***The Not Even Slightly Official SW+D Booze and Cocktail Thread***

ROOIBOS OLD-FASHIONED

Fernet Branca is a bitter, black, sharp Italian spirit. It’s made up of 27 herbs from 4 different countries. Rumors and myths abound about its ability to magically cure ills. With an alcohol content of about 40 percent, however, it’s more likely to be dulling the short-term senses than fixing anything in the long term. Medicinal analogies continue for those who think it tastes something like Listerine mixed with black licorice. Either way, we love it. So much so that, when Lukasz Rafacz was approached by the Diageo Reserve world-class cocktail-making competition to submit an entry for the competition, this was it.

Again, you’ll make more syrup than you need here, but it will keep in the fridge for up to 3 weeks, to be used for future drinks or to drizzle on yogurt, porridge, or ice cream.

Serves 2

Rooibos tea syrup
1¼ cups/250 g superfine sugar
10 rooibos teabags
1 whole star anise
1 small cinnamon stick
4 black peppercorns
3 tbsp honey 3½ oz/100 ml

Woodford Reserve bourbon (or Bulleit bourbon)
⅓ oz/10 ml Fernet Branca
⅔ oz/20 ml rooibos tea syrup
4 dashes of Mozart chocolate bitters
2 shaved strips of orange peel, avoiding the bitter pith, to serve

1 Place all the ingredients for the rooibos tea syrup in a small saucepan with 1 cup/250 ml of water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the liquid has reduced by a third. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool before straining through a fine-mesh or muslin-lined sieve and transferring to a sealed bottle or jar. The aromatics can be discarded. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.

2 When ready to serve, fill a mixing glass with ice cubes and add all the cocktail ingredients, apart from the orange peel. Stir for about 30 seconds, then strain through a Hawthorne strainer into two rocks glasses filled with ice. Roll up the orange peel and squeeze it above the cocktail, to extract the essential oils before placing it on top of the drink as a garnish. Serve at once.

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GraphicNovelty said:

Been cooking through the Ottolenghi book Nopi (see the SW&D Food thread for food pics) but there's also a bunch of cocktails. The lady and I made some rooibos syrup for a roibos old fashioned, and now we have a bottle of frenet branca to use. I've been making Torontos, because a food poisoning association with vermouth makes me unable to drink Manhattans, which would be otherwise be something I really liked.

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cyc wid it said:

ToG - what's with the AUS/NZ obsession with espresso martinis?

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