Left Coast Libations, Carkeek Club

The Munat Bros are creating a cocktail booklet entitled Left Coast Libations (LCL) for distribution to good people bearing media credentials at this year's Tales of the Cocktail. LCL is a compilation of recipes from many of the finest mixologists on the west coast. In fact, what the hell, let's list every last man jack of them (or every last woman Jacqueline of them)

{editor's note: there are obtuse references to Dr. Strangelove occurring with this blog, please stand by while we correct the problem...thank you}

Robert Hess
Andrew Friedman
Maria Hunt
Anita and Cameron Crotty
Erik Ellestad
Daniel Shoemaker
Jeffrey Morgenthaler
Lance Mayhew
Marco Dionysos
Marleigh Riggins
Blair Reynolds
Jamie Boudreau
Paul Clarke
Jimmy Patrick
Kelley Swenson
Ted Munat
Casey Robison
Kevin Diedrich
Ryan Fitzgerald
Gwydion Stone
Joel Baker
Murray Stenson

Putting this together has taken up much of the cocktail allotted time T.Mixeur has to spare, which explains the absence of posts on this blog for the past 15 days.

On the bright side, it was on the 15th day that C.Mixeur got around to reading T.Mixeur's last post, so we can be assured that the elder Munat Bro is up to date.

Now that my role has been more or less completed in the creation of this booklet and it has been turned over to C.Mixeur's capable hands (god help us all), I have the opportunity to share a few little morsels of some note. In fact, I predict the readers of Le Mixeur will bear witness to 3-4 posts over the coming days.

We'll start with the one most related to Left Coast Libations. Being editor and co-publisher of this tome, I took the liberty of including one of my own creations, the Fihimafihi. Principal to this cocktail is homemade rosemary gin, and I have another little trick I like to play with this elixir. It's not quite ready for the bright lights of Left Coast Libations, but certainly it's worthy of mentioning in this god forsaken space.

The Clover Club has been chronicled by Paul Clarke and ruminated upon by Cameron and Anita Crotty (all of whom are featured in LCL...getting the connection here?). David Wondrich reflects upon it in his book, "Imbibe" (and reports on William Butler Yeats' love of the drink, stating that it may have convinced him the center will hold...for more information on Yeats and the hold of centers scroll down to the very end of Le Mixeur's previous post...see how this is all coming together yet?).

It's a lovely drink that can be enjoyed by both women and evolved men who fear not the social stigmas of sipping on something pink-like.

Anita and Cameron's report on the Clover Club

1-1/2 oz gin
3/4 oz lemon juice (some say lime)
1/4 to 1/2 oz raspberry syrup (or grenadine)
white of 1 egg

Shake all ingredients with ice for at least a minute until very well chilled. If desired, strain into a measuring cup or a second shaker can, and buzz with a stick blender for 10 seconds to create a denser froth. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Paul's report on the Clover Club

1 1/2 ounces gin
juice of 1/2 lemon
4 dashes real grenadine (to taste)
1 egg white (1 egg white will suffice for two drinks)

Add ice and shake with studied firmness for at least 10 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a stern glower.

Jerry Thomas Via David Wondrich speaks of Clover Club

Juice 1/2 lemon
1/2 spoon [1/8 oz] sugar
1/2 pony [2 tsp] raspberry [i.e. syrup]
1/4 pony [1/4 oz] white of egg
1 jigger [2 oz] gin

Shake well. Strain.

I, being inspired by reflections on my rosemary gin, the reports of Paul, Anita, and Cameron, and Dave Wondrich's interpretations of Jerry Thomas' scrawls, decided to use it to create a variation on the Clover Club. I am calling it the Carkeek Club. Carkeek Park is a city park near my home with access to the Puget Sound coast, as well as many forest paths. In one very special spot where forest meets coast, there is a little clearing. We have deduced that at one point there must have been a home here, because unlike the rest of the terrain it is filled with non-native plants, including a thriving bush of rosemary. It was from this bush that I harvested the rosemary to make my last batch of rosemary gin (which sadly has departed this mortal coil).

I felt the rosemary gin was a little soft to carry the full burden of this drink, so having proven before that it pairs nicely with Pisco, I injected a bit of this as well.

Carkeek Club

1 ½ oz rosemary gin
½ oz Capel Pisco
¾ oz lemon
½ oz raspberry syrup
½ egg white

dry shake all ingredients
add ice, shake for 20 seconds
strain into cocktail glass (although come to think of it I really like it in a coupe)

Having included Pisco at this point, I also experimented with turning this into a Clover Club/Pisco Sour combo by placing a few drops of Angostura bitters on top of the froth and giving it a little swirl. That seemed to work quite nicely thank you. But as I mentioned, my well of rosemary gin dried up, and before I had the opportunity to try it a second time with the bitters to confirm my experience.

And now, in the interest of encouraging the reader to make rosemary gin and then make this drink and try it with the bitters on top and get back to me on how it tastes so I don't have to go hiking up through Carkeek Park to pick rosemary and make more of this stuff (deep breath)...here is an exclusive sneak preview of Left Coast Libations, specifically my recipe for rosemary gin.

Thank you.

ROSEMARY GIN

This is basically the recipe for Rosemary Vodka described in Nick Mautone's “Raising the Bar,” except with gin.

Place 4 branches of rosemary, each about 6 inches in length, into a 32 oz mason jar. Add 2 oz boiling water, close jar, shake, and let stand for 10 minutes until the rosemary gets bright green and you can't stand to watch the poor little fellas suffer like that anymore. Open the jar, pour in about 4 ounces of ice cold water, listen for the sound of the rosemary saying "ahhhhh" then add 3 ounces dry vermouth and 1 ½ ounces Pernod. Pour the gin in until the jar is filled to about an inch from the top. Close the jar again and shake. You may need to throw your head back and cackle maniacally at this point, in order to get the desired shaking action. Steep in a cool spot for 48 hours, then remove the rosemary. I have always used Broker's gin for this recipe, and it seems to work nicely for this purpose.

Now all of you get out there and BE somebody!!