How to do sour cognac with Chartreuse

The Champs Élysées.

If you even have a fleeting familiarity with the famous boulevard in Paris, I suspect that I know what's going on in your brain when you hear its name. The cultural idea of ​​France is already imbued with refinement (why all other beauty products, as cheap or shitty, have half of its label in French), but it becomes double for Paris, and even more for what has been called “the most beautiful avenue in the world”, Les Élysées Champs. No other word represents so fully the greatness, sophistication and elegance of France. Even say that it is refined. And in the case of the Champs Élysées cocktailAll this is intentional.

A Champs Élysées is a Cognac Squet with inimitable French liqueur, Chartreuse. He first comes from a recipe book published in 1925 entitled Drinks – Long and short By Nina Toye and Ah Adair, and this origin helps us to understand the intention behind the drink. Toye was an American novelist and probably helped write, while Adair was the life and the trade partner of a French chef named X. Marcel Boulestin, and was responsible for drinks at the restaurant of Boulestin – the book, as self -proclaimed, contains “the recipes of the nectar that Mr. Adair dispenses to the new and the most intriguing of restaurants for which Mr.

Mr. Boulestin, a French chief working in London, writes the preface, perhaps my favorite opening to a Cocktail recipe Book never written: “I should say here, now, without further delay, and categorically, that, as a wine drinker and gastronomic, I disapprove of cocktails.” He continues that he really disapproves of the British cocktail cultureAnd that he nevertheless appreciates the drinks themselves for their carrying effect. “In London,” he wrote, “by a cold summer evening, cocktails are a necessityAnd their exotic charm remains intact “, closing the idea that cocktails can give the impression that you are traveling, even when you have not moved:” The explorer remains at home. »»

We linger on this origin to prepare the ground. A French chief in London, who largely disapproves of cocktails, but believes in their ability to transport you at a different time and place. His bartender, listing the recipes of this chef's restaurant. What is in a name? In their book, a Gin ACI With Chartreuse was called “biter”, a sour rum with Chartreuse was called “Eclipse”, but a cognac Sour with Chartreuse was a Champs Élysées. The boulevard was already global at this stage – you do not use this name for a drink unless it really wins it.

To its best, this is what the Elysées Champs have a taste – like walking on the boulevard early summer, sunlight in cascade through the chestnut trees. It is in turn refreshing and complex, visceral and cerebral, depending on how much you want to think about a given sip. He is always, at his 100th anniversary, liquid know -howDeep with cognac, catchy with citrus and enigmatic with the Chartreuse. In other words: if the cocktail had a label, it would be half in French.

Champs Élysées

Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake hard for 8 to 10 seconds. Pass in a cocktail glass or a coupe and garnish with lemon skin

Notes on the ingredients

Cognac: In general, Cognacs VSOP or older are what you want for cocktails, and it has never been more true than it is here. The depth of cognac is the anchor of this drink, and without it (a younger cognac vs for example) it does not become hatched. My go-tos in this space are hine rare vsop and Remy Martin VSOP or 1738, but it's just my experience: I suspect that most otherwise all Cognacs VSOP will correspond here.

Simple syrup: You absolutely need simple syrup: if you have added enough Chartreuse to counter the agridity of lemon in itself, the result would be intrusive. To make simple syrup, mix a half cup of hot or hot water with half a cup of white sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. If the water is at room temperature, it will take three minutes. If he's hot, it will take 20 seconds.

Angostura Bitters: Strictly necessary. Angostura is the glue that unites the cognac and the Chartreuse.

Green Chartreuse: Chartreuse generally presents herself in two flavors, green and yellow, and boring, the original recipe does not specify. The cocktail is swept away five years later in the Harry Craddock Savoy cocktail bookAnd even if his book provides for a specific color of Chartreuse 20 times different (and Craddock, being a world class pro, should absolutely know better), he also abduces responsibility. This takes into account some intrepid barmans that change the Charterhouse into yellow variety, then fighting with it. It is an honorable attempt, but most of us conclude that the green charteruse is the way to follow, offering this distinct and persistent herbaceous which is the revealing signature of the liqueur.

In the above recipe, I only use a quarter of Chartreuse. It is unusual – most people are at least half a half. My problem is that, frankly, I don't think only of a half-taste. The Chartreuse dominates. Now, I like the Chartreuse as much as anyone, and there are certainly cocktails from which the Chartreuse can radiate (the Jewel & THE Last wordTo start) but I do not think that the Élysées Champs should be one of them. When this drink has the best taste for me when the Chartreuse is a murmur, a watermark on the experience, the leafy greenery aforementioned on the boulevard.

If you insist on making it a cocktail for the Chartreuse, my recommendation is to add an egg white, which helps to neutralize the tannins in the cognac and to absorb some of the most judicial eccentricities of the liqueur.