Happy New Year! For our first cocktail of 2025 we decided to finally post the High Five, a drink by Alex Day of New York’s Death & Co fame. We looked up this drink in the book that shares the bar’s namesake and didn’t find it listed, though as a co-author, Alex contributes many. Elsewhere, we found reference to it described as a riff on the Hemingway Daiquiri. That’s an interesting observation given the fact that this is a gin drink, but we definitely see the similarities. Besides the spirit swap, it still has the lime balanced by a little simple syrup, grapefruit and liqueur, but instead of maraschino, Day opts for Aperol which everyone adores.

With citrus season finally in full swing, grapefruit is abundant. You can also use the opportunity to spend some time testing out your favorite super juice recipes. We made a couple High Fives for happy hour and we are glad we did. There is always something unique and unexpected whenever we make cocktails with grapefruit. This time, it was a lingering strawberry overtone in the finish. We expect this had something to do with our choice of gin. Any London Dry style will do here, but we loved this drink using our go-to mixing gin, the locally-distilled Rose City which isn’t shy with juniper but has more of a citrus emphasis.

High Five by Alex Day
1.5 oz gin
1 oz grapefruit juice
.5 oz lime juice
.5 oz Aperol
.5 oz simple syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled coupe.

As with any cocktail, your spirit brand selection will lead to different results, but this is a recipe that we think would work with just about anything. Give it a try and let us know what you think.