The Abbey Road Craft Cocktail
As the summer sun casts its warm glow, there’s nothing more refreshing than enjoying a delightful cocktail that embodies the vibrant spirit of the season. The Abbey Road is a playful twist on the classic gimlet, returning to our menu every August to celebrate the fleeting beauty of champagne grapes, also known as Corinth grapes. These special little fruits are only available for a limited time each summer, making the Abbey Road a must try.
Presentation
To craft the Abbey Road, begin by muddling a handful of champagne grapes at the bottom of your glass. This step releases the grapes’ delightful flavor and vivid color, creating a stunning base for your cocktail. Combine gin, lime syrup and fresh lime in the glass. Fill the glass halfway with crushed ice and swizzle the ingredients to blend the flavors. Add more crushed ice, creating a “cone effect”. For the finishing touch, top with lime confit and a small bundle of champagne grapes, creating an eye-catching presentation that will impress your Guests!
Bartender's Special At-A-Glance
Ingredients
- 2 oz. Prairie gin
- .75 oz. lime syrup
- .75 oz. fresh lime juice
- 2 oz. Champagne grapes
Glassware
- 15 oz. Tapered rocks glass
Garnish
- 1 oz. Champagne grapes, lime confit strands
Wild Santa Barbara Spot Prawn Season
Shrimp are found all over the world. From saltwater to freshwater, wild, farmed and frozen. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sauté it. The list goes on.
Prawns are generally found in freshwater environments.
Spot prawns; however, are not prawns. The Spot Prawn (Pandalus platyceros) is found exclusively in the Pacific Ocean, from the Gulf of Alaska down to Northern Baja California. Named after the paired spots located just behind the head, our California Spot Prawns hail from the Southern California Bight (a 430-mile stretch of curved coast from Point Conception, Calif. to Punta Colonet, Baja California Sur, Mexico), with main ports of entry at Santa Barbara, San Pedro and San Diego.
These shrimps are big, too. The largest in the Pacific, in fact. They can grow upwards of 12 inches (30.5 cm) but most are around 4 to 10 inches (12-27 cm) in length.
It’s in California where spot prawns were initially discovered in the 1930s, hanging out in octopus traps off the coast of Monterey. Today, they’re caught in pot traps to ensure careful handling and effective fisheries management (shoutout to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife).
Spot prawns dwell deep, inhabiting depths of 600 feet to 1,500 feet on soft and rocky bottoms.
LIFE CYCLE
The average life span for a spot prawn is around six years. It’s around year four or five when something magical happens: spot prawns start transitioning from male to female. Spot prawns start life as males, then they join the other team after their first spawn as males. They’re a true example of a hermaphrodite in the natural world, a protrandric hermaphrodite, if you want to get the scientific term spot-on.
Spot prawns spawn once a year, with each individual spot prawn mating once as a male and once or twice as a female. This typically occurs from October through January. That’s the reason spot prawn season is closed during that time.
UNBEATABLE FLAVOR
Spot prawns are a rarity and a delicacy. Careful handling is critical, as they must be enjoyed immediately after they decease. (There’s an enzyme in them that instantly begins decomposing the muscular structure, leading to a “mushy” texture when cooked if not handled properly.)
As finding and preparing spot prawns can be a little, well, spotty, it goes without saying that the best way to enjoy them is fresh from the water. At Water Grill, we fill our saltwater tanks with live spot prawns and prepare them to order, where you can get them as a tempura-fried Nigiri or as a Panca Tare-Marinated entrée.
Spot prawns are delicate and delicious. We may refer to them as delicate, but the firm texture makes them sweet and gives a “pop” of flavor every time you take a bite.
AT A GLANCE:
