Category: recipes

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Classic Recipe: The Martini

As promised in my recent review of Requin’s martini service, today’s post shows you how to make a martini at home.  This cocktail is a true classic, well more than a hundred years old.  In fact, by 1891, the Kansas City Star could chastise the “thirsty New Yorker” for being taken with the martini on the ground that the cocktail was “not very new.”  (The same article nevertheless acknowledged the versatility of the drink.  It conceded that the martini was the form in which “the casual, the occasional, the weary, the enthusiastic, the going-to-bed-now, or the just-up New Yorker takes his poison.”)

Not surprisingly, a drink with such history has enjoyed multiple iterations.  The typical recipe uses gin, for example, but some spies—er, drinkers, prefer vodka.  Proportions also vary, anywhere from a one-to-one ratio of gin and vermouth to essentially all gin, with vermouth supplied only (if at all) by an atomizing sprayer or, as Winston Churchill preferred it, by observation “from across the room.”  Garnishes, too, have varied, including lemon peel, olives, and cocktail onions.  Even the method of combining the ingredients – shaking or stirring – is subject to modification.

What follows is my preferred approach.  But the critical drinker may wish to take a cue from experience and tinker with the particulars.  My classic martini is made with gin, dry vermouth, and orange bitters, and garnished with an olive.  When done right, it looks like this:

Classic Martini

Here’s how to do it.  Put an olive or two in a martini glass or coupe.  Add a barspoon of olive brine (or more if you prefer a “dirtier” drink) to the glass.  In a mixing glass, combine a dash of orange bitters, 1/4 ounce of dry vermouth (I used Dolin) and 2 3/4 ounces of gin (I used Botanist).  Add ice to the glass and stir.  Strain into the glass with the olives.

Enjoy!

Classic Martini Recipe
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Classic Martini

This is a recipe for a great martini, my favorite cocktail, featuring gin, a tiny bit of vermouth, a dash of orange bitters, and a couple of olives.
Prep Time5 minutes
Total Time5 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Spirit-Forward
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 175kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 3/4 oz. gin I used Botanist
  • 1/4 oz. dry vermouth I used Dolin
  • 1 dash orange bitters I used Fee Brothers

Instructions

  • Place two olives and a bar-spoonful of olive juice in a martini glass.
  • Combine the gin, vermouth, and orange bitters in a mixing glass with ice and stir.
  • Strain into the martini glass.
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DIY Drinks Gift: Slivovitz from the Washington Post

Ed.: I’m very excited to introduce Julia of the Gose Girls duo (check them out on Instagram at @yougosegirl), who is writing her first post for the blog about slivovitz, an Eastern European plum-based liqueur that you can make yourself at home. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did. Merry Christmas Eve!

I am, at best, a casual homesteader. While our fridge is often stocked with quick pickled jalapeños and red onions, I’m rarely motivated to put in the work in August to put up summer produce for December.

But while I may be an amateur pioneer woman, I definitely know how to infuse alcohol.

I’ve expanded my repertoire from the Peachie-O’s and gummy bear infused vodka I made in college (which was well received at the time, but not the kind of thing one could package up for, say, a boyfriend’s parents for the holidays). Citrus is an easy addition to nearly anything – orange and whiskey is a favorite, or lemon and gin for my G&T-loving mom.

This year’s DIY booze gift was inspired by an overzealous purchase of Italian plums, also called prune plums, from Woerner’s Orchards (find them in DC at the USDA Farmers Market) in mid-September. After two Marian Burros plum tortes and plenty of snacking, I was left with three pounds of beautiful fruit.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYgoMrFgl_a/?taken-by=truelove7

A quick search turned up a Washington Post article about slivovitz, an Eastern European plum schnapps, accompanied by a DIY recipe for vodka infused with plums, lemon peel, and cinnamon. I loved the idea of a homemade treat that was a step up from a solely citrus (or candy aisle) concoction and called back to my family’s roots in Hungary, Serbia, and Croatia.

Making Slivovitz at Home

This recipe takes about 10 minutes of prep, and 3-4 months of steeping. Start the process in August or September when these plums are at their prime. Pierce the plums to the pit or halve them. Add the fruit and pits to a vessel with the base spirit (I used a mid-shelf vodka) and the rest of the ingredients. For two weeks, shake the bottle occasionally to dissolve the sugar, then let it steep for at least three months. The recipe recommends keeping the mixture dark and cool. I used a dark growler and kept it in the pantry with a label reading “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL XMAS!!!”. 

I eagerly decanted the growler on my first day off for the holidays. The end result is a beautiful dark purple – jammy, smooth, slightly spiced, and sweet. Next year, I might add another cinnamon stick or a few cloves. It’s delicious served chilled in a port glass, or topped with soda and lemon as shown below for a lighter beverage. It would make a wonderful addition to mulled wine, and Max Falkowitz at Serious Eats swaps it into a hot toddy with honey and lemon.

Slivovitz and soda

 

Find the Washington Post recipe for slivovitz here.

I’m excited to share this with my family by the fire, and hope my ancestors are smiling down on our holiday drinks. Next August, I’ll buy the extra pound of plums with abandon.

Happy holidays to you and yours, and cheers!

Julia from @yougosegirl

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Original Recipe: Fireside Fizz

Cold weather season kicked off in the District this weekend with an inch or so of snow.  It didn’t really turn the city into a winter wonderland, but it did mark a shift to colder temperatures.  That means we have fire in the fireplace for the first time this year.  I love a good fire on a winter weekend night, and to celebrate I decided to concoct a new cocktail.  The result:  the Fireside Fizz.

Now, when I think fire my mind often goes to whiskey, and if that’s your speed you should check out my Decorator’s Drink from my last post if you haven’t already.  This time, I wanted to make use of a Douglas fir pine syrup I received as a gift recently, and I didn’t want to use a liquor that would overpower the the infused pine taste.

So I turned to St.-Germain, that elderflower liqueur that supplies a sweet floral taste, and Suze, an aperitif with an earthy flavor, both of which I thought would complement a pine syrup nicely.  To balance out the sweetness, I also used freshly squeezed lemon juice.  I shook these over ice and strained into a coupe and, for a fizzy finish, I topped it with sparkling wine.  For garnish, I used a part of the lemon rind, a freshly cut sprig of rosemary, and frozen cranberries.  And boom, I had a new fireside companion:

Ultimately, despite my efforts not to bury the pine flavor, it was quite subtle in the finished product.  But I went back at sampled the syrup by itself and, even alone, the pine taste is not strong.  Nevertheless, the drink was delicious, and the rosemary brings up the pine flavor at least a little bit.

Here is the recipe:

Fireside Fizz recipe
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Fireside Fizz

The Fireside Fizz is the perfect drink to enjoy by the fire on the first snowfall of the year, with floral, pine and citrus flavors.
Prep Time7 minutes
Total Time7 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Champagne Cocktail
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 275kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

  • 1 oz. St.-Germain
  • 1/2 oz. Suze
  • 1/2 oz. Douglas fir pine syrup I used June Taylor
  • 1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • sparkling wine
  • lemon rind
  • rosemary sprig
  • frozen cranberries

Instructions

  • Combine the St.-Germain, Suze, pine syrup, and lemon juice with ice in a shaking tin and shake vigorously.
  • Strain into a coupe.
  • Top with sparkling wine.
  • Garnish with the lemon rind, rosemary, and cranberries.

Enjoy!

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Original Recipe: Decorator’s Drink

I would never suggest that holiday decorating might drive one to drink.  But it is difficult to dispute that decorating can be more fun with a good drink in hand.  Or if that complicates the task of, say, putting up a tree, you might at least be tempted to reward yourself for a job well done after erecting the biggest blue spruce you have ever managed to squeeze into your living room.  For your efforts, I offer you the Decorator’s Drink:

For this cocktail I used Michter’s small batch unblended American whiskey, green Chartreuse, Cherry Heering, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and orange bitters, with a cherry for garnish.  For bonus points I broke out the silver chalice as a nod to the Silver Bells of Christmas.  But any coupe or martini glass will do the trick here.

The whiskey provides that nice, warm base you want on a cold December evening.  And the Chartreuse, Cherry Heering and lemon juice provide a pleasant piney and tangy flavor that tastes like winter break.  So mix yourself one of these, sit back and take a break from decorating or appreciate a job already done.  (And if your thoughts are turning to the gifts for the folks still on your list, check out my recent post with holiday gift suggestions here.)

Decorator's Drink recipe
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Decorator's Drink

Need a cocktail to reward yourself for holiday decorating? Try the Decorator's Drink featuring whiskey and Chartreuse and imbibe the holiday spirit!
Prep Time5 minutes
Total Time5 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Sour
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 245kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. whiskey I used Michter's small batch unblended American whiskey
  • 1/2 oz. green Chartreuse
  • 1/4 oz. Cherry Heering
  • 1/4 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 dash orange bitters I used Fee Brothers
  • cherry

Instructions

  • Combine the whiskey, green Chartreuse, Cherry Heering, lemon juice, and orange bitters with ice in a mixing glass and stir.
  • Strain into a coupe or martini glass.
  • Garnish with a cherry.

Enjoy!

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Classic Recipe: The Aviation

The Aviation is a classic cocktail, named after its unique hue – a light shade of something between blue and violet, reminiscent of the morning sky.  It is more than a century old at this point, reportedly printed for the first time in a 1916 book by Hugo Ensslin, the head bartender of the Hotel Wallick in New York.

Despite its early birthdate, the Aviation had faded into obscurity for a time due to the difficulty in obtaining a key ingredient:  crème de violette.  This violet-flavored liqueur gives the drink its signature color but, for many decades, was not widely available in the United States.  But renewed interest in the Aviation was sparked by Paul Harrington and Laura Moorhead’s 1998 book, The Drinks Bible for the 21st Century, which covered the Aviation among many other traditional cocktails.  And today, a number of crème de violette options are available, including one by Rothman & Winter, which is the ingredient used in this recipe.

The drink has a strong floral, herbal taste.  It shares three of its four ingredients – gin, Maraschino, and citrus (though here lemon instead of lime) with the Last Word, and as such there are some overlapping flavors here.  But the use of crème de violette instead of Chartreuse pushes the drink in a more floral direction.  Note that, for my preference, less is more with the crème de violette, so if you are tinkering with the portions here, you probably want to exercise restraint in increasing that ingredient.

Here is the recipe:

The Aviation recipe
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Aviation

Recipe for the Aviation, a classic, century-old cocktail with an herbal and floral taste, made from gin, lemon, Maraschino and crème de violette.
Prep Time5 minutes
Total Time5 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Sour
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 200kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. gin I used Botanist
  • 3/4 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/2 oz. Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
  • 1/4 oz. crème de violette liqueur I used Rothman & Winter
  • cherry

Instructions

  • Combine the gin, lemon juice, Maraschino and crème de violette with ice in a mixing glass and stir.
  • Strain into a coupe or martini glass.
  • Garnish with a cherry.

Enjoy!

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Original Recipe: The Autumn Breeze

If you read my last post offering cocktail gift ideas for the 2017 holiday season, you know I’m a fan of shrubs and Chartreuse.  This recipe – the Autum Breeze – shows you how to make good use of these things together.

The context for this recipe is my frame of mind when I was dreaming it up:  thinking about the last days of fall and avoiding unpleasant thoughts of winter by imagining myself on a Caribbean vacation.  This daydream inspired island ingredients like pineapple and rum on the one hand and warm autumnal flavors like smoky scotch and spices on the other.  My ingredient list became clear:  rum, scotch, a pineapple-allspice shrub by Shrub District, and yellow Chartreuse.

This is a spirit-heavy cocktail so I decided that stirring rather than shaking was the way to go.  I stirred the ingredients with ice and strained into a couple glass and garnished with a lemon peel.  And here was the result:

Autumn Breeze

This is a sweet drink, with a pleasant complexity provided by the different flavors.  The smokiness of the scotch and the herbal goodness of the Chartreuse come through clearly, offsetting what might have been an overpowering sweetness if the rum and pineapple flavors had been left alone.  It definitely works as a fall sipping drink, but you could easily pour this over crushed ice and swizzle for a fine poolside (or seaside) drink and throw a number of these back quickly.

Here is the recipe:

The Autumn Breeze recipe
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Autumn Breeze

The Autumn Breeze is the perfect cocktail for that fall day when you're daydreaming about a tropical vacation, with rum, scotch, pineapple and Chartreuse.
Prep Time5 minutes
Total Time5 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Sour, Tiki
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 175kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

  • 1 oz. aged rum I used Appleton Estate 12-year
  • 1/2 oz. Laphroaig 10-year
  • 1/2 oz. yellow Chartreuse
  • 1 oz. pineapple-allspice shrub by Shrub District
  • lemon peel

Instructions

  • Combine the rum, Laphroaig, Chartreuse and shrub with ice in a mixing glass and stir.
  • Strain into a coupe.
  • Express lemon peel over the glass and add the peel as garnish.

Enjoy!

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Recipe: The Thanksgiving Boulevardier

Searching for an aperitif to round out that fantastic Thanksgiving dinner you have been planning?  Try this twist on the Boulevardier, a classic cocktail based on the Negroni, but with whiskey instead of gin as the base spirit.

The traditional Boulevardier recipe calls for 1 1/2 ounces of bourbon and an ounce each of Campari and sweet vermouth.  But Thanksgiving can involve more drinks than the average meal so I dialed back the bourbon just a touch to 1 ounce.  I also replaced the sweet vermouth with Kina l’Aero d’Or (more on this fantastic aperitif wine here).  And I added 1/4 ounce of lemon juice to balance out the sweetness just a touch.  Stir these ingredients together, strain into a rocks glass, express a lemon peel and add the peel as garnish, and you get something like this:

The cocktail works nicely as a Thanksgiving aperitif because the tangy flavors of Campari and lemon combine in a way that pleasantly previews the cranberry sauce to come.  And as noted above, the drink isn’t so strong that you could not have a couple of them if the dinner takes a little bit longer to get to the table than anticipated, as is often the case at Thanksgiving.

Here is the recipe:

Thanksgiving Boulevardier recipe
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Thanksgiving Boulevardier

Looking for the perfect Thanksgiving aperitif?  Try this twist on the classic Boulevardier cocktail to round out that fantastic dinner you have planned.
Prep Time5 minutes
Total Time5 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Spirit-Forward
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 245kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

  • 1 oz. bourbon I used E.H. Taylor
  • 1 oz. Campari
  • 1 oz. Kina l'Aero d'Or quinquina
  • 1/4 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • lemon peel

Instructions

  • Combine the bourbon, Campari, quinquina and lemon juice with ice in a mixing glass and stir.
  • Strain into a rocks glass.
  • Add a large ice cube.
  • Express lemon peel over the glass and add the peel as garnish.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Classic Recipe with a Twist: The Old Fashioned

It’s old fashioned week, where we celebrate a cocktail that (per the preceding source) has roots as far back as 1802.  The classic cocktail uses classic ingredients:  whiskey, sugar and bitters, along with some muddled fruit or at least a cherry, depending on what you have handy.

But after 215 years of the same old recipe, @theoldrefashioned thought it was time for an update.  This Instagram feed invites followers to submit their variations on the classic, and I couldn’t resist joining in the fun.  Expanding on the use of fruit and sugar in the original, and with the fall season on my mind, I started by smoking a rocks glass with orange peel and cinnamon, which I torched over a maple wood plank (I found an assorted set of planks here):

For the recipe, I kept the traditional sugar, bitters, whiskey and fruit ingredients, but I added a bit of amaro and Maraschino liqueur.  I muddled and mixed and added a big cube of ice, and it came out looking like this:

(Ignore the gridlines. Oops.)

I really liked the way this tasted.  The smokiness was subtle but definitely there – there was a hint of cinnamon on the nose the whole way through.  And the amaro and Maraschino combination combined with the fruit in a very pleasant way to make this an exceptionally smooth old fashioned.

Here’s the recipe:

Geoff's Old Re-Fashioned recipe
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Geoff's Old Re-Fashioned

A new twist on the classic Old Fashioned recipe in celebration of the "Old Re-Fashioned" thread honoring Old Fashioned Week.
Prep Time7 minutes
Total Time7 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Ancestral
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 200kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. bourbon I used E.H. Taylor
  • 1/2 oz. amaro I used Averna
  • 1/4 oz. Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
  • 3 dashes old-fashioned bitters I used Fee Brothers
  • cinnamon stick
  • orange slice
  • lemon peel
  • cherry
  • sugar cube

Instructions

  • Smoke a rocks glass by holding it upside down over an orange peel and cinnamon stick while torching the ingredients over a maple wood board.  Let the orange and cinnamon catch fire before removing the flame and place the rocks glass over them while they continue to smolder.
  • Turn the rocks glass right-side up.  Add sugar cube, three dashes old-fashioned bitters, the orange slice, and a bit of lemon peel.  Muddle the ingredients.
  • Add the bourbon, amaro, and Maraschino, and mix the ingredients.
  • Add the cherry.
  • Add a large ice cube.
  • Optionally, garnish with the burnt orange peel or cinnamon stick.

Try it out and let me know what you think – and please share your own takes on the old fashioned!

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Original Recipe: The Smoked Pearl

Last weekend fall truly came to the District:  leaves are finally turning, temperatures are dipping, and to mark the transition we were visited by a heavy rainfall on Sunday.  It’s the perfect occasion for a new cocktail, and for a shift in thinking toward ingredients befitting the new season.

Maple and fire were the first two that popped in my mind, reflecting two of the better parts of fall:  maple leaves and roaring fires.  Not to be combined in a woodland setting, I suppose, but in a shaken cocktail – using maple syrup, mezcal (smoke) and poblano liqueur (heat) as proxies – I thought they would play very nicely together.

And they did.  I combined those ingredients with lemon juice, added ice, and shook, and out came this beauty:

It was absolutely delicious.  The smokiness, spiciness and tangy sweetness produced a satisfyingly complex flavor profile – with the smoke and spice providing some heft, cushioned slightly by the maple syrup.  I settled on the “Smoked Pearl” name because the drink’s ingredients somewhat resemble those of a margarita, which means pearl in various languages, and because of the smoky flavor.

Update:  After I first posted this recipe I came across Tippleman’s smoked maple syrup for the first time.  It takes this recipe to another level, amplifying the smoky goodness of the mezcal.  (It also works very well on waffles, French toast, and pancakes.)

Here’s the recipe:

Enjoy!

The Smoked Pearl Recipe
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Smoked Pearl

Try the Smoked Pearl, an original cocktail recipe perfect for fall with flavors of maple syrup, smoke, spice and citrus.
Prep Time5 minutes
Total Time5 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Sour
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 250kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz. mezcal I used El Silencio
  • 1/2 oz. Ancho Reyes Verde
  • 1 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/4 oz. maple syrup
  • 1 fresh lemon

Instructions

  • Prepare a rocks glass with one large ice cube.
  • Combine ingredients in a shaking tin and add ice.
  • Shake ingredients vigorously and strain into the glass.
  • Garnish with a burnt lemon wheel.