Omaha Beach, The Cocktail

"Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd."

June 6, 2015.

At 0630, 71 years ago, the 116th Infantry Regiment, comprised mainly of Virginia National Guardsmen, assaulted prepared German defensive positions at Omaha Beach in Normandy near the towns of Vierville, les Moulins, St. Laurent, and Coleville.  They charged from their amphibious landing craft headlong into a storm of fire, smoke, and steel.  These men were the first wave of the Allied invasion that opened the second front in western Europe.  The 116th took horrific losses, but they fought hard and gained the high ground beyond the beach, paving the way in their blood for the rest of the invasion force to launch the liberation of Europe.

I am proud and fortunate to have served in the 116th in combat (Afghanistan).  Each year around Veterans' Day, veterans of the 116th gather in Staunton, Virginia, to celebrate the regiment's proud history and honor those D-Day veterans whose bravery and sacrifice is beyond measure.  We call this event the 116th Regimental Muster.  I look forward to the muster each year for the chance to talk with the D-Day veterans and thank them for what they have done.  The first year I attended the muster there were a couple dozen D-Day veterans in attendance.  Last year, 2014, there were three.

At the muster, the tables of the D-Day veterans include an exclusive libation-a bottle of Calvados-the regional spirit of Normandy, distilled from apples.  I can imagine that my predecessors got into a few bottles of Calvados as they fought their way inland through the Bocage, the dense hedgerows of Normandy, in the days and weeks following their assault on Omaha Beach.

Here, then, is my small tribute to these great men and a salute to their bravery.  The ingredients of this cocktail are not necessarily the best available in their class, but each carefully-chosen ingredient is symbolic in some way of the experience of the 116th Regiment on Omaha Beach and beyond.  Enjoy it, and remember the 116th on Omaha Beach.  Ever Forward!

Omaha Beach
1 shot Virginia Gentleman bourbon
1 shot Calvados
1/4 shot La Belle Orange
3 dashes aromatic bitters
Twist of lemon peel
Dash of salt
Dissolve salt with bitters in old fashioned glass. Add ice and all the booze. Stir. Twist lemon peel over the top. Serve and remember the 116th Infantry Regiment's assault on Omaha Beach, 6 June 1944. Ever Forward!

V, the Cocktail

This cocktail recipe emerged from the 2013 Academy Awards.

My beautiful wife/lab assistant asked for something special to enjoy while watching the red carpet events. I went to work inspired to create something suitable.  Something Hollywood. Something red.

Back then, we were watching True Blood pretty regularly, before the show jumped the shark from being dumb but watchable, to being completely asinine.  Anyhow, I set out to make a cocktail that evoked vampire blood, or "V."

I started with a base of Campari and St. Germaine.  I had enjoyed previous success mixing these with Blood Orange soda, so I juiced a blood orange and added that to the mix.  It looked like blood. I finished it with a dash of lime juice.  The final recipe uses Aperol instead of Campari, since the former is a bit more of a "team player" with the other ingredients.

The result was drinkable and perfectly respectable, but lacked the Hollywood wow factor necessary to accompany the Oscars.  The True Blood setting of Louisiana provided the solution.  A splash of Tabasco transformed the drink from a a sweet and unremarkable tipple to a pretty darn fine red carpet cocktail.  The final product is sweet and alluring, with enough of a salt/spice back to evoke the thrill and danger of drinking forbidden vampire blood.

This is a really good drink.

1 shot Aperol
1 shot St Germaine
1 oz ripe, freshly squeezed blood orange juice (must be dark red; pinkish orange will not do)

1/4 slice of lime
1 fearless splash of Tabasco (V must be dangerous!)

Stir liquids and a few drops of juice from the lime wedge together over ice and strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with lime zest.

The Twelfthmanhattan

For my leadoff cocktail I'm going with this bad boy.  It is certainly not the tastiest drink I have created and has nothing whatsoever in common with a proper Manhattan, but it looks amazing and is a fitting tribute to the Superbowl Champion Seattle Seahawks!
 
Ingredients:

1 shot gin (London dry or moderate botanicals)
1/4 shot Hipnotiq
1/4 shot Blue Curaçao
1/2 shot Sour Apple Pucker
dash of rhubarb bitters

Mix half the gin with the Sour Apple Pucker and rhubarb bitters with ice.  Pour into a cocktail glass.  Mix the other half of the gin with the Hipnotiq and Blue Curacao with ice and float it on top of the green booze.  The result is a gem-like (a-la Bejeweled) potion that is absolutely drinkable, not nearly as cloying as many drinks of this hue, and plenty potent.  I used Tanqueray gin, but Gordons, Booth's, Beefeater, Bombay, Sapphire, or Plymouth would work fine.  Hendrick's or other gins with similarly interesting botanical flavor profiles probably would be too much-there is plenty of flavor in the blue and green booze.  Don't wuss out and use vodka.

Cheatin' Steve's bartending tricks: if you are having a hard time floating the blue booze, you can pour it in first, and then inject the green booze underneath it using one of these:

If you are still having trouble, try mixing all the gin with the blue booze and then injecting just the Sour Apple Pucker underneath.

If floating the blue booze is still giving you problems, try freezing the Sour Apple Pucker instead of chilling it with ice.  The combination of a relatively colder liquid with its undiluted density should send it straight to the bottom of the glass and keep it there.  Just make sure you take it out of the freezer before it turns slushy.

GO HAWKS!