bitters

World Cup Cocktails: Group D

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I have been looking forward to Group D ever since I envisioned this series, because it offered some of the most interesting possibilities for cocktails.

The cocktail selection hasn’t been static, either. As this group has played its matches in the World Cup, I’ve changed one of the cocktails based on the way its team has played. That team is Costa Rica, who have laughed at this so-called “group of death.” To be sure, it still is such; it is Costa Rica who is that Death.

Along those lines, I started to think about something celebratory for Los Ticos, something that also hearkened to their status as a harbinger of woe unto all other Group D teams. This brought me to sparkling wine, and champagne cocktails like the infamous Death in the Afternoon. Riffing off a couple such cocktails — the Old Cuban from Jeffrey Morganthaler, and the classic French 75 — we have a balanced, herbal drink that will surprise you after a couple games:

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Los Ticos de la Muerte

1½ oz – Zhumir aguardiente (or rum)
¾ oz – simple syrup
½ oz – fresh lime juice
barspoon of absinthe
2 dashes of Bolivar bitters (or Angostura)
dry sparkling wine

Combine everything except the sparkling wine in a shaker. Add ice, shake until chilled, and pour into a champagne flute.* Top with sparkling wine, and garnish with and orange curl.
*Champagne flutes have different volumes; adjust proportions accordingly.

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World Cup Cocktails: Group C

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Another World Cup group, another chance to talk history. There will be many things fizzy, bitter, sweet, and smoky, but first we have history! Woo-hoo!

This cocktail discussion starts in South America, in the region that would come to be known as Gran Colombia (modern-day Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, and parts of neighboring countries). In the early 19th century, the people of Gran Colombia revolted against the Spanish crown. One man who emerged from this war of independence was Simón Bolívar, a military and political leader whose legacy in South America would grow to the level of George Washington’s in the USA.

Within Bolívar’s army was a German born-doctor, who created a medicinal tonic from local Gran Colombia ingredients. As the army pushed into modern-day Venezuela, this doctor created his first batch of tonic in the city of Angostura. Even though the city’s name changed, and the operation moved to Trinidad, this medicinal alcohol retains the name — Angostura bitters.

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Tincture, Bitters, Citrate, Shrub

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Anyone who spends even a few minutes on Twitter knows that’s it’s rather cluttered. Its main export is white noise, and you can lose a lot of time sifting through the static. But amidst the abbreviations and attempts to cram as much meaning into 140 characters as possible, I occasionally come across a tweet that hits me with a +3 Hammer of Concise Truthiness. For example:

Very seriously.

I realize it’s not earth-shattering – a man who has a business making fine bitters in the UK, tweeting about the product he makes. But to approach it in such a way is too dismissive. There is a cocktail renaissance of late, and bitters are an integral part of that event; were this not the case, he wouldn’t have much of a business making bitters, would he?

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Aquavit Old Fashioned

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For Tales of the Cocktail 2012, the bartender competition was to craft the perfect Old Fashioned using the basic recipe of spirt + sweetener + water + fruit. I’m not exactly a bartender, but I can still have fun coming up with my own Old Fashioned using homemade bitters and locally-produced aquavit.

(I thought I was rather clever using this combination, until I found another blog that came up with a very, very similar recipe a year ago. Ah, well.)

The drink is built around the Aquavit – Private Reserve from North Shore Distillery. The preferred bitters would be any that have a pronounced chocolate and/or coffee aroma. If you’re out of grapefruit, you could use an orange peel in a pinch — but grapefruit works so unbelievably well with aquavit, you’ll be missing out if you substitute.

Aquavit Old Fashioned

2 oz. aquavit
.25 oz simple syrup (1:1)
swath of grapefruit peel
couple dashes of chocolate / mocha bitters

In a rocks glass, muddle the peel with the syrup & bitters. Add ice, add aquavit, stir, and serve.