Craft Cocktails

When I hear 'craft,' I think feathers. Beads. Pipe cleaners. Felt. Sock puppets. What the hell is a craft cocktail?

The adjective 'craft' does, in fact, refer to cocktails that are handmade, though not with a glue gun. In 2006, a smart bartender guy named Camper English made a list of some of the elements that he believed earned a drink the title 'craft cocktail' in San Francisco:

• fresh juices
• muddled fresh ingredients
• seasonality
• cocktail-food pairing
• fancy shmancy mixers instead of el cheapo soda guns
• infusions
• homemade ingredients, like syrups or bitters
  
• an actual drink menu

If the craft cocktail is vintage or classic, it's extra cool. If it has a good name, like the Horny Ninjarita, it's extra-extra cool. If it contains bacon, it's extra-extra-extra cool.

Beware. Like hipster fashion choices, some of those craft cocktails are overrated. Many of them can't be created at home unless you quit your day (night) job, invest in weird ingredients, build a complicated home bar, and install a commercial kitchen.

And seriously: Have you actually tasted a drink with bacon and liked it? Or even more telling, liked it enough to have seconds? The idea is fun, but in reality, not so good. Just like hipster eyeware and men with skinny jeans: Those giant eyeglass frames and teeny pants that sag in the manbutt might be interesting style concepts, but they both look pretty comical when you put them on. In twenty years, your kids will be laughing at you, not with you.

Fresh is good; handmade is awesome. Sock puppets rule. But don't go overboard. Glue guns can be addictive, and your craft obsession can quickly grow out of control and take over your life. STAY AWAY FROM PLASTIC FLOWERS. And never get so snobby about your drinks that you can't enjoy a Natural Light beer when your neighbor offers you an ice cold can.

Lovage Cocktail

The first time that I ever heard of lovage, I was dining at Dano’s Heuriger on Seneca Lake; Dano was growing lovage in his restaurant’s herb garden. I had no idea what the heck lovage was, besides tall and green. Later that spring, someone brought a bunch of lovage stalks to Felicia’s with the suggestion that we use them as Bloody Mary straws, since they are hollow and taste like celery. And we did. That same generous person delivered a large amount of lovage to the lounge again this year. This time, we decided to infuse this perennial herb.

Because vodka is flavorless, we chose it as the base for our infusion. I added a pound of chopped lovage minus the leaves to two bottles of vodka and let it sit for about five days. The result is a clean, mild, celery-flavored vodka. Now we have to figure out what to do with it. Suggestions?

Besides lovage’s obvious use as a base for a Bloody Mary, Leah created a less labor intensive drink, the Lovage Spritzer. Light and refreshing, the Lovage Spritzer is a fizzy drink that tastes like a springtime garden, though not like my garden, which only tastes like mint. And bunnies.

Lovage Spritzer

1 ½ ounce lovage-infused vodka
Sprite
Lime wedge*

Fill a rocks glass with ice. Add lovage-infused vodka and top with Sprite. Garnish with lime wedge.*

*Note the absence of the lime wedge in the photo above. That's because we sacrificed 1, 287 limes this past weekend to the making of mojitos and caipirinhas. Curse you, labor intensive drinks!

Ramps in a Cocktail

Who puts ramps in a cocktail? Leah does. What else are you going to do with them? Well, yes, you can pickle some. She did that, too. Since she can't cook with them at home due to my stupidly useless onion allergy, ramp cocktails is a creative solution to five pounds of wild ramps sitting in the fridge.

What are ramps? A North American wild onion-like thing that one finds by foraging like a hippie on the forest floor in mid-Spring.

Try ramp-infused vodka in a bloody mary - minus horseradish which will over power it. I will post a recipe next week.

BEWARE: ramps will give you dragon breath. Unless your lover eats (drinks) them, too, be prepared to sleep alone tonight.

Winning Metaxa Cocktail

Felicia's Atomic Lounge won third place in the national Imbibe Magazine/Metaxa cocktail contest, with our Metaxa-coffee-fig-clove cocktail, Greek Awake. How exciting. How invigorating. How freakin' cool.

As you well know, Leah Houghtaling is the mad scientist behind our most of our crazy concoctions. How does she come up with such great recipes? Typically, the brain storm - and it is a storm - starts with the phrase, "I've got an idea!" Leah then marches feverishly around the kitchen throwing different spices, fruits or vegetables into alchohol-filled ball jars labeled with masking tape. Experiments in varying stages of development litter both the lounge and home kitchens. The photo above is one of her latest spice tinctures which is kicking back in our living room. You can see our baby basil plants and germinating arugula waiting in the background for the last frost to come and go.

Of Leah's prize-winning Metaxa cocktail, Imbibe Magazine writes, "This pretty and creative cocktail is packed with flavor, and though it's light enough to drink in warm-weather months, it's also a perfect winter/holiday cocktail."

You can read about the other winning Metaxa cocktails in Imbibe's blog. Thanks, Imbibe!

Greek Awake

1 1/2 oz. Metaxa 7-Star brandy
1 1/2 oz. coffee-fig elixir (recipe below)

Ice cubes

Tools: shaker, strainer

Glass: cocktail
Garnish: grape

Shake Metaxa and coffee-fig elixir (below) in an ice-filled shaker. Strain into chilled glass. Slit grape and place on rim for garnish.

Coffee-fig elixir

1 cup high-quality fresh-roasted, hot-brewed coffee (Houghtaling uses Gimme! Ethiopian)
1 cup dried whole mission figs with stems removed
1/2 teaspoon cloves
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup water

Simmer figs, fresh-brewed coffee and cloves over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently. Mash figs with back of spoon after simmering. Add brown sugar and water. Heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat. Allow to cool then strain crushed figs out with a sieve and store.

Coriander in a Cocktail

Making cocktails with locally grown ingredients is a challenge throughout the winter and early spring. Even if you have a root cellar or a freezer that was filled with the bounty of last summer’s harvest, by the end of April you have probably gone through all of it.

As we hunted for inspiration for this week’s cocktail, we found a ball jar filled with coriander in the back of the cupboard. Coriander is the seed of the cilantro plant. Every summer, I let our cilantro bolt to bloom its pretty little white flowers and subsequently go to seed. In September, I pull up the dead plants and save the dried seeds that did not fall to the ground.

We don't typically cook with coriander so those darn seeds get composted the following fall when I harvest new seeds that I am sure I will use this time.

And this time, we used them. Coriander adds a subtle, aromatic essence to a classic vodka martini. If you do not have any coriander, this cocktail designed by Leah Houghtaling is currently available at both Simply Red Bistro at Sheldrake Point and at Felicia’s Atomic Lounge.

Coriander Martini

3 ounces coriander-infused vodka (see below)
1/4 ounce dry white wine (like Simply White from Sheldrake Vineyards)
twist of orange peel

Shake infused vodka and white wine with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with orange twist.

To make coriander-infused vodka:

1/4 cup coriander seeds
1 liter bottle of vodka (we used Svedka)

Place coriander and vodka into a large glass jar and let sit 24 hours. Remove coriander seeds with a sieve and crush them with mortar and pestle (not food processor). Return crushed seeds to vodka for an additional 48 hours.
Strain.

Rosemary-Grapefruit Cocktail

Today’s Mixology Monday theme is Superior Twists. Not twists as in the thing that sits on the rim of your glass as a decorative afterthought, but twists as in what if you threw out your old recipe and made a traditional classic cocktail differently, even if for only one day?

Typically, our adjustments to any drink recipes tend to involve adding bourbon, substituting bourbon or increasing the bourbon-to-everything-else ratio. No surprise, then, that our classic cocktail twist involves bourbon. In this case, we chose to twist the Old Fashioned. Nothing like a little bourbon, bitters, sugar and citrus to raise your spirits and tickle your nipples.

As is usually the case when there is a deadline looming, our new cocktails are based on whatever we can find in the house, in this case, Bookers, a mostly dead rosemary plant and a grapefruit. I know, I know, mixing Bookers with anything other than an ice cube is a mortal sin fit to be punished by a tortuous eternity spent in the fiery bowels of hell. I won’t admit to you that I partook of Bookers mixed with orange juice during my last bout with the common cold. The only other bourbon we had in the house today was Knob Creek infused with rosemary and about a pound too many peppercorns which resulted in me racing around the kitchen in circles with flames blasting out of my face, much to Leah’s amusement. So Bookers it be.

We also violated our “less is more” rule with this cocktail, which contains a whopping eight ingredients. Going through a rebellious stage, perhaps?

Rosemary-Grapefruit Old Fashioned

1 1⁄2 ounce Bookers bourbon
1⁄4 ounce Grand Marnier
1⁄4 ounce sweetened lime juice (two parts lime juice to one part simple syrup)
3 dashes bitters
1 section of pink grapefruit, skin and pith removed
1⁄2 tsp fresh rosemary leaves
1 tsp sugar
splash club soda
grapefruit rind twist

Muddle all ingredients in pint glass except club soda and grapefruit rind twist. Pour into double rocks glass filled with ice. Top with club soda. Toss gently into pint glass and back again. Garnish with grapefruit twist.

Check out everyone else’s Mixology Monday cocktail recipes at this month’s host site, The Wild Drink Blog. Our hosts also asked what song we most like to dance The Twist to. The Twist? Bah, I say. We dance The Frug instead, while drinking old fashioneds and listening to Jaan Pehechaan Ho by Mohammed Rafi.

Eating Ithaca Podcast

Eating Ithaca celebrated their 25th podcast by recording live at Felicia's Atomic Lounge on December 16, 2008. Dave and Andrea Cameron interviewed Felicia's master cocktail mixologist, Leah Houghtaling, as well as Seth Gregory, the chef from Fine Line Bistro. The interview with Leah is fun, with lots of cocktail taste-testing spiked with Leah's spicy sense of humor. Since Felicia's focuses on using fresh, local ingredients, the Felicia cocktails reviewed included the Spiced Beet Bubbly, Loco Hot Cocoa, fennel-infused vodka, and Hot Spiked Cider. Live music was provided by the Dave Yantorno Band, whose next show at Felicia's is February 22. CLICK HERE to hear the podcast, or you can go to www.eatingithaca.com where you can also catch up on Dave and Andrea's regular podcasts as they eat their way around Ithaca. Thanks, Eating Ithaca! Here's to another year of great food and drink in our little city. Photos by Mark H. Anbinder.

Beets and Champagne in a Festive Cocktail

I can’t say that I am fond of beets. It’s not that I mind eating things that taste like dirt; I am a self-proclaimed potato whore. I just think beets taste odd. I can accept a handful of shredded beets in my salad, and I’ve always had an affinity for tangy Harvard Beets. But beets in a cocktail?

Unfortunately, if you want to use local produce to make cocktails in the winter, your options are limited. So beets it is. Suck it up.

Now for the good news: This sparkling cocktail tastes amazing. The essence of beet is there, but it blends seamlessly with the warm, comforting flavors of cinnamon and maple syrup. A hint of cayenne pops in your mouth with each bubble.

It’s a lot of work; the beets need to be roasted, shredded, simmered and strained. The end result is worth the effort. I recommend the Spiced Beet Bubbly in place of your standard brunch mimosa to add some color to your morning, or as a festive addition to your afternoon holiday party where it is sure to extract some oohs and ahhhs.

Oh, and the color: A deep fuscia. Which means it will stain your clothes/carpet/counter. My own personal motto is, “If it stains, I will spill it.” Don’t wear white when preparing or drinking this cocktail.

My hesitation about beets? Gone with the first sip. The Spicy Beet Bubbly is shamelessly loved by beet whores and non-beet whores alike.

This post is written as part of Mixology Monday, whose December theme is "spice." You can check out more spicy recipes at this month's host's site, Tiki Drinks and Indigo Firmaments.

Spiced Beet Bubbly

750 ml bottle of champagne, sparkling wine or sparkling cider
20 ounces fresh beets (2 large)
20 ounces water
3/4 cup maple syrup
3/8 tsp cinnamon (1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp)
1/4 tsp cayenne
pinch mace

Roast beets:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pierce beets six or eight times with a fork or knife and wrap in aluminum foil. Place foil-covered beets on baking sheet in center of oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven and allow beets to cool fully in the foil.

Spiced beet syrup:
Unwrap beets and shred with food processor. Place shredded beets in sauce pan, including all of the juice. Add enough water to cover beets (about 20 ounces of water). Cook uncovered over medium heat for 15 minutes. Do not boil. Add maple syrup, cinnamon, cayenne and mace. Simmer uncovered over low heat for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow mixture to cool fully. Strain, and compost the beets (or taste them - maybe you can use them in another recipe! For this cocktail, we use the syrup.)

To make cocktail:
4 ounces champagne, sparkling wine or sparkling cider
2 1/2 tablespoons spiced beet syrup
twist of orange peel

Pour sparkling wine into a champagne flute. Slooooowly add spiced beet syrup. Garnish with orange twist.

Serves 8. Beet syrup will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Recipe created by Leah Houghtaling , cocktail chef at Felicia's Atomic Lounge, Ithaca, NY with taste-testing input by her sidekick, Amelia Sauter, who also authors this totally awesome Felicia blog plus a humor blog of her own.

Photo by Leah Houghtaling.

Bar Incident: The Chipotle "Accident"

An Open Letter to the Guy Who Steals Drinks:

We have seen you chug other people's cocktails - even strangers' drinks - when they are not looking. Last week, did you think that full-to-the-brim martini was sitting abandoned on the bar by accident? Tempting you to sneak the whole thing? Inviting you to slug it down? We made it just for you, with our chipotle-infused tequila. The look on your face as your mouth burst into flames was simply classic. We notice that you aren't stealing drinks anymore...

Fondly,
Felicia

White Sangria

When most people think of sangria, they usually picture it being red. Though not as famous as its red sibling, white sangria is a perfect beverage for harvest season. The combination of wine, fruit and sugar results in a lightly sweetened flavor rainbow for your mouth.

The best part about sangria is that it is virtually idiot proof. A cheap bottle of wine works just fine (Felicia is currently using the practically undrinkable Rene Junot white) and you can try adding whatever fruits you have on hand, such as peaches, melon, grapes or berries. As autumn falls upon us, you can add apples and cinnamon. Keeping the skins on the fruits enhances the flavor. If you like carbonation, serve it with a splash of Sprite or seltzer. Because Sangria is punch-like, you can mix it up in larger batches if you are having friends over. If you do not drink all of it at once (which could prove challenging since it is so good), it keeps in the fridge for a few days or up to a week if you strain out the fruit.

White Sangria

1 bottle of white table wine
one peach sliced thin
one orange sliced thin
4 large sage leaves, ripped into pieces
1 ½ ounce Cointreau
1 ½ ounce simple syrup OR 2 tablespoons sugar

Mix all ingredients in a large glass jar. Add more or less sugar to taste. Let sit for a few hours. Serve in wine glasses over ice, with a splash of Sprite or seltzer added if bubbles are desired. Number of people served varies, but Felicia advises you to share or you will end up with a bittersweet sangria headache. Salud!

Games Felicia Plays

The Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Studies and Services at San Diego State University recently published the results of some research on parties: They found that drinking games cause people to drink more. Wow. Brilliant. Who knew? Felicia does not play games (except for the occasional rousing game of TV tag); Felicia takes drinking very seriously. Not that you won’t ever find a gaggle of girls at a table in Felicia’s alley mid-summer getting deliciously toasted while playing some drinking game involving spoons. It’s just that most of Felicia’s drinks are designed to be sipped slowly. Take, for example, the Dirty Girl martini. Chugging one of those is way too reminiscent of getting tumbled about in the surf and swallowing a big choking gulp of salty seawater as you almost lose your bathing suit. Sip, my friends. Savor the flavor. And speaking of martinis to savor, here’s the latest: the Fig Manhattan. A bold infusion of figs in Woodford Reserve bourbon, shaken lightly with a touch of tawny port. Slightly sweet and simply scrumptious. The Beet It Martini has been getting all of the attention lately as evidenced by all the patrons in the bar whose top lips are stained fuchsia. Can the Fig Manhattan compete? You’ll have to taste it and see for yourself.