Gartending: Turkish Stalemate

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For the Spring and Summer growing season, we bring you a new feature at Beekman 1802, the Soused Gnome.  He’ll teach  you how to “gartend”–create perfect seasonal cocktails using fresh ingredients from the garden.

 

The Manhattan Cocktail is one of those drinks that have a glorious history attached to a venerable name.  Who doesn’t enjoy a drink named after the greatest city in the world?  A Manhattan can stimulate your hunger like no other cocktail.  It might be the Bourbon Whiskey or the Sweet Vermouth but what I think the Manhattan cocktail is best at becoming an exciting launching pad for flavor.

PAMA is made with all-natural pomegranate juice, premium vodka and a touch of imported tequila.  It is not syrupy sweet.  They seem to get the dry factor down by tempering the tangy/sweet flavor of the pomegranate along with a refreshingly dry finish.

This is elegant stuff, perfectly geared to a unique form of the Manhattan cocktail.

I’ve become a fan of Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon.  It drinks as smoothly as Bourbon that costs triple the price.  There is the certain elegance to this Whiskey and it takes to mixing just as easily as it does drinking a glass neat or on the rocks.  I suppose that it would work in just about any cocktail that calls for an ultra-premium brand of Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey.

There is something that differentiates Kentucky Bourbon from all others.  That is the limestone water.  After spending a couple of days in Louisville during the Kentucky Derby, I noticed softness to the water.  This softness makes for perfectly distilled brown spirits.  Kentucky water tastes like no other and this specific terroir gives Kentucky Bourbon the flavor of the place.

The garden element in my somewhat twisted Manhattan cocktail is the addition of some freshly crushed pomegranate fruit along with the Bourbon and the pomegranate liqueur.  The muddled fruit gives this drink depth and a certain thickness.  It almost becomes a fruit shake bound together by ice, Carpano Antica Formula sweet Vermouth, a touch of Raki (with a tip of my dervish cap to Turkey), and the aromatic, Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon.

The color of this drink is just gorgeous as well.  Your friends will want to seek out their own bottle of PAMA and discover new uses for this unique spirit on their own.

 

Turkish Stalemate Cocktail

Ingredients

to mystify 2 of your closest friends

 

1 Shot Raki

1 Shot Pama Pomegranate Liqueur

2 Shots Four Roses Small Batch Bourbon

½ shot Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth

1 Pomegranate sliced and diced for muddling

Angostura Bitters (a couple of shakes)

Home cured cherries (Apple Jack or Brandy cured cherries-essential!)

 

Preparation:  

Muddle ½ of your pomegranate in a stainless steel cocktail mixing cup

Add the liquors, stir and continue to muddle

Add a couple of your home cured cherries, then continue to muddle

Add a couple cubes of ice

Shake and strain into champagne glasses with fresh ice, shake some Angostura over the top

Enjoy a couple in the garden surrounded by whirling dervishes.

 

Warren Bobrow is the Food and Drink Editor of the 501c3, non profit Wild Table on Wild River Review located in Princeton, New Jersey.  He has published over three hundred articles in about three years on everything from cocktail mixology to restaurant reviews and travel articles.  Learn more from his website, The Cocktail Whisperer,  or by visiting his blogs at The Daily Basic, Foodista, and Williams-Sonoma