The Dale/David Project continues this evening ***we interrupt this programming for an important message--damn it's cold outside! It's ice-storm-in-central-Texas cold out there so make you something nice to drink!*** with a little oddity called the Pineau Martini. The Pineau Martini is not attributed to anyone else nor does it bear the symbol that indicates it is a DDG original, so I do not know where it comes from. I first learned of Pineau de Charentes from Bill Norris of FINO restaurant; I tasted it and picked up a bottle at the Austin Wine Merchant (did you know that they will deliver to your door?). I believe that Bill was using it in a cocktail at the time but for the life of me I can't recall what, and I don't know how he learned of it.
Pineau de Charentes and Gin... mmm, two of my favorites in one convenient cocktail
I was looking through a book that I have on aperitifs and according to that source, Pineau des Charentes came into being by accident. Supposedly, a French wine maker accidentally put fresh grape must into a barrel of aging Cognac, and then forgot about it. When he revisited the barrel he discovered a beautiful golden elixir that tasted neither of wine nor of Cognac, and so a fabulous new spirit was born. If wine history is as full of bullsh!t as cocktail history, then Pineau was conceived of at a meeting of winery executives and the cutesy story was devised by their PR firm. Regardless, the stuff is great. Full bodied, fruity, and mellifluous. I love this drink. I don't, however, love it by the recipe included in Dale's book.
The recipe calls for a 2:1 ratio of P des C to Gin. I made that drink, and I drank it. Then I made one with equal parts, which I liked better. Then I made one with a ratio of 2 parts Gin to 1 part P des C, more in the mode of a traditional Gin Martini with Pineau des Charentes as the Vermouth. Needless to say these latter two versions proved more pleasant than the first, which was too Pineau-y. Robert Hess said in a seminar on the Martini that the drinker should evaluate his or her palate along the spectrum of a vermouth:gin ratio to determine what ratio is preferred; I invoke that same concept here with the Pineau Martini.
Note: I often conceive of cocktails while I'm watching movies... Sometimes, I don't even have to watch a movie before a cocktail comes to mind. Tonight,
we went to see The Wrestler, which I liked and thought would make an awesome cocktail, though I really didn't think it through that thoroughly. When we got home, however, we put in another movie--American History X. I want to say, in no uncertain terms, that this movie should never be reborn in a cocktail. This movie was good, great even. But I feel like the cocktail of this movie would suck hard. I feel like it would have Sambuca in it, for some reason, and that just turns me off in a bad way.
