Saxtons River Mai Tai
Saxtons River Mai Tai
Ingredients:
1.5 oz Saxtons River Vodka
.75 oz Fresh Lime Juice
.5 oz Triple Sec
1 oz Orgeat
Maple Caviar Ingredients:
3 oz Saxtons River Sapling Maple Liqueur
1 oz Maple Syrup
¼ Teaspoon Agar Agar
Vegetable Oil
Fresh Mint
Orgeat Ingredients:
83 g Sliced Almonds
Olive Oil
2.5 Cups Simple Syrup
.5 Teaspoon Salt
1.5 oz Orange Blossom Flower Water
4 Oranges
Like most of my drinks, this one is time consuming! Make sure that you prepare your orgeat and caviar 24 hours in advance! Once the bulk of the prep is complete making the cocktail is quick and easy. I decided to go with a play on the classic Mai Tai, because I love the toasty nut flavor and thought it would pair well with Sapling Maple Liqueur. I also really want to be on the beach!
Let’s start with the orgeat:
Toss sliced almonds very lightly in olive oil. Spread on a tray and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Toss the almonds on the tray and put back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so. Keep an eye on the almonds so they do not burn. When toasted to your liking, take them out of the oven and put them in a blender.
Add simple syrup, salt, and orange blossom flower water and blend until incorporated.
Using a vegetable peeler, peel the outer layer of skin from all four oranges. Place orange peels in the blended nut mixture and refrigerate for 24 hours. I like to express the oils from the orange peel into the orgeat to maximize on the flavor.
Remove from the refrigerator and strain through a fine mesh strainer and cheese cloth to remove any chunks. The texture should be very smooth with an extremely nutty flavor.
Maple Caviar Instructions:
Pour vegetable oil in a tall cylindrical glass vessel. Make an ice bath for the oil filled vessel. Place the bowl in the refrigerator. In making the caviar the oil needs to be very cold. I recommend putting the oil in the refrigerator for 24 hours even before putting it in the ice bath.
Add Sapling Maple Liqueur, brown sugar, and agar agar to a small saucepan and heat up. You do not need to boil the mixture. The goal is to melt the sugar and incorporate the agar without cooking down the liquid. Once all ingredients are dissolved, take it off of the heat and let cool down for 4 minutes.
After four minutes pull the oil mixture out of the refrigerator. Using a dropper, slowly add the maple liqueur mixture to the vegetable oil. You will notice that the liquid will slowly fall to the bottom of the oil filled vessel forming a perfect sphere. It is extremely important that your oil is very cold so that when the caviar reaches the bottom of the vessel, it does not alter shape or form into your other caviar spheres.
Once the spheres are complete you will need to strain them out of the oil using a fine mesh strainer.
Rinse thoroughly with cold water.
Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container with a little maple liqueur so they do not stick together.
Saxtons Mai Tai Instructions:
In a shaker tin add the vodka, lime juice, triple sec, and orgeat. Fill the shaker with ice and shake for about 15 seconds or until ice forms on the outside of the container.
Strain the shaken cocktail into a collins or rocks glass and fill with fresh ice.
Top with maple caviar and a sprig of fresh mint. Enjoy!
Pineapple Politics w. Snowdrop Foam
Pineapple Politics w. Snowdrop Foam
Pineapple Politics Ingredients:
1 oz Saxtons River Vodka
1.5 oz Pineapple Juice
.25 oz Simple Syrup
.5 oz Vecchio Amaro
Makes 1 Serving
Snowdrop Foam Ingredients:
1 oz Snowdrop Gin
.5 oz Lemon Juice
.5 oz Simple Syrup
1 Egg White
1 Cardamom Pod
.5 Teaspoon Coriander Seeds
Makes 4-5 Servings
This drink is screaming for spring as we endure what remains of the Dog Days of Winter. There are sunny flavors reminiscent of the months ahead of us, coupled with the warm embrace of the everlasting New England winters. In fact, this drink is rather complex in its flavor profile (or “profiles” I should say) as it evolves with every sip. With each ingredient having such a bold presence it took many tries to get this one right. I hope you enjoy it!
Let's start with the Snowdrop Foam:
Add cardamom and coriander to a metal shaker tin and muddle. Be sure to grind them as much as you can.
Add all other ingredients to the shaker tin and dry shake. Dry shaking is when you shake without ice. The goal is to break down the egg and incorporate all of the ingredients. In doing so you will create a light foamy texture, but we are taking it to the next level!
After the dry shake, separate the shaker tins and add ice. Shake again and double strain into a CO2 canister. Double straining is the process of using a Hawthorne strainer and tea strainer to separate any solid ingredients like the coriander seeds and broken down ice chips.
Now that the mixture is in the canister, close it tightly and add a CO2 cartridge. Shake for 5 seconds and keep cold in the refrigerator.
Now for the cocktail:
Add the pineapple juice, simple syrup, vodka, and amaro into a clean shaker tin. Fill with ice and shake for roughly 15 seconds or until you see ice forming on the outside of the shaker.
Double strain the cocktail into a rocks glass with fresh ice.
Top the cocktail with your Snowdrop Foam and garnish with the leaves of a pineapple.
Saxtons River Sapling Maple Bourbon Old Fashioned w. Orange Air
Saxtons River Sapling Maple Bourbon Old Fashioned w. Orange Air
Ingredients:
2 oz Saxtons River Sapling Maple Bourbon
.25 oz Simple Syrup
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
3 Dashes Orange Bitters
Orange Juice
Soy Lecithin
Dried Orange Wheel
Make 1 Serving
The Old Fashioned is just that, an old fashioned mainstay beloved by whiskey lovers. Dating back to the late 1800s this cocktail has stood the test of time. In modern day mixology we see many unique iterations of this beverage as bartenders and bar owners battle it out to stay ahead over the curve when it comes to innovative and imaginative cocktail menus. This version is unique in that it uses a maple flavored bourbon and also includes the addition of orange air.
Orange Air Instructions:
Add 800 ml of orange juice in a wide and deep dish. Add 1 generous teaspoon of soy lecithin granules.
Using an immersion blender, whip air into the orange juice. This takes a few minutes but the result will be a stable foam which can hold its shape for up to an hour. Once you are happy with your air, set it aside and assemble your cocktail.
Notes: When adding the orange juice to the vessel that you will be blending in, make sure that the liquid is not too deep. There should be no more than 1-2 inches of liquid in your container. You also do not want to fully submerge the immersion blender.
Maple Old Fashioned Instructions:
Add bourbon, simple syrup, orange bitters, and angostura bitters into a cocktail stirring glass and fill with ice. Stir for about 45 seconds or until you notice that the ice has begun to melt in the glass.
Pour mixture over fresh ice in a rocks glass.
Top with orange air and a dried orange wheel.
Enjoy!
Winter Workshops
Winters here mark a time of renewal. Our couples of the the 2022 wedding season are gone and married, and now we turn our focus toward our 2023 couples. We are also given a chance to catch our breaths a bit, and to reconnect with our loved ones. As we reset, we think about creative ways to continue our outreach and community engagement. This year, Frank and I have been putting on workshops at various locations, like Willow Brook and Saxtons River Distillery.
There is a lot of thought and time put into each event. I want to make sure that it feels personalized and thoughtfully put together. For Instance, My first workshop was making dried floral wreaths. I foraged grapevines from our property and wove them into circles. I sourced dried flowers from Great Meadow Farm, which is located right here in Westmoreland (source locally when you can!!). I also had my own selection of dried flowers that I preserved myself. I foraged interesting fungi and mosses to add to the wreath as well.
Some Poppin’ Polypores
Dried flowers provided by Great Meadow Farm of Westmoreland, NH
I love seeing the ideas that everyone comes up with. I start by giving a demonstration, but I only use a tiny portion from the items available to everyone. These workshops leave room for participants to come up with their own design concept that is unique to the person!
My next round of workshops will be making terrariums! I plan to do a blog post on this subject before the workshop, to give my participants ideas ahead of time on personalized touches they can bring along with them.
This whole time, I have yet to mention Frank’s portion of these workshops. We often offer a dual workshop, where you learn 3 cocktails from Frank, followed by a workshop with me. You can get an idea of what to expect from Frank by looking back at our previous blog posts, which share his cocktail recipes he taught earlier on.
Arrange and Sip at Willow Brook in Westmoreland, NH.
If you are interested in attending a workshop, you can do so by heading to our events page. This will give you information on upcoming workshops and how you can purchase your tickets. Also, please feel free to comment on any workshops you would like to see that we aren’t already offering! I hope to see you there!
Kristen's Espresso Martini
Kristen’s Nitrogen Infused Espresso Martini
Ingredients:
2oz Vodka
2oz Espresso
2oz Creme de Cacao
Coffee beans
Makes 2 Servings
Everyone loves an espresso martini! Rich, creamy, and lightly sweet this brewed blunder packs a kick of caffeine which any good time girl can rely on. In fact, this beverage was created for just that by mixologist Dick Bradsel in 1980’s London for a young model who needed a liquid companion to uplift her spirits. As simple as it is, I think it is nearly perfect and does not need much in terms of creative infusion. For that reason I am keeping it simple with just the substitution of coffee liqueur for creme de cacao and a nitro-infusion for a little modern flare.
Here’s how to make Kristen’s Espresso Martini:
Instructions:
Add vodka, espresso, and creme de cacao in a shaker tin and fill with ice. Shake for 10 seconds.
Double strain and pour the mixture into the nitrogen infusion canister.
Dispense equally into two martini glasses. Top each with 3 coffee beans.
What is nitrogen and why is it in my cocktail?
Nitrogen is one of the most abundant elements on the planet. It is a gas that is odorless and tasteless. To add nitrogen to a liquid it requires pressure (provided by the steel canister) and cold temperatures (ice) to dissolve. When dispensed the infused gas first tries to escape the glass by rushing downward to the bottom. The nitrogen then travels upward releasing around the rim of the glass. The result is a light and creamy textured foam which forms on the top of the beverage.