Sunday, December 11, 2016

Southside

Seems there's always something that gets in the way of a return to blogging.  This time it was the fact that the electoral college is about to put an authoritarian Cheeto with the expressive capacity of a 9 year-old, tiny hands, and a bad comb-over in the White House.  After waking up on November 9th to find we'd slipped into an alternate quantum reality, I simply didn't feel like doing frivolous things, like blogging about booze.  Drinking to escape seemed about all I could muster.  But a month on in this new bizzaro world and we're starting to find respite in the quotidian...for as long as that lasts.

So, on to it....

As the second snowfall of the season came down last night, I booted up Netflix on the ol' 60-inch to settle in and watch a movie.  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed The Husband rummaging through the growing pile of UPS boxes collecting around the front door.  Next thing, he's standing in front of me holding one out.

"What's this?"

"Merry Christmas, a little early.  I figured you should open this now so you can enjoy it."

I've been saying how much I love coups -- which are all the rage lately on the trendy bar scene.  So I was totally stoked when I opened up the box to find a black Waterford box inside.  And inside that were two huge lead crystal coups.  Strong, deep cuts form a ring of diamonds and rays around the bottom of a massive bowl so big you could serve soup in them.  With a smooth base and stem this vessel sits nice and heavy in the hand.  All very masculine for cut crystal.

I passed them off to The Husband to rinse out while I sprinted to the bar to leaf through PDT.  The only requirement on this bev were the words "serve in a chilled coup glass".  The first one I landed on was Southside.

I didn't expect to like this at all.  I am not a gin fan and there were not enough other ingredients to mask it.  And we all know how The Husband feels about too much citrus in his tipple.  But hey, it was all about the coup, so we were prepared to suffer through it.  Yet on the first sip we both looked at each other, eyes wide and said in unison, "Wow!  This is good!!"

A perfect, smooth, balance of all the ingredients.  Truly, liquid satin in a glass.

Then the three ultimate raves from The Husband:  "Oh, you're definitely doing this one again.  I could drink these all night!  Put it on the blog!"

Et voilà!  Un autre retour....

Southside
2 oz. gin
.75 oz. lemon juice
.75 oz. simple syrup
4 mint leaves

Muddle the syrup with the mint.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and shake.  Serve with no garnish in chilled coup glass!  (PDT suggests double straining, but I like the flecks of mint confetti in the finished product!)

5 comments:

  1. Ok, if I substitute agave for simple syrup and self-dried mint, I can do this this week! No gorgeous coups, but I am going for this! If I had not had a Manhattan and two wines, I would make this instant. Tuesday. It is on the menu for Tuesday.

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    Replies
    1. Hmmm...I don't know about substituting agave. It has flavor and can have a slightly bitter finish. It might not play well with the lemon and the gin. Simple syrup is more neutral sweetness and is the easiest thing to make. It takes as long as it does to boil water so it's worth the effort. (For the bar I make it 1:1 water & sugar. So put 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar in a pot. Bring to a boil and cook only until the sugar completely dissolves. Maybe give a stir or two to help the last grains into solution. Then cool.)

      As for the mint, I'd try rehydrating it before putting it in the shaker. Maybe even using the gin as the steeping liquid ;-)

      Let me know how you like it!

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  2. well that sounds pretty delicious. two of those and I might (hardly) care about $#ckface Von Clownstick (God I miss Jon Stewart)

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    Replies
    1. I have been able to genuinely laugh at anything political only twice since the election. Your reply is one of them. Thank you for that! [takes a deep, calming breath...]

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    2. ha! well, I have watched that segment by Jon multiple times and each time I laugh until I cry.... he. is. the. best! I miss Jon

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