Yes, it’s essentially summer at this point. But, it’s not so deep into Summer that every day or activity involves working up a big sweat and needing to cool off quickly. That was the case last weekend, when we went with a big group to camp at Salmon La Sac.It looked like we were in a for a cool, drizzly weekend in the mountains, so I wanted to come up with something that would help warm everyone up back at camp.
Context
Unlike last time, I didn’t want to use a bunch of subtle botanical flavors to keep the drink light; I wanted to focus on flavors that felt more like camp to me. One of my favorite parts of camping is the first cup of coffee in the morning when there’s still dew on the ground and a chill in the air. It’s always a bit tougher making your morning cup when camping, so it feels even more earned than most other days.
I told this story on Instagram, but I recently opened up a bottle of Smoking Gun Coffee Port from Maison de Padgett in the Yakima Valley. My parents got it for me during their first visit after we moved to Seattle, and it sat around for years.It works well with botanicals in gin as the slightly-sour, bold coffee notes get toned down a bit by the bitterness.
That wasn’t quite enough to round out the drink, so I tossed in some Ginger from Brovo to add a bit more spice as well. I love using a bit of this liqueur to round out a drink that needs a little bit more of a punch; it’s sweet (but not syrupy) and still contains a ton of great, pure ginger flavor that goes really well with sour or bitter notes. In this case, it pairs with both.
Making the Drink
As I’ve done recently, I diluted this one by stirring for a while with ice to tone down the flavors and open the drink up just a bit. So, fill a mixing glass with ice and then add 6 parts gin, 3 parts of the coffee port, and 1 part of the ginger liqueur. Stir it, and strain it into a flask!
Tasting Notes
This drink has bitter, sour, and spicy notes making it extremely complex, but it still managed to maintain balance. The port and liqueur also lend a good viscosity to the drink which helps tone down the intensity as well. It also worked surprisingly well when used to spike some coffee around the campfire.