1964 Saketini at Benihana

After our cocktail escapades at Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar and Grill, Momma-San and I headed over to Benihana's for dinner. Since they were so kind to send me a $30-dollar coupon for my birthday (Domo Arrigato Benihana) we decided to cash it in. Unlike the last time we went to Benihana, the place was packed to the gills with other people celebrating birthdays. So we had to forgo the show at the Hibachi grill and just sat off in the lounge area. Which was fine since we had already experienced it once before. We could get the same service in the lounge area without a major wait. While we waited to order, I decided to peruse the cocktail list and decided to keep with the decidedly Asian flavor of the evening.

Now my experience with Sake is limited to the long forgotten Bleecker Street Bar holiday party at Bond Street a few years ago. Forgotten because I can't remember what and how much we drank that night. Given that, my slate in terms of Sake is clean and decided to order one of Benihana's featured cocktails: The 1964 Saketini. Here is how it is described in the menu:

To honor the year Benihana was founded and where the Saketini was born. Grey Goose shaken with Benihana Sake and fresh cucumber.

Before I go into the cocktail, I wanted to touch on what Sake is. According to listing for Sake on the Encyclopædia Britannica website:

Sake, also spelled saki,  Japanese alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice. Sake is light in colour, is noncarbonated, has a sweet flavour, and contains up to 18 percent alcohol...The manufacture of sake began sometime after the introduction of wet rice cultivation in Japan in the 3rd century bc. The first written record referring to sake dates from the 3rd century ad, and the first reference to its manufacture dates from the 8th century. In ancient Japan sake was produced primarily by the imperial court and by large temples and shrines, but from the early 12th century the general population began to manufacture it. By the early 16th century the modern process for making sake had been nearly perfected. Sake is the drink of the kami (gods) of Shintō, the indigenous Japanese religion.

For more information on the different grades of sake, refer to John Gauntner's Sake-World listing for the different grades of sake with definitions and reviews.

The cocktail was very interesting. First I wouldn't have been able to tell that there was any cucumber flavor to it. Cucumber tends to have a distinctive flavor, especially in cocktails that was not found in this drink. Second, it had the consistency of a Vodka martini with extra dry vermouth or "Wet to Very Wet". It tasted like it had a fair amount of dry vermouth in it. I'm not sure if the sake has the same kind of flavor profile that a fair dry vermouth would tend to have when mixed with a spirit like vodka. It was definitely the kind of cocktail that I needed right before dinner. It had a nice way of cleansing the palate. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

For an interesting article on Sake, check out An Intro to Sake by David Wondrich from Esquire Magazine's website dated October 13, 2011.

For the next post, I highlight the other two cocktails I decided to try during and after dinner: The Strawberry Saketini and the Emperor's Bellini.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
Sisco Vanilla

Two Yuzu Cocktails at Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar and Grill

To continue with the theme of my last post The Hummingbird at Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar and Grill, my friend Alberto made me a couple of cocktails that contained Yuzu. Since I had never had Yuzu in any way, shape or form I was curious. But what's Yuzu you may ask?

According to the article Yuzu: The Many Wonders of Japanese Citrus by Eric Gower dated October 9, 2011 from the SFGate.com food section website:

It is usually translated as "Japanese citron," but that doesn't tell us much. It is about the size of a tangerine, and has a yellow-orange rind.

The mature fruit is seedy, and produces little juice, but is highly prized for its fragrant zest, which seems to combine the best flavors of Meyer lemon, mandarin orange and grapefruit. The unripe fruit, with its green rind, does provide some juice, which is exceedingly sour yet delicious.

Another of the ingredients used in one of the cocktails was Shochu. What is Shochu?

According to the listing for Shochu and Awarami from the website John Gauntner's Sake-World:

Shochu is Japan's other indigenous alcoholic beverage, but unlike sake, shochu is distilled. It is also made from one of several raw materials. The alcoholic content is usually 25%, although sometimes it can be as high as 42% or more

Like almost all such beverages throughout the world, shochu developed as it did as an expression of region, especially climate, cuisine and available raw materials. Perhaps the factor most affecting the development of shochu is the weather. The island of Kyushu and the western part of  the island of Honshu are significantly warmer than the rest of Japan.

Brewing sake calls for relatively lower temperatures, but shochu can be distilled in these warmer regions. Also, the higher alcohol content and drier feel is more appealing to many in milder climates.    

Unlike many other beverages, shochu is made from one of several raw materials. These include sweet potato, and shochu made from these is called "imo-jochu." Other materials commonly used include from rice, soba (buckwheat), and barley. There is even one island where there a few places that make shochu from brown sugar. It can also be made from more obscure things like chestnuts and other grains.  

And, each of these raw materials gives a very, very distinct flavor and aroma profile to the final sake. These profiles run the gamut from smooth and light (rice) to peaty, earthy and strong (potato). Indeed, each of these raw materials lends a unique flavor in much the same way that the peat and barley of each region in Scotland determine the character of the final scotch whiskey.

Now that we have gotten the explanation of the two more obscure ingredients, here is the first cocktail:

The Yuzu Cocktail
Yuzu
Shochu
St. Germain

The cocktail came in an old fashioned/rocks glass on the rocks. I found it to be very light and semi sweet with a hidden smokiness and kick on the aftertaste. It was quite pleasurable.

Yuzu Cocktall (left) Yuzu Margarita (right)

The second cocktail was a take on the Margarita using Yuzu. Here is the Yuzu Margarita

The Yuzu Margarita
Yuzu
Siembra Azul Tequila Reposado
Homemade Honey Syrup

This one, served up in a coupe glass was an interesting take on a Margarita. The Yuzu replaced citrus component of the sour mix/lime and the honey syrup replaced the sweetness from the Triple Sec. I can't say that I've ever heard about the Siembra Azul Tequila Reposado. I need to keep an eye out for it for a future blogpost. I have to say that it was a nice cocktail.

What I like about these cocktails and the aforementioned Hummingbird is that they are made with just three simple ingredients. Nothing too fancy or flash. Kudos to Blue Ribbon for keeping it simple and kudos to Alberto for the amazing cocktails. I appreciate the love. :)

Next stop after Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar and Grill was Benihana's. Hey, I had a $30 dollar coupon for my birthday. Couldn't let that go to waste. Right?

Until Then Happy Drinking,
Sisco Vanilla

The Hummingbird at Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar and Grill

I recently went to visit my friend Alberto who works Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill, located in the 6 Columbus Hotel at Columbus Circle for a few pre-dinner cocktails with Momma-San. Now Alberto and I go way back to our High School days so I've been meaning to go see him at the rooftop bar of the Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill. I was definitely not disappointed with the selection of cocktails that I had.

I left the choice of cocktails entirely up to him and along with the highly recommended pork belly appetizer (Thanks Julia), I was served a cocktail by the name of the Hummingbird. It was a simple cocktail made up of three ingredients: Avinyo Cava, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur and Club soda with a garnish of the Yamamomo fruit.

Cava is a sparkling wine that comes from Spain and the Avinyo Cava brand describes itself as being as such:

On the front of every bottle of Cava Avinyó Brut Reserva is a Catalan inscription that translates: “from the must of the flower and with the rigor of a work well crafted.” This phrase sums up the Nadal family’s winemaking philosophy with their focus on producing the highest quality of wine through adherence to the natural fruit and through hard work and great delicacy in the winemaking process. After all, if you’re making wine for your family, you want to make sure it’s as good as it can be. Although the estate dates back to the sixteenth century, the winery was founded over 50 years ago when Joan Esteve Nadal planted Parellada, Xarello, and Macabeo to make sparkling wine for his family. Joan’s children now run the winery but they stick to their father’s notion of using pure free-run juice and delicate care in crafting this family wine. Cava Avinyó Brut Reserva is aged for 18 to 22 months on the lees and then disgorged right before it leaves the winery to ensure the freshest Cava available reaches you.

The Yamamomo is a Japanese fruit which is also known as the Japanese Mountain Peach. It is the size of a raspberry or a small strawberry. The fruit was quite tasty with a little tartness to round the sweetness. For more information on the Yamamomo, read the Shikigami blogpage for the Yamamomo.

The cocktail itself is quite the sight to see and it was nice and light with a sweet taste from the St. Germain and the Cava. I like the effervescent feel this cocktail has. It definitely adheres to the "less is more" philosophy. It was a nice way to start the evening.

I have a couple of more cocktails from Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill that I need to write about. Keep an eye out for them.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
Sisco Vanilla

60's Era Cold War Cocktails A-La Mad Men Part I

Personal life, work drama and the end of the year Baseball awards have taken up a chunk of my time lately (read my other blog Baseball Sisco Kid Style to keep up with the Baseball world) so while I work on a number of posts for this page, I just wanted to keep things fresh with a couple of 1960's Cold War era inspired cocktails. Why did I choose to highlight the two cocktails I picked? Well, we recently had the 51st anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis aka the October Crisis from October 14 to October 28, 1962 and looming on the calendar on November 22, 1962 is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Plus I recently picked up a cocktail book which mentions these drinks and decided to make a few.

I had recently taken out of the library The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook: Inside the Kitchens, Bars, and Restaurants of Mad Men by Judy Gelman and Peter Zheutlini. As expected, the book is full of classic cocktails such as the Manhattan, the Martini, the Sidecar and the Vodka Gimlet to name a few. But one particular chapter piqued my interest. In this chapter the authors touch upon the underlying topic of the "bomb" that not only was felt through Mad Men but also in the real world of the 1950's and 1960's. The Cuban Missile Crisis is touched upon in Season 2 Episode 13 (which I have yet to get to).

So the authors talk about how bartenders in that era had fun in making up cocktails that reflected the atomic and nuclear fears of the day. The B-52 (Kahlua, Bailey's Irish Cream and Grand Marnier. Layered) is probably the one cocktail that they list that has stood the test of time and is still ordered today. Two of the other four on the list were able to be made by me at work since I had the available ingredients. Let's dive in and see what they are

The Atomic Fireball
For those of you living under a rock, Fireball Cinnamon Whisky is currently on fire in bars across the country (sorry for the pun folks, just having a little fun). But what most people don't know that this version of Fireball is a reincarnation of an older version of cinnamon whisky that was known as Dr. McGillicuddy's Fireball Canadian Whisky. Now Fireball is not a very strong whisky. It is only 33% Alc/66 Proof but it is somewhat syrupy and very sweet with a strong cinnamon taste. Sam at the bar has to take a couple of Tums anti-acid pills after a few Fireball shots. The cocktail calls for it to be made with the Cinnamon whiskey, rum and Grenadine. Here is how I decided to make it:

The Atomic Fireball
1oz of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky
1oz Bacardi Light Rum
Grenadine

In a shaker with ice, shake up the Fireball Cinnamon Whisky and the Bacardi Light Rum. Pour into a rocks glass with fresh ice. Using the back of a bar spoon, lightly drizzle the Grenadine over the cocktail.

I find that the rum cuts the sweetness of the cinnamon whisky leaving just the kick at the back of your mouth of the cinnamon. Its actually quite the pleasurable cocktail. As you get to the bottom of the cocktail, the drink gets sweeter due to the Grenadine slowly sinking to the bottom. You can either keep the gradual sweetness as is or you can stir the cocktail to better mix the Grenadine into the cocktail.

The Nuclear Cocktail
The authors specify that this is a shot but I decided to make this on the rocks. Keep in mind folks, that tastes have changed over time so you might find this cocktail, as I made it, to be too strong in terms of the Peppermint flavor. The cocktail contains Peppermint Schnapps, Vodka and Grand Marnier. As with the last cocktail, the author does not specify how many ounces of each spirit and liqueur to use so I just made it up as I went along. Here is the recipe I used:

The Nuclear Cocktail
1oz Peppermint Schnapps
1oz Stolichnaya Vodka
1oz Grand Marnier

In a shaker with ice, shake up the Peppermint Schnapps, Stolichnaya Vodka and Grand Marnier. Serve in two ice filled rocks glasses.

Pete thought it was too strong on the Peppermint though he did say it seemed mellow out a bit after sitting for a few minutes. I also found that it was too strong. The Peppermint flavor just overpowers the other ingredients. You can't tell that there is Grand Marnier in this cocktail. The Orange flavor is un-detectable. I would recommend to halve the amount of Peppermint Schnapps used to create a more balanced drink and/or shot for today's palate. Who knows, maybe this is how they liked to drink it back in the 1960's.

If you ever want to relieve the intensity of the impending end via the bomb, make up a few of these, and act like Bert the Turtle, Drop and Cover and kiss your butt goodbye. ;)


Until Then Happy Drinking,
Sisco Vanilla

What is Sabra Liqueur

In the same vein of my prior posts on the Peanut Lolita and Cherry Kijafa, I was recently looking for classic liquor ads when I came across the following ad for Sabra Liqueurs. Now I vaguely remembered that Marvel Comics has a character called Sabra who is an Israeli super spy. I decided to check and see if this liqueur was Israeli in origin.

Since this is a somewhat obscure liqueur, I decided to look for sources at the Wikipedia pages for Sabra Liqueurs. One of the sources linked to the article Liqueur rebranding "Sabra" and professional wine exhibition which was written in Hebrew. Thank goodness for modern technology, I was able to read the information in the article through the Google Translate app. Here is what the article states about Sabra Liqueur (as translated from Hebrew by Google Translate):

Sabra liqueur - rebranding. In the sixties, in fact in 1963, it was Edgar Bronfman comes with the need to generate visited Israel be identified with Israel, but will run successfully with liqueurs and spirits abroad. Bronfman controlled the liquor in one of the largest - Seagram - produced quite a few international alcohol brands familiar and important.

The liqueur was the brainchild of Edgar Bronfman Sr., of Seagrams fame to create a liqueur that was Israeli in essence, name and look. So what is the liqueur made of?

According to the Sabra Liqueur listing on the Woodland Hills Wine Company website:

Sabra chocolate orange liqueur is perhaps the most famous liqueur produced in Israel. The primary flavor of Sabra is a rich, bittersweetish (sic) chocolate. The dense chocolate is cut with the sweet and sour taste of Jaffa oranges. This citrus addition gives Sabra an extra kick that chocolate doesn't have. The Sabra bottle is reminiscent of a genie bottle in shape. Slightly chilling Sabra liqueur strengthens the chocolate feel, while slightly warming it brings out the citrus tones.

In addition, the Cocktails of the World website describes it as so:

Sabra Chocolate Orange Liquor: It is a liquor that combines chocolate, and zest of orange peel. The chocolate flavor is from a percolation of neutral spirit through ground roasted cocoa beans to which natural orange flavor is added. This liquor is presented in a geenie (sic) like bottle based on a 2,000 year old Phoenician wine flask found in a Tel Aviv museum. It is great as a mixer or as an after meal liquor.

The original blend of chocolate and orange came in a 750 ml bottle which was imported from Israel and it was Kosher for Passover at Alc. 30% by vol./60 Proof. There is also the Sabra Coffee Liqueur which is also Kosher for Passover at Alc. 30% by vol./60 Proof. The Sabra Coffee Liquor is described by the Cocktails of the World website as such:

Sabra Coffee Liquor: It is a silky, smooth, with a toasty coffee flavor and hints of vanilla liquor, medium bodied and well balanced. It is made by a percolation of neutral spirit through ground coffee beans

The Wikipedia listing also claims that in 2006 an Orange Brandy was launched within the Sabra line but I have yet to find anything pertinent on it. Have any of you out there ever have either of the blends? What did you think? I guess I'll have to add Sabra to the list of the liquor/liqueurs that I need to keep an eye open for.

I have a whole slew of cocktails and liquors that I have in the pipe to write about from the classic Martinez, to minimalist Japanese influenced cocktails to the "brown vodka" which is known to the rest of us as Canadian Club Whisky. As I find myself with a little time, they'll be posted.

Until Then Happy Drinking
Sisco Vanilla