Smashing Lady

I dropped into Whole Fields to pick up some stray ingredients: dried pears, dried cherries, Lady apples, lemons, limes and POM juice. I come up empty on the dried ingredients. The POM is for the homemade grenadine. The big container of POM is $10.99. I decide that I have to go to Jewel (local grocery chain) anyway, so I may as well pick-up the POM there where it will be less expensive. The Lady apple I know was a long shot, but they have Pink Lady's and that's good enough for me. After checking out I head over to Jewel. I again come up empty on the dried cherries and pears. The same POM costs $12.99 - interesting. I suck it up, sort-off and buy a smaller size.

Tonight's objective is the Smashing Lady based on "tiny Lady apples". My Pink Lady isn't all that small, but I'll think we'll manage. I've decided to taste all the liquors on their own going forward so I have a sense for what's going into the drink. I taste the apple brandy. It tastes like whiskey. I don't really get any "apple-y" flavor. I know my wife will hate it.

This recipe calls for muddling apple spices with simple syrup. I consider myself a good muddler. I even have two muddler's. I've loaded ten apple slices (a double recipe) into my boston shaker. Sadly, muddling apples is not the same as muddling citrus. The apples are much more tenacious and don't surrender their juice easily. Additionally, using simple syrup means I've lost the grittiness of sugar which would have facilitated the muddling. In the end, I muddle through. (Officially, the first and last muddling joke.)

I add the rest of the ingredients, shake and pour. I give one to my wife, a bit hesitantly. She love its. I think it's decent. She loves it so much that she asks for a second. This time I add the slice in stages muddling along the way (that's not a muddling joke). She enjoys the second and it's got a better pulpiness from the modified muddling technique.

Rating: 3; Difficulty: Moderate for tough muddling