Here’s another drink from the brandy seminar I attended in 2007, presented by Chad Solomon and Christy Pope and sponsored by Hennessey Cognac.

The final cocktail we were served was an example of the very kind of thing Hennessy and the gathered bartenders want to have happen — the creation of new brandy-based cocktails. Working with Audrey Saunders at the Pegu inspired them to do more experimentation with the infusion of teas into spirits, which has tremendously exciting flavor potential. Audrey Saunders; Earl Grey Marteani, which is insanely good, begins with a bottle of Tanqueray gin that has been infused with loose leaf Earl Grey tea.

Infusing tea is easy but you have to watch it. The general rule of thumb is 1 tablespoon of tea leaves per 8 ounces of spirits, so you’ll need about 4 tablespoons for a liter, 3 for a 750ml. The infusion time is two hours — no more, no less, especially not more. Any longer than that will mean more and more of the tannins will be extracted from the tea leaves, making the spirit overly tannic. “Even two hours and twenty minutes can kill the whole thing,” Chad said.

They experimented with the infusion of spiced Indian chai into Cognac, thought of making it creamy without making it too heavy and settled on a vanilla-flavored almond milk (easily obtainable at Whole Foods and similar markets); this way you get the creaminess without the weight. They had tried soy milk and found it completely unsuitable (unsurprising, as I find soy milk to be completely unpalatable), but the almond milk had just the right touch. I tasted some by itself, which I’d never done, and it’s wonderful stuff — I’m going to lay in a supply for myself now. A nice, silky body and creamy, foamy head came from the addition of egg white.

This is a really, reall good drink, perfect for dessert or even for breakfast or brunch.

Left Bank Masala Chai Cocktail
(by Chad Solomon and Christy Pope)

1-1/2 ounces chai-infused Hennessy VS Cognac.
1-1/2 ounces vanilla almond milk.
1/2 ounce honey syrup (2:1 honey and hot water; allow to cool).
3/4 ounce pasteurized egg white.

Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker WITHOUT ICE. Shake for about 10 seconds without ice — this helps emulsify the ingredients nicely. THEN add the ice, and shake for a good 30 seconds. Strain into a wine goblet or decorative glass of your choice. Garnish with a grating of nutmeg and some toasted sliced or slivered almonds.

Here’s another drink from the brandy seminar I attended in 2007, presented by Chad Solomon and Christy Pope and sponsored by Hennessey Cognac.

After going over The Sazerac, smashes, daisies and the Sidecar, we tried another classic cocktail called the East India Cocktail, which was quite obscure until it was inadvertently resurrected by Dale DeGroff.

Back at the turn of the 21st Century Dale was commissioned by Courvoisier to create a new cocktail featuring their Millennium Cognac bottling, which he then called the Millennium Cocktail. He later figured he needed to change the name, as he was very happy with the way the cocktail turned out and he’d hate to see it relegated to the trash heap of millennial merchandise. Later on, he discovered that an out-of-print book called The Roving Bartender, written by Bill Kelly in 1946, had a cocktail called the East India Cocktail that contained the same basic ingredients albeit in greatly different proportions. Dale’s version has some subtle but important differences that make for a wonderful flavor, and as far as I can tell, he’s still calling it the Millennium (he was the night he gave me one, at least). It was lovely.

The original East India recipe called for Cognac with just a couple dashes each of orange Curaçao, pineapple juice and bitters. Dale’s Millennium had equal parts brandy and pineapple. This version of the East India that Chad and Christy made for us splits the difference, and retains the finishing touches on Dale’s drink, one of which was to be a huge influence on my own signature cocktail.

The East India Cocktail
(Modern, Dale DeGroff-inspired version)

1-1/2 ounces Hennessy VS Coganc.
3/4 ounce pineapple juice.
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier.
1 dash Angostura bitters.

Combine ingredients with ice in a mixing glass, shake thorougly for 10-15 seconds. Strain into a cocktail glass. You’ll have a lovely foamy head, which is what happens when you shake pineapple juice. Flame an orange peel over the surface of the drink, and grate a little nutmeg on top.

Here’s another drink from the brandy seminar I attended in 2007, presented by Chad Solomon and Christy Pope and sponsored by Hennessey Cognac.

From the Smash we moved on in our cocktail history to a drink called the Daisy, which contined spirits, sugar and water (or simple syrup), citrus and a bit of orange Curaçao. From this basic recipe you could vary the spirits as with many of these historic drinks — brandy, whiskey, rum and gin were frequently used to make Daisies — but you could vary the liqueur as well. For a classic daisy the best orange Curaçao is recommended — Senior and Marie Brizard make good ones, but the best of all is the classic Grand Marnier, richly flavored with its brandy base.

Chad and Christy demonstrated a variation/evolution from the classic Daisy formula with this drink, in which the Curaçao is replaced by yellow Chartreuse, in a slightly higher proportion to the lemon juice to give it a nice balance. Green Chartreuse is typically specified, which you certainly can use, but the yellow has a slightly softer, sweeter profile that works really well in this combination; I love the way yellow Chartreuse plays with lemon juice.

The Champs-Elysées

1-1/2 ounces Hennessy VS Cognac.
3/4 ounce yellow Chartreuse.
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice.
1 dash Angostura bitters.

Combine in a shaker with ice, shake for 10-12 seconds, strain into a chilled rocks glass, either up or on the rocks as you prefer.

From then it was on to the Sidecar …

Here’s another drink from the brandy seminar I attended in 2007, presented by Chad Solomon and Christy Pope and sponsored by Hennessey Cognac.

This is an historical cocktail, when things started to get a bit more complex in the mixing glass. The category of drinks is called the Smash, referred to by the Father of All Bartenders, “Professor” Jerry Thomas, as “a julep on a small plan.” It had some similar ingredients to the well-loved julep — spirits, sugar and mint — but rather than being slowly sipped through a straw in a silver cup packed with shaved ice, the smash was strained off the ice, more bracing and meant to be consumed quickly.

The classic Smash was usually made with brandy, whiskey or gin (most likely Dutch gin rather than the London dry we’re used to today), shaken with fine cracked or shaved ice and a couple of nice sprigs of mint, then served over fresh cracked/shaved ice and garnished with mint and orange slices. In more recent years, Dale DeGroff adapted the Smash to more modern tastes with the addition of a bit of citrus to it, which makes it a much more pleasant drink. The addition of about half a medium lemon, cut into quarters and muddled in the mixing glass with the mint, does more than add a bit of juice — this way, you get lemon oil from the peel, and that makes a huge flavor difference.

Sounds simple, but you’ll be surprised how wonderful this drink is, and while you’re at it you’re drinking history.

The Brandy Smash
(Modern version)

2 ounces Hennessy VS Cognac brandy.
3/4 ounce simple syrup.
1/2 lemon, quartered.
Small handful of mint.

Place the lemon in the mixing glass, top with the mint and muddle until you’ve released the lemon oil from the peel, along with some juice. Don’t pulverize the lemon and especially not the mint.

Add the simple syrup and brandy, fill with ice and shake for 10-12 seconds. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass, either up or on the rocks, and garnish with another sprig of mint.

Bartender’s hint: before you garnish, place the mint in the palm of your hand and give it good “spank;” i.e., clap your hands with the mint in your palm. Sure, it’s a bit showy (yet impressive-looking), and it serves to help release the aroma of the mint, which’ll go right up your schnozz as you’re sipping. Mmmmmmm.

I love eggs and bacon for breakfast. It’s even nicer if I can drink my eggs in a cocktail.

As you may have noticed, I’ve really been getting into flips lately. It doesn’t hurt that Mary gave us some fresh eggs, fresh out of her friend’s chickens. (These are much, much better than factory-farmed supermarket eggs.)

Last June I linked to an L.A. Times article about Mexican liqueurs which has now unfortunately fallen into the catacombs of their paid archive. I recently picked up another one they wrote about: Xtabentún (pronounced “shtah-behn-toon”), which means “vines growing on stone” in the Mayan language.

Its maker D’Aristi calls it the Mayan liqueur of the Yucatán, made from fermented honey and aniseed in a rum base (described in the article as “Pernod for honey lovers,” although I myself would be more likely to say “Herbsaint for honey lovers”). It’s lovely, and I understand it’s terrific in coffee (can’t wait to try that!). We decided to take Murray Stenson’s advice, though, after he left a comment on that post which included this recipe, encouraging us to try it for breakfast. “Mmmm, breakfast.” I, being no stranger to breakfast cocktails, wholeheartedly embraced this idea.

The Xtabentún Flip
(from Murray Stenson, Zig Zag Café, Seattle)

1-1/2 ounces brandy (we used Don Pedro Mexican brandy).
1/2 ounces Xtabentún
1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
3/4 ounce fresh orange juice
Whole egg
Simple syrup to taste (we used 1/2 ounce of rich Demerara syrup).

Combine with ice and shake vigorously for 20 seconds. Strain into appropriately pretty glassware and optionally top with some freshly grated nutmeg.

Yay, eggs for breakfast! But, you know … I like bacon with my eggs.

Unfortunately a bit earlier that morning I discovered a mishap with our second refrigerator out in the garage — the freezer door had come open and had been that way for at least a day, ruining lots of frozen crawfish tails, boudin, duck sausage, black pudding, passion fruit purée and a gorgonzola and walnut frozen pizza from Roma Deli. Sigh. Not only that, but the three remaining packs of Allan Benton’s Hickory Smoked Country Bacon, one of the best I’ve ever had and one of my running favorites, had been at room temperature for too long and smelled just a little too funky when I opened them. DAMMIT!!

I looked in the inside fridge to see if there was anything else, and … ta-daaa! Kolozsvári to the rescue!

Not the first cocktail with which I’ve served bacon as an accompaniment, but maybe the best so far. I think the combo might work a little better with a more simply flavored flip or milk punch (“It’s really different,” said Wesly, who added that he’d drink this one but wasn’t sure he’d ask for another one). I rather enjoyed it, and look forward to more experimentation with Xtabentún.