Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Skulduggery

Last Thursday's TDN was sponsored by Crystal Head Vodka, a new offering from none other than the esteemed Dan Aykroyd.  In addition to having a really awesome bottle, it's quite a fine vodka.  I served up the first drink of the night, here it is:
Skulduggery
  • ¾ oz Crystal Head Vodka
  • ½ oz Pineau des Charentes
  • ½ oz Grand Marnier
  • ½ oz lemon
  • 1/3 oz black pepper simple syrup (1:1)
  • a couple extra grinds fresh pepper
shake, strain, garnish with head on a
pike (grape impaled on a Sword Martini Pick)
If you don't have black pepper syrup, just use more fresh pepper, it works nearly as well.  I like using both because I find the freshly ground stuff has an extra zing as opposed to the more mellowed flavor in the syrup.  Besides, they recently figured out that a chemical in black pepper helps the absorption of nutrients, so pour it on.
I think it's a pretty light drink with some florals and spice from the Pineau and pepper, with all the flavors tied nicely together by the Crystal Head.   Perhaps something to start with before a meal without worrying about bold flavors messing with your palate before you dine.
Dan Aykroyd himself actually joined us in the chatroom for a while to answer questions and observe some of the group's handiwork.  Of course, despite all the Ghostbusters references, I didn't put him together with his alias until I asked a stupid question, but in my defense, I did preface it with "Stupid question, but..."  By the way, he said they were writing Ghostbusters 3 now, awesome.

1 comment:

  1. We made this at Chantanee using Pinot Noir instead of the Pineau des Charantes, largely because of my crap French pronounciation when I first read out the drinks and because it appealed to Andrew Bohrer to do it that way. We all quite liked it.

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