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If you ever wanted a drink recipe to show to your friends—one that you reserve for that special person you want to dazzle with something creative—this is it. If you know someone who claims that they don't like gin, but it's clear they have never experienced the wonderful alchemy of a gin-based cocktail, now's your chance to change their mind. For anyone interested in layering basic elements and techniques to create something remarkable in the glass, this cocktail will certainly entertain. The Juliet & Romeo has a fancy presentation yet it's easy to make and is perhaps the most interesting, most refreshing and delicious cocktail we've ever had the pleasure of sharing.
It comes by way of Toby Maloney of The Violet Hour in Chicago, but it has also appeared on the menu at his other bars such as the Bradstreet Crafthouse in Minneapolis. We've been
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Nature is sometimes not without a sense of humor, or at least it appears that way when you consider the fact that citrus reaches its peak during the cooler months of the year. You might argue that the ideal time for lemonade or a refreshing Margarita comes during the hot summer months, but as far as the fruit is concerned, availability doesn't always represent quality. The best examples appear in October, November and so on. Refreshing sours are delicious when you are trying to beat the heat, but citrus season is just getting started when many of us would rather settle into a dark flavorful sipper to take the edge off a cool autumn breeze.
We tend to keep an eye out for white grapefruit when browsing the produce aisles of the supermarket. While the sweeter ruby variety is usually available year-round, the white
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Here's a nice cocktail to drink while curled up next to the fireplace. It's big and bold, salty and sweet, and a little bitter too. You could say it's everything but sour. It comes by way of Marvel Bar's Pip Hanson and appears in both The American Cocktail book and Northstar Cocktails. During the colder, darker months, it's hard not to get excited about cocktails like this one. It's also pretty easy to make for how complex it tastes, and it uses an ingredient we've never featured on Summit Sips until now.
The unusual ingredient is Nocino (no-CHEE-no), a dark Italian walnut flavored liqueur made from unripe green walnuts. The flavor is sweet, luscious and deeply nutty, but often still high in alcohol. We were first introduced to it a couple years back at the Bradstreet Crafthouse where it plays prominently in their Black Walnut Old Fashioned, a
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It's is a special time of the year when trees burst into life, flowers bloom and early produce pokes its way up from the soil. There is a promise of transformation as winter moves into summer, and the sun's warmth allows May blossoms to forgive the cold, teasing showers of April. This year, spring came early to Minnesota, and although we don't officially get started for another month, Farmer's Market in St. Paul was already busy with excited vendors and shoppers. One of the items that often appears early in this part of the country is asparagus, so in honor of the early spring, we decided to take the opportunity to use some early fresh produce to kickoff the month with a cocktail we call the Malodor Shoots.
Almost everybody is familiar with the sweet scent of sulfur that graces the bathroom after consuming a plateful of asparagus and plenty
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Ever since it appeared in the March/April 2008 edition of Imbibe Magazine, I have wanted to make the Edgewood by Greg Best, Holeman & Finch, Atlanta. I am not sure why I delayed. Perhaps it was because I rarely buy grapefruit, or maybe I was just waiting until I could get my hands on the right vermouth. In any case, I finally mixed one up tonight and as I expected, it's a decent drink. The ingredients are not so obscure that it would prevent you from tracking them down, and even if you run into trouble with one thing or another, you can always make a few substitutions and still come away with a solid cocktail. I went ahead and made two versions (it was happy hour after all) and both worked nicely.
The Edgewood by Greg Best 1.5 oz dry gin 1 oz grapefruit juice .5 oz Punt e
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If life on earth started in the sea, it might explain why most of us consider food "unseasoned" without a little salt. It's one of our five (six) primary tastes and it's fundamental in the culinary world. Yet, not many cocktails embrace this flavor. Perhaps drinks are meant to be refreshing and thirst-quenching—a characteristic that is incongruous with salt. However, if added in small amounts, salt can enhance other flavors just like it does with food. Margarita fans recognize that salt tastes great with lime and tequila. Also, some muddled ingredients such as cucumber will benefit by adding a scant pinch beforehand. But generally speaking, salt is largely ignored in cocktails with only a few exceptions here and there that incorporate it nicely. When it is used, it's often crystals on the rim of the glass or sprinkles upon a drink's surface as a garnish. But what if you want
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It's Cinco de Mayo, the voluntary holiday when we celebrate Mexican heritage. Although it's virtually ignored throughout most of Mexico, the 5th of May is significant to folks in Puebla where the Mexican army defeated the French in 1862 against overwhelming odds. It was also the last battle in which a country in the Americas was invaded by an overseas army. The holiday has been celebrated in California every year since, and it has become nationally recognized in the United States as well as other countries, much like St. Patrick's Day and Oktoberfest.
In recognition of this day and to pay tribute to our beloved spirit from Mexico, I am posting my favorite recipe for the most popular drink in America—the Margarita. The proportions of ingredients and sometimes the ingredients themselves are often debated. By most standard definitions, the Margarita contains tequila, triple sec and lime juice, but I prefer
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I was never a Gin & Tonic fan, but all of that changed last year when I read Jeffrey Morgenthaler's post about making tonic from scratch. Of course, his wasn't the first recipe to gain widespread attention. The resurgence of craft tonic is credited to Kevin Ludwig of Portland, Oregon whose recipe even appeared in the March/April 2007 issue of Imbibe Magazine. Having basically skipped over that recipe back then, I considered it an ingredient best left to gin drinkers, or someone who was more interested. Finally, after reading more about it and seeing craft tonic added to a cocktail I really enjoyed, I decided to give it a try.
Why make something that already exists? When I first saw the Imbibe article, I was asking myself all sorts of questions. Can't you simply buy tonic water at the store? It's cheap enough, it's crystal clear, and
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