Novara & Orange Viola

As promised, a little bit of Campari and a smaller bit of Tales of the Cocktail.

Many moons ago, I had “met” Rick Stutz of Kaiser Penguin, via the internet. We had somehow found each other’s websites, and had struck up conversation regarding various recipes we were trying out by way of email. Rick had a recipe published in Imbibe magazine, and as the ingredients intrigued me, I tried his creation, the Orange Viola. A quick shake and a strain later and a bright bitter orange libation reached up and slapped me in the face, waking my palate and rattling my senses. Wow, this was a keeper!

When I was at Tales of the Cocktail earlier this year, I finally got to meet the Kaiser, as he was there to present for the Cocktails and the Blogosphere seminar. An affable fellow, blogging live at several seminars at Tales (I couldn’t even imagine how difficult that was), I informed him that his Orange Viola was a hit with my guests, (I had put his drink on my first drink card), to which he was very appreciative. If you haven’t checked out Kaiser Penguin, I wholeheartedly suggest that you do, as it is full of interesting recipes and beautiful pictures.

Digging through my collection of recipes while trying to figure out what to put on the newest revision of Vessel’s menu, I came across an old recipe of mine that looked a little familiar. Gin, Campari, passionfruit syrup, lemon juice….that did seem rather familiar all right. It was practically an Orange Viola! As I’ve told many people many times, the longer that one is in this industry, the less likely that you have created anything original. With a finite list of ingredients and an infinite number of bartenders, it is just a matter of time before someone re-“creates” someone else’s cocktail. While I’m more partial to my creation than Rick’s, if my palate were any different, I would probably be two steps away from ending up with the Orange Viola as a final recipe.

Below is the recipe for the Orange Viola as well as my Orange Viola wanna-be, the Novara. The Novara is a very interesting drink, in that it is one of those rare examples of what happens to a cocktail when its ingredients morph into a final product that makes the individual components indiscernible. The final product looks, smells and tastes like ruby red grapefruit juice. It really is quite remarkable. The Jasmine is another drink which sort of does this, but not to the extent that the Novara does.

Why Novara? In 1860, Gaspare Campari invented Campari the cochineal colored spirit in Novara, Italy. A good a name as any, I figured.

Please enjoy Rick’s ….

……………………………………………………………………………………
ORANGE VIOLA
1 ½ oz gin
¾ oz Campari
½ oz passion fruit syrup
1 dash orange bitters
shake with ice, and strain into a chilled rocks glass.
garnish with orange twist
……………………………………………………………………………………

Followed by my….

……………………………………………………………………………………
NOVARA
1 ½ oz Plymouth gin
½ oz Campari
½ oz Giffard’s passionfruit syrup
½ oz lemon juice
shake and fine strain into a cocktail glass
……………………………………………………………………………………

 

Also, I’ve just received a new macro lens for my camera. Prepare to see an increase of close-up photography as I play with my new toy.

Pictures of Novara and ingredients by:
Jamie Boudreau
www.vesselseattle.com

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~ by Jamie Boudreau on September 2, 2007.