Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Awake from a Booze Snooze

Struth that was one hell of a festive season! 2011 finished with a whiz and a bang and a cocktail or three along the way. Stone the flaming crows! I totally missed out on sharing this beaut little festive tipple with you  (I'm trying to get used to the Aussie lingo again after two weeks back in NZ. Bro). Anywho I've now awoken from my booze snooze to share more tippling posts with you in 2012.

Smoky Kumquat Swizzle
The reason this pretty little number came about? Well my new local green grocer, Galuzzo's on Glebe Point Road, is an absolute rip-snorter. Their top-notch produce is locally sourced wherever possible and if from interstate they list the exact region it was sourced from. Kumquats were the local specialty before the break and the best way I find to extract their bitter sweet citrus flavour is to cook them in a syrup with some sweet spices like star anise, clove and cinnamon. And that's exactly what I did.

So without further dalliance here's my Smoky Kumquat Swizzle:

Smoky Kumquat Swizzle
60ml Johnnie Walker Double Black (a great Christmas stocking filler if there ever was one)
30ml lemon juice
20ml Spiced kumquat syrup
2 dashes Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas' Own Decanter Bitters

Add all ingredients into a Julep cup. Fill 3/4 with cruished ice and swizzle with a long handled barspoon. Cap with crushed ice and garnish with a syrup soaked kumquat and a whole star anise.