Waiter, There's a Walnut in My Drink!

I've just made my third batch of nocino, that motor oil-dark Italian liqueur made from unripe walnuts, green as spring grass, hard as rocks and, when split open, with the nutshell discernable but not yet hardened. Fortunately for Portlanders, there were lots of walnut trees planted for landscaping purposes from the city's founding and well into the 20th century. Which means that in late summer, there are lots of walnuts (un)ripe for the picking.

Unripe green walnuts.

Fortunately for me, I happen to have a neighbor who knows what to do with these beauties. Jim Dixon has been making nocino from the walnuts on the very large tree in his parking strip for a very long time. A few years ago he invited me over to gather nuts and learn to make nocino, a skill I was very anxious to develop. (Read that story and get Jim's recipe here.)

Infusing in alcohol on the patio until fall.

That first batch was spectacular, a rich, dark elixir that smelled and tasted of walnuts and that, six years later, is still some of the best I've ever had, though there's only a thimble-full left. I made another attempt two years ago, but it somehow never came together the same way. I found out why when I made this year's nocino.

After draining off the solids, it was time to add the sugar syrup and, reading the recipe carefully to make sure I got the balance right, I realized that I'd misread the recipe two years ago. D'oh! So I quickly got out that batch, which I hadn't had the heart to throw out, and added in the missing portion of syrup. È eccellente!

Ready to be strained.

Between the two batches I now have around three gallons of liqueur in my cellar, which brings me to the point of this post. I've run across several articles touting the excellent cocktails that can be made with the addition of a touch of nocino, and Dave and I have been diligently working our way through them.

If you've been wanting to try nocino, there are several commercial varieties out there, but I can honestly say that none have measured up to Jim's homemade version, which includes nothing but alcohol and walnuts, eschewing the exotic spices that many add. But please, feel free to experiment with the following cocktails and, if you're so inclined, find a neighbor with a tree and make your own nocino next year!

Nocino Old-Fashioned
Adapted from Imbibe magazine

2 oz. bourbon
3/4 oz. nocino
4 dashes orange bitters
Amarena cherries

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass half full of ice. Stir until chilled. Strain into tumbler with two fresh ice cubes. Garnish with two amarena cherries. Serve.

* * *

Nocino Manhattan

2 oz. Old Overholt rye whiskey
1 oz. nocino
3 dashes Angostura bitters
Amarena cherries

Chill cocktail glasses in freezer. Fill pint glass or small mixing pitcher half full of ice. Add whiskey, nocino and bitters. Stir 30 seconds. Take cocktail glasses out of freezer. Strain liquor into glass. Drop two cherries into each glass. Serve.

Call Me Old-Fashioned

It was said to have originated in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1881, the concoction of a bartender at the gentlemen-only Pendennis Club. When I visited that bourbon-soaked city last year—the area is home to the likes of Maker's Mark, Jim Beam, Bulleit and Woodford Reserve, among others—the old-fashioned was the drink I ordered at the St. Charles Exchange (below left), the Pendennis still being a private club, though it now has "a handful of female members."*

Sitting down at the bar, I knew my answer when the bartender asked what he could get me. When ordering the signature bourbon cocktail in a bourbon-centric town, I should have been ready for the his next question, which was to ask which bourbon I'd prefer. Being somewhat unprepared (not to mention fairly uninformed), I asked what he'd recommend to a non-native interested in something local.

His choice, interestingly, was Old Forester, which was also recommended by the driver assigned to show me the area, who said he prefers it to many higher-priced bourbons. I was happy to find it at our local liquor store for well under $20, and it's since become one of our favorites for Old-Fashioneds and Manhattans.

Old-Fashioned

Adapted from Kenneth McCoy's version in the New York Times.

Dash of Regans’ orange bitters
Dash of Angostura bitters
Dash of simple syrup (see below)
1 tsp. of brandied cherry juice (we use syrup from Amarena cherries)
2 oz. of your favorite whiskey (see above)
Orange peel

Stir ingredients with ice in a mixing glass. Strain into an old-fashioned glass over three or four ice cubes. Garnish with a thick twist of orange peel.

Dave's Simple Syrup

Half Demerara or brown sugar with half water—stirred until mixed thoroughly—no heat.

* From Wikipedia.