Gartending: Home on the Grange
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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.
I used to live up in Maine. One thing that Maine has that I’ve never really seen anyplace else in the country is the Grange Halls. With the demise of the family farm, the importance of the Grange Halls has actually remained vibrant, keeping the old ways alive. Maine has a plethora of Grange Halls in the less touristy, older towns as a stark reminder of what was and what may never be again.
The temperance movement started up in Maine but this drink is firmly rooted in the period of time after prohibition ended up to today. Maine is in many ways akin in appearance to the Norwegian landscape. Harsh and relentless winters still make this place inhospitable to most visitors. You need real fortification in the form of powerful alcoholic beverages to stave off the freezing winds that cut right through you.
Aquavit or water of life from Krogstad in Portland, Oregon of all places- harken to the ancestry of many of Maine’s first inhabitants. The flavors of caraway seed and licorice are just made for the botanical notes of Gin from Aviation.
Add to that the hauntingly floral and complex flavors of St. Germain. You have a cocktail that is world’s away from a plain Martini and as elegant as anything that you can pour down your throat.
The gar-tending element of this cocktail is a mash of freshly picked radishes. I just love the way they add depth to this drink and spice that is unexpected. Once they are strained from the final result the aromatics and elegance of the radish will charm your friends into another world of cocktail rationality.
The Grange Hall Cocktail
will quench the thirst of 2 very thirsty friends
Ingredients:
2 Shots Krogstad Aquavit
2 Shots Aviation Gin
2 Tablespoons simple syrup and 2 Tablespoons St. Germain
6 freshly picked radishes (really well scrubbed and chopped into a small dice)
Fresh Mint for garnish
Preparation:
To a cocktail shaker muddle the radish dice into a paste to reveal the aromatics
Add the simple syrup and St. Germain, then fill the shaker ¼ with ice
Add the liquors
Shake and strain into well-chilled Martini glasses and garnish with a sprig of fresh mint
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
