Blue Run Sling (Death & Co. Recipe)

This bittersweet Sling is a little less exotic than the Singapore Sling, keeping its ingredients more or less grounded in apple pie notes rather than citrus. And you don't see bourbon Slings everyday. I think of this as a fall cocktail for those who need to keep things on the light and refreshing side. And it's great: you don't feel bogged down with sweetness or pumpkin spice. 

I don't have Amaro Averna, but I know that it has a bitter orange peel flavor that I tried to replicate with a mix of Don Ciccio & Figili Ambrosia and my homemade Amer Picon (which has Ramazzotti with its orange flavors in it as well). The rest was made simply by combining ingredients and preparing the orange flag with the cherry target center. 

• 2 oz. bourbon
• 1/4 oz. Amaro Averna (Ambrosia and Amer Picon used)
• 3/4 oz. fuji apple juice
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 3/4 oz. vanilla syrup
• 1 dash orange bitters (Hella used)
• 1 orange flag with cherry  and barrel-aged bitters dashed on it as garnish
  

Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass full of ice cubes. Garnish with the orange flag and dash bitters on it.

 

Jesper Lind (Death & Co. Recipe)

Vesper Lind is James Bond's beau. This is the woman for whom he never married. And we all have had a Vesper or a 007 Martinii. This is different. In fact if I was to suggest a  Bond Enemy drink, this might be it. 

There is a lot of richness in the nose: vanilla and orange. When you sip it is full of raisin from the sherry and herbal notes from the gin and aquavit. And that last bit is where the name comes from: a common masculine name in Norway, Jesper. All of which hints at the addition of aquavit as a botanical ingredient. This is the dude drink to match Bond's woman. And I'm down with that. It's richer and more herbaceous. There's no vodka to tame it down. The flavor is full and ready. 

What it lacks is garnish, if that is even necessary. At a cool bar like Death & Co., I'd be surprised if that was even necessary. And truthfully, you don't need lemon oil from the twist or a cherry to throw off the perfection of the individual ingredients. 

• 1 1/2oz. dry gin (homemade bathtub used)
• 3/4 oz. Lustau East India Solera Sherry
• 1/2 oz. Linie aquavit (homemade used)
• 1 tsp vanilla syrup 
• 1 dash orange bitters

Stir all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Strain into a coupe glass. 

Hot Lips (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This is perhaps my new favorite mezcal drink. It is so well-balanced: spicy, sweet, salty, tangy. Most unusual of all, it is stirred. Apparently a citrus juice cocktail can be stirred when it is rich enough; pineapple juice and vanilla syrup seem to add a kind of thickness that allows for this unorthodox preparation. You can even see by the color of the liquid above that there isn't the kind of cloudy separation that you'd expect from a drink with juice in it. 

• 3/4 oz. jalapeno-infused blanco tequila (Sauza blanco used)
• 3/4 oz. mezcal (Del Maguey Mezcal Vida used)
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. vanilla syrup
• 1 tsp cane sugar syrup
• kosher salt

Rim a fancy Fizz glass half way by wetting the rim with lime juice and dipping it in a dish of kosher salt. Stir remaining ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and double strain into the glass with a large format ice inside. 

Four In Hand--In Coup (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

As cocktail trends come and go throughout the years, there are some recipes that will always find favor. Here's another simple recipe by Death & Co. that is more classic than trendy. This cocktail calls for Old Granddad-114 bourbon, another well priced product, but the overall experience comes across as a spiced rum drink with apple notes I gave it from Laird's applejack-86. The use of George Bowman's Caribbean rum makes for a very colonial-style cocktail, and one that has some staying power. 

A few quick tweaks I made with regards to the syrup: I did not pre-make syrup, I flavored my simples using spirits. For the cinnamon syrup I used MurLarkey cinnamon whiskey. It is an easy way to add a dash of intense cinnamon into your syrup. And while I could have soaked my cinnamon sticks I use for garnishes in hot syrup, with MurLarkey cinnamon, I didn't have to because they made this dry spirit for just this kind of occasion. It is so dry, in fact that you can use it for a cinnamon bitters. 

The vanilla syrup was also an easy correction, adding my vanilla infused vodka to the same simple syrup produced a rich vanilla note with little change to the balance of the drink.

Finally, I used Genepy instead of Green Chartreuse for that herbal lift that the cocktail relies on. Yes, a quarter ounce of Green Chartreuse will be a little more bitter, but it is not enough to affect the color or flavor in such a small proportion, and I'm willing to argue that any Alpine liqueur will do just fine.

• 3/4 oz. bourbon (Ancient Age used)
• 3/4 oz. Laird's apple brandy (Laird's applejack-86 used) 
• 1/4 oz. Smith & Cross rum (George Bowman used)
• 1/4 oz. Green Chartreuse (Genepy used)
• 1 tsp. cinnamon syrup
  
• 1 tsp. vanilla syrup
• orange twist garnish 

Combine all ingredients except garnishes in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled rocks glass and twist the orange zest over it and use it for a garnish. 

Angel's Advocate

 

 

 

Angel's Advocate is a play on words because this drink is made with a little advocaat. Advocaat is a Dutch egg liqueur that I recently learned to make from this Youtube video. The recipe essentially calls for mixing sugar, brandy and egg whites with some vanilla beans. Then it is heated and allowed to cook down briefly before bottling.

The advocaat spirit is thick, like a strong eggnog without the nutmeg. (It actually makes an excellent bottled starter for eggnog, just add milk and nutmeg.) The benefit of this spirit is the ability to add a protein-rich texture without needing raw eggs handy--it is refrigerator stable for a few weeks, so the party can last. In large doses in cocktails, you get dessert drinks, but smaller portions make for creamy textures without adding milk or raw eggs. It also can mix with citrus without clotting the way dairy does. A little goes a long way in that instance, and you will find it makes a gin drink like the Angel's Advocate cloudy and soft with a vanilla scent.

(Note: "Advocaat" is also the word for lawyer in Scandinavian countries, so this drink is a triple play on words.) 

• 1 1/2 oz. dry gin (homemade used)
• 1/6 oz. advocaat (homemade used)
• 1/2 oz. vanilla syrup (simple with vanilla extract used)
• 2/3 oz. lemon juice
• 1 dash cardamon bitters (Hella aromatic bitters used)
• orange zest laid in a cross shape
  

Combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Lay the orange zest pieces on the drink surface in the shape of a cross.

The Expedition (Smuggler's Cove Recipe)

This is one bold and richly flavored Tiki. It suggests an expedition that involves the Americas as well as the exotic east with its spices, honeys, rums and syrups. As an example of the care I took to make it, the bottles displayed in the background are all the liqueurs and syrups I made to pull this cocktail off.

• 2 oz. black blended rum (homemade blend used, but Goslings Black Seal will work)
• 1 oz. bourbon
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. cinnamon syrup (cinnamon added to demerera syrup)
• 1/2 oz. honey syrup (honey and water mixture)
• 1/2 oz. vanilla syrup (vanilla extract added to demerera syrup)
• 1/4 oz. coffee liqueur (homemade coffee liqueur used)
• 2 oz. club soda

Combine all ingredients in a blender and briefly blend. Pour into a tiki mug and top with more crushed ice. Garnish with flowers.