The Tasting Panel magazine

March 2011

Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/26650

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 72 of 108

WHAT’S TRENDING Tea Time t CHAI-MINDED MIXOLOGISTS BRING TEA BACK TO THE BAR CHAI-MINDED MIXOLOGISTS BRING TEA BACK TO THE BAR story and photos by Fred Minnick ea is not necessarily Chicago mixologist Charles Joly’s secret ingredient. But it did help him win $100,000 on the NBC web reality show On the Rocks late last year. “I did a quick infusion with a really aromatic black tea and then torched it over the top of the cocktail,” says Joly, head mixologist of the Drawing Room, whom the Chicago Tribune recently named Beverage Professional of the Year. “Tea gave a welcomed aroma.” On the Rocks was also where Absolut introduced its new product Absolut Wild Tea to the world, making it another tea-related spirit in the marketplace. There are now tea liqueurs, bourbon teas and sweet tea vodkas, while mixologists across the country are infusing tea with gin, vodka, cognac and bourbon. Joly says he’s had success infusing gin and green tea and red tea with whiskey. “Working with tea reminds me a lot of the same ways that we use jams and mar- malades,” Joly says. “It’s just a fun layer of complexity. You can capture flavors that you can’t really capture in other ways.” Charles Joly, the chief mixologist at the Drawing Room in Chicago, strains tea for his Guild Meeting, a tea punch made with Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur and Rittenhouse rye whisky. 72 / the tasting panel / march 201 1

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of The Tasting Panel magazine - March 2011