St. Columb's Rill (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This is an herbal and citrusy all-liquor cocktail with Irish whiskey from Death & Co. It is a simple idea that is surprisingly balanced and requires no bitters or garnish to hold it together. That is because the herbal notes and even the citrus come from the botanicals in the Dolin blanc and Green Chartreuse (Dolin Genepy pictured). 

It is tempting to add more Green Chartreuse to give the cocktail the emerald color of may Irish-themed drinks making the rounds this time of year. That would be a mistake that would upset the delicate balance. Dolin Genepy, which I have substituted for Chartreuse, is similar in flavor but lacks the intensity of the Chartreuse's green color. Ordinarily, I wouldn't make a substitution like this if the amount were as much as an ounce because of this effect, but here the color change, and really the difference in flavor, are negligible. 

• 2 oz. Bushmills Irish whiskey (Slane used)
• 3/4 oz. Dolin blanc vermouth
• 1/4 oz. Green Chartreuse (Dolin Genepy used)
• 1/4 oz. Luxrdo maraschino liqueur

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

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. 

Gin Hound (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

I love a quirky cocktail, and any drink with celery that's not a Bloody Mary is a quirky cocktail. And I think that Bloody Marys are quirky. This drink was fun because it is a spin on a Gimlet. Gin and lime are still the major players, but celery juice takes it out of the ordinary. Acacia honey (there's my little souvenir jar above) also makes the drink exotic, a bit of a combination of a Gimlet and a Bees Knees.

Celery juice is exactly what it sounds like. It isn't flavorless at all, and in fact is earthy and bitter and equally refreshing. There's not a lot of juice in celery, so expect to have to use a lot of it to get juice for one drink. I needed seven stalks! Typically you juice the celery in a food processor and use a fine mesh strainer to get the the most of the liquid away from the solids. You can further press the solids into a cheese cloth to get the rest.

• 2 oz. gin (Citadelle used)
• 1/2 oz. celery juice
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. acacia honey syrup

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

Americanto

I found this simple recipe for an Elisir Novasalus cocktail on the Haus Alpinez website. If you don't know what Novasalus is, think of it as a more bitter Fernet Branca. How is this possible, you ask? Think of it like being punched in the face by an angry old Italian man who has his fists full of birch bark and sap--that's how its been described to me. 

I can only find it in the little airline bottles right now, but I'll have to get more. It has a way of blending into cocktails that puts Fernet to shame, and I think it is because there's no menthol. But it is black and bitter and has the effect of making this drink a lot like a Black Manhattan without the whiskey. This is really drinking like and Italian.

• 1.5 oz. Cocchi di Torino
• .25 oz. Elisir Novasalus
• 2 dashes orange bitters
• orange twist
  

Build drink in an Old Fashioned glass with a large ice cube and twist the orange peel over the glass and drop it in. 

 

Great Northern (Death & Co.)

 

No surprises here. Akvavit, honey and bitter orange flavors are amazing together. The Death & Co. cocktail book says that akvavit is often overlooked because it doesn't appear in any classic cocktails and that the four drinks they offer are an attempt to remedy that. 

I've been singing the praises ever since someone gave me a taste of homemade akvavit. Now I make it myself with vodka and MurLarkey justice white whiskey. A combination of both gives the cocktail an herbal spiciness that is quite unlike any other spirit. It can go savory or sweet or, in this case, a little of both.

A note on acacia honey: this is an unusual honey made from the narrow-leafed tree. It is usually raw and has bits of the comb in it, so you can make the syrup, but you should strain it through mesh, or double strain the cocktail. I got mine as a travel gift from some western state, and I was glad I discovered it for this drink.

• 2 oz. akvavit (homemade used)
• 3/4 oz lillet blanc
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. acacia honey syrup
• 2 orange crescents as garnishes

 Shake (short shake) all ingredients except garnishes with 3 ice cubes and strain them into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with the orange slices.

Gonzalez (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This drink is named after  Jessica Gonzalez, the first female bartender at Death & Co. She must have like the Martinez, because that is what this drink is doing, essentially. And it's great, its easy, it's so approachable, I had to make it with my own homemade gin.

• 2 oz. dry gin (homemade used)
• 3/4 oz. Punt e Mes (Cocchi di Torino used)
• 3/4 Luxardo maraschino
• 2 dashes aromatic bitters (Hella used)

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

Frisco Club (Death & Co. Recpe)

 

The Death & Co. cocktail book includes this riff on a Pegu Club with Fernet Branca and grapefruit juice. I'm pretty sure that changing the name to Frisco club is a nod to how much the bartenders of San Francisco love Fernet Branca. In the industry this is a well-known fact and anyone in the service industry can count on an out of town San Franciscan to request a shot or cocktail made with the stuff.

The nice thing about this cocktail is that it satisfies the itch of the shaken gin cocktail drinker without putting them off because of the bitterness. Instead, the bitterness gives backbone to the grapefruit juice. A brief note about blood orange liqueur: there's not much of that available. Aperol or in my case, Ambrosia, are fair substitutes with their rich, sweet citrus flavors. 

• 2 oz. gin (Citadelle gin used)
• 1/2 oz. Solerno blood orange liqueur (Don Ciccio & Figili Ambrosia used)
• 1/4 oz. Fernet Branca
• 3/4 oz. grapefruit juice
• 1/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• grapefruit twist garnish

Combine all ingredients except garnish in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Squeeze the grapefruit zest over the glass and garnish with it as a twist.