1794s

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This cocktail is in the Manhattan family, but much more elusive.  It seems there are only two places sophisticated enough to serve it in San Francisco, not counting our kitchen – the top notch restaurant Range and the über-cool speakeasy style bar Bourbon & Branch.  For a truly amazing cocktail experience, try it with vanilla and citrus infused bourbon instead of rye.

This recipe is for Tracy and David, who helped us enjoy a few last
weekend at Tim’s 21st(ish) birthday party in their super-stylish Eichler house in Orange County.  It is the result of many
a long night of intensive research conducted at some of California’s
most sophisticated bars, just for you.

Recipe:  1794s.pdf

ice
4 parts rye (or bourbon, or vanilla and citrus infused bourbon)
1 part sweet red vermouth (or more, to taste)
1/2 part Campari (or more, to taste)
an orange

1. Chill martini glasses by filling with ice.
2. Pour drinks into cocktail shaker, add ice and stir for quite a while with a long spoon.
3. Remove ice from glasses and pour in cocktail through strainer in shaker.
4. Peel lozenge-shaped strips of zest from the orange with a vegetable peeler, holding the fruit over the glasses as you do so as to catch any oils sprayed out.   The zests should be thin, with as little white pith included as possible.  
5. With one hand hold a piece of zest over a glass, skin-side down, and hold a lighted match beneath it with your other hand.  Quickly and sharply squeeze/fold the zest (holding it on either long side, rather than at the tips) so that the oils are sprayed over the cocktail and burnt by the flame on their way down.  Before dropping the zest into the cocktail, rub its skin-side round the rim of the glass.
6. Repeat with remaining glasses.

1794 notes

The 1794 is named after the Whiskey Rebellion which came to a peak in Pennsylvania in that year.  Poor, pioneer farmers aggressively protested a whiskey tax which they felt unfairly penalised them.  They were accustomed to converting their excess grain to whiskey, which was easier to store, transport, sell and barter with.  Among many other incidents, one group of these ‘Whiskey Boys’ disguised themselves as women, assaulted a tax collector, cut off his hair, coated him with tar and feathers, and stole his horse.  The federal government, to demonstrate their power, invoked Martial Law and sent nearly 13,000 to catch the whiskey boys.  Some were arrested and few lost their lives but most protestors were never found.

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