Friday, September 14, 2012

chinook

1 1/2 oz Redemption Rye
3/4 oz Aperol
3/4 oz Lemon Juice
2 dash Fee's Grapefruit Butters

Shake with ice and pour into a rocks glass. Garnish with a lemon wedge and add straws.
For a second cocktail at Highland Kitchen, I asked Jimmy Lane for the Chinook. Jimmy attributed the drink to Will Quackenbush, but I did not get a chance to ask Will about the back story on the name. The lemon wedge garnish provided much of the drink's aroma, and the lemon continued on into the sip along with the Aperol and the rye's maltiness. The lemon carried on into the swallow where it accented the rye and was complemented by the bitters' grapefruit notes. Overall, the Chinook was slightly on the tart side and if that was problem, a quarter ounce of simple syrup should fix that easily as would switching to a 3:2:1 ratio.

3 comments:

Nicole said...

The name brings back memories for me from when I was living in Canada - when we'd get a sudden rise in temperature and a melting of snow during the winter, we'd call it a chinook. Maybe this cocktail was named after the sudden extra warm spells we got this summer? :)

frederic said...

Well Will often reads the blog, so he might pop in and answer the question. Since my dad used to design helicopter rotors, Chinook always makes me think of the big transport aircraft. Chinook is also a Pacific Northwest Indian tribe; although this would make more sense if it used a spirit from that region. Perhaps the color of Aperol reminded him of the scale coloration on Chinook salmon? The warm weather we had here does add another possibility, indeed!

Anonymous said...

There's a completely unrelated drink at Clio that goes by the same name. I believe it's named after one of the regulars. Chinook is also a dog breed (official state dog of New Hampshire).