Periquation Cocktail by Ales Olasz of Montgomery Place

This is not the first time Ales has featured on these pages and I'm pretty certain it won't be the last! While we always talk endlessly about Absinthe, on this occasion (back in the summer) Ales came up with a real gem of a twisted Aviation with SW4 London Dry Gin and Jade Perique Tobacco Liqueur - I'd always thought of 'brown' spirits going well with Perique but here was something rather deliciously different...

Periquation by Ales Olasz of Montgomery Place (www.montgomeryplace.co.uk)

50ml SW4 London Dry Gin
15ml Jade Perique Tobacco Liqueur
10ml Maraschino
20ml Lemon Juice

Shake all the ingredients over ice and serve in a coupette. Garnish with a cherry dropped into the bottom of the glass.

So simple yet extremely effective. SW4 (Gin of Champions) is a very smooth, complex and well rounded Gin which means it is a great base for any cocktail! (www.sw4gin.com)

Jade Perique Tobacco Liqueur has proved to be a great hit with bar tenders, it tastes great and helps preserve an age old tradition of growing the very rare Perique tobacco. Jade's Perique also offers a safe alternative to homemade tobacco infusions and macerations which can be highly toxic. (ingesting nicotine is potentially as poisonous as arsenic and cyanide) I recently did a Perique tasting in Gerry's and on two separate occasions people refused to taste on the grounds they were made ill by 'tobacco cocktails'. All rather worrying but hopefully this trend is on the way out....

Ales has always been a big fan of Jade (www.vintageabsinthe.com) and I remember first introducing him to Ted Breaux way back in September 2010. Who would have thought then that over a year later we would be messing about with Ales's favourite Absinthe, now in the Sip Or Mix portfolio, Jade Esprit Edouard! (www.sipormix.com)

Green Tea and Rhubarb Sour by Ales Olasz of Montgomery Place

6-8 pieces Fresh Rhubarb
20ml Fresh Lemon Juice
15ml Simple Syrup
50ml Jade Esprit Edouard Absinthe
1/2 tsp powdered Green Tea
Egg White

Break down the rhubarb to release the juice and flavours. Add all the other ingredients and shake vigorously over ice and strain into the glass. Garnish with shreds of rhubarb and lemon.

The initial hit is naturally sour but with real complexity and reminiscent of a summer garden. The Absinthe adds a marked herbacious note and the mouthfeel is almost numbing. The combination of Egg White and Green Tea made it so creamy I wondered if Ales had perhaps slipped in some double cream while I wasn't looking! Admittedly we will have to wait for spring and the next rhubarb season before we can make this sour again but it just goes to show how versatile Absinthe can be in cocktails, even as the base spirit. Time to get messing about with some more Absinthe Sours me thinks...

The Don Draper #2 @ Paramount with Perique Tobacco Liqueur

There has been a bit of a discussion recently about tobacco in drinks. I would suggest taking a look at Darcy S. O'Neil's Art Of Drink on the matter:

http://www.artofdrink.com/blog/nicotini-tobacco-infusions/

From this article we can conclude that certain libations are best left to the professionals to be confident they are safe for public consumption. Fortunately that's just what Ted Breaux of Jade Liqueurs has done with his Perique Tobacco Liqueur. A safe alternative to home made tobacco infusions and syrups.
Not only is Perique safe, the specific tobacco used also has a very interesting back story. I particularly like Suzonne Stirling's piece:

http://urbancomfort.typepad.com/urban_nest/2011/05/perique.html

I note that the Tobacco Road cocktail in Suzonne's piece is made like an Old Fashioned, which is exactly how to make a Don Draper #2... but with a slight difference....

Don Draper, the chain smoking, heavy drinking, main protagonist of Mad Men is obviously the inspiration for this drink. Here's Amanda and Marco of Paramount taking me through the making of a Don Draper #2. First is to smoke fill the glass to impart a really full, smoky flavour and before you ask, their smoking gun is pretty compact and they use cherry wood chips...

Don Draper #2

40ml Woodford Reserve Bourbon
20ml Perique Tobacco Liqueur
2 dash The Bitter Truth Xocolatl Mole Chocolate Bitters
2 dash Regan's Orange Bitters
2 barspoon brown sugar

Slowly build all the ingredients, apart from the Perique, as you would an Old Fashioned. When done add the Perique at the end and stir in just a couple of times. Amanda prefers to keep the flavour of the Perique in tact rather than equal dilution with the Bourbon. Top the glass up again with smoke, transfer the drink into it and cover the top with a napkin. Then, when ready, serve the drink by removing the napkin.

Here's one of the early prototypes with the view from Paramount in the background, awesome! Not so long ago Paramount launched their new cocktail list and the Don Draper #2 was featured, we were lucky enough to have Bar Magazine along....

Perique Tobacco Liqueur is now available from www.sipormix.com/

Jade Liqueurs - www.bestabsinthe.com