Thursday, May 3, 2012

capetown

1 1/2 oz Housemade Swedish Punsch
1 oz Lemon Juice
3/4 oz Gutierrez Colosia Sangre y Trabajadero Oloroso Sherry
1 dash Orange Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a wineglass garnished with white port paint (roto-vapped and boiled down to thicken). Garnish with a lemon twist.

Two Mondays ago, after attending the Plymouth Gin competition at the Hawthorne, I headed down the street to visit bartender Todd Maul at Clio. While perusing the menu, Todd brought over the "Random Drink Monday" drink, the Capetown. I had made the Capetown before from the vague recipe in the Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933, and it was interesting to see how Todd interpreted it. Todd upped the fruity quotient of the drink by increasing the lemon juice and sherry, and he opted for a sweet oloroso sherry instead of the Lustau East India Solera one I picked.
The Capetown offered up a lemon oil and sherry aroma. The sip was a tart lemon that became a touch sweeter and more grape driven as it warmed up. Next, the swallow contained sherry and the Swedish Punsch's rum and dry tea finish; indeed, I was impressed at how well the Punsch and sherry worked together here. The most notable difference between the two Capetowns was that this one was a bit more citrus forward that mine.

3 comments:

Ryan said...

Have you compared the different Swedish punsches? Carlshamm Flagg punsch, Kronan, Clio's housemade or other housemades?

frederic said...

Kronan is the least citrussy of the bunch -- you sort of have to add your own. Carlshamm (which I believe is what Todd Maul has a bit of at Clio) seemed rather mellow, and Todd adapted his recipe accordingly so his improved over time to better approximate that style. Rendezvous is good but a bit more flavorful (this is not a bad thing in my book). The old Deep Ellum recipe wasn't good (but it was the first in town), but the new one is rather good. Our housemade needed some work, but we never cleared the bottle to retry it with improvements (I used to amber and richly flavored of a rum -- Appleton VX) before the Kronan became available.

eas said...

There is NO acid element in Kronan - the Swedes always preferred to use fresh citrus when serving - just like us.

That Capetown is a great drink -thanks for posting on it! Hope to see you again soon Fred.