Tag Archives: Pisco

Cocktail Corner: Wine Meets Cocktails—and Mocktails—With Stolen Fruit

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Stolen Fruit Mixers, courtesy photo.

Stolen Fruit Mixers, courtesy photo.

A spirited toast to all things alcoholic!  By Leslie Dinaberg

Winemakers have traditionally seduced delicious tastes from the vineyard and chefs blend verjus—the fresh pressed juice from green grapes, varietal grape juice, and grape skins—to bring flavor to the forefront of their creations. Now these same techniques have been used to craft a fun, new line of grape-based mixers: adding the nuance and complexity of wine grapes to a range of cocktails and mocktails.

Using the fresh pressed juice of grapes dropped during thinning and dried wine grape skins, Sonoma-based Stolen Fruit takes what is normally discarded from the winemaking process to create the base for each mixer. Then the concentrated natural juice of a specific grape varietal such as Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier or Grenache, is blended in along with complimentary fruit and botanicals to build a layered, balanced drink base.

The flavors include: Lemongrass Ginger Sauvignon Blanc, Jasmine Juniper Viognier, Hibiscus Grenache (my favorite), Blood Orange Muscat and Fig Grains of Paradise Zin.

We tried them out last weekend and they’re delicious, with or with the booze! Mix them with sparkling water or club soda or lemonade for a non-alcoholic drink that still feels fun and festive. Add in sparkling wine and/or your favorite spirit and you have a terrific cocktail. We tried Stolen Fruit with Pisco, Rye, Vodka and Prosecco. I liked them all, as well as in combination with Jardesca, a refreshing wine-based aperitif.

Created by Dry Creek Valley AVA grape growers Doug and Susan Provisor, owners of Provisor Vineyards, and Healdsburg-based Chef Peter Brown, these versatile mixers are a great addition to your home bar, as well as nice gift for your host.

Stolen Fruit Cocktail Mixers ($18) are initially available for purchase online at stolenfruit.com, which also has recipes for cocktails, mocktails and food pairings, as well as on Amazon.  Check them out and let me know what you think.

Cheers! Click here for more cocktail corner columns.

Leslie Dinaberg

When she’s not busy working as the editor of Santa Barbara SEASONS, Cocktail Corner author Leslie Dinaberg writes magazine articles, newspaper columns and grocery lists. When it comes to cocktails, Leslie considers herself a “goal-oriented drinker.”

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons Magazine on July 15, 2016.

Cocktail Corner: Cheers to Spring at the Ty Lounge

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Four Seasons Biltmore's barrel-aged Negroni (courtesy photo)

Four Seasons Biltmore’s barrel-aged Negroni (courtesy photo)

A spirited toast to all things alcoholic! By Leslie Dinaberg

A great spot for cocktails just got even better. The Ty Lounge (at Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore Santa Barbara) has always been a beautiful place to drink in the priceless view of the Pacific, but now mixology pro and manager Chris Nordella has introduced a lively selection of spring cocktails.

Premiering for the first time is a barrel-aged Negroni, blended and barreled in-house by Nordella. The classic cocktail combines Plymouth gin, Campari and sweet vermouth, with all ingredients aged together in French Oak for six weeks. Other new handcrafted cocktails also take us on exotic journeys of taste, like the Sencha Caipirinha, Sencha green tea-infused Sagatiba Cachaca with lemongrass syrup and lime.

Ty Lounge at Four Seasons Biltmore (courtesy photo)

Ty Lounge at Four Seasons Biltmore (courtesy photo)

Then there’s the Macchu Pisco, with Barsol Pisco, Aperol, lemon juice, grapefruit juice and Kirschwasser, and the Rhubarbarita, mixing Patron blanco tequila with rhubarb puree, house-made grenadine, lemon and Grand Marnier. No one can seem to agree whether rhubarb is a fruit or a vegetable, but I’m guessing you won’t care much when you taste this delicious twist on a favorite Margarita.

Along with these fresh seasonal libations, executive chef Alessandro Cartumini has created a tasty new tapas menu for Ty Lounge. Selections favor the savory, including saffron paellacroquetas, patatas bravas, black mussels steamed in white wine with chorizo, and some heartier choices such as merguez sausage with piquillo pepper stew and marcona almonds.

Ty Lounge's black mussels steamed in white wine with chorizo (courtesy photo)

Ty Lounge’s black mussels steamed in white wine with chorizo (courtesy photo)

There are also a handful of delicious new sweets, like the tarta Alicante, which features layers of almond sponge cake and lemon curd topped with meringue, and the borracho, which is “drunken” rum cake served with a milk chocolate cream and coffee sauce. Yum!

Playing off the Spanish influence of the Biltmore’s beautiful architecture, the revamped cocktail list also features two types of sangria (“it’s just a given when you think of tapas and sun,” says Nordella), as well as classic Spanish cocktails, cava and quality wines representing key Spanish varietals and growing regions.

Happy hour is every Monday – Thursday from 4–6 pm. Enjoy $5 off all menu cocktails, $2 off beers on tap, $7 appetizers and $8 featured wines by the glass. With Chris Fossek playing Spanish Guitar on Wednesdays, Lois Mahalia playing jazz on Fridays and a DJ on Saturdays, there are lots of great reasons to toast spring at the Ty Lounge these days. Maybe we’ll see you there. Cheers!

Click here for more cocktail corner columns.

Leslie Dinaberg

Leslie Dinaberg

When she’s not busy working as the editor of Santa Barbara SEASONS, Cocktail Corner author Leslie Dinaberg writes magazine articles, newspaper columns and grocery lists. When it comes to cocktails, Leslie considers herself a “goal-oriented drinker.”

Originally published in Santa Barbara SEASONS on March 22, 2013.

Cocktail Corner: Potions With Pisco Popping Up

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KAPPA Rico (courtesy of KAPPA Pisco)

KAPPA Rico (courtesy of KAPPA Pisco)

A spirited toast to all things alcoholic! By Leslie Dinaberg

I wasn’t too familiar with Pisco (defined by Wikipedia as a colorless or yellowish-to-amber colored grape brandy produced in winemaking regions of Peru and Chile) last fall, when someone gave me a bottle of KAPPA Pisco, a new Chilean Pisco from the House of Marnier-Lapostolle, producers of Grand Marnier. But since then, this exotic beverage has been showing up more and more.  Especially in Montecito, where it’s behind the bar at Cava Restaurant and Bar and the Biltmore’s Ty Lounge and on the shelves at The Bottle Shop, among others.

A Pisco Sour is the Peruvian national cocktail, prepared with egg white, lime juice, simple syrup, and bitters. (Do we have one of those? How can I get on the national cocktail committee?) The Chilean version of a Pisco Sour sometimes has no bitters. And keep in mind, as Epicurious bartender Ryan McGrale writes, “Chilean and Peruvian Piscos are not interchangeable. Chilean Pisco is sweeter and has a slightly lower proof. So if you use the Peruvian stuff, adjust the amount of lemon juice and simple syrup accordingly. Both kinds are available at many good liquor stores.

KAPPA Krush (courtesy of KAPPA Pisco)

KAPPA Krush (courtesy of KAPPA Pisco)

Chilean Amargo bitters are virtually impossible to buy in the U.S., but easy-to-find Angostura Bitters make an acceptable substitute. They are “sharper and spicier, go a little lighter on the bitters if you’re using Angostura.”

KAPPA Pisco offers a recipe for a variation called the KAPPA Rico:

1 ½ oz KAPPA Pisco

1 oz Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge

¾ oz fresh lemon juice or fresh lime juice

¼ oz simple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice.  Shake vigorously and strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass.  Garnish with a lime wheel.

 

Terrific for a sunny afternoon, as is their KAPPA Krush:

2 oz KAPPA Pisco

4 grapes

4 lemon chunks (quartered half lemon)

2 tsp raw sugar

In a shaker, muddle lemons and grapes with sugar.  Then add KAPPA Pisco and fill mixing glass with partially cracked ice.  Shake vigorously and strain into a rocks glass over crushed ice.  Garnish with halved grapes.

Another variation is this Pisco Smash from Food & Wine chef Nick Fauchald, also quite delicious and refreshing.

Bar None Drinks offers a total of eight recipes using Pisco, including one called Cotton Candy #3. Let us know if you try it.

Cheers!

Click here for more cocktail corner columns.

Leslie Dinaberg

Leslie Dinaberg

When she’s not busy working as the editor of Santa Barbara SEASONS, Cocktail Corner author Leslie Dinaberg writes magazine articles, newspaper columns and grocery lists. When it comes to cocktails, Leslie considers herself a “goal-oriented drinker.”

Originally published in Santa Barbara SEASONS on March 29, 2013.