Valentine proprietor Blaise Faber’s assessment of cocktails is the same for music: There’s nothing new. It’s all been done, one way or another.
But that hasn’t stopped him and his team at Bar 1912 - the speakeasy-style sister establishment adjacent to the celebrated Melrose District restaurant - from taking on tradition with unique spins and carefully curated ingredients.
“How you do your proportions is really how you can twist and adjust,” Faber says. “We do classics on our own terms.”
An unusual take on an after-dinner classic is one of the bar's latest examples.
The Grasshopper, known for its sugary profile reflecting melted mint chocolate ice cream in a glass, is said to have been created in 1918 by a New Orleans bartender for a cocktail competition in New York City. It caught on shortly after.
The Grasshopper’s popularity has waned over the decades yet it has continued to survive in cocktail nostalgia, thanks in part to its candy persona and a glowy emerald hue.
Faber has strong personal feelings about the original concoction made of creme de cacao, creme de menthe and cream.
“It’s really dense and sweet, overly sweet,” Faber says. “It’s nothing I’d want to sip on.”
But rather than ignoring it, Faber decided to take it on with signature Bar 1912 tweaks, using premium ingredients with origins close to home. His version resembles a sophisticated, subtle and sippable Andes Chocolate Mint candy with a delicate sea green foam top.
“This drink is modeled around the flavors of a Grasshopper, but also kind of an Italian soda with the cream float,” Faber says. “It steps outside the mold.”
Blaise Faber's idea of using chapulines — dried and seasoned grasshoppers from Mexico — inspired his version of a Grasshopper cocktail.
Georgann Yara
A grasshopper with a grasshopper
In this case, the concept for the garnish came before the cocktail it sits on. Faber was developing new recipes for Bar 1912’s cocktail list. The Bebidas Prehispanicas section of the menu focuses on celebrating ingredients and processes native to Mexico that predate the Spaniards' landing in America.
Faber was intrigued with the idea of a garnish that incorporates chapulines, dried and seasoned grasshoppers enjoyed as a crunchy, savory snack in Mexico. Like nuts or trail mix, chapulines are sold in resealable bags.
He asked Valentine pastry chef Crystal Kass to create the garnish, because he thought a cookie might work. But multiple-time James Beard Award semifinalist Kass didn’t think the chapulin's delicate form would stand up to the heat of the oven.
Wanting to preserve the grasshopper's form, Kass determined a small chocolate disc was the answer.
“I thought tempering chocolate would work best because the chapulin could fit on top, the chocolate would solidify and keep the chapulin on it nicely without it falling off,” Kass explains. “We all decided white chocolate would work best and we rolled with that, tested it out. It fit nicely on top of the foam and it looked beautiful.”
Ideally, Kass likes to fit an entire body on each disc. However, because some arrive broken in the bag and she doesn’t want to let any piece go to waste, sometimes patrons get a wing or leg instead of the whole insect.
With the finishing touch completed, Faber crafted a cocktail that presents “a grasshopper with a grasshopper.”
The Grasshopper cocktail at Bar 1912 is made with a bevy of spirits and liqueurs, a housemade creme de menthe foam and a white chocolate chapulin garnish.
Georgann Yara
Nods to the original meet modern twists
Faber uses original ingredients creme de cacao, creme de menthe and cream, but not in a traditional way. A housemade cacao tea is the anchor in the base of the cocktail and creme de menthe and cream are roleplayers in the pale green foam on top. The cacao tea is made by grinding cacao pods, adding the grounds to water in a pressure cooker, and straining. This is one of eight ingredients that come together to form the cocktail’s base, which is made in batches.
The tea is combined with mezcal and Hoja Santa extract, an herb used in Mexican dishes and remedies that offers a black pepper sarsaparilla spiciness. Creme de cacao and creme de cacao extract, which adds some bitterness for balance, are nods to the original Grasshopper. Vanilla bourbon, bay extract and the herbal liqueur Genepy round everything out.
The base is topped with a creamy foam composed of fruity Mexican tarragon extract, creme de menthe, chartreuse, cream and Xtabentun anisette liqueur, which hails from the Yucatan. Spirulina, an algae that’s used in native Mexican cuisine, is responsible for the soft green hue.
“It’s got earthy mossy flavors, but gives it this nice green color, so you get that cool mint look without doing mint all the way,” Faber says.
The result is a well-balanced, creative take that flirts with a minty-sweet side but is far from the in-your-face dessert profile of the original. Even those who turn their noses up at sweet drinks will succumb to the charms of this contemporary version of a vintage after-dinner cocktail.
