STN: Calvados Cocktail---Apple of Discord

There are certain cocktails that simply capture the imagination.

Whether it's the description, the ingredients that make it up, or the cumulative effect of those ingredients in the finished cocktail---essentially creating something that did not exist before, which is the essence of ancient alchemy and the essence of the modern alchemy of mixology---something is there that seizes the imagination and says, "You have to try this!"

None of us really needed another drink, and it was almost time to call it a night anyway, so we had good reason not to indulge in another cocktail. But a casual look at the cocktail list at The Teardrop Lounge dismissed all that.

Interesting name, that. Hmm. Very interesting ingredients. Hmmm. Yes, I see where the mixologist is going with this....aw, heck, now I have to order one to see what it tastes like.



Apple of Discord

Billed as "elegance re-defined with lightly smoked & herbal notes"---good, terse but evocative descriptor, that---it contained some ingredients not often used in cocktails, and even less often used together.

When the drink was ordered up, the bartender meticulously measured and mixed the components and served it up, with one giant ice cube in the glass (good touch; avoids too much watering down of the cocktail). It consisted of Daron Fine Calvados, Pays d'Auge; agave nectar; Boudreau's Cherry Bitters; and del Maguey Single Village Santo Domingo Mezcal.

Served simply and without garnishment, the Apple of Discord was a golden-apple yellow in color, translucent and brilliant, and had an enticing aroma that promised deep apple flavors with much, much more lurking underneath.

Apple is without a doubt the main player here, with the strong, intense, bold flavors of apples from the cold orchards of Normandy, the northwesternmost region of France. It's so chilly here next to the Atlantic that grapes don't grow well, so the basic quaff is apple cider, and the basic spirit is Calvados, a brandy made from apples (and sometimes pears added). Here the Calvados used was Daron Fine Pays d'Auge, and it was excellent, with a broad, nose- and mouth-filling pungency of ripe apples and cinnamon and vanilla from the barrel aging, a perfect base for building a formidable cocktail.

Agave nectar---the syrup derived from cooking the agave pina for Tequila---was next, adding a sweet component, but also a slight salty-herbal-vegetal tinge as well from the agave. (Agave nectar is a particularly good sweetener for drinks and food because it has an intense rich sweetness yet is extremely low on the glycemic index because of the particular kind of sugar in the agave, inulin. Also good for diabetics.)

Next was a judicious dash of Boudreau's Cherry Bitters, which gave both a distinct bitterness and also enhanced the fruit qualities of the cocktail, and added immensely to the complexity of the aromatics. Add in that this touch of bitters perked up the tongue wonderfully and acted as a contrasting foil for the agave nectar. and you had yet another layer of complexity without adding too many ingredients.

But the final ingredient was the ultimate touch that transformed the cocktail entirely: del Maguey Single Village Santo Domingo Mezcal. This gave a light, slightly smoky and slightly herbal tinge to the cocktail without undercutting the apple fruit, the cherry or the vegetal-sweet agave. Not aggressively assertive here, this Mezcal, but a marvellous supportive player; you'd actually be hard put to know it was there unless you were told, but it nonetheless adds the essential element to make this a captivating cocktail.

On a side note: for those not familiar with Mezcal, not all mezcal is cheap swill. True, most of the mezcal sold in the U.S. is cheap swill, and horrible stuff; but there are exceptionally good mezcals, primarily from the province of Oaxaca. And likely the finest is the del Maguey Single Vilalge Mezcals; they're difficult to find, and pricy, but they are exceptional and worth seeking out for aficionados.

Text with pictures here: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-42863-Portland-Spirits-Examiner~y2010m6d27-Captivating-Cocktails--Apple-of-Discord-at-the-Teardrop-Lounge

[Jenise]

Great article, Hoke. And indeed the drink does sound captivating. Now a naive question: what IS mezcal? I thought it was a type of tequila, the one with the worm in it, but I must be mistaken.

Sorry and I don't mean to hijack this post but I've been equally entralled lately with another cocktail (actually for well over a year now....) It is called the Last Word

Here is a quick exerp from the website Cocktail Chronicles

"“This cocktail was introduced around here about thirty years ago by Frank Fogarty, who was very well known in vaudeville. He was called the ‘Dublin Minstrel,’ and was a very fine monologue artist.”

So wrote Ted Saucier in 1951 when introducing this drink in Bottoms Up. Saucier credits the drink to the Detroit Athletic Club, and if the bartender’s recollection is correct, that would place the Last Word as a Prohibition-era cocktail.

If that’s the case, then the Last Word is one of the finest cocktails to come out of that bleak period in American history. Four ingredients–two of them fairly exotic–working in equal parts to create perfect harmony.

Last Word

3/4 ounce gin
3/4 ounce lime juice
3/4 ounce green Chartreuse
3/4 ounce maraschino liqueur
Shake well with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Shut up and drink."

Here is the link.
http://www.cocktailchronicles.com/2006/04/13/the-last-word/

Lovely stuff especially at the hands of a GREAT mixologist. I can taste the difference between those that know how to shake and those that do't with this cocktail... Served based in a chilled antique cocktail glass.

Jenise, mezcal is distilled spirit made from the cooked sap of the agave. So is tequila---but tequila has to be made in a specific delimited area (Jalisco and other sub-areas around it) and it has to be made from one type of agave (blue agave, or tequila weber azul).

There are 136 types of agave though. Mezcal primarily comes from Oaxaca, and is made from different types of agave.

In short, all tequila is mezcal; but not all mezcal can be tequila. [The original designation in Mexico for anything distilled from agave was mezcal wine; so tequila is essentially a denominated form of mezcal.]

There are other types of distilled agave in Mexico---they're just not exported. There's also sotol, raicilla, bacanora, comiteca...more or less provincial types of mezcal.

Until very recently the mezcal that made it up here was pretty much trashy stuff---like the execrable Monte Alban, for instance---and it existed largely as cheap stuff with the worm in it (sound familiar?). An occasional homesick Oaxacan might drink it, or frat boys, or rednecks, but that's about it. Thing is, there's always somebody trying to make the good stuff, so some of that is now coming up into the US. The best coming in is the brand I cited, which brings in a series of "single village" mezcals, each one very distinctive. (Tequila and mezcal are like grapes in that their products can show distinctive terroir or style.)

Oh, and historically in Oaxaca (a fairly poor agricultural province) the mezcal makers would cook the tequila in open earth fire pits, and so would often have a pronounced smoky flavor. You can still find that (rarely) in mezcal.

Michael: The Last Word is one of my fave cocktails too! And that was a great discovery of the rediscovery of the drink by the Seattle bartender. Made his career too. It's a supremely tasty cocktail. And for you people out there who say, "Yuck, gin."----try it first. It's not all that dominated by gin, really. It's a great cocktail; much like an exotic classic daiquiri.

Oh, Jenise? the del Maguey mezcals are available in WA state; I've had them at the Bistro restaurant bar half a step down from the entrance to Pike Place (which is a pretty good bar).