The Spring Break of our Salad Days was a sun filled booze bonanza with a more is more motto. The week-long bacchanal is in our rear view mirror now, but we're happy to embrace a Spring Break state of mind, or in this case, cocktail recipe.
A few months ago, the New York Times spirits panel tasted through 20 bottles of Rye, and ended with a list of 10 to recommend. Having pulled together a group of whiskey from mainstream producers and small craft distilleries, we were tickled to see the distillery behind shop favorite Dorothy Parker Gin had scored the #1 indie Rye spot, beating out popular brands like Bulleit and Rittenhouse! NY Distilling’s Ragtime Rye was the winner, and lucky for us it had just arrived in California.
I’m a sucker for a good turn of phrase, pair the origin story behind an idiom with my other favorite thing, booze, and I’m happier than a pig in shit. So why do we call the genuine article “The Real McCoy?” During Prohibition, an entrepreneurial gentleman named Bill McCoy sailed down to the Caribbean, filled his ship with rum, then opened a liquor store three miles off the NYC coast in international waters. His success inspired competition, but other rum runners had a nasty habit of cutting their product with unsavory additives. By shunning that particular practice, Bill had those Gatsby flappers calling his rum that one that was The Real McCoy.
The world renowned Sherry house, Bodegas Lustau, makes a wonderful vermouth that is now available at Bitters & Bottles.
Lustau Red Vermouth uses not one but two sherry wines as its base: sweet and velvety Pedro Ximénez and dry and nutty Amontillado. Those sherries are combined with botanicals like gentian, sage, absinth, coriander and orange peel.
I REALLY love Bloody Marys and Margaritas. They are my go-to cocktails whether I’m drinking out, or mixing at home. I wanted to find a way to marry the spicy, savory, flavors of a Bloody Mary and the salty citrus and pepper notes of the Margarita. My two favorite drinks in one! When you combine 2 of your favorite flavors sometimes it works out horribly (orange juice and tooth paste) and sometimes it's dynamite. T-N-T cocktail recipe below.
Peychaud’s is the classic bitter that pushes licorice root to the fore. It is also unique among aromatic bitters for its tart and fruity flavors, with lots of rhubarb-like vegetal twang and the sweet juiciness of cherry candy. There is some spice, mostly clove, with a pop of saffron and orange zest before a long and moderately bitter gentian finish.