Lilly's Cartel (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

Perhaps one of the largest category of cocktail in Death & Co.'s book is the champagne section. There are just so many cocktails you can make with champagne or sparkling wine. I'm using Cava, which is dry but doesn't have the same bread-like notes in the nose we associate with a good dry champagne. But a good champagne is worth appreciating by itself, so as long as your sparkling wine isn't sweet, most of these drinks are worth doing with sparkling wine or champagne. 

Blood orange juice is a rare ingredient that is seasonal. It also varies in sweetness a lot between oranges, so it isn't always a reliable juice. I fully understand why blood oranges are more interesting to work with than naval oranges, but I can't expect to get them like I can any other kind of orange. 

That is why I chose to use half naval orange juice and my blood orange infused spirit. This liquor is an infusion of blood orange peels as well as their juices in vodka that is sweetened by blood orange syrup made from the juice. It is really intense in its particular flavor, and after mixing it with naval orange juice, you only notice the blood orange. 

Other minor substitutes include using Don Ciccio & Figli Ambrosia for Aperol. 

• 1 oz. pisco (Capel pisco used)
• 3/4 oz. Aperol (Ambrosia used)
• 3/4 oz. blood orange juice (naval orange juice and blood orange liquor used)
• 1/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup (scant 1/2 oz. used)
• dry champagne (Aria cava used)

Combine all ingredients except for champagne in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled champagne flute and top with champagne. 

Sergio Leone (Death & Co. Recipe)

This cocktail is named after the Spaghetti Western filmmaker and is, of course, a tequila and Italian vermouth cocktail. Blood orange liqueur, another Italian ingredient is also part of giving this stirred cocktail a juicy flavor. I can't get Solerno blood orange liqueur, so I made it as close as possible to something on the market. Here's how.

First I juiced blood oranges and made a syrup, setting aside some of the juice to add to the infusion of blood orange and 100-proof vodka. After the syrup cooled, I added an oz. of cognac to preserve it and provide that grape and oak spirit whiff that is often central to orange liqueurs. While this was cooking, I put the peels of the blood oranges in 100-proof vodka to make a bitter tincture. After a week, I combined all three of these batches and fine strained them before bottling them. This is as close to a mass marketed blood orange liqueur as I think you will find and I'm proud of how it tastes. 

The rest of the cocktail is surprisingly simple and very tasty. It's like a fruity tequila Manhattan with cinnamon and chocolate notes from the chocolate bitters. 

• 2 oz. reposado tequila
• 3/4 oz. Cocchi Dopo Teatro vermouth
• 1/4 oz. blood orange liqueur
• 1 dash Aztec chocolate bitters

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