Cocktail: Hop To It

2011-09-07T04:29:15Z

This weekend, we harvested the hops in our garden.

Hops are a beautiful thing. Just the scent that ripples off them while I was picking them was so elegant, floral and bitter at the same time.

The thing about hops, though, is that they are miserably underused. They’re basically only used in beers and some bitters, and once in a while in something like a brine or an infusion of some kind. (I brine my turkey for Thanksgiving in heavily-hopped beer). But hops in other things? Not much. They’re woefully underappreciated for something with such a unique and sophisticated flavor.

Fresh hops only happen once a year, in September or sometimes early October, and they’re so delicious. So this weekend, I made a cocktail with them:

Cocktail: Hop To It

Recipe Type: Cocktail

Author: Tea

Prep time: 4 mins

Total time: 4 mins

Serves: 1

This is a drink made with fresh hops from my garden.

Ingredients

10 fresh hops blossoms
2 oz Comb 9 Gin
1/2 oz Ethereal Gin
1/2 oz Bo Nardini Bassano Rue Grappa
2 dashes Adam Elmegirab’s Dandelion & Burdock Bitters
1/4 oz Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

Instructions

) Put both Gins and the hops blossoms in a shaker with ice. Muddle thoroughly until flower petals separate.
) Add grappa and bitters, shake
) Coat chilled cocktail glass with beer, pour off excess
) Pour contents of shaker into glass and serve

notes:
Comb 9 is a gin distilled with honey. If you can’t get it, I recommend a lighter and more floral gin, like Damrak, Greylock, or Death’s Door.
Ethereal has a fairly unique smoky flavor profile. The only other gin that comes close to it is Catoctin Creek. If you can’t get either of those, I would recommend a 1/4 oz more of the base gin with a 1/4 oz of mezcal.
Bo Nardini Bassano Rue Flavored Grappa is exactly what it says it is. If you can’t get it, any plain or herbal grappa with do (stay away from fruity ones)
Adam Elmegirab’s Dandelion & Burdock Bitters can be bought at Cocktail Kingdom. If you can’t get them, Angostura or another herby bitters (not a fruit-flavored one) is fine.
I am not sure where you can find hops! I grow them myself!

Mirrored from Nommable!.

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Cocktail: Hop To It