PINKY MIXOLOGY PRESENTS APPLEJACK-OFF 2014:
BLACK DIRT APPLEJACK:
The Dirty Latte
We've established that with its 6 year bonded age, Black Dirt Applejack is not to be messed with. So the first of the rough and tumble tastes we're going to put it up against is coffee. We've created the Dirty Latte, which can be served hot or iced.
You may remember we used the cold-brew technique in our Tri-Colored Coffee episode, where we made Mexican coffee by actually brewing coffee with tequila. The same is about to happen here.
What you see here is Italian roasted Kenya AA coffee from D'Amico Coffee Roasters. However, unlike last time, it is ground for a paper drip filter and so it will never ever form that bottom sludge which helps minimize grit. We just didn't have any espresso grind at the time.
We are making a single serving here, so there are small amounts of everything except sugar (well, for us, but for some people 2 tablespoons of sugar in a latte isn't actually that much, but we never really had a sweet tooth). Again, we should mention that the cold-brew process with booze tends to bring out a bit of bitterness from any coffee you use, so not adding any sugar will yield something that makes your eyes cross.
In an effort to minimize bitter flavors (and because we really wanted to try this), we did not let this sit overnight, but for only 15-20 minutes at room temp. It was more than enough time.
This is light cream and we are not making whipped cream. We are just integrating some ground cinnamon and sugar into it and fluffing it up a tiny bit. We want a latte, so we want to make sure that it can mix with the Black Dirt Applejack cold-brew coffee and not just sit on top of it. Our Cappuccino steamer has been FUBAR for over a year, but if you have one, then using it here might be a good idea.
Because the grind of the coffee was much more coarse, and we didn't have a French Press around, we poured it trough coffee filters to get as much as we could out. When giving it a bit of a squeeze, we split it and a little bit of grit escaped. But rather than re-filter it, we noticed it seemed apropos. Se we left it, and what we got was quite interesting:
Now, it might come off a tiny bit better if those were little chocolate bits in there, but since one of our fave snacks is chocolate covered espresso beans, we are very into the gnashing on coffee goodness that this provided.
Black Dirt came through this on top. We warmed the cold brew applejack coffee (still covered in the jar) in a hot water bath rather than a microwave, but it was more than sufficient to heat things up to the point that was needed. Black Dirt's nose came through this as strong as ever and the charred-oak quality of the body took no time to become BFFs with the dark roast of coffee. The cinnamon infused cream not only brought everyone's favorite apple side-kick to the party, but also ensures that these 2 major heartburn causers (booze and coffee) go down smooth and not kicking and screaming. Being a hot/warm drink, the Applejack shines better than a whiskey here because the fragrant qualities of the apples can get to your nose faster.
About half way through, we also realized that this might make a great iced drink and so we tried that. On its own, when iced, it became a bit thick, so we watered it down with a bit of skim milk just to make it more drinkable. Still sweet and awesome. Usually when you ice a hot drink, you tone down some of the aromas and tastes, but in this case that didn't happen much.
Tune in tomorrow when we lock Black Dirt Applejack in a closet with Sriracha and see who comes out alive... or pregnant. We're not sure exactly what's gonna happen in there.
