Castle of Cordoba (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

It is beautiful. It is fortified. It is very classic. This cocktail is very much like as Spanish castle. The ingredients aren't especially Spanish, but that hardly matters. There's sherry, a lot of it, and that is good enough.

A couple of things needed to happen for me to knock out this recipe. I have only solera reserve sherry, which was much too dark to used in place of pale cream sherry in such a high dose. I cut it down by half with Manzanilla fino sherry so that it took on a pale color and remained sweet but a little lighter and mustier. I felt it was a great compromise. 

The fortifying ingredient, calvados, was also substituted for by Laird's Applejack 86. I feel that the juiciness of Laird's isn't exactly the flavor of French apple brandy, but the addition of cognac per the recipe adjusts for that anyway. And Martell's single distillery is especially dry and wild tasting--lots of terroir in it like a grappa because it isn't blended with other distilleries like most cognacs. 

This cocktail is decidedly rich, with lots of sweetness from the sherry, but complex. Apples are more than hinted at, and even my modification of Manzanilla sherry did a lot to suggest sour apple notes. This was a winner of a dessert drink.

• 3/4 oz. calvados (Laird's Applejack 86)
• 1/2 oz. cognac (Martell single distillery used)
• 2 oz. pale cream sherry (1 oz. Orleans Manzinilla Fina and 1 oz. Lustau East India Solera Reserve used)
• 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
• 1 apple slice garnish

Combine all liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with the apple slice. 

Bodega Bolt

I like the light, delicate style of this drink. It's a cocktail for a hot afternoon. It's also lower ABV than many cocktails, like a Spritz without the sugar.

I want with the richer tasting old Tom gin by Vitae, mostly because I wanted to downplay the juniper of the gin and let the sherry stand out a little more.

• 1 oz. fino or amontillado sherry
• 1 oz. gin (Vitae Old Tom used0
• club soda
• lime twist

Build the drink by adding gin and sherry in a highball glass full of ice. Top with soda and stir gently. Twist the lime zest over the drink and drop it in.

Sangria

Sangria is a classic wine punch that is enjoyable in warm summer months. It seems fitting that the Spanish with their hotter climate would have invented this drink as a way to enjoy a cold and refreshing glass of red wine with citrus juices and liquors. 

Now Sangria has evolved into many variations involving berries, white wine and even gin, but the basic recipe remains relatively unchanged. It is wine, orange spirit, sugar, juice and, in most cases, strong spirits.

For my recipe I used Campo Viejo Rioja (a real Spanish red) for authenticity, Asbach Uralt, a German brandy that doesn't taste like cognac, and Cointreau for the orange liqueur.

This is the recipe found in the Berk NY Bartender's guide, and it still holds up as an awesome sangria for porch drinks in the summer afternoon.

• 2 bottles of dry red wine (Campo Viejo Rioja used)
• 4 oz. triple sec (Cointreau used)
• 3 oz. brandy (Asbach Uralt used)
• 3 oz. orange juice
• 2 oz. lemon juice
• 2 oz. lime juice
• 4 oz. sugar syrup
• lemon, orange, and lime slices

Combine all ingredients in a large punch bowl and stir to combine. Chill for at least an hour before serving (but keeping in the refrigerator over night is even better). Before serving, add a large cake of ice. 

Imagine Espana (Original Recipe)

I've got a project underway to combine the local Virginia spirits from MurLarkey with international brands. How does one take liqueurs and whiskies from across Europe and Asia and turn them into great cocktails using a base spirit that is unknown overseas? It's easy when you consider that gin is a great base for refreshing spring cocktails.

Licor 43 is a Spanish cordial made from citrus, fruits, spices and brandy. It has a pleasing vanilla flavor and adds sweetness where sugar would usually go in a drink. But it is far more interesting than simple syrup in this twist on a Collins.  MurLarkey makes ImaGination gin, a rich botanical blend of a gin that can really outshine other American gins for its depth of flavor. Far from a juniper-heavy gin, MurLarkey goes for spice and herbs for an unexpected taste.

• 1 1/2 oz. MurLarkey ImaGination gin
• 1 oz. Licor 43
• 1/4 oz. maraschino liqueur
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• sparkling water
• cherries and orange twist garnishes.

Combine lemon juice and liquors in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a Collins glass full of fresh ice. Top with sparkling water and stir gently. Garnish with cherries and orange twist. 

Spanish Moss

Look at that brown-green color on those large rocks. That's the effect the Spanish Moss is going for. Now a minty coffee and tequila drink sounds pretty disgusting on paper. Really it was one of the best creme de menthe drinks I've had because it avoids using citrus like you find in too many mint drinks, especially ones involving tequila.

What you have is a cool visual effect and a sipper of a cocktail that has mint on the nose and the tongue at first sip. That gives way to a rich and grainy coffee flavor that lasts long in the finish. So this drink is really a winner on several fronts. I used my homemade coffee liqueur--vodka based this time with lots of creme de cacao for richness. Dabbling in combining coffee or infusing beans in your neutral spirit and adding sugar is what is so fun about making coffee liqueur. There's no wrong way to do it, but creme de cacao is almost necessary to avoid too much bitterness.

• 2 oz. silver tequila 
• 1 oz coffee liqueur
• 1/2 oz. green creme de menthe

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled Old Fashioned glass full of fresh ice (large rocks recommended.) 

Grenada

I'm not sure how this drink represents the Caribbean island in the Grenadines chain, except that the drink is decidedly Spanish in its leanings. I still don't get it, but I understand the appeal. Brandy makes the drink strong and rich, but curacao and dry sherry make it fruity and tropical. Throw in tonic and you have something exotic.

Just a side note, I've been using this same tile coaster for all these sherry drinks. It is a reproduction of a floor tile designed by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi, and it is there to represent Spain. The brandy I used is very American, though. E & J XO added a ton of vanilla notes to this cocktail and gave me a wicked headache in the morning.

• 1 1/2 oz. brandy (E & J XO)
• 1 oz. dry sherry
• 1/2 oz. white curacao (Luxardo Triplum used)
• tonic water
• orange slice

Combine all ingredients except tonic and orange slice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled highball glass. Top with tonic water and stir gently. Garnish with orange slice.

Bolero

Bolero is a kind of slower, rhythmic Latin dance music. This cocktail with the same name is a slow sipper. I was surprised how much Laird's Apple Brandy stands out as the dominant flavor. And it really did taste like apples and sweet vermouth. This drink was spicy, boozy and light.

• 2 oz. light rum
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth (Lacuesta special edition used)
• 1/2 oz. apple brandy or applejack (Laird's Apple Brandy used)
• dash Angostura bitters

 Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir until chilled and strain over fresh ice in an Old Fashioned glass.

Sombrero

Again, I'm finding more than one drink by the name Sombrero. The one in the New York Bartender's Guide is basically a White Russian without the vodka. I might drink that one when I'm really drunk, but I'm still trying to experiment with Spanish vermouth.

This time I'm using Lacuesta's sweet limited edition bottle. This is more mild than Italian vermouths, and far less bitter than Antica Formula. It's really a lot like a Marsala wine with a little bit of herbs to give it zing.

I used Sauza gold tequila because it has more caramel flavors and less pepper and agave taste of the blanco. It was a good move.

• 1 1/2 oz. gold tequila
• 3/4 oz. sweet vermouth (Lacuesta limited edition used)
• 3/4 oz. dry vermouth (Lacuesta blanco used)

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

Matador (CocktailDB)

There is more than one cocktail named Matador. The New York Bartender's Guide has one by this name involving pineapple juice and lime juice, a sort of Margarita in a coup glass. The one I made here is a vermouth, curacao and tequila up drink. I found it on cocktaildb.com. I wanted to make a heavy blanco vermouth cocktail that had Spanish flair with the Spanish vermouth I just got.

Vermut Lacuesta is from a Spanish winemaker, Martinez Lacuesta. The blanco variety is mild and less herbaceous than French vermouth. It has a rich sauvignon blanc wine flavor and is so good for sipping by itself that it works well as a cocktail base. It's the kind of thing you can drink all afternoon on ice or in a cocktail without any ill results.

Here's how to make the Matador (CocktailDB version).

• 1 oz. dry (blanco used) vermouth
• 1 oz. curacao (triple sec used)
• 1 oz. blanco tequila

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