Year: 2024

Spring is finally here. It’s not like it’s been a long, cold and lonely winter — more of a muddy, slushy, test of emotional endurance — but the idea of mild, pre-mosquito weather is a deeply appealing one.

The time has come for porch-sitting.

Maybe not for a long stretch of time — it still gets chilly after dark — but it’s definitely the start of Porch Season. Which, of course, calls for cocktails. It’s probably a little premature to break out the tiki mugs yet (that’s what Memorial Day weekend is for: action movies and loud Hawaiian shirts) but definitely something with a hint of the tropics.

Which, sooner or later, means grenadine.

If you’re not a huge fan of tropical drinks, you might not be terribly familiar with grenadine. In theory, it’s a syrup made from pomegranate juice that will lend a juicy flavor to a cocktail, typically one with five or more ingredients. In practice, it’s a bright red syrup that mostly gets added to drink recipes to add sweetness and a tropical roseyness. Think about a tequila sunrise: That beautiful ombre color comes from grenadine and orange juice playing off each other.

Is there a way to make grenadine a more active participant in your porch-sitting cocktail?

As it turns out, there is.

Making your own grenadine

Combine one part sugar and two parts unsweetened pomegranate juice in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it comes to a boil. Stir to make sure all the sugar has dissolved, then remove from heat.

That’s it.

This is really good grenadine. If you happen to have a bottle of regular grenadine laying around, do a taste comparison. Taste the commercial stuff. It’s fine — it’s sweet and vaguely fruity, about what you’d expect from grenadine. Now try the homemade stuff. The sheer juiciness of this might rock you back on your heels. It’s sweet, but not cloyingly. It tastes deeply purple, with a little acidity that tickles those glands under your ears that flare up sometimes when you eat sharp cheddar.

Now try the commercial grenadine again. Why have you never noticed that artificial flavor before? This tastes like corn syrup and sodium benzoate.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m as big a fan of artificial ingredients as the next man. If they make something taste better, or keep it from molding, or make it feel better in my mouth, I’m all for it.

And yet.

This homemade grenadine tastes an order of magnitude better than the commercial stuff. It’s also incredibly simple to make. There’s no excuse not to.

Pomegranate Daisy

• ¾ ounce homemade grenadine (see above)
• ¾ ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1½ ounces dry gin – I decided not to go with a fancy gin this time and used Gordon’s; I think it was a good call

Combine all ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker.

Strain into a coupé glass.

Ask your digital assistant to play “Everyone Come Outside” by the Pomegranates. Sip contentedly on your front steps, calling out to strangers: “Forgive the intrusion, but you’re having a Very Good Hair Day!” or “Bless you, Child of the Universe!”

The best way to describe this cocktail — an abridged version of a classic Clover Leaf — is “juicy.” The homemade grenadine shines through, and its tartness plays off the lemon juice. A botanical gin, or some other gin that takes itself too seriously, would shoulder the juices aside and demand attention for itself. A modest, workmanlike gin like Gordon’s is a team player. It makes itself known and gives the enterprise a backbone but is happy to give equal billing to the juices.

It’s a good taste to take with you to the porch.

Featured photo: Pomegranate Daisy. Photo by John Fladd.

Barley House offers a DIY approach to bloody marys

Nikki Miller likes bloody marys.

“They are full of nostalgia, and absolutely delicious,” said Miller, a veteran bartender at The Barley House Restaurant & Tavern in Concord.

She likes them so much that she has put together a weekly event on Sundays called “Build Your Bloody.”

Patrons can order a bloody mary to exacting specificity: what type of vodka — or tequila for a bloody maria — and how much of it, extra seasonings, and, of course, what garnishes they want.

“Customers like to sit at the bar and watch me make it,” Miller said.

For several years, around the country, many bars have been in a bloody mary arms race to make the brunch-friendly cocktail with more and more extreme, over-the-top garnishes, a challenge Miller doesn’t shy away from.

“People like to order it because it’s fun and they’re super-hungry,” she said. The add-ons range from the classic celery — which complements the celery salt that is traditionally part of the spice mixture that gives a bloody mary its kick— to gherkins, olives, cocktail shrimp (“the big fat ones,” Miller enthuses), pepperoncini, or sometimes “just a big hunk of cheese.” Sometimes she has garnished a bloody mary with bacon-wrapped scallops.

“We have a regular who always orders an appetizer platter next to his, because it’s a snack as well as a drink,” Miller said.

Far and away, however, the most popular garnish is the Barley House’s house-made candied bacon.

“I have some customers who are all about the bacon,” Miller said. “They are really unhappy if they don’t get two slices of it.”

Miller came up with the concept for Build Your Bloody while tending bar on New Year’s Day. It’s usually a quiet day, because any rowdy customers have been up very late the night before, celebrating. Most of the customers had ordered bloody marys, and Miller thought about how much fun it would be to set up a bloody mary bar. The idea has turned out to have legs. Bloody marys are very popular on Sunday mornings, though Miller takes issue with the idea that they are just for brunch.

“We have a stigma in our heads that it’s just a breakfast cocktail,” she said, “and that just isn’t the case.”

Aside from the garnishes, the Barley House makes its bloody marys with vodka and a house-made bloody mary mix that Miller describes as “heavy on the horseradish, with spices and pickle juice.” She recommends Tito’s vodka, which she says has a clean taste that stands up to the spice-heavy bloody mary mix.

“I like to rim the glass with Tajin,” she said, referring to Tajin Clasico, a Mexican chile-lime powder.

As she thinks about new bloody mary garnishes, Millier said, she’d like to experiment with house-pickled fresh vegetables.

“We’ve talked about putting mini-sliders on skewers,” she said.

Bloody mary how you like it
The Barley House Restaurant & Tavern
132 N. Main St. in Concord, thebarleyhouse.com, 228-6363
Build Your Bloody runs from 11:30 a.m to 3 p.m. on Sundays.

Featured Photo: Photo courtesy of The Barley House.