Saturday 23 August 2014

Cocktail of the month: cigarettes and alcohol


On a quiet day recently the strains of a song from my teenage life reached out across the years. "......'cause all I need are cigarettes and alcohol". Oasis; boy had it been a long time since we were acquainted. But, as is the way, I just couldn't get the damn song out of my head. I slowly realised it was in fact a cocktail vision. A challenge from the universe.

The alcohol component I  have covered, it's got to be bourbon. But cigarettes, in a cocktail? How was I going to pull that one off? I toyed with infusing my bourbon with tobacco but even my adventurous spirit draws the line at experimenting with ingredients likely to poison my drinkers. I turned instead to an ingredient I have had my eye on for a while, Jade Perique Tobacco Liqueur. This liqueur is flavoured with Louisiana Perique tobacco, apparently one of the rarest tobaccos in the world. It's delicious: smooth, woody and herbal. I didn't want to over complicate a cocktail called cigarettes and alcohol so I based my recipe on an old-fashioned.



cigarettes and alcohol (serves one)

30mL bourbon
30mL Jade Perique Tobacco Liqueur
10mL simple syrup (I used my Christmas spice syrup for additional spice notes)
3-4 dashes of orange bitters (you could use angostura instead)
large piece of orange zest
ice
cherry and orange wheel to serve 

Combine the bourbon, tobacco liqueur, simple syrup, bitters and orange zest in a large glass or cocktail shaker. Add ice and stir well. Strain into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice and garnish with a cherry and an orange wheel.

You can here me talking about this cocktail on the Flavour, Cambridge 105 podcast here.

Sunday 17 August 2014

Simple cocktail: flat peaches, elderflower and lime


I had just polished off a cocktail I call "cigarettes and alcohol" recipe coming soon). I felt it was time to redress the balance a little. 

I was inspired by a bag of overripe flat peaches, given to me free by a lovely Cambridge market trader at the end of the day. I pureed the peaches, added a dash of agave nectar (the health freak's choice of sweetener) along with lime zest and lime juice. Delicious just by itself, I had to stop myself eating it there and then. Loosened by a glug of elderflower gin (approx 30mL), it still looks healthy even if it does have a little kick. Served over ice and garnished with slices of peach and lime it is extremely pretty and would work equally well with rum, gin, vodka or even (whisper it) as a non-alcoholic drink.



You can here me talking about this cocktail on the Flavour, Cambridge 105 podcast here.