Spirited Cocktails

I’m not a terribly spiritual person, but I try as best I can to believe in the power of positive thought. If nothing else, thinking about good stuff tends to distract you from all the crappy stuff. Well, we’ve had a pretty hefty winter here in New York (February 2010 was the snowiest month on record), and as much as I like the change in seasons, I’m ready for spring. So I’m invoking the power of positive thought by way of a good cocktail, because, well, what better way is there?

In thinking about what cocktail would help make a smooth transition, and get the power of positive thought moving, I turned to the Gold Rush. This cocktail is essentially a cold version of a hot toddy, just without the wintery spices (which, as I try to channel warmer weather, is fine by me.)

Here’s what you’re going to need:

2oz bourbon
3/4oz fresh lemon juice
3/4oz honey syrup

The honey syrup is very easy. My friend Meaghan Dorman, who has made this cocktail for me at Raines Law Room, suggests a ratio of 3:1 honey to hot water. To make a small bottle of honey syrup, I added 9oz of wildflower honey to 3oz hot water and just shook really hard. Worked like a charm.

Once you have the honey syrup ready, combine it with the bourbon and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake hard, and strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.

Here’s to spring – it couldn’t come soon enough!

Cheers,

-Josh

Last week I told you about my trip to Rye House to celebrate Mardi Gras, New Orleans-style. I mentioned some of the cocktails we sampled, including the Sazarac and the Vieux Carre. I’d like to share one more staple of the Mardi Gras celebration – or any celebration for that matter – The French 75.

This cocktail is actually named after the French 75-mm field gun; a commonplace piece of artillery during World War I. Apparently this particular gun was known for its recoil system, which allowed for much smoother operation than had previously been possible. Once you try the cocktail, you’ll understand how appropriate that is. (History once again courtesy of Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails; a must-have for any bartender’s bookshelf.)

Here’s what you’re going to need:

2oz gin
1oz fresh lemon juice
1/4oz simple syrup
Champagne

Combine the gin, lemon juice and simple syrup with ice and shake well. Strain into a tall glass – either a Collins glass, or ideally, a champagne flute – and top with champagne (or other high-quality sparkling wine). Stir gently, and garnish with a long lemon peel. Some like to add a cherry as well, but I generally prefer to skip it. The choice is entirely yours.

This cocktail offers one of the more surprising combinations in the bartending world – gin and champagne. But with the lemon and sugar to balance things out, it works beautifully. And as Ted points out in talking about the appropriateness of the cocktail’s name, “….smooth, yet packs a wallop.” So true.

Cheers!

-Josh

Earlier this week, I was fortunate to join many of New York’s cocktail twitterati for a celebration of Mardi Gras at one of my favorite new bars, Rye House. At an event hosted by the Time Out Dining & Libation Society, we were lucky to find proprietor and master mixologist Lynette Marrero behind the bar furiously shaking and stirring the classic cocktails of New Orleans, including the Sazarac, the French 75, and my favorite of the evening – the Vieux Carre.

I was introduced to this cocktail during my trip down to New Orleans last year for Tales of the Cocktail – it’s a mainstay at the Carousel Bar in the Hotel Moteleone (which is where Tales takes place).  As Ted Haigh tells it in his book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails, the name comes from the local term for the French Quarter – le Vieux Carre, meaning “the Old Square.” The cocktail was invented sometime prior to the 1937 publication of Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix Them, by Walter Bergeron, who worked behind what would eventually become the Carousel Bar. It fell out of favor for years, but I loved the one I had in New Orleans last year, and I really loved the… let’s just say more than one… I had at Rye House this past week.

Here’s what you’re going to need:

1oz rye whiskey
1oz cognac
1oz sweet vermouth
1/4oz Benedictine
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
2 dashes Peychaud Bitters

The preparation is simple: combine all the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice, stir well, and strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with a simple lemon twist.

The result is a smooth yet complex cocktail, sure to transport you directly to Bourbon Street.

Cheers!

-Josh

Last weekend, we had our first snow here in New York City. It was a bitter, windy night on Saturday when I wandered into one of my favorite bars, chilled to the bone. This bar has an amazing cocktail menu, blending the best of classic cocktails and modern mixology, but as much as I wanted a drink, the idea of something shaken with ice at the moment was almost unbearable. What I wanted was a hot toddy.

Fortunately, I was in a high-end establishment where, despite not being on the menu, the bartender was kind enough to oblige my request. But there’s no need to venture out into the cold, wind and snow in order to achieve the satisfaction a hot toddy can bring. This is one of the easiest cocktails in the world to whip up at home.

Here’s what you’re going to need:

2oz. bourbon
4-6oz hot water
1 bar spoon of honey
3-4 whole cloves
Lemon wedge for garnish

Optional:
A cinnamon stick
Grated nutmeg
Grated fresh ginger

Boil some water in a tea kettle. In a tempered glass or ceramic mug (something resistant to heat), add your bourbon, cloves and honey. When the water is hot, add that to the glass as well, and garnish with a lemon wedge (which I tend to promptly drop into my hot toddy to add a bit of citrus.)

As always, this recipe is just a basic template, and on its own fits the bill just fine for me. But there’s lots of room for experimentation and adjustment here. Many people will add a cinnamon stick whole, or perhaps grate some fresh cinnamon on top to garnish. You could also add some grated fresh nutmeg (which really brings out the holiday feel) or ginger (which adds a nice spice, and is also good for an upset stomach.) It’s really just a matter of taste.

Whatever your preference, this is the cocktail I constantly crave on cold winter’s nights. I’m also convinced (despite a total lack of fact to back this up) that the hot toddy is the cure for the common cold.

Cheers!

Josh

This evening, my friend Laren (@sweetblogomine) and I joined Jonathan Pogash for his Cocktail Lab class at the Astor Center Lounge. I’ve mentioned Jonathan here before (he was the source for our post on the Maple Plum Sparkler), but to refresh your memory, Jonathan is a cocktail development consultant, and the beverage director for Hospitality Holdings (which manages a number of major bars here in New York, including the Campbell Apartment and Bookmarks Lounge).

I’ve taken a number of classes at Astor Center in the past, and they’ve all offered an opportunity to learn a great deal from some of the country’s most talented mixologists. Be sure to check out their full calendar; if you’re in the area, I highly encourage you to give one a try. Jonathan’s class is actually offered monthly, so you can definitely take that one. If you’re just starting out, I’d suggest the Home Bar Basics course.

In any case, Jonathan’s class tonight was really about developing new cocktails – how to come up with your own recipes using classic cocktails as a guide, but also taking advantage of fresh, seasonal, and often unique ingredients. As an exercise, we broke up into groups and were each given one ingredient that had to make an appearance in whatever cocktail we developed. As long as that ingredient was included, everything else was up to us (think Iron Chef meets… something with booze.) Laren and I paired up, along with another member of the class, and were asigned Averna as our key ingredient.

Averna is a classic Italian liquer, often served as a digestif. It’s very herbal – almost bitter – with hints of citrus and caramel. We figured this would make for a great addition to an autumn cocktail. The result: The Pumpkin Pie

Here’s what you’re going to need:

1 1/2oz Rye (we used ri1, which has a nice spice to it)
1 bar spoon Averna
1 bar spoon maple syrup
1 bar spoon pumpkin puree
1/4oz orange juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 dash of pumpkin spice (the supermarket kind; a blend of nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, etc.)
1 egg white
1 orange peel (for garnish)

I know – that’s a lot of ingredients. But many of them are things you probably already have sitting around the house (if not, they’re certainly available at your local grocery store.) Once you have all the ingredients, simply combine everything in a mixing glass.

Because of the egg white in this, we did a double shake. That means that we combined all the ingredients in our shaker *without* ice, and shook well for about 10 seconds. Then we added ice, and shook well for another 15-20 seconds. The result, thanks in large part to the egg white, is a nice foamy cocktail, the consistency of which certainly brings pumpkin pie to mind!

We garnished the cocktail with a flamed orange peel. A regular orange peel will do, but flaming the peel helps to caramelize the citrus oils, giving a nice depth of character to the taste. If you’re unfamiliar with how to flame an orange peel, Jeffrey Morgenthaler has a great walkthrough on his site.

The result: a lovely autumn cocktail, with flavors of pumpkin, spice and maple. I hope you like it!

So thanks to Laren (@sweetblogomine) for a fun time; to Jonathan Pogash for the great instruction, and Astor Center, for hosting the class in such an awesome space!

While I have you – a public service announcement: Laren has actually organized a great event in the Astor Center space next Monday, November 2nd. The event is a fundraiser for the NYC chapter of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails), and will be presented in conjunction with the folks from Chartreuse (including Chartreuse Brand Ambassador Todd Richman and Chartreuse Diffusion President Jean Marc Roger). I’ll be there for sure – I encourage you to join us as well. Tickets available from the Astor Center website.

Cheers!

Josh

I’m long overdue for new cocktail posts; fortunately a friend has provided inspiration.

The other day I sent an e-mail to our friend Jonathan Pogash, renowned bartender, beverage director for Hospitality Holdings (World Bar, Campbell Apartment, et al), and head of the USBG chapter here in New York City. I was writing just to ask Jonathan a quick question, and as it turns out, he’s out of town this week. But Jonathan – never one to let a customer go thirsty – left cocktail recipes in his out of office message! Needless to say, this was one of the best out of office messages I’ve ever seen (and that’s after more than a decade working in the tech industry.)

So in a desire to share Jonathan’s wisdom with all of you, I give you the Maple Plum Sparkler (as served at Bookmarks Lounge).

Here’s what you’re going to need:

1 plum, chopped
1 heaping tsp. grade A dark amber maple syrup
A splash of fresh lemon juice
3 oz. Sparkling Wine or Champagne

In a mixing glass, combine the chopped plum with the lemon juice and maple syrup and muddle well. Add ice and the sparkling wine, and stir briefly. (The “briefly” part is important; you want to chill the cocktail, but because the booze here is wine, you don’t want to dilute it too much.) Strain the result into a champagne flute. Garnish with a slice of plum.

Plums are in season right now, and if sourced well, are absolutely delicious. The addition of maple syrup makes for a wonderful fall cocktail.

So many thanks to Mr. Pogash for helping me to get things back on track here at Spirited Cocktails. Be sure to visit him at World Bar or Bookmarks Lounge. I’ll be back later this week to tell you all about my recent trip to France.

Cheers!

Josh

The Sazerac is one of the oldest cocktails on record – and supposedly the first cocktail invented in America. It came into being in New Orleans, Louisiana in the 1830’s, and was originally made with cognac and Peychaud bitters (created by Antoine Amédée Peychaud). The Peychaud bitters are still a key ingredient, but the most common preparation of the cocktail is now with rye rather than cognac (even though our friend @halw likes to mess with bartenders by ordering it with cognac anyway.)

I came late to the Sazerac, but was introduced to it by another friend, @livethelushlife, who counts the Sazerac among her absolute favorite cocktails. And it really came to life for me when I had the chance to sample the cocktail in its native environment – New Orleans – where the Sazerac is still an institution.

The combination of rye, sugar, and bitters (in an absinthe or Herbsaint-rinsed glass) makes for a smooth drink that’s reminiscent of The Old Fashioned, but with a unique quality all its own, and definitely worth a try!

Here’s what you’re going to need:

3oz rye
3/4oz simple syrup
3 dashes Peychaud bitters
1/4oz absinthe or Herbsaint to rinse the glass
Lemon peel for garnish

Start by chilling a rocks glass for a few minutes in advance. In a mixing glass, combine the rye, simple syrup and bitters with ice, and stir well.

Add a small amount (1/4oz or less) to your chilled rocks glass. Rotate the glass on its side just to coat the inside of the glass, then discard the excess. Strain the cocktail into the rocks glass, and garnish with a lemon twist. The Sazerac is served neat, so no ice in the glass is required.

In addition to The Old Fashioned, the Sazerac has become one of my favorite “brown spirit” cocktails. I encourage you to give it a try!

Cheers,

Josh