Double Fill-Up (Death & Co. Recipe)

Pomegranate molasses is a store-bought ingredients that I don't have in my neighborhood. I don't really understand what makes it molasses, anyway. I imitate the flavor (I imagine) is in the ingredient listed in the Death & Co. recipe by using a little blackstrap molasses in pomegranate syrup. The rest of this cocktail is very much in keeping with the Rose family of drinks with a good helping of mint muddled into it to give it freshness and spicy rye for that high-test punch.

• 2 oz. Catoctin Creek 92-proof rye 
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 3/4 oz. simple syrup
• 1 tsp. pomegranate molasses (half pomegranate syrup and blackstrap)
• 3 mint leaves
• 1 mint leaf garnish

Shake all ingredients with ice and double strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with the mint sprig. 

 

Blown Rose (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

The coaster in this picture says it all. Death & Co. has some of the most innovative cocktails back when nobody knew how to make a Manhattan. This one is especially fun to make as well as to drink. For starters, I've never muddled apple slices before. This is easier than it looks. Also, chamomile rye is the perfect pairing for apple and cinnamon flavors. The pineapple and lime juice sound tropical, but they just lend sweet acids and balance to the spirits giving the overall effect of having apple pie in a glass. 

Just looking at the name of this drink, you'd assume it has a natural relationship to the Jack Rose or any Rose cocktail that usually involves a spirit, lime juice and grenadine. But there is so much more going on here. A few of my modifications happened naturally based on what I have available and my personal preferences for stocking my kitchen. 

The chamomile tea is Republic of Tea's Chamomile Lemon, which has no lemon in it but it does have lemon balm in it. This is an herbal flavor that doesn't step on but adds to the complexity of other flavors. The cinnamon syrup is a mix of my cane sugar syrup and MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey--the best shortcut for syrup making I've ever come up with. (MurLarkey infuses cinnamon into their spirit so you don't have to.)

It is important to use Fuji apples, as a Granny Smith or Golden Delicious just won't taste the same. Cut the slices thin so that they are easy to muddle. The rest takes care of itself.

• 3 Fuji apple slices
• 2 oz. chamomile-infused rye (Rittenhouse used)
• 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. cinnamon bark syrup (simple syrup and MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey used)
• 1 lime wheel garnish
  

Muddle apple slices in the shaker before adding the remaining ingredients with ice. Shake and double strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.  

Bourbon Rose #2

 

Rose cocktails are numerous. I'm a little surprised that this is my first Bourbon Rose variation. The majority of Rose cocktails are a combination of a spirit, grenadine and lime juice. They have a brilliant red color that is cloudy from juice and the color of whatever spirit you chose. The Bourbon Rose #1 is one such drink. This is a deeper rouge colored Rose owing to the creme de cassis and there is (quite contradictory to typical Rose recipes) dry vermouth. 

Another unusual thing about this cocktail, and it is fitting that it is a bourbon drink, is that it is served on the rocks. Bourbon drinks are often re-worked recipes designed to appeal to southern drinkers. It's unlikely that southern men, for instance, would find a long-stemmed glass an appealing way to consume their favorite spirit. 

• 1 1/2 oz. bourbon (Evan William's bonded used)
• 1/2 oz. creme de cassis (G.E. Massenez used)
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth (Dolin extra dry used)
• 1/4 oz. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into an Old Fashioned glass. 

Berry Rose Sangria

This was a bit of an ad-hoc Sangria, as I think most Sangrias are. It started with overbuying on berries at the Farmer's market, some of which I turned into strawberry syrup that I've been using in cocktails and with red wine vinegar to make salad dressing. The weekend was the hottest so far this summer and I needed a ready-made drink for the pool. Then a lackluster rose ᷎᷎᷎᷎᷎᷎that purports to be "dry and crisp" is really flat and boring. Sangria was the weekend zeitgeist!

I made this batch with the majority of a dry-ish bottle of rose᷎᷎, so you will have to adjust the sweet sugar syrup according to taste. I believe that Sangria improves with time, so allow it to rest in the refrigerator for several hours if not for a full day. Since this is an ad-hoc Sangria, feel free to use any fresh berries you have on hand. You don't need to have strawberries or strawberry syrup, but don't use a dark colored syrup like blueberry, which will change the color. Simple syrup will work in a pinch.

• 1 bottle of rose᷎ wine
• 1 cup of assorted berries (raspberries, blueberries and strawberries used)
• 1 oz. strawberry or simple syrup
• 3 lemon slices
• 2 oz. triple sec

Combine all ingredients in a large container with a lid and refrigerate at least one hour before serving. Serve on ice ladling berries and fruit into glasses.

Banana Brandy Rose (Original Recipe for MurLarkey Distilery)

The most famous cocktail in the Rose series is the Jack Rose made with apple jack. These cocktails, which can be made with any spirit, are all sour drinks that are usually sweetened with grenadine. I thought that the unusual pairing of brandy with the rich flavor of MurLarkey banana whiskey would balance better than the Jack Rose. I wasn't wrong.

For one thing, I was going for the sweetness and pleasant flavor of the banana whiskey that makes it very drinkable by itself. The banana flavor pairs well with lime juice in an almost tropical combination. The brandy smooths out the whiskey notes and takes the drink in the direction of an aged brandy style of Rose cocktail. The drink was still sour, but far more interesting, providing in turns dried banana, spicy whiskey, and oak.

• 1 1/2 oz. MurLarkey banana whiskey
• 1 oz. E&J VSOP
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 1 tsp. grenadine
• lime slice

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

Rose and White Rose

I thought it fitting to do both the Rose cocktails together in a single post with the same gin. Equally fitting is the choice of Boodles, a traditional London style gin to go with these two British houses that the cocktails signify.

It is interesting that apart from gin these cocktails have nothing in common. The Rose is one of those apricot brandy, gin and lemon juice combos that you find everywhere in old bar books. It might be the most common combinations behind gin and vermouth!

The White Rose is completely different. It is the first egg white and orange juice cocktail I've come across. There's a ton of maraschino liqueur in there too! The texture and flavors are so opposite each other that it was fun to have both at once.

Here's how to make them:

Rose 

• 2 oz. gin (Boodles used)
• 1 oz. apricot brandy
• 1 oz. dry vermouth (Rivata used)
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. grenadie
• lemon wedge
• sugar

Coat the rim of a chilled cocktail glass with sugar by using rubbing a lemon wedge around it and dipping the glass in sugar. You can discard the lemon wedge or use it as a garnish (and rightly so, to control the acid level in the cocktail. just squeeze more in if you find the drink too sweet as I did.) Shake all liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker full of ice and strain it into the glass.

White Rose

• 2 oz. gin (Boodles used)
• 1 oz. maraschino liqueur (Luxardo used)
• 2 oz. orange juice
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 tsp. sugar syrup 
• 1 egg white

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

Bermuda Rose

This lovely photo by Ned Drummond shows off this interesting combo cocktail. I call it that because there are two families of drinks involved. The Rose family of drinks (or the broader flower category including Orange Blossom drinks.) These are usually served up.

The other family of drinks is the Bermuda themed drinks. These always include brandy or apricot brandy. It must be a thing. The Bermuda Rose has the pinkness of the Bermuda Bouquet and Rose cocktails but it also has a limey citrus and gin center. Apricot brandy only sweetens it a bit, as does the grenadine.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 tbsp. lime juice
• 2 tsp. apricot brandy
• 2 tsp. grenadine

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Satrain over ice cubes in a chilled Old Fashioned glass.