Chocolate Port

 In early March, I barreled a concoction that I thought of for a while. I wanted to barrel the concept of chocolate and cherries (or berry fruit). My initial plan was to use a cherry liquor, such as Luxardo Maraschino and a chocolate liqueur like crème de cacao . I would fortify it with something like unaged rum or brandy.

 

I took a different route and decided to use port wine as the fruit base. I know how port compliments chocolate. Next I thought I would go to the root of chocolate and use pure cocoa powder. I had concerns about the solubility of the powder, but at worst, I knew that I  could separate the powder from the liquid at bottling time.

 

At barreling time, I mixed the ingredients and used an immersion blender to try and incorporate the mixture as much as possible, but I did not come close to an emulsion.  I tasted the mixture and the bitterness of the cocoa powder was almost overbearing. I had my doubts.

 

Chocolate Port 

Ingredients

  Made for 2 Liter Barrel

 

• 750mL of Rappahannock Norton Port.
• 750mL of Christian Brothers White Brandy
• 1 Cup of pure Godiva Cocoa powder

Prep

 

Combined ingredients and used immersion blender to try and incorporate as much as possible.

 

Thoughts

 

Filtering out the cocoa sediment

My First Aging-The Great God Father

I started my first aging two days before Christmas 2013. I did a Godfather, I'm calling the Great Godfather.  I put a lot of thought into what the first cocktail I would chose to age.  Then it hit me...my best friends favorite drink and the fact that I am the godfather to his son, made the godfather all too fitting.

As always, I have to put my own twist on things so I halved the amaretto with pure vanilla extract.

Although I made sure I cured the barrel well, it leaked a great deal. And what it leaked was pure vanillaish, oaky nectar.  The smell was so amazing, that when I wiped the barrel down, I saved the tissue in a zip lock bag and took it to a friend so he could smell,  At first he was hesitant of sniffing a rag in a zip lock bag. Who wouldn't be? Soon he was addicted to the fumes. This experience on a pleasure and moral level, is far greater than sniffing and glue.

Bottled Great Godfather

Recipe

Amount	Ingredient	Notes
1.5	Wasmund's Rye Spirits	Cask Strength 124 proof
.25	Disaronno
.25	Pure Vanilla Extract

Preparation

Mix ingredient and barrel. Used barrel for first time. I sealed it with old zinfandel. Barreled in Medu Mage

Aging Notes

Date	Notes
23 Dec 2013	Casked Cocktail and stored cool.
23 Jan 2014	4 Week taste.  Over proof of rye is still dominant. Light Brown color
25 Jan 2014	Moved barrel in front of heat. Agitate and turn barrel daily.  Significant leaking. Smell of leaked liquid is a rich, oaky vanilla...superb!
30 Jan 2014	Pulled sample and tasted with Jonathan Canedo. Paired well with cigars. Strong oak was balanced by the sweetness.  Still strong alcohol from the white dog whiskey.
1 Feb 2014 02:18 PM	Botted.  Much darker, almost aged rum color.

Tasting Notes

After bottling, the oak notes toned down. Their is still the overwhelming aroma of vanilla.  It is very sweet with strong alcohol bite.  "Booze Candy," someone called it.

The Austin (AKA The BBQ'd Manhattan)

While doing research for barrel aging cocktails, I came along this video from Reserve 101 of Houston. It is a Manhattan inspired cocktail with a southwestern twist. Mike Raymond, co-owner of Reserve 101 adds a bacon fat wash and smoked mesquite chips to add extra flavor.




I wanted to have a cocktail for summer and this video gave me inspiration. I wanted the cocktail to compliment one of the icons of summer-the BBQ. I wanted to have rich and smoky flavors that would cut through the fat and complement the dense flavor of BBQ.

For my twist, I wanted something other than bacon for a fat wash and I decided on one of the most rich flavorful fats I could think of, Black's BBQ Sausage. This sausage is a style unique to Caldwell County, TX. It is spicy, and deeply smoked pork/beef blend sausage. Additionally, I like my Manhattans slightly dirty (I know, I'm weird, but the briny taste of olive juice compliments the sweetness of the bourbon much like the salt in salted caramel). Green olive brine would be too harsh, I thought. So I made a oil-cured black olive extract. Oil-cured black olives have a softer, butter like taste to compliment their salty brine. The reason I decided to make an extract was to obtain the flavor while removing the oils and particles.

The Austin

Ingredients

Made for 5 Liter Barrel

• 3.8 liters of High West Silver Whiskey
• 500mL of Black's BBQ Sausage Fat
• 1lb of oil-cured black olives
• 500mLof Grey Goose vodka
• 750mL of Luxardo Marischino Liquor
• 750mL of Carpano Antica Formula Vermouth

Prep

Add Fat and 2 sausages to whiskey. Stir well and let set in refrigerator for 2-3 days. Most fat will clump in large pieces.  Strain fat and then pass whiskey through coffee filters until fine sediment is removed.

Place olives and vodka into wide mouth jar.  Seal tightly and let set for 3-4 weeks.  Shake occasionally. Filter extract through coffee filter.

Combine all ingredients, stir and then barrel.

Barreled in the Razorback on 1 April 2014.

Thoughts

The preparation for this was quite ambitious and time consuming.  I had to order the Black's BBQ sausage and have it shipped.  I also needed time to make the olive extract.

The fat was very thin and fine.  Bacon fat would have made one large clump that would have been easy to remove. The sausage fat clogged the coffee filters quickly.

I added the olive extract to taste and I though it could have used more.

The new cocktail taste was good. Sweet from the vermouth with the fat wash coming through on the finish (amplified by the olive extract).

I plan to age for 6-8 week. First test will be in one month.