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Bijou


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Introduction
This second in a series of posts about craft cocktails details the process to make a Bijou.  The Bijou is not a well-known drink, although it's older than many of the popular drinks today.  It's unusual in its combination of flavors, so if you're not a fan of the whiskey-driven class of cocktails like the Old Fashioned, Manhattan, and variants thereof, you might want to give this one a try.  The bijou has an interesting vegetal flavor which makes it a bit lighter -- although not lighter in alcohol content -- than some of the usual heavyweights.
History
Like a lot of truly classic cocktails, the provenance of the Bijou is in question.  Also like a lot of truly classic cocktails, it makes its first documented appearance in the pages of Harry Johnson's bartenders' manual.  Harry Johnson worked in Chicago and New York in the mid- to late 1800s, and his work in documenting recipes and techniques is how much cocktail lore made its way to us.  
 
Believe it or not, this cocktail can be read as a variation on a Manhattan.  Like a Martinez, thought by some to be the oldest true cocktail, it's driven by gin rather than whiskey and incorporates a liqueur for flavor complexity.  But like the Manhattan, it uses the sweetness of sweet vermouth to balance the heavier alcohol of the main spirit, and it takes a dash of bitters to round everything together.  Studying old recipes for Manhattans, Martinis, Martinezes, and the bijou all together makes for interesting comparisons.
Flavors
Vegetal is a funny word.  It gets thrown around a lot, especially in instances (like this one) where there's something green involved, whether it's fair or not.  But I'd call this cocktail vegetal, if only because the herbal aroma from the Chartreuse, blended with the juniper of the gin, give this drink a nose very unlike most other drinks.  It has a bit of sweetness from the vermouth, too.
 
A confession, first: our recommended recipe isn't a classic Bijou.  Rather, it's a variation (from XX at Bar 1919) which pushes the gin forward and the vermouth and Chartreuse back for a cleaner, sharper taste.  It's worth making both ways, and you may find that your preference is somewhere in the middle.  Modern recipes have tended to follow my preferred version, but if you want to try the original, use the option below of equal parts of gin, sweet vermouth, and Chartreuse.
Ingredients
Start by gathering the ingredients.
•  Gin.  What, you don't like gin?  Try this drink anyway, because it's not gin-driven in the way other gin-centric drinks are.  A number of different types of gins work here.  My favorite is Plymouth, which is a little light on the juniper flavor and heavier on the other botanicals used in gin.  Better-grade London-style gins also work, such as Bombay Sapphire.  If you've got a favorite gin, try it.  BTW, if you hate gin and your only exposure to gin is a gin and tonic, then your reaction is likely to the bitterness of the tonic, not the gin.
•  Sweet vermouth (the red one, not the clear one in the green bottles).  Hey, did you know vermouth is just wine fortified with alcohol and flavored with herbs?  Yep.  That means that you should treat it like a wine in order to preserve its flavors: use a wine stopper that evacuates the air from the bottle, keep the bottle in the fridge, and use it within a month or so.  Martini & Rossi is a decent, widely available brand.  Save your Carpano Antica Formula for Manhattans.
• Chartreuse.  Either green or yellow will work, but green is preferred.  It's a little stronger and less sweet than the yellow.
Orange bitters.  There are a number of brands out there, and you can probably find these at your local liquor store nowadays.  If you don't have and don't want to get orange bitters, leave them out instead of substituting the more common Angostura (aromatic) bitters.
•  A lemon.  This is for the garnish.
•  Ice cubes.  Not crushed.  Make sure they're fresh, please.  Old ice can ruin the drink because it can pick up flavors from the freezer which can be transferred to your drink.  You should dump out your old ice regularly.
Tools
You'll need some version of all of these, but you certainly don't have to go buy everything I've linked to make this drink.  So long as you can accomplish the steps in the mixing process without compromise, use what you've got.  But don't cheat, or else your drink will suffer.
Mixing beaker or other container (I usually use a pint glass)
•  Measuring cup or jigger
•  Stirrer.  If you don't want to buy one, use a table knife, not a spoon.
•  Strainer.  Or be creative.  The strainer in the link is a julep strainer, which works well here because all we need to do is hold back some ice.
•  Coupes.  Hit the thrift store for something attractive, delicate, and relatively small.  Or you could use any number of other types of glassware.
•  Channel knife.  We'll cut a decorative strip of lemon with this.
Mix
Once you've got all of that, we're ready to go.  First, put your glassware in the freezer.  All of it.  Go away for a while; maybe 10 minutes.  The glasses need to be cold.  The Bijou is served up, meaning that there's no ice or water in the drink.  It's best served very cold, though, hence the pre-chill for the glassware.
 
Assembly, original version:
•  One ounce of gin
•  One ounce of sweet vermouth
•  One ounce of green Chartreuse
•  One dash of orange bitters
 
Or, my preferred version, thanks to XX at Bar 1919:
•  One and one half ounces of gin
•  One half ounce of sweet vermouth
•  One half ounce of green Chartreuse
•  Two dashes of orange bitters
 
Combine your preferred mixture in your (cold) beaker with perhaps 4-5 cubes of ice, or whatever fits.  Use the stirrer to, well, stir.  Keep stirring.  If you want a cold drink -- and you do -- then you need to stir vigorously for about 60 seconds.  Seriously, keep stirring.  Done?  OK, grab your glasses from the freezer.  Use the strainer and pour the chilled mixture into your glasses.  Done?  No, you're not.
Garnish
This step is, believe it or not, absolutely, critically important: while holding the lemon directly over the glasses, use the channel knife to carve a piece of lemon peel off the lemon for each glass.  Place one piece of peel in each glass.  DO NOT SKIP THIS.  As simple as this sounds, it's what gives this drink life: the oil explodes off the skin of the lemon, coating the drink and glasses, and it is CRITICAL.
The End
That's it.  Drink it, responsibly of course.  Hope you enjoyed the little bit of history of this unusual drink as well as a look at the techniques used to make it properly.  Check back for more drink-related recipes.  We think that craft is a process, and that means that it can be applied to drinks just as well as furniture.