Cooking Lesson #754: The Forgotten Tonic Cocktail

…from the Perspectives’ Happy Hour Bar

How you doin’? Try ordering this cocktail at your happy hour saloon. You’ll have the barkeep looking for his recipe book for this refreshing cocktail from Gabor Omufer, Bartender at the Cinnamon Club in London. It combines the warm, malty flavors of Genever with the caraway and aniseed notes of the Kummel Wolfschmidt, finishing with a healthy splash of tonic. A sumptuously spiced cocktail perfectly in keeping with East Indian cuisine.
 
Bols Genever Original is a premium quality genever that is perfect for making cocktails with a dry and spicy taste. It is used in The Forgotten Cocktail, in the Red Light Negroni or the Ginger Mule, three classic examples of cocktails that showcase its versatility and flavor.
 
Bols Genever Original is a delightfully complex triple grain spirit made from corn, rye and wheat and is blended with a selection of 22 botanicals. Bols Genever won Double Gold and Best of Show during the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America convention 2018 and was presented with the Best Dutch Genever Award during the World Best Gin competition 2018.
 
Kümmel (also spelled kimmel or kummel) is a colorless herbal liqueur flavored with spices and herbs—most notably, caraway seeds and cumin, which impart a distinctly savory-spicy flavor. History has it that the liqueur was created by Dutch distiller Lucas Bols in 1575 (yes, the same Bols). It’s here in Holland that it was encountered by Peter the Great in the last decade of the 1600s, while he was illicitly gathering intel on Dutch shipbuilding methods. He apparently enjoyed it so much that he brought it home with him to Russia, where it ultimately became a mainstay.
 
Kümmel began to further establish itself in Eastern and Western Europe in 1800s, when one family in Riga, Latvia—then under Russian rule--decided to go commercial with its traditional recipe; today that brand, Mentzendorff Kümmel (now produced in France by the Combier distillery) remains one of the most popular producers of kümmel, along with Combier (France), Gilka (Germany) and Wolfschmidt (Denmark). To my taste, I prefer the latter.
 
Prep time:  5 minutes
Yield:  1 cocktail
 
Ingredients 
3/4 ounce Bols Genever
3/4 ounce Kummel Wolfschmidt liqueur
2 to 3 drops Bob's cardamom bitters
4 ounces tonic water
4 to 5 large ice cubes
orange zest garnish
 
Directions

1. Add enough ice cubes to reach the top of the glass.
2. Pour the Genever and liqueur over the ice cubes.
3. Add 2 or 3 drops of Bob's Cardamom Bitters.
4. Slowly pour in the tonic to the top and garnish with a large slice of orange peel or zest.
5. Serve with toasted and salted pistachios.

ChefSecret:  Bob’s Cardamon Bitters are hand crafted aromatic cocktail bitters made in England by Bob Petrie himself using natural, fresh ingredients with the finest quality spirit to enhance the flavor and aroma of your cocktails.
The robust aroma of cardamon combines well with underlying hints of lemon and eucalyptus and a trace of sweetness offset by a sharp bitterness.

Quip of the Day:  A gorilla goes up to a bar and asks for a gin and tonic.
The bartender makes the G&T and says:
“That'll be $20, and I must say we don't get many gorillas in here.”
The gorilla replies: “With prices like that, I'm not surprised.”
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