Eight Arms In

A Deep-Sea Dive of a Drink

I ’m going to fess up: I’m offering you a not-quite wine drink in this wine issue. The Eight Arms In Cocktail is built around piquette, which has been having a moment the past few years, even if it’s been around for centuries. Think of piquette as wine by-product—people rehydrate the pomace often tossed out. Sometimes it’s called “third wine,” following the free-run juice and the wine made from pressed grapes.

Historically piquette was a drink for the people who couldn’t afford wine or those who couldn’t afford to consume higher-alcohol drinks—it generally comes in between 5–7% ABV. (It is to wine what porter traditionally is to beer: a luncheon drink for the working masses.) The word means prickle in French. And piquette certainly does that, offering a pleasing effervescence and usually a bright fruitiness. Perfect for fieldworkers to consume midday and then to get back into the vineyards to make “real” wine for the rich folks.

Like so many other once-humble foodstuffs (see lobster), piquette has now become hip. In their trend article about it, Bon Appétit got all bitchy and called piquette White Claw for wine lovers, but at least that’s not as bad as the old Italian term for piquette: acqua pazza, or “crazy water.” All this nomenclature is patently unfair, given winemakers have been using the method to invent all sorts of new deliciousness.

Take the ever-inventive Dave Potter right here in Santa Barbara. Winemaker for Muni Wines, Potek Winery and Nowadays Wines, Potter is crafting an Ocean Flor Piquette that couldn’t be more of our region. Start with that seeming typo in the name. Flor is the term for the yeast that ends up on top of wine during its making, something crucial, say, to give sherry its distinctive kick. Potter opted to go for some flor direct from the Pacific.

As the website puts it: “We rehydrated fresh grape skins out of the press and macerated them with smoked and dried kelps that were harvested for us off the Channel Islands. This low alcohol dashi-piquette was aged under flor yeast in old French oak barrels. After five months in barrel, the wine was re-energized with Riesling juice and a splash of seawater for bottle fermentation.”

Any such description would, of course, prick my interest, being a fan of smoky and salty flavors. And the Nowadays Piquette is refreshing and intriguing all on its own, almost tasting more like a saison than a wine. Muddler that I am, that didn’t stop me from wanting to tinker with it and make it into a cocktail—something simple, as this is summertime and the drinking should be easy.

The Eight Arms In (check out the great label art for the name’s inspiration) multiplies the notes in the piquette itself. I’ve always thought of mezcal as tequila’s more intriguing cousin, someone with a mysterious, smoky past. So that seemed a natural to add. And then I wanted to round the drink out, underline the floral notes. That led me to St-Germain, the elderflower liqueur that quickly got nicknamed bartender’s ketchup as it works so well bringing pretty much every cocktail together. We shouldn’t hate it just because it’s popular.

As for which mezcal to use, that’s up to you and your budget, although wasting an expensive sipping one for a mere half ounce per drink might be an extravagance to the level of profligacy. El Silencio and Del Maguey Vida are generally available, affordable, and fine starter-level mezcals. If you want something a bit fancier, Bosscal Damiana, with its added infusion of the damiana flower, not only kicks in some more floral power, but it’s also supposed to be an aphrodisiac. Edible can neither confirm nor deny those effects.

Putting this drink together is particularly easy, as it’s a built cocktail—you do it directly into the glass. Measure the mezcal and St-Germain into a wine glass. Carefully pour the piquette over. Since it’s got bubbles, it will want to foam and make a mess, and you don’t want to waste any. Gently swirl the glass’s contents to mix. Then drop in three frozen grapes. Frozen grapes are tasty summer snack treats all on their own, and here they make a visual pun on olives and serve as a kind of ice cube to chill the drink down.

Note the drink is made small, three ounces total. That keeps it bracing and crisp as you enjoy it on your back patio, watching the hummingbirds at your feeder and chatting with friends. Just keep making the drinks fresh. Or finish the bottle all on its own.

Be sure to toast to the rescue of what could have been waste product, as piquette gives life to the generally discarded seeds, pulp and skins. Think of it as reuse before we got all serious about saving the world (please tell me we are serious about saving the world).