The Cocktail Spirit with Robert Hess

Great episode! I am slightly confused about your syrup.  You say that the syrup you’re using is “rich syrup” (2:1 sugar:water) and that “simple syrup” is 1:1.  The recipe on the sidebar calls for 1/4 oz of simple syrup but in the episode you used 1/4 oz of rich syrup.

By the way, I have that same soda siphon and it’s really great for parties!  Definitely recommended.

Greetings,
Looking forward to trying this one.  It is almost warm enough here in MN to mix one up--one more week or two. Couple of questions/comments…

1. How long does the soda siphon, once charged, contain soda water I would want to use? Is it a short life or fairly long lived compared to an opened bottle of soda water? At just under 7 cents a liter for soda water is quite attractive if it lasts a while.  Wouldn’t take too long to recover cost of siphon.

2. In a previous episode, I recall watching a guest, Jamie B, using a small mesh strainer to remove “bits” from a cocktail. I have since begun this practice with my lemon juice in some cocktails. My squeezer (which I LOVE) gets the seeds, but not the pulp. For cocktails such as the Aviation, it really helps with the presentation to remove the pulp. Probably not as important in the Fizz, but woudn’t hurt.

3. On a video note: I am please to see Robert back in his Drinkboy shirt.

Cheers,
P-Dubyah

Another fine episode!

Robert, could you expand a bit more on what you feel is the primary difference between a Tom Collins & a Gin Fizz?  I’ve been grappling with this dilemma for years!

@Chunk:
the difference between a Collins and a fizz is at the
a. Preparation method, (Collins=build, Fizzes=shake all but the soda.
b. Garnish (Collins=lemon, cherry. Fizzes= none)
c. Glass (Collins=collins or highball. Fizzes= Delmonico or small tumbler).
I hope i help you.

Dimitris Zappas
Classic and Flair bar instructor,
Bartendix,
Board member and Chairman for Flairtending of Hellenic Barmen Association - member of International Bartenders Association.

What great timing for this episode.

Last night me and a big group of friends went out for drinks and dinner at b side in Boston (a great bar).  I convinced one of my friends to order a sloe gin fizz… and it was delicious (all 15 of us agreed it was one of the best drinks of the evening).  On the way home I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be cool if the cocktail spirit for the week was the sloe gin fizz…

Boy was I shocked when I got home and saw that it was the gin fizz… Its like Robert was watching me; so I made a gin fizz and it was really tasty… so a couple questions for you Robert.

If I wanted a sloe gin fizz, would I just replace the simple syrup with 1/2 an ounce of sloe gin?

Also, I got to reading about fizz style drinks and stumbled on a couple things… one was the Ramos Gin Fizz, which looks great… and the other thing was that Fizz style drinks don’t have ice.  So what’s the story on the ice?

Robert,

Your point about ‘rich’ vs. simple syrup is important enough to examine in its own right.... in fact, Darcy O’Neil goes to great extend in Mixologist Vol.1 to point this out. Mixology is all about precision...a balance between acids, sugars and ethanol in the drink (or even proteins in case of eggs, creams, and gelatine). This should not be taken lightly if we are to retain the originality of drink recipes and create increasingly more sophisticated cocktails. And this is where the problem rises…

For example, trying to replicate many of the excellent recipes found in classics like Jigger, Beaker, Glass or the Savoy book will yield many recipes that are overwhelmingly acidic… lemon & lime sizes of the time must have come at different sizes and acidic levels. Hence a recipe that calls for the use of a whole lemon or lime should not to be taken lightly.

On the other side many modern recipes tend to be on the sweet side through incorrect use of syrups and flavouring agents (cordials). This becomes ever more challenging by the different characters and aromas found in the numerous base-spirit brands. Clearly, it is in the craft of the mixologist to strive for the appropriate balance of all these variables. Isn’t it time though that more rigour is brought to this craft?

I address this question here because you have assumed the role of a cocktail evangelist. There is a need to preach about a more scientific approach to mixing drinks. A first attempt was made by Gary Regan in his Joy of Mixology book and what a response it achieved. Surely an episode on fundamental mixology principles would be a welcome step to this direction.

Dimitrios

Sorry I’m jumping in a little late here… Let’s see if I can address questions/issues in order:

@Nicholas…
When talking simple syrup, it is easy to get a little confused. My personal preference is for 2:1 (rich) simple syrup. Many however prefer to use 1:1 (normal) syrup behind the bar. And in talking with a chef the other day he commented that he always uses 1:2 (light) syrup in the kitchen, and so that’s what he gives to the bar. I’m a bit on the fence about strictly indicating/controlling what “type” of simple syrup should be used/specified. I feel it is appropriate to leave some level of wiggle room for the individual bartenders and to let them appropriately adjust some of these aspects in the drinks as reflects their own personal style. This is why great cocktails should never be able to be made by a robot :->

@Perry…
Soda Siphons last quite well, I think even better than bottled (although I’ve never gotten scientific with this). The reason sodas go flat is because they lose carbonation. Part of the reason they lose carbonation is because every time you open a bottle of soda virtually all of the CO2 above the liquid escapes. The CO2 suspended in the liquid (and providing the fizz) will “migrate” to the air-side of things when there is less CO2 in the air, so every time you open a bottle of soda you are freeing up room for the fizz to move out of the liquid and into the air pocket.

Use of the second fine-mesh strainer is referred to as “double straining” a drink. It is a bit of a hassle, but for that extra touch it can make a difference.

@Chuck…
Dimitris covered the differences between Tom Collins and Fizz pretty good. David Embury goes into detail in “The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks” about this (which will very shortly be reprinted, and include an intro by yours truly)

@Owen…
“Sloe Gin” is both spirit and sweetener in one. So you “essentially” combine the measures for both the spirit and the sweetener in a fizz and use that for the Sloe Gin.
As for the Ramos Gin Fizz… stay tuned :->
To Ice or Not… Ice didn’t hit the “big time” until the introduction of the Cobbler around 1830. So many drinks before that time (including the cocktail) weren’t commonly “iced”. It was the introduction of ice however which I feel really catapulted things forward. I frankly usually use ice in my Fizzes.

@Dimitrios…
Very good points. Carefully looking at simple syrup, and its use in cocktails is indeed a worthwhile endeavor. In Darcy’s article, he carefully, and scientifically, pulls apart simple syrup to look at exactly what the heating process does (I always “cook” my simple syrup, even though many prefer the cold-water method because it is easier), as well as describing how to create a simple syrup which will measure the same as straight sugar (normally a tablespoon of simple syrup will have “less” sugar in it than a tablespoon of sugar.)
But as mentioned earlier I don’t want to overthink the syrup/sweetner thing too much. My preferred recipe for a Sidecar is different from Dale DeGroff’s, which is different from Dave Wondrich’s, which is different from Gary Regan’s, which is different from David Embury’s. All of them are sidecars, but the differences stem from each of our different “leanings” in flavors. So my preference is to (usually, but perhaps not always) balance my dictates on “exactly” how a cocktail should be made. I think the individual should be able to feel they have some flexibility.
As for juices… I HATE seeing “juice of one lime” types of ingredients listed for exactly the point you mention. Even today, I see fairly wide differences in the juice of one lime to the next. Juices should always be measured.

-Robert

This is really nice!

Ive made my own variation on this though that I prefer, it involves using 1oz of RIPE pink grapefruit juice instead of the lemon and lime. And about 1/2-1oz (to taste) of sugar syrup with a dash of agnostura added for some nice taste. The final change is a dash (1/4oz at most) of a Polish Cherry Vodka called WISNIOWKA. I understand that people might not be able to get it, so a tiny drop of Kirsh or Cherry Brandy might do the trick.

Everything else is the same (glass, ice ect) and garnish with a grapefruit twist. I prefer this to the video shown, but its a matter of preference I guess.

Ide like to see what people think of my variation!

Cheers!
Aleks.

Aleks, personalizing a drink with slight variations (or big variations) is one way to better understand the drink itself, and see how different ingredients bring about various changes.

As a cautionary note to others who might be looking at a little experimentation, is to first make sure you get to the point where you feel you have “mastered” the original drink, and understand how all of it’s ingredients are coming into play, before you start riffing off on your own. This specifically applies to what could be considered “classic”. They are classic for a reason. This is the same approach that accomplished chefs will take in the kitchen, master the classics before they take off on their own.

-Robert

Hi Robert! I totally agree with you on this one.

I was making them before you posted your video, but I only learned truly the proper method and recipie from your video. It was only now that I felt to have enough confidence to post my change, after I used a friend of mine, a part-time Barman to try the gin fizz, and give me the “all clear”.

Now that I feel confident, and even made a version that I personally prefer, I am moving on to other drinks that I allready do not know. Firstly the martini, I think I keep adding too much vermouth to mine!

Practice-makes-classic-makes-perfect!
-Aleks.