Imbibe Magazine – November-December Issue
elements
A gingersnap-inspired spirit is making tastebuds stand at attention
Snap to It
The blurry boundary between food and drink can be a treacherous line to cross. Some foods, such as fruits and nuts, translate nicely into liquid form – but others, such as salmon, cupcakes pumpkin pie (to name a few recent examples), not so much.
By this rubric, Snap qualifies as an unexpected win. Introduced last year by Philadelphia-based multimedia design firm Art in the Age, Snap was inspired by the Pennsylvania Dutch lebkuchen, a sweet and spicy cookie that’s the ancestor of the familiar gingersnap. Mixing the flavors of molasses, ginger and nutmeg in liquid form could have resulted in a cloying, artificially flavored disaster. But where science falls short, nature provides. Rather than draw its flavor from the craft of the food chemist, Snap is produced using natural ginger, cloves, vanilla and molasses, among other ingredients, resulting in a spirit with a buttery aroma and a spicy bite. With a surprisingly dry character (Snap doesn’t have enough sugar to be considered a liqueur), this spirit inspired by a cookie avoids becoming yet another boozy confection.
Snap is providing useful as a cocktail ingredient, especially in drinks to be savored on long, cold nights. In Art in the Age’s hometown, Bar Ferdinand matches Snap with Spanish brandy and Mexican horchata in the Brandy Alejandro. Also in Philadelphia, bartenders at Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co. have mixed the spirit with banana chip-infused Venezuelan rum and cream, and with bitter vermouth and allspice liqueur.
Having recently expanded beyond its Pennsylvania base, Snap is appearing on more cocktail menus around the country. For its debut earlier this year, the Spare Room at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel introduced the Spare Room Snap, made with rye whiskey and agave nectar. In San Francisco, Town Hall head bartender Camber Lay developed the Three-Hour Tour, playing the crisp spice of Snap against the complexity of Calvados and a citrus-forward gin.
While Snap’s flavor seems especially appropriate in warming, wintertime cocktails, other bartenders are finding ways to use it in all-season drinks, such as the Pimm’s No. 3 at Range in San Francisco, which introduces Snap’s buttery depth to a classic summer Pimm’s cup; and in the Snap Swizzle at Sustain in Miami, which combines the spirit with mint and rum in a classic island-style drink. “Snap is very wintry, but it’s flavored with allspice and ginger, and those are traditional Caribbean spices,” says Sustain beverage director Daniel Toral. “Miami is hot throughout the year, so mixing Snap with mint and crushed ice in a swizzle makes the drink particularly refreshing.”
By Paul Clarke
Three-Hour Tour
Camber Lay at Town Hall in San Francisco devised this drink to match Snap’s spice with the botanicals in gin and the robust character of French apple brandy.
1 oz. gin (Lay recommends a citrus-forward gin)
1/2 oz. Calvados
1/2 oz. Snap
1 dash simple syrup (1:1)
Ice cubes
Tools: shaker, strainer
Glass: cocktail
Garnish: three thin slices of apple, overlapping in a fan pattern
Shake ingredients with ice until chilled, about 10 seconds. Strain into a chilled glass and garnish.
Camber Lay, Town Hall, San Francisco
Staring at the Sun
Philadelphia bartender Colin Shearn makes a complex-flavored refresher by matching the spice of Snap with the bitter bite of Punt e Mes and the richness of allspice liqueur.
1 oz. Snap
1 oz. Punt e Mes
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz. simple syrup (1:1)
1 tsp. St. Elizabeth’s allspice dram
1-2 oz. chilled club soda
Ice cubes
Tools: shaker, strainer
Glass: Collins
Garnish: lemon wheel and a straw
Shake ingredients with ice until well chilled, about 10 seconds. Strain into a Collins glass filled with fresh ice. Top with chilled club soda and garnish.
Colin Shearn, Franklin Mortgage & Investment Co., Philadelphia
Snap Swizzle
The allspice and ginger in Snap are familiar ingredients in Caribbean cuisine, and this drink from Sustain in Miami utilizes these flavors in a traditional island swizzle.
3/4 oz. aged rum
1 1/4 oz. Snap
1/2 oz. cinnamon syrup
10-12 fresh mint leaves
Crushed ice
Glass: Collins
Tools: mixing glass, muddler, strainer, barspoon
Garnish: mint sprig
Place mint leaves in a mixing glass and lightly bruise with a muddler. Add liquid ingredients and stir to combine. Strain into a glass filled with crushed ice and swizzle until the drink is combined and the glass starts to frost, adding more ice if necessary. Garnish.
CINNAMON SYRUP: In a saucepan, bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Remove from heat and add 4 to 5 cinnamon sticks; let mixture steep for 15 to 20 minutes, or until it reaches desired strength of flavor. Use a slotted spoon to remove the cinnamon. Add 1 cup of granulated sugar, whisking until completely dissolved. Alternately, you can use a commercial cinnamon syrup, such as B.G. Reynolds.
Daniel Toral, Sustain, Miami
