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One of the first things that comes to mind are the recipes
Cocktail Cultivators Shake Up Recipes By Adding Uncommon Ingredients
Nation's Restaurant News April 18, 2005 by Gary Regan
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For instance, I don't think I would have picked up on one common thread that seems to be running through the cocktail world of late if I didn't keep a file full of e-mails containing new cocktail recipes. That common thread has to do with bartenders using some very uncommon ingredients.
Time was when a Bloody Mary made with, say, Old Bay seasoning, was considered to be somewhat exotic, and bars that stocked items such as orgeat--almond--syrup were very few and far between. But American bartenders in 2005 are going way out of their way to make new drinks with all sorts of ingredients that never would have been found behind a bar just a few short years ago. Take rhubarb, for instance.
Albert Trummer, bar chef at Trummer Home in Greenport, N.Y., on Long Island, makes a drink that he calls the Vanilla Barbie with Navan, a cognac-based vanilla liqueur, vodka and purees of both raspberries and rhubarb. He must be the only bartender using rhubarb in his drinks, I thought, until I saw a recipe that called for fresh rhubarb to be muddled with simple syrup and then mixed with gin and grapefruit juice.
This cocktail, the Spring Tao, was created by Dale DeGroff, one of the founders of the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans. There can't be more than two bartenders using rhubarb, can there? Yes there can. The Lever House on New York's Park Avenue offers Rhubarb Daiquiris at $14 a drink.
Pomegranate juice is another cocktail ingredient that seems to be grabbing the attention of American bartenders of late, as can be seen in a drink called the Red Pearl, created by Joe Gonzalez, head bartender at Radius Restaurant in Boston. "This is my take on a tequila Cosmopolitan," Gonzalez says. "It's simple, beautiful and refreshing."
The Red Pearl is made with tequila, lime juice and simple syrup, but it's poured into a glass containing cranberries that have been soaked in sweetened pomegranate juice, and it's the berries that add the "red" to this pearl.
The Miamore is another drink featuring pomegranate juice. Mia M. Germano created the drink at the Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa in South Florida. Not satisfied with using just one unusual ingredient, Germano also has fresh kiwi juice on her list of ingredients, and she garnishes the drink with a slice of kiwi that's been dipped in pomegranate juice.
The full recipe also calls for Belvedere Pomarancza and Cytrus vodkas, champagne, Cointreau, pink grapefruit juice and simple syrup. Calling for unusual ingredients in cocktails and mixed drinks isn't exactly a new phenomenon.
A drink known as the Black Stripe, detailed in "Drinks of the World," an 1892 book by James Mew and John Ashton, calls for rum and molasses to be served over ice or added to boiling water, before being topped with some freshly grated nutmeg. I can't think of any modern-day drinks that call for molasses.
And an old drink that was known as Toledo Punch--made with cognac, lemon juice, sugar and various fresh fruits--also utilizes a "small bunch of wintergreen" in the recipe. I found the punch in the "Hoffman House Bartender's Guide," a book by Charley Mahoney.
Other weird and wonderful cocktail ingredients that have caught my attention of late include a lavender-infused sour juice in the Belvedere Bouquet, a recipe created by Nelson Flores-Giacometto of Jimmy'z in Miami Beach, Fla. And Jason Henton, general manager at Oola Restaurant in San Francisco, mixes tequila with both fresh ginger syrup and carrot juice to make his Phoenix Cocktail.
Elderflower syrup, lemon-grass-infused simple syrup, lychee puree and even a syrup infused with coriander and black pepper have cropped up in recipes over the last few months. I used to hate the term "bar chef," but I'm beginning to think that it might apply to some bartenders in the 21st century.
There are thousand of different drink combinations, all of which depend upon what your taste is. With all the different kinds of alcohol and beverages that exist, one could easily find something of interest. With bartending recipes, the possibilities are endless.
As an example, we will use one of my favorite drinks, the zombie. The ingredients for the zombie are as follows:
2
1/2 oz Light Rum
1 oz Jamaica Rum
1/2 oz 151-proof Rum
1/2 oz Apricot-flavored Brandy
1 oz Unsweetened Pineapple Juice
Juice of 1 Lime
Juice of 1 Small Orange
2 tsp Powdered Sugar
1 oz Passion Fruit Syrup
Crushed Ice
Directions: Blend all ingredients and 1/2 cup crushed ice at low speed for 2 minutes. Strain into a frosted glass. Carefully float 151-proof rum on top.
When looking for that specific concoction, a lot of people out there find it amazing all the ingredients that go into one zombie. While the alcohol content found in a zombie is very high, many find it an excellent drink.
With any bartending mixture, the bartender must be aware of a lot of things. He has to know exactly how much liquid is going into a drink, what the directions for that drink call for, and exactly how he’s going to make it. While many people might think bartending is easy, it really isn’t as easy as many people think it is.