The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess
Recipe
Vacation
- 1 1/2 oz Boca Loca Cachaça
- 3/4 oz lemon juice
- 3/4 oz Aperol
- 1/2 oz rich simple syrup
- dash peach bitters
- one egg white
shake with ice, strain into a champagne flute
Vacation
This drink was created by Zane Harris, bartender at Vessel which is an excellent craft bar in downtown Seattle. I asked him for some ideas on a “summertime” cocktail, and he said this is one that he had recently worked up. He said it was a good summertime drink not only because it uses cachaça, but also because of the use of egg whites. Zane had noticed that during the summer, people tend to gravitate towards his egg white drinks more than they do the rest of the year. Check out our video on adding eggs to cocktails on Raising the Bar with Jamie Boudreau.
Comments
Robert,
A question that I hesitantly ask, is that exactly how will the balance of this cocktail be affected, by the omitence of the Peach Bitters. Unfortunately, I have none on hand, but still plan to attempt The Vacation. Im maybe naively assuming that the inclusion of products with such depths as Aperol, and a rather sweet Cachaca, that I may just get away with it. Your thoughts?
Apologies to all for my currently poorly stocked bitter status.
Robert,
Do you happen to know why cacha
Ian (and Ben), While this drink was designed to use Peach bitters, it should work well to use orange bitters instead.
Ben, As for cachaca/rhum agricole differences… you are correct in noticing that both products are essentially made from the same base ingredient. Some of the differences will almost certainly come from the fact that there are different brands involved. Just as two different rums will have different flavors and characters, so too will two different spirits distilled from sugar cane syrup.
There aren’t many cocktails which specifically call for rhum agricole mainly because for a long time this was not a commonly available ingredient. It is still slightly difficult to find, but I suspect we will see more drinks coming out which use it.
Frankly I’d recommend using it in place of cachaca within any cachaca based cocktail (which there also aren’t a lot of), as well as trying it in rum cocktails for a slightly different result.
Robert,
I just discovered your shows last week, and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the episodes I have watched. I’ve got a couple of questions. First, (yet another simple syrup question) how long will the syrup last if you add vodka, and do you keep it at room temp or in the fridge?
Second, what is the piece of equipment on the bar behind you in your segments? Thanks for your time, and for a great show.
Gus,
Glad you discovered the show… and more importantly, glad you’ve been enjoying them! :->
I’ve kept some simple syrup with vodka perservative on the counter for a couple of months without any problems. But I typically keep my syrups in the fridge instead.
The bit of equiptment you see behind me on the bar is a “Beer Engine”. I bought a fairly run-of-the-mill beer engine, and didn’t care much for the pressboard mounting it was on and soI had a metal fabricator build a new enclosure for it, so what you see is essentially a “one-of-a-kind” design.
Robert,
Thanks for the quick response, and for answering my simple syrup question.
I love the looks of your beer engine. It is a nice addition to your bar. Have you ever given thought to a segment on bar design?
I’m staying up way past my bedtime enjoying your videos! Aperol is new to me. As much as I enjoy most bitters I’ve never fallen in love w/Campari (although drank it a lot when we lived in Spain). Fine when muted in a Negroni, but I never developed the expected ex-pat fondness for it in an Americano or alone with soda water. Is Aperol just a milder version of Campari? Or is it a different type of taste?
Jenna,
Campari, Cynar, and Aperol are all somewhat similar in flavor, but with different levels of intensity. There are also different undertones you will detect once you get past the initial robust flavor.