Blue & Brewed
If you’ve never had blueberry-flavored coffee, let me tell you, you’re missing out. I realize it sounds like an unusual flavor pairing but it works out beautifully. As with any good flavor combo, why not make it into a cocktail??
Before we go into the process, please note that you could make this a stirred drink with a simpler coffee-infused rye. But I really wanted to try out a more involved process created by Dave Arnold (@cookingissues) from the awesome book Liquid Intelligence. DM me if you want to talk details, but the gist is:
🔹Infuse whiskey with freshly ground coffee using an iSi whipper.
🔹Strain and sparge (gently rinse) coffee grounds.
🔹Add whiskey to milk, which causes it to curdle. This is the same idea as with a milk punch, but with a single ingredient. Not only does it takes the edges off (here, some of the coffee’s bitterness), but some of the milk proteins stick around, giving a smooth mouthfeel and (when shaken), a nice bit of froth.
🔹Strain through coffee filter, bottle and use.
The blueberry syrup was quite nice but didn’t bring enough… blueberry to the mix [side note: I tried a sous vide method here, it was tasty but more conventional methods get close]. A touch of more artificial blueberry from a flavored vodka did the trick. Cynar brought it all together with some needed depth. Though a bit involved, the drink was a success. It was tasty and mimicked the coffee nicely with the bonus of a smooth mouthfeel that would come from having dairy in your coffee.
Recipe
2oz coffee-infused milk-washed rye whiskey (I used Rittenhouse @heavenhilldistillery)
0.25oz blueberry vodka
0.25oz blueberry syrup
0.25oz Cynar (I used 70 proof; @cynarusa)
Shake all ingredients with ice until chilled. Fine strain into glass with large ice, express lemon peel and discard, garnish with fresh blueberries. Cheers!!
