Blood & Water

“Blood & Water” won in the Malfy Gin category of the Indy Devour Summerfest 2022 Cocktail Contest

Blood & Water is a dramatic drink about learning to drink gin martinis and appreciate vermouth, the quest for the perfect orange cocktail, and the Catholic Mass

The biggest technique this recipe relies on is clarifying the citrus juice. It’s a complicate chemistry experiment, but it leaves a perfectly water-clear cocktail to drop the dramatic blood orange syrup into. There are many more practical reasons to clarify citrus juice as well, so it’s a skill worth learning.

You’ll need:

Gin (I split my base between Malfy Originale and Malfy Limone)- Dry Vermouth (I used Dolin Dry)- Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur- Lemons- Blood Orange Juice- Fresh Beets- Sugar- Water

Special tools:

Agar Agar- Food Scale- Ice Bath- Cheesecloth

I developed Blood & Water after listening to a few podcasts about vermouth. I’m always interested in learning the history and cultural significance of an ingredient and vermouth is a much maligned flavor in the cocktail world. It turns out that because I love white wine and the alpine-type herbs often used in my favorites gins, I actually really like Dry Vermouth.

I wanted to embrace the signature crystal clarity of a stirred martini, but I also wanted a powerful layer of orange flavor. I used to make martinis with orange vodka, triple sec, and lemon juice and I wanted to elevate that concept: the clear, but fruit forward drink. In order to get the finished product as clear as possible I had to clarify the lemon juice.

For my syrup I wanted a big red blood orange color and a nice thick viscosity. My first draft of syrup used fresh blood oranges and had the perfect color. But then blood oranges were out of season and the prepackaged juice was far too orange. I settled on beets for the perfect color. The earthy minerality that the beets imparted on the orange juice was a great bridge between the fresh citrus and complex herb flavours.

Initially I had set about to infuse my own base liquor. I was making this drink for a contest, and there had not been a gin category in the prior contests. I very much wanted the citrus and spice flavors of gin.

I started with a juniper and coriander base, typical to most gins. I added fresh ginger, lemongrass, lemon peel and blood orange peel.

The resulting infusion was delicious and pretty accurately hit the flavor I was attempting. However, the infusion also imparted a lot of color in my base spirit. It wouldn’t fit with my clear cocktail ideal, which was also very important to me. I tried to physically filter the infusion with cheesecloth and coffee filter but to no avail. I bought a centrifuge, but

They released the contest details and there was a gin category. The brand was Malfy, and while their Originale leaned too piney for my purposes, they also make a beautiful Limone, flavored with Amalfi Lemons. Splitting the base between the two was the perfect solution.

Step 1: Clarifying the Lemon Juice

I tried physical filtration on my lemon juice, but the results were not effective enough, so I learned how to clarify with Agar Agar. It took me about three tries to get the technique down right. I recommend being careful with timing and temperature, and to be very patient with the final step.

This process requires measuring by weight instead of fluid ounces. I’ll be using round number to make the math easy.

Juice lemons, let’s say you obtain 75g of lemon juice.

Set aside and chill 1/3 of that amount water, so 25g of water into the refrigerator.

You’ll take the total weight of your liquids to get 100g and then take 2% of that number to determine how much agar agar you need. So, weight out 2g of agar agar.

Mix water and agar agar and bring to a boil to allow the agar agar to bloom. After you’ve reached a boil and seen the reaction in the agar agar, cut the heat and very very slowly add in your room temperature lemon juice.

Pour this mixture into a small bowl in an ice bath, stir gently as the curds begin to form. Then let sit for a half hour or more before gently straining the curds from the liquid through a cheesecloth.

Step 2: Making the Syrup

I started with a fine strained cup of Natalie’s Blood Orange Juice.

I added 90g of finely chopped fresh beetroot and brought the mixture to a boil. I boiled until the proper blood red color was reached.

Turn off the heat, then mix in a cup of white sugar while the juice is still warm. Remove from heat, let cool and strain the beetroot out.

This picture illustrates the difference between using bottled orange juice (on the left) and fresh blood orange juice (on the right). The beetroot brought my mixture to the dark red color that the blood oranges naturally have.

Step Three: Making the Cocktail

1 oz Malfy Gin Originale

1 oz Malfy Gin Limone

.75 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth

.75 oz Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur

.5 oz clarified lemon juice

.5 oz blood orange & beet syrup

Add all ingredients except the syrup to your mixing glass. I chose to stir this cocktail to call on the classic martini with its smooth texture and clear appearance. Stir your cocktail until thoroughly chilled and properly diluted. Strain into a coupe glass and then sink the syrup to the bottom of your glass over the back of a cocktail spoon. The result should be two distinct layers of color.

Garnish with a dehydrated beetroot chip. Simply slice the beetroot thin and dehydrate in an oven, air fryer or dehydrator.