Spirited Cocktails

A little while back, I told you about my trip to Eleven Madison Park and my decision to go with my Bartender’s Choice. That evening, my bartender selected a cocktail for me off the Eleven Madison Park cocktail menu called the Silhouette. I’m so glad I let him choose!

The Silhouette is a Rye-based cocktail, but it has a very light profile compared to straight Rye thanks to the addition of sweet vermouth (Vermouth de Chambery Rouge at EMP) and Aperol, an orange-flavored liquor. That lighter profile makes this cocktail a great place to start for those who aren’t traditionally Rye drinkers, but would like to be (you know you want to!)

Here’s what you’re going to need:

2oz Rye whiskey
3/4oz sweet vermouth
3/4oz Aperol

Simply add all three ingredients to a mixing glass along with a healthy does of ice, and stir well with your bar spoon. You want to stir this for probably at least 20-30 seconds so that you get the cocktail nice and cold (doing so by stirring takes a bit more time than by shaking, since there isn’t quite as much agitation.)

Once the cocktail is nicely chilled, simply strain into a chilled martini glass, and garnish with an orange peel. At Eleven Madison Park, they used a flaming orange peel, which we haven’t really covered yet. If you want to learn more though, check out Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s video on the subject.

This is a very refreshing drink, with a nice complex but subtly sweet flavor. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Cheers!

As I mentioned in my last post (Further Thoughts on the Gin Sling), this past Friday evening I stopped by Eleven Madison Park for a few pre-dinner cocktails. During that time, I had that great discussion with the bartender I was telling you about, concerning the classic gin sling. When it came time to order a second round, I opted to leave the decision up to him. From our earlier discussion, I knew he was a pretty well informed bartender, and I knew quite well from previous experience that it would be hard to go wrong ordering pretty much anything from the cocktail menu at this particular bar.

Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed. I was presented with a cocktail that was new to me, called the Silhouette (this is available on the cocktail menu at Eleven Madison Park, if you’re ever in the neighborhood.) The Silhouette was described to me as follows, “If a light were shown through a Negroni, the Silhouette would be the result.” (Clever, huh?) The drink was composed of Rye whiskey, Sweet Vermouth, and Aperol, which is an orange-flavored liqueur. I’ve got to do some work to deconstruct it more and get the exact proportions, but once that’s done, expect to see a more in-depth posting on the Silhouette!

In any case, I wanted to share this experience with you in the hopes that you’ll take the opportunity, when in a fine drinking establishment where you trust the taste of the bartenders, to allow them to guide you. If you’re feeling hesitant, talk to your bartender, and ask questions! Tell them what you like – what flavors, what spirits, and so on. See what they would recommend. My bartender chose a drink that I likely wouldn’t have chosen for myself, and in doing so, introduced me to new flavors that I really enjoyed!

Cheers!

-Josh

I stopped by Eleven Madison Park (check out their cocktail menu) the other night for a pre-dinner drink with friends, and had a great conversation with one of the bartenders there. I had ordered a gin sling, which seemed to get his attention, as it’s not a drink you hear ordered that often, I suppose.

He reminded me that the Gin Sling I wrote about a few days ago is an updated take on the traditional. As I mentioned, Dale DeGroff created this modern recipe to reflect today’s tastes, but in doing so, made it more of a cocktail than a traditional sling. The Savoy Cocktail Book, one of the holy texts of mixology (circa 1930), lists the Gin Sling as simply gin and sugar (2oz of gin and a teaspoon of sugar dissolved in water to be precise), stirred with ice and garnished with a lemon twist. That’s exactly what the bartender at Eleven Maddison Park prepared for me, and while it was certainly different than Dale DeGroff’s Gin Sling, it was terrific just the same.

One thing to note in particular is that if you’re mixing a traditional Gin Sling as described above), the brand of gin you use becomes that much more important. Of course, the brand is always important, but in this cocktail, the primary thing you’ll taste will be the gin, so choose a gin that appeals to your tastes. I chose Plymouth gin, which has very prominent botanical notes, and I was very glad  I did.