New York has always been a great city, but this week its greatness gets bumped up a notch, as the first annual Manhattan Cocktail Classic rolls into town, along with some of the country’s best and brightest mixological minds.  Accurately described as “part fête, part conference, part cocktail party,” it will be a balls-to-the-wall 5-day orgy of all things related to the craft of the cocktail and the art of mixology.  Kicking off the entire affair will be the opening night Gala at the grand New York Public Library building at Bryant Park, where the price of admission gets you unlimited food and cocktails prepared by some of the city’s best chefs and mixologists–I’ve heard from more than one reliable source that Mario Batali himself will be preparing some delectables.  Whether you’re a professional in the industry, an amateur enthusiast, or just enjoy an awesomely prepared cocktail, New York City will be the place to be from May 14-18, if it already wasn’t before.

Of the multitude of events, however, there’s one in particular that I’d like to draw your attention to, called The Dizzy Fizz Tastemaker’s Punch taking place Monday May 17 at the breathtaking Ramscale Penthouse in the West Village. Myself, along with several other of the city’s tastemaking mixologists will prepare and serve various original mouthwatering punches (like the one featured today), while beautiful works of cocktail-related art are displayed on the walls from folks like saloon artist Jill DeGroff, graffiti artist/designer Claw Money, painter Nicole Desmond, and the amazing cocktail photography of Umamimart’s very own Vanessa Bahmani.  As far as things to do on a Monday night, I cannot think of anything better.

Ok now that the shameless self-promoting plugs are out of the way, we can move on to the week’s cocktail, which is one I’ve created specifically for the upcoming Tastemaker’s Punch event.  It’s a punch I’m rather excited about, because it employs rather exciting ingredients, two of which are on the cusp of hitting the markets nationally (fingers tightly crossed): Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine and A.B. Smeby’s Bitters.  The former is a lightly sweet and spiced corn whiskey that has pronounced cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla notes on the nose and palate (though they’re tightlipped about the exact ingredients they use); the latter is a local brand of artisinal and seasonal bitters made by the very unbitter Brooklynite Louis Smeby, whose bitters I’ve had the distinct privilege of experimenting with and featuring a couple of times over the past few weeks.

I call it Chinese Bootlegger Punch as a reference to the ingredients in the punch.  In addition to the corn whiskey (which is essentially a legal and more refined version of the illegal and often harsh moonshine made by Southern and Appalachian bootleggers) and Smeby’s Forbidden Bitters (notes of tonka bean and cassia), the punch features Chinese Oolong tea, cinnamon, grapefruit, lemon, and agave.  Since this event is part of the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, the name also serves as a shout out to the bootleggers in Chinatown whom I hold in the highest esteem, and without whom I’d not be able to afford the Panerai on my wrist nor watch bootleg movies before their release date.

Chinese Bootlegger Punch (serves 20, scale accordingly)
5 cups Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine
5 cups brewed Oolong tea (less than boiling water, steeped 5-6 min)
3.75 cups fresh grapefruit juice (big difference when you use fresh) 1.25 cups fresh lemon juice
1 cup agave nectar syrup
.75 cup A.B. Smeby Forbidden Bitters (if unavailable use Angostura)
.5 cup cinnamon syrup (Trader Tiki makes excellent brand)
Big block or two of ice (freeze water in the biggest tupperware you have; I’ve found that boiled water produces clearer ice than filtered)

Mix everything together in a punch bowl and refrigerate, preferably an hour or two in advance so that the flavors can mingle. Add the big blocks of ice–the bigger the better because they’ll melt slower–when ready to serve, and garnish with a few lemon slices.

Cheers, and please say a prayer for my liver this weekend.

*Got a cocktail question? Hit me on twitter @paystyle, email me at payman(at)lifesacocktail(dot)com, or simply drop me a comment below.

It’s mid-January and by this point many of you are off to the races as far as your resolutions are concerned. You’ve detoxed, cleaned up your diet, and are hitting the gym as frequently as a Playboy bunny who’s about to be cut from the squad.

However if you’re like me, 2010 didn’t really start off with a sprint to the gym, but rather a slow crawl to the yack-box. In fact I’m already breaking a resolution to not blog at work. And if you really are like me, and you don’t care too much for colonics and kale and banana smoothies, but want to feel like you’re at least taking some steps in the right direction to renew and rejuvenate your body, then I have the perfect elixir for you.

It’s called The Detox, and with it’s potent yet tasty blend of vodka, lemon juice, honey, rosemary, and chiles, it’s sure to kill any toxins (even the good ones) living inside you, and it tastes good to boot. Best of all you won’t need a yoga mat nor a gym membership. All you’ll need are a few key ingredients and your trusty cocktail shaker–and how often has your shaker, under my steady guidance, steered you wrong? Riddle me that if you will.

The Detox
3 oz vodka (I used Martin Ryan)
2 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz honey-rosemary syrup (see recipe near bottom of this post)
dash cayenne pepper
For the rim: cayenne, puebla chile powder, and date sugar (recipe below)

Glass: cocktail glass
Tools: shaker, strainer

Rub a lemon slice along the outer rim of the cocktail glass and dip it in the chile and date sugar mixture. Pour the other ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake until well chilled. Strain, enjoy, and repeat until your system is fully cleansed.

To make the rim mixture simply blend together 3-4 tbsp date sugar (found at most health food stores) with 1 tsp puebla chile powder and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper. If you’re spice averse you can exclude the cayenne pepper on the rim, since there’ll already be a dash of it in the cocktail.

Although I am not a vodka hater, in the world of craft mixology vodka is often treated worse than a biracial illegitimate stepchild. However I chose vodka in this cocktail for many of the same reasons it is hated: its purity and lack of dominating flavor which enable it to act more as a blank canvass in a cocktail than as a flavor component. I used Martin Ryan vodka because unlike most vodkas which have their souls distilled out of them, this still retains a bit of the spirit and essence of its origin distillate base, Oregon grapes.

So who needs all those new age detox diets and such when you have so many cleansing botanicals in one cocktail, right? Here’s to a starting the year on a healthy note. Cheers!

*Got a cocktail question? Hit me on twitter @paystyle, email me at payman(at)lifesacocktail(dot)com, or simply drop me a comment below!

**Paystyle was born in Tehran and grew up in Los Angeles (aka Tehrangeles) before moving to Brooklyn with his wife and co-pilot Vanessa Bahmani who provides the stunning photography of Pay’s cocktail concoctions. Return every Wednesday for his weekly Happy Hour column.

I made a boo-boo yesterday and opened up my Moroccan preserved lemons a week early. OOPS!!! I thought that it had been a month already, but apparently it’s only been three weeks. Oh well, I’m closing it up again and pretending I didn’t do that.

I did have a taste though and they’re a shockingly salty. Maybe I should lay off on the salt a bit next time? Or is it necessary for the preservation process? Also, I can’t seem to keep the lemons in tact- they fall apart when I’m squishing the salt and lemons in the jar. Is this not ok? I’m jarring some lemons again today.

Jud-san had saved an article on preserved lemons from the New York Times Magazine, published in 1999 and he scanned and emailed me a copy. Isn’t it amazing??? In the age of forwarding links from the I N T E R N E T, this is truly a prize- I love the yellowing, wrinkled paper, adorned with coffee spots and condiment spills. It has aged with such grace and kitchen devotion. How much more charming is this compared to the website version?

Priceless.

He recommends the swordfish and fettuccine recipes. I’m gonna try it all. It’s a Preserved-Lemon-Off!!!

Click on the above pics to enlarge.

Last week, while reminiscing about the various fun summer activities I engaged in as a child, I remembered a game some kids liked to play which I was not so fond of–Leap Frog. I remember lots of kids getting a huge thrill from the game, but never me. Frankly, the idea of kneeling down and having some kid jump over my shoulders from behind, with the inevitable and all too common risk of his crotch smacking the back of my head, well, let’s say it wasn’t something I was thrilled to be a part of. Equally unappealing was the idea of being the jumper and chancing either a mistimed jump or having the kid lift his head slightly too soon, so as to cause my crotch to crash full speed into the back of his dome–I’ll pass, thanks.

Now I’m an adult, and while I still have no love for the crotch-crash game (unless it’s of a different kind, if you know what I mean) there is a different version of Leap Frog that I’ve come to enjoy–a version which of course comes in liquid form. Leap Frog also happens to be a name for a fairly old yet simple drink comprised of gin, lemon juice, and ginger ale in a highball glass. It’s easy to make and quite on-the-money for those of you interested in putting in minimal labor during summer’s final moments.

For the sake of being thorough I should mention there’s another drink by the same name, but with completely different ingredients and definitely not as tasty as the first one mentioned. It’s essentially like a grenadine-spiked Hotel Nacional cocktail. I’m not posting the recipe because it’s just not that good (try the Hotel Nacional instead) but the recipe for this lesser version of the Leap Frog is at CocktailDB if you’re interested.

To add to the confusion I’ve discovered a third cocktail called Leap Frog, which is the one pictured above. This one’s the newest of them all and it comes from Jim Meehan of famed NYC speakeasy PDT. Although I haven’t been able to ask Jim about this, it seems his version is actually a cross between the two aforementioned versions, with some additions of his own–if you compare the recipes you’ll see the similarities. This one requires a tad more prep time but if you aren’t overly dreading the countdown to fall and can spare a few more minutes for the sake of mixological magnificence, I assure you this one’s worth every minute of your effort. But first the original.

Leap Frog
1 1/2 oz gin
1 oz fresh lemon juice
ginger ale to top

Tools: something to stir with

Glass: highball

Throw a few lumps of ice in the glass and add the gin and lemon juice; top with the ginger ale and give a brief stir.

The thing to remember about highballs is that their very simplicity is the reason you don’t want the flavors to mix too much. Instead, you want the taste to vary slightly with each sip, so a mere light stir is enough. Also, since highballs usually have a carbonated component, overstirring will allow too much carbonation to escape which produces a flatter tasting drink.

Leap Frog (pictured above, adapted from Jim Meehan of PDT)
2 oz gin
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz apricot liqueur (used Rothman & Winter Orchard Apricot)
1/2 oz caster sugar
1/2 oz hot water
9 mint leaves
2 dashes orange bitters

Tools: muddler, shaker, strainer

Glass: cocktail

Pour the sugar and hot water in the shaker and stir until fully dissolved. Add the mint and lightly crush it with the muddler. Fill the shaker with ice, add remaining ingredients and shake like you got hit unexpectedly in the back of the head. Double strain into a cocktail glass and enjoy.

Double straining still leaves a few tiny mint pieces in the drink, which is actually what I wanted because they remind me of little lily pads. If you want a drink free of small floating mint pieces, use a tea strainer with smaller filter holes instead of a standard strainer.

How any of these drinks–perhaps with the exception of Meehan’s hybrid–came to be called Leap Frog is anyone’s guess, as I surely don’t know and haven’t been able to track down the answer. Perhaps a conversation with Meehan may reveal something I don’t.

Nonetheless the moral of the story should not go unheeded–don’t involve yourself in summertime activities that lead to crotches crashing in the back of other’s heads (or into your head for that matter, unless of course you’re into that sort of thing) thereby preventing bad summer memories. Instead, make cocktails that won’t unduly interfere with your noggin (except for inducing inebriation) and allow yourself to make it to next summer in one piece.

Cheers!

*Got a cocktail question? Hit me on twitter @paystyle, email me at payman(at)lifesacocktail(dot)com, or simply drop me a comment below!

Paystyle was born in Tehran and grew up in Los Angeles (aka Tehrangeles) before moving to Brooklyn with his wife and co-pilot Vanessa Bahmani who provides the stunning photography of Pay’s cocktail concoctions. Return to UMAMIMART every Wednesday for his weekly Happy Hour column.

Today I’ll show you how to prepare four different flavored syrups: mixed berry, rambutan (cousin of lychee fruit), Meyer lemon, and honey (because it’s too easy to pass up, even though it’s not a fruit). I’ll also share a recipe for a refreshing spring-beckoning beverage that incorporates the Meyer lemon syrup. I’ll start with the honey syrup first because it’s so easy.

Honey Syrup
Dissolve an equal part of honey in an equal part of warm water. That’s it. You can keep it in the fridge, and it makes using honey in cocktails much easier than if you were to pour the honey straight into a shaker with ice.

Berry Simple Syrup (pictured below)
1.5 cups sugar
1 cup water
2 pints fresh or frozen mixed berries (I used frozen blend of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries)

Combine sugar and water over low heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Turn heat up to medium (or med-high if using frozen berries) and add berries. Using a muddler or spoon, crush the berries to extract their juice. Turn heat to low and allow mixture to steep for 20 minutes. Next, press mixture through a fine-mesh sieve or strainer lined with cheesecloth. The point is to strain out as much of the seeds and solids as possible. Allow to cool, strain again if necessary, and pour syrup into a bottle.

You can add an ounce of vodka to fruit-based syrups to extend their shelf life, though I wouldn’t plan on keeping it around for more than a month anyways.

Rambutan Simple Syrup (above)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 20 oz. can of rambutan (you can use fresh ones if you can find them, and if you’re a fan of arduous labor)

Combine sugar and water over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then cool to room temperature. Pour entire contents of canned Rambutan (syrup included) into a blender along with the sugar syrup and puree until smooth. Press mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Discard solids and pour strained syrup mixture into a bottle and refrigerate. As with the berry syrup, you can add an ounce of vodka to extend the syrup’s shelf life.

I didn’t infuse the rambutan the same way as the berries because the rambutan has a subtle flavor which doesn’t impart as easily as the berries, so I blended it to really get its full flavor–which is also why I used the whole can along with its own syrup, to get as much of the fruit’s flavor as possible. That’s also the reason for the lower ratio of of sugar to water.

Meyer Lemon Syrup (above)
1.25 cups sugar
4 cups water
1 cup strained fresh Meyer lemon juice (it’s near the end of their season so get these while you can)

Combine sugar and water over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Cool to room temperature, stir in lemon juice, cover and chill in refrigerator until cold. Keeps in fridge for a few weeks up to a month.

You may be wondering what gives with the totally different sugar to water ratio than all the other syrups I’ve shown you so far. This is simply because I’ll be primarily using this syrup as a base for a lemonade in which the syrup is the main component, so rather than adding more water later, I’m basically doing it now. It’s still very sweet and concentrated as a syrup should be, but not as concentrated as a traditional sour mix which would be more appropriate for cocktails. For a Meyer lemon-based sour mix, simply follow as directed above but instead use a ratio of 1.5 parts sugar, 1 part water, 2.5 parts Meyer lemon juice.

If you’re as ready for spring as I am, you’ll enjoy this next recipe which incorporates the Meyer lemon syrup and sparkling sake for an amazingly refreshing drink I call a Sparkling Sake Lemonade.

Sparkling Sake Lemonade
3/4 cup Meyer lemon syrup
Sparkling sake to fill (Trader Joe’s has an inexpensive variety appropriate for this drink)
Meyer lemon wedges
Ice

Glass: 24 oz. Mason jar (pictured above)

Fill jar with ice and lemon wedges. Pour in the Meyer lemon syrup and top off with sparkling sake. Give it a light stir and enjoy!

I used mason jars because I think they’re the perfect aesthetic complement to drinks like lemonade, but you can use any receptacle you wish, and simply adjust your ingredient ratios accordingly.

There you have it. Everything you ever wanted–and needed–to know about simple syrups. Of course I have cocktails planned for the other syrups I showed you today, but I’ll be sharing those with you later in the coming weeks.

Remember, you can infuse virtually anything, as I’ve practically demonstrated. I have plenty of syrups on hand now, but once I run through these I’m thinking about making some saffron or hibiscus flavored syrup for my next batch. I’m interested in hearing your novel ideas as well. See you next week. Cheers!

Come back every Wednesday for Paystyle’s weekly Happy Hour column.

Photography by Vanessa Bahmani