Warehouse C (Death & Co. Recipe)

There is no end to the great drinks you can make with bourbon. This one comes as no surprise, but it seems a little unusual to find orgeat, strawberry an cinnamon all in the same cocktail. To me, the flavors in the Warehouse C signal the end of summer berries and the beginning of fall spice cocktails.

Death & Co. recommends batching your own cinnamon infused syrup for drinks like this, but I never do. I rely on a dash of MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey, which is basically cinnamon infused whiskey. It is the real deal, and so adding some to your simple syrup effectively makes it cinnamon syrup. I did the same with my homemade ginger liqueur and simple syrup to make the ginger syrup.

• 1 strawberry
• 1 1/2 oz. Buffalo Trace bourbon (Ancient Age by Buffalo Trace used)
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/4 oz. orgeat (Fee Brothers used)
• 1/4 oz. cinnamon syrup (simple and a dash of MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey used)
• 1/4 oz. ginger syrup (simple and a dash of ginger liqueur used)
• 1 dash aromatic bitters (Hella used)

Muddle the strawberry in a shaker tin. Add ice and the remaining ingredients. Shake and double strain into a chilled coupe glass.

 

Nitty-Gritty (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

The inventor of this drink says that this cocktail is a riff on the Fifty-Fifty Martini, which is exactly what it sounds like: Half gin and half dry vermouth. What the hell is this, then? Many ingredients, none of them vermouth... If you are making a Martini variation, I don't want to see Benedictine or pear brandy. 

That sounds harsh, though. I really loved this cocktail. It is unusual to see dry Manzanilla and mezcal used in the same drink, much less pear brandy and Benedictine. And the bartender's note was absolutely right. Sometimes a rich-tasting ingredient like mezcal (which is quite dry in texture) mixed with a dry fortified wine like Manzanilla feels too dry to drink. It's like you need sugar to pull apart the wild flavors of mezcal and sherry when they are mixed in these quantities and chilled. And that is why the agave syrup was a brilliant move. 

Pear is also a difficult flavor to detect when searching for it in a dry pear brandy. Agave syrup helps with that, but apple bitters also suggests pie fruits and baked notes. That's what this cocktail finally brings home. It is a pie drink that is on the dry side and perfect for appetizers rather than dessert. 

• 1 1/2 oz. del Maugey mezcal
• 1/2 oz. Manzinilla sherry (Orleans used)
• 1/2 oz. Benedictine
• 1/2 oz. pear brandy (Catoctin Creek used)
• 1/2 tsp. agave nectar
• 1 dash bar coke baked apple bitters
• 1 dash aromatic bitters (Hella used)
• lemon twist garnish

Combine all ingredients except twist in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled coupt and garnish with the lemon twist. 

Honshu Punch (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

According to the Death & Co. book, Honshu punch was a regular offering with an ingredient makeup that changed depending on who was bartending when it is ordered. The recipe the book provides, however, is one that intentionally makes use of Japanese Yamazaki 12 whiskey. This was a great idea back in 2008 when demand for this fabulous whiskey was low, but not at the prices it is going for right now. 

I've been using Catoctin Creek Colossal X--a barley malt whiskey--which is not too different from the barley whiskies of Japan. They are like scotch without the smoke, and this is also true of Colossal X. The rest of the cocktail is necessarily simple, given that it is a punch that is batched before each shift. 

• 2 oz. Yamazaki 12 (Catoctin Creek Colossal X used)
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. cane sugar syrup
• 2 dashes Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters (Angostura used)
• 2 dashes Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters (Hella Aromatic bitters used)
• 1 oz. club soda

Combine all ingredients except soda in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a large snifter with a single large format ice cube. Top with club soda. 

Manhattan Transfer (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

I'm still in a Manhattan mood and trying new variations of that classic, this time with rye, Ramazzotti and dry vermouth. It turns out that Ramazzotti is one of the ingredients in my homemade Amer Picon, which is mostly an infusion of oranges in MurLarkey Justice white whiskey. So I used Amer Picon to carry off the Ramazzotti flavor needed for the drink and inadvertently made a variation of the Brooklyn cocktail. 

I'm sure the Brooklyn was the inspiration for the Manhattan Transfer, but having no Amer Picon, they used Ramazzotti and the rest is history. 

• 1 1/2 oz. Catoctin Creek Distiller's Edition rye
• 1 oz. dry vermouth (Dolin used)
• 1 oz. Ramazzotti (homemade Amer Picon used)
• 1 dash orange bitters (Hella used)

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

Midnight Mass (Death & Co. Recipe)

I love the imagery that this name evokes. Benedictine and Cardamaro give this Latin Mass of a drink a whiff of  incense. It's herbs, after all. And a stirred rum cocktail can take on the airs of holy water in bottles found in a monastery's reliquary. Most of that is all marketing, however. But so is the magic behind bartending. There are no saints in this industry, and magical elixirs are all basically the same alcohol molecule. 

There is something to be said about proportions and preparation in bartending that makes it somehow more sanctified when done well. Benedictine, while not made by monks, has the ability to transport drinkers to a simpler time when real art was behind every recipe that came from French liqueur distillers. 

And amari are the same way. Cardamaro may taste like spiced boiled sweets, but it is actually a wine infusion with gentian and cardamom, not something that I'd feel comfortable making myself. I'll leave it to the experts and pretend that they have a special relationship with God.

• 2 oz. Scarlet Ibis rum (Rhum Barbancourt used)
• 3/4 oz. Cardamaro
• 1/4 oz. Benedictine
• 1 dash Jerry Thomas bitters (Hella aromatic used)
• 1 orange twist as garnish

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with the orange twist.