A cockle-warming tankard of ale and gin, lifted with heady, woody spices and sweetened with sugar. It sounds like something out of a Charles Dickens story – and, indeed, it is.*
This mulled drink was popular in the nineteenth century, and it’s making a resurgence thanks in part to cocktail expert Tristan Stephenson. “Purl happens to be, in my eyes at least, one of the greatest warm winter pick-me-ups ever to grace a bar top,” he says. “Choice spices and herbs combine with malty beer, bitter wormword and the botanical aromatics of gin to form a delicious concoction similar to mulled wine.” Perfect for defrosting the extremities, and soothing the spirit, after a hard day’s sales shopping or a good winter walk.
Here is Tristan’s own recipe for a purl if you fancy making them to see in the new year. It’s from his book, The Curious Bartender’s Gin Palace (Hardie Grant).
For the Botanical Infusion:
150ml / 5 fl oz Plymouth Gin
3g crushed black pepper
3g bay leaves
3g sage
1g gentian root
1g wormwood
1g star anise
1g nutmeg
1g dried rosemary
For the cocktail (makes 700ml):
150ml of your botanical infusion
500ml or 2 cups brown ale
50g or 1/4 cup demerara sugar
50g or 1/4 cup caster sugar
Method
Macerate all the ingredients for the botanical infusion in a jam jar (or similar), leave for 2 weeks, then strain and reserve. You can speed this process up a little by pressurising the ingredients in a hand-held cream whipper, charged with a nitrous-oxide cartridge.
For the cocktail, build all the ingredients into a glass bottle or a large jar, allowing the sugar to dissolve. The cocktail can be enjoyed cold, straight from the fridge, or warmed up in its bottle. Adjust the sugar according to taste and feel free to play around with different styles of beer.
* In The Old Curiosity Shop he describes “a great pot, filled with some very fragrant compound, which sent forth a grateful steam, and was indeed choice purl, made after a particular recipe”.
A version of this blog was first published in November 2013.
