Whether you like your Martini with Gin or Vodka, and dirty or down right filthy, Doc Elliott’s Olive Bitters is the secret to making this Dirty Martini deliciously savory.

• 2 oz. London Dry Gin or Vodka
• 1/2 oz. Dry Vermouth
• 1/4 – 1/2 oz. Olive Juice or Brine to taste
• 1 – 2 Dashes Doc Elliott’s Olive Bitters
• Garnish with olives

1. Chill a cocktail glass with ice and water
2. Combine ingredients, except garnish, in a mixing glass with ice then stir to chill
3. Strain into chilled cocktail glass
4. Garnish with olives

Cheers!

Kids love special drinks as much as adults.  Especially if it’s made just for them.  The carbonated coconut water is a bit over the top, but once again, with a little effort the kids feel really special.  I used an an iSi Whipper and a CO2 charge since my siphon is full of water.  You can also put still coconut water in the shaker with the rest of the ingredients and then top the glass with a dash of plain carbonated water.

If you use falernum, it has an ABV of 10% so your finished drink will have an ABV of ½%.  If that’s too high, substitute the easy ginger lime syrup below.

 Easy Ginger Lime Syrup

Makes 1 Cup

Time: 15 minutes

• 1 Cup Fresh lime juice
• 1 Cup thinly sliced peeled fresh ginger or 4 oz crushed ginger
• 2 Whole cloves
• 2 Allspice berries
• 1/4 tsp. Ground nutmeg
• 1 Cup Sugar

1. Add all ingredients to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
2. When the sugar dissolves, reduce the heat, cover the pot and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Allow to cool slightly
4. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and discard solids
5. Store syrup in refrigerator.  Will keep about a week.

Cheers!

This drink is based on Kathy Casey’s Luxury Gin & Tonic Cocktail with Cucumber Lime Foam.  (Follow her on Kathy Casey’s Liquid Kitchen).  I did not have all of the ingredients she called for and, besides, I generally like to mess with recipes!  This cocktail demonstrates a number of things:

• How you can substitute ingredients
• How to make your own ingredients when necessary
• Making a flavored simple syrup with fresh ingredients
• Making a rapid infusion to create a syrup
• Making a rapid infusion to create all new bitters flavors
• How you really need an iSi Whipper if you’re serious about craft cocktails at home.

Total active prep time for this cocktail was about 20 minutes.  Inactive prep time was 4 hours.  Without an iSi Whipper, there would be no foam and the infusions would have required 12-24 hours.  Bottom line, get yourself 2 or 3 iSi Whippers.

You can purchase Dry Blood Orange Soda (Dry is the brand name), and Monin Cucumber Syrup.  I used fresh blood oranges to make blood orange syrup and used that to make a blood orange soda.  I also added cardamon to the foam, cucumber to the simple syrup and substituted Luxardo for the Monin Bitters.  This cocktail doesn’t work without the foam.  With it, the drink comes alive with herbal notes from the gin and bitters, the citrus of the orange and lime and of course, the cucumber and cardamon.

Gin & Blood Orange Tonic with Cucumber Cardamon Foam

• 1 1/2 oz. Hendricks Gin
• 3 oz. Blood Orange Soda – see below
• 1/2 oz. Fresh lime juice
• 3 dashes Tonic Bitters – see below
• Cucumber Cardamon Foam – see below

1. Chill a cocktail glass with ice and water
2. Combine everything except the foam in a mixing glass with ice – stir to chill
3. Strain into chilled glass and top with the foam.
4. Serve immediately

Blood Orange Soda

•  Zest and juice from 5 blood oranges
• 1/4 tsp Citric acid
• 1/2 – 1 Tbl. Agave to taste

1. Combine all ingredients in an iSi Whipper and swirl to combine (do not shake or particles can plug the Whipper)
2. Charge with 1 N2O cartridge and swirl for 30 seconds
3. Let sit for 30 – 60 minutes
4. Holding the Whipper upright, discharge rapidly.  Hold your hand about 10 inches over the top to prevent spraying your ceiling.
5. Let sit for a few minutes then strain through a fine mesh strainer.
6. Keeps refrigerated a few days.

To make Blood Orange Soda, combine 1 part of the Blood Orange Syrup with 3 -4 parts carbonated water.

Cucumber Simple Syrup

• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1 Cup Water
• 1 – 2 1/2 inch piece of English Cucumber

1. In a small sauce pan, bring the water and sugar to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Puree the cucumber in a food processor or with a stick blender.
4. When the syrup has simmered for 10 minutes, turn off the heat and add the pureed cucumber.
5. Set aside for 30 minutes.
6. Strain through a fine mesh strainer.
7. Will keep refrigerated about 2 weeks.

Cucumber Cardamon Syrup

• 4 oz. Over proof vodka
• 3/4 Tbl. Cardamon pods – crushed
• 1 – 2 1/2 inch piece of English Cucumber – pureed

1. Combine all ingredients in an iSi Whipper and swirl to combine (do not shake or particles can plug the Whipper)
2. Charge with 1 N2O cartridge and swirl for 30 seconds
3. Let sit for 5 – 10 minutes
4. Holding the Whipper upright, discharge rapidly.  Hold your hand about 10 inches over the top to prevent spraying your ceiling.
5. Let sit for a few minutes then strain through a fine mesh strainer.
6. Keeps refrigerated a few weeks.

Cucumber Cardamon Foam

• 2 Sheets Gold gelatin
• 4 oz. Cucumber Cardamon Syrup
• 2 oz. Water
• 3 oz. Cucumber Simple Syrup
• 2 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
• 4 oz. Pasteurized egg whites

1. In a small sauce pot, warm the water and syrups over medium heat.
2. In a separate dish, “bloom” the gelatin sheets in room temperature water.  They will feel soft and gummy.
3. Remove the gelatin sheets from the water and squeeze out most of the water.  Add to the sauce pot with the warm syrups.  Stir until the gelatin is dissolved.
4. Remove the sauce pot from the heat and allow to cool 10-15 minutes.
5. Add the lime juice.
6. Lightly beat the egg whites and pour through a fine mesh strainer into the the iSi Whipper.
7. Pour the cooled syrup, gelatin and lime mixture through a fine mesh strainer into the the iSi Whipper.
8. Close the whipper and shake vigorously.  Double charge the Whipper shaking between each charge.
9. Refrigerate for 4 hours or, preferably, overnight.
10. Will keep refrigerated for 10 -14 days

Tonic Bitters

• 8 oz. Luxardo Bitters Liqueur
• 1 Tbl. Ground Cinchona (Peruvian) Bark

1. Combine all ingredients in an iSi Whipper and swirl to combine (do not shake or particles can plug the Whipper)
2. Charge with 1 N2O cartridge and swirl for 30 seconds
3. Let sit for 10 – 15 minutes
4. Holding the Whipper upright, discharge rapidly.  Hold your hand about 10 inches over the top to prevent spraying your ceiling.
5. Let sit for a few minutes then strain through a fine mesh metal coffee filter (“gold” filter) and then through a paper coffer filter.
6. Pour into a bitters bottle.
7. Keeps on the shelf indefinitely – but the flavor will become more bitter over time.

Cheers!

• ½ oz. Grand Marnier
• 5 oz. Champagne
• 1 sugar cube
• 4-5 dashes Angostura Bitters

1. Add Grand Marnier to chilled champagne glass and top with champagne
2. Place sugar cube on a bar spoon and saturate with bitters
3. Drop sugar cube into glass
4. Twist lemon zest over glass and discard