Chapter Six Cocktail

 

Toast to your fall fig harvest with this recipe from Bull Valley Roadhouse mixologist Tamir Ben-Shalom. We learned he was the first hire when Earl Flewellen, Samuel Spurrier, and David Williams opened the Port Costa restaurant almost 11 years ago, and he’s now the restaurant’s sole owner, having taken over when the founders decided to step out of the hustle during the pandemic disruption.

Ben-Shalom has always been generous with cocktail recipes for Edible East Bay, and his recipes always come with stories that resonate with the Roadhouse’s pre-Prohibition–era vibe.

“This one began with a fig jam a guest donated for me to try,” he says. “I knew that a good way to incorporate jam into a mixed libation is to make a sour that includes egg white, and I knew that an herb like rosemary would be necessary to connect with the figs. Tequila as a base spirit would let the figs shine through, and lemon brightens it all up, but another layer was necessary: Tequila and dry sherries are a match made in heaven, and the manzanilla sherry’s salinity really smoothed out the cocktail and enhanced all that savory-ness.

“This drink first went on the menu in the late fall of 2013. The name, Chapter Six, is quite simple. It refers to how the six ingredients play well together like a story—and it sounds old timey.”

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To make 1 cocktail

  • 1.5 ounces tequila blanco
  • 1 ounce fig jam (recipe at right)
  • .75 ounce lemon
  • .75 ounce rosemary syrup (recipe at right)
  • .5 ounce egg white
  • .5 ounce manzanilla sherry

Add ingredients into your shaker and dry shake vigorously for five seconds. Add 6 to 8 cubes of ice and shake vigorously again for 10 to 15 seconds. Double strain into a coupe glass.

To make the fig jam: Combine 2¼ pounds of fresh figs in a pot with ¾ cup sugar, ¼ cup champagne vinegar, and some pinches of salt. Bring up to a simmer and cook until thick. Cool before using in the drink.

To make the rosemary syrup: Steep several rosemary sprigs in hot water (like brewing tea) for 30 seconds. Strain and steep again with fresh sprigs for 2 minutes. Strain and measure the rosemary tea by weight. Add the same weight of unrefined organic sugar and stir until fully dissolved. Cool fully before using in the drink.