The RASPBERRY TARRAGON DAIQUIRI

This is what Hemingway wrote about the noble Daiquiri in his postumously published novel Islands in the Stream:

"... as he lifted it, heavy and the glass frost-rimmed, he looked at the clear part below the frappéd top and it reminded him of the sea. The frappéd part of the drink was like the wake of a ship and the clear part was the way the water looked when the bow cut it when you were in shallow water over marl bottom. That was almost the exact color."
"This frozen daiquiri, so well beaten as it is, looks like the sea where the wave falls away from the bow of a ship when she is doing thirty knots."
"But on this night Thomas Hudson had been ashore about four days when he got really drunk.  It had started at noon at the Floridita and he had drunk first with Cuban politicians that had dropped in ...  He had drunk double frozen daiquiris, the great ones that Constante made, that had no taste of alcohol and felt, as you drank them, the way downhill glacier skiing feels running through powder snow and, after the sixth and eighth, felt like downhill glacier skiing feels when you are running unroped."   No, Hemingway was not referring to that drink of cheap call rum and bottled sweet and sour mix that passes for a Daiquiri in some places, he wrote of the prose worthy drink he enjoyed at the Floridita in Havana.   Jennings Cox, creator of the original Daiquiri recipe of Barcardi Carta Blana White rum (now known as Bacardi Superior), fresh "limón" juice (aka lime juice in Cuba) and "sugar syrup" (aka simple syrup) served the Daiquiri shaken with crushed ice, NOT strained then served up icy cold but not frozen. The original frozen versions were served up more like a shave ice, similar to a Mint Julep. Both of these are far superior libations to the boozified, sometimes mechanized, slurpees most of us are familiar with. A real Daiquiri is the kind of drink that made folks like Hemingway wax poetic.   Hemingway liked his with a little grapefruit and a dew drops of Maraschino liqueur in place of the simple syrup (aka the Hemingway Special), I like mine with fruits that are a little sweeter. This time I went with raspberries because they were in season, then I added a little herbal zing from tarragon for the same reason and, because raspberries can be quite tart, I  upped the sweetness with some extra simple syrup.  

  The RASPBERRY TARRAGON DAIQUIRI   INGREDIENTS: 2 oz White Rum 1 oz Fresh Lime Juice 1 Oz. Raspberry Syrup Extra Simple Syrup* 10 Tarragon Leaves (Shhhh ... little secret ... ) Small Pinch of Sea Salt!! Lime Wheel Fresh Raspberries Sprig of Tarragon Ice   TOOLS: Coupe glass, Cocktail shaker, Muddler   DIRECTIONS: Chill your coupe. In a cocktail shaker gently muddle the tarragon leaves with the lime juice. Fill your cocktail shaker with ice then add the raspberry syrup, the dash of salt and the rum. *Now is the time to adjust your sweetness by adding the extra simple syrup to balance the tart raspberry syrup! Taste your mixture before to make sure it needs sweetening, then add a tablespoon at a time. (My raspberries were quite tart so my syrup needed 2 more tablespoons of simple syrup.) Adjusted to your taste? Good, now shake vigorously until chilled. Strain into your chilled coupe glass, garnish with the fresh raspberries, a lime wheel, the sprig of tarragon and serve.   Why the salt? Because salt is a natural way to awaken the palate and it helps take the bite out of any bitterness while actually enhancing perception of other tastes. It's a trick chefs have used for decades and one I've secretly applied to many of my cocktail recipes for years. Just be careful not to overdo, you don't want to taste the salt you just want it to do its job.   I can't promise this Daiquiri will turn you into a great writer like Hemingway, but it can turn you into a drinker like Hemingway.   Enjoying my Raspberry Tarragon Daiquiri:   An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools. ~ Ernest Hemingway   Updated 7-2018 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY  

Updating The GIBSON COCKTAIL

The Gibson is a classic, old school cocktail that is a variation on the Gin Martini where the olive or lemon twist is replaced with a cocktail onion. Interestingly, according to the oldest published recipe for the Gibson in the 1908 book, "The World's Drinks And How To Mix Them" by William Boothby, a Gibson is equal parts gin and French vermouth stirred with ice and strained into a cocktail glass and sometimes served with an olive. Except for the ratios, this sounds suspiciously close to a typical gin martini to me.

As you can see, no cocktail onion was on the team. When the cocktail onion came into play is as heavily debated as who created the Gibson in the first place, and frankly, m'dears, I don't give a hoot. The Gibson, as we know it today, is garnished with a cocktail onion (though usually one of those ubiquitous, soggy little orbs of a sad excuse for a vegetable) and that's it's iconic signature garnish!
At this point I'm sure you all know how I feel about bottled, canned and mass manufactured ingredients in my cocktails. I avoid them like the plague and upgrade them with a fresh, homemade, nutrient and flavor packed alternative wherever possible. In the case of the cocktail onion, it's very possible and extremely easy with a quick pickled fresh green onion, and, yes, I've provided you with my personal recipe for Quick Pickled Green Onions below.
So, instead of a mushy and tough excuse of a pearl onion you get a crunchy and savory bite of zing at the end of your Gibson!  
The New and Improved GIBSON Cocktail 
INGREDIENTS: 2 Oz. Ford's Gin 1 Oz. Martini & Rossi Extra Dry Vermouth Quick Pickled Green Onions Sea Salt Fresh Ground Pepper Ice
TOOLS: Cocktail pitcher, Cocktail spoon, Conical (Martini) glass
INSTRUCTIONS:  At least an hour or two ahead of time pickle your green onions. (Recipe below.) Chill your cocktail glass in the freezer or fill with ice to chill. Fill your cocktail pitcher with ice, add the vermouth and stir a few times. Add the gin and stir for about 12 seconds then stain into your chilled glass. Garnish with a Quick Pickled Green Onion, a few of the juniper, coriander and cardamom seeds from the pickling liquid, add a dash of salt and pepper then serve.
Yes, you will see a few drops of the olive oil floating in your cocktail as a result of the pickling liquid from the onions and the spice seeds. Believe it or not, the olive oil acted like a secondary garnish bringing tiny bursts of the vinaigrette on the palate, a nice little surprise!

Quick Pickled Green Onions Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 C. Water

1/2 C. White Balsamic Vinegar 1/2 C. Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1 Tsp. Kosher Salt 1/2 Tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper 1 Tsp. Sugar 1/4 Tsp. Juniper Berries, Crushed  1/2 Tsp. Coriander Seeds, Crushed 3 - 4 Cardamom Seeds, Crushed 1 Tsp. Dried Orange Peel 1 - 2 Bunches of Green Onions, Trimmed
DIRECTIONS: Crush your seeds lightly, just to open them up. Heat everything but the green onions in the microwave for one minute. Pour the warm pickling liquid over the onions and allow to cool. Refrigerate for a few hours until it's cocktail time!
The pickling spices I used, inspired by the botanicals used in the Ford's Gin, give the onion a nice tiny kick of juniper, coriander and lemon when eaten, like a last goodnight kiss.

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CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY MARTINI Redeux

I love chocolate covered strawberries and, because I do, one of the first cocktail recipes I ever created was this chocolate strawberry martini. I got to enjoy my favorite dessert as a cocktail and it started me on my mission of creating culinary cocktails for as many of those ubiquitous food holidays as possible.

For me those food holidays do serve a purpose beyond promoting some food or business, they inspire new cocktail recipes. Interestingly enough (though there are Chocolate Covered Anything, Nuts and even Raisins Days) there is no Chocolate Strawberry Day, no Chocolate Covered Strawberry Day, not even a Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Day.

Bah-freaking-humbug! 

Therefore, in honor of my mom who loved chocolate strawberries and since someone has already created a fake food holiday and gotten away with it, I declare August 29th (Mom's birthday) Chocolate Strawberry Day!

My original recipe for this cocktail was very sweet and lacked complexity so, to celebrate this new (entirely legit) food holiday, I've remastered this chocolate strawberry cocktail. I added a perky herbal touch of very dry vermouth and some extra depth with some chocolate bitters. It's still a sweet cocktail, but now it's got some character.

The

CHOCOLATESTRAWBERRYMartini(Yes, I'm still gonna call it a martini, deal with it.)
INGREDIENTS2 Oz. Pinnacle Strawberry Vodka2 Oz. Bols White Creme de Cacao1/2 Oz. Martini & Rossi Extra Dry Vermouth1 (+/-) Tbsp. Simple Syrup*Dash White Pepper3 Dashes Scrappy's Chocolate Bitters4 - 5 Pureed Strawberries
GARNISH: 1 Large Chocolate Covered Strawberry
DIRECTIONSAdd the fresh strawberries to your blender and puree.Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add the pureed strawberries, strawberry vodka, white creme de cacao, vermouth, white pepper and the bitters.Shake until chilled.Strain** into your chilled cocktail glass and garnish with the chocolate covered strawberry.
VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND DIRECTIONS:

* COCKTAIL TIP: Strawberries can run a gamut of sweet intensity so you might want to taste your cocktail as you add the simple syrup to check the sweetness. An easy way to taste a cocktail to insert a straw into the mixture and hold your finger over the top of the straw then lift the straw to your mouth and drop some of the cocktail on your tongue. By not touching the straw to your mouth you can reinsert it to taste again.

** I single strain (just through the cocktail shaker strainer) because I don't mind the pulp and the seeds from the strawberries. Feel free to double strain through a fine mesh strainer if you prefer a pulp and seed free drink.

National Chocolate Covered Anything Day is December 16th and - now - National Chocolate Strawberry Day is August 29th.

Updated 8-2021

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GIN COCKTAILS, Quotes, Trivia and History

     Today I'm having a celebration of all things gin, after all it's Gin Day so what better to time to celebrate such a venerable spirit?
Herein lies some great Gin Cocktail Recipes, a few gin quotes and a little trivia and information on this wonderfully herbal and drinkable potable.
What is gin? It's a clear alcoholic spirit distilled from grain or malt and flavored primarily with juniper berries though many other botanicals come into play. It started out, like many other spirits, as a medicinal cure, having originally been tinctures, infusions and decoctions of ethanol juniper and other herbal extracts.
If you think you don't like gin, rethink and try some of these cocktails. If you've been infusing your vodka with things like juniper berries, rosemary, cardamom, lemon peel or a few other botanicals you've started making gin! Basically (and I'm probably going to get lots of haters for this) gin is pretty much flavored vodka. Don't believe me? Check it out, that's what it is.   Gin is probably the biggest player of all in classic cocktails most likely from it's bastard child, bathtub* gin from Prohibition. Though most people think of gin as an English spirit it was originally from Holland. The English just stole it from them when they saw Dutch soldiers having a little genever aka "Dutch Courage" during the Thirty Years' War in the 1600s. But to give the English their due, they do well by their gins and even started a whole category called London Dry Gins.
There are more types of gin than any other spirit and we're not including "flavored" spirits here. Genevers (or Jenevers), Old Tom Gin, Plymouth Gin, London Dry Gin and New American or International Gin. Most are juniper forward except for the last group where other botanicals are more prominent than the juniper.
Gin is an acquired taste. You have to grow up and develop an adult palate to appreciate the lovely notes of all the different gins available on the market today. Once you do you'll discover a whole new world of drinks and cocktail enjoyment.  In my opinion, gin is not a sipping spirit, it's a mixing spirit and is best served by a great supporting cast of fresh juices, crisp sodas, rich spices, just plucked from the garden herbs and an attitude of adventure.
So, come on a gin adventure with me today.
GIN TRIVIA:

• As early as the 11th Century juniper berries were being used to flavor distilled spirits by Italian Monks.
• Gin was used as a cure for the plague.
• It's said that Old Tom gin got it's name from a tom cat.
• Slow gin is not gin, it's a gin based liqueur flavored with sloe fruit.
• Gin gets it's name from the juniper berry. The original drinking gin, genever or jenever, is from the Dutch "jeneverbes" for juniper berry. The French call juniper berries "baies de genièvre" and the Italians call them "bacche di ginepro".
• Gin was added to mask the bitterness of quinine water which was used by the British as an anti-malaria drug. I was the birth of the Gin and Tonic!

The GINCOCKTAILS
ABSINTHE MINDED LEPRECHAUN AVIATION BASIL CUCUMBER MARTINI & BASIL INFUSED GIN Spiced Lavender BEES KNEES BIKINI MARTINI BLACKBERRY & BLACKCURRANT GIN & TONIC BLACKBERRY NEGRONI BOOMERANG COCKTAIL BUTTERFLY PEA FLOWER & ELDER FLOWER GIN & TONIC CELERY COCKTAIL CHERRY DIAMOND RAMOS FIZZ CLOVER CLUB COCKTAIL The COCKTAIL PURPLE COOL AS A CUCUMBER MARTINI CORPSE REVIVER LIVES AGAIN CUCUMBER INFUSED GIN and TONIC DIRTY MARTINI DUTCH TRADEWINDS MARTINI ELDER FASHIONED  ENCHANTED FAERIE FILTHY MARTINI GIMLET GIN MARTINI GINJA NINJA SLUSHY GOLDEN RAMOS FIZZ GONE WITH THE GIN GIBSON, REINVENTED HIBISCUS HEART FIZZ HOT CHA CHA CHERRY MARTINI LADY ROSE COCKTAIL LILAC BLOSSOM MINT GINCUMBER COCKTAIL COOLER MINT GREEN TEA INFUSED GIN & TONIC NEGRONI ORANGE BLOSSOM PAN GALACTIC GARGLE BLASTER  PINK LADY RAMOS GIN FIZZ SAUCY CHRISTMAS CRANTINI  SMOKY DIRTY MARTINI TERRI'S CHERRY (French) 75 THE ARMY NAVY COCKTAIL THYME FOR A LEMON CHERRY SLING  TRUE BLOOD MARTINI TUXEDO COCKTAIL  U.S. MARINE CORPS MARTINI VESPER, James Bond Cocktail WATERMELON ROSEMARY GIN SOUR WHITE LADY WILD HIBISCUS GIN & TONIC
HOW TO MAKE GIN FROM VODKA      It is now officially Gin O'Clock. Get out there and buy some gin and start your adventure! Cheers, M'Dears!
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* Bathtub gin was not always made in bathtubs, in fact rarely.  It just got that name because of the nasty, even dangerous, home brewed versions that abounded during Prohibition, some of which did get made in a few bathtubs.
National / World Gin Day is always the 2nd Saturday in June.

Updated 6-2021 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

The SNEAKY TIKI COLADA

Tiki drinks are making a big comeback, and this includes the blue ones which have been so despised in past years. Unlike the seventies through the nineties where bars threw together cheap rum, bottled mixers and tossed in a pineapple chunk and cherry, bartenders today are getting into the old style Tiki cocktails from the first days of Don the Beachcomber's and Trader Vic's.

Back in the late 1940's and 1950's the godfathers of Tiki cocktails like Harry Yee (of the Hawaiian Village Hotel, creator of the first Tiki cocktail and inventor of the Blue Hawaii), Ernest Gantt (aka Donn Beach of Don the Beachcombers) and Victor Bergeron (of Trader Vic fame) employed fresh juices, great syrups like Falernum and Orgeat and good quality rums to create rich, complex cocktails worthy of the Tiki culture. Between these three, despite the bickering of who created what, most of the original Tiki cocktail recipes sailed in from the islands to the shores of the haole.
I have always been fond of Tiki cocktails because I enjoy sweet, fruity cocktails on occasion, they make me feel like I'm on vacation. Another thing I like is a well garnished drink and Tiki cocktails are accessorized like a two dollar hooker, they have more bling than a Las Vegas showgirl. This new Tiki resurgence is a boon to someone like me. So I had to go there and I'm taking you with me!
This drink is a combination of two Tiki classics, the Pina Colada and the Blue Hawaii.  Thanks to a little trick with some ice sphere molds it starts out as a Banana Pina Colada and slowly morphs into a Blue Hawaii. The only changes I made were adding a banana to the Pina Colada (because I had a banana on hand) as well as a bit of Orgeat syrup and lowering the ratio of rum in the Blue Hawaii so it would freeze. The rest of the transformation is taken care of by nature!
The SNEAKY TIKI COLADA
BLUE HAWAII ICE SPHERES 1/2 Oz. Appleton Extra 12 Dark Rum 1 Oz. Bols Blue Curaçao 1/2 Oz Coco Lopez Creme de Coconut 1/4 Oz. Orgeat syrup 2 Oz. Fresh Pineapple Juice 1 Oz. Water Freeze mixture in ice sphere(s) overnight.
BANANA PINA COLADA  3 Oz. Pineapple juice, 1-1/2 Oz. Cruzan Light Rum 1/2 Oz. Appleton Extra 12 Dark Rum 1 Oz. Coco Lopez Creme de Coconut 1/2 Fresh Banana 4 Ice Cubes Blend everything until smooth and creamy.
To build the drink: Add the Blue Hawaii ice sphere to a chilled Old Fashioned glass. Pour the Banana Pina Colada around then over until the sphere is covered. Garnish with a banana slice or pineapple slice or both, a couple of cherries for a pop of color then add a fun cocktail umbrella. If you have an edible orchid add it too! With Tiki drinks, less is not more!
The fun happens when the Blue Hawaii slowly melts into your Sneaky Tiki Colada and not only changes the color but becomes an entirely different cocktail as it slowly dissolves.
Aloha and Okole maluna!


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STRAWBERRY BASIL VODKA TONIC

It was hot and muggy from storms that were crawling up from the Gulf of Mexico. Thanks to the humid heat all I wanted was something tall, cool and refreshing and a moment to sit out on my deck and watch the storm clouds roll in. I had a few strawberries in my little deck garden, I always have fresh basil in the summertime and I had vodka and tonic water.

Muddle, mix, pour, garnish, done.

STRAWBERRY BASILVODKA  TONIC
INGREDIENTS:1-1/2 Oz. Vodka4 Strawberries, sliced3 Fresh Basil Leaves, chopped1 Tbsp. SugarTonic water
GARNISHBasil SprigStrawberry
TOOLSJigger, Measuring spoons, Muddler, Collins glass.
DIRECTIONSIn the bottom of the your glass muddle the strawberries, basil leaves, sugar and vodka.Fill your glass with crushed ice and top off with tonic.Give your cocktail a good stir to chill and garnish with a fresh strawberry, the basil sprig and enjoy.
VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND DIRECTIONS:

Updated 6-2021

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BELMONT JEWEL BREEZE for the Triple Crown

Today is the final race in the Triple Crown of American Horse Racing, the Belmont Stakes. The winner of the Triple Crown must win, in succession, The Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and, finally, The Belmont Stakes in order to take home this jewel of American horse racing. Thousands upon thousands attend all three races and thousands upon thousands of attendees drink cocktails at each race.

Because of this all the races have their own signature cocktail. The Kentucky Derby has the Mint Julep and the Preakness has a Black Eyed Susan. The Belmont Stakes has had the White Carnation (until 1998), the Belmont Breeze (until 2011), but now features the Belmont Jewel.

Since Belmont can't seem to settle on any single drink for too long, I've decided to take a little from all three recipes Belmont and create my own libation for the Belmont Stakes.

The original Belmont cocktail, the White Carnation, was almost an alcoholic Creamsicle with vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice with a splash of cream and soda.  The Belmont Breeze features bourbon, orange and cranberry juices plus a splash of sherry, while the Belmont Jewel is bourbon, lemonade and pomegranate juice.
What I have come up with takes a little from all three; some bourbon, a little sherry, orange juice, some egg white for texture and a lovely froth, and a bit of pomegranate (Grenadine) to add a little color and a little more sweetness. Then I add a dash of orange bitters and garnish with an orange twist.
Guess what I'm calling it?
The BELMONT JEWEL BREEZE
INGREDIENTS:  1-1/2 Oz. Bourbon 1/2 Oz. Amontillado Sherry 1 Oz. Fresh Orange Juice 2 Tbsp. Pasteurized Egg White 2 Dashes Orange Bitters 2 Tsp. Pomegranate Syrup Orange Peel Ice
TOOLS: Vegetable peeler, Knife, Juicer, Jigger, Blender, Cocktail shaker, Coupe glass
DIRECTIONS: Add the pomegranate syrup to your glass and chill in the freezer. Using the vegetable peeler take off a wide strip of the orange peel (leaving off the bitter white pith) and set aside. Add the bourbon, sherry, orange juice and egg whites to your blender and whip for 1 to 2 minutes, until your cocktail volume at least doubles. Add this mixture into a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake until chilled. Pour your cocktail into your chilled coupe glass, add the two dashes of orange bitters, garnish with the orange peel and serve.
Updated 6-2019 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

BLACKBERRY NEGRONI

It's Negroni Week and I can't let it go by without doing my version. You know me, I cannot let well enough alone and a classic Negroni is very "well enough" with it's  perfect ratio of equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari nicely garnished with an orange peel. But you've seen a ton of that classic recipe this week so why not try it with a little Martini Diva twist?

I didn't do much meddling with the classic Negroni, just added a few blackberries and switched out the sweet vermouth for Punt e Mes, an Italian vermouth. Punt e Mes translates to "point and a half" in Piedmontese*, referring to the flavor being one point of sweetness and half a point of bitterness. It is more bitter than sweet vermouth and, I  think, balances nicely with the extra sweetness from the blackberries. Then I used 209 Gin because I think the citrus and floral botanicals complement the blackberries.

Now I  know a lot of you like your happy hour sweet, as do I, most of the time. I have a gigantic sweet tooth even when it comes to my drinks, but a walk on the wild side of the bitter truth of imbibing is a wonderful change and suits the palate occasionally. It perks up those taste buds and refreshes a sip at a time. Just keep your perking and refreshing to one or two of these, they're powerful magic!

Ready to take that walk on the wild side?? Then get your bitter booze set and go:

The

BLACKBERRY

NEGRONI

INGREDIENTS:

8 Blackberries 1 Oz. 209 Gin 1 Oz. Campari 1 Oz. Punt e Mes Orange Peel
TOOLS: Mixing glass, Bar spoon, Julep strainer, Mesh strainer, Old Fashioned glass
DIRECTIONS: Place 7 of the blackberries in your mixing glass and muddle. Add your gin, the Campari and the Punt e Mes then fill the mixing glass with ice. Stir and double strain into your chilled glass. Express the oils of your orange peel over the drink, rub around the rim, twist and drop the peel in the glass. Garnish with the last blackberry and enjoy.
AND FOR THOSE WHO PREFER THE CLASSICS:The Negroni
If you're a bit shy of experimenting with the bitter side of cocktails, let Anthony Bourdain convince you:
* Piedmontese is a Romance language spoken in Piedmont, a region of northwest Italy.

Updated 9-2020

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EGG COCKTAILS - Silky and Beautiful!

   I love cocktails with eggs in them, specifically egg whites! Oh, don't cringe, egg whites give a cocktail a wonderful mouth feel by adding a lovely silken texture as well as body and they add no flavor at all! You get a nifty little kick of protein too. Additionally, egg whites create these marvelous foams (if properly shaken) on top of the cocktail that make for a really beautiful presentation.

If you happen to be vegan don't despair, there is a perfectly vegan substitute for using eggs in cocktails called aquafaba. Believe it or not, aquafaba is the liquid that garbanzo beans, or chickpeas as some people call them, are cooked or canned in. You'll see I used aquafaba in my New York Sour recipe below.

Since June 3rd is National Egg Day I thought it would be fun to chat about how to make egg cocktails and also round up links to my favorite egg drinks in one post. 

Nogs, Flips, Sours, Fizzes

These are the four types of alcoholic beverages that employ eggs. Nogs always employ a milk product along with whole eggs while Flips may or may not include some milk or cream with the egg. Sours don't have to use eggs at all but when they do it's only egg whites. Fizzes can use whites, yolks and whole eggs and are categorized as Silver Fizzes (whites), Golden Fizzes (yolks), or Royal Fizzes (whole eggs) and include some type of soda.     Tips for Whipping Up Egg Cocktails To get the marvelous foam and to emulsify the egg white into the cocktail you will want to apply a dry shake technique (shake without ice) to your ingredients, then shake again with ice to chill. Think of how a meringue is created then apply that concept to a cocktail shaker instead of your KitchenAid or hand mixer. You really have to give that egg white a lot of agitation in order to break down the protein and add air for fluffiness, a couple of minutes at least*. Frankly, I don't have the stamina so I cheat and use a stand or immersion blender for my dry shake step then transfer my drink to an ice filled shaker to chill. I get some seriously great mounds of foam with this technique.   Egg foams, when properly executed, are quite sturdy (my Tangelo Bourbon Tango actually trapped a bee!) and those foams can support cool garnishes like flowers, herb leaves, spices and even stencilled designs.   You can create a flavored foam separately from the cocktail. I created a Cognac foam for my above mentioned Tangelo Bourbon Tango and for my Meringue Island Punch I actually baked the foam (aka meringue  cookies)! You can even make a full on merinque, spoon it on a cocktail and torch it like I sometimes do for my Lemon Meringue Pie Martini.   Occasionally an egg foam can carry a very slight raw egg smell and a useful little trick when making your egg cocktail is to add an aromatic mist, a dusting of spice, a twist of citrus or a few drops of bitters on top of the foam to mask possibility of a raw egg smell disturbing the enjoyment of the cocktail.   Another little tip? Fresh, cold eggs are much easier to hand separate. Buying pasteurized egg whites, yolks or whole eggs requires no separation on your part but you will have to measure.     Fresh versus Pasteurized, Part or Whole?    You'll notice my recipes mostly call for pasteurized eggs. This is a precaution on my part because, though the chance of salmonella poisoning from eggs is fairly rare these days, it never hurts to be cautious. A fresh egg, properly cleaned and stored, does give a slightly better foam than pasteurized eggs but not by much as far as I can tell, so either option will give you a lovely cocktail.   You'll also notice most of my recipes below use only egg whites. This is a personal preference as I'm not that fond of the overly rich, heavy nature of yolks in my cocktails except in some type of Nog during the holidays. Plus yolks DO add a bit of their flavor which needs some refined taste balancing and libations with yolks are way more fattening.    YOU HAVE TO BREAK A FEW EGGS ... My Favorite Egg Cocktails:   ABSINTHE MINDED LEPRECHAUN FIZZ ANGOSTURA AND OLD LACE APPLE GO BRAGH SOUR Spiced Lavender BEES KNEES BELMONT JEWEL BREEZE BLACKBERRY BOURBON FIZZ BLOOD ORANGE BLACKBERRY WHISKEY SOUR BOURBON CHERRY PIE SMASH BOYSENBERRY RUM FLIP BUNNY TRAP CANDIED ORANGE ROSEMARY RYE COCKTAIL CARROT CAKE COCKTAIL  CHERRY CLAFOUTIS MARTINI CHERRY DIAMOND FIZZ CHERRY RUM BALL FLIP CHOCOLATE BOURBON EGGNOG The CLOVER CLUB The COCKTAIL PURPLE DERBY ROYALE COCKTAIL DRACULA'S BLOOD & SAND DRUNK BUNNY CARROT DILL COCKTAIL  DRUNK SKELETONS in the CLOSET EGG NOG MARTINI ENCHANTED FAERIE COCKTAIL The GOBBLED KNOB GOLDEN RAMOS FIZZ GRILLED PEACH RUM MIMOSA KING CAKE FLIP LADY ROSE COCKTAIL LEMON MERINGUE PIE MARTINI MACCHIATO EGGNOG MERINGUE ISLAND PUNCH NEW YORK SOUR PINEAPPLE PISCO SOURPINK LADY PUMPKIN EGGNOG MARTINI PURGATORY PUNCH RAINS OF CASTAMERE SOUR RAMOS GIN FIZZ SPICED RUM POMEGRANATE FIZZ TIPSY MISS TANGELO BOURBON TANGO WAKE UP CALL WHITE CHOCOLATE EGGNOG MARTINI WHITE LADY  WICKED WITCH'S BREW  

 

  Just in case those aren't enough, here's a few more cocktails that employ eggs from my database archive:    Boc Car The Easter Egg Martini
Have an eggstra lovely National Egg Day and Cheers, M'Dears!    * Probably the most famous egg cocktail, the Ramos Gin Fizz, has a great historical back story about requiring a 12 to 15 minute shake to be properly prepared, at least according to its creator, Henry C. Ramos. It's said that during the hey day of this cocktail, lines of shaker boys were employed solely to shake Ramos fizzes for the clamoring masses! Just think what a Vitamix would have meant to bars back in those days.   Updated 10-2021 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY