Opening Cocktail

Wow, was that stilted. I can't believe that last post. Back to business, finally.

This time the subject at hand is the Opening Cocktail, a promising mixture of grenadine, italian vermouth and rye whiskey. Alas, the reality falls far short. The drink was heavy, sweet and not much else. Perhaps a bit of soda water would lighten the load. Here's the recipe as it appears in The Official Mixer's Manual: "1/4 Grenadine, 1/4 Italian Vermouth, 1/2 Rye Whiskey. Stir well in ice and strain into glass."

Odd also that there is no garnish. Perhaps a shot of soda water and a cherry is the thing.

It's too bad that the inauguration of my music collection online should be heralded by such a threadbare cocktail; perhaps the sounds of Benny Goodman will inspire someone to rehabilitate this drink and find the inner truth that I couldn't discover.

Surely rye whiskey captures the spirit of Mr. Goodman's jazz: mellow, refined but not fancy, holding infinite nuance.

Swing, dammit!

Barbur World Foods

This Middle Eastern grocery in Southwest has become something of a standby for me. They carry the items you would expect to find, i.e. labne cheese, flatbreads, turkish delight, all kinds of olive oil, teas, regional cereal grains... But they also have an excellent produce department and meat counter, and there's a deli where you can buy all kinds of wonderful offerings: fatayer, kibbe bites and bulgur pilaf, to name just a few. And their prices on most items are quite reasonable.

But the secret of the place is its beer. Occasionally you will see a customer stride purposefully to the back of the store and disappear. You expect them to turn, maybe study the chip shelves, but they seem to walk right through the back wall.

At either back corner there is a swinging door, darkly colored and very inconspicuous, essentially a secret panel. Behind them is a large room, a walk-in cooler stocked with an impressive selection of beers and ciders. I even found a large pint-plus bottle of Hitachino red ale in there, the first time I've ever seen it in that size bottle and only the second place I've seen it on the shelf, after Uwajamiya in Raleigh Hills. There's German beers, Asian beers, regional beers, Dutch, French, Belgian... They even have my new favorite Schlinkerla Rauchbier. And all in a nice roomy space on open shelves. No squatting in front of foggy cooler doors, no sharing the aisle with people that want to study cheese labels. Just rank after rank of carefully chilled beer.

Their wine selection is also quite respectable, and if you study the cooking and juice aisles carefully you'll probably come away with some flavorful and inexpensive mixers. For one thing, they carry large, inexpensive bottles of lime and lemon juice, an item I hate to buy in American groceries and liquor stores because it's always packaged in a tiny, impractical container and always seems too expensive. At Barbur Foods they're considered a staple and offered in staple sizes and prices.

But probably the greatest revelation is the easy access to wine-bottle sized units of grenadine syrup. True, the label says "Pomegranate Syrup", but that is precisely what grenadine syrup is. And a big bottle costs between five and seven dollars.

Drop in sometime and see what they have to offer. I guarantee you'll leave with more than was on your list. Perhaps you'll even chat with Mr. Attar, the owner, who also operates the very fine Ya Hala restaurant out in Montavilla. Don't hesitate to ask him ingredient or food questions; he likes to mingle with his customers.

Clover Leaf Cocktail

1/3 Grenadine, 2/3 Gin, White of 1 Egg, Juice of 1/2 Lime. Shake well in cracked ice and strain, putting a mint leaf on top.

I mixed this with real grenadine (hereafter used to distinguish pomegranate-flavored grenadine syrups from the mysterious red glop that Rose's markets). The result was very agreeable, with a classy pale violet color and white foam on top. The flavor was good but quite sweet, and moderated by the egg white.




This drink is practically identical to the Clover Club, which I mixed with Rose's. The results are dramatically different.

Clover Club Cocktail

1/3 Grenadine, 2/3 Gin, White of 1 Egg, Juice of 1/2 Lime. Shake well with cracked ice, strain and serve.

Made with Rose's Grenadine, it looks disgusting, with an artificial red color topped by a pink foam, and the taste confirms what your eyes tell you. Made with real grenadine, the taste would be pleasant if you like sweet drinks with lots of fragrance and you're not put off by egg whites. The Clover Leaf I made with real grenadine was a very handsome drink, classy in an old-fashioned way and something I'd be proud to serve to a guest.

Grenadine Syrup

Grenadine: supposedly, historically, ostensibly, pomegranate syrup, from the French word for pomegranate, a reference to its resemblance to a grenade or bomb. In reality, a disgusting bright-red syrup marketed under the Rose's label that is used to make Roy Rogers and Shirley Temples and wreck otherwise perfectly reputable drinks like Zombies and Tequila Sunrises.

Do not buy this evil syrup. Just buy pomegranate juice in concentrate, combine it with sugar and a little lime juice over gentle heat, and bottle it. This was the recipe I used: 1 c. pomegranate juice (pure, from concentrate), 1/4 c. white refined sugar, 1 tsp. lime juice. It is very tasty, tart and sweet at the same time with a beautiful deep ruby color. The Clover Leaf Cocktail I made with it was startlingly pleasant, in contrast to the Clover Club (same drink, without the sprig of mint) made with Rose's, which tasted like Robitussin and gin.

Breakfast Cocktail

1/3 Grenadine, 2/3 Dry Gin, White of 1 Egg. Shake well in ice and strain.

Looks and tastes like gin and Pepto-Bismol. I used Rose's Grenadine; perhaps a home-made Grenadine of pomegranate juice and syrup would improve the killing sweetness.

The gin was Hendrick's. Also, I beat the egg white before transferring it to the tumbler. If you shake the ingredients without beating the white first, a very unappetizing string of egg white remains in the drink. To separate the white, just crack an egg and tip the yolk back and forth between the two shell halves. Let the white fall into a bowl.