Reduction Introduction

For some time now I've been piecing together the essential constituents of a home bar. I firmly believe that drink, like food, is best constructed in a way that highlights the qualities of simple ingredients. You can go to some of the finest bars in LA and spend all night tipping rococo libations made with rarest liquors of the Mysterious East––and I will, gladly (my penny pinching tendencies, however, are too powerful to allow this with any regularity). I'm all for amassing a collection of rare ingredients for a home bar, but for now I start with the basics.

Grenadine.

Alton Brown has a recipe for a grenadine and grenadine molasses that I find to be quite enjoyable. (http://bit.ly/ZOC2a)

Four cups of juice is two of the two-lobed Pom bottles, which is what I used. Total cost was just under $4 for this, plus cost of sugar, which I already had. If you bought this grenadine, made with real sugar and 100% fruit juice, I'm sure you'd be shelling out in the neighborhood of ≥15 bucks. The photo above is what was left after a night of slinging drinks. I can't advise storing this stuff in anything other than an old whisky bottle, but use a mason jar if you must.

Orange Molasses made by the same process.

Keep in mind that the molasses is stronger in concentration. This is beneficial for two reasons:

1) You need less of it to impart the pomegranate flavor into a cocktail -- This is important if you're using traditional sized cocktail glasses with limited storage capacity.

2) It lasts longer in the fridge.

Y'all hold tight, I have some original cocktail recipes forthcoming.

D.