I drew my inspiration from a new passion at the time, a cordial called Pimm's #1.
Pimm's #1 is originally from London was first sold as a tonic in 1851 made from herbs and spices meant to aid digestion. It later became part of the official cocktail, Pimm's Cup, during British polo matches as well as the Wimbelton tennis tournament.
Pimm's is predominantly derived from Gin with Orange peel and spices. My infusion also started with gin but then took a 180 degree turn around from the formality and distinguished part to British history into an American unpretentious trendsetting cocktail.
Ingredients for infusion included:
- roasted beets
- orange peel
- cilantro
- star anise
- lemon basil
- coriander
I scientifically tested at least five different batches between variations between different amounts of spices and herbs, beet preparation, and gin bases. The best outcome I got was a medium juniper flavored gin with home roasted beets.
Not that I want this to turn into a cooking post; canned sliced beets worked for beet infusion. Per herbs, minced beets left too little of the original beet dimensions, earthy and candy quality. The best were beets I rubbed in salt and wrapped in tin foil and baked. Then hand peeled to get the pieces of beet that had different dimensions of flavors.
Bleeding with color and flavor I layered beet, orange peel, spices, beet, orange peel, spices; ect. until I filled the entire jar. Next unloaded a 750ml of gin on my final balanced ingredients.
I left this jar covered in foil for a week, and every couple of days I stirred the mixture (like a Yoo-hoo). After filtering I uncovered a beautiful blood red gin (which I neglected to take a picture of).
The final product was a martini called the Heartbeet (pun-intended):
- 3 ounces beet gin infusion
- large splash of fresh lemon juice
- shake vigorously
- rim martini glass with brown sugar and sea salt
- Pour in gin shaken
- top with splash sprite
Other competitors I remember had Cognac infused with hazelnuts, Gin infused with lychee, Bourbon with brown sugar. The judges were inspired enough to deem my cocktail the winner. And it was requested often at my bar.
