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.

 

Caribbean Shrub (Death & Co. Recipe)

I've drank shrub cocktails before. I rather like them. This is the first I've made from scratch. A shrub is a mixture of vinegar, fruit and sugar. Some barenders keep living shrubs in jars, feeding them with leftover wine. This shrub is a balsamic gastrique, which is more like a dark, tangy sauce drizzled on cooked meats or vegetables as an accent flavor. 

The reception of this cocktail was tremendous. Sweet cocktails need balance with acid, and this acid (the strawberry balsamic gastrique) had barrel aged balsamic vinegar and strawberries cooked into it. The chemical formula of vinegar is different from citric acid, your typical lemon juice acid, and we take notice with our senses. But the drink works. It transports you to a colonial time when shrubs were used to preserve fruits and add acid to cocktails that haven't been in fashion for 200 years.

To make the strawberry-balsamic gastrique combine 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of water. Cook over low heat stirring constantly the sugar is dissolved. Add 2 cups of cut strawberries and simmer for 30 minutes while stirring occasionally. Stir in 1 cup of balsamic vinegar and raise heat to a boil while stiring contiuously. Lower the temperatore and allow to thicken for 30 minutes, still stirring. Allow to cool and strain through a cheesecloth. This gastrique will keep if refrigerated for up to three weeks.

For the Caribbean Shrub recipe:

• 1 oz. Appleton Estate rum (George Bowman used)
• 1 oz. Rhum Agricole blanc (Barbancourt 4-year-old used)
• 3/4 oz. strawberry-balsamic gastrique
• 3/4 oz. cane sugar syrup
• 1/2 strawberry garnish

Shake all liquid ingredients with three ice cubes in a shaker to chill. Strain into a highball glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with the half strawberry.

 

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. 

 

Straw Dog (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

The Straw Dog is Death & Co.'s update on the Bloodhound, a blended gin Strawberry Daiquiri with vermouth. Granted, the Bloodhound is kind of an anomaly of the Disco Era of cocktails where fresh fruit was used, but other ingredients were strange and often poorly matched with them. The Straw Dog un-does a lot of the harms of its predecessor.

Death & Co. used Compass Box Asyla Scotch as their base for its round scotchyness. I'd do the same, except I found a nice single malt from Speyburn--10 years old, even! And this was a good move because Speyburn's softness translates like mild whiskey. You really notice the Dolin Blanc more than the scotch.

The other change I made was out of necessity. I don't have, nor can I make, hopped grapefruit bitters. My substitute was two dashes rhubarb-lemon bitters (because these will do the lifting job of the grapefruit), and one of celery bitters (because of their binding earthiness). 

• 1 strawberry
• 1 1/2 oz. Compass Box Asyla Scotch (Speyburn 10-year old used)
• 1 oz. Dolin blanc
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• 1 dash Bittermans hopped grapefruit bitters. (2 dashes rhubarb-lemon and 1 dash celery bitters used)
• 1/2 strawberry garnish
  

Gently muddle 1 strawberry in a shaker tin. Then add ice and the remaining ingredients except the half strawberry and shake. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass and garnish with the strawberry half.

Fresca Brava (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This is a fun drink to make for tequila lovers looking to try something spicy for a change. There's plenty of heat here with two ounces of jalapeno-infused tequila. But the subtleties of the drink, the alpine spirit and strawberry, make a sublime spring cocktail that taste fresh and surprising, just as the name suggests. 

To make jalapeno-infused tequila, use a blanco so as to not add color. Cut up two jalapenos (the more diced the faster the flavor will infuse) and put them in a jar with the tequila for at least a day. 

One change I made to this recipe out of necessity was that I used Dolin Genepy instead of Yellow Chartreuse. I feel this was a fair move, since it isn't the color or intensity of Chartreuse that is important to this cocktail. It is better to leave the red hue of the strawberry intact, after all. But those alpine herbs and fruits need to be there to suggest cool climes and fresh air. Genepy does this in spades.

• 1 strawberry
• 2 oz. jalapeno-infused blanco tequila (jalapeno-infused Sauza 100% blue agave blanco used)
• 3/4 oz. Yellow Chartreuse
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup

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

AKA Cobbler (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This is a beautiful cocktail, as Cobblers often are. Looking at the ingredients this is as much a sherry cobbler with a spicy tequila shot thrown in. It uses the juice and acidity of the strawberry to give the right balance to the other sweet and spicy ingredients. My limited success this time around (it was hard to appreciate) is probably due to the fact that strawberry season hasn't hit its stride yet. Riper berries will undoubtedly make for a better taste.

But a Cobbler is usually a winter cocktail, containing lots of ingredients designed to satisfy a sweet tooth and warm you up despite that it is served on ice. So we have Lustau East India Solera Sherry and maraschino liqueur giving liquored fruit notes, some muddled lemon twists for zestiness, and blanco tequila, a portion of which is infused with jalapeno heat. 

I'm still trying to place where this cocktail best fits in. Maybe at Death & Co. on a cold day. It's not poolside sipping or a beach drink, though. 

• 1 tsp simple syrup
• 1 tsp Luxardo maraschino liqueur
• 2 lemon twists
• 1 strawberry
• 1 white sugar cube
• 1 1/2 oz. blanco tequila (Sauza 100% blue agave used)
•  1/2 oz. jalapeno-infused blanco tequila (Sauza blanco infused with jalapenos used)
• 1/2 oz. Lustau East India Solera Sherry
• 1/2 strawberry garnish

Muddle the simple syrup, maraschino liqueur, lemon twists, strawberry and sugar cube in a shaker tin. Add tequilas and sherry and whip (shake with a few pieces of crushed ice, just until the ingredients are incorporated. Dump into a double rocks glass and top with crushed ice. Garnish with the half strawberry. 

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.

Dirty Strawberry Rocks Rita (Original Recipe)

 

There's something about enjoying an excellent Margarita done on the cheap. Strong, flavorful and packed with citrus and salt--just what the body craves. It's easy to adjust your recipe slightly and have a very different result. Here I've substituted a different flavor for the triple sec. For this recipe, I used a homemade moonshine infused with strawberries and sweetened with sugar syrup.

That's not Mother's Moonshine, whatever that is. I used the bottle to store my own strawberry moonshine for this drink. 

• 2 oz. white tequila (Sauza 100% Blue Agave use)
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. strawberry moonshine
• 1 tsp. sugar syrup
• sea salt and lime slice for garnish.

Begin buy coating the rim of an Old Fashioned glass with sea salt. Do this by rubbing a lime slice along the rim to wet it and dipping it into a saucer of coarse sea salt. Fill a shaker with the remaining ingredients and shake. Pour into the glass and garnish with the leftover slice of lime. 

Commodore #1

I've made a Commodore Cocktail before: that bourbon and creme de cacao drink with lemon juice. I've never heard of a Commodore #1, and that implies that there's a #2 and beyond, right?

I did this one because I made this strawberry liqueur from Vitae Platinum Rum, sugar and fresh strawberries. It was a good idea. MurLarkey Heritage Whiskey provides a spicy base for this fruity drink. You notice the wine cask and rapidly aged oak of the heritage while the strawberry provides a fresh sweetness. Overall, though, this is a very juicy drink and you might not notice that it is predominately orange juice, so bitters do a lot to keep it interesting and balanced.

• 1 1/2 oz. whiskey (MurLarkey Heritage used)
• 1/2 oz strawberry liqueur (homemade used)
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 2 oz. orange juice
• dash orange bitters

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

Ladbroke Road Cocktail

This bright fizzy drink is going for everything English from strawberries to gin. The British love their gin! What better way to enjoy it than with fresh fruit and a long refreshing soda drink. Ladbroke probably refers to Ladbroke Grove tube station in London, a posh area near Notting Hill. Or else it might be the village of Ladbroke in Warwickshire, but I tend to think the former as it is better known.

A note on the bottle pictured left: the label doesn't correspond with a product that I know of. This was an image I printed, perhaps of a now defunct producer of flavored moonshines. What you see here is a Vitae rum distillery bottle with the printed label on top. I have the recipe for this here.

I'm finding that I enjoy these liqueurs I'm making at home more than store-bought ingredients. Often you pay too much for them or the quality is poor compared to what you can make in your kitchen if you have the fresh fruit and good booze.

• 1 1/2 oz. gin (MurLarkey ImaGination used)
• 1 oz. homemade strawberry liqueur made with Vitae Platinum rum 
• dash triple sec
• club soda 
• lemon peel
• whole strawberry

Combine liquid ingredients except soda in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a Collins glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and stir gently. Garnish with the strawberry and lemon twist.