Divya: Hi, I’m Divya Gugnani. You’ve probably seen the iconic Dubonnet posters and wondered what is Aperitif Wine. So let’s go behind the burner and meet a bartender at Louis 649 in New York, New York to find out.
I'm here with owner and bartender Zachary Sharaga. Zachary, I’m ready for cocktail. What are you making for me?
Zachary: I’m going to make you a really simple cocktail everybody can make at home which has some Dubonnet Rouge, some Beefeater gin and some bitters and some soda water and it’s called the “Dubonnet fizz”.
I'm going to start with a mixing glass chilled preferably, keep it all in your freezer. Keep those drinks nice and cold. We have some chilling collins glasses, you could always quick chill with ice and water at home, or keep it in the freezer also. That will save some space for the cocktail ware.
We’ll start with two ounces of Dubonnet rouge and we’ll do one ounce of gin, a couple dashes of bitters and then we’ll just stir that up.
Divya: This is such a nice, ruby red color. And it’s an aperitif, so it goes with lots of different liquors and wines and you can mix up with Prosecco, you can do a lot of things with it.
Zachary: Very versatile liquor or aperitif based on quinine flavor and it’s a fortified wine that's infused with tons of different flavors and herbs and spices.
We’ll add some gin to that, a couple dash of bitters which in the cocktail world acts as a binding agent, or a bonding agent I should say. As far as the ice we use for all of our drinks and for those of you at home, always double freeze your ice. So you’ll take some water, boil it. It removes all the oxygen. You can boil it again or you could just throw it in there and you’ll get really crystal clear ice. So we’ll stir this drink up, throw in some beautiful ice in there and give it a stir. The best way to do it is thirty or fifty times of stirring to give it a really nice amount of dilution.
Divya: Is that a precise thing you got to work out?
Zachary: That's a precise thing, I’m counting as we speak.
Divya: It’s an application not really bartending.
Zachary: Take a little due lip strainer.
Divya: So tell me why you’re straining?
Zachary: We’re straining to not have the ices fall into the glass. Always fresh ice, if you're using juice in the cocktail, always fresh juice. We’re going to top that off.
Divya: Another good tip for us
Zachary: Top that off with a little fresh soda water which should come from the fridge. You want all of your ingredients to slow the dilution of your drinks so you can enjoy it longer.
Divya: And he’s making it bubble and pouring it over to the top so I’d definitely drop it on my dress.
Zachary: We’re going to garnish this drink with an orange twist and rub that around the rim and there you go, the Dubonnet Fizz.
Divya: I’m ready to taste it. It is fizzy for sure and incredibly refreshing. It has a little bit of citrus notes, floral notes in it and it’s just a good cocktail.
Zachary: You do get a really nice orange and all the herb properties from it.
Divya: Yeah, I do.
Zachary: Because the gin really lends to opening it up on the Dubonnet.
Divya: I like it. Thanks.
For more cool cocktail recipes visit doyoudubonnet.com, better yet submit your own. Stay tuned to Behind the Burner where we give you the tips, tricks and techniques that are light in the culinary world on fire.
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