Saturday Afternoon Cocktail

2012-05-18

Drink of the Week - The Fred Collins Fizz

The past couple weeks have been really busy planning the summer cocktail menu and doing work on revising and streamlining our wine lists. Unfortunately, as such, I haven’t really had as much time as I normally do to play with recipes and come up with something interesting. Rather than give you something with half-hearted effort, I instead offer this wonderful summer recipe from Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. Everything hereafter comes directly from the book, which is quoting the New Guide for the Hotel, Bar, Restaurant, Butler, & Chef by Bacchus & Cordon Bleu, London, 1885.

“…and drink while lively to the health of the Collins family – whose name you may take in vain for about fifty popular drinks – from brandy, rum, bourbon, old rye, gin, etc., etc.”

The Fred Collins Fizz

2 oz. bourbon or rye whiskey

½ oz. simple syrup

Juice of 1 fresh lemon

1 tsp orange curacao (I’m using Cointreau)

6 oz. fresh lemonade

Mix the bourbon, simple syrup, and lemon juice in an iced cocktail shaker and shake. Strain into a large bar glass that is half filled with shaved (or finely crushed) ice. Add the curacao. Pour the lemonade into a Collins glass, and pour the bar glass into it.

Stop by Lucca this Saturday for some cocktails and good times. We have happy hour snacks from noon to six and cocktail deals as well as all of our signature drinks. I look forward to seeing you.

Thanks for reading and happy drinking!

Chris

2012-05-04

Drink of the Week - Copa Hibisco

A brief history lesson (Academics, please skip to next paragraph): This weekend we will celebrate a holiday that has its roots as much in America as it does in Mexico. Cinco de Mayo traditionally celebrates the defeat of the French army in the town of Puebla, but also has roots in the Latinos who helped write California’s constitution establishing it as a “free state”, tipping the scales between slave and free territory during the Civil War. The victory at Puebla was a victory for freedom and democracy celebrated equally in Mexico and in the United States.

Copa Hibisco is a celebration of the culture, flavors, and Madison Avenue marketing that have turned the Fifth of May into a national drinking holiday. 123 Organic Tequila, Combier Pampelmousse, and hibiscus syrup provide the backbone of this lively interpretation of a Silver Fizz. A little touch of lemon for acidity, egg white for texture, and a preserved hibiscus flower garnish complete the drink. Copa Hibisco has floral and bitter notes balanced by sweet and earthy flavors.

As always, we will be serving this beautiful cocktail all day long on Saturday along with our Happy Hour and regular menus. Please come in to sample our wares. I look forward to seeing you!

Thanks for reading and happy drinking!

Chris

#Cincodemayo #Cocktails #Booze

2012-04-20

Drink of the Week - ???

The naming process for cocktails is a grueling one for me. I don’t have a hard time putting flavors together and finding the right proportions to craft a fantastic drink, but coming up with an appropriate name draws consistent blanks in my mind. This week’s drink has proven to be especially difficult, so I am leaving it up to you, dear readers, to name this delightful warm weather cocktail. Read on for ingredients and flavor profiles, come by tomorrow to try it, and send me an email with your suggestions.

Combier Roi Rene Rouge is a beautiful cherry liqueur produced in the Loire Valley of France. The original recipe, developed in 1632, comes from Reverend Mother Gautron of the Benedectine Abbey of Saumer. True to the original, Combier Rouge uses guignes cherries from the south of France and morello cherries from southern England to achieve the sweet and tart flavors in this light liqueur. I combine the liqueur with Plymouth gin, lemon and orange juice, and Regan’s Orange Bitters No. 6, resulting in a fresh, tart cocktail with herbal depth from the gin and bitters and a subtle cherry finish from the Rouge.

So come on down and try this as yet unnamed concoction and help me with its moniker. I’ll be serving it up along with all our happy hour food specials all day tomorrow. I look forward to seeing you!

Thanks for reading and happy drinking!

Chris

2012-04-13

Drink of the Week - Spa Water

One of the great perks of visiting a spa is the delicious infused waters they provide while you’re sitting in a bath, soaking in the relaxation. Generally a combination of citrus, berries, herbs, and water, these tinctures are a refreshing treat on any day devoted to R&R. This week’s cocktail, the Spa Water, is an alcoholic version of this delightful libation for those of us who crave a little more zest.

Keeping in the spirit of simplicity and allowing the natural flavors to shine, I chose to use a substitution recipe based on the Mojito. I muddle some lemon and mint in a collins glass with a splash of simple syrup, add a nice dose of Crop Organic Cucumber Vodka, fill with ice and top with soda water (you can add a splash of lemon-lime soda if you like it a little sweeter). Stir in a couple raspberries, garnish with a mint sprig and the drink is complete. Since this Saturday is forecast to be the first sunny day after a week of rain, I thought the Spa Water an appropriate drink to welcome back the warmth.

Come say hello to the sun and welcome the weekend with a refreshing Spa Water. I’ll be at Lucca all day Saturday serving up drinks and Happy Hour treats. I look forward to seeing you!

Thanks for reading and happy drinking!

Chris

#alcohol #mixology #cocktail

2012-04-06

Drink of the Week - Cherry Cabinet

Liquor reps are always coming through touting their newest wares and how awesome they will be for our bar. I’m very picky about what I bring in on a permanent basis, but always open to see what is out there. We recently had two sample bottles come in, both with a cherry theme. Grey Goose Cherry Noir vodka and Seagram’s 7 Stone Cherry whiskey. The Grey Goose was a disaster, but the Seagram’s, while not necessarily a home run by itself, serves as the base for a fun and vibrant Saturday Afternoon Cocktail.

The Cherry Cabinet is a play on the classic Boston Sour using the Stone Cherry whiskey, white creme de cacao, lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg white. The lemon juice accents the cherry and citrus infusions to the whiskey while the egg white and simple syrup control some of the heat and give it a creamy texture. The addition of chocolate serves as a nice counterpoint to the tarts of the cherry and lemon while providing a rich flavor base. Finishing the drink is a bit of chocolate shavings for garnish over the egg white foam. All the flavors come together to make the Cherry Cabinet a great drink for any time of the day.

I will be working away making the Cherry Cabinet and all our other cocktails this Saturday at Lucca. Stop by to try some out and check out our Happy Hour snacks (Sac Bee feature). We are also going to be open for Easter Brunch this Sunday, featuring special brunch and weekend cocktail specials so call for reservations if you haven’t any other plans.

Thanks for reading and happy drinking!

Chris

P.S. Happy Birthday Dave!
#Cocktails #Mixology #Booze

2012-03-31

Drink of the Week - Crimson Sail

Better late than never…

This week’s cocktail comes courtesy of my fellow Lucca barkeep, Mike Migliore. The Crimson Sail is inspired by the classic Pink Gin cocktail made famous in the mid 1800s by members of the Royal Navy. One healthy serving of chilled Plymouth gin served in a cocktail glass with a dash of bitters and a lemon rind, the Pink gin originated as a cure for sea sickness and became the toast of late nineteenth century Britain.

The Crimson Sail is an homage in its heavy use of herbal aromatics and Caribbean flavors, yet distinctly modernized with the incorporation of bright citrus notes and rich umami undertones. The cocktail combines Death’s Door gin, Martini and Rossi Rosato vermouth, Velvet Falernum, Peychaud’s and Regans bitters, a little lime juice and an absinthe rinse. The spicy-citrus flavors of the coriander in the gin are complemented by the lime and clove from the falernum while the bitters, absinthe, and Rosato lend color, herbaceous notes, and depth. The Crimson Sail is decidedly complex, yet bright and refreshing at the same time. Its honestly one of my favorite drinks we’ve made lately.

Mike’s at Lucca today and I’ll be there tonight mixing up the Crimson Sail and all our other craft cocktails. Stop by and try one out!

Thanks for reading and happy drinking!

Chris

2012-03-23

Drink of the Week - 34 Degrees

This week’s cocktail is based upon a very intriguing vodka and a fun cooking experiment I tried. 34 Degrees combines Purity Vodka and homemade blueberry syrup in a fun, vibrant early spring cocktail.

Purity vodka is a small batch spirit produced in the south of Sweden by master blender Thomas Kuuttanen. Using a proprietary copper and gold pot still specifically designed for the production of vodka, they distill the winter wheat and barley mash 34(!) times, losing 90% of the liquid in the process. The resultant 96%/vol spirit, the true heart of the distillation, is then mixed with deionized water and natural mineral water and finally blended with organic custom crafted column still wheat spirits. Purity vodka has a rich, almost oily texture with hints of minerality, vanilla and licorice. A very intriguing vodka with far more body and character than one would normally expect.

I love the amazing brightness of blueberries but have always found them unwilling to fully express their character in cocktails. Infusions don’t impart enough flavor and muddling fresh berries into a drink provides only the slightest hint. I did a little research and found a recipe for a blueberry syrup using only water, sugar, and blueberries. Its a very small amount of sugar by volume and the resultant syrup is a richly textured yet bright and clean expression of blueberries (yes, we did put it on pancakes). It was a bit of a labor intensive process, but well worth the time. If you want to know how to make your own, send me an email.

For the 34 Degrees, I muddle fresh basil, add the Purity vodka and blueberry syrup and then finish it off with some Cointreau, lemon and a hint of simple syrup. A quick shake and the resultant cocktail has the brightness of blueberries, a hint of citrus and the herbal depth of basil all balanced on top of the base mineral notes from the vodka. 34 Degrees is a refreshing cocktail perfect for the early onset Spring we’re experiencing.

Come on down to Lucca this Saturday to try the 34 Degrees, talk about the insane production process of Purity vodka or whatever else you have in mind. We’ll be serving Happy Hour snacks from noon to 6!

Thanks for reading and happy drinking!

Chris

2012-03-09

Drink of the Week - Spice Island

One of the questions I am most frequently asked is, “How did you come up with that?” To be sure, every bartender has their own process and the inspiration for specific drinks may come from anywhere. To offer a little insight, however, I’d like to share the mental process for this week’s cocktail, the Spice Island.

A few weeks back, I found some tamarind pods while grocery shopping. Tamarind is used in Indian, Thai, African, and Central/South American cooking and has a tart/sweet/sour flavor profile with a slight hint of fruit that lends itself well to cocktails. Knowing tamarind works fantastically in margaritas and being fond of their flavor I bought some and promptly forgot about them on my kitchen counter. Fast forward to this past Tuesday when, while out to dinner with friends, the topic of cocktails came up (as it often does when I’m around) and I was reminded of the tamarind.

Come Wednesday morning, I made the tamarind into a paste and began looking at flavor pairings. As the tamarind has a sour profile, I decided to use Velvet Falernum as the sweet element and to add some spice depth. Velvet Falernum is a low alcohol sugar cane liqueur from Barbados popular in tropical drinks with flavors of clove, almond, ginger and lime. Ginger is a very common tamarind pairing so I added Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur which also has notes of vanilla, honey and ginseng. I chose vodka as the base spirit because I wanted the tamarind, clove and ginger to be the primary flavors and have the liquor take a back seat. Finally I decided to add a little bit of lime juice to play off the Falernum and brighten the cocktail. After a couple experiments with proportions, testing the drink on coworkers, and a little refinement, the final product is this week’s Saturday Afternoon Cocktail. The Spice Island deliciously highlights the tamarind while the ginger and clove provide depth and character.

We’ll be serving the Spice Island all day Saturday along with Happy Hour specials and all the drinks on our new spring cocktail menu. Stop by Lucca to talk drinks, food, or about whatever inspires you.

Thanks for reading and happy drinking!

Chris

2012-03-02

Drink of the Week - La Serena

Beer Week continues and we have a beautiful beer themed cocktail to close out the event’s final weekend. Before we get to this week’s drink though, I’d like to thank Chris and Clint from Berryessa Brewing for a fantastic event on Wednesday. Their Nightshade Rye, California Common, Winters Pale Ale and Double Tap IPA earned rave reviews from the folks in attendance. You guys won’t be flying under the radar for long with beers like those.

Keeping with the Berryessa theme, this week’s cocktail, La Serena, uses Pisco, Aperol, lime juice, jalapeno and Berryessa Brewing IPA. Pisco is a South American grape brandy with subtle aromas of pear and ripe fruits balanced by citrus notes and a slightly nutty finish. Aperol is an Italian bittersweet orange liqueur commonly consumed as an aperitif. These flavors pair perfectly with the IPA accenting both the malt and hop notes in the beer. The lime and jalapeno help brighten the drink and give it just a little kick at the end. La Serena drinks incredibly smooth and lingers seductively on the palate.

This Saturday I will be featuring all our beer themed cocktails at Lucca, including last week’s Jacobite Study, For the love of…, and La Serena. We also have our full Happy Hour menu running from noon to 6 to satisfy all your hunger based needs. I look forward to seeing you!

Thanks for reading and happy drinking!

Chris

2012-02-24

Drink of the Week - Jacobite Study

Sacramento Beer Week kicks off today with beer themed events at bars and restaurants throughout town running until March 4th. To start it off right, Lucca is introducing our Spring Cocktail menu and a revamped Beer list. We are also hosting some beer themed events which are listed below in greater detail. In honor of the event, we will also be featuring beer based cocktails for the next couple weeks. This week’s drink is the Jacobite Study.

Bonnie Prince Charlie was said to tour the hills of Scotland carrying a flask of a mysterious concoction provided to him by the Royal Apothecary. Drambuie is a combination of aged Highland and Speyside Scotch whiskies with clove, saffron and heather honey. The resulting liqueur is a slightly sweet, herbal tincture, rich in texture with a slightly smokey finish. The Jacobite Study, mixes Drambuie with Regan’s Orange Bitters and Deschutes Black Butte Porter. The roasted, chocolate notes of this award winning porter pair extremely well with the Drambuie and the orange bitters round the mix adding additional herbal depth. The resulting drink has complex, refreshing flavors that keep you coming back for more.

Stop by this week to try the Jacobite Study a whirl. We open at noon and run Happy Hour food specials until 6.

Thanks for reading and happy drinking!

Chris

Sacramento Beer Week events:
Tap and Table is hosting a Beer and Cheese pairing event at Lucca on Tuesday night pairing 5 craft brews with 5 hand selected artisanal cheeses. Learn how cheese and beer are made and how to pair them. There are two one hour classes held at 5:30 and 7:15PM. $39 and RSVP required, call/text 619-840-1144.

On Wednesday, Feb 29, Lucca will be hosting a beer mixer featuring 5 Berryessa Brewing beers on tap paired with small plate food pairings by our chef Ian McBride. The event is being held on our enclosed patio and runs from 5:30 to 7 for the low price of $20.

Sunday 2/26 and 3/4 we will be featuring a 3 course Farmer’s Market Dinner featuring local ingredients, Lucky Ranch Beef and beer pairings with each course. $35 per person. Reservations recommended.

Full list of events at www.sacramentobeerweek.com