Spirited Cocktails

We’re sorry to report that it looks like LeNell – of LeNell’s Wine & Spirits Boutique in Brooklyn – is packing her bags and leaving NYC for good. In an unguarded moment at a tasting of American Whiskey last night at Louis 649, LeNell Smothers admitted to the gathered aficionados that she had given up on finding a new space for her famous store and was taking the show to Mexico.

Rumors have swirled since LeNell lost her lease and had to close up shop earlier this year. Talk was that she was heading to London or Amsterdam, but LeNell had flatly denied those rumors, insisting that she was still on the lookout for a new space in New York City.

This time though, it looks certain that the cocktail geeks of NYC are loosing one of their havens for good. LeNell plans to kick back and open a cocktail-oriented retreat in Mexico. We think we have our next vacation planned.

Of course, we have video:

[Editor's Update – 7/22/2009 9pm: At the request of Ms. Smothers, we've removed the video from our site. She didn't wish to deny the story, and a number of sources have already verified its authenticity; she simply maintains a personal preference about video of her appearing on the web. Since we respect her and understand that she was unaware she was being recorded, we’ve chosen to comply with her request. We will, however, maintain a copy of the video should anyone request a copy to confirm what we've reported.]

[Editor’s Update – 7/22/2009 10pm: Additional note of clarification – we did not record the video of Ms. Smothers. It was provided to us anonymously by someone who was in attendance at the Louis 649 event. Upon receiving Ms. Smothers’ request and learning that she was recorded without consent, we agreed to remove it.]

While we’ll miss LeNell, and her wonderful store full of whiskey and bitters, we wish her well on her new adventure!

You know I don’t really do much in the way of brand-specific work here at Spirited Cocktails. I haven’t done many brand reviews (though I’ve had a lot of requests, so I may start), and I very rarely call for a specific brand of spirit in any of my recipes. I think it benefits the consumer to try different brands on their own and determine what suits their own tastes.

Earlier this week, though, @NYBarfly (whom you should be following on Twitter) was gracious enough to invite me to join him in meeting Andrea, an educator at Cruzan Rum, at Gramercy Tavern. Many brand ambassadors claim to be “educators”, but Andrea is the real deal. She knows more about rum than I think she cares to admit, and I couldn’t help but truly respect her once she went all “spirits geek” on us and the bottles of molasses came out at dinner!

As Andrea taught us, Cruzan Rum has a long and rich history on the island of St. Croix. You may know them well for their wide variety of flavored rums (including guava, coconut, pineapple, and more.) But Cruzan seems to be trying hard to really expand their line of “pure” rums – a line which now includes a single-barrel estate rum, a black strap rum, and others – in order to help rum win the respect it truly deserves.

All too often, we think about rum and we form an immediate association with mojitos. Mojitos aren’t all that bad, but they’ve been so over exposed (thanks to brands like Bacardi), that they’ve become a sugary shadow of their former selves. In fact, rum is used in some of the most classic cocktails (like the Daiquiri) as well as some of the earliest punches. A quality rum can also be mixed in a number of modern cocktails (as I’m about to show you), or even sipped straight on its own.

The supremely-talented bartenders at Gramercy Tavern were kind enough to mix up a few different cocktails with Cruzan rum. I didn’t capture all of the proportions for each one, but I’ll give you a rough description, and because I’m so dedicated, I guess I’ll head back to Gramercy Tavern soon and dig up more detail for you!

Here, Andrea is holding up the Orange Blossom – made with Cruzan rum , champagne, St. Germain, lemon juice, a sugar cube, and orange peel.	The Cruzan Silver Greyhound was very grapefruit-centric (as you’d expect), including Cruzan rum, grapefruit juice, grapefruit bitters, cane sugar, and candied grapefruit as a garnish.	As an after-dinner drink, the bartender whipped up what a Cruzan Hot Toddy, with Cruzan Rum, Hot water, Orange Juice, Lemon Juice, Velvet Falernum, and cinnamon sticks. (This one was my favorite!)

If you ever have a chance to catch up with Andrea and hear her speak about rum, I highly recommend it. I believe she’ll be appearing at the Tales of the Cocktail event later this summer. In the meantime, maybe I can talk her into a guest post here at Spirited Cocktails.

As I said, I’ll be working diligently to dissect the three cocktails I described above and recreate them for you here. If you just can’t wait, swing by Gramercy Tavern here in New York and ask one of the talented bartenders there to help you out – I’m certain you’ll enjoy them!

Cheers!

Update: Check out @NYBarfly’s post about our trip. Trust me – he’s a far better writer than I!