Laissez les bons temps rouler!
It’s 5pm and it’s been a long day and I need a place to relax, so I walk across the street and down a few blocks to a+, one of the swankiest bars in downtown Houston.
Looks like I’m the first customer in the bar today. Matt, the bartender, is still setting up tables and prepping the room.
I’ve been here before and I’m back today because on the first Tuesday of every month a+ introduces a featured cocktail with special happy hour pricing. The happy hour price is nice, but I really come to see and taste what’s new. I’d hate to get stuck in a rut by not sampling what’s available.
Matt finishes his work, comes around the bar and I ask, “What’s the featured cocktail today?”
The young bartender (he drives in from near the Woodlands for this gig) tells me, “Le bon temps. It’s Navan Cognac, lime juice, simple syrup and pineapple juice. It’s a little sweet but you might like it.”
I know that le bon temps is French for “the good times.” Somehow that’s appropriate since most of the folks in New Orleans are letting the good times roll today. It’s Fat Tuesday, the movable feast of Mardi Gras.
I’ve never tasted Navan and the happy hour price is right.
“Yeah, I’ll try one,” I say. (My french is no good so I don’t embarrass myself by trying to say the name.)
le bon temps
2 ounces Navan Vanilla Cognac
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
4 ounces pineapple juiceshake and serve on the rocks
Matt is pouring le bon temps already premixed and ready behind the bar, so I don’t have to wait very long.
“Fresh squeezed?” I ask. The pineapple flavor is spot-on and the drink is sweet, but not too sweet.
“Yes,” beams Matt, “both the pineapple juice and the lime juice are fresh squeezed. Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“The cognac shines through,” I say, “you know, with all this pineapple juice it’s too bad you don’t shake it. That would give it a nice foam in the glass.”
I nurse the drink for the next thirty minutes or so, after all, I’m here to relax.
The crowd in the bar is growing steadily. Seems Alden is hosting a book signing at 6pm. Some nights the crowd would be welcome. Not tonight.
“One’s my limit, I’m driving home,” I tell Matt. I pay my tab and I’m out the door.
a+, the bar at Alden-Houston
1117 Prairie Street
Houston TX 77002
(832) 200-8800
www.aldenhotels.com
What do you do with Dubonnet?
Straight spirits, even with a dash or two of bitters, are still just spirits and nothing too fancy. Gin (or Vodka) with no vermouth ain’t a martini, it’s booze.
You can’t make a mixed drink without a mixer.
Vermouth is probably the most familiar mixer for cocktails and mixed drinks, but it’s just a start. A good start, but just a start.
There are hundreds of possible mixers available from every part of the world. Most, like vermouth, were originally designed as a beverage in their own right, usually as an aperitif (before a meal) or a digestif (after a meal). Rosso (red) Vermouth on the rocks with a freshly cut slice of orange remains a marvelous start for a meal, especially with Italian cuisine.
So how about the aperitif that the Queen of England loves so much: Dubonnet? According to its producer’s web site, Dubonnet is the U.S.’s top-selling aperitif. Who knew?
What the heck is Dubonnet?
Similar to Vermouth, Dubonnet is a wine-based spirit that’s infused with herbs and fortified with additional neutral spirits. Dubonnet is sweeter than Vermouth and, unlike Vermouth, Dubonnet has quinine added giving it a certain bitterness as well.
Here’s a drink you should be able to order at just about any bar, should they actually have Dubonnet:
Dandy Cocktail
2 ounces rye (or bourbon if you must)
2 ounces Dubonnet
1 dash Angostura bitters
3 dashes Cointreau
Shake, serve up with lemon or orange twist
This drink is a lot like the manhattan, although the Dandy is quite a bit sweeter at these proportions.
