under 9% alcohol by volume), sangria is an easygoing cocktail to make for one or for a crowd, doused in club soda or given a couple of cubes of ice.

Eppa-phany Punch

Courtesy Eppa Sangria

Serves 1

Ingredients

2 to 3 cardamom pods

½ ounce lemon juice

½ ounce simple syrup

1 ounce fresh pineapple juice

2 ounces Eppa SupaFruta Sangria

Pineapple leaf, for garnish

Directions

1. In a tin, muddle the cardamom pods.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients.

3. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds.

4. Double strain over ice in a wine glass.

5. Garnish with a pineapple leaf.

Spanish Tortilla

Courtesy Tara and Les Goodman, Adafina Culinary

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 onions, Spanish or sweet, sliced ⅛-inch thick

6 to 7 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, sliced into ¼-inch rounds

2 cups Spanish olive oil

6 large farm eggs

Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place the onions and potatoes in a medium mixing bowl, and toss with a couple pinches of kosher salt.

2. Place a 10- to 12-inch nonstick pan over medium-high flame, adding the onions and potatoes.

3. Pour in the olive oil and stir to coat.

4. When oil begins to bubble, reduce heat to medium-low and cook, turning frequently, until potatoes are fork-tender but not browned, about 15 to 20 minutes.

5. Remove pan from heat and strain the oil from the onions and potatoes.

6. Set aside oil and reserve for another use.

7. Cool onions and potatoes to room temperature, and adjust for seasoning, adding salt and pepper as needed.

8. Beat the eggs and add them to the cooled potato mixture.

9. Return pan to medium heat and stir the tortilla mixture as it cooks until eggs are slightly set.

10. Spread mixture out evenly and reduce heat to medium-low.

11. Cook until bottom is golden brown and eggs are set, about 10 to 12 minutes (you can place pan under the broiler for 2 to 3 minutes if needed to set the top).

12. Remove pan from heat and let cool for 10 to 15 minutes.

13. Place a plate face down over the pan and flip tortilla over — bottom side up. Let cool for a half hour or so, and slice into wedges.

14. Serve with Spanish pimenton (paprika) aioli, crunchy sea salt, and a glass of chilled sangria — or a sangria cocktail.

Top  photo: Sangria. Credit: iStockphoto

5.2.13 -

Cinco de Mayo is a pretty straightforward holiday — no gifts, no elaborate rituals — but that doesn’t mean you have to succumb to the same old margarita. Instead, try a couple of variations with festive flair.

The first combines the standard one-two punch of tequila and Cointreau, plus helpings of lime juice and sugar syrup. But it provides a jolt to the tongue with the addition of muddled jalapeño. (Unless you like your heat register set to high, remove the seeds.)

The second is closer to the traditional: tequila, lime juice and Cointreau, with a clever combination of lemon and lime juice mixed with sugar to taste. The addition of salt around the rim and ice make it the perfect drink to enjoy poolside or at the beach, a tangy elixir of savory and sweet.

Jalapeño Margarita

Created by Las Ventanas al Paraiso, a Rosewood Resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 muddled jalapeno, seeds removed

1½ ounces tequila

¾ ounce Cointreau

1 ounce lime juice

¾ ounce sugar syrup

Lime slices to garnish

Directions

1. Muddle the jalapeno.

2. In a margarita glass rimmed with salt and filled with ice, add muddled jalapeno, tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and sugar syrup.

3. Garnish with a fresh slice of lime.

Silver Coin Margarita

Created by Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Serves 1

Ingredients

1½ ounces tequila, preferably El Tesero Platinum

½ ounce Cointreau

2½ ounces fresh lime, lemon and sugar mix

Lime slices to garnish

Directions

1. Combine fresh lime and lemon juice with sugar to taste.

2. In a rocks glass rimmed with salt and filled with ice, add the Tequila, Cointreau and lime/lemon/sugar mix.

3. Garnish with a fresh slice or two of lime.

Top photo: Silver Coin margaritas. Credit: Courtesy of Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi in Santa Fe

4.18.13 -

There are many opinions about what to drink when eating a dish laced with vinegar, from Lambrusco with Balsamic to Muscadet with a cider vinegar mignonette to accentuate raw oysters. But using vinegar in a drink is all the rage right now, as the fermentation craze extends to mixology.

Chefs and bartenders are increasingly turning to vinegar, even making their own, to add another level of flavor to their drinks. They might barrel-age certain cocktails, essentially fermenting them twice.

“Vinegar is another flavor dimension to play with,” said Liz Grossman, the managing editor of Plate magazine, which devoted its entire winter issue to the subject of fermentation, including cocktails. “It adds a creaminess.”

Drinking vinegar spans styles

Cleveland-based chef Jonathon Sawyer of Greenhouse Tavern makes his own vinegar to go into barrel-aged cocktails; Andy Ricker in Portland, Ore., founder of the popular Pok Pok restaurant, came back from a trip to Thailand a few years ago inspired to mix tartly sweet vinegars with club soda, which he considers an ideal pairing for spicy Asian food.

Ricker sells a line of drinking vinegars in apple, honey, tamarind, pineapple and other flavors called Som Drinking Vinegar (pokpoksom.com). Only organic cane sugar and natural flavoring are added to the natural vinegar; he recommends a 4:1 ratio of soda water to vinegar to help cut the acidity of the honey and apple varieties in particular, which tend to taste less sweet than some of the others.

The notion is not that far off from the idea of shrubs, drinking vinegars made by macerating fruit in vinegar, then cooking it with sugar or honey.

Bartender Carlo Splendorini, who heads the Michael Mina Group of restaurants, prefers to work with balsamic vinegar, finding that the warm flavors of these vinegars from Modena bring depth, nuance and a hint of sweetness to his cocktails. Here is one of his spring-inspired creations.

Spring Sparkle

Created by Carlo Splendorini, Mina Group

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 sugar cube soaked in good quality balsamic vinegar

½ ounce rum

Champagne

Orange peel for garnish

Directions

1. Place the sugar cube at the bottom of a Champagne flute.

2. Add the rum and slowly top with Champagne.

3. Garnish with a twist of orange peel.

Top photo: Spring Sparkle cocktail. Credit: Courtesy of Mina Group

4.4.13 -

Spring is officially here, and year after year that means ordering a mimosa or a gin fizz. But it’s the season of the egg, so why not mix an egg white with Pisco, a grape-based spirit native to Chile and Peru?

The countries’ history with Pisco dates to the 1500s when Spanish missionaries started planting grapes to make wine. That led to the creation of Pisco, which, like cognac and other brandies, is distilled from wine in copper alambic pot stills, fortifying it to last longer and travel farther.

The traditionally accepted varieties of grape used most to make Pisco today include several kinds of Muscat, Torontel and Pedro Jimenez, with the vines typically grown at fairly high elevations. The grapes are harvested in February through April, the seeds and stems removed and the rest crushed into juice. Fermentation follows, using only native yeast.

The distilled Pisco must then rest for at least 90 days in neutral vessels (no oak). After that, it’s ready to enjoy, with nothing added: no water, sugar, caramel, oak extract or glycerin.

In Chile, Marnier Lapostolle, a spirits producer in France famous for producing Grand Marnier, makes Kappa Pisco in the Elqui Valley. A lush, sunny valley in the country’s northern reaches, the Elqui is home to the pink and Alexandria Muscat used in Kappa Pisco. The name Kappa comes from the Kappa Crucis star cluster, within the Southern Cross constellation, which is culturally significant in Chile and other cultures of the Southern Hemisphere.

Although its native roots are in South America (it’s named for a port in Peru), Pisco also has a long legacy in California where even before the Gold Rush it became a staple spirit in the wilds of San Francisco’s Barbary Coast. It was there that the Pisco Punch, a loose and powerful commingling of Pisco, pineapple, lime juice, sugar and water, was born.

A collection of San Francisco-based bartenders and friends make Campo de Encanto in the Ica Valley of Peru, working with local distiller Carlos Romero to blend small-batch eaux de vie from five types of old-vine grapes. The result a smooth combination of peaches, almonds and mint. The Comision Nacionel del Pisco recently named it best Pisco of Peru.

Bartender and Encanto partner Duggan McDonnell, who refers to Pisco as the “grand eau-de-vie of the tropics,” says the true test of the spirit is to swirl it before drinking, making sure the bubbles dissipate quickly. If they don’t, it means the spirit has been diluted, and thus isn’t real Pisco, which never allows added water.

Enjoy Pisco neat, with a twist of lime, or in a range of cocktails. The most famous of these, of course, is the Pisco Sour, which includes a shaken white of an egg.

Kappa Sour

Serves 1

Ingredients

2 ounces Pisco, such as Kappa Pisco

1 ounce fresh lemon juice

1 ounce simple syrup

1 egg white

3 half dashes of Angostura bitters

Directions

1. Combine Pisco and rest of ingredients in a mixing glass filled with ice.

2. Shake vigorously and strain into a small Champagne flute.

3. Top with half dashes of Angostura bitters to create the shape of the Southern Cross.

Top photo: Kappa Sour. Credit: Courtesy of Marnier Lapostolle

3.14.13 -

At the end of the 19th century, Irish whiskey was the gold standard around the world, but  World War I changed that as shipping across the war-torn seas became a fool’s errand, both dangerous and expensive.

At the time, the influx of Irish immigrants into the United States had helped make North America the No. 1 export market for Irish whiskey. Indeed, a 1886 book, “The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom,” listed 28 distilleries in Ireland. Only two of those stand today.

After the war put the first nail in the Irish whiskey industry’s coffin, Prohibition hammered in the rest. Between 1915 and 1933, many Irish distilleries shut down.

In the meantime, Scotland’s distilleries, financed in part by the English, ramped up. By the time American soldiers returned from England after World War II, Scotch had replaced Irish whiskey in American hearts, bars and liquor store shelves.

Today, it seems that all types of whiskey, from Scotch and Canadian (which both drop the “e” in whisky) to Irish and of course, American bourbon, have a wide fan base.

Irish whiskey is typically made from malted or unmalted barley, corn, rye, wheat or oats and then triple-distilled and aged for a minimum of four years in casks previously used to age stuff like sherry, rum or bourbon.

Scotch whisky is typically made from only malted barley, dried over peat fires to give it a smoky flavor. Canadian whisky is often a blend of rye, corn, wheat and barley that is wood-aged for three years, while bourbon is usually made from corn and aged in new oak for at least two years.

The oldest licensed whiskey distillery remains in Ireland: Bushmills of Ulster, opened in 1608. In the early days it wasn’t unusual for a bit of bread to be added to a glass of whiskey for flavoring, helping to take the edge off the less refined aspects of ancient brewing and distilling practices.

The bread eventually led to the ritual of verbal toasting before a drink, the etiquette of which traditionally involved raising your glass with the right hand, a symbol that you had come in friendship and were not concealing a sword. It was then equally important to maintain eye contact before taking a sip.

As steeped in history as the rite of toasting is the oft-whispered rumor that Bushmills is the preferred whiskey of Protestants, and Jamesons the brand favored by Catholics.

Portland, Oregon-based bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler puts those rumors to rest.

“The widely accepted Irish-American version is that Jameson is Catholic whiskey and Bushmills is Protestant whiskey,” he says. “But that’s based merely on geography.”

Bushmills is made in Northern Ireland; Jameson is from Cork, a predominantly Catholic enclave.

“According to everyone I’ve spoken with on the subject, you only really find this debate in the States, where Irish-American support of the Republic can sometimes be blind and often fueled by the very product we’re speaking of,” Morgenthaler says.

I say don’t let religion or politics get in the way of a good drink. Regardless of your leanings, try Bushmills 16-year-old, which is matured in separate bourbon and sherry barrels for 16 years, then blended together into a port-infused cask for another six to nine months. It’s a whole lot of wow in one glass. Up another notch is the 21-Year-Old Bushmills Malt, a hedonistic swirl of pure honey.

Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey is reclaiming some history of its own by making its whiskey at the Cooley Distillery, named for one of the oldest continuously licensed distilleries in the world, rescued and restored in 2007 by the Teeling family. Kilbeggan makes an 18-year-old and a reserve malt whiskey, but its standard bottling is preferred for cocktails like the Irish Insider, below.

Kilbeggan Irish Insider

Serves 1

Created by Martin Meade, head bartender of the Clyde Court Hotel in Dublin.

Ingredients

1 cube brown sugar

2 dashes bitters

1 ounce Irish whiskey, such as Kilbeggan

1 lemon zest knot

Brut Champagne, chilled

Directions

1. Place the brown sugar cube into the bottom of a Champagne flute.

2. Add the bitters.

3. Add Irish whiskey.

4. Muddle to break down the sugar and combine the ingredients.

5. Drop the lemon zest knot into the glass.

6. Quarter-fill the glass with Champagne and stir the ingredients together to infuse the flavors.

7. Top with Champagne.

Top photo: Irish Insider whiskey cocktail. Credit: Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey

2.28.13 -

Does the arrival of hop vodka mean we are becoming obsessed with hops?

First there was Charbay Hop Flavored Whiskey, a whiskey maker’s infusion of Racer 5 IPA beer into an alambic-pot-distilled whiskey aged in French oak barrels. It was the partnership between two Northern California craft artisans, the distiller Charbay and the brewery Bear Republic.

Continuing the trend is San Francisco-based Anchor Distilling, the spirits extension of world-famous Anchor Brewing, whose staffs have quite naturally figured out a way to use the goodness of the hops they could smell wafting around their shared building space to make the world’s first hop vodka, Hophead.

These fun new drinks capture our increasingly fervid love affair with hops, exemplified best by the six- to  eight-hour waiting times endured the first Friday of February along the sidewalks circling Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa, Calif.. This is when and where brewer Vinnie Cilurzo releases his once-yearly Pliny the Younger, a triple-hopped version of his already maniacally sought after double IPA Pliny the Elder.

This year the lines grew longer than ever before, signaling a seriously intense devotion to the pursuit of good hops by hops lovers the world over. Many are hoping this will bode well for the burgeoning return of hops to Hopland, a small town in Mendocino about a half-hour north of Healdsburg along Highway 101.

Hop vodka revitalizes Hopland

The Hopland Brewery is thought to have been the first post-Prohibition brewpub in California. Opened in 1933, its operation created a renewed chance to use all the hops that were being grown about the place around then. But over time fruit orchards and wine grapes took over and the demand for hops went into decline.

Locals are trying to reignite the currency for hops, at least on a small scale, with Oakland-based brewer Adam Lamoreaux of Linden Street Brewery leading the way. Lamoreaux has partnered with Gary Breen, who bought the old Haas Hops Ranch, (also the former site of the Fetzer Valley Oaks Ranch), outside of Hopland a few years ago and has recently opened Piazza de Campovida in town, a place to find a fair few small-batch Linden Brewery brews.

Adding to that town’s momentum is the new Hopland Ale House a few doors down, where the Mendocino Brewing Company once stood, with 8 beers on tap and the hope to further interest in locally grown hops.

Until that day, this spring enjoy a double helping of hop flavor with this blend of hop vodka and single-hopped beer into one hyper-hopped Shandy and contemplate the possibilities.

San Fran Shandy

Serves 1

Created by Russell Davis, 2012 National Bartender of the Year, for the launch of Hophead.

Ingredients

2 ounces Hophead vodka

1 ounce fresh lemon juice

½ ounce ginger liqueur

½ ounce honey syrup

½ ounce egg white

2 dashes Angostura bitters

3 ounces Anchor Brewing Brekle’s Brown Ale

Half on orange wheel

Directions

1. Combine Hophead, lemon juice, ginger liqueur, honey syrup, egg whites and bitters in a shaker and dry shake to emulsify egg whites.

2. Add ice and shake vigorously until proper dilution.

3. Strain into a chilled fizz glass.

4. Empty ice out from the shaker and fill it with ale to create a froth

5. Pour this froth over the drink in the chilled fizz glass and garnish with half an orange wheel.

San Fran Shandy. Credit: Courtesy of Anchor Distilling Company

2.7.13 -

Vodka has become, in many circles, the distilled spirit world’s answer to Chardonnay. It’s pooh-poohed and treated with a measurable level of disrespect, but when you look at consumption figures, it’s clear: Everybody’s drinking it.

Longtime barman Tony Abou-Ganim, now a beverage consultant and national ambassador for the U.S. Bartenders’ Guild, has come to the spirit’s defense in a new book, “Vodka Distilled: The Modern Mixologist On Vodka and Vodka Cocktails.”

“The fact that vodka suffers from a misplaced lack of respect was highly motivating for me,” he says. “It is at times unjustly given a bad rap within the bartending community.”

Abou-Ganim  believes that vodka’s heritage and flavor nuances deserve every bit of the reverence accorded whiskey, gin, tequila and others. Vodka has always been his personal preference, he says, and remains so after 30 years of mixing, creating, teaching bartending and drinking.

To him, vodka’s nuances are subtle, influenced by geography, climate and nutrient conditions, like wine. To make the point further, Abou-Ganim highlights 58 vodkas from around the world, divided by what they’re made from (rye, wheat, potato, corn, etc.), and breaking down each one’s individual characteristics and awarding character scores.

Ketel One, for example, a wheat-distilled vodka from the Netherlands, is given a character score of 6 (from a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 the top), described as “rich with toasty grains, highlighted by touches of vanilla, marzipan, baked apple pie and cream soda,” the accompanying expert notes imploring, “Drink neat from the freezer paired with gravlax,” as well as, “Good for mixology cocktails as well as a great foundation for classic vodka drinks.”

But aside from a satisfying look at the history and culture that built vodka into the powerhouse it now is, the heart of Abou-Ganim’s book is about the cocktails, from the all-time vodka classic martini to the kamikaze, gimlet, Harvey Wallbanger, Moscow Mule, variations on Bloody Mary and more.

Though the master mixologist is happy to offer variations, he shuns the flavored vodkas that have flooded the world with their sappy, sugary falseness (marshmallow vodka shouldn’t be celebrated by anyone) and points to their overabundance as among the reasons spirits aficionados are turning their backs on vodka.

That may change — Abou-Ganim is seeing a return to simple, handcrafted cocktails that showcase a drink’s base spirit.

“I fell back in love with sipping ice-cold vodka, straight from the freezer in a frozen crystal shot glass,” he says.

His biggest surprise in writing the book and delving deep into vodka has been its ability to pair so beautifully with certain foods, from caviar to smoked fish and cured meats.

The following recipe is for a drink created at the Russian Tea Room and first mentioned in a 1938 publication on Russian dishes, considered a vintage drink. For it, Abou-Ganim recommends a bold, assertive vodka, ideally made from mixed grains somewhere in the Old World, preferably Russia, with baking-spice features, like Stolichnaya.

Gypsy Queen

Serves 1

Reprinted with permission from “Vodka Distilled: The Modern Mixologist on Vodka and Vodka Cocktails” by Tony Abou-Ganim with Mary Elizabeth Faulkner

Ingredients

2 ounces vodka

1 ounce D.O.M. Bénédictine (an herbal liqueur)

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Thin slice of lemon peel

Directions

1. In an ice-filled mixing glass, combine vodka, Bénédictine and Angostura bitters.

2. Stir until very cold.

3. Strain into a chilled old-fashioned glass.

4. Garnish with the lemon peel.

Photo: Gypsy Queen cocktail. Reprinted with permission from “Vodka Distilled: The Modern Mixologist on Vodka and Vodka Cocktails,” by Tony Abou-Ganim with Mary Elizabeth Faulkner, Agate Surrey, February 2013

1.24.13 -

Forget the sweetness of rum and the vanilla-honey nuances of bourbon. Sometimes we just want to soak our winter woes in a bitter spirit: Campari.

Created in Italy 153 years ago by Gaspare Campari and brought to America at the beginning of the 20th century, the bright-red liqueur is now sold in almost 200 countries. Italy and the U.S. are still the major consumers, with Germany and Brazil not far behind.

Some say Campari contains 20 different ingredients. Others say 80, but only those intimately involved in the production process really know. Although the recipe remains a closely guarded secret, we know that it combines herbs, aromatic plants and fruit in alcohol and water. Campari is enjoyed as an apéritif, stirred with soda and a slice of orange, and is the basis of two influential cocktails, the Americano and the Negroni.

The traditional Americano is sweet vermouth, Campari and water, with a flamed orange peel for garnish, once sold as a bottled cocktail by Martini & Rossi; the Negroni is typically Campari, sweet vermouth and gin (though vodka can be substituted), again with a flamed orange peel for garnish. Both drinks are served cold.

The colorful, fashionable and avant-garde artwork that historically has been used to promote the spirit around the world has become famous in its own right. The first Campari ad ran in January 1889 in Milan’s biggest newspaper, followed the following year by the first Campari advertising posters. In 1900, the company created its first calendar, with contributions from Italian painters, illustrators and poster artists.

Many of those calendar prints became famous posters, including the 1920-era “Red Passion” poster of two people kissing in a red room and the “Bitter Campari” ad of the company-created character Spiritello emerging from an orange peel.

Halted during World War II, Campari’s visually arresting advertising resumed in 1940 and as consumption grew and spread internationally, the spirits maker became involved in sponsoring international sporting events.

By the 1970s, the likes of David Niven and Humphrey Bogart were doing Campari ads, and even the great Italian director Federico Fellini directed a short film commercial for the spirit. This collaboration with famous actors and directors continues. Salma Hayek has shot Campari commercials and starred in the calendar photographed by Mario Testino. The 2013 calendar features Penelope Cruz.

Art and beauty aside, bartenders love playing with Campari and creating variations on the Negroni as well as designing their own modern-day drinks. H. Joseph Erhmann in San Francisco, the owner of Elixir in the Mission District (one of Food and Wine magazine’s top 100 bars in America) and a founding member of San Francisco Cocktail Week provides this week’s Campari-inspired drink.

Winter Sour

Serves 1

Created by H. Joseph Ehrmann in San Francisco

Ingredients

2 inches fresh rosemary

1½ ounce Meyer lemon juice

1 ounce egg white

1 ounce Campari

1½ ounce clover honey syrup (made by blending honey with water in a 1:1 ratio, and heating to dissolve)

Directions

1. In a mixing glass, strip the leaves from the rosemary sprig and muddle lightly.

2. Add the Meyer lemon juice and egg white and dry shake for 5 seconds.

3. Add the Campari and honey syrup and fill with ice.

4. Shake well for 10 seconds and strain up.

Top photo: Winter sour cocktail. Credit: Courtesy of Campari America