Way back in 2009, I came up with a drink for the Great American Distillers Festival that used smoke apple puree and apple cider gastrique. We served it at Carlyle and Metrovino (then-Carlyle chef Jake Martin had the idea for the smoked apples), but the ingredients were always improvised and we never had a definitive recipe.
This weekend I was cooking with my friend Paul Willenberg and he mentioned that he was borrowing a smoker. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to revisit the drink and simplify the recipe, omitting ingredients like smoked butter that we’d used to smooth out the puree in the past. What we came up with is direct and works very nicely. Check it out here.
Jacob Grier is a freelance writer, bartender, cocktail consultant, and magician in Portland, Oregon. He writes, eats, and drinks a lot. His articles have appeared in the print or online editions of The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, Reason, The Oregonian, and other publications.
