Amer Picon
This is a post that I’d started several weeks ago, but just hadn’t had the time to finish. I apologize for the delay.
Several months ago, after a visit to Zig Zag, the boys there took pity on me as they observed me pining away (yet again) after a bottle of Amer Picon that they had prominently displayed in order to intrigue the recreational bar fly, and infuriate/frustrate the devote barkeep (i.e. me). After months of wistfully wishing that I had developed the fan base that Murray Stenson had acquired from God knows how many decades of bartending in Seattle, (yes Murray, that was a dig; get your own blog and respond), enabling him to acquire countless obscure spirits whenever one of his regulars goes on vacation, he decided to throw this old dog a bone, and give me one of his bottles (and yes, there are many) of Amer Picon. (Is it just me, or was that last sentence way to long?)
After peeing in my pants, jumping up and down with glee, and giving the staff strict instructions not to touch the bottle until I had photographed and tasted it, I settled down to decipher the liquid gold that was in the bottle. What made it so special that it was named in dozens of cocktail recipes, and why wasn’t it available now?
After a little bit of research, I discovered that while I had no idea why distribution was pretty much limited to France, the recipe for Amer Picon had changed in the 1970’s. Rumor had it that the new Picon was a shadow of its former self, not only in flavor profile, but in proof as well. As I had really enjoyed the taste of the bottle so graciously procured for me, I began to fantasize (as I tend to do when thinking about the bars and spirits of yore) of old Amer Picon, aged, wizened and yet barrel-chested, daring all before him to challenge his greatness.
As I absolutely loved my cocktail experiments with the Amer, I decided that there was no way that I would allow myself to run out of this treasure. I needed to find a source for more, but how? I know of but one person in France, but he rarely comes to this continent, and having him ship bottles of booze from France to here can quickly become costly. So, in my booze-addled mind there was only one solution: make my own.
Step one in the process involved my acquiring some Torani Amer, which from what I understood was America’s answer to Amer Picon. Since I live in Washington, California and its wonderful online liquor stores came to the rescue.
Tasting the Torani next to the Picon immediately revealed that they were not the same beast. While Torani had a higher proof, which I enjoyed, it was more vegetal than orange on my palate, and not a good base from which to start my experiment. Having said that, let it be known that Torani Amer can be used in recipes calling for Amer Picon with pleasant results, albeit some adjusting will be needed in ratios and while the drink won’t be the same, they will still be darn tasty.
Another base was needed, so I looked to my shelf at my selection of Amaros. Montenegro would be too citrusy, Nonino too sweet, but Ramazzotti, with its orange and chocolate notes, would suit Goldilocks just fine.
Having tasted the Ramazzotti next to the Amer Picon, I noticed that the main difference was the lack of bold, complex orange flavors in the amaro. Figuring that orange tincture would fix the problem, I headed down to the cellar to acquire some of the orange tincture that I had in jars for just such an occasion. Adding it to the Ramazzotti, I realized that while it was really close, it was missing some complexity in the orange department. Looking around for different orange flavors, my eyes fell on a bottle of Stirrings Blood Orange bitters. Would it really be that simple? Apparently the answer was yes! I had discovered the Fountain of Youth, and it was to be bottomless.
Cut ahead to the Lost Ingredients seminar at Tales of the Cocktail. The seminar having just ended, I approached Ted Haigh, and introduced myself. We had first had contact years ago when he had asked me for a sample of my citrus bitters, but this was the first time that we had met face to face. I produced a sample of my Amer Picon, which had just been discussed, and his face lit up as he realized what I had.
“Someone get LeNell!”, he exclaimed as he tasted my amer. LeNell approached, and upon seeing my little bottle of Picon, procured, as she had just moments before with Dr. Cocktail, a hip flask which contained a sample of the original, pre-formula change, Amer Picon. A woman with these talents should be invited to every gathering!
Tastings ensued, with Ted, LeNell, Robert Hess and Paul Clarke giving the consensus that my Amer Picon was essentially identical to the original, with just slightly more sweetness.
Comments noted, when I arrived home, I set about adjusting my recipe, which I now present to you:
AMER BOUDREAU
3 bottles Amaro Ramazzotti
7 ½ cups orange tincture
¾ bottle Stirrings Blood Orange bitters
¾ liter Evian
place all ingredients into a container and stir.
allow ingredients to get to know each other for at least one week.
filter and bottle.
keep excess refrigerated.
ORANGE TINCTURE
take any size jar, and fill it half way with dried orange peel.
fill remainder of jar with high-proof vodka (I use Smirnoff Blue Label)
let sit for one to two months
strain and filter
TIPS:
to shorten infusion time, shake three times a day and infuse for three to six weeks
high proof vodka extracts more flavor, so if possible, use Everclear and infuse for three weeks, then, after filtering, add water to bring down the proof.
My current favorite drink happens to be a creation of mine that uses the Amer Picon. Sort of a cross between a Creole and a Brooklyn, this is a cocktail that never fails to put me in my happy place.
For your drinking pleasure, I give you the:
NIRVANA COCKTAIL
2 oz Rittenhouse 100 proof bonded rye
1 oz Amer Picon
¼ oz maraschino liqueur
¼ oz Benedictine
stir and strain
garnish with orange twist if desired
Recipes and pictures by:
Jamie Boudreau
www.vesselseattle.com
.
Nice post and nice pictures!
Though the Nirvana has for my taste to many different liqueurs (if you call Amer Picon a herbal liqueur).
And a really fantastic research (the whole story finding the original Amer Picon…)
Opinionated:
You should give the Nirvana a shot. Don’t think of the Amer Picon as a liqueur, think of it as a bitter that is balancing the sweet of the maraschino and Benedictine.
I haven’t tried this with commercial Amer Picon (as I have none left), so I’m not sure on how it would hold up.
So without sitting down and doing the math, which makes my head hurt, is the primary difference between this recipe and the one I ran in Imbibe the addition of Evian? Or did you adjust the proportion of tincture to the rest of the mix?
Do you think this recipe would hold up in reduced quantity? I’d like to try it with one bottle.
Paul:
Main difference: less Stirrings (means less sweet), added water.
Blair:
It will totally hold up if you keep the quantities the same. My first attempt was a small, two bottle batch.
[...] Amer Picon « SpiritsAndCocktails.com [...]
Coow Woow » Amer Picon « SpiritsAndCocktails.com said this on September 10, 2007 at 6:01 am |
Jamie LOVE your blog, your recipes and your way of working very nice! LeNell and I have been talking also about Amer Picon I have been analyzing it as well. I’ve been finding that a tiny amount of the Torani added into a formula adds a slight bitter edge that the Original Picon has ( i have a small amount of the original)
It is just a shame that Diageao refused to promote Picon or relaunch it in it’s original form. There is so much continued interest in it that one would think they would consider it but again this is wishful thinking on my part. But some other defunct products are now returning to the market maybe the time is rite.
Kev
I am definitely trying this. A few month’s back Ted made my boyfriend a Picon Punch with real Amer Picon and it was transcendent. Being able to have one of those again is too tempting to resist.
Just got back from the store with my orange peel and some 190 proof neutral grain spirit.
Just out of curiosity, why dried peel instead of fresh orange zest or orange oil?
Tradertiki:
Orange oil provides a different flavor profile, as does fresh orange zest. I’ve also found that when making tinctures and/or bitters one should always use dried products or the shelf life of the final product is GREATLY reduced.
Hm, I think I now have a suitable use for my extra bergamot tincture
This may just be the motivation needed to finally acquire the ingredients for creating Amer Picon. Maybe … it looks like I can actually special order that Amaro through the Pennsylvania system.
I can’t recall if a source for Seville orange peel was in Imbibe or not; where do you get yours?
Beautiful cocktail shot, as always.
Interesting notes on the shelf life of products using fresh vs. dry spices.
I make liqueurs like Nocino, Sloe Gin, and Limoncello with fresh ingredients all the time, and don’t particularly notice a shelf life problem. Are you talking about things that have been around for more than a year? Anything with organic materials is going to continue to evolve over time, the only way to stop that, is to distill.
I do agree about the flavor profile differences, though.
Rick — right here: http://tenzingmomo.com/Qstore/p000596.htm
Erik:
In the past, I’ve found that occasionally, when fresh ingredients are used in tinctures/bitters, a organic film will form over a period of months. I don’t refrigerate either, though. To keep expenses down, I tend to use dried ingredients, as I won’t get a nasty surprise in two months time, and have to throw out product and start again.
Just curious if the type of orange peel is important? You’ve listed Seville Orange peel (Citrus aurantium -Bitter Orange). Would regular dried orange peel work too? (Citrus sinensis – “sweet” orange).
Nick:
As I haven’t used that peel, I couldn’t say. If I were to hazard a guess, however, I would say that if you were drinking the Picon straight, you’d probably notice a difference, but if you are mixing it in a cocktail the difference would probably be imperceptible.
Give it a shot, and let me know how it turned out.
Hmm I really want to try this. Any idea where I can possibly get Amaro Ramazzotti? I live in the south (Alabama to be exact) and I have to drive to Mississippi to even get anything exotic. Do you think most liquor stores would order it for me?
Kevin:
I’m afraid that as I am Canadian, I don’t know anything about Alabama liquor stores or laws. Your best bet would be to phone your local liquor store and ask them if they will find this item for you. You might want to try one of the many online liquor stores that abound on the web as well.
Jamie, what would you think about a version that used an alcoholic orange bitters (e.g. Regans’) rather than the non-alcoholic Stirrings, in order to cut the sweetness down a bit? Would that bring it more in line with the sweetness of the original Picon? Or perhaps a mixture of the two?
Chuck:
I needed to make the final batch less sweet, not more bitter. The solution to this was to a reduce the quantity of the Stirrings product in the recipe; I still wanted the “different” orange flavor for complexity.
The recipe that I’ve posted has been adapted since we met in NOLA, and I feel that it reduced the slight sweetness that showed through when we tasted my old batch with the vintage. I had thought about adding the bitters, but the Stirrings solution has seemed to work.
[...] Boudreau breaks down Amer Picon and provides his recipe for this ‘lost ingredient’ in ‘Amer Picon’. Make your own, then go back and make Paul’s punch; you won’t regret [...]
cocktailnerd » Blog Archive » Spotlight On!: Best of the Blogs - September ‘07 Edition - A blog of most things cocktail and alcohol related said this on October 17, 2007 at 9:47 am |
Thanks very much for the recipies for the Amer (which Chuck has taken to calling “Amer Boudreau”, love it) and the Nirvana! Both are outstanding.
This weekend, I bottled my first attempt at your Amer recipe, and overall I like it a lot. I feer I may have messed it up a bit, though; I could not find true Seville orange peel and so used a dried bitter orange peel purchased from a local, high-quality and well-regarded Asian herbal medicine shop. Seems like a great product (the peels are *whole*, not grated or even chopped at all, and seem to be almost entirely zest with little or no pith. The problem is that I think they are “aged” and seem to have a bit of a funky, musty smell about them that was definitely noticable in the tincture (made with 100 proof Smirnoff and the shake/1 month infusion method), though less so in the finished Amer. Could you provide a bit more in the way of description of what the end-result tincture is supposed to look/smell/taste like? Mine, at the end of a month infusion with daily shaking, was a VERY dark orange color — so dark that you could only see its orange tint by looking at held up against the light. Is this anything like it should be? My quest for actual Seville peels continues, and once found I’ll immediately start another tincture, but I’d like to know how far off my current batch is.
Anyway, thanks again — I’m enjoying a Nirvana as I type this and it’s just great! An excellent use of “your” Amer, along with (if he’ll pardon the plug) Chuck’s Hoskins Cocktail.
Cheers!
Mike S:
Your final tincture should not be a dark color, but rather a light amber color. I’ve used a couple of different orange peels in the past and have never had that color before. Maybe dilute it with more vodka?
Thanks. I’m sure it was the peels I used, I figured almost from the start that they were not right. Ah, well…start again! That is, if I can ever find the damn things.
Jamie:
I’m having a tough time finding dried seville orange peel, even here in new york city. I came to your recipe from a slightly different angle – it was printed on a handout of homemade bitters recipes I got from LeNell’s. The recipe on that sheet (credited to you of course) doesn’t specifically call for seville orange peel in the tincture, and just specifies “orange peel”. It does however call for I believe less blood orange bitters and instead some amount of fee’s orange bitters. Is this perhaps to balance out using a less bitter orange in the tincture? If I were to follow the recipe above, do you know a reliable online source for seville orange peel? Thanks!
Hi,
Where can one buy this stuff?
Paul:
It has come to my attention that one does not need to use Seville oranges, and that the bitter orange peel that I had purchased was probably not Seville after all (damn sales person!). Tenzing Momo sells orange peel (see Paul’s comment above)
Djamel:
To the best of my knowledge Amer Picon is only available in parts of Europe. As to exactly where, I don’t know.
[...] 3/4 ounce Amer Picon (I used Jamie’s replica) [...]
The Cocktail Chronicles » Blog Archive » Who’s Bitter? said this on January 28, 2008 at 11:30 pm |
The Amer Picon-recipe looks fantastic, I have to try… especially because my father-in-law gave me his old Danish cocktail recipe book from the 60ties – and it has a few delicious-looking recipes with amer picon.
?
I just have a few questions before I get set and go:
The best way of getting dried orange peel where I live (in Denmark) is in brew-your-own-beer shops where you’d typically get 100 grams of bitter curaçao peel.
How much do you actually need for 7 1/2 cups of orange tincture – and would you guess that that kind of peel is o.k.?
and btw. – how much does a canadian cup contain
oh and finally – am I right, did you downgrade the amount of Stirrings? If so, how much??
Niels:
1 cup = 8 fluid ounces
When making tincture, fill the container half full with peel. Fill completely with alcohol. Seal.
The recipe listed above is the final recipe.
Jamie: A friend and I spied a bottle (the old formula) at the Cliff House in San Francisco about a year or so ago. We gave the young female bartender instructions as to how to make the drink and it turned out beautifully. Alas, my friend recently visited the Cliff House and the bottle was gone. I had heard some years back that, given the sizable Basque population in the Bay Area, Amer Picon used to be consumed in substantial quantities, hence the demand for a cheaper version i.e. Torani. Some months back, Eric Felten in the WSJ devoted a col. to Amer Picon. He remarked that Torani was an adequate substitute for the original. As one of your bloggers points out, it just ain’t so. I’ll try your recipe. Thanks for sharing it.
[...] Since I can be a complete doofus in person and especially in a public presentation, I invited three remarkably talented panelists to help flesh out the session. Erik Ellestad and I will cover the home enthusiast’s end, with examples ranging from simple but tasty infusions — that’s a boatload of Tequila por Mi Amante in the photo, soaking away in preparation to being poured for whoever shows up — to compound syrups (falernum! orgeat!) and house-made liqueurs such as Swedish punch; we’ll then kick it over to the pros: John Deragon from PDT in New York and Jamie Boudreau from … uh, his apartment in Seattle, I guess … who will cover house bitters, fat-washing and more complex ingredients such as Jamie’s vintage Amer Picon replica. [...]
The Cocktail Chronicles » (Are they just making this stuff up?) said this on June 24, 2008 at 11:20 pm |
[...] along with finishing up a large batch of falernum and decanting nearly a gallon of Jamie’s Amer Picon replica that are also for the [...]
The Cocktail Chronicles » Come Dine With Me said this on July 7, 2008 at 10:05 pm |
[...] ounce Amer Boudreau (housemade Amer Picon replica, using Jamie Boudreau’s [...]
The Cocktail Chronicles » MxMo New Orleans: Oh, the choices you’ll face… said this on July 28, 2008 at 9:49 pm |
[...] You can try to make it yourself using Jamie Boudreau’s recipe, Amer Picon. [...]
Underhill-Lounge » Creole Cocktail said this on August 1, 2008 at 7:01 am |
Jamie,
Before commenting on this excellent article, I want to express my admiration for your inventive mixtures, for your wonderful photographs, and your interesting and fun blog posts.
That said, I have to appologize ’cause I am a French person. And as a common French guy, I am living in France. This causes me a lot of troubles because most of the recipes you present in this blog involve ingredients that I cannot find here. However, there is an ingredient that I can buy as easily in France as you can buy Evian water in the U.S. This ingredient is called Amer Picon. Since I cannot find orange bitters, I sometime replace it buy Amer Picon (and sometimes by Angostura depending on whether the orange taste is essential or not). But Amer Picon is not exactly like an orange bitters. It is more like a bitter orange liqueur.
Actually, Picon is mostly used in France in a similar way as crème de cassis is used in Kir or Kir Royal. I would say that at least 90% of Picon sold in France is eventually used in the so-called “Amer bière”, which is basically 3 to 6 cL of Amer Picon with 25 cL of cold lager beer. This beverage is very popular in the North-East of France and in Belgium.
PS: let a thin slice of lemon float in your glass of Picon bière. Enjoy!
[...] than perfect in the Brooklyn. The best alternative for Amer Picon is generally considered to be Jamie Boudreau’s recreation, but if you don’t have the time to make that Ramazzotti works very nicely. The guys over at [...]
Brooklyn Cocktail » Cocktail adventures at Oh Gosh! said this on September 12, 2008 at 8:20 am |
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Jamie – I’ve made a batch of your amer picon replica, but I’m not sure if it needs to be refrigerated. Can you shed some light on this? Thanks!
Fred:
Given the amount of alcohol, I wouldn’t think so, but having said that, I’ve always kept it in the fridge, so I can’t speak from experience.
I have an old bottle of amer picon. Yet I just can’t bring myself to open it to taste the difference. I do not know the proof of my amer picon, as there is not a proof labled on it. I’d love to know what the difference would be from picon amer of old and new plus the replica. Has anybody tasted the high proof to know the difference?
Jeanette:
read the article above and you’ll see the differences between the old, new and replica
I see the replica and the new. Then I re-read and found what I was looking for. The replica had an essentially the same taste with just a little more sweetness. I wondered how old the bottle was that he tasted, all it said was pre 1970’s. Not the actual year he had. I would love to know how old his bottle was. But, I will try the replica and not open my bottle : ). CHEERS
Oh crud . . . I just put together two bottles of the Orange tincture, yet now I realize that I didn’t dry the orange peals first . . . Just pealed the oranges and threw the peals in. Is my tincture going to taste right or should I just dump it all down the drain and start over? PS – How much vodka is “7 1/2 cups”?
Hi Jamie! I’m in the process of duplicating your recipe.. two questions:
One, I picked up an 80 proof vodka instead of 100 proof. Do you think it will be the same result if I omit the Evian at the end?
Two, have you experimented with using orange vodka instead of making the orange tincture? I was thinking that it may make things faster/easier.
Roman:
The result will be similar, but not the same as higher proof alcohol picks up more flavours than lower proof alcohol.
Orange vodka is not the same as the tincture as the flavours are artificially produced and the color will not be the same. One also gets a touch of bitterness when using the tincture. Most orange vodka has a distinct sweetness to it.
The tincture will taste different and your shelf life will not be as long as if you had used dried peels in the first place. Dried peels are fairly easy to purchase, and you shouldn’t have to be drying out your own.
As for your next question: 7 1/2 cups = 7 1/2 cups. If you need to convert it to some other measurement (cL? L? oz? mL? quarts? pints?)then go to one of the many online converters that the web offers.
Does anyboyd know how to date a bottle of amer picon? I have an old one but am getting conflicting statements on how old it is. I even went to diago, but they said it was from 1950’s via a 1960 advertisement.(Am not sure how that worked,) they wanted to trade me a couple of bottles of anything they made for it. Then I found a 1920’s advertisement that looked similar to my bottle. It says belgium on the bottle and it has a B 03 54 perforated on the lable. It looks like it was hand perforated. It also has the signature in a different place than other bottles I’ve seen and around where the oranges are and the g. picon is,, my bottle is again different. I am thinking it is like from barrel 03 or bottle 03 1854 since it has the belguim addy. It also had a lead ring around the top of the bottle. Anybody got any suggestions?
Well since I used some fresh instead of dried orange peal, instead of tincture I got some nice vodka infusions going on. Apparently this doesn’t take very long as the vodka already has a nice fresh orangie flavor.
As far as measurements I guess what I should have asked was how many cups are in a liter? But I can look it up, no biggie.
Jay:
As many photos of the bottle as you can give us will be necessary to judge.
Dear Jamie,
Please send me your e-mail address as this site won’t let me attach photo’s. I’d be happy to send you all I have.
Thanks,
Jay
Jay: my email address can be found under Contact
[...] going to cut it in this drink, so set about creating Jamie Boudreau’s Amer Picon replica, Amer Boudreau. After steeping my orange peels in vodka I set off to pick up a bottle of Stirrings Blood Orange [...]
The Bywater Cocktail by Chris Hannah of Arnoud's French 75 Bar in New Orleans » Cocktail adventures at Oh Gosh! said this on March 20, 2009 at 1:18 pm |
[...] handful of folks out there with a sample of Bittermens mole bitters and/or Jamie Boudreau’s Amer Picon replica, I used these in the original incarnation, in place of the mescal and Averna, respectively. Try out [...]
The Cocktail Chronicles » 30/30, #17: Theobroma said this on May 3, 2009 at 10:23 pm |
[...] back before we moved to Rhode Island. My plan was to make a small batch of Jamie Boudreau’s Amer Picon replica. Well, I’ve had the bottle for nearly a year, haven’t made the Amer Picon, and have [...]
MxMo: New Horizons — A Dash of Bitters said this on May 18, 2009 at 1:09 pm |
Normally I would just give it a shot, but not having tasted Amer Picon I have little as a point of reference.
Ramazzoti, Which I do not have access to, is a Medium Amaro, no? How would it differ from, say, Jaggermeister?
Ian M:
Unfortunately Jager and Ramazzotti have little relation. While they are in the same family, they are about as similar as Cabernet and Riesling. Ramazotti is no where near as sweet or viscous and has nice notes of chocolate and orange. Other available amaros such as Montenegro, Averna or Nonino don’t really match the flavor profile either.
Good luck!
Hey, there. I’ve made your Amer Picon replica, which is great stuff. I made a cocktail with it, recently, when a friend issued an Iron Chef style challenge to make drinks based on sage. I like what I came up with, and since a good deal of credit goes to he who reinvented the Amer Picon, I thought I’d throw it on here. Anyway, here is the Tenochtitlyn, as brooding and strange a drink as I’ve ever had:
1 oz. Mezcal (unaged, I used Los Danzantes Mezcal Minero)
2 tsp. Pedro Ximinez (PX) sherry
1/2 tsp. Amer Picon replica
2 fresh sage leaves
Combine all ingredients, and muddle the sage leaves. Add an ice cube. That’s all.
Matt P:
An interesting concoction indeed!
[...] Picon such that drinks like the Picon Punch taste off using it, making it worthwhile to mix up your own replica of the original, but that takes two months! Regardless, the Hoskins was invented with the Torani [...]
[...] At Spur, I’m a fan of David Nelson’s Pear Rum Swizzle, and Jamie Boudreau makes a fine Amer Picon replica. At Liberty, my favorite right now is a rhubarb liquor that I use for a punch which is mixed with [...]
Making Your Own Liqueur « Alcohology said this on July 9, 2009 at 8:39 pm |
Jamie,
I realise this will only be a poor-man’s imitation of your picon, but how would using Ramazzotti and a dash or two of Angostura Orange bitters approximate in a cocktail like the Brooklyn?
Richard:
It will very very loosely approximate Picon. The drink will still taste good at any rate.
[...] So while waiting for the two month soak of my orange tincture to finish for a batch of DIY Amer Picon, I decided to experiment with summer [...]
Jamie – wondering if you bring this to Tini Bigs – would love to try your version. Am about to embark on making my own – with 1 bottle of Ramazotti – which looks like it yields 2 bottles of Amer Boudreau. Having done some research and some calculation it looks like your version nails the proof and flavor profile. Question – what other amaros did you try this with? (nonino?)
jason (in seattle)
…seems to have cut out one sentence….”nailed the proof when using 151 (gets you to 80 proof vs. original of 78) – why would you use lower proof vodka or water down the 151?
Fantastic article and recipe. I’m completely intrigued and may just try it. One question before I get started: I may go for the quicker Everclear version of the orange tincture because I’m impatient like that, but you note to “add water to bring down the proof.” How much water would you recommend? I’ve never tasted an orange tincture before so I’d have no idea how to mix to taste. I worry I’d over dilute it, or not dilute enough. And do you add the water at the beginning of the process or the end?
Cheers.
Where can I buy this drink in Australia.
Steve:
Bring down as much water as is needed to bring the proof down to 100 proof. Also, disregard the point that says add water after filtering and add the water to the Everclear before macerating: you’ll get more flavour that way.
Jason:
everything was done to taste as opposed to recipe. I rather have the product taste right than appear right on paper. I have tried this with all of the amaros available in WA and Ramazotti was the one that worked.
I recently discovered your site and I am starting my orange tincture today and will try your recipe. I grew up partly in Bakersfield CA and I am hooked on Picon Punches. I usually buy Torani Amer from Wineglobe but I still have a bottle of Amer Picon that is all but drained to the last drop. My question is about the bitters. My local store does not have the Stirring, is it worth trying the Fells West India Orange Bitters? Also I understand the Stirrings is sweeter than most of the other orange bitters, I am not sure I want the extra sweet. Any advice appreciated on using other orange bitters.
[...] two solutions to this problem though neither is perfect. First you could make your own using the recipe created by world famous bartender and molecular mixologist Jamie Boudreau which those who have had [...]
Cocktail Of The Week (The Brooklyn) « said this on August 23, 2009 at 1:34 pm |
Jay:
I’m not familiar with Fells, so I can’t make a call on it. When I added the Stirrings, I wanted another orange flavour for complexity. I wasn’t looking for something bitter (or sweet for that matter). Stirrings fit the bill. It is also easily found on the web (and in most Safeway stores).
Jamie,
What are your thoughts on including the Amaro Ramazzotti in the Vodka Tinture to steep for a month or two or will that dilute it all too much? Perhaps that will add some additional complexity to the brew.
[...] talking! The amaro is great in combination with the chocolate, especially if you are using Amer Boudreau with it’s “jacked” orange component. And interestingly enough the bitterness of [...]
The Criollo: Mixing with Mozart Black Chocolate Liqueur « Stirred, Not Shaken said this on August 27, 2009 at 5:36 pm |
Jay:
The recipe as listed almost exactly replicates pre-change Amer Picon
Thanks for coming in and checking out my first attempt. I’ll try harder next time.
Dear Jamie, If I use Everclear for my tincture do I add 20% water to cut it down to 80 proof? Thank you so much for taking the time to share this. John
Sorry did not see your post to Steve. If you bring the proof down to 100 first doesn’t that slow the process down again. John
Tasted the final product after two weeks “marrying” and Wow is it good! Very nice balance of several sweet orange notes with mild bitterness. Jamie, thanks for the recipe.
John Cavanagh: Let it sit for a bit (a week) in the everclear and then add water for the last bit of maceration.
Thank you, I already dropped it to 100 proof and will take it slow I have time. Do you have the most authentic recipe for Picon Punch by chance? John
John:
http://www.cocktaildb.com/recipe_detail?id=1747
Thank you so much. Keep up the good work. John
That photo is stunning! In case you’re wondering how someone sees a blog entry from a couple of years ago, I was reading Beachbum Berry’s Sippin’ Safari, followed a link in his glossary to Cocktail Chronicles’ falernum recipe, then a link from that page to here. I don’t know if you will read the new comments, but I’m glad I found your site. Great posts and beautiful photos!
Forgot to add, I love the actual glass you used in the picture on this page. What you did with the lighting and color scheme really enhanced the beauty of the glass etching.
I absolutely love Amer Picon and beer. It’s pretty much all I drank when I got to visit my friends in France. The problem is I live in NYC and it is no where to be found, or at least bought. I know of two bars that carry it (and it’s $$$), but I cannot get an answer from any liquor store, Beer craft stores, etc. on where to but it, or if it’s even imported here. If anybody knows, I would greatly apprecitae it. Thank you.
Hi guys, feel real sorry for all of you in the States, just had 2 nice Nirvanas with real Amer Picon, have 3 more bottles out in the shed!! One of the advantages of living near France.
All the best, Roy, Newquay, Cornwall, U.K.