10_0501 | summer sips...

I know this is a design blog, but I can’t deny my attachment to food, even as a designer.  I feel that cooking is one of the ultimate expressions of design and can be every bit as complicated as architectural design.  So here we have a few more recipes.

Since we finally got rid of that pesky rain and the warm weather is ultimately upon us, your choice in beverage will likely change.  The beefy stouts and smoky porters are replaced with refreshing Mexican lagers and light pale ales.  Your thoughts drift from heavier whiskey drinks to fruity rum-based concoctions.  I’ve got three [new] cocktails to cool your thirst.  Put down the mojitos and margaritas, these cocktails have a summer-drink prowess to rival even the most established mainstay--plus you’ll look super sophisticated holding one of these.

This recipe was bestowed unto me by Murray Stenson at Zig Zag in Seattle.  Murray was named one of the Top 10 Bartenders in America by Playboy magazine [link goes the the Playboy article and may be NSFW].  The drink is so named for the famous bartendress Charlotte Voisey. 

Hot Charlotte: cucumber and Hendrick's gin give this

cocktail un-paralleled crispness.

hot charlotte

Muddle a teaspoon of diced cucumber with 4-8 dashes Tabasco in a shaker.  Add 1 ¾ oz. Hendrick’s gin, 1 oz. St. Germaine, ½ oz. lemon juice.  Shake with ice and strain over ice.  Serve with a cucumber slice.

My suggestion is to take two and relax on the porch/balcony/deck with a nice book.  It is ridiculously delicious and will go down quickly, especially on a hot summer day, so be careful.  Use less Tabasco if you are not a fan of spicy.

This next drink is an invention of my own: 

Hudson: with classic flavors indicative of an earlier era,

this cocktail is as sophisticated and masculine as Clark Gable.

hudson

In a shaker with ice, combine 2 parts Chivas Regal [any Scotch will do, but Chivas is best], 1 part St. Germaine, and 4 dashes Peychaud’s aromatic bitters.  Shake and strain into a chilled martini glass.  Serve with a slice of lemon rind.

Named for the sedans popular in the 30s and 40s, this drink has a masculine flavor that reminds one of that era when pencil-thin moustaches and Brylcreem reigned supreme.  Though this drink uses Scotch, the St. Germaine and lemon rind take the edge off the golden nectar that some find too harsh.  It is light and aromatic but packs a punch.  One of these is plenty.

This last cocktail is inspired by a cocktail I had in Seattle.  Please, if anyone knows the true name and/or amounts of liquor involved, let me know!  I greatly enjoyed this cocktail.

Danish Fog: complex herbal notes make this cocktail a layered

treat.  Cooling gin mixed with savory akvavit dazzle all the palette's 

flavor centers.

danish fog

In a shaker with ice, combine 3 parts Hendrick’s gin, 1 part Aalborg Akvavit, and a dash of absinthe.  Stir and strain into a chilled martini glass.  Serve with a couple lime curls.  CAUTION: shaking will cause the liquors to 'bruise' and you will lose the depth of flavors, so stir it!.

Now, when I say dash, I mean get a cocktail straw, stick it into the absinthe about an inch or so, plug the top with your finger and remove the straw.  That’s about all the absinthe you need.  This is a very light but complex cocktail.  The complexity of the akvavit and gin should be prominent, while the absinthe should only offer a tinge of anise flavor to the tail end of the sip.  The name comes from the addition of akvavit [a Scandinavian drink popular in Denmark] to what is basically a traditional London Fog.