Mixology GUIDE

Think classic flavors like the room temperature. Let it sit dirty martini and bloody for a few hours, then chill it mary, then keep going to until the fat solidifies and can bacon, dark chocolate, salt be removed. The alcohol and other bold, rich tastes. retains the flavor of the fat. Savory cocktails can come Basically, it’s a savory, fat- from savory ingredients such based infusion for your liquor. as those mentioned above, or from savory alcohols, such as GO HERBAL a smoky Scotch. Another way to add savory to your cocktail is to add an CHOOSING THE BOOZE herb or two. Rosemary is a Pick deep flavors of Scotch classic, and with it’s eye-catch- or gin, or the neutral burn of ing spears, is a great garnish. vodka. Get off the beaten path Mint also is popular, but don’t with aquavit, a Scandinavian be afraid to venture into other drink flavored with caraway or tastes such as basil, coriander, dill; moonshine; mezcal; and lavender, sage and thyme. herbal schnapps. Also think of Packets of fresh herbs are usu- drier wines, such as sherry, ally found in the fresh pro- and beer cocktails, which lend duce section of your grocery themselves nicely to salty store. Herbs can be infused in drinks. Wander the aisles of your alcohol or muddled, your favorite local liquor store depending on the herb you and don’t be afraid to ask what want to use. liquor might best complement the flavors you want to use. EAT THE GARNISH Edible garnishes are on WASH IT trend and also play well with Hot on the cocktail scene is savory cocktails. Try the obvi- fat-washing, a technique that ous crisp bacon, briney olive is perfect for adding a savory or pickle, but bear in mind punch to your drink. Add a that edible garnishes should liquid such as bacon fat or play well with the drink they melted butter to a spirit at accent. © ADOBE STOCK MIXOLOGY | PERSONAL PREFERENCES On the Rocks veryone who’s passed elementary science can tell you ice is frozen water. But you may E not think about what happens when that cube hits your drink. As it melts, ice releases its water back into your glass and can ruin what was a fine cocktail or a perfect Scotch.

ICE, ICE BABY Behind the bar, every type of ice has a purpose. Cubes are for shaking — and a good, thorough shake should make your cubes equally rounded on the edges; spheres or big cubes for a finished drink; shaved ice or pebbles for more tropical sips, such as daiquiris. And pay attention to what you put in your tray. If your tap water has a funny taste, so will your handcrafted cocktail or your pricey aged bourbon. Make your ice from the water you’d drink, be it straight out of the tap, filtered or bottled.

ICE THAT’S NOT For drinks typically served neat, you can purchase cubes or stones that will keep your drink chilled without all that extra water. Check your local grocer, liquor store or high-end kitchen store for a selection of ice made from metal, rock or other materials designed to keep your drink cold without being wet. While you’re there, you can check out special ice trays for spears of ice, giant cubes for bowls of punches, small cubes for shaking and big cubes for sipping, and many other options for keeping your © ADOBE STOCK drink at just the right temp. Some recipes also can allow berries, pop some in the freezer erating before pouring. 1 ounce simple syrup 1. Add all ingredients to a shaker with for the use of frozen fruit to to use as makeshift cubes. Just 1 bar spoon Grenadine cubed ice and shake vigorously. keep your drink cold. Consult bear in mind they won’t keep PLANTER’S PUNCH 3 dashes Angostura bitters 2. Strain into a Collins glass over your recipe. If it calls for a fruit your beverage as chilly as tradi- 3 ounces dark rum Splash soda water crushed ice. Splash with soda water. such as strawberries or blue- tional cubes; think about refrig- 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice Mint, for garnish Garnish with fresh mint sprig. MIXOLOGY | FAVORITES Classic Comebacks ike much of boozy L history, the origin of the cocktail is a bit muddled. Generally speaking, a cocktail is a beverage that contains an alcohol, a sweet flavor and a bitter or citrus flavor.

The use of the word cocktail referring to a beverage starts around the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, and there are a few classic drinks that are almost as old.

OLD FASHIONED Maybe the granddaddy of them all, the Old Fashioned is made from whiskey and sugar muddled with bitters and served over ice in a short, round tumbler, often called an Old Fashioned glass after the drink. The term Old

Fashioned as referring to a © ADOBE STOCK whiskey drink is said to have been coined in a Louisville, 2. Remove the orange, add bourbon 75mm gun, it’s a glamorous MARTINI added to the mixture. Martinis Kentucky, gentlemen’s club and fill with ice. Garnish with a fresh drink and appears in the While the origins of the mar- can also be made with vodka, founded in 1881. orange wheel and cherry. movie Casablanca. tini could go back to 1860s Italy not gin, and shaken, not and a brand of vermouth, or to stirred. Right, Mr. Bond? 4 dashes Angostura bitters FRENCH 75 1/2 ounce lemon juice a San Francisco hotel, 1 teaspoon sugar The 75 is simplicity itself: 1/2 ounce simple syrup Prohibition made the cocktail a 2 1/2 ounces gin 2 orange wheels champagne, sugar, lemon 1 ounce gin classic. The popularity and 1/2 ounce dry vermouth 2 maraschino cherries juice. It developed around 3 ounces Champagne availability of bathtub gin Dash orange bitters Splash club soda World War I, with the first Lemon twist, for garnish made the dry martini the cock- Lemon twist, for garnish 2 ounces bourbon recorded mention of it tail in the United States. A mar- appearing in 1922’s Harry’s 1. Add all the ingredients except the tini is made with gin and dry 1. Add all the ingredients to a mixing 1. Muddle the bitters, sugar, orange ABC of Mixing Cocktails by last two to a shaker and fill with ice. vermouth and garnished with glass and fill with ice. Stir until very cold. wheel, cherry and soda in an Old Harry MacElhone. Said to 2. Shake well and strain into a an olive or a lemon twist. Dirty 2. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Fashioned glass. have a kick like a French Champagne flute. Garnish with twist. martinis have olive brine Garnish with a lemon twist. MIXOLOGY | CLASSICS

© ADOBE STOCK What’s in the Bottle: Gin ike so many things that make us feel good, gin started out as a medicine derived from juniper berries. L In the mid-17th century, distillations of spirit or wine with juniper and other botanicals were sold in pharmacies purporting to cure what ails you, including the kidneys, lumbago, gallstones and gout.

Gin is a shortened form of per the predominant flavor. Besides juniper, other popular English soldiers sipping genev- rummy. the old English genever, which Distilled gin is made by distill- botanicals and flavors include er for its calming effects before is related to the Dutch jenever ing alcohol with juniper and citrus, anise, cinnamon, saf- the defense of Antwerp in 1585. NEGRONI and French genièvre. All ulti- other botanicals, as long as fron, coriander and nutmeg. Gin has also lent itself to sever- 1 ounce campari mately come from juniperus, juniper still rules the roost. al negative terms, like gin mills 1 ounce gin the Latin word for juniper. London gin is distilled gin PHRASEOLOGY or gin joints for disreputable 1 ounce sweet vermouth that’s very dry with few added Maybe because of its age, gin bars, and gin soaked to refer to Orange wheel, for garnish HOW IT’S MADE sweeteners. For all types of gin, lends itself to quite a few popu- a drunk. But a gin palace is a Gin is made by adding juni- juniper must be the predomi- lar phrases in the English lan- luxurious bar or pleasure boat, 1. Add all ingredients to an Old per or other natural flavorings nant flavor, no matter what guage. The term Dutch courage and the game of gin is a faster Fashioned glass and fill with ice. Stir until to a neutral spirit, keeping juni- other botanicals are used. is believed to have come from version of the card game cold, then garnish with orange. MIXOLOGY | CLASSICS What’s in the Bottle: Vodka odka forms the base of some of our best- V known drinks, such as the screwdriver, the Moscow mule or the bloody mary.

Other than “Russia, maybe,” excess flavors and substances. most of us can’t tell you where Many vodkas will refer to the it comes from, however. number of times it’s filtered on the label. In traditional HOW IT’S MADE vodka-making countries, The history of vodka is as however, many distillers pre- fuzzy as your head after a fer a precise, methodical dis- night of drinking the cheap tillation to filtering. Either stuff. Many believe it is a process should result in a descendant of Mediterranean clean, fiery drink. aqua vitae (water of life) Vodka also can be flavored brought north by traders to by infusion. In Russia, colder climes like Russia and pertsovka, vodka flavored with Poland. A universal truth, honey and pepper, is a popu- though, is that vodka is made lar drink, while in Poland, a from fermented cereal grains honeyed vodka called krupnik or potatoes rather than is popular. Vodka’s neutral pal- grapes, which are less apt to ate — except the white-hot grow farther north. Since the burn of ethyl alcohol — easily late 19th century, vodka takes the flavor of herbs, spic- around the world has been es and fruits. Today’s shelves mandated to be more or less groan with endless bottles of 80 proof and carries a signa- flavors, including raspberry, ture burn as it goes down. vanilla, chocolate, grapefruit Vodka is the national drink and even bacon. of Russia and is present on the table at many family meals, BLOODY MARY but particularly at special 1 1/2 parts quality vodka occasions. It is traditionally 4 parts tomato juice taken straight and chased by a 1/4 part Worcestershire sauce salt herring, a pickle (mush- 1/4 part lemon juice room or cucumber), or a piece Hot sauce, to taste of rye bread with butter. Black or red pepper, to taste Becoming drunk from vodka Salt, to taste is considered rude and a sign Garnishes: Traditional celery, or go of poor character. big with bacon, pickled okra, olives, and more. FILTERING AND FLAVORING Stir all ingredients together in a A hallmark of vodka pro- highball glass. Add ice. Go to town on duction is the use of filtration, garnishes. The best bloodies are a por- either in the still during distil- table, vodka-and-tomato drenched lation or afterward, to remove breakfast. © ADOBE STOCK MIXOLOGY | CLASSICS What’s in the Bottle: Rum s the sugar craze swept Europe in the 18th century, Caribbean planters found themselves with a lot of byproducts A on their hands. Specifically, molasses, the thick, dark brown syrup that results from the sugar refining process. Slaves on those Caribbean plantations found they could ferment the molasses into a drink, and rum was born.

HOW IT’S MADE Today’s rum starts with that same fermented molasses, but it’s now distilled and filtered before being aged in oak barrels and blended. There are various grades of rum: light rums used in cocktails; golden or dark rums that can be consumed neat, on the rocks, or in cooking; and premium rums, meant to be drank neat or over ice. Rums are usually 80 proof, but some can run higher, such as the potent Bacardi 151. Spiced rums are flavored with cinnamon, anise and other spices.

YOU’RE IN THE NAVY NOW Rum has a long and colorful history with various naval forces, particularly Britain’s Royal Navy. In 1655, the British captured the island of Jamaica and its verdant sugar fields. With so much stock on hand, the British sail- or’s daily ration of booze switched from French brandy to rum varying from 95 proof to 114 proof. It was orig- inally given neat or mixed with lime juice, but it began being watered around 1740 into the mixture known as grog. The Royal Navy continued to give its sailors a daily rum ration, or tot, until 1970.

DARK ‘N’ STORMY 2 ounces dark rum 5 ounces ginger beer Splash of lime juice Lime wedge, for garnish

1. Pour the rum over ice in a highball glass. Add the ginger beer and lime juice. Garnish with the lime wedge. © ADOBE STOCK MIXOLOGY | SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Veg Out

ating your vegetables is never so easy tail. In this case, it helps to cially when paired with fresh A GROUP OF GREEN as it is with a hearty side of vodka. think of your drink as more of vegetable juice. The word GODDESSES E a dish. shrub comes from the Arabic 4.5 parts fresh cucumber word shurb, meaning to drink. 2 parts fresh lime Vegetables, like fruit, can be Grab your local grocer and GET SHRUBBY To make your drinking vin- 0.15 parts fresh basil a great cocktail companion. ask them to show you what is A shrub is a cocktail that egar, take any regular vinegar 1.5 parts simple syrup Think beyond the sad celery in season and what was includes a vinegared syrup and infuse with fruit, vegeta- 10 parts crushed ice stick, grab a basket and get to grown around your area. The with spirits, water or carbon- bles or herbs for anywhere Basil leaves, for garnish your local grocer to make a closer the farmer, the fresher ated water. The syrup is made from 1-30 days. Shake the Salt and pepper, for rimming glasses trendy new drink. the produce. When you get often infused with juice, herbs mixture often. You can also your haul home, remember to and spices and can also be choose to heat the vinegar 1. Blend all ingredients together. Pour LOCAL + SEASONAL give them all a good wash called shrub or drinking vine- before pouring it over the through a sieve into an airtight bottle = FRESH before storing them. Think gar. We’ll call it the later for botanicals, but be careful not and chill in fridge. The number one rule when about the flavors that pair clarity’s sake. Popular during to let it boil. Add sugar to the 2. Rim glasses with salt and pepper. dealing with any produce is to well in the kitchen before America’s colonial era, shrubs vinegar to create a syrup, and Pour cucumber juice over ice, add a mea- think seasonally and locally. making your vegetable cock- are seeing a comeback, espe- viola, you’re done. sure of gin and garnish with basil leaf.