In France, when you drink, you drink wine. And, in a good restaurant, you really don’t want to ask for a Barolo. Scowls might appear. You quality of serve might diminish. It’s France after all. You drink French. You drink wine. What else could you do?
In 2006, three Frenchmen embarked on a wonderful plan. They wanted a bar in Paris. A cocktail bar. And it would offer American cocktails in a setting styled after a Prohibition-style American speakeasy.
The three men toured, researched, plotted, and succeeded. Now joined by a fourth partner, the team has a dozen bars and restaurants around the world: Paris predominately, London, New York and one in the sun of Ibiza. These men have vision that feeds their masterful mixology.
The 85 recipes here span, it seems, generations of cocktails across multiple planets. There are some original cocktails from that first Paris club, but then pages more from London, New York, and Ibiza. There are recipes here from mixologist friends, some classics dressed up for the 21st Century, and then some vintage ideas presented just as they were first crafted a century ago.
So, this book is filled with ideas flashing all over the place: very old, very new, old dressed up, experiments from a longtime friend, inspirations from the best of the new mixologists that places — especially the Experimental Cocktail Club — have inspired.
You will find here beverage ideas that combine the “standard” ingredients and some new ones in quite unexpected fashion. Consider this idea:
Le Maudit Francaise [Blood French, a Canadian term of endearment]
Ingredients:
- 30ml 8-year-old Darroze Armagnac
- 10ml Don Gonzalo Oloroso sherry
- 10ml fresh orange juice
- 10ml fresh lemon juice
- 10ml maple syrup
- 1 dash of Bittermens Boston Bittahs
- Ice
Preparation:
Place all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and fill with ice cubes. Shake well, then double strain into a chilled Champagne flute. Garnish with a piece of pared orange rind.
This is typical of the concoctions in this book. Several ingredients, often seeming incongruous. But the idea seems magical. Can’t imagine what it would look like? Here it is:
This is far, far from being your standard cocktail book. You haven’t seen these ideas before. If you are an amateur mixologist like me, you can’t image what they would taste like or look like. There is only one solution for you: buy and try. This is an important book, one that carries with it the full power of the constellation that is the Experimental Cocktail Club. It’s a bright set of stars. And if you love cocktails, you will fall madly in love with this book.
There is one cocktail I will try and blog soon: Madame Reve with Spiced Aperol. Its based is Spiced Aperol. Can you imagine making Aperol anything more than it is? Here they do, adding star anise, vanilla pod, cloves, nutmget and a cinnamon stick to that bottle of Aperol. I'm fascinated.
When you look for the book in the store, the real cover is black and silver. I took off that dust jacket to get a scannable image, but the black and silver will surely catch your eye