Lamb Martini

I only caught the finals of the Mixmaster’s Cup, but Imbibe has the full rundown here. The first round allowed the contestants to pre-plan and be ready to mix up something good, but where’s the fun in that? The finals were exciting in that the mystery ingredients were revealed to the contestants in a la Iron Chef (but without the rising platform and dry ice).

The ingredients were an interesting choice: G Joy sake and blackberries. The blackberries are in full production in Oregon right now, and are some the best I’ve ever had– an obvious and excellent choice of fruit. The sake was a bit of a challenge in two rites– it’s uncommon, and it doesn’t have a strong that cocktails typically require. The second is a more fundamental problem, and was evident by the multiple re-tries in mixing a drink that didn’t overwhelm it. Some sakes work well as moderating agents in place of vermouth, but actually getting an expression of the sake itself to be evident in the drink is another thing entirely.

Suzanne used the infamous ginger syrup. I asked her about it between rounds, and knew I was in for something when she started, “Okay, take seven pounds of fresh ginger…”. Imbibe added it as a comment to their post, and I’m reproducing it below so I’ll actually be able to find it in the future. Her recipe of muddled blackberries, vodka, sake, lemon juice, and ginger syrup is a bit surprising. Without trying it I don’t know, but it would seem that the acid from the lemon would change the flavor of the sake, in the way that acidifying carrot juice makes not taste like carrot juice. The strong flavor from the ginger might also overwhelm the sake. She won, so it was apparently good.

In the photo here, Suzanne is putting on the finishing touch of scraping lime zest/oil on top of drink with her fingernails (I don’t believe this is a Health Department-approved garnishing technique, though).

Watching Kelley compete was quite amusing. I think he ended up making about 6 cocktails total, as he kept trying new proportions and ingredients. After he completed and poured his first two glasses, someone joked “and you’re going to be able to make another one of those?” The final concoction was Bluecoat gin, sake, M&R sweet vermouth, peach bitters, and Regan’s orange bitters, with the rim of the glass wiped with crushed blackberry and a berry garnish. At one point, he also tried Krogstad Aquavit, but decided against it. The strong flavors of the bitters going against the sake surprised me, considering peach is similar to the flavors the sake was described as having.

The defining feature of Charlie’s act was that he tasted many different things before settling on his ingredients: sake, H Huckleberry Liqueur (from Idaho, of all places), lime (Imbibe says lemon), maraschino liqueur, tonic water, lime zest, and muddled blackberry. Leaving out a base spirit probably hurt this drink, since it wouldn’t have the alcoholic crispness to balance the acid and sweetness. The H was surprising, since it would have nearly the same flavors as one of the featured ingredients, and the fresh berries shouldn’t have their flavors impeded upon.

Overall, the competition was very fun to watch, and I’d love to see someone organize some more of these in Portland.

So I can find it:

Suzanne’s Ginger Syrup
1 lb. ginger, sliced, but not peeled
7 C water
2-2 1/4 C sugar

Boil ginger until water is reduced by half. Strain when cooled but still warm enough to add sugar. Add sugar to taste of the ginger.