When we went to New England to visit Mark's mother (who will turn 93 soon), the weather wasn't at its best, although it was better than usual. We desert rats tried not to be bitter about the cold (lows of 28°F on Mother's Day, for Pete's sake!) and rain, but it was hard...
Mid-week, we trundled off to Boston to visit Mark's sister and, while there, stopped to see my niece, Brittany, in Brookline where she works as Production and Traffic Coordinator for Cook's Illustrated Magazine. She gave us a tour the facility, and we were lucky enough to watch a few minutes of the taping of Season 14 of America's Test Kitchen. It was really pretty cool.
After she was done for the day, she took us to a really nice tapas restaurant called Barcelona.
We sat at the bar and ordered several tapas; Britt sipped a Chardonnay, and I had a wonderful Malbec. Mark had an aperitif that I pointed out to him when I noticed it was made with Tio Pepe Fino. He speaks of first tasting this very fine, dry sherry forty years ago in Sorrento at a hotel bar on a cliff overlooking the starlit Bay of Naples and Tyrrhenian Sea beyond. Perhaps its pale gold hue gave rise to the charming myth that it once was made with gold flakes in the bottle.
Naturally, I tried a sip of his apéritif and was immediately smitten. Our bartender - his name might have been Steve - was gracious in giving us some basic ideas for the recipe.
As soon as we were back in Tucson, I acquired all the necessary ingredients to make this drink. Aside from its taste, another reason it appealed to me is because it contains bitters. I like bitters, but these particular bitters, well..., I just had to know what they tasted like; they are lavender bitters!
We have now played with the recipe several times, and are happy with the current proportions. The first time it was too tart. The second, too thin. The third time, Goldilocks approved - it was just right.
This recipe makes enough for four small glasses. I would give the recipe for one drink but, really, will you only have just one?
Bottoms up!
~ David
Jerez Fresca
6 ounces Tio Pepe Fino or other very dry sherry
3 ounces fresh strained lemon juice
2 ounces simple syrup (1 part water: 1 part sugar)
12 drops Scrappy's orange bitters
8 drops Scrappy's lavender bitters
6 ice cubes
Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake well. Pour into glasses and serve.
Makes 4 servings.
Labels: america's test kitchen, aperetivo, apéritif, bitters, cook's illustrated, lavender bitters, lemon juice, orange bitters, scrappy's bitters, tio pepe, tio pepe fino
