Fallen Leaves

Just as summer clothes are disappearing from the department stores in preparation for fall, so too should we start thinking about libations that we can use to celebrate the turning of the season.

I've got a standard drink that I always march out at the beginning of Fall, and use it to celebrate this time of year. It's the "Fallen Leaves" cocktail, a drink that I ran across in Charles Shumann's "American Bar". It's a drink that he created, and it's amazing that such a delightful little drink hasn't found its way into more recipe guides and restaurants.

Fallen Leaves

• 3/4 ounce Calvados (or Apple Brandy)
• 3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
• 1/4 ounce dry vermouth
• dash brandy

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and garnish with a lemon twist (see note below)

Both the flavor and aroma of this drink remind me of walking through an apple orchard just as the leaves are beginning to fall, which shouldn't be much of a surprise, given it's name. You’ll also note that this drink is a little smaller in size (just a little over 2 ounces of total liquid), as such I recommend that you treat it as a “celebration” of the spirit and the season, rather than a “big cold one” to knock down after work.

I first encountered this drink when a bartender asked me if I knew the recipe, or if I could find it. I hadn't heard of it, but with my growing library at home, I felt confident that if it was even a slightly established (and worthwhile) cocktail that I should have it somewhere. After a lot of hunting, I finally found it listed in only a single book in my collection, the aforementioned "American Bar". I sort of have a love-hate relationship with this book. Many of Mr. Shumann's personal recipes are quite good, but then he totally messes up on some of my favorite classics, such as the Old Fashioned. But then I think it is safe to say that there aren't any cocktail recipe books that get ALL of their recipes correct, which is why it is important to have a fairly good collection of books to use for cross reference if you are at all serious about mixology.

You can make this drink either with true Calvados apple brandy from the Normandy region of France, or you can use any other good quality Apple Brandy or Apple Jack.

There is an important step in making this cocktail correctly, which is easy to overlook, and that involves the lemon twist. If you are doing your general lemon twist garnish properly, then you are all set to make this drink as it should be. More often than not however, I see bartenders getting this all wrong, and this drink specifically will suffer in such a case. The important thing to remember is that the lemon twist isn't just a pretty decoration on the cocktail, but it actually is capable of adding a very subtle flavor component to the drink. This is coming from the oils contained in the skin of the lemon, which are expelled out during both the cutting of the twist, as well as the actual twist itself. Here are the steps that you should always take when producing a lemon twist to garnish a cocktail:

1. Always make your lemon twists fresh. (see exception below)
2. The fresher the lemon, the easier to cut the twist
3. Using a channel knife, cut the twist OVER the glass so that the oils being released will fall into the glass.
4. Twist the lemon peel OVER the glass, so again any oils being released will fall into the glass.
5. If you rub the lemon peel on the rim of the glass, be sure to rub the COLORED side of the peel against the glass, this is where the oils are, and the whole purpose of rubbing the rim of the glass is to deposit oils onto it.

As I indicated, there is an exception to fresh lemon twists, and that is when you don't use a channel knife, but instead use a paring knife to cut a wide and long (about the width/length of your thumb) strip of peel. A lot of oils are released when a channel knife is used, but most of the oils remain in the skin when you cut a wide/long peel. And thus can be cut ahead of time and then carefully squeezed over the drink to properly express the oils.