Cooper Union (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

Leave it to Death & Co. to name a cocktail after a New York art university. I guess that the inference one can take is that artists like their booze. 

This is yet another Sazerac variation that does not include absinthe but uses Laphroaig as the primary scent on the glass. The smoke and peat really hit you when you get your nose close to the glass, but it is cut by the lemon oils from the twist. Once you delve beneath the surface, you'll find that the liquor beneath is extremely soft: Irish whiskey and St. Germain. The effect is a cocktail like the Sazerac (but with no added sugar syrup) that is far less bitter but just as aromatic. It is at once earthy and floral and goes down all too quickly.

• Laphroaig scotch
• 2 oz. Readbrest 12-year Irish whiskey (Slane Irish whiskey used)
• 1/2 oz. St. Germain
• 1 dash orange bitters (Hella used)
• 1 lemon twist

Rinse a double rocks glass in Laphroaig and discard. Stir the remaining ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and strain into the coated glass. Squeeze the twist over the glass and discard.

Soul Clench (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This grape and grapefruit spirit cocktail has everything but juice. There's pisco and vermouth for the main notes, but accents of elderflower and spice from St-Germain and falernum. 

There is also an unusual ingredient known as Combier Pamplemousse Rose Liqueur. This is made from the juice and peel of grapefruit steeped in cognac--and it's lovely. I knocked it off with the peel of one grapefruit and one ounce of its juice infused into 2 oz. of vodka and one oz. of cognac for about twelve hours. A lovely taste and very brilliant, but I only made enough for two drinks. 

• 2 oz. pisco (Capel used)
• 3/4 oz. Dolin dry vermouth
• 1/2 oz. Combier Pamplemousse Rose Liqueur (homemade used: see above)
• 1/2 oz. oz. St-Germain
• 1/4 oz. falernum (homemade used)
• 1 grapefruit twist garnish

Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass full of ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist the grapefruit peel over the glass and drop it in. 

Muddled Mission (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

You don't see too many muddled drinks strained and up and made with alpine spirits. There's something particularly intense about fresh fruit mixed with fruity and herbaceous spirits. Spicy gin like Citadelle or a fine quality London dry style keeps it on the lighter side, which means this mission is over way too soon.

• 1 strawberry
• 1 1/2 oz. gin (Citadelle used)
• 1 oz. St-Germain
• 1/4 oz. yellow Chartreuse (Dolin Genepy used)
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1 strawberry garnish

 Muddle one strawberry in a shaker and add ice and the remaining liquid ingredients. Shake and double strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with the strawberry. 

 

Green Hills Sling (Original Recipe)

 

This is a light and spritzy cocktail for spring. Asparagus and gin is the perfect flavor combination to captures the newly growing flowers and vegetables of the season, but asparagus is seldom used in cocktails and I've often wondered why. In a world where artichoke and elderflower liqueurs are not only acceptable, but found in nearly every bar, why not asparagus gin?

I made this asparagus gin by infusing vodka with gin botanicals and three asparagus stems (my old bathtub gin recipe modified slightly to make room for asparagus flavors. The botanical mix includes 1 tbsp. juniper berries and a half teaspoon of anise seeds, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, and caraway seeds with one long lemon zest. Then I added the asparagus stems and a bottle of 100-proof vodka and let it infuse for three days. (It is easy to over-steep bathtub gin and that makes the juniper more bitter, covering the other botanicals.)

Alternatively, you can take your favorite gin and infuse it with asparagus. I recommend doing it in a large jar rather than dropping the asparagus into your bottle. If you can't get the asparagus out of the bottle after three days, it will start tasting like bitter overcooked asparagus.

The rest of the cocktail is pretty straightforward. Asparagus gin, akvavit, and Dolin blanc for the herbal spirits, lemon juice and St-Germain to balance the acidity and add sweetness and a floral nose. 

• 1 1'/2 oz. asparagus gin (homemade infusion used)
  
• 1 oz. Dolin blanc 
• 3/4 oz. St-Germain
• 1/2 oz. akvavit (homemade used)
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• sparkling water
  
• 3 fresh asparagus stems for garnish

Combine all liquid ingredients except sparkling water in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with sparkling water and garnish with asparagus. 

Espadin Queen (Death & Co Recipe)

 

This is a drink very much in my comfort zone. It includes all of my favorite things: mezcal, St-Germain, Ricard or absinthe, and cinnamon. As a bar, Death & Co. makes a lot of batched ingredients like cinnamon syrup and something called Don's Mix. Looking in the glossary, I discovered that Don's mix is really 2 to 1 grapefruit juice and cinnamon syrup. Having something batched for a drink and already in one bottle saves steps, but there are many steps to making Don's mix if you do it like a restaurant. At home, however, it shouldn't be so hard to make one cocktail.

To make cinnamon syrup you cook simple syrup with cinnamon sticks and allow it to cool before straining out the sticks. This takes about a half hour between dissolving the sugar, bringing it to a low boil and cooling it slowly. Then you have to juice grapefruit and bottle the juice and syrup together. That's three steps, but when you aren't making ingredients for mass consumption you can save yourself a step. If you have MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey you can save yourself two. 

Simply put a splash of cinnamon whiskey in the portion of simple syrup you were going to use for the cocktail and you have cinnamon syrup. Now to make Don's Mix, just adjust the amount of grapefruit juice you will need and think of it as one ingredient--the juice itself--and the cinnamon syrup as another separate ingredient.

That is why I will include my modifications to the recipe so that it is easy to follow. I more than nailed this cocktail with my home bar ingredients and it was easy. The cinnamon sticks in the photo are just for show. 

• Vieux Pontarlier absinthe (Ricard used)
• 1 1/2 oz. del Maguey Vida mezcal
• 1/4 oz. St-Germain
• 1/2 oz. grapefruit juice (1 oz. total grapefruit juice used)
  
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. Donn's mix (1/2 oz. cane sugar syrup with 1 tsp. MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey used)
  
• 1 tsp cane sugar syrup (not needed if you made the modifications above)

Rinse a coupe glass with absinthe (Ricard) and dump. Combine the remaining ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and double strain into the glass. 

 

Saramago (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

Sometimes a cocktail is designed to invite the senses and is so well-balanced that it seduces you completely. That is what happens with this drink, a variation on the Tequila Martini. 

My issue with the Tequila Martini is that it is often too dry, too forceful to have as your first cocktail. Saramago gets you over that hump with St. Germain to sweeten and add floral essences. Dolin blanc and tequila makes for a rounder Martini than the extra dry vermouth. It gives more of a grape flavor that plays well with the herbal notes of tequila. Finally, there's just a hint of smoke from the mezcal rinse that signals the deeper pleasures to come.

• Del Maguey Vida Mezcal rinse
  
• 2 oz blanco tequila (Sauza 100% blue agave blanco used)
• 3/4 oz. Dolin blanc
• 1/2 oz. St-Germain
• 1 dash orange bitters (Hella used)
• grapefruit twist

Rinse a coupe with mezcal and dump. Stir the remaining ingredients on ice and strain into the coupe. Twist a grapefruit zest over the drink and drop it in. 

Heart-Shaped Box (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This is a recipe that showcases what Death & Co. does really well: making use of unusual ingredients like balsamic vinegar to balance fresh ingredients like strawberries and citrus. I loved the way this cocktail upends the Strawberry Daiquiri with flavors more akin to strawberry vinaigrette. 

Otherwise, the cocktail is pretty straightforward. Strawberries are muddled in the shaker tin. Crushed ice is in the glass. The recipe calls for cinnamon bark syrup, which I've done a lot in a work situation, but I don't bother to make for single servings at home. I use MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey and plain simple syrup for this. A 1-1 ratio of rich simple and cinnamon whiskey will usually do the trick for single servings. (Obviously if you wanted to make a lot of cinnamon simple with MurLarkey, I would use one oz. cinnamon whiskey per cup of simple syrup.)

• 2 oz. cognac (Martell single distillery used)
• 3/4 oz. St. Germain (homemade used)
  
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon bark syrup (simple syrup and MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey used)
• 1/2 tsp. aged balsamic vinegar 
• 1 strawberry for muddling 
• 1/2 strawberry as garnish

Muddle one strawberry in the shaker tin and add all liquid ingredients and ice. Shake and strain into a double old fashioned glass full of crushed ice. Place the strawberry on top of the ice in a tribute to Nirvana.

Bella Cohen (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

My hope that this New York bar named this drink based on the actress' actual preference. It is quite possible that she came to the bar herself, and this was named for her. And even if it isn't, it makes a great St. Patrick's Day cocktail. 

I'm gearing up for St. Patrick's Day with a few new whiskies and this East India solera sherry by Lustau. The recipe calls for pale cream sherry, but that is really a matter of color, not the sweetness of the flavor. This solera sherry is actually very rich, and it is part of the Death & Co. repertoire that gets used a lot, and so I anticipate using more of it as I make my way through their bar book. 

This cocktail is rich and a sweet with plenty of single malt nuttiness that the sherry accentuates. St. Germain is a small portion of the drink, but aids in adding texture to this all liquor drink. The lemon twist, if anything, adds the slightest acidity to cut the sweet and oak notes.  

• 1 1/2 oz. Knappogue Castle 12-year Irish whiskey
• 1 1/2 oz. Alvear Festival pale cream sherry (Lustau East India solera used)
• 1 tsp. St Germain
• 1 dash Peychaud's bitters
• lemon twist

Combine all liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Twist lemon zest over the glass and drop it in. 

Elderflower Grapefruit Akvavit Sour (Moody Mixologist Recipe)

 

Let me go on the record that a list of ingredients in the drink isn't a name. At least we pretty much know how to make this cocktail just by reading the name. But I have to say that there is a lot of good things going on with this cocktail. A Sour is always a crowd pleaser, but the well-kept secret that akvavit and grapefruit juice, plus the elderflower notes of St. Germain, is a stroke of genius. 

Funny enough, I'm using my own akvavit, and even though this bottle of St. Germain is authentic, the liqueur is my own combination of elderflower syrup and raw spirits. It's a good substitution, however. For my raw spirit, I use Smirnoff #56 for hit 100-proof kick. It is also 2-1 with MurLarkey Justice white whiskey in my homemade akvavit. Even if you don't like the herbaceous flavor of akvavit, you should give this cocktail a try. It has a lot of things that will win over most people, even if they are shy about trying unusual spirits. 

• 1 1/2 oz. akvavit (homemade used)
• 1 oz. pink grapefruit juice
• 1/2 oz. elderflower liqueur (homemade used)
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/4 oz. sugar syrup
• lemon twist

Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Twist lemon zest over the glass and drop it in. 

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. 

Colchique

This drink is intended to evoke Alpine flowers in autumn, but I'm going to make it for spring anyway. After all, floral notes are more in vogue in the spring and richer spices are called for in fall. For this drink I got to use St. Germain elderflower liqueur and a dash of orange blossom water, both of which have a potent blossom aroma. I also used the last of my bottle of Machu Pisco, a fitting end to a terrific run of grape spirit drinks.

• 2 1/2 oz. pisco
• 1/2 oz. orange juice
• 1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1/4 oz. lemon juice
• dash orange blossom water
• orange twist

Combine all ingredients except twist in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled coup or cocktail glass (coup shown). Garnish with orange twist.

St. Germain Kir Blanc

This isn't real St. Germain. This is elderflower cordial and vodka in a St. Germain bottle. Even so, I find that this cordial is so similar to the liqueur that most St. Germain drinkers would have a hard time finding the impostor if it were next to the real deal.

Kirs are wine and liqueur drinks that are probably the easiest of all cocktails to make. No ice needed. No shaking. You don't even have to stir.

• 1 oz. St Germain
• 3 oz. dry white wine

Combine both ingredients in a white wine glass. 

Montparnasse

This is a drink I was excited to try with the remainder of my St. Germain. It is an applejack and dry vermouth drink recommended on the St. Germain website, where you will find some of the only suggestions for drinks made with the liqueur. I was impressed that with the sauvignon blanc and applejack, it really tasted like apples, despite there being no apple flavors. I wish I had done an apple garnish sliced wafer thin as an excuse to quote Monte Python: "wafer thin."

• 1 1/2 oz. calvados (applejack shown)
• 3/4 oz. St Germain
• 1/2 oz. sauvignon blanc
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• recommended: apple garnish sliced wafer thin (lemon twist shown.)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice except fruit garnishes. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist or apple wafer.

Elderflower Thistle

I have to confess, I was intrigued by this cocktail by Carey Jones and John D. McCarthy on FWx: http://www.foodandwine.com/fwx/drink/3-cocktails-make-st-germain.
So far it is the best flavored rocks scotch drink I've made, better than the Godfather and the Rusty Nail. I think it is because it uses so much St. Germain, which is light and citrusy and doesn't compete with the scotch for flavor. Try this by stirring and only using the juice from a lemon zest for flavor.

• 2 oz. scotch
• 1 oz. St. Germain
• lemon zest

Build cocktail with scotch, St. Germain and large ice cubes in a rocks glass. Stir ingredients until cool and twist lemon zest above the drink before dripping it in.

Japanese Tea Garden

This is a new creation, and one I am pretty proud of. I was struggling to find a drink that would reflect Japanese tastes without using rum, but still within the means of my bar. I can't just get shochu at the corner, man. So I dabbled and came up with this monster, which is pretty pleasing. I like that I threw in a little Bushmills, because what is a Japanese drink without whiskey?

• 1 1/2 oz. Bombay Sapphire East
• 1 oz. Republic of Tea Ginger Peach Tea
• 1/2 oz. Bushmills Irish Honey
• 1/4 oz. simple syrup
• 1/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. ginger liqueur (Domaine Canton)
• 1 tsp. St. Germain

Shake all ingredients with ice in a shaker. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with a pineapple spear.

St. Rita

Another recipe to help you use that bottle of St. Germain. It's true that there aren't many original recipes that use St. Germain, but it can improve just about any classic drink that depends on citrus and floral notes to create interest.

• 2 oz. silver tequila
• 1 oz.
• 3/4 oz. lime juice

Combine all ingredients with ice in a shaker. Shake and strain into a Margarita glass full of fresh ice.

Elder Kir

Kirs are basically adding a liqueur to champagne. We used proseco for a sweeter sparkling wine, which was just fine. Here's how you make it:

• 1 oz. St. Germain
• 4 oz. champagne

Chill St. Germain by cooling the bottle in the freezer or shaking an ounce on ice. Pour it in a chilled champagne flute and top with chilled champagne.

Gypsy

This is an old classic that is spiced up with newer liqueurs. Try a Gypsy made with French liquor and Old Tom style gin to get the pre-prohibition flavor of the cocktail. This is a very refreshing citrus cocktail.

• 1 1/2 oz. gin
• 3/4 oz. green Chartreuse 
• 1/2 oz. St. Germain
• 1/2 oz. lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime twist or wheel.








St. Germain is French elderflower and citrus liquor. It may taste a little bit like soap served neat, but it really takes a back seat to your gin or other spicier liquors like Chartreuse. Try it in a couple of drinks or with your champagne for a flowery kick.

Grand Autumn

So a visit with family in Columbus gave me the opportunity to work with some different liquors and make a new cocktail. This is a very refreshing drink that is made even better with Canada Dry Cranberry Ginger Ale. It turned a Grand Autumn into a Merry Christmas!

2 oz. rye
1 oz. lime juice
1 oz. St. Germain
Ginger ale

Combine all ingredients except ginger ale in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass full of ice. Top with ginger ale.