Mike's Mix: Handsome Hog
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Every Saturday, Mike Augustyniak finds the best mixologists in town to see what they're stirring up. This week, he heads to Handsome Hog to try a pair of cocktails with a southern influence.
Mint Julep
- 2 oz Maker's Mark whiskey
- ½ oz simple syrup
- Fresh mint
- Crushed ice
Lightly slap or clap a handful of fresh mint (10-12 leaves) to release fragrance, and add to a glass or silver julep cup.
Pour in simple syrup and muddle lightly; do not tear leaves to pieces.
Add whiskey, then ice and stir until condensation forms on glass. Garnish with a sprig of mint leaves.
Taste Test
The key to any mint julep is the ice; once this cocktail is assembled, it does all of the work to achieve proper dilution and temperature. Making that ice can be a decidedly manual process...though it doesn't have to (and shouldn't) be as intensely creepy as bartender Trish Gavin makes it look.
Sure, crushed ice from your home freezer could work, but wouldn't a mallet and Lewis Bag be more fun? Actually, the proper tools make crushed ice that consistently has the texture of a snow-cone, and an increased surface area that keeps this cocktail extra cold in the hot sun.
Ice also serves to dilute the whiskey, so that it doesn't overpower the mint of your equilibrium.
Sazerac
- 2 oz rye whiskey
- ¼ oz (fat) brown sugar syrup *
- 3-4 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
- Rinse of Copper & Kings absinthe
- Lemon peel to garnish
*To make brown sugar syrup, heat equal parts brown sugar and water until sugar dissolves. Cool, and store.
Add a small amount of absinthe to a lowball glass that is filled with ice, and allow to sit.
In the meantime, combine whiskey, syrup and bitters in a mixing glass over ice. Stir to dilute and combine, for approximately 30 seconds.
Swirl ice/absinthe mixture around lowball glass to release botanicals before dumping the ice.
Strain the contents of the mixing glass into the empty lowball glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Taste Test
The Sazerac was born in New Orleans as a brandied cocktail, but is now known worldwide as a rye whiskey cocktail.
During the mid-19th century, French vineyards became infested with phylloxera, a type of insect, in an event referred to as the Great French Wine Blight. European wine production was decimated, and Cognac brandy (also distilled from grapes) became harder and more expensive to find.
With brandy's rising cost and scarcity, bartenders began making the Sazerac with whiskey, and that tradition continues today.
At Handsome Hog, bar manager Trish Gavin uses Cody Road rye whiskey -- a lighter-colored spirit, but still one with spice and depth. A brown sugar-based simple syrup, and an absinthe rinse that has been infused with hickory smoke, add complexity and a smoky note that helps this version of the Sazerac pair with a 'pig-centric' food menu.
Handsome Hog serves a 'pork-centric' menu from the kitchen, and cocktails with a southern influence from behind the bar.
