Fruity flavours

Heat seeker: The spectacularly made Brandy Blazer is a variation of the Blue Blazer using cognac instead of whisky.

The series on classic cocktails continues with a blazing look at brandy cocktails.

FIRST of all, let’s make this clear – cognac is a brandy, but a brandy may not necessarily be a cognac. While cognac tends to be the most common brandy in Malaysia, the name also applies to other spirits that are distilled from fruits, including the Peruvian national drink pisco, the French apple brandy calvados, schnapps and armagnac, among others.

“Anything made from fruit is technically a brandy,” said Joshua Ivanovic, mixologist and the operations manager for the Eatertainment Group who currently helps to run Circus at Pavilion KL, where we had the brandy cocktail session.

“Most people don’t realise that all cognacs are brandy, but not all brandies are cognacs. They just think that cognac is another name for brandy, which is a huge misconception.” With that in mind, we decided that the cocktails featured here should include not just cognac, but also cocktails that use other brandies as well.

“For cocktails, brandy is a really deep ingredient. Cognac, in particular, is very easy to work with – it’s easy to know whether another ingredient will work with it or not,” said Ivanovic, adding that although Malaysia has many cognacs, we don’t really have anything that is below the VSOP grade.

“Personally, I wouldn’t mix anything above VSOP. The XO and higher grade ones are designed to be drunk on their own.”

According to him, although there are many brands of cognacs in the market, the difference between the various VSOP-grade cognacs is actually minimal, especially when it comes to making cocktails.

“Yes, they each have their own unique differences, but they still possess the same basic characteristics – oak, chocolate, honey, and dried fruits,” he explained.

“I like to mix them with vermouths or fortified wines like ports and sherry. And any warm citrus like orange, or anything spicy like cinnamon or star anise is good with cognac as well.”

As for the other brandies around, he reckons that pisco, being a white spirit, is a versatile product that would go well with anything.

“Calvados would go well with apples obviously, but also vegetable or herbal flavours like thyme. Others like Slivovitsa (or Slivovitz; a plum brandy from Bulgaria) tend to be quite hefty in alcohol, but are very versatile as well.”

A self-styled traditionalist when it comes to cocktails, the UK-born Ivanovic (who has 12 years’ bartending experience) reckons that a classic drink should be made the way it was originally made.

“Old classic cocktails like the brandy crusta, sazerac or Manhattan are as famous for the way they are served as they are for the taste. For example, a brandy crusta wouldn’t be a brandy crusta without a horse’s neck garnish. Putting a lemon wedge in it instead would be like buying a Ferrari but putting in Proton seats! It wouldn’t be the same!” he said.

“I’m not saying, don’t mess with the classics – some of the best cocktails in the world were created because someone decided to mess with a classic. But if you’re going to make a classic cocktail and call it by its classic name, then you should try your best to get as close to the original as possible. These are recipes that have withstood hundreds of years, and still made within reason, the same way they used to be.”

Brandy Blazer

FOR something spectacular, this is it. Having said that, here’s a word of warning: Don’t try making this drink at home.

The blazer is a type of cocktail that was made famous by the legendary bartending “Professor” Jerry Thomas, who used to travel the world like a travelling performer and show off his cocktail mixing skills.

One of his main attractions was the Blue Blazer, in which he would mix the flaming concoction by pouring it from one metal mug to another. The Brandy Blazer is a variation of the Blue Blazer using cognac instead of whisky.

Ivanovic’s way of making the Blue Blazer involves adding all sorts of spices and fruits (including cinnamon, lemon and orange zest, raspberry, star anise and apricot) into a goblet containing 80ml Hennessy VSOP cognac and some sugar, and then setting the mixture on fire inside the goblet and letting the whole thing warm up for 30 seconds.

“You can’t let it burn too long, or the glass will crack,” he warned, as he spectacularly poured the still flaming concoction through a strainer and into another glass.

Now for the burning question – how does it taste? Well, this is probably a drink that is best drunk on cold winter nights as the heated cognac and fresh smells of the botanicals will definitely warm you up nicely.

It certainly is one nice-smelling drink though, as the heat helps to release the wonderful woody and fruity aromas of the cognac and the botanicals.

Corpse Reviver

SUPPOSEDLY “guaranteed to revive any corpse”, the intimidatingly named Corpse Reviver drink was one of the original recipes featured in Harry Craddock’s 1930 cocktail book, and as the name suggests, it isn’t a drink for the faint-hearted.

There are about four or five different recipes for a Corpse Reviver, but Ivanovic settled for the original one, which he made with 50ml Hennessy VSOP cognac, 25ml calvados (a French brandy distilled from apples) and 25ml sweet vermouth (in this case, Martini Rosso), all stirred with ice and served straight up (without ice). This is a powerful concoction indeed.

As expected, the mixture of three different spirits lends the drink an incredible strength that is not apparent in other cocktails.

The combination of the apple flavours from the calvados, the slight dryness of the vermouth as well as the woodiness of the cognac also makes this drink a lot more complex, with layer after layer of powerful flavours coming through, and ending with a long, elegant finish. A real beast of a cocktail.

Brandy Crusta

THE brandy crusta was first created in 1850s New Orleans, and the recipe for this classic cocktail was first published in print in Jerry Thomas’ 1862 bartender’s guide.

“It’s ironic how many cognac-based cocktails came from New Orleans, because that city is so big on bourbon,” said Ivanovic, adding that most of the cognac cocktails were created in the French Quarter.

It is called the “crusta” because the sugar rim around the glass is supposed to be applied some time before the drink is actually made so that the sugar hardens and creates a crust around the glass.

Besides the sugar crust, the defining characteristic of the brandy crusta is the large piece of lemon peel garnish (called a horse’s neck) that lines the entire rim of the glass, leaving a small opening from which to drink.

“The brandy crusta is an absolute classic. The horse’s neck and sugar rim is what makes it so famous and iconic. It’s such a well-balanced drink, and the bitters bring out the brandy a lot more than it would in the Sidecar,” said Ivanovic, who made his brandy crusta using Hennessy VSOP, Maraschino cherry liqueur, Cointreau, lemon juice, and two dashes of Boker’s Bitters.

“It’s also a drink that is easy to make wrong – it is so
finely balanced that if you over-shake or under-shake it, it just goes wrong.”

Sidecar

ACCORDING to Ivanovic, there is some confusion about the origin of the Sidecar, though the common belief is that it was created in 1914 in Harry’s New York Bar in Venice, Italy. The drink usually calls for equal parts (usually 30ml) cognac, lemon juice and Cointreau orange liqueur, but Ivanovic prefers his Sidecar more cognac-heavy, so he added an additional 20ml Hennessy VSOP.

“You can’t go wrong with a Sidecar; it’s just a great drink,” he said. “I love the smell of this drink. It’s a super balanced cocktail, with perfect balance between the lemon and Cointreau.

The brandy gives it body, depth, an aged flavour, and a little bit of class as well.”

According to him, there’s also the argument about whether or not the drink comes in a glass with a sugar rim, which was probably used to adjust the taste since some people might like it sweeter. “I usually put half a sugar rim, so people can choose which side to drink from!” he said.

Brandy Alexander

“BRANDY Alexander … goes down easy …” sang Feist in her song Brandy Alexander from her album The Reminder. Ever since I heard that song a few years back, I’ve always been curious about the drink.

The Brandy Alexander is actually a variant of a pre-1900s drink called the Alexander, which uses gin. Ivanovic made his with 60ml cognac, 30ml Crème de Cacao liqueur and 30ml cream, with an addition of 5ml sugar to lift the flavours.

As it turned out, this was actually one of my favourite drinks of the session. The combination of the cream and Crème de Cacao gave it a creamy chocolaty texture, which was nicely balanced out by the fruitiness of the cognac. And just as Feist described it, this is a drink that goes down really easy.

Pisco Sour

PISCO is a Peruvian spirit derived from the distillation of fresh grape must, and the most famous drink that uses this particular spirit is the Pisco Sour. It’s the national cocktail of Peru and is made from pisco, lemon juice, egg white, sugar and bitters.

“Egg white is such a great ingredient (for cocktails). It adds bulk to the drink, makes it smoother and also acts as a combining agent. It gathers all these wonderful flavours in the cocktail and combines them all, just like in a cake,” said Ivanovic. “I always put the egg white in last, because if you put in all the ingredients together in a warm environment, it starts to cook so you need to chill it as quickly as possible.”

As the name suggests, the predominant flavour in the pisco sour is the sourness of the lemon juice; however, the fruity grape flavours of the pisco can still be detected in the finish of the drink.

All the cocktails featured here were made by Joshua Ivanovic at Circus (Lot C3.10.01b, Pavilion KL, Level 3, Fashion Avenue. Tel: 03-2141 6151. circus.com.my).

■ Think cocktails are only for women? Michael Cheang dares any man who thinks so to try a Corpse Reviver.