Lucian Bacchanal

You're twisting my melon, man.

Its Happy Monday here at Compere Lapin!

Every Monday at 4pm we will be going over a cocktail on our menu, how its made, what inspired it and then do a tasting of the base spirit in said cocktail. 

This 20-30 minute class is free and open to the public! And the cocktail of the week will a $6 happy hour special at the bar on that Monday til 6pm! 

Today we did the Lucian Bacchanal. This is a drink I invented under a different name 10 years ago.  The story of that first drink, where I was challenged by another bartender, is here. 

Video of me making that drink can be seen below.  Please forgive the sloppy jigger work and silly hair toss.  I was but a baby bartender in a strange bar and had just gotten my hair did. Tell me...do you prefer my raven locks of hair, or my current curly strawberry blonde?



We discussed in class today how Chairman's worked great, but the Bounty Dark brings out a little more of that mezcal smoke.

Lucian Bacchanal

1.5 oz Bounty Dark Rum
.5 oz Vida Mezcal
.75 oz "Abby's Mix"*
.75 oz Lime Juice

Shake and strain into a cocktail coup/

*To make the "Abby's Mix" which is a play on Don's Mix form Tiki lore:

1:1 ratio by weight / Sugar : Water

1 :1 ratio / whole GF peel for “Abby’s Mix” : per cup of sugar

Peel the skin off oranges and place in a vacuum seal bag.  Add the appropriate amount of sugar to the bag.   (4 whole peels : 4 cups of sugar, 6 whole peels : 6 cups)

Vacuum seal the bag and let sit overnight.  (Write how much sugar is in the bag)

Next day add appropriate amount of hot water to sugar. (4 cups sugar : 4 cups water)

Stir to incorporate and take out left over GF peels.  Use immersion blender if necessary to dissolve sugar. **for Abby’s Mix include 2 cinnamon sticks and 3-5 anise pods per cup of sugar when you add the hot water

The rest of the August schedule for Happy Monday's is below:


TUESDAY August 14th (we are closed on this Monday the 13th)
Cocktail: Boos Teesi 

Spirit: Drumbshambo Gunpowder Irish Gin

Monday August 20

Cocktail: Cherokee Rose

Spirit: Bolivian Brandy

Monday August 27

Cocktail: Martino

Spirit: Rye Whiskey


Spreading Love and Knowledge in the Spiritual World!

Gentleman Caller

My handsome Gentleman Caller

My Eve app is telling me I am fertile right now.  I guess that is why I wanted to devour this handsome fella at the dog park today.

Alas, no man has come a calling in a while so I'll just have to drink my sorrows in this Gentleman Caller.  

This is one of those drinks that has classic specs and can be quite versatile.  In fact, I originally made it with the rhum agricole, but changed it to gin when I saw we had too many rum drinks on the menu. Is that possible?  I think not. 

This drink has been names one of the best cocktails of 2016 and has been published in a St-Germain cocktail book called How To Drink French Fluently.  In the book I subbed out the hard to find genet for St-Germain.  See?  I told you it was versatile.

Aperitif and digestives are an essential part of the ritual for eating and drinking.  We are a restaurant/bar and our cocktails are tailor made to go with that experience of eating and drinking in harmony.  The Gentleman Caller is a light aperitif cocktail consisting of Aperol, Fino sherry, Genepy and gin.  The bitter full brightness of the Aperol and Genepy (an herbal French liqueur) prepare the mouth and belly for food, opening up all your flavor receptors.

The Gentleman Caller was inspired by one of my favorite sherry cocktails, The Adonis, from the Savoy Cocktail Book.  A fine dry sherry like a Fino or Manzanilla is so elegant and complex.  This drink manages to enhance and balance that elegance with other equally complex ingredients. Its a sexy drink too.  Served in a Nick & Nora glass, so named for Nick & Nora Charles in the Thin Man Movies of the late 1930's and 40's.  Nick Charles was a scoundrel but a gentleman all the same.  The Gentleman caller...I like the name as men order the cocktail because they want to be one, and women because they want to have one.

Gentleman Caller

• 1 oz Fino sherry
• 1 oz Gin
• 3/4 oz Aperol
• 3/4 oz Genepy

stir and serve up in a chilled Nick & Nora glass.  Garnish with a twirly mustache of a lemon twist.  I love mustachioed gentleman.  LeSigh!

Andromeda

Bunny in all her glory

Far and away our most popular cocktail at Compere Lapin is the Andromeda.  When Ricky set our bar in motion he was determined to have an egg white cocktail be our vodka cocktail.  I will admit.  I was skeptical at first.  After three years in the French Quarter, I lost some of the fight in me to challenge guests to go outside their comfort zone.  But a Vodka cocktail is inherently approachable and that is in my wheelhouse.  So we set to work on a vodka egg white cocktail.  The first one, delicious Fontanarosa, had beet juice too!  Talk about throwing uneasy vodka drinkers under the bus! 

The next one used the new bartender ketchup, Gifford's Pamplemousse Rose (Grapefruit), El Guapo Rose Cordial, honey syrup and a near split base of Pisco and St George Green Chili Vodka.  I love that sometimes when you create a complex drink, it has very simple origins.  This, to me, is essentially a pisco sour variation.  But it is so much more.  The 50/50 sugar/salt rim mixed with the green chili makes it reminiscent of a margarita.  The rose and grapefruit are unique and all the flavors come together to be a sum even greater than its parts.

And when Ricky carved out that rabbit stencil, all bets are off.  This cocktail is a showstopper.

Now we have to have back up quarts of egg whites to get through a night of service.  Andromedas go flying out all night long.  My pisco guy loves me.

Oh and the name?  Andromeda is the galaxy closest to our own and is known for bumping into other galaxies so look out!  It is also the only name I wanted to change mine to when I was a child.  I was really obsessed with Clash of the Titans at the time.  Harry Hamlin.  Still would.

Andromeda

1 oz Pisco
3/4 oz St George Green Chili Vodka
1/2 oz Gifford Pamplemousse Rose
1/2 oz El Guapo Rose Cordial
1/4 oz Honey syrup (2:1)
3/4 oz lime
1/2 oz egg white

Stake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass with a 50/50 sugar salt half rim
top with Peychauds bitters.

Sherry Galore!

I am so proud to work at a restaurant with a great Sherry selection. This wine is taylor made to go with food. And our food is ideal for Sherry too! Try the conch crocettes with a Manzanilla. Or an oloroso with our steak tartar. Our curried goat with sweet potato gnocchi is crying out for an Amontillado. 

And don't forget the sweet stuff at the end of your meal!  Px and chocolate? To die for!

Sherry Cobbler

There are certain cocktails that are less about the ingredients and more about the presentation.  The way the drink feels in your hands.  The proximity of the straw to some aromatic garnish.  The feel of the chilled vessel as touches your lips.  The Sherry Cobbler is one of those drinks.  The type of sherry you should use?  A dry one, like a Fino or Amontillado.  But really anytime could make a great cobbler.  The type of sugar? Superfine.  Or simple, or pineapple gum syrup.  Maybe even a spoonful of seasonal jam.  The citrus?  Orange, or lime, or lemon or even grapefruit or Satsuma here in New Orleans.  Hell throw some berries on there, strawberry, raspberry blackberry...See where I am going?  There is a lot of flexibility in this cocktail and you can use your judgment and personal taste to make it just the way you want.

The Construction.  Now here is where you might want to stick to the blueprints.  Crushed ice and a straw.  Much like a Julep, this drink is all about presentation.  There is nothing better than slurping up this icy, nutty, fruit, citrus, cocktail through a straw.  This is the perfect place for a metal straw.

Please read this piece form 2007 and read the master, David Wondric, wax poetic and downright Baker-esque about the Cobbler: http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/drinks/recipes/a3737/sherry-cobbler-drink-recipe/

At Compere Lapin, our version is fortified with rum and served in a beautiful highball glass with garnish dusted with sugar, ala beignets at Cafe Du Monde.  Nice New Orleans twist along with the name, an illusion to our famous Meyer the Hatter store.

Meyer Cobbler
1 1/2 oz demerara rum
3/4 oz Amontilado sherry
1/4 oz lemon juice
1/4 oz demerara syrup
dash of ango bitters
lemon and orange wheel in the tin
Garnish: orange wheel, berries, mint and powdered sugar

Whip all ingredients in a tin with 2-3 cubes.  Strain over crushed ice.  Garnish and use a straw!!