Pepper Delirious
March 17th, 2009 | Published in gin
I’m going to go ahead and get this out of the way now: despite the fact that today is March 17, this is not, in any way, a post related to St. Patrick’s Day. Despite the fact that I am, somewhere in the family tree, Irish to some degree, I have never been a big “wear green and drink Guinness” kind of person. Let me just say that while I may make a big pot of colcannon and have a lager at various points during the year, this is another one of those holidays that has always felt artificial to me, like the beer-soaked, late-to-the-party cousin of St. Valentine’s Day.
Which is all a roundabout way of saying that the inclusion of green in this drink is entirely accidental, though very tasty.
Way back at Tales last year, this was one of the drinks featured in the “Juniperlooza” session. Created by Ryan Magarian for the recently closed Philippe Starck-designed S Bar in Los Angeles, the Pepper Delirious is a re-imagined gimlet that Magarian designed to showcase his Aviation Gin. For those of you who haven’t had Aviation, it has a very particular vegetal flavor that I have heard described more than once as “mossy,” though no one has used that adjective in a negative way. Bell peppers have become quite the popular ingredient over the past year or so and, as this drink shows, they can be a great addition in cocktails.
2 thin yellow bell pepper rings
⅔ c loosely packed mint
2 oz gin
¾ oz lemon juice
¾ oz simple syrupMuddle all ingredients together without ice. Add ice, shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a ring of yellow pepper and a mint sprig.
Given that I have a sickness that manifests as an ever-increasing number of gin bottles, it is likely no surprise that I love gin cocktails, particularly those in the “gimlet” family. Despite that penchant, however, I don’t have a bottle of Aviation at the moment and had to open and sniff every bottle until I found the one I felt was best suited to replicate this cocktail. I settled on Right Gin, produced in Sweden with an exceptionally dry character and a modernized botanical mix which includes peppercorns. Since Aviation is characterized by Magarian as a “new Western” style, it seemed best to roll with a less traditional gin.
Fortunately, the gamble paid off and Right made a perfectly smashing Pepper Delirious. Despite the savoriness of bell peppers as a general rule, yellow peppers are sweet enough to play well here, picking up both the vegetal characteristics of the gin and the sweetness of the simple. The lemon provides a nice tart balance, while the mint brings a lovely floral, herbaceous note that ties everything together. And if all that didn’t sell you, I served one to my mother and she loved it, so I’m sure you will too.
Like this? We also suggest:
- The Norma Jean — artichoke, cocktail, cynar, lemon, marianella, mint
- Olivette Cocktail — absinthe, cocktail, gin, lemon, olives
- Snowshoe — bourbon, cocktail, mint, peppermint, schnapps
- Prescription Julep — brandy, cocktail, cognac, mint, rye, whisk(e)y
- Corpse Reviver #2 — absinthe, cocktail, Cointreau, dr cocktail, gin, halloween, lemon, Lillet
