Blue Run Sling (Death & Co. Recipe)

This bittersweet Sling is a little less exotic than the Singapore Sling, keeping its ingredients more or less grounded in apple pie notes rather than citrus. And you don't see bourbon Slings everyday. I think of this as a fall cocktail for those who need to keep things on the light and refreshing side. And it's great: you don't feel bogged down with sweetness or pumpkin spice. 

I don't have Amaro Averna, but I know that it has a bitter orange peel flavor that I tried to replicate with a mix of Don Ciccio & Figili Ambrosia and my homemade Amer Picon (which has Ramazzotti with its orange flavors in it as well). The rest was made simply by combining ingredients and preparing the orange flag with the cherry target center. 

• 2 oz. bourbon
• 1/4 oz. Amaro Averna (Ambrosia and Amer Picon used)
• 3/4 oz. fuji apple juice
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 3/4 oz. vanilla syrup
• 1 dash orange bitters (Hella used)
• 1 orange flag with cherry  and barrel-aged bitters dashed on it as garnish
  

Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass full of ice cubes. Garnish with the orange flag and dash bitters on it.

 

Sweep the Leg (Death & Co. Recipe)

There's some Karate Kid fans working at Death & Co. for sure. This cocktail uses Japanese whiskey, to tie into the name. But I can't afford the stuff and really I get a kick out of using malted whiskey (and beer whiskey, which is malted) to approximate Japanese whiskey. That malted whiskey is Catoctin Creek Colossal X!

I also loved that this drink includes sherry, orgeat and chocolate bitters. These flavors all come across as deep and tropical, so it is no surprise they end up in this Japanese themed cocktail. 

• 2 oz. Suntory Hakashu 12-year whiskey (Catoctin Creek Colossal X used)
• 3/4 oz. orgeat (Fee Brothers used)
• 1/2 oz. Amontillado sherry
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. orange juice
• 1/4 oz. acacia honey surp
• 1 tsp. Luxardo Amaro Abano (a combination of homemade Amer Picon and Don Ciccio and Figli Ambrosia used)
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
• 1 dash of Aztec bitters
• Garnish: lime wheel, orange crecent, brandied cherry, mint sprig (not pictured)
  

Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with three ice cubes. Short shake and strain into a pilsner glass full of crushed ice. Skewer garnishes on a pick and place on the top of the glass.

 

Legend (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

Going through the Death & Co. stirred brandy cocktail chapter section, I realized they have many drinks that follow this same format: brandy and rum, and bitter aperitifs and sweet fortified wines, served in a coupe with no garnish. 

And this is truly one of the best of them. I love this one because it is light and balanced, yet contains some really deep flavors. No wonder it's called Legend. In something like this, small differences can mean noticeable changes, so Legend may be one to try again with different rums, amari, or bitters. I went with aromatic bitters by Hella (not Bitter Truth) and Angostura. And I don't have Appleton estate rum or Amontillado, but I do have Caribbean rum and solera reserve from Lustau. Finally, I have a local amaro by Don Ciccio and Figili that has to stand in for Amaro Nonino. It doesn't quite cut it, so I used a splash of my Amer Picon to give it the bitter orange peel notes of Nonino.

• 2 oz. cognac (Martell single distillery used)
• 1/2 oz. Appleton Estate V/X rum (George Bowman used)
• 3/4 oz. Lustau Amontillado (Lustau East India Solera sherry used)
• 1/2 oz. Amaro Nonino (blend of Ambrosia and Amer Picon used)
• 1 dash Bitter Truth aromatic bitters (Hella used)
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

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

Jager Negroni (Difford's Guide Recipe)

 

It may surprise you, but I love Jagermeister. I didn't always (that's not surprising) but not for the reason that most people who dislike Jager say--"it's the taste." It wasn't the taste I disliked, it was they way people would just shoot it, as if trying to get past the taste.

I think that I didn't appreciate Jager before I had it to compare with other Alpine spirits, as if my problem with Jager was that I viewed it as a stand-alone product with a weird flavor. When taken as a group with Chartreuse, Strega, various Italian Amari and other German Alpine spirits, Jager makes a lot of sense. They compliment each other in a Negroni, which is usually an Italian Campari drink. 

This Negroni variation tastes like Jagermeister--it's sweeter with licorice root, cinnamon and citrus flavors. It breaks out of the ultra bitter and dry Negroni mold and causes you to do a double take. It might also force you to reevaluate your dislike of Jager.

• 3/4 oz. dry gin (homemade used)
• 3/4 oz. sweet vermouth (Cocchi di Torino used)
• 3/4 oz. Jagermeister
• 1/4 sweet Italian amaro (Don Ciccio & Figli Ambrosia used)
• Orange slice

Build the drink in a double Old Fashioned glass full of fresh ice and stir before garnsihing with the orange slice.

Bittersweet Adios (Original Recipe)

 

Coffee shiskey and agave syrup balance each other in this rocks sipper. There's a lot to love here in one of my secret weapon tequila drinks. A sweet amaro like Don Ciccio & Figili Ambrosia is key to the "all spirits tequila drink" with its honey and citrus peel notes. So is a round tequila like Corralejo, that drinks almost like a cognac or Irish whiskey. Not to be outdone, sweet vermouth and MurLarkey coffee whiskey seal the deal with bitterness. 

All of these bittersweet spirits get their edges shaved off with a touch of Madhava agave syrup. It all goes down like the sweetest medicine with herbal notes throughout, from the tequila and amaro to the sweet agave syrup. Make this one for yourself and see what I mean. Then make it for your friends and they will be so impressed. People who like a Negroni but hate tequila (there have to be a few) will love this one.

• 1 oz. Corralejo tequila 
• 1 oz. MurLarkey coffee whiskey 
• 1/2 oz. Don Ciccio & Figli Ambrosia
• 1/2 oz. Madhava agave syrup

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a rocks glass with a large ice cube. 

Oh, Cicilie! (Difford's Guide Recipe)

What a lovely rocks sipping cocktail! Part Negroni and part Old Fashioned, this drink combines the bitter citrus of sweet Italian Amaro and French Amer Picon with spicy angostura bitters and gin.  Of course I've made a lot of these ingredients, like the Amer Picon, of course, and a dry gin. I'm also showing off Don Ciccio & Figili's Ambrosia. This is a nice stand-in for Aperol, but has a more honeyed citrus flavor. 

The cocktail drinks like an Old Fashioned, but the richness and spice of that classic drink opens up in the sip to citrus bitterness and honey. I love the thoughtful addition of a grapefruit twist, which really offsets the bitter orange of the Amer Picon. As stiff as Oh, Cicilie! is, I can see it being a nice afternoon aperitif cocktail, something to wet your appetitie for dinner. 

• 1 1/2 oz. dry gin (homemade used)
• 3/4 oz. Aperol (Don Ciccio & Figili Ambrosia used)
• 3/4 oz. sweet vermouth (Cocchi di Torino used)
• 1/4 oz. Amer Picon (homemade used)
  
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
• grapefruit zest

Combine all liquid ingredients in a mixing glass full of ice. Stir and strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass full of fresh ice. Twist the grapefruit zest over the glass and drop it in. 

 

Eve's Seduction

 

This French-style aperatif cocktail does not appear in any of my bar books. Instead, I found the recipe on Lee Spirits website for their revival of a liqueur known as Forbidden Fruit. It is almost winter, so I made a small batch of my own Forbidden Fruit recipe in order to try Lee Spirit's Eve's Seduction and other recipes. 

Forbidden Fruit is a brandy-based spirit that has bright citrus notes, particularly grapefruit (the original forbidden fruit, or so it is said). The liqueur itself is sweetened with honey, though this recipe calls for some honey as well. Since the amaro is not specified, I think Averna or Montenegro will suffice or maybe Amer Picon if you can make or find that. I had free choice to use Don Ciccio and Figili's Ambrosia. Now Ambrosia is the sweetest of their Italian bitters, with plenty of its own honey flavor, I felt justified in leaving out the additional honey for fear of creating a honey bomb. 

This drink turned out well. A perfect sipper before or after dinner. I was happy with the elegant look and color and put it in my cordial glass to show that off. Additionally, the flavor was a lovely blend of bitterness and sweet honey.

If you happen to buy a bottle of Lee Spirit's Forbidden Fruit, and I hope you do if you can get it, I'm including the recipe as it is printed on the website. I'm making a note, however, as to the use of a half ounce of honey. If you put that much honey in your shaker, it will solidify before you pour the drink. You should make a 1:1 ratio mixture of honey simple using honey and warm water. Then only use half an ounce of the honey simple in the cocktail. 

• 1 oz. dry gin (homemade used)
  
• 1 oz. Forbidden Fruit
• 1/2 oz. amaro (Don Ciccio and Figili Ambrosia used)
• 1/2 oz. honey syrup
• (lemon twist or slice as garnish recommended but not included on the original recipe)

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

Fenneltini (Original Recipe)

The flavor of fresh fennel is unlike most other root flavors like licorice or anise. It is more subtle and vestigial, a good quality to have in a Martini. I've thought this for some time, but now I was able to make this drink a reality with fennel fronds and Don Ciccio and Figili Finnocchietto liqueur. It is sweet and fresh tasting, just like the fronds. You can experiment and try gin with this cocktail, but I rather prefer the clean taste of vodka as the background for a drink that already has a lot going on.

• 2 oz. vodka (MurLarkey Divine Clarity used)
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth (Carpano dry used)
• 1/2 oz. Don Ciccio and Figili Finnocchietto 
• fennel frond

Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the fennel frond. 

St George Spritz (Original Recipe)

There's so much orange flavor with MurLarkey Orange Whiskey and Lillet Blanc, not to mention the many citrus peels found in Don Ciccio and Figili's Ambrosia, that this light and boozy cocktail needs the name of a powerful historical figure.

St. George is the patron saint of England, which is not so important as the fact that one of his symbols is the orange tree. Legend tells of how after George's battle with the dragon, he was healed by oranges. Other stories tell that the tree shielded him from the dragon's flames.

What it all comes down to is a spritz that uses soda to fizz up flat ingredients; no sparkling wine required!

• 1 oz. MurLarkey orange whiskey
• 1 oz. Lillet Blanc
• 1 oz. Don Ciccio and Figili Ambrosia
• club soda or sparkling water
• orange slice and mint for garnish

Combine alcoholic ingredients in a chilled highball glass full of ice and stir to combine. Top with soda water and stir gently. Garnish with orange slice and mint.

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. 

Road Rummer

Very impressive despite its diminutive size, just like the real road rummer. It is spicy and strong with the sweetness and color coming from a teaspoon of grenadine and a quarter teaspoon of Pernod.

The original recipe of this drink calls for 2 oz. gin and 1/2 oz. dry vermouth in a cocktail glass, but the glass is way too big for the amount of liquid. I used my sour glass instead. But this drink is more spicy and I felt it did it justice to substitute Don Ciccio & Figili finocchietto liqueur for the dry vermouth since the finocchietto plays very well with gin and Pernod--if anything it adds other herbs to the Pernod.

• 2 oz. gin (Vigilant used)
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth (Don Ciccio & Figili finocchietto substituted)
• 1 tsp. grenadine
• 1/4 tsp. Pernod

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

Nineteen

There's evidence out there that this drink gets its name from either the average age of American soldiers in Vietnam or maybe it is simply a date: the 1900s, for example. After all, people's impression of cocktails as a modern concept really begins in the 20th century.

The ingredients of the original are listed below.

• 3 oz. dry vermouth
• 1/2 oz. kirschwasser
• 1/2 oz. gin
• 1/4 tsp. Pernod
• 1/4 tsp. sugar syrup

This is a vermouth, gin and kirschwasser drink that has herbal absinthe-like flavor from liqueurs like Pernod. Dry vermouth is a huge component of the drink, and I wanted to use part of that portion by substituting a D.C. local fennel spirit, Don Ciccio & Figili Finocchietto. This adds sweetness that allows you to omit sugar syrup. It also has a softer fennel and dill flavor to round out the anise of Pernod.

My adjusted D.C. local recipe is below.

• 1 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
• 1 1/2 oz. Don Ciccio & Figili Finocchietto
• 1/2 oz. kirschwasser
• 1/2 oz. gin
• 1/4 tsp. Pernod

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

Turf Cocktail

I really like the concept of this cocktail, an herbaceous and zesty gin cocktail with anise flavor. This time, though, I opted to omit the Pernod (which can be too overpowering even in small proportions.) In its place I used Don Ciccio & Figili's Finnochietto, a fennel and dill infusion with a softer anise flavor and less sweetness. Vigilant gin makes this a D.C. local spirits cocktail.

The result was really enjoyable. I even recommend using a whole ounce of Finnochietto in place of the dry vermouth, since it plays that role well, too. Just make this about the gin, lemon juice, and dry fennel liqueur and you have a mouth puckering cocktail with complexity.

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