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Every few years the first weekend in May brings a conjunction of two events—the Kentucky Derby and Cinco de Mayo. On some occasions the two events coincide on the same day. There are spans of time when that doesn’t happen for over a decade, but every six years or so, May 5th lands on a Saturday. Each celebration is known for its respective cocktail. Derby Day’s official drink is the Mint Julep, and what could be better for celebrating Mexican heritage than a Margarita? Even if thoroughbreds aren’t your thing, it’s hard to deny the luxury of sipping a Julep on a hot day in May, but you can say the same thing about the Margarita. So what’s the solution? Make them both, right? In past years we have posted references and recipes commemorating one event or
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Over the past couple of years we’ve discussed recipes, spirits, commercial and homemade ingredients, technique and even our favorite tools—but a subject we haven’t spent a lot of time on is the cocktail garnish. We’ve shared a few details as recipes required, but we thought it might be helpful to compile a list of terms and techniques so our readers have a place to go for reference and suggestions. After all, the garnish is part the cocktail. Sometimes there’s flexibility and other times skipping or changing it can make or break the recipe. Why Garnish? It’s important to understand the reasons for a garnish because it will help you recognize when you might be able to get away with an adjustment versus those times when it’s absolutely crucial to nailing a recipe’s intended flavor profile. You may decide you cannot make a particular
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Here’s a simple little cocktail that takes a bunch of ingredients we’ve described before and combines them into an unexpected party of flavors. Pooling dry gin with lime, liqueur and bitters isn’t new. We have seen this formula before with the Pegu Club cocktail, but the Pendennis is different. It’s—dare we say it—(sorry Doug) better? more interesting. To be fair, we can’t count how many times we’ve said that one recipe or another was our favorite. Ask us our favorite cocktail and we will probably ask you what base spirit you had in mind. So let’s give credit where credit is due and call this a Pegu Club variant, but one you really must try.
And like the Pegu Club which was named for the historic English gentleman’s club in Burma, this one references a similar establishment located in Louisville, Kentucky. The
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I have to start with a word of caution. If you decide to make this Drink of the Week including it’s fiery presentation, proceed carefully. I have always been an advocate of responsible drinking and although that applies here too, there’s no reason to come this far only to let your hair catch on fire! That being said, there are alternatives if you don’t have the proper bowl or if you want to avoid the flames altogether. We’ll get to that, but first, let’s talk Tiki.
Over the years there have been several “bowl” style drink recipes that, for me, epitomize the laid-back attitude of tropical consumption. While I enjoy an outlandish ceramic Tiki mug filled with exotic juice and rum as much as the next beach bum, I also appreciate the idea that sometimes a drink is just so big (or so strong) that it needs to be shared
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Muddling cherries and lime
This drink of the week is pretty easy to pull off. It’s a Caiprissima, which is like a Caipirinha only it uses rum instead of cachaça, and of course, this one also has cherries in it. According to my notes, I saw this somewhere back in June so it’s probably a summer drink. It’s been raining in December around here, so a summer drink sounds like a good drink in my book. This Caiprissima variation was created by Meaghan Dorman of Raines Law Room, Manhattan. If you are familiar with the Caipirinha, you know the drill—just use rum and throw in some cherries!
The process goes something like this: Take some pitted cherries and drop them into a shaker. Add your simple syrup (or just a couple spoons of sugar if you prefer) and muddle them into oblivion. Drop in
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As far as I am aware, there’s nothing truly oriental about the cocktail this week. It appears in the Savoy, not some asian bar manual. It is accompanied by a story that mentions the Philippines—do we really believe that? It may be an early 20th century recipe, but unfortunately it’s not a very popular one. That’s a shame because it’s a decent drink.
I’ll try just about anything that has rye whiskey, especially if it also has sweet vermouth. But the Oriental also has lime and curaçao which takes the flavor in an unexpected direction. I guess that sorta makes it a Manhattan Sour.
Oriental 1.5 oz rye whiskey .75 oz orange curaçao .75 oz sweet vermouth .5 oz fresh lime juice
Add ingredients to a shaker with ice, shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino or brandied cherry.
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Back in March I posted a recipe for the Sloe Gin Fizz. If you haven’t had the pleasure of tasting this drink, or more importantly, tasting real sloe gin, I highly recommend making a little room in your cabinet for this wonderful spirit. Do everything you can to find Plymouth Sloe Gin since other brands may not be the same product. Some people say that the best sloe gin is homemade, and that’s probably true. Just be aware that many of the bottom shelf brands have nothing in common with blackthorn berries, let alone actual gin. Plymouth, on the other hand, is made using the real fruit and their own gin, and it is absolutely delicious.
Besides the Fizz, there are several sloe gin cocktails worth trying, and one of them is the Millionaire #1. This drink appears in Harry Craddock’s
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The Great Minnesota Get-together It’s that time of the year again when Minnesotans make their annual trip to the State Fair. It sounds so old fashioned, but if you live in the Twin Cities, you already know that folks around here take it very seriously. It’s not all pigs and agriculture, although they have that too. I tend to keep my distance from anything that smells like a barn, but it’s either that or the deep fat fryers. Everyone seems to enjoy something different at the Fair, and some of us just look forward to all of the food. Old habits die hard. For instance, every year, I make my way to Sweet Martha’s Cookies where I buy a bucket and walk it over to the “all the milk you can drink” stand. And every year, someone in the crowd says, “Whoa, what a great idea—chocolate chip cookies and
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Drink of the Week: Cuba Libre
I am just going to come right out and say it: This week’s DOTW is getting hijacked. Anyone who recognizes the Cuba Libre also knows that it’s just a fancy name for the popular Rum and Coke. Sure, there’s a squeeze of lime, and we’ll get to the drink itself.
Coca Leaf Tea
Most of you are probably thinking, “But isn’t the formula for Coke one of the most guarded secrets on earth?” Well, yes and no. Many aspects of the recipe are known (the ingredients are written right on the can), but there is some truth to the story that only a select few individuals know the formula of the primary flavoring component. However, some very convincing evidence exists that the Original Recipe—the one first created by Coca Cola inventor John Pemberton back in 1886—may have been revealed in a newspaper photograph,
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Not long ago we made some great rhubarb-infused vodka. What I never shared was that in addition to the vodka, I also infused some gin. I figured that while the rhubarb was still available I might as well try it. Then the May/June 2001 issue of Imbibe Magazine came out and there was a nice recipe for Rhubarb Bitters. Yep, I made that too, and as recipes go, this was not much more than chopping up some stuff and throwing it into a jar for a couple of weeks.
The “stuff” includes lots of rhubarb, some grapefruit peel, orange peel, and cinnamon all macerated in a jar of high-proof neutral spirits, then diluted some with water and sweetened with agave. It’s not exactly bitter, but it has a great concentrated flavor that can be used to add complexity to cocktails or to season them to bring other ingredients
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Antique/Vintage Store Spotlight:
 Sour Goblet 8 oz |
 Tiki Mug |
 Coupe, Balls Stem |
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