wine is divine

Making the “Beer” Cocktail, a guest post by Erik Hanson

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:20:00 -0800

The first time I saw Erik Hanson make one of his cocktails called “Beer,” I was like, “What is that awesomeness?” As I have cranked up my sommelier studies, my posts are less and less frequent; so, I asked my friend Erik to please write a guest post about his amazing cocktail. Noblesse oblige.

Making the "Beer" Cocktail by Erik Hanson
At Biwa, the former bar manager, Tom Lindstedt (now at Little Bird) had been deep into experimenting with making bitters, liqueurs, and infusions. He was (and still is) constantly and systematically trying to find the best ways to capture flavors and preserve them in alcohol. He had left me with a similar curiosity, and with the knowledge of a new (to me) tool for putting a flavor into a cocktail: the tincture. In early autumn of 2011, Biwa's cook, resident chemist, and man of astounding depth in beer-knowledge, Eric Fritz, came into work, handed me a bag and said "I thought you could do something with these." Inside was about a half-pound of amazing lemon, pinecone, and forest floor smelling, fresh-picked Cascade Hops. We immediately split the bag into a two jars, one containing Takara Shochu (35% abv) and another with Hood River Distillery Pure Grain Alcohol (95% abv). After 2 weeks, we strained off the hop infused liquors and bottled them.

Prior to that event, when summer began to creep in, Biwa stocked up on a bunch of roasted barley for the iced barley tea called Mugi-cha, which is quite popular in Japan. In one of those "light bulb turns on" moments, I realized that we had on hand facsimiles of the basic components that flavor beer: hops and barley. It took about four months of tinkering to get the recipe for the basic cocktail right.

Gabe Rosen, the owner of Biwa, reminded me that the draft for our Sapporo kegs had a special feature that dispensed only beer foam. "How cool would it be if this "beer" had a head?" he said. Well, the beer foam from the draft pours a little slow and doesn't hold up long enough to be suitable for service, but with just enough egg white I was able to make a foamy "head" for the cocktail that would hold up throughout service.

Pretty soon now, Biwa might be running low on the hop infusions, but I'm growing more and more fascinated with the complexities of hops, their possible applications in cocktails, and eagerly anticipating hop-harvest this coming autumn.

Here is the recipe:
2oz Old Overholt Rye
1.5 teaspoons mugi syrup*
2 dashes Regans orange bitters
20 drops hop tincture
1 teaspoon Laphroaig 10yr Scotch
3oz “Beer Foam”**
1 mugi ice cube***

Start by preparing all the asterisked items in advance.
Coat the inside of a large rocks glass with the Laphroaig, drain off
the excess. Place in that glass the mugi ice cube.
In a mixing glass, combine the rye, mugi syrup, orange bitters, and
hop tincture. Add ice and stir swiftly and gently.
Strain the contents of the mixing glass into the rocks glass.
To top with the beer foam, I found it best to skim from the airiest
top-layer of foam with a small fine-strainer, and let the liquid drain
from it before placing only the firmer, drier foam on top of the drink.

*Mugi Syrup:
Make Mugi-cha by pouring 2 quarts boiling water onto 2 cups toasted barley
steep for 10 minutes, strain off the barley
Set aside ~8oz Mugi-cha for making syrup, add sugar at 1:1 ratio.
Use remaining Mugi-cha for making mugi ice cubes.

** "Beer Foam":
1oz egg white
12oz Sapporo (Sapporo is what we used at Biwa. Personally, I think a
smoky, nutty porter like Mad River Brewing's Steelhead Scotch Porter
would be excellent in this drink.)
1oz hop-infused Shochu
In a mixing vessel, whisk egg white until the foam is stiff
Slowly whisk in the Sapporo and hop-shochu
Whisk thoroughly to recharge foam before each new cocktail is served
Makes ~10 drinks before the foam becomes too wet to use.

*** Mugi Ice Cubes:
Freeze the Mugi-cha left over from making syrup in a silicone tray
that makes large (~2"x2") cubes.

Thank you, Erik Hanson
Erik is now over at smallwares; I’ll miss working with him, but the good thing about Portland being such a small town, I know I’ll see him around plenty. In fact, we ran into him last night! Thank you, Erik, for sharing your inspiration and execution of this delicious cocktail.

wine is divine

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