I looked around at various recipes, some of which combine lavender with the grapefruit, but I wanted to retain the straight-ahead bright flavour of the citrus without any flowery tones. Besides, the lavender has a tendency to dominate very quickly in the infusion process, so was quickly nixed.
This was a little different approach to the bitters. I was looking at different bittering agents and decided to use the whole grapefruit, so the pith would contribute to the bitter flavour, while the juice and flesh in the grapefruit itself would add sweetness and bring down the proof. I also added some green cardamom pods to help with the bittering, and then added some other flavouring agents to help round things out taste-wise.
Pink Grapefruit Bitters
- 1 whole pink grapefruit, cut into 1/2 inch dice
- pith of one pink grapefruit
- 30 grams ginger, julienned
- 1 teaspoon coriander seed
- 1 Tablespoon green cardamom pods
- 1 teaspoon dried lemon peel
- 5 allspice berries, cracked
- 12 oz. Bacardi 151
Combine everything in a sterile mason jar and let infuse for 9-10 days. Strain out the solids, and pass through a coffee filter
So now that you have your grapefruit bitters, go make a Hemmingway Daiquri, and add a couple of drops of these! You won’t be sorry!
Tonight’s theme was Scotch, which I was a bit unsure about, not making use of a lot of scotch in cocktails here at home: however, after a taste of Talisker/Benedictine/Green Chartreuse thanks to Kaiser Penguin, in which I was smitten with scotch, I was a little more optimistic about my options [...]]]>
Tonight’s theme was Scotch, which I was a bit unsure about, not making use of a lot of scotch in cocktails here at home: however, after a taste of Talisker/Benedictine/Green Chartreuse thanks to Kaiser Penguin, in which I was smitten with scotch, I was a little more optimistic about my options for coming up with something tasty.
Sometimes, the best laid plans … With a few single malts in the liquor cabinet, I was thinking along the lines of the Blood and Sand, with orange as a nice pairing, but, when I started rooting through the fridge, there was nary an orange to be found!!! I did, however, have a couple of nice looking pink grapefruits (originally destined to be dessert with sabayon, but, Thursday Drink Night demands a sacrifice on occasion!)
So, here we go — Arran Malt Fino Sherry Cask is a complex, less smoky scotch — we’ve used it as an after-dinner sipping scotch. If you dont have this particular one, use a good quality blended scotch — a more restrained hand on the smoke please. It still tastes scotchy, but is light enough that if you felt like another it wouldn’t be too much of a boozy burden! The sweetness of the Sortelage picks up the caramel flavours from the Arran Malt, but is tempered with a bit of bitterness from the grapefruit.
Around the World in a Kilt
- 1.5 oz. Arran Malt Fino Sherry Cask
- 0.5 oz. Sortelage.
- 1.0 oz. pink grapefruit juice
- 3-4 dashes Angostura bitters
Shake with ice, and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a pink grapefruit twist
]]>I had compiled quite a few [...]]]>
I had compiled quite a few bitters recipes, some of which seemed more bitter than others, some with heavy notes of vanilla and cinnamon… so I’m tinkering a bit as I go.
I’m aiming for something with a strong cherry flavour, but not too sweet — hints of cinnamon and vanilla, so I opted to leave both out for the first maceration, and concetrate more on the cherry/lemon and bittering agents this round.
I ended up using 100 proof Canadian Club (on a heads’ up from Shawn Soole that BCLDB here was now bringing it it!), lots of dried cherries, cherry bark, wormwood, some ginger, a hint of licorice root, and a few cloves. The plan is to let it sit for at least a week, decant, and then macerate again with more cherries, a vanilla pod and perhaps 1/2 a cinnamon stick…
Here’s the beauty shot — day 1
Proportions: (sorry for the mix of imperial/metric measures, but, hey…)
- 7 0z. dried, unsweetened cherries
- 0.5 oz. dried lemon peel
- 1 T dried cherry bark
- 1 T wormwood
- 5 cloves
- 1 tsp licorice root
- 1 oz. fresh ginger, sliced
- 750 ml 100 proof whisky (I used Canadian Club)
let sit for 7-10 days, shaking daily. The plan is to strain, and then macerate again with:
- 7 oz. dried, unsweetened cherries
- 1 vanilla pod, split
- 1 4-inch dried cinnamon stick
At that point, I’ll determine if I need to add a sweetening agent…
Update on the celery bitters — lots of bitter, and 5 days later, the celery flavour is starting to emerge…
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I decided to go one further, and start a couple of batches of bitters — the first one on the list was celery. I did a fair bit of poking around before putting together a list of ingredients that I hope will have lots of celery flavour. I’ve used a citrus vodka that has been sitting in the liquor cabinet as the base, Gentian root and cardamom pods as the main bittering agents, and 3 forms of celery, with a hint of citrus. I’m going to try and let it infuse for a good while: at least 3 weeks. It looks pretty in the jar now, but could get scary!
Celery Bitters (round 1)
- 500 ml citrus vodka
- 1 small celery root, diced
- 1/2 cup celery stalks and leaves, chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 tablespoon dried lemon verbena leaves
- 6 green cardamom pods
- 5 juniper berries, crushed open
- 5 black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon dried lemon peel
- zest of 1/2 lime
- 2 teaspoons Gentian root
- 1 teaspoon coriander seed
Next on the list is Cherry Bitters with some 100 Proof Canadian Club (after a bit more research 
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