Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/960891
april 2018 / the tasting panel / 103 PHOTO: TIMOTHY MURRAY Young Kim Flatiron Room in New York, NY "The Frozen Storm" The Serve: Kim's serve is a decon- structed and frozen version of a Whiskey Sour featuring Glenfiddich 12 Year Old. The whisky, infused with ginger, pink peppercorns, pear, lemon, and honey, is topped with Champagne and showcased in a bowl. A decon- structed array of the Glenfiddich 12 Year Old's flavor components— spiced poached pear, apple, and seasoned nuts—are served on a tray alongside the whisky and aim to show the spirit's journey from malted barley to bottle. The serve is currently on the menu at Flatiron Room, which sells about two bottles worth of Glenfiddich per week strictly for use in her cocktail. The Inspiration: Kim says the idea for her serve came from her mother, who would give her an old Korean remedy for coughs as a child. "It was a traditional concoc- tion of pear that had been poached in pink peppercorn, ginger, and honey," she adds. PHOTO: TIMOTHY MURRAY Shaun Stewart Elk Room in Baltimore, MD "Avada Kedavra, Old Sport" The Serve: Stewart's serve first combines Glenfiddich 12 Year Old and a vanilla orgeat in a mixing glass before the mixture is slowly poured into the bottom of a tea siphon. In the top vessel of the siphon, Stewart adds orange peel, double bergamot Earl Grey tea, cardamom, clove, star anise, and cassia bark to create a handcrafted version of Boker's Bitters. After a flame is lit under the bottom vessel, the heated liquid ventures upward into the top vessel, where it infuses with the other ingredients before slowly returning to the bottom. Vintage tea cups are placed in front of each guest with a finger sandwich of cucumber, tomato, lemon, dill, and a little bit of oil to serve as a cleansing bite between sips. Stewart then pours the cocktail into a teapot for serving when it's finished steeping, and it's at this stage that the wizardry comes in: "In a second teapot, I add dry ice to already brewed Earl Grey tea, which will produce a fog that will go onto the surface of each cocktail and bring more of the wizard- ing world into it. I finish with a flash of green light and there you have it! Avada Kedavra, old sport!" The Inspiration: According the Stewart, the main inspiration for his serve came from his girlfriend, Elisa Hutter: "I wanted to bring a part of her world into mine by creating a cocktail influenced by her favorite book series, Harry Potter," he says. Fans of the books and movies will undoubtedly recognize the famous death spell in the serve's name, but the second half of its title relates to what Stewart calls a "little- known fact": "In The Great Gatsby when Jay Gatsby looks out over the water and sees a green light, it's actually the spell Avada Kedavra being used by American wizards to defeat Death Eaters," he quips. Some may call it revisionist literature . . . we call it creativity. PHOTO: GREG POWERS PHOTO: GREG POWERS