Today marks the launch of the second Sponsored Project on Alcademics: The Sugar Spirit. The Sugar Spirit Project is sponsored by Bacardi Rum.
Rum is made from any sugarcane derivative and is the real sugar spirit, but in this research project I'll primarily be studying sugar itself.
In writing about cocktails, we often come across recipes calling for different forms of sugar: demerara, muscovado, evaporated organic cane, superfine, etc. I've wanted to study the differences in those sugars for quite a while now so I'm thankful to Bacardi Rum for giving me the support to do so.
Along the way, I'll be looking at the history of sugarcane, its byproducts (including molasses, of course), modern and historical production methods, forms and uses, and much more.
I've put up an outline of future topics for discussion and experimentation. The outline is on the project index page, which can be reached by following this link or clicking the Sugar Spirit project logo above from any blog page you see it on.
This is going to get pretty nerdy, and I know that's how you like it.
The Sugar Spirit Project is sponsored by Bacardi Rum. Content created and owned by Camper English for Alcademics. For the project index, click on the logo above or follow this link.
For my latest feature in the LA Times Magazine, I asked bartenders from warm-weather cities to share their recipes for cool cocktails.
The bartenders are Larry Rice from Louisville, Bobby Heugel from Houston, Erik Simpkins from Atlanta, Todd Thrasher from Alexandria, Anthony Schmidt from San Diego, Rhiannon Enlil from New Orleans, and Michael Shearin from Los Angeles.
(Photography by Bartholomew Cooke for LA Times Magazine)
Cool Factor The Dog Days Just Howl for Long, Tall, Cold Libations By Camper English
Different times of the day, changing atmospheric conditions and succeeding meal courses all call for a specific type of cocktail. But it’s the sweltering days and lasting sunlight of August that compel us to seek coolers replete with ice. We asked some of the America’s best bartenders based in warmer climes for a drink to chill us out, and their picks make use of a variety of methods and flavors to accomplish this task, from shaved ice and coconut milk to cucumbers and mint—even a splash of light beer. Cheers!
The aim of the Sugar Spirit Project is to research sugar: its history, production, distribution, forms and use, and byproducts.
This page is the project index that will link to all the posts. Hot-linked posts have gone up already, text posts are yet to come. Feel free to suggest more aspects of sugar for me to study in the comments.
The Sugar Spirit Project is sponsored by Bacardi Rum. The project content is created and owned by Camper English for Alcademics.
Below are the tweets sent out as I was recording every drink I had at Tales of the Cocktail for the second year in a row.
The totals are:
Wednesday: 18
Thursday: 41
Friday: 28
Saturnday: 19
Compared to last year, this looks like a ton more drinks. But really I kept it to small sips and tastes for the most part. I came home feeling less poluted than usual, so don't let the numbers terrify you. Tales is for amateurs too!
Thursday was the big day again, due to the Diageo happy hour event. I had the same number as last year, 25, but it looks like more drinks before and afterward.
Below are the individual drinks from my Twitter feed, many with pictures. Note they're in reverse order.
The next step in the Solid Liquids project is to look at the various methods people are using to dehydrate liqueurs down to sugars. After searching the interwebz, here are some techniques I found.
I don't think the original DrinkBoy forums are online anymore- at least I can't find them- but that's where this technique first came to my attention several years ago. Bartenders in Australia were dehydrating Campari and other liqueurs and making powders out of them.
Oven Baking
Pour the liqueur on a baking pan, perhaps with a silicone matt on it (for easier removal of solids) and bake at a low temperature overnight. Damon Dyer wrote that his initial method (copied from the Australians) was:
"The process as I learned it was to pour the Campari into a shallow baking sheet, then slowly bake in the oven at low, low, low heat. The Campari eventually loses its water and alcohol, and solidifies. Then it's simply a matter of scraping the solid Campari "brick" off the baking sheet, crushing it into a powder, and enjoying a cocktail.
"However, the revised process that Donbert came up with [see below] is much more efficient."
Microwaving
Way back in 2007, Don Lee took up the issue (in this thread on eGullet), and remembering a tip from the French Laundry Cookbook, he dried out liqueurs in the microwave. He was able to boil Campari down to a sludge in about 4 minutes, then further pulverize this into a poweer.
On refining the technique, his observations were:
In the initial cooking stage, the alcohol is boiling off so the boiling is quite violent. Use short heating bursts during this stage.
Also use short bursts of heat at the end, because then the thick sugary liquid can caramelize if you're not careful.
"For Maraschino (Luxardo) I had to use 20 sec intervals for the first 1.5 minutes, then could let it go for 3 mins straight before going back to 20 sec intervals until 303.5F was reached. The result when cooled is an easily removable "puck" of Maraschino."
Using this method, Damon Dyer said he had success dehydrating Torani Amer, Yellow Chartreuse, Peychaud's, Herbsaint, Maraschino, and Canton Ginger.
Liquid Nitrogen
Douglas Williams of Liquid Alchemy consulting used liquid nitrogen to make solid Campari. This is really frozen Campari, and thus will melt again. So it's not a useful technique for my purposes.
But in any case, check out this video of it happening:
Williams told me about some other ways to get alcohol into solid form – sometimes without burning off the booze. I am not completely clear on how it works, but apparently you can use tapioca malodextrin and that will bond with anything fatty. This technique can apparently be used to trap booze into a solid form.
I doubt I'll have time to get into the molecular mixology stuff during the duration of this project, but it would be fun to try.
I've spent some time researching powdered/dehydrated liqueurs online to see where and how they've been used. Turns out: all around the world. Below are the few I found.
It seems that for the most part these dehydrated liqueurs are used as a powdered rims on cocktail glasses, as garnishes sprinkled on top of egg white drinks, and in one case as a popcorn flavoring.
The bar Mea Culpa in Ponsonby, New Zealand, had the following drink on their menu: ANGEL DUST - Cherry & orange macerated Rittenhouse Rye, Liquore Strega, White creme de cacao, Benedictine foam, Campari powder
This drink from Josh Pape of Chambar Belgian Restaurant in Vancouver, BC contains toasted cashews, gin, pink grapefruit cordial, sherry, apple juice, egg white, and has Campari powder on the rim.
Eau de Vie in Sydney offered, according to this post, "The Countessa, a reimagined Negroni with Aperol, served up in an exquisite coupe, on the side a half time slice of orange, dusted with Campari powder and caramelized with a blowtorch behind the bar. "
At Elements in Princeton, New Jersey, they make The Skål! Cocktail with akvavit, Pedro Ximénez sherry, dry vermouth, lemon juice, and lingonberry preserves. Garnished with a rim of dehydrated Chartreuse.
What other drinks have you seen? Any other liqueurs besides Chartreuse and Campari?
For the Solid Liquids Project project index, click on the logo above or follow this link.
The aim of the Solid Liquids Project is to research the best way to dehydrate liqueurs and use the resulting flavored sugar in creative ways. This page is the project index that will link to all the posts.
Today marks the launch of the second Sponsored Project on Alcademics: The Sugar Spirit. The Sugar Spirit Project is sponsored by Bacardi Rum. 
