Birch's Gaby Mlynarczyk has been in the bar business for a long time, and her food-friendly drinks at this Hollywood restaurant work perfectly for their Sunday roasts, which features a British-heavy menu. Think roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and a "proper" English breakfast laden with Heinz beans, grilled tomato, sausages, and black pudding. Eater went over to get some mystery ingredients at the nearby Hollywood Farmer's Market to see if Mlynarczyk was up to the challenge of making some quaffable cocktails on the spot.
The first ingredient was pomegranate, which the bartender thought to give a Middle Eastern slant. Mixing rosewater and the intensely flavored pomegranate molasses with the fresh seeds, she balanced the bourbon base with a dose of pinot noir, which kind of filled in the middle (the top being acid, the bottom being sweetness or booze). Simple syrup, lemon juice, and egg whites finished off the cocktail before she took some fresh cracked black pepper and whole pomegranate seeds to garnish. Essentially, it was a perfect kind of pomegranate bourbon sour.
Next, she tried on the sommerfeld apples, which had a long sweet finish on the palate. Mlynarczyk used a base of caramel and calvados, a French apple brandy, then added some cardamom bitters for complexity. She used brown butter-washed syrup for sweetness, and a blend of apple cider vinegar and lemon juice for acid. After shaking and pouring into a collins glass, she finished it with a float of apple lambic and a dusting of nutmeg. And that crabapple might be the best looking garnish to ever land on a brunch cocktail. These drinks aren't on the normal menu, but if you ask Gaby what's in season, she might just be able to whip something up on the spot again.
Birch
1634 North Cahuenga Blvd
Los Angeles, CA
