Tantalus

The Tantalus can be found in the Savoy Cocktail Book, but the spirit named Forbidden Fruit is no longer available for sale. You can get lucky and find a bar that has this extinct liquor hanging around, but you better believe that no one will let just anyone taste it. An original bottle of Forbidden Fruit is precious for research; bartenders comb over its color and flavor like archeologists, to try to figure out how it was made (see this article in Lost Ingredients.)

I thought at first that Copper Fox would be a good combination with my homemade Forbidden Fruit. I want to try it again with other gins to see how it plays with something more traditional. It was pretty good, however. I'm pleased with the balance between citrus and honey: Forbidden Fruit is very sweet with orange blossom honey and vanilla. And its unusual citrus flavor does stand out somewhat in this drink, but I think that the lemon juice overpowers the subtle notes of spice that I want to find in any drink that is intentionally crafted with a rare spirit.

Play around with this one; try different gins and proportions of spirits. I will continue to use Forbidden Fruit to find the best way to show of its merits.

• 1 1/2 oz. dry gin
• 1 1/2 oz. Forbidden Fruit
• 1 1/2 oz. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker full of ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Pinstripe Suit (Original Recipe)

This was a moment of inspiration when I was enjoying local spirits used in Martini variations with local gin. I was looking for something that would use Copper Fox's Vir Gin, with its basil and anise flavors and malted barley presence, in a way that would enhance rather than try to downplay the unusual features of this gin. I settled on equal parts of gin, dry vermouth and Don Ciccio and Figli finocchietto liqueur. This infusion of fennel and dill is soft and rich and fairly sweet. It usually goes well with sodas and spritzes, but I wanted to taste it undiluted in this drink. Carpano dry vermouth suggests itself here too because of its bitter herbal flavor. Peychaud's bitters keeps the herbal, not spice, profile.

The overall effect is similar in scent and flavor to a new suit made of fine cotton. The experience of drinking it focuses only on these two senses--a drink to savor with your eyes closed.

• 1 oz. Copper Fox Vir Gin
• 1 oz. dry vermouth (Carpano dry used)
• 1 oz. Don Ciccio and Figli finocchietto liqueur
• 1 dash Peychaud's bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Napoleon (DIY Amer Picon Recipe)

Lots of cocktails purport to be quintessentially French, which is to say they belong to a French tradition of drinking or use a selection of French-made ingredients. The Napoleon goes so far as to claim France's most notorious Emperor.

But setting all that bluster aside, Napoleon's namesake cocktail is an excellent mix of France's hard-to-find bitter aperitif wines. Amer Picon--so rare in its pre-prohibition form outside of Paris that we have to resort to making it ourselves--adds an orange bitterness to this classic gin drink. Dubonnet Rouge and curacao lend color and orange sweetness.

I could have picked a French vodka and used Cointreau if I wanted to go the full French, but I decided that a rum based orange liqueur like Vitae would work better as a substitute for curacao. Copper Fox Vir Gin is also a nice treat, it's star anise botanical gives it an absinthe-like flavor fit for cafe sipping. I'm glad I came back to this recipe to try it with these ingredients. Take a look at my attempt at this cocktail in 2015. It wasn't bad back then, but this is a surefire improvement on the concept.

• 2 oz. gin (Copper Fox Vir Gin used)
• 1/2 oz white curacao (Vitae orange liqueur used)
• 1 tsp. Dubonnet Rouge
• 1 tsp. Amer Picon (Homemade recipe used)

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass full of ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Babbie's Special Cocktail

This is a funny cocktail with a funny name. I enjoyed it, though it is much too sweet for my taste. Using apricot brandy as the base of a cocktail comes across as very old-world, especially when using cream to make a dessert drink. One saving grace that I appreciate is the teaspoon of gin which can make a big impact on the flavor of a dessert drink.

In this case I used Copper Fox Vir Gin because it is so richly flavored and really suited to dessert drinks. You get anise, basil, malted barley: lots of flavors that go well with a creamy fruit drink from just a touch of Vir Gin gin.

• 2 oz. apricot brandy
• 1 oz. half-and-half
• 1 tsp. gin (Copper Fox Vir Gin used)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Bachelor's Bait

You have to love the name of this cocktail. For one, It's my drink when I have the place to myself. And then there's the pink fluff...

But the real beauty of this cocktail is bitterness with no citrus tartness. You get orange bitters on the nose and gin in the sip. Copper Fox Vir Gin is a very intense single malt gin, so the grain is present as well as anise, coriander, cardamon, and rosemary and basil. So many bitter botanicals that this drink takes on the flavor of an old world spiced candy. It may look pink and frilly, but it demands your attention and appreciation.

• 2 oz. gin (Copper Fox Vir Gin used)
• 3 dashes orange bitters (Hella Bitters used)
• 3/4 tsp. grenadine
• 1 egg white

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill and strain out the ice. Shake liquid again and pour into a chilled cocktail glass.

Verona Cocktail

I'm always happy when good ingredients take what could be an overly sweet cocktail in an interesting direction. In the case of the Verona cocktail, that is almost every one of the ingredients I chose. This quintessentially Italian cocktail shows off flavors of northern and southern Italy.

First a good amaretto like Lazzaroni is less bitter and has more of the Sorrono cookie flavor than the mainstream brands. Punt E Mes is a very bitter sweet vermouth. There's so much packed into it that it doesn't even resemble other sweet vermouths. Finally, Copper Fox VirGin is a gin spiced like no other gin. All together this is one of the most flavorful and equally light and interesting rocks cocktails you can make with these same ingredients. It's totally luxurious and at the same time, simple. The ingredients really make the difference.

• 2 oz. gin (Copper Fox VirGin used)
• 1 oz. amaretto (Lazzaroni used)
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth (Punt E Mes used)
• 1/4 tsp. lemon juice
• orange slice

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass full of fresh (large) ice. Garnish with the orange slice. 

Golf Cocktail

The Golf Cocktail is really a Martini variation, and as such it is only different from the classic when you use different ingredients. A richer gin and vermouth will take you out of your comfort zone and make this cocktail more of an adventure.

For this I picked Copper Fox's Vir Gin for the gin. This product is not available in stores and can only be bought at the distillery locations in Speryville and Williamsburg. Vir Gin is a good choice for the Golf Cocktail because it is made from single malt barley, like scotch. And scotch and golf were invented in Scotland, so...

Vir Gin is really intense with black pepper, fennel, mint, rosemary, anise seed and lemongrass among many other typical gin botanicals. Rivata is an Italian dry vermouth with a lot of herbal flavors to it as well. A Martini with these ingredients and a dash of Angostura bitters is spicy and thick on the tongue, a far cry from your typical Martini.

• 3 oz. gin (Copper Fox Vir Gin used)
• 1 oz. dry vermouth (Rivata used)
• 3 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Golden Hornet (Copper Hornet variation)

I've made this rocks drink with sherry before, but never with Amontillado sherry and never with American single malts. I'm back to using my gifts from Copper Fox to show what different directions these spirits can go.

Vir Gin gin and the Wasmund Single Malt whiskey mix very well together because they are made from the same single malted barley. The Wasmund malt is smoked with cherry and apple wood so it has the mouthfeel and nose of a robust scotch without the peat. It was an easy choice to ditch the carmel-tasting blend I used before (and the overly sweet blend of sherry). Now it is more reserved, a little more cohesive as a cocktail, since whiskey and gin don't usually mix so well.

• 2 oz. gin (Copper Fox Vir Gin used)
• 1/2 oz. scotch (Wasmund single malt used)
• 1/2 oz. amontillado sherry
• lemon twist

Combine gin and sherry in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into an Old Fashioned glass full of fresh ice. Float scotch on top and add lemon twist garnish.

Valencia Cocktail

Valencia is a large city on Spain's east coast. This cocktail is a little more refined than the Straight Law Cocktail with a bit more gin and a twist. It's the perfect size for a coupe glass.

Vir Gin, a gin that Copper Fox distillery gave me to play with, has a wonderfully malty and rich body that comes with its all single malt barley base. There's a ton of botanicals in it as well, including basil, rosemary, nutmeg, ginger, black pepper and lemongrass. It goes well with a little nutty and rich Amontillado sherry.

• 2 oz. gin (Copper Fox Vir Gin used)
• 1 oz. Amontillado sherry (Lustau Los Arcos)
• lemon twist

Combine gin and sherry in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon.