Night Owl (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

More Death & Co. recipes involving sherry are coming your way. This one is actually pretty simple for the speakeasy bar's repertoire. Lustau East India solera sherry is probably the big star in this cocktail with its woody and raisin notes. The one funky ingredient is Batavia Arrack, which I used to have but stopped buying because MurLarkey Justice white whiskey is a fair substitute. I use it when making Arrack punsch and Swedish punsch, because it has a distilled corn taste similar to Arrack's distilled rice flavor. 

Anyway, the funk of sherry and Arrack (or Justice) negates the need for bitters in this cocktail. It is middling sweet, but cognac keeps it from being cloying. I'm glad I tried this before dinner, because there's no reason it has to be had late at night.

• 2 oz. cognac (Martell single distillery used)
• 1/2 oz. Punt E Mes (Cocchi di Torino used)
• 1/2 oz. Lustau East India Solera Sherry
• 1/4 oz. Van Oosten Batavia Arrack (MurLarkey Justice white whiskey used)

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

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. 

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.

Hoi Polloi (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This simple tiki is a little unusual for Death & Co. Not that they don't use pineapple juice in shaken brandy cocktails. It's just a drink that doesn't challenge drinkers very much, which is probably why it is called Hoi Polloi, or "to the common people," in Greek. 

There's nothing to dislike in this cocktail, and in fact it checks all the boxes for a cocktail that doesn't offend. The one unusual ingredient is currant-infused rye. I didn't have dried currant, like the recipe book says, but I have a liqueur made from red currants. Mixing it with a little rye was the perfect save, but in such small amounts, I think it only served to give the drink a whiff of spiciness and rye.

• 1 oz. cognac (Meukow used)
• 1/2 oz. dried currant-infused rye (Rittenhouse and red currant liqueur used)
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
• pineapple wedge garnish

Combine all ingredients except garnish in a shaker with three ice cubes. Short shake and strain into a Pilsner glass full of crushed ice. Garnish with the pineapple wedge. 

Castle To Castle (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

So much of this cocktail has been done before in one way or another, but it's never been done quite this good. A twist on the classic Whiskey with a splash of juice--a staple of St. Patrick's Day in American bars--shows up again with the good stuff. Knappogue Castle is one of the maltiest Irish whiskies. It stands out a little more than most Irish whiskies when mixed with juice and soda. Additionally, fresh-squeezed Fuji apple juice is brighter and fresher than juice you can buy in the store. Together, these flavors balance and make for a wonderful long drink.

Unpeated malt whiskies take on an apple or pear-like aroma at 12 years of age. Using a honey syrup as a sweetener instead of sugar plays right to this drink's strong suit. I juiced the Fuji apple for this cocktail by hand, which was no picnic and I don't recommend doing it. I wonder how the bartender's at Death & Co. did it with their juicers.

• 1 1/2 oz. Knappogue Castle 12-year Irish whiskey
• 1 1/2 oz. Fuji apple juice
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. acacia honey syrup
• basil sprig garnish

Short shake all the ingredients except garnishes with only 3 ice cubes) Strain into a Pilsner glass with crushed ice. Garnish with the basil sprig.

Mr. Kappes (Difford's Guide Reciep)

 

This rich and boozy cocktail is all about sherry and kirschwasser. It strikes me as very much a style of central Europe, with fruit brandy and fortified wine enjoyed from southern Spain to northern Denmark. There is a hint of citrus from the twist and Lillet Blanc, but hardly enough to lift it from the depths of funk that comes from 90-proof kirschwasser, which has a distinctive flavor like pisco or grappa and the rich age of PX (or solera) sherry. 

It is a big drink that I knew wouldn't fit in a coup, so here it is in a Martini glass. I can't say I love this cocktail, but like anyone who likes all of the ingredients separately, I had to try them together. 

• 2 oz. kirschwasser (Kammer Kirsch used)
• 1 oz. Pedro Ximenez sherry (Lustau East India solera used)
• 1 oz. Lillet blanc
• lemon twist

Combine all ingredients except lemon twist in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled Martini glass. Twist the lemon zest over the glass and drop it in. 

Mrs. Doyle (Death & Co. Recipe)

 

This quaint and familiar Sour cocktail with the unusual flavors of Swedish Punsch is named after an Irish actress in the sitcom, Father Ted. I'm not sure if the reference is correct, because it is obscure, but the coincidence is too strong to doubt. This is an Irish whiskey cocktail after all, and a good one. 

While Kronan is a present-day Swedish punsh available in some places in the US, it is possible to make it at home, which I did, with MurLarkey Lemon and Three Tea whiskey mixed with Jamaican rum and infused with lemon and cardamon. 

The addition of Swedish punsch adds a funky tropical flavor to the Sour cocktail: lots of lemon notes with cardamon, black tea (floral and smoky in this case because of the tea whiskey and IPA edition Jameson) and brown sugar sweetness. This was an easy cocktail to make, and an impressive one to serve on St. Patrick's Day.

• 2 oz. Redbreast 12-year Irish Whiskey (Jameson IPA edition used)
• 1/4 oz. Kronan Swedish Punsch (homemade used)
• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup 

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