Ginger Baker (Rye Whiskey and Fresh Ginger)

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces rye whiskey or Makers Mark
• 8-12 very thin, nickel-sized slices of fresh ginger
• 2 thin lemon slices quartered
• agave nectar
• Ginger ale

Preparation: Muddle ginger and lemon in shaker. Sweeten to taste with agave. Shake with ice and serve on rocks in a double old-fashioned. Finish with ginger ale, and lemon rim/garnish.

Background

I've got quite a backlog of drinks to get up here, so let's dive right in. For the past few months, I've been working on many ginger-based cocktails, and there's a few that are awesome. There's not a hell of a lot of really excellent ginger cocktail recipes on the web. There's a lot of "throw a tiny bit in" and "finish with ginger ale" but nothing that will kill the chicken.

This cocktail is of course named for the inimitable drummer Ginger Baker, and nicks his wild-man east-meets-west fusion.  First a side track:

Did you know you can make delicious ginger lemon tea with ... lemons and ginger? Sorry Yogi Tea, your ginger-lemon tea is delicious, but I've haven't buyed you since I discovered you're not as good as muddling lemon and ginger slices fresh in a mug. Not even close.

So the ginger lemon tea is kind of like the foundation for the Ginger Baker. You might want to get good at making this before you try to make this cocktail.

Ginger Lemon Tea

8-12 very thin nickel-sized slices of fresh ginger
2 thin lemon slices, quartered
honey

Boil water. Slice ginger and lemon and add to a heavy ceramic mug. Add a small amount of hot water to half cover the contents of the mug. Muddle (with a blunt wooden muddler) everything well, really crushing ginger bits and getting all the juice out of the lemon. Add honey, and then fill the mug with hot water. Let steep for 5-6 minutes before drinking, since the ginger takes time to develop. I like to leave everything in the mug, but if you're fussy, you can strain.

Making the tea first is important, cause it'll give you a feel for how the ginger proportions work, and get your tongue used to that blast of fresh ginger. Now, you're ready to make cocktails...

We add some whiskey and change a few things and we're on our way to a level of cocktail bliss that will have you making these four at a time to keep up with demand. I can't think of any kind of whiskey (within reason) that this would taste *bad* with, but I recommend a sweet rye or Makers.

Muddle the lemon and ginger in a stainless shaker with a large drum stick (like 3S, marching sticks). Add the whiskey, agave, and ice and shake hard. Serve it rocks and all in an old-fashioned glass, and finish with a *small* amount of ginger ale. Lemon rim and lemon slice garnish. It's meant to be a simple, crude drink.

For a cleaner presentation, and a drink Ginger Baker would probably laugh at you for drinking, strain into a cocktail glass with sugar rim.  (Not recommended.)

  ...  next episode: The Saint Ginger!