Tangerines in the Air

I had a recipe from May 30th for a sidecar made with tangerine juice. The problem was finding tangerine juice or the little buggers themselves. No luck anywhere.

Friday I hit the big liquor mart in Louisville and found a quart bottle of tangerine mixer: tangerine juice from concentrate and cane syrup. I figured that was close enough. I went to Whole Foods later and hoped I might find the real thing there, but no luck. I did find some nice dry aged strip steaks though. Next best thing.

Tonight I shook up the sidecar: Jim Beam black, the juice (which straight from the bottle is tarter than orange juice), lemon juice, and Cointreau. Verdict: OK, not great, orangey-tasting bourbon.

The magic calendar gives a couple alternative recipes. The first one says to make it on ice in an old fashioned glass and add a splash of club soda. I liked this one a lot better. I also upped the tangerine juice to 1:1 with the bourbon, so that may have helped. I'm not sure why diluting it with water helps, but it does.

Number 3 was over ice, no lemon juice, 1:1 tangerine to bourbon, and a splash of orange flower water. This version was too orangey, like the orange vodka concoction from a few weeks ago.

And now I have almost a quart of tangerine-sugar mixture taking up space in the fridge.