Weekly Cocktail: "Contessa d'Estate"

Here's my latest mixology creation - a take on an Aperol spritz, and great for sipping during the golden hour. I'm calling it "Contessa d'Estate," or "Countess of Summer", owing to the bright, light, and refreshing core spirit. 

To make each drink, you'll need:

• 1.5oz vodka (I use VDKA 6100, made from whey)
• 1 ounce Aperol 
• 3/4oz St. Germain elderflower liqueur 
• 2 ounces grapefruit juice 
• Tonic water, to taste (I use Fever Tree)
• 2 dashes Crude "Sycophant" bitters (orange & fig)

Put ice in a Boston shaker, then add all ingredients except tonic. Shake vigorously, then strain into flutes with a couple of fresh ice cubes inside. Top with tonic to your taste.

The grapefruit balances out the sweetness of the St. Germain and the Aperol, and the tonic floated on top gives it a bitter tang. This could be served with a grapefruit wedge, for garnish, and can also be pre-batched if you want to make it for a group. 

Cottrell Brewing Co. - "Stonington Glory" pilsner

 Well, here I am in Stonington, CT, on the Long Island Sound and only a hop, skip, and a jump from the Rhode Island border. I'm on a bit of a vacation this week, ahead of starting my new job on August 2nd. (So, yes, I'm actually stepping away from managing the wine and spirits store to focus on my main interest, public policy education.) But of course I am still blogging and will pick it back up in earnest, starting today!

I'm at Breakwater restaurant in Stonington, and saw this on the taplist. It's a 4.70% ABV Czech-style pilsner, made with Aromatic malt and Sterling hops, and named for the 1814 Battle of Stonington, in which the victorious Connecticut militia turned away a vastly-superior fleet of British ships during the War of 1812. Between August 9 and 12, 1814, British frigates and ships-of-the-line bombarded the town but failed to secure a victory. 

I grabbed a half-pour while waiting for our dockside table. It was pretty hot out, even with the sea breeze, so I wanted a lighter beverage. And I chose wisely, but...one thing that strikes me about this is that it's actually on the heavier end of pilsners. I was surprised at how thick and full-bodied it was. It's off-dry, with a heavy dash of honey which is quite welcome and gives substantial body to an otherwise-light style. I enjoy the traditional flavors as well, and am picking up the flaked-wheat and dry, salty texture. This would be a nice pairing with some seafood (not that I can eat most seafood due to an allergy) or lighter chicken dishes. Or perfect for a day on the pier!

Weekly Cocktail: "Yoru Desu"

A few weeks ago, I picked up Hendrick's "Lunar", the famed gin distiller's spring seasonal expression, so I wanted to see how it would do in a cocktail. The spirit itself has notes of allspice, cinnamon, flowers, and a touch of herbs to complement a relatively-low juniper flavor. I wanted to make a summery cocktail using it, so I chose yuzu, a fruit native to East Asia. In that vein, I've decided to call this "Yoru Desu", which can be translated from Japanese as "Nighttime." You know, because Lunar gin, too.

To make this, you'll need:

• 2oz Hendrick's Lunar gin
• 5oz yuzu juice 
• 4 dashes Fee Brothers plum bitters
• Ice cube
• Whole cardamom (to float as garnish)

Here, I placed the ice in the glass first, adding the cardamom and shooting the bitters over the ice. I followed up by adding the gin, then the yuzu juice, and stirred. I chose plum bitters because it toned down the sweetness of the yuzu and gave the cocktail some weight. Overall a tasty cocktail, and I'd be curious how this would be shaken with ice. 

Avery Brewing Co. - "Depuceleuse" barrel-aged wild ale (2010 vintage)

Here's another vintage beer, drawn from the bowels of the D'Vines storage unit - a 9.59% ABV wild ale brewed with sour cherries. Called "Depuceleuse", it's fermented using Brettanomyces yeast, malted barley, Rocky Mountain tapwater spring water, and finally aged in Zinfandel casks with production limited to 463 cases, or 5,556 12oz bottles. 

Oh, and it's also over a decade old, bottled in March 2010, BUT - unlike some vintage beers that I've tried, I'm a bit more optimistic for barrel-fermented wild ales. Why? Because to start, wild ales often have funky yeast strains, many of which are quite hardy and work their magic in the bottle. This is called bottle-conditioning, and while it doesn't explicitly say this beer is bottle-conditioned, it still stands to reason that beers like this may have ongoing processes that keep the juice inside fresh.

But there still is the chance it could be vinegar since I don't know other variables related to storage. 

Cracks open OK - good hiss from the bottle. I gently pour it, because old beer should be treated with care as to not disturb any sediment which has accumulated. 

Wow. It's bloody good. No joke, it's like a traditional, proper lambic. This ale is super soft with a moderate amount of gentle sourness, a definite funk (from the Brett) and a silky-smooth consistency. Flavor notes are predominately of dates, with some pungent spice, wood, raisin sweetness and a good dose of malts. Finish is somewhat short, with a tang. 

Damn, I'm impressed at how well this held up. Fans of lambics, true sours, and barrel-aged ales would rejoice at the taste of such nectar. I'd definitely have this again, and you can buy one for yourself at D'Vines for $17.99 per 12oz bottle. 

Weekly Cocktail: "Magicicada"

Inspired by the ruby-red eyes of our millions of insect visitors, and named for the genus of the 17- and 13-year cicadas, this is my (almost completely) local take on a Negroni. For each drink, you'll need:

• 1oz Campari
• 1oz sweet vermouth (I used Mt. Defiance's superlative sweet vermouth)
• 1oz gin (I used McClintock Distilling Co.'s "Gardeners Gin")
• 0.5oz Pratt & Standard Rosemary Ginger Syrup
• Ice

To make, put ice in a Cobbler shaker and add ingredients. Shake well, and use built-in strainer (or, use a Hawthorne strainer if you're using a Boston shaker) to strain into glasses. This delicious cocktail is a nice balance between bitter and sweet, with the rosemary and ginger giving it an herbal kick. I really wish I had some New Columbia Distillery Capitoline "Tiber" to use as a Campari substitute, and make all the ingredients local, but close enough.

Bonus cameo, below, by Lucy the doggy. 

Midleton Distillery - "Redbreast" 12yr Cask Strength Irish Whiskey

 Any fans of Irish pot-still whiskey will know the name Redbreast, a production of Midleton Distillery out of County Cork, Ireland. Midelton is one of the most prolific producers of Irish whiskey, with brands including Jameson, Powers (one of my favorites), and the Green / Yellow / Blue Spot series, among others (and formerly Tullamore DEW). Redbreast, the subject of today's review, was originally started by Gilbey's in Dublin at the turn of the 20th century. Gilbey's produced whiskey under the Redbreast marque until the mid 1980s, at which point it was sold to a conglomerate and relaunched in the mid 1990s. Today, Redbreast has a handful of varieties, all of which carry age statements between 12 and 27 years. 

A bit about distilling - just like with wine, and some beer, there are complex rules and regulations as to ingredients, production methods, aging requirements, and even the types of wood used in casks. There are two main types of stills in which whiskey can be made: a column, or continuous still, and a pot still. Irish whiskey can be made in either. Many Irish distillers use heated air to dry the malts (as opposed to peat, a classic Scotch technique) so the final product is somewhat lighter and cleaner.  

Today's spirit is triple-distilled in a single pot-still, one of those half-orb copper-looking doohickeys in a distillery. Midleton uses very large pot stills, which allows for distillation to occur almost continuously. "Single pot still" is sort of the equivalent, in terms of pedigree, to Scotch single malt (as opposed to "blended Scotch whisky.") Redbreast is one of the only Irish whiskies out there that can still be called "single pot still."

Anyways - the whiskey. As noted, this 56.7% ABV (113.4pf) mash of both unmalted and malted barley is aged in a combination of American bourbon barrels and Spanish Oloroso sherry butts. It's medium amber in color, with a piquant nose of dried fruit, alcohol, and some spice.

Taste: fans of sherry will definitely enjoy this as a lot of the flavor profile is derived from the Oloroso casks...I'm getting some decent vanilla from the wood, a bit of mustiness, and a dose of candied dates, and some slight hints of sweet & sour sauce and table salt. There's a longer finish of oak than I expected, and has a lip-smacking aftertaste. 

Interestingly, I tried this both neat and with several drops of cold, filtered water (as I usually do for cask-strength spirits) and I prefer it neat. I liked the fullness of flavor yet unlike high-proof bourbons, this whiskey didn't have an overpowering weight to it that necessitates some water. I got this for $89.99 at Metro Wine & Spirits on Columbia Road NW in DC. I think that's a fair price for a cask-strength Irish whiskey. Redbreast has a few other offerings, including a Lustau finish, for roughly the same price. A nice sipper and one for the top shelf of the bar for sure. 

3 Stars Brewing Co. - Italian Pilsner

Today's beer is a local DC variant of a trend that's become increasingly popular in the last year or so - the Italian pilsner. Italian-style pilsners are very similar in concept to German-style (aka the original pilsner) but instead of emphasizing the malts, the hops take center stage. This makes for a much drier, more aromatic beer. According to craftbeer.com, it was Firestone Walker Brewing Co. that kicked off the Italian pilsner trend with their "Pivo Pils", although more and more breweries seem to be trying their hand at the style.

The beer I'm having comes from DC's own 3 Stars Brewing Co., based in the Lamond Riggs neighborhood of far Northeast. It's  5.20% ABV and made with Pilsner and Carapils malts, and dry-hopped with Huell Melon with Tettnang hops. These aren't hops I've come across too much, so I'm eager to see how they do. 

Pours swiftly into my CBC 2017 commemorative tulip glass (I lack a "proper" pilsner glass, not that the size or shape of glassware makes a critical difference) and it generates a fluffy, lacy white head. 

Taste-wise, it's a clean, crisp pilsner that's quite dry, as expected. I'm getting a touch of green melon and some sea salt, and it finishes with that familiar malty goodness that pilsner-lovers will welcome. Fans of "regular" pilsners will definitely notice the dryness...sort of like a combination of a dry-hopped pale ale and a Pilsner Urquell. I find it quite refreshing, and although I'm not sure if this has been released to stores yet, but you can grab it for $18.99 / 4pk 16oz cans at the brewery, and I heartily recommend it.