It is worth noting that the reason the Aviary doesn’t serve this drink is that it is too labor-intensive. That word of caution is well-heeded if you intend to make the cucumber spheres that are the drink’s signature component. I would budget several hours to that task. And it wouldn’t hurt to have a friend help you speed things along.

The good news is that the gin and tonic component is not actually all that complicated. And it is a delicious recipe that does well without the cucumber spheres if you don’t have the time or inclination to make them. (For more gin & tonic inspiration and some fun travel photography, see my last post, the Sunset G&T. Or if you’re doing Dry January, check out my Actually Dry Martini recipe.) But we’ll go through the whole thing here. With enough patience, you should end up with something that looks like this:

What You Need Before Starting to Make the Aviary Gin & Tonic

Before we start, you’ll need a couple of things. And unless you’ve experimented with spherification or molecular cocktails previously, odds are you won’t have them all handy. So check your inventory; if you’re missing anything, order what you need and bookmark the page and come back. If you’re in need of suggestions, I’ve provided links for the products I used here. The spirits are available from Drizly (first time users get $5 off using this link). The other items, including the kitchen products, are all available from Amazon.

For the Gin & Tonic:

• Gin (the Aviary recommends Junipero)
• Green Chartreuse
• Fever Tree tonic (I recommend two of the larger bottles if you want to make a batch recipe)
• Citric acid
• Simple syrup (make your own by combining equal parts sugar and water and boiling until dissolved, or order pre-made here)
• A carbonation device (I love the Perlini device from Perlage, which the Aviary book recommends; there are other options, but just be aware that SodaStream does not work for this purpose)
• A digital food scale that can measure to the gram (some of the Aviary’s measurements go to the tenth of a gram, but I got good results with a scale that lacked such precision)
• Glass straws (I used these straws by Hummingbird but would recommend straws of wider diameter for this project, perhaps something like this); note that these aren’t critical if you aren’t going to do the cucumber spheres

For the Cucumber Spheres:

• Four cucumbers
• A juicer that can turn cucumbers into cucumber juice (there are many, many options – I bought this one from Breville years ago, and it is a great product)
• Calcium lactate and sodium alginate, available together here (small packages, but sufficient for this project)
• The digital food scale noted above
• An immersion blender (there are lots of options; I used this one by KitchenAid)
• A strainer (Aviary recommends a chinois strainer, but I got good results using this more affordable cocktail strainer)
• A spherification spoon
• A silicon hemispheric mold – Aviary recommends 5/8 inch specifically – the closest I could find was .51 inch diameter, but that size worked (note you may wish to acquire more than one of these if you want to make the recommended 600 spheres in one sitting, which I did not do; also note I would recommend you use a large flat baking pan as a support base for the mold since the mold is very floppy; and be aware that whatever mold you use will need to fit in your freezer)
• A kitchen syringe
• Three large bowls and two small bowls (these you probably have; ideally, one of the large bowls should have a broad flat base)
• A mason jar or two (in which to store spheres on completion)
• Sugar
• Kosher salt

It’s kind of a lot of stuff. But keep in mind that a lot of it will be useful in future projects, either for future Aviary Gin & Tonics or for other forays into molecular cocktails and spherification, or (for some of the items like the juicer, blender, carbonation device, strainer and scale) a range of other purposes. So let’s press on, and I’ll start with the gin & tonic component first since, even if you decide spherification isn’t worth the effort or investment, you can still make a very tasty cocktail based on this part of the recipe alone.

Making the Gin & Tonic

The gin & tonic piece of the recipe is relatively straightforward: combine the ingredients, chill them, and carbonate (leaving this last step for when the drink is ready to serve).

Note that, in the Aviary cocktail book, the recipe is provided in both single-serve and batch versions. For the cocktail itself, I’ll provide the single-serve portion here. But it’s a simple matter of multiplying them up to create larger batches. Just remember that if you’re planning to use the cucumber spheres, you’ll probably want to coordinate the number of servings. For reference, the cucumber sphere recipe is supposed to produce 600 spheres (though your results may vary, especially since you may find that you have to discard some of your spheres as you work toward perfecting your technique). And the Aviary recommends about 100 spheres per cocktail.

With that in mind, let’s proceed to our three steps.

Combine the ingredients.

For one serving of the Aviary gin & tonic, you need 2 ounces of gin, 1/2 ounce of green Chartreuse, 1/2 ounce of simple syrup, 1.3 grams of citric acid, and 4 ounces of Fever Tree Tonic Water (there are many varieties available now; the recipe calls for the original).

Now, let me pause on 1.3 grams of citric acid. I hadn’t worked with citric acid previously, and I’m not accustomed to measuring cocktail ingredients by the tenth of a gram. Nor need you be. Using the brand of citric acid I recommended above, I calculated that 1.3 grams was equivalent to a quarter teaspoon. It dissolves readily, so you don’t need any special tools here, and there’s nothing difficult or complicated about using this ingredient in the drink. Combine these ingredients without ice in a mixing glass and stir.

Chill the mixture.

Now store the cocktail in your refrigerator. Since we’re going to carbonate the drink before serving, you don’t need to worry about getting an air-tight container to preserve the carbonation of the tonic water. But note that you can skip this step if you’re planning to serve the cocktail right away.

Carbonate the cocktail.

The last step is to carbonate the cocktail. Why carbonate if the drink already contains tonic water, you may ask? The Aviary advises that fresh carbonation on serving gives the drink more of a pop and counteracts the dilution caused by mixing the tonic with the flat ingredients. I agree. And it’s especially helpful if you want to make a batch in advance and store in the refrigerator. The carbonation may diminish while it sits, but you can restore it before serving.

I would recommend doing this step right before serving so that carbonation is at its full potential. If you’re going on to make cucumber spheres, save this step for last, after you’ve finished the spheres and added them to your glass.

If you’re using the Perlini carbonation device recommended above, this step is much like using a cocktail shaker. Please follow the more detailed instructions that accompany the device, but in essence do the following.

Add the mixture to the Perlini container. (If you’re working from a batch of cocktails, measure out 7 ounces per drink – and only carbonate one drink at a time.) If you haven’t already chilled the mixture, add ice. Close the container. After ensuring that there is an active CO₂ cartridge in the pressurizer, tilt the container to a 45-degree angle, insert the pressurizer into the valve at the top of the container, and activate the pressurizer, holding the button until you no longer hear gas entering the container – about ten seconds. Now shake the container for another ten seconds. Allow it to rest half a minute, then slowly unscrew the top of the container, allowing the cocktail to bubble up and back down before unscrewing slowly. It should look something like this:

Now all that’s left to do is to pour the cocktail into a tall glass. (If you’re using cucumber spheres, add your straw to the glass first, then the spheres, then the cocktail.) Aviary recommends that you use an iced glass. That (combined with the fact that the drink should already be cold from being in the refrigerator) obviates the need for ice. And that’s good because you want the cucumber spheres to be the center of attention (and not competing for space with the ice, which might cause them to burst). Speaking of cucumber spheres…

Making the Cucumber Spheres

Now it’s on to the more time-intensive part of this project: cucumber spheres. Before I explain the steps, a brief overview of “spherification” is in order. This is a branch of “molecular gastronomy,” that technique of making interesting food things in the kitchen with science. With spherification, you can encase a juice or other liquid of your choosing in a sphere-shaped membrane that pops when consumed, producing an explosion of flavor on the tongue. It has long been employed in specialized kitchens for both cooking and cocktails, perhaps most famously (in Washington, D.C., in any event) in the restaurants and bars of José Andrés.

But it is also definitely doable at home, and that’s what this part of the project is all about. There are three basic steps: make and freeze the cucumber juice; prepare a sodium alginate bath; and then combine the two, dropping small frozen hemispheres of cucumber juice into the bath and then scooping out, rinsing and storing the resulting cucumber spheres. Ready?

Make the cucumber juice.

To make the cucumber juice, start by juicing your four cucumbers, leaving the peel on. The Aviary recommends quartering and slicing the cucumbers, but I got good results by just juicing the cucumbers whole, and would recommend the same to you (assuming your juicer can physically accommodate that) to save time.

The recipe calls for 1000 grams of cucumber juice. My four cucumbers fell a bit short of that, requiring me to adjust the other measurements in the recipe proportionately. So be sure to measure out your juice production using your scale and make any needed adjustments to the other ingredient amounts. Strain the juice into a large bowl using a strainer. (Consider using a bowl with a lid if you have a small mold and will need to go through several rounds of freezing juice so you can easily place in refrigerator between rounds.)

To the cucumber juice add 108 grams of sugar, 20 grams of calcium lactate and 6 grams of kosher salt. Combine the ingredients using an immersion blender until the sugar, calcium lactate and salt completely dissolve. You may end up with pretty frothy-looking juice, but you don’t need to wait for the froth to settle because you are going to be using a kitchen syringe to draw up the juice, which means you can draw juice from below the surface.

Before you start filling spheres, though, remember to put your mold on top of something more sturdy so you don’t run into difficulty transporting it to the freezer later. I used a baking pan (as depicted below). Once that is in place, fill the syringe with juice and then begin filling the little hemispheres in your mold as follows:

Fill each mold to the top. I worried when doing this that because water expands when it freezes that the hemispheres will spill out over their tops. But that didn’t happen. Instead, it was the under-filled hemispheres that ended up being more problematic (more on that in a bit).

When every hemisphere mold is filled, place the tray into the freezer, doing your best to keep it level. Ideally, you should have some cucumber juice left over. If you’re going to make another round of frozen hemispheres, you should reserve a sufficient amount in the bowl. But you’ll also want to set aside some of the juice in a mason jar or other small container into which you will eventually place your cucumber spheres.

Once the mold is in the freezer and your remaining cucumber juice is apportioned and put away, turn to the next step.

Make the sodium alginate bath.

You should now have two large bowls remaining. If only one of them has a broad flat base, set that one aside. You want the sodium alginate to end up in that bowl, not in a bowl that has a relatively small base (more on that in a bit), and you’ll be pouring the sodium alginate from one bowl to another before proceeding.

In your first bowl, combine 1000 grams of filtered water with 7.5 grams of sodium alginate. (My scale doesn’t do tenths of a gram, but my guesswork – adding a bit more sodium alginate after the scale hit 7 grams – didn’t seem to cause any problems.) I recommend adding the sodium alginate gradually, using the immersion blender as you go along. It does not dissolve into the water quickly. Instead it quickly clumps up, still in powder form, on the surface of the water. You will feel the water become gelatinous, and the blending will take an improbably long period of time. (High speed is recommended if your blender has multiple settings.) Once the sodium alginate is completely dissolved, pour the mixture through a strainer into a new bowl.

The Aviary recommends letting the bowl sit for at least an hour (or as long as overnight). This allows hydration of the sodium alginate and to eliminate any remaining bubbles. To ensure you wait this hour, the Aviary actually recommends preparing the sodium alginate bath first and then making cucumber juice. But you’ll probably end up waiting at least an hour anyway for the cucumber juice to finish freezing. So it makes more sense to proceed in the order suggested here.

Combine the cucumber juice and sodium alginate.

Now it’s time to actually make the cucumber spheres. To set up, warm up the sodium alginate bath, either in a microwave or over a stove. It doesn’t need to be hot. But the warmer it is the faster the frozen cucumber juice will melt in the bath. And faster melting will (slightly) expedite the spherification process. Aviary advises to make sure the sodium alginate doesn’t bubble up; I didn’t have that problem. But if you do you can either pop the bubbles with a fork or knife or spoon them out.

Next you’ll want to put the sodium alginate bowl somewhere with some room to work, because you’ll want to create an assembly line of sorts, leaving room for the cucumber mold at one end of the line, followed by the sodium alginate bowl, followed by two smaller bowls filled with water, followed by the mason jar of reserved cucumber juice.

Only after you’ve got your workspace set up with the bath, bowls and container, retrieve your frozen cucumber hemispheres from the freezer. For this part, you need to work quickly because the hemispheres are so small that they begin thawing almost immediately. Pop the hemispheres out one at a time, and handle as delicately as possible so as to avoid altering their shape. If bits of frozen cucumber juice begin to separate from the hemisphere, it’s likely the sphere won’t form correctly. (I found that my not-fully-filled hemispheres were most likely to become misshapen, perhaps because their smaller size caused them to melt more quickly.)

Once you’ve got one in hand, gently drop it into the sodium alginate bath. Make sure the hemisphere is fully submerged, but without attempting to press it to the bottom of the bowl. Repeat this process with additional hemispheres, making sure that they do not come too close to one another. (This is why you want a bowl with a broad base. I tried this initially with a bowl that had a narrower base, and the hemispheres rolled into one another at the bottom. This contact ruins the spherification process.)

Once you’ve run out of space in the sodium alginate bowl, return the ice mold to the freezer. Now wait briefly for the spherification process to complete. This process occurs quickly and might even be complete for the first few hemispheres you dropped into the bowl. As the cucumber juice melts, it becomes encased in its membrane, and the hemisphere shape becomes spherical. The sphere shape is an indication that the sphere is ready for removal.

To remove the spheres, take your spherification spoon and remove them one at a time. Drop each sphere into the first water bowl and then the second to rinse off the remaining sodium alginate. Then place the sphere gently in your mason jar with the cucumber juice.

Repeat this process until all the spheres are done. If this is your first time, no doubt some of the spheres will burst on you. Don’t fret. You’ll get a sense as you work through the batch for what works best. And you can take a break. (In fact, you might have to at some point. I found that after a few rounds of doing this, the hemispheres were coming out of the freezer in an only semi-frozen state, which will not work.) The sodium alginate won’t go bad if you leave it out. Just remember to place your completed spheres in the refrigerator. (But I would recommend completing this project in one day so the juice is fresh when you serve the spheres.)

Putting It All Together

Okay you’ve mixed the gin & tonic and you’ve made the spheres; now it’s time to combine them into the Aviary gin & tonic you’ve been working toward.

Grab a tall cocktail glass and place the glass straw in the glass. Next, using your spherification spoon, scoop some of your spheres out of the jar and place them in the glass. (Adding the straw first avoids the need to navigate the delicate spheres with the straw, which I didn’t think about when I made the first batch of these.)

Now carbonate the tonic in accordance with the instructions set out above. Pour the carbonated drink into the glass. If you’re entertaining, you may wish to perform this part of the service in view of your guest as it creates a pretty cool effect:

And now you’re done! If you’ve got a properly sized straw, the cucumber spheres will get sucked up while you’re drinking, like bubble tea, creating pleasant explosions of cucumber juice in your mouth as an ongoing garnish to a delicious cocktail. Enjoy – if you got this far, you’ve certainly earned a great drink!

Recipe in Summary

I’m somewhat given to following form. So it wouldn’t be one of my blog posts without a little recipe card at the end. I’m including that here, but obviously this recipe is more complicated than most. The card may not be that useful outside of the broader instructions. But here it is in case useful to you:

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Aviary Gin & Tonic

This is a molecular cocktail – the Aviary's take on the gin & tonic, featuring cucumber spheres.

Course Drinks

Cuisine Molecular Cocktail

Keyword Aviary Gin & Tonic

Prep Time 4 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours

Servings 1 cocktail

Calories 450kcal

Author The Aviary

Cost $15

Equipment

• carbonation device (I used the Perlini by Perlage)
• digial food scale that can measure to the tenth of a gram
• glass straws (15mm diameter)
• tall cocktail glass
• vegetable juicer
• immersion blender
• fine mesh strainer
• spherification spoon
• silicon (5/8 inch) hemispheric mold
• kitchen syringe
• mason jar

Ingredients

Gin & Tonic

• 2 oz. gin Aviary recommends Junipero
• 1/2 oz. green Chartreuse
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• 1.3 g citric acid
• 4 oz. Fever Tree Tonic Water

Cucumber Spheres

• 4 cucumbers
• 108 g sugar
• 20 g calcium lactate
• 6 g kosher salt
• 7.5 g sodium alginate

Instructions

Gin & Tonic

• Combine the gin, Chartreuse, simple syrup, citric acid and tonic water in a mixing glass (without ice) and stir. Chill in refrigerator.
• If you wish to serve the drink with cucumber spheres, proceed to make the spheres. When complete, add the glass straw first and then approximately 100 spheres to a chilled tall glass, using spherification spoon to carefully remove spheres from storage.
• Carbonate the chilled cocktail in a carbonation device and pour into the glass.

Cucumber Spheres

• Juice four large cucumbers in a vegetable juicer. Strain the juice.
• Combine the cucumber juice, sugar, calcium lactate and salt in a large bowl. Blend with an immersion blender until powder ingredients are completely dissolved.
• Using a syringe, draw cucumber juice mixture from the bowl and expel into hemispheric mold until all hemispheres are filled. Place the mold in the freezer until the molds are completely frozen. Reserve remaining cucumber juice in a mason jar and refrigerate.
• In a separate bowl, combine 1000 g of filtered water with the sodium alginate, adding sodium alginate gradually and blending with immersion blender until all clumps are gone. Strain sodium alginate mixture into a new bowl.
• Warm sodium alginate bath in microwave or on stove and allow to settle so no bubbles are present.
• Drop frozen cucumber juice hemispheres into sodium alginate bath, taking care to prevent them from coming into contact with one another. Allow them to melt in the bowl.
• Spoon spheres out one at a time with spherification spoon. Rinse each sphere twice by dipping once into two separate small bowls of water. Drop rinsed sphere into jar of reserved cucumber juice. Repeat until all spheres are created.

Thanks again for reading, and enjoy!

The post Molecular Cocktail Recipe: The Aviary Gin & Tonic appeared first on Capital Cocktails.

And of course, since earlier this year, we’ve all been struggling to adjust to life during a pandemic. For some of us this has meant virtual quarantine. Some luminaries of the cocktail universe have sought to help us through it all. One offered to give us recipes we can use based on ingredients we have in our house (Derek Brown is just an amazing human being). Many others have minted new “quarantini” cocktails for us to sample. (I don’t have any of those for you, but I do have a classic martini, a hot and dirty martini, and even a totally dry (i.e., alcohol-free) martini for you if you’re interested.)

Pandemic/quarantine has knocked me off my cocktail blogging game a bit. I (like many of you I imagine) now work from home day after day and for some reason that new pattern has further disrupted my already disrupted flow for creating cocktails and then posting here about them. I’ve said “yes” to collaborations on Instagram, thinking they would motivate me to get back to it, but then failed to follow through. I guess there is a momentum to this kind of thing. It’s (at least by comparison) easy to keep blogging going when you’re consistent about it; but impossible when you get out of rhythm.

So I know better than to promise you that “I’m back,” but I am at least popping up to say hello and offer you something to drink as you wait patiently for the world to return to normal. This one is inspired by the last superfun thing I did before quarantine: visit South Africa.

South Africa is a wonderland. I can’t show you everything I loved about it – there isn’t enough space here (and at some point we need to get to the recipe). But let’s consider at least a few items: penguins, mountains, zebras and sunsets.

The penguins flock in large groups and just kind of party, looking as awesome as you would imagine. There’s no ice or cold weather here – it was in the 70s or 80s (Fahrenheit) in this shot. But they look unperturbed as they mingle on the shore between occasional trips to the water to cool off and look for food.

I didn’t realize that South Africa was so mountainous (although, when I reflected on it, I realized I hadn’t given the matter a great deal of thought either way in advance of visiting). But it is. Mountains are among the range of glorious topography on which the eyes may feast while traveling the “Garden Route,” a lengthy stretch of road that is a destination unto itself in South Africa, even as it transports you from one thrilling place to another.

The zebras – and the other wildlife, including lions, rhinos, elephants and ostriches – were also sights to behold. Sure, these are the same animals you’ve seen in zoos. But seeing these animals in the wild, up close, is nothing like seeing them in the zoo. These were animals living out of quarantine – in wide open spaces. They went where their business took them, and looked magnificent doing so.

The uncrowded horizons of South Africa’s wilderness also played host to fantastic sunsets. The beauty of the scene faded quickly as sunsets do; and the night’s dangers were such that returning to shelter for the evening was the certain conclusion to an exciting day. Just as certainly, though, the next day came, along with the freedom to return to the outdoors in search of new adventures.

South Africa also bestowed at least one more gift: the discovery of Six Dogs Blue gin (website):

I got to sample it while there one afternoon in a gin and tonic. It’s a floral tasting gin with a blue color imparted by the butterfly pea flower that comprises one of the ingredients. Because the butterfly pea flower is sensitive to changes in pH levels, the blue turns a shade of pink when acidic additives are introduced. Thus, the blue gin became a pink gin and tonic once the tonic was poured over and mixed in with the spirit.

After returning home, I finally got around to tinkering with the gin on my own, just as it was becoming clear that the sun was setting on life as we know it in the United States, with reports of the first cases of coronavirus in the country starting to roll in. I decided to recreate the gin and tonic I had first enjoyed in South Africa, but with a twist. Rather than use a traditional carbonated tonic, I used Jack Rudy’s Classic Tonic Syrup, which has a stronger flavor than standard tonics (and is sometimes diluted with a soda top-off to add carbonation, resulting in a more typical tonic flavor and feel). And rather than mixing the ingredients, I layered them:

The resulting gin and tonic shone like a sunset in a glass – the tonic sinking to the bottom, and turning some of the gin pink on its way down, while leaving a layer of twilight purple-blue at the top. I appreciated the vision for a moment before mixing the ingredients, resulting in a pink concoction with delicious botanical and herbal flavors that tasted like the spring that was just around the corner in early March.

Reflecting on these closing acts of the pandemic makes me smile about the future. We’re not there yet, but soon we’ll be partying like penguins again, and I’ll be there when we are to serve you a “Sunrise” cocktail of some sort. Until then, keep sipping and hang in there.

And wear a mask for God’s sake.

Here’s the recipe:

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Sunset Gin and Tonic

Gin and tonic recipe using Six Dogs Blue gin from South Africa and Jack Rudy's Classic Tonic Syrup

Course Drinks

Cuisine Sour

Keyword gin and tonic

Prep Time 2 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cocktail

Calories 150kcal

Author Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

• 2 oz. butterfly pea gin I used Six Dogs Blue
• 1 oz. tonic syrup I used Jack Rudy's Classic Tonic Syrup

Instructions

• Fill a rocks glass with ice
• Pour in the gin
• Carefully layer the tonic syrup over, pouring over a spoon back if necessary, to create a layered effect
• If a consistent taste is desired, stir the ingredients to combine them

Enjoy!

The post Classic Recipe with a Twist: Sunset Gin and Tonic appeared first on Capital Cocktails.

Since I live in D.C., which is now Big Ten country thanks to Jim Delaney, the league Commissioner and the mastermind of Big Ten expansion to College Park, I wanted to add a little D.C. flavor to these drinks and began with the idea of using gin and citrus in one drink and bourbon and citrus in the other, inspired by the rickey.  

I like the tangy flavor that lemon juice brings to a drink, but for the Gin Harbaugh I also wanted a drink that packs more punch in its flavor so it leaves a bit of a mark on you after each sip.  Enter Ancho Reyes Verde, the somewhat spicy poblano liqueur, which adds some depth of flavor and provides a spicy aftertaste.  I balanced it out with a little simple syrup and topped off the drink with soda water.  Add a lemon peel garnish shaped like the Michigan helmet and you’re good to go:

For the Bourbon Meyer I also began with lemon juice.  I wanted to make sure this drink had an unmistakable Ohio State red color, so Campari was next.  With equal measures of bourbon and Campari, the drink has the stems of a Boulevardier, but the lemon juice takes it in a slightly different direction.  To round it out, I finished it off with some Cherry Heering.  Then I found the loudest rocks glass I have in an homage to the UNIFORMZ that Ohio State tends to wear for The Game.  Last, I garnished with a star anise, which assaults the nose a bit (but in a good way) with each sip and vaguely evokes some kind of hybrid of the buckeye nut and leaf:

Put a few of these together and you’ll be ready for whatever happens in this year’s iteration of The Game.  (But Go Blue!)  Here are the recipes:

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Gin Harbaugh

Celebrate the 115th meeting of the Michigan Wolverines and the Ohio State Buckeyes with cocktails for The Game.  For Michigan fans, try the Gin Harbaugh, made with gin, Ancho Reyes Verde, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and simple syrup.

Course Drinks

Cuisine Sour

Keyword Cocktails for The Game

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cocktail

Calories 176kcal

Author Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

• 1 oz. gin I used Botanist
• 3/4 oz. Ancho Reyes Verde
• 3/4 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• soda water
• 1 lemon peel

Instructions

• Combine the gin, Ancho Reyes Verde, lemon juice and simple syrup in a mixing glass with ice and stir.
• Strain into a highball glass with ice and top off with soda water.
• Garnish with a lemon peel carved to look like the Michigan winged helmet.

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Bourbon Meyer

Celebrate the 115th meeting of the Michigan Wolverines and the Ohio State Buckeyes with cocktails for The Game. For Ohio State fans, try the Bourbon Meyer, made with bourbon, Campari, Cherry Heering and freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Course Drinks

Cuisine Spirit-Forward

Keyword Cocktails for The Game

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cocktail

Calories 184kcal

Author Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

• 1 oz. bourbon
• 1 oz. Campari
• 1/2 oz. Cherry Heering
• 1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 star anise

Instructions

• Combine the bourbon, Campari, Cherry Heering and lemon juice in a mixing glass with ice and stir.
• Strain into a rocks glass with a large ice cube.
• Garnish by placing one star anise on top of the ice cube.

The post Cocktails for The Game: The Gin Harbaugh and the Bourbon Meyer appeared first on Capital Cocktails.

For my Halloween cocktail, I wanted to bring together some great fall flavors, but also to give the drink a costume of its own to foster the Halloween spirit.  Let me start with the latter first because you might need some lead time on a couple of the ingredients.  

The first is activated charcoal, which gives the drink its Halloween-appropriate black color.  There are plenty of options online; I used Viva Doria Virgin Coconut Shell Activated Charcoal Powder, which I found on Amazon.  You will also need dry ice pellets; I found mine at Talbert’s Ice in Bethesda (two pounds cost me about $5).  (Note that Talbert’s is especially safety conscious and will not sell you dry ice for use in drinks unless you have a dry ice cage; I found one of these online but did not order one, so I can’t speak to how well they work in a cocktail.)  Finally, if you want some skull-themed cocktail picks, try the Fred & Friends Bar Bones cocktail picks, like the one I used in the picture above.

On to the drink itself.  I wanted to combine flavors of apple, smoke, and spice.  So naturally I grabbed some apple brandy (Blanche de Normandie by Chrisitian Drouin), mezcal (Mezcal Vago Espadín), and Ancho Reyes Verde.  I suspected these flavors would need a little sweetness to balance out the drink, so I also added some Luxardo Maraschino liqueur.

After a couple of attempts, I found a flavor balance that I thought was really good.  The smoke and spice come through clearly, and the Maraschino gives the drink a soft edge.  The apple is not prominent but hints of it come through.  Once I had settled on the recipe, I put the drink’s costume on, adding 1/4 teaspoon of activated charcoal powder and mixing the ingredients with ice and straining the drink into a silver martini glass with a dry ice pellet, which gives it a fantastic bubbling effect:

Note that this is a strong drink.  Even though the dry ice makes it extra cold, this is a drink that will warm you on a cold Halloween evening.  (And if you’re looking for a few other fall cocktails to round out your menu, try the Soyeux and the Autumn Breeze.)

One final note:  please take care working with dry ice.  You shouldn’t handle it with bare skin, and if you have children, you should take care to keep dry ice out of their reach.  You also don’t want to accidentally swallow a dry ice pellet.  Dry ice sinks to the bottom of the drink, making such accidents unlikely.  But to make sure, you might wish to wait for the drink to stop bubbling.

Here is the recipe:

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Into The Dark

Get into the Halloween spirit with my Into The Dark cocktail, made with mezcal, apple brandy, Maraschino liqueur, Ancho Reyes Verde, activated charcoal and dry ice.

Course Drinks

Cuisine Spirit-Forward

Keyword Halloween Cocktails

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cocktail

Calories 225kcal

Author Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

• 1 oz. mezcal I used Mezcal Vago Espadín
• 3/4 oz. apple brandy I used Blanche de Normandie by Calvados Christian Drouin
• 3/4 oz. Luxardo Maraschino
• 1/2 oz. Ancho Reyes Verde
• 1/4 tsp. activated charcoal powder I used Viva Doria Virgin Coconut Shell Activated Charcoal Powder
• 1 pellet dry ice

Instructions

• Combine the mezcal, apple brandy, Maraschino, Ancho Reyes Verde and charcoal powder in a mixing glass with ice and stir.
• Strain into a martini glass or coupe; be careful not to fill the glass to the top.
• Add dry ice pellet (do not handle with bare skin).

Happy Halloween!

The post Halloween Cocktail Recipe: Into The Dark appeared first on Capital Cocktails.

I wanted a strong whiskey base, so I began with two ounces of E.H. Taylor, Jr., Small Batch Bourbon, one of my favorite bourbons at the moment.  Then I added half an ounce of Cocchi Vermouth di Torino, which is my go-to vermouth for Manhattans (although I also add a bit of Dolin blanc vermouth to those as well; more details in an upcoming post).  Speaking of Manhattans, this drink was moving decidedly in that direction, but I wanted to try something new.  So I added half an ounce of yellow Chartreuse – an herbal and slightly sweet liqueur that I thought would lighten the taste slightly.  To round it off, I added a dash of Fee Brothers Aztec chocolate bitters.  I stirred the ingredients with ice and then strained into a rocks glass, adding a large ice cube and an orange peel as garnish.

The result was a cocktail that tastes a lot like a Manhattan but has a velvety smooth edge, owing to the addition of the herbal sweetness of the yellow Chartreuse.  The orange peel adds a nice citrusy scent that cushions the strong scent that pure whiskey on ice can deliver from a rocks glass.  It is a good fireside drink that goes down quickly.  (Just remember that, while smooth, it is also strong.)

Here is the recipe:

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Soyeux

For a fall sipping drink that is like a Manhattan with a velvety smoothness, try the Soyeux cocktail, which mixes bourbon, yellow Chartreuse, vermouth, and chocolate bitters.

Course Drinks

Cuisine Spirit-Forward

Keyword Manhattan with Chartreuse

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cocktail

Calories 210kcal

Author Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

• 2 oz. bourbon I used E.H. Taylor
• 1/2 oz. yellow Chartreuse
• 1/2 oz. Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
• 1 dash Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters
• orange peel

Instructions

• Combine the bourbon, Chartreuse, vermouth, and bitters in a mixing glass with ice and stir until cold.
• Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube.
• Express orange peel over drink and add as garnish.

Enjoy!

The post Original Recipe: Soyeux appeared first on Capital Cocktails.

I always feature the drink first in these posts so you can see what you’re getting into.  But that makes this post sort of backwards because you’re seeing the ultimate creation before its inspiration.  So without further ado, let me share a bit of what I saw earlier in the day.  The first part of the hike featured a long stretch of woods immersed in fog – with living trees standing comfortably next to the dead.  The forest floor was covered with almost glow-green moss that added to the eerie effect.  It was a beautiful, almost haunted scene:

The second half of the hike involved one descending branch of the trail that went by a long hill of rocks that had a thick blanket of the same kind of moss, under the same heavy mist:

I wanted to create something that captured the feeling of being in those woods.  So I went to Sawyer’s Market, a family owned store that has been serving Southwest Harbor and Mount Desert Island since 1946, to look for ingredients.  There I acquired a bottle of Gunpowder Rye by Portland-based New England Distilling and a Cardamom-Clove simple syrup by Newcastle-based Royal Rose Syrups.   I also grabbed some eggs and fresh thyme (local) and limes (not).  And I also had a bottle of dry vermouth (Dolin) already at hand.  The concept was simple:  I thought the rye and spiced simple syrup could lend an “in the woods” vibe to the drink; I could use egg white to create a foam that would stand in for mist, and the thyme garnish would supply a little green (not as vibrant as the moss, granted).  The lime juice and vermouth would balance the flavor a bit.

I realized as I put these ingredients together that I was basically making a Scofflaw – a prohibition-era recipe named after a misguided attempt to coin a word to shame lawbreaking prohibition-era drinkers – except that I was using a flavored syrup in lieu of grenadine and I was adding a foam and unusual garnish to the drink.  Nevertheless, these tweaks make it a different drink, thanks in no small part to the strong spices that come through in the Royal Rose syrup.  I was very happy with the final product, and I think you will be too.

Here’s the recipe:

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Meet Me in the Woods at Midnight (a variation of the Scofflaw)

Try Meet Me in the Woods at Midnight, a drink inspired by a hike through the misty woods of Maine and based on the classic Scofflaw cocktail

Course Drinks

Cuisine Sour

Keyword Scofflaw

Prep Time 7 minutes minutes

Total Time 7 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cocktail

Calories 230kcal

Author Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Gunpowder Rye whiskey
• 1/2 oz. Royal Rose Cardamom-Clove simple syrup
• 1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
• 3/4 oz. dry vermouth I used Dolin
• 1 egg white
• fresh thyme

Instructions

• Combine the whiskey, simple syrup, lime juice and vermouth in a shaking tin with ice and shake vigorously.
• Strain the mixture into one of the tins and discard the ice.  Add the egg white and shake again with no ice.
• Pour into a rocks glass with a large ice cube.
• Add thyme as garnish.

Enjoy!

The post Classic Recipe with a Twist: Meet Me in the Woods at Midnight (a take on the Scofflaw) appeared first on Capital Cocktails.

Like many classic and enduring drink recipes, this recipe is very simple, consisting of gin, simple syrup and lime juice, topped off with seltzer.  Pour that over a glass full of crushed ice and you’ve got a drink that will help keep you cool as you wait for the sun to set and the fireworks to commence.

Now, to be clear, the Founder’s Fizz is a modern creation.  But here’s a bit of history to put you in a July-4th-type of drinking mood.  On July 6, 1803, the Washington Federalist recounted the Independence Day festivities in the District that year.  On that day, “the Artillery and Grenadiers under their Captains, Edgar and Benjamin Patterson, with several respectable citizens, retired to the Federal spring on Rock Creek.”  Following an “elegant dinner,” several “toasts were drank, under discharge of cannon and musketry.”  As one does (don’t tell me you forgot to order the cannons and muskets for your Fourth of July party?).  And here were the toasts:

1. The DAY! – May its glory be recognised throughout the United States to the latest generation.  Three guns and three cheers – Music by the Band, Hail Columbia.
2. The Constitution – Stick to your mush!¹ – Three guns and nine cheers – Washington’s March.
3. The president of the United States – Three guns and nine cheers – Music, Jefferson’s March.
4. An everlasting Union to the American states and sore disappointment to the movers of sedition – One gun and three cheers.
5. Religion the foundation of all good.
6. The memory of our deceased friend & chief, General George Washington – One Gun, Solemn pause and doleful dirge by the Band.
7. The memory of those who fell in the defence of this country, may the hour of danger find every American ready to imitate their noble example – Three guns and doleful dirge by the band
8. Neutrality – Don’t tread on me and I’ll not bite you – Three Guns – Yankey Doodle.
9. In peace, true harmony; in war, the intrepidity of ’76 – One gun, three cheers, and appropriate music
10. Manufactories now in the bud, may they blossom early throughout the United States – One gun – Three Cheers
11. Agriculture, commerce and the military, like the composition of the world; Animal, Vegetable and Mineral, one cannot exist without the other – Three guns, nine cheers and appropriate music.
12. A well trained and well armed militia, the terror of tyrants and impregnable rock of Republics – One gun and music, a military march.
13. the officers of our army and navy, may they continue to add glory to their country, and honor to themselves – One gun, Music, President’s March.
14. The fair daughters of America – who can do without them? – Three guns and eighteen cheers – Music ‘Oh come hug me sweetly’
15. May we all cordially partake and earnestly unite in the well wishes of our country – Three guns and nine cheers.
16. The ‘Guinea Itch’² to the bystanders when our country is invaded – One gun and three cheers – Music, Stony Point.
17. Our Western Brethren and free navigation of the Mississippi – Three guns and nine cheers.
18. The District of Columbia and navigation of the Potomack. – Six Guns and Nine cheers.

There you have it.  These probably aren’t all fit for contemporary toasting – e.g., I wouldn’t toast to the “fair daughters of America” and then sing that they ought to “come hug me sweetly” – but there is plenty to work with or, at least, to inspire your own toasts to the day.  And so that you may have a Founder’s Fizz at hand when you’re ready for your brilliant pronouncements to be greeted with cannon, musketry, and patriotic song, here is the recipe:

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Founder's Fizz

A perfect cocktail for a hot Fourth of July, the Founder's Fizz was inspired by the musical Hamilton and is made with gin, simple syrup, fresh lime juice and seltzer.

Course Drinks

Cuisine Sour

Keyword Founder's Fizz recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cocktail

Calories 184kcal

Author Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz. gin I used Bluecoat
• 1 oz. simple syrup
• 1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
• seltzer
• lime wheels

Instructions

• Combine the gin, syrup, and lime juice in a shaking tin with ice and shake vigorously.
• Strain into a highball glass filled with crushed ice.
• Top off with selzter and garnish with lime wheels.

Enjoy – and happy Fourth of July!

And if you’re looking for the straws depicted in the photo above, they are available from Amazon here (advertisement).

Notes:

The post Recipe: Founder’s Fizz appeared first on Capital Cocktails.

The piña colada combines pineapple and coconut flavors with ice and rum and – through the power of these tropical flavors and the position the drink has come to occupy in the collective imagination – mentally transports you to a breezy tropical island.  Suddenly, the blazing heat and humidity of the Washingtonian jungle feels right – almost as if you really are at the beach:

Even if all you are really doing is filling your inflatable pool for that inflatable-pool party you’re hosting later (but trust me, this is a good idea – it helps with the tropical-island fantasy):

As with many classic cocktails, the ingredients here are relatively simple:  rum, pineapple (and pineapple juice), and cream of coconut.  The modern iteration of the drink, recently published in Imbibe magazine and modified slightly here per my preferences (more rum, more coconut), was invented by Ramón “Monchito” Marrero of the Caribe Hilton in Puerto Rico in 1954 and, since 1978, has been the official national drink of Puerto Rico (more history here).

I offer you a few notes on the recipe.  For the cream of coconut, I like the Goya brand, which tastes very good and is available in a squeeze-bottle version at the grocery store.  Also, you’ll need a blender.  Note that lower-powered blenders sometimes struggle with large ice cubes.  But as long as you have (or can make) crushed ice, any blender should do.  (If you’re looking to expand your frozen drink-making practice and are in the market for a high-powered machine that can do the crushing for you, I have been happy with the Blendtec Designer blender.  It’s bit pricey, but it gets the job done.)

Here’s the recipe:

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Piña Colada

The Piña Colada is a classic frozen cocktail recipe featuring pineapple, cream of coconut, and rum.

Course Drinks

Cuisine Tiki

Keyword Piña Colada

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 2 cocktails

Calories 260kcal

Author Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

• 2 oz. aged rum I used Appleton Estate Reserve
• 2 oz. cream of coconut I used Goya
• 1 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 5 chunks fresh pineapple
• 16 oz. crushed ice

Instructions

• Combine ingredients in a blender.
• Blend ingredients until smooth enough to drink through a straw.
• Pour into your glass of choice and garnish with a pineapple chunk.

Enjoy!

The post Classic Recipe: Piña Colada appeared first on Capital Cocktails.

The concept I had in mind was to make a drink that marked a transition from spring to summer, which seemed both literally and metaphorically apt.  For spring I chose the floral and herbal flavors of St.-Germain and yellow Chartreuse; for summer, pineapple and jalapeño.  I also added a little lemon juice to amp up the tanginess a little and balance against the sweetness of the spring flavors.

It worked!  In fact, this is one of my favorite concoctions to date.  It’s a perfect balance of sweet, tangy and spicy, and very easy to drink.  It went over very well at the birthday party, and it has been a crowd-pleaser in subsequent events, too.  Be prepared to serve multiple rounds if you’re making this one for guests!

A word on spice.  You can modulate how spicy the drink is by being mindful of the number of seeds in the jalapeño pepper.  As I detail in the recipe, this drink should be shaken with one slice of jalapeño pepper and garnished with another slice.  More seeds (in either place, but especially in the shaker) means more spice.  You can minimize the spice by using slices of pepper that contain no seeds.

Here is the recipe:

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Ted's Tequila Cocktail

This cocktail celebrates spring with some herbal and floral flavors provided by yellow Chartreuse and St.-Germain, warms you up with a bit of jalapeño, and previews summer with pineapple juice and citrus.

Course Drinks

Cuisine Sour

Keyword Pineapple tequila recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cocktail

Calories 182kcal

Author Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

• 1 oz. tequila I used Espolòn
• 1/2 oz. yellow Chartreuse
• 1/2 oz. St.-Germain
• 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 pineapple chunk
• 1 jalapeño

Instructions

• Combine the tequila, Chartreuse, St.-Germain, juices and a slice of jalapeño pepper in a shaking tin with ice.  Note that more seeds in the jalapeño pepper means more spice.  Shake vigorously.
• Strain into a rocks glass over ice.
• Garnish with a chunk of pineapple and a slice of jalapeño pepper.

Enjoy!

The post Original Recipe: Ted’s Tequila Cocktail appeared first on Capital Cocktails.

The Negroni needs no introduction.  It is made with equal parts gin, Campari, and sweet vermouth.  One of the classic cocktails, the Negroni has one of those colorful and contested histories.  The leading versions agree that the drink is named after a Count Negroni of Italy.  But they disagree as to when the drink was invented, and by which Count.  And other historical research casts doubt on whether the inventor was really a Count at all.

What is certain is that the drink is a legacy of which any family should be proud.  The same is true of Don Ciccio & Figli, that District-based distiller that traces its roots to a family liqueur-making business back (also to Italy) in 1883, somewhere in between the competing dates (1857 or 1919) on which the competing Counts Negroni might have first invented their eponymous drink.  In one of its latest offerings, Don Ciccio has brought forth Cerasum, a cherry-blossom-based liqueur that stands in very nicely for the Campari that usually serves as the Negroni’s signature ingredient.

The Cherry Blossom Negroni is a worthy cousin of the original.  The classic bitter taste of the Negroni is still there, but softened slightly, with subtle floral and cherry flavors that give the drink a smoother, almost velvety finish.  Here’s the recipe:

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Cherry Blossom Negroni

Try this twist on the classic Negroni recipe, substituting Cerasum, a cherry-blossom liqueur by D.C.'s own Don Ciccio and Figli, for the traditional Campari.  It's a velvety-smooth cocktail perfect for enjoying cherry-blossom season!

Course Drinks

Cuisine Spirit-Forward

Keyword cherry blossom Negroni

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cocktail

Calories 190kcal

Author Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

Cocktail

• 1 oz. gin I used Botanist
• 1 oz. vermouth I used Cocchi di Torino
• 1 oz. Cerasum

Ice cubes

• cherry blossoms

Instructions

Ice cubes

• In advance of making the drink, fill large ice cube tray with water. Add 1 to 3 cherry blossoms per cube. If working with dried cherry blossoms, be sure to rinse the salt off the flowers before adding. Try to orient the flowers in the cube so they will appear near the surface when the ice freezes. Leave in the freezer until completely frozen.
  

Cocktail

• Combine the gin, vermouth, and Cerasum in a mixing glass with ice and stir.
• Strain into a rocks glass.
• Add cherry-blossom ice cube.

Enjoy!

The post Classic Recipe with a Twist: Cherry Blossom Negroni appeared first on Capital Cocktails.