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Wintery flip cocktails for the holidays
Not a fan of hyper-heavy Christmas egg nog, but still want a semi-creamy, boozy drink to warm up with over the holidays? Skip the nog this winter, and opt instead for a flip.
Dale “King Cocktail” DeGroff defines flips in his book “The Essential Cocktail: The Art of Mixing Perfect Drinks,” as “a category of drinks dating from Shakespearean times, when it all started with a mixture of sherry, milk and eggs called sherry sack posset.” By the end of the eighteenth century, flips combined eggs with wine, beer and an array of spices and milk. When the style of drink traveled to New England, the wine or beer was replaced with a stronger base spirit like rum, which by the latter half of the nineteenth century, had evolved into a cold morning drink that featured a whole egg.
Congress Austin, the food and beverage trifecta at the base of the Austonian celebrates it’s first anniversary this month, so I thought it would be fitting to feature flips from the drink makers behind the stick at Second Bar + Kitchen.
The use of raw eggs has raised some concern amongst public health officials, bar owners and customers in the past, but on the whole, the odds of contracting salmonella from an egg are remote. That being said, it is important to use the freshest eggs you can find, for flavor and safety purposes.
Since eggs are thicker than most normal cocktail ingredients, it’s also important to employ what is known as the “dry shake,” to completely emulsify the egg into the drink. Second Bar’s Darren Makowsky, formerly of the Tavern, explains the process:
“A dry shake is shaking a cocktail without ice. The importance of doing this in cocktails with egg or egg white, is that it breaks down the egg white (it emulsifies) and allows all of the other ingredients to be mixed together as well as creating a nice frothy head.”
After the dry shake, add ice to the shaker and continue to shake until the mixture feels completely blended. This shaking could take a minute or two, but is crucial to achieve a desired smooth consistency. There are few drinks worse than flips not completely blended. Unless you like to drink raw slimy eggs, I suppose.
Brian Dressell thinks flips are fitting libations for winter imbibing, because of their thick dessert-like consistency, and the fact that the sky is the limit with what kinds of flavors you can get away with including.
“In the winter, people seem to be more adventurous with their flavors. For example, people who usually drink clear spirits for some reason feel compelled to have darker spirits during the holidays, like rum, cognac and whiskey. You can really play with the baking spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, to make great festive drinks.”
This recipe from Dressell is a personal favorite that I felt compelled to include even though it’s not a Second Bar + Kitchen staple. Dressell actually created the drink for last year’s Drink Local competition.
Blue Velvet
1.5 oz. Balcones True Blue Whisky
1 oz. Porter or Stout (Real Ale Coffee Porter, Southern Star Buried Hatchet, and Fuller’s London Porter all work well)
.5 oz. Honey syrup (3 to 1 ratio of water to honey)
.5 oz. Benedictine
3 dashes Bitter Truth Xocolatl Mole bitters
1 whole egg
Combine all ingredients in a shaker. Dry shake without ice for approximately 30 seconds, add ice shake and vigorously for 30-90 seconds. Strain into a chilled rocks glass. Garnish with freshly grated cinnamon.
Billy Hankey’s flip, named after the quirky family in the quintessential holiday film “Christmas Vacation,” features Batavia Arrak, an Indonesian sugar-cane and Java red rice based spirit most commonly employed in Swedish Punsch. The funky flavor profile of the Arrak plays second string to the beautiful mulled wine spices in this flip.
Griswold Family Flip
1 oz. Batavia Arrak
2 oz. Mulled wine (see below for recipe)
.5 oz. Lemon juice
1 tsp Powdered sugar
1 whole egg
Combine all ingredients in a shaker. Dry shake without ice for approximately 30 seconds. Add ice and shake again for 30-90 seconds. Strain into a Champagne flute and garnish with a mint sprig.
*Mulled wine
750 ml Cabernet Sauvignon
10 cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
1 medium orange, peeled, sliced
.5 tsp ground allspice
2/3 cup honey
orange zest to taste
Everyone at Second Bar and Kitchen seems to be in the holiday spirit this month. Even one of their chefs jumped in to contribute a flip recipe. Tommy Ward’s (who was previously an executive chef in Seattle) flip uses egg whites instead of an entire egg, which gives the drink a lighter body. The bourbon and maple make this drink something I would opt for during the seasonal transition from fall to winter, but would work for whiskey lovers during any season.
Keep an eye out in 2012 for more chefs jumping behind the bar and using their trained palates to whip up culinary cocktails — it’s a trend that will most likely pick up speed in Central Texas in the new year.
Chef’s Tommy’s Yuletide Flip
1.5 oz. Buffalo Trace bourbon
1.5 oz. Vermont amber maple syrup
1 organic egg white
2 dashes Urban Moonshine Maple Bitters
Top with freshly ground nutmeg
Darren Makowsky’s flip recipe is great for people who are new to the concept of flips. For one, it also only uses egg whites instead of the whole egg, which means a less creamy final product. Secondly, the chocolate and cream base make the drink taste wonderfully of chocolate milk. The strega sneaks in a tiny anise spice flavor, which balances out the chocolatey sweetness.
Holden’s Holiday
1 oz. Chocolate
2 oz. Cream (half n half)
1 1/2 oz. Coco Lopez and Flor de Cana rum
3/4 oz. Strega
One egg white
Combine all ingredients in a shaker. Dry shake without ice for approximately 30 seconds, add ice shake and vigorously for 30-90 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
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