Fable of the Fig
A brandy old fashioned sweetened with a house spiced fig syrup and finished with aromatic and orange bitters, stirred over a large cube with an orange peel and a fig slice.
Ingredients
- 2 oz / 60 ml Brandy
- 0.25 oz / 7.5 ml Spiced fig syrup (house recipe in batching notes)
- 2 dashes Angostura aromatic bitters
- 1 dash Orange bitters
- Technique
- Stirred
- Glass
- Double rocks
- Ice
- Large cube
- Prep
- 4 min · Intermediate
- Garnish
- Expressed wide orange peel dropped in, and a thin slice of fresh fig (or a halved dried fig) on a pick across the rim.
- Approximate strength
- about 30% ABV in the glass
- Allergens
- None listed
Method
Place one large clear ice cube in a double rocks glass.
One stone of ice. The fable is told slowly.
Add the brandy, the spiced fig syrup and both bitters directly to the glass over the cube.
Brandy, the dark syrup from the back of the pantry, and two kinds of bitters to keep it honest.
Stir with a barspoon for 20 to 25 seconds, until the glass is cold to the touch and the syrup has fully dissolved into the spirit; a single cube in a heavy glass will not frost the way a mixing glass does.25 sec
Stir until the glass goes cold in the hand and the syrup disappears into the amber.
Cut a wide strip of orange peel, express the oils over the surface by squeezing it skin-side down about two inches above the glass, rub it around the rim, and drop it in.
Orange oil on top, like the last line of a story read aloud.
Add a thin slice of fresh fig, or a halved dried fig, on a pick resting across the rim, and serve.
The fig goes on the rim, where the fable began.
Flavor notes
The brandy carries raisin, toffee and oak; the fig syrup adds a jammy middle with cinnamon and clove held in the background; the orange bitters and peel lift the top. The syrup is richer by volume than 1:1 simple syrup, so at 0.25 oz the drink as written sits at standard old fashioned sweetness and reads spirit-led.
Substitutions
- Brandy: Cognac VSOP, 2 oz (60 ml) · Drier and more floral than a Spanish brandy; the fig syrup may want to rise to 0.375 oz (11 ml).
- Brandy: Bourbon, 2 oz (60 ml) · Becomes a fig whiskey old fashioned, with more vanilla and corn sweetness.
- Spiced fig syrup: Rich demerara syrup, 0.25 oz (7.5 ml), plus one dried fig muddled in the glass before the ice goes in · A quicker route to the fruit when there is no syrup made; strain out the fig pulp or accept a rustic glass.
Without alcohol
Stir 2 oz (60 ml) strong cold-brewed black tea, 0.5 oz (15 ml) spiced fig syrup and 2 dashes of a zero-proof aromatic bitters over a large cube for 15 seconds; finish with the expressed orange peel and the fig slice. The tea gives the tannin and weight the brandy would have supplied.
Batching
House preparation, spiced fig syrup: 8 oz (225 g) dried Black Mission figs, stemmed and quartered; 2 cups (480 ml) water; 1.5 cups (300 g) demerara sugar; 1 cinnamon stick, cracked; 2 whole cloves; 1 wide strip of orange peel. Bring the figs and water to a simmer in a saucepan and cook 10 minutes. Add the sugar, cinnamon, cloves and orange peel, stir until the sugar dissolves, and simmer 5 more minutes. Remove from the heat, cover, and steep 30 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, pressing gently on the figs, then bottle. Add 0.5 oz (15 ml) brandy to the bottle as a preservative if you like. Makes about 2 cups (480 ml). Keeps refrigerated 3 weeks; discard if it turns cloudy or fizzy. Batch for 8 drinks: 16 oz (480 ml) brandy, 2 oz (60 ml) spiced fig syrup, 16 dashes Angostura, 8 dashes orange bitters; bottle and keep refrigerated up to 1 month (the syrup is the perishable part). Pour 2.25 oz (67 ml) over a large cube, stir 10 seconds, and finish with the orange peel and fig.
Brandy and spiced fig syrup in the old fashioned shape
Every autumn pantry has one jar at the back with a story in it. Here it is dried figs, simmered with demerara sugar, a cinnamon stick and a few cloves into a dark syrup that smells like a baker's apron. Fable of the Fig sets a quarter ounce of that syrup against two ounces of good brandy, adds bitters, and stirs the whole thing over a single large cube. It is an old fashioned with the fruit turned up and the spice held just behind it, a slow drink for the end of a long day.