It's Pimm's Season

Wimbledon starts June 25th, and that means it time to start drinking Pimm's No. 1 Cups. I wrote about them for the Chronicle in the fall, but it's time to refresh your memory and start planning.

At San Francisco's Slanted Door restaurant, they make a Pimm's cup without Pimm's that's an approximation from the old Cocktails of the Ritz Paris book. According to Wikipedia, "A close approximation to Pimm's №1 can be prepared by mixing one measure of gin with one Orange Curacao and one red Vermouth."

I've had the Pimm's at Slanted Door and can testify to it's deliciousness. It would be especially nice on a day like today, when San Francisco is having a "heat wave" of temperatures in excess of 80 degrees! (You have to live here to appreciate the rarity of that.)

But this year someone upped the Pimm's Cup ante. At Alameda's Forbidden Island tiki bar, Martin Cate decided to make his Pimm's as an approximation as well. But he's adding extra-special garnish.

The traditional Pimm's as it was served in England was garnished with borage leaves. When they made a big push to promote the drink in America (I can't remember when- 1950's?) they sold the bottles with packets of borage seeds, since nobody here knows what the heck borage is. This picture from Wikipedia shows it's a big ugly weed.

Anyway, borage didn't exactly catch on here but it turns out that cucumber has a similar flavor to borage leaves. So that's why you get them in your Pimm's.

Diageo even changed the label on the bottle to reflect this and now recommend garnishing it with cucumber and even strawberries. Some people are not happy about this, and have started an internet petition to strip such blasphemy from the label. (Read the site for a ton of Pimm's info- good stuff.)

You can find borage leaves in dishes in some fancy restaurants, an internet search revealed. So Martin at Forbidden Island sent his minions in search of borage leaves. He tells me they ended up going to 11 different garden stores (note: not grocery stores) to find borage to serve in his Pimm's Cups. He also bought some borage seeds to plant outside the bar in the hopes they won't have to drive all over town in the future. That's some serious dedication to a drink.

And is anybody else really fricking thirsty right now?

Homemade limoncello

I have a lemon tree in my front yard, so I decided to put it to good use (okay it gets used for juice and garnish all the time) and make limoncello. I used the recipe that was recently printed in the Wall Street Journal:

If you'd like to try your hand at the homemade sort, it's easy enough to do. Peel fine shavings from the skins of a dozen lemons; avoid cutting into the bitter white pith, so that the peelings are pure yellow. Pile the peel into a glass container, and pour in a bottle of vodka. Let it steep for about a week, or until the peels have lost all their color, before straining out the lemon peels. Dissolve two cups of sugar in three cups of water on a medium stove, and let it cool. Add the sugar syrup to the lemon-infused vodka, to taste. Bottle your limoncello, and keep it chilled.

You can make a similar liqueur using oranges instead of lemons -- or just about any citrus at all. But whether you're pouring your own house limoncello or one of the burgeoning number of commercial brands, just remember that it is best after a meal, and that one small glass is plenty.

So that's what I did. I scraped some lemons and let the scrapings soak for two weeks (the color never went away). And added the sugar syrup. I only used about a cup's worth before I thought it was way too sweet.

Anyway, I now have homemade limoncello and that's awesome!

I would love to make my own triple sec, but it will be a huge compromise. I'd actually have to go further for the ingredients than my own front yard.

What I learned this week

I learned that Campari and Aperol are not really amaros, though they, like amaros, are Italian bitter liqueurs. (I wish I had learned this before I sent out a pitch confusing them, but oh well!)

Amaros are in the category of digestifs: after-dinner drinks. Aperol and Campari are aperitifs: appetite-inducing before-dinner drinks. Digestifs are usually heavier, darker, and more alcoholic than aperitifs (and this is certainly the case with Aperol versus Fernet), though there is certainly crossover. For example, sherry is consumed as both.

In any case, all Italian liqueurs are gunning for summer cocktail popularity, no matter what category they're in.

More Amaro

Oh look, I was just learning about amaros and starting to pitch them, and Jordan Mackay went and wrote a story about them. Always two steps ahead of me, that guy!

Bitter and Loving It

Last week I attended an event for Averna; yesterday it was a poolside Aperol party. Campari is already an essential ingredient in the Negroni though I'm seeing more people enjoy it with soda lately, and San Francisco sells a ton of Fernet-Branca. These brands are all examples of Italian bitter liqueurs, also known as amaros.

I have a lot to learn about amaros and the difference between them and other herb-heavy spirits like pastis, pernod, and herbsaint.

But I can tell you the marketing push is on for this summer's hot new drink category to be light aperitif cocktails invoking thoughts of holidays on the shores of the Mediterranean. I don't mind that one bit. The thing I do mind is that San Francisco weather doesn't remind one of summer at all.

Here's a new one...

I was flipping through the current issue of GQ magazine and came across this ad for PAMA pomegranate liqueur. I almost missed that it has a scented perfume strip so you can smell what it tastes like. I haven't seen that trick before.

I have a bottle at home and can tell you that the stuff in the bottle smells different- pomegranate is syrupy and that doesn't come through on paper. The magazine smells more like pomegranate perfume.

Maybe I'll rub it on my neck before I go out tonight. Though I'm used to reeking of booze, it would be nice if that was actually a good smell.