Published June 18 by

Popcorn Sour

Ever since the Cinema Highball in the PDT Cocktail Book, we know about popcorn and spirits. It is all the more surprising that I haven’t seen anyone do the obvious so far: Popcorn infused Bourbon! Both are made from corn, and both have something distinctly American about them.

Popcorn Sour
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  1. 50 ml popped Bourbon
  2. 30 ml lemon juice
  3. 20 ml maple syrup
  1. Shake, and strain on ice into tumbler.
blog.hedonisms.ch https://bartending.ch/wp/
The key is to use corn that has been freshly popped in a hot air popcorn maker. These come in quite cheap (around 40 CHF), and they are a good thing to have around in your bar. If you buy popcorn or make it in a pan, you also get salt, butter or diacetyl; and you miss out on the volatile aromas that are emitted during the popping.

Popped Bourbon
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  1. 30 gr popcorn, freshly popped with hot air
  2. 750 ml of Bourbon (eg Bulleit)
  1. Mix, rest for 12h, then strain. A substantial portion of the Bourbon will be soaked up by the popcorn (about 20%), using a cheese cloth and squeezing the popcorn can reduce the loss to about 10%.
  2. The result will be slightly cloudy, which can be amended if you filter with a coffee filter. However, this is at the expense of some popcorn flavour; and if you'll use the Bourbon in a sour, I wouldn't filter it.
blog.hedonisms.ch https://bartending.ch/wp/
 I have a feeling that the popcorn infusion also remove some of the tannins of the Bourbon; especially in the sour it feels extremely light for an aged spirit.

Further ideas

Another thing that might be work giving a try is acetylpyrazine, a food-grade flavouring component which, when heavily diluted, supposedly supposedly tastes like popcorn. However, with 300 CHF for 100 gr, it is quite expensive for an experiment.

 

Aequivinius

Aequivinius

We live in the days of a second renaissance of mixed drinks, and I hope that I can make my humble contribution to reviving the art and taking our craft to a new level. I am currently living in Tokyo, exploring the mysteries of the hard shake and Japanese whisky.

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