Grand Autumn

 

This cocktail is from the St. Germain website, and I've done it before when I had my first bottle of St. Germain many years ago. It was a hit, but I didn't make it to my satisfaction, so now I am attempting it again with the bitters and proper Fever Tree ginger beer. 

This cocktail is such a crowd-pleaser--almost tiki, like the Suffering Bastard. The ginger beer is paired wonderfully with rye and lime juice. (You get the sense that drinkers prefer a richer rye and ginger beer cocktail to a Moscow Mule with boring vodka.) All of this would tend to make an acidic drink that hides the North Fork rye's best qualities, that round oak note and American whiskey flavor. But St. Germain comes to the rescue, adding sweetness to tame the acidity and a floral note that ties everything together.

The Grand Autumn is a cocktail that looks great, smells good and tastes even better. I'm glad I gave it another chance.

• 2 oz. rye (Glacier Distilling Co. North Fork rye used)
• 1 oz. St. Germain or elderflower liqueur
• 1/4 oz. lime juice
• ginger beer (Fever Tree used)
• several dashes Angostura Bitters

Combine rye, St. Germain and lime juice in a shaker with cracked ice. Shake and strain into a chilled Collins glass. Top with ginger beer and float dashes of Angostura on top. 

Istrian Smiling

I have always thought that this cocktail had a lovely name: a quixotic mashup of an active verb signaling pleasure and a peninsula to the west of Venice. (It's not a typo: "I Strain Smiling.")

One of the difficulties I've had in Virginia is acquiring less common spirits, especially unusual European liqueurs. I've had to fall back on making them myself. Sometimes I have the help of an on-line recipe for things like Amer Picon and Swedish Punsh. Other times, I've had to take a chance that my hunch of how the liquor tastes based on its description and hope that I can approximate it with ingredients I have at home. That is the case with Mandarine Napoleon; I was really shooting in the dark. But tips describing it's spicy citrus brightness (clove, coriander and mandarin zest) and its relatively low sweetness (caramel and vanilla) helped me zero in on a recipe that is close to the citrus and cognac liqueur.

Once I've confirmed that my recipe I'll include it with this post. As it stands now, this is the recipe for this very satisfying and not too sweet cocktail.

• 1 1/2 oz. gin (Bulldog London Dry used)
• 1 oz. creme de cassis (G. E. Messenez used)
• 1/2 oz. Mandarine Napoleon (DIY Mandarine used)
• tonic water (Fever Tree used)

Combine all ingredients except tonic water in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into a chilled Collins glass. Top with chilled tonic water and stir. 

Witch's Promise (Original Cocktail)

This cocktail is as good for summer months as it is in the fall and winter, provided you have the herbs for the garnish. I dedicated this drink to Jethro Tull's song by the same name in which the witch is looked for as a bringer of blessings as well as curses. The apearance of Strega (the witch's liqueur) is appropriate, but so are other medicinal ingredients.

This is the first time I used MurLarkey honey whiskey in a cocktail for this blog. This whiskey is sweet tasting but has very little sugar, as the honey comb is added to the barrel but spun out of the final product before bottling. It is made once a year in very small batches, so it is hard to come by. Fans in Virginia keep a lookout for when Papi harvests honey from his hives. There's lemon, tonic water, passion fruit syrup, and basil and dill as garnishes as well.

• 1 1/2 oz. MurLarkey Honey whiskey
• 1 oz. Strega
• 1/2 oz. passion fruit syrup
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• tonic water (Fever Tree light tonic used)
• basil leaf and dill sprig (optional garnishes)

Combine the first four ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled Double Old Fashioned glass full of fresh ice. Top with tonic water and stir gently. Garnish with herbs.

Bitter Lemon Collins

This was a wonderful find: the combination of Fever Tree Bitter Lemon soda and Ketel One Cucumber and Mint botanical edition. It's the perfect summer drink for rooftop or dockside sipping.

• 2 oz. Ketel One Botanical Cucumber & Mint
• Fever Tree Bitter Lemon
• lemon slice
• mint mint sprig

Build cocktail in a Collins glass by adding vodka, then ice, then topping with lemon soda. Stir and garnish with lemon and mint.

Newport Cooler

Is this a Rhode Island or Virginia Drink? Where is Newport anyway? It doesn't matter. I made it with Vitae Modern Gin and that settles the issue. This is now a Charlottesville, VA cocktail.

The Newport Cooler is a summer drink designed to cool you down. These long drinks have a lot of ice and liquid that make them easy to drink. There's also a lot of flavors going on in this cocktail. Besides the juniper and orange you get from the gin, there's peach and brandy and the richness of sugary ginger ale.

I used Bird Dog peach whiskey instead of peach liqueur with not problems. There's enough sweetness here that you don't miss in in that small portion of peach flavor.

• 2 oz. gin (Vitae modern gin used)
• 1/2 oz. brandy (cognac please)
• 1/2 oz. peach liqueur (Bird Dog peach whiskey)
• 1/4 tsp. lime juice (just a pinch from a slice)
• ginger ale

 Combine liquors and juice in a Collins glass full of ice. Top with ginger ale and stir.

Zesty Cooler (Non-Alcoholic)

You almost don't miss the vodka from a Moscow Mule when you have the non-alcoholic version, the Zesty Cooler. And why would you? Vodka doesn't add flavor like lime juice and ginger beer.

The trick to this cocktail is the crushed ice in a Mule Cup or metal mug. After all, that's all that the Moscow Mule had going for it when it was introduced in the 1950s. The cup makes the drink.

• 1 oz. lime juice
• ginger beer (Fever Tree used)
• lime wedge

Build drink with lime juice in metal mug or Mule Cup and top with crushed ice. Top with ginger beer and garnish with a lime slice.