elements, the bar blog

For those that know,  I need not say more.  For those that don’t know, you need to come find out…..

Pappy Van Winkle   the holy grail of bourbon

Quite possibly the world’s most sought after spirit. Those that don’t know should make a point to indulge, those who already know probably aren’t too happy that we are letting the secret out.

The bourbons that Julius Van Winkle III and his son Preston create are truly a labor of love. The family’s motto: “We make fine bourbon. At a profit if we can, at a loss if we must. But always, fine bourbon.” These are strong words when you consider the loss attributed to the angel’s share during the bottling of such selections as the Pappy Van Winkle 23 year. As much as seventy-five percent of the bourbon evaporates and is lost while the bourbon spends time in the barrel developing its signature sweet and spicy notes. Its safe to say that those are some lucky angels.

Brown spirit enthusiasts like us often make a mental note of establishments around the country that offer such rare items.   So write it down, drop a pin in your Google maps, do whatever you have to, just make sure you indulge in some before its gone.

elements Pappy Van Winkle collection:

10 year 90 proof
12 year
15 year
20 year
23 year

Today I put together another batch of blood orange vanilla simple syrup for the Red Rye cocktail. We here at elements love our rye, so naturally I paired it with some delicious blood orange and a bitter cranberry puree. A touch of lemon, some orange cognac, and a duo of bitters goes a long way in this tasty libation!

As seen in Inside Jersey…

Calling all beer geeks!
Friday, September the 9th we will be hosting a beer dinner using some of the very excellent brews from Dogfish Head Craft Brewery of nearby Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.  Our Foodie Friday menu will be designed around and using as pairings a number of their exciting beers; including but not limited to:

Midas Touch

Burton Baton

Chateau Jiahu

Punkin Ale

And certainly a couple more than this initial list.

Stay tuned. . . more will be up soon.

I’m very much looking forwards to what happens when our off-centered kitchen gets together with these off-centered ales.

Next Friday, September 9th.

A couple of recent drinks that have been on the cocktail list recently:

The first one I came up with while listening to a bunch of Lynyrd Skynyrd, so I wanted something good and country.  Wild Turkey 101 proof rye was a good start.  One ounce of that with one ounce of Plymouth’s excellent Sloe Gin, with 3/4 oz fresh lemon, 1/2 oz 1:1 demerara syrup and 1 healthy dash of angostura bitters.  Topped off with an ounce of seltzer, and it’s our Man Named Curtis Sloe.

The next one is actually a drink I put on the menu for Mother’s Day, but it’s been so well received I’ve kept it on the list ever since.  While local strawberries were in peak season I put a bunch through our steam evaporator; passing water through them and extracting all of their flavor.  Hopefully with this I’ll be able to have fresh strawberry flavor available to me throughout the year.

For this cocktail I took some of that ‘strawberry consomme’ and added the juice of thai chili, then added a bit of sugar to make it all a bit more shelf stable.  I put 3/4 oz of this in with 1 1/2 oz of Plantation 5 year rum from Barbados, 1/2 oz fresh lime juice, 1/2 oz 1:1 simple syrup, and 1 tsp of Galliano.  I shake and strain all of this, and then top it off with 2 oz of a dry Blanc de Blancs made from the Ugni Blanc grape.

Finally this is all topped with a few drops of bitters from Brooklyn’s Bittermens.  This one is made with Hibiscus, Acai berry, and Long Pepper; it’s a bitters they describe as “sweet, spicy and a bit of a tart”.

With the combination of the chili’s, the bitters, and the original holiday weekend this was started around I had to call this one the Hot Mama.

And finally, to end this post with a bit of silliness:  Our events coordinator brought in a pinata from her family’s  Independence Day celebration, and I realized that it was my mission to see to the utter destruction of the thing.  Luckily I had a supply of fireworks.  Here’s the video (please pardon the language, it was taken by cooks; and there’s no censoring a cook):

pinata doom

I also have a close-up version that was too big to upload to the blog, but it may be seen on youtube at pinata doom close-up.

Brought in some Jersey rhubarb recently, and it’s been making appearances in various drinks throughout the restaurant.

A syrup is made from the rhubarb by cooking it with a bit of pomegranate, lemon, cinnamon, clove and sugar.

This syrup has worked well so far in different ways with gin, tequila, and rum;  however my favorite cocktail so far is a bourbon beverage (no surprise I’m sure to those who know me.)

Sage Advice:

This one uses 1 1/2 oz of Old Weller 107 proof bourbon, 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice, 3/4 oz rhubarb syrup, 1/2 oz Velvet Falernum, and 1 tsp of Hum liqueur.  Shaken and strained onto new ice in a collins glass, and garnished with a couple of fresh leaves of sage.

Macchu Pisco and green tea, all set for infusion.

Vacuum sealed together in a bag, then dropped in a hot water bath to steep.

A few minutes later and it’s green tea pisco, all set for straining and bottling.  Then we build the drink.

The Spinning Dutchman:

1 1/2 oz green tea-infused Macchu Pisco, 1 1/2 oz Bols Genever, 1/2 oz agave syrup, 3 dashes Bitter Truth celery bitters, 1 dash Fee’s Old Fashion bitters.  Stir with ice, strain onto a rock, no garnish.

Four new bottles found their way onto the backbar last week, and they’re all excellent spirits.

First-  Midleton Very Rare Irish Whiskey

Second- the Macallan 25 yr Sherry Aged single malt Scotch (Highland)

Third- the Balvenie single malt, 17 yr old finished in Madeira casks (Speyside)

Fourth- the Bowmore 18 yr (Islay)

Next Saturday, April the 9th, you’ll be able to find me hanging out with our friends over at the Spring St location of Coolvines mixing up cocktails for the afternoon.

Coolvines has put together an excellent collection of craft spirits for their customers, and I’ll be set up from 2 to 5 pm making a few cocktails and helping to show people some of the ways they can be used.

Saturday, April 9th, 2-5pm.

Coolvines- 21 Spring St, Princeton, NJ (609) 924-0039

With the bar at elements I get to have a bit more fun than most bartenders are able with regard to playing around with different flavors and ideas.  This can mean sourcing unique ingredients or spirits; or maybe just having the freedom to run with something that may seem a bit silly.

In this case it was silly, geeky, and pretty tasty too.  I had a friend coming in for dinner who was a known Potter fan.  As it happens there’s quite a few Potter fans already in the restaurant, so I thought I’d embrace that and try my hand at representing one of the most well-known foodstuffs from the series: butterbeer.

Using a trick I learned from Dave Arnold and Nils Norren at the FCI last December,  I made a butter syrup using water, sugar, melted butter and xanthan gum.

This allowed me to make a cocktail using Plantation 5 year rum, butter syrup, a touch of citrus and some Full Sail Session Lager without the fatty solids of the butter separating- frequently a problem with buttered drinks I’ve tried.  In many cases if they’re not consumed quickly they’ll separate and develop an off-putting texture.

The rum, butter syrup, lime and a touch of bitters get shaken together and then strained into a beer glass.  The lager is then added, and given a quick whisk with a coffee frother to integrate everything.  Add ice and there you have it- buttered beer.

Sure, it may not be quite like what some readers could imagine butterbeer to taste like; but I’m ok with that.  I think it’s delicious, and the flavor possibilities as we move through the year and into other seasons are really quite open.  Chilled buttered punch in the summer? I’d love it.  Once autumn and winter come in- warm pumpkin butterbeer?  Gotta try that.

After all, cocktails should be all about having fun.  And this certainly was.