BLACK DIRT APPLEJACK: The Dirty Latte

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.

Tri-Color Coffee: Irish Coffee, Italian Coffee, Mexican Coffee (Cold Brew)

Winter is upon the land, and that ironic hipster scarf is all of a sudden totally functional.  Don't worry, you can just tell people you are warm "ironically" and such.

There is no better accessory to winter than a hot beverage, and there is no better hot beverage than something with booze in it.   To that end we have a tri-color tri-fecta of internationally inspired coffee concoctions.  

While it can be fun to get all crazy with espresso weirdness and some special liqueur which is only made on Tuesdays with a full moon on just one mountain in the Pyrenees, we have chosen to forgo such endeavors to bring you recipes that are actually easy to pull off at home with ingredients that are widely available. 

You'll also notice that we are using very thick Chantilly Cream as a topping for most of these.  That is what the cream and vanilla are for in the below image.  We use this because these drinka are meant to serve as dessert beverages (or just as desserts themselves) and so that cream is actually meant to be primarily consumed via a spoon with only the residual stirred into the drink.  You'll notice however we do not do that in our Cappuccino variant in the Italian section.





As you can see, we are once again using the ever-present "Irish Coffee Mug" of the transparent variety.  While in reality we actually don't like these things, because it is transparent it will allow you, the audience to actually see what's going on in drink construction.  Large ceramic mugs which are pre-warmed are much better at keeping these selections warm, as the thinner glass mugs conduct heat too quickly. 



Link to our original Coffee Episode.

Irish Coffee

Éirinn go Brách

What we use:
Booze: Jameson Irish Whiskey
Coffee: Kenya AA French Roast.
Chantilly Cream
Sugar
Nutmeg/Cinnamon/Whatever other spices you might like.
























Instant coffee = Evil.





That's nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove pictured there.  For holiday times some green sugar sprinkled on top looks nice as well.  We don't have any so that's why it's not here.

Italian Coffee

Mama Mia

What we use:
Booze: Romana Sambuca
Coffee: Kenya AA French Roast.
Chantilly Cream
Sugar
Nutmeg/Cinnamon/Whatever 

While "Italian coffee" like this is more of an American invention and staple of Greek diners all over the North East, it is based on the Sambuca variation of the Italian Caffè Corretto.













This is a basic wet cappuccino with Frangelico added to the espresso before the milk is added.  Frangelico is a hazelnut flavored liqueur and is great for using in desserts and sweet sauces.   It also pairs with Eggnog very nicely.

Mexican Coffee

"Dammit Mexico, get your own flag."  -Italy
Now there are all kinds of versions of this out there.  Every Mexican resturant and wanna-be clebrity chef has some sort of take on "Mexican Coffee" which oddly enough usually does not involve coffee actually grown in Mexico. 

We bring you Café Iguana.  A Mexican Coffee dessert cocktail formerly served at The Iguana Club in New York.  They still have it on the menu, but now they just use Parton XO and not their special stash of coffee infused reposado.  That's still quite good, but not exactly the same, and since Patron XO seems to be obscenely expensive, this will help you make the exact same thing out of more competitively priced Tequila labels.

This recipe calls for regular coffee as well as espresso powder.
For the regular coffee we are going to use Costa Rican Tarazu. As for the espresso powder is just a house-blend but remember it's the grind that's important here, and you want a fine espresso grind.









Cold-brew is a process that, if you do it with Tequila, you eliminate the need to have Kahlua in this mix.  This is very similar to what we did with orange infused Tequila in our Margarita.





Cold-brew will give you a bitter product, it just will.  This is why we recommend adding at least a quarter cup of sugar to the jar and shaking it up so it dissolves.  Anywhere from 1-6 hours later you can filter it out and you're left with some hard core coffee Tequila.  Tequila Coffee... TeqCofee.












You can also add cocoa and spices to the coffee itself.  If you are thinking of doing that, we recommend Jacques Torres's Wicked.  A blend of hot cocoa mix and hot Mexican pepper powder.




Cold-brewing coffee with liquor is an amazing thing.  The end product is very different from simply adding booze to already made coffee.  Again, we can't stress enough that this process makes the end product quite bitter, so you will need to add sugar, there is simply no getting around that.  Also, don't go using your 12 year old Scotch or something like that for cold-brew coffee.  The brewing process is going to change the taste, and so platinum quality spirits are not something you need to make this as best as it can be.  That being said, don't go with the bulk stuff either (except light rum... then you can go get the Castillo you cheap bastard), but for anything else, get something nice that is made with care.

WARNING:

When cold-brewing coffee using Tequila, Vodka, Whiskey, Rum, or something similar, it is important to remember that because of the length of time the brewing process takes, the amount of caffeine extracted is going to be very high.  Also, the percentage of alcohol will not decrease from this process, meaning that what you are left with is a highly powerful substance that has the potential to really ruin your day.   This is the kind of thing you can drink way too much of without realizing it, so don't go filling up that jumbo cappuccino mug with straight coffee hooch and top it off with ready-whip... you will end up having to use the word "stroke" when people ask what the hell happened to you from that day forward.

Seriously, this stuff can pack a punch.

Coffee:

And when we say "provided by" we mean we just walk over there and buy some every week.  All coffee featured on Pinky Mixology comes from D'Amico Coffee Roasters of Brooklyn N.Y.  

Yes, before Brooklyn was trendy it was simply known as the place where at least 1 character in every WWII movie was from and that character wouldn't shut up about it.  And that kind of thing takes serious coffee roasted with old-world know-how and served up with new-world attitude.  This continues today with D'Amico Coffee.

D'Amico Coffee has their storefront on Court Street in oh-so trendy Brooklyn, where you can not only buy whole-bean and ground coffee, but ready-made hot and iced coffee, as well as the ubiquitous (in Brooklyn at least) Manhattan Special espresso coffee soda.  But don't stop reading just because you're a time zone away, they will expertly ship the coffee you need to just about anywhere.  If you have a business where you serve coffee, it should be this.  No.... stop talking, this is what you need.

You can order from their website:

www.damicofoods.com

Or check out their new catalog (.PDF):

NEXT TIME:

Next up, we go into the world of the most American of spirits, Applejack. Not just runner up for best pony (seriously, best pony is always Rainbow Dash), Applejack is a whiskey made entirely from fermented apple juice.  Sometimes oaked, sometimes not (it really should be though), it is seriously underrated and worth seeking out.  So get ready as we find an Applejack from every state that we can, and pit them against them each other in Pinky Mixology's first ever label review.  There will be cocktail recipes, food pairings, and plenty of shenanigans in the Pinky Mixology AppleJack-Off! 

Also, we will give away a T-shirt.

  


...wait ...oh we should have picked a different name.

ICE CREAM SODA

Welcome to the 2013 Valentine's Day (read: regular February) episode of Pinky Mixology.  This time, we harken back to that sock hoppin' time in America where poodle skirts and drive-in movies were cast in the warm glow of nuclear tests, and the kids were oh so innocent just hangin' out at the malt shop and ordering up an Ice Cream Soda.  Swell!

The ice cream soda.  The float, brown cow, Boston cooler, orange whip, or even the Butter Beer those Hogwarts kids are drinking these days.  All are part of this family.  From this family, we bring you both the little goody-two-shoes that everyone knows, and that scary cousin that lives in the attic who you hope doesn't show up to your wedding.  As you might expect, there's a bit more to it than throwing a scoop of ice cream in a classic soda glass (actually no, not really).

So check out our take on the root beer classic, followed up by our high octane, Manhattan Special ice cream float that gives Four Loko a run for its money.  You expected anything less?




It's good to chill everything before using for this, even down to whatever glassware you plan on using.




Santorum is still out there.  Santorum is still horrible.




This ice cream pictured is a pint purchased at the world's first ever Häagen-Dazs shop.  The top half is Vanilla and the bottom half is Coffee flavor.  There is a universe of difference between the grocery store stuff and what you can get from the store itself.

Half a pint of ice cream is more than enough to make 2 normal sized floats or 1 awesome big one depending on what your agenda is.

 

Boylan's is probably the most easily found non-HFCS root beer out there.  But if you really want to keep away from the sodium benzoate, then you can try Virgil's (which isn't as sweet, but is totally organic) for your hippie ass.

 

Does anyone know what these dish/cup things are called?

 



It can foam up, so do this in a spot where you can be prepared for such a possibility.
 

These spoons are easy to find.

 

The Arnold Palmer is also a drink where it's just 2 things put together.






 

Making a perfect coffee flavored ice cream soda will require Manhattan Special.  This espresso coffee soda has been made the same way from the same stuff since before the friggin Atlanta Compromise.   They roast the beans right there in the soda factory and the never use High Fructose Corn Syrup. It is hard to find if you're in flyover country, but check out the retail locator or simply order online directly from the makers or from Galcos Soda Pop Stop.

But let us say you are in Fargo, or Guam, and you just can't buy this anywhere?  Well here's a resourceful science chicky who's put up a video of how to MacGyver some of this soda at home for yourself.  I am also assuming, that if you own a sodastream, then you're probably golden with this. 

 

Sambuca makes Italian cafe corretto variant and Irish Whiskey makes an Irish coffee variant out of this.  Adding alcohol is completely optional and is traditionally not a required component for an enjoyable ice cream soda, so if you don't want any, then just don't add any.

 

 Make no mistake, this ice cream soda made from coffee ice cream and spiked Manhattan Special can combine the mega one-two-three punch of caffeine, alcohol, and ree-donk-you-luz amounts of refined sugars.  Like we say, you'd be getting the same effect from a Four Loko ice cream soda. What you see in the above photo has the very real potential to kill someone with a heart condition, so be forewarned.   Enjoy.

 Next Time:

SPRING BREAK AND THE PIÑA COLADA



See you then. 

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