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Original Recipe: Cherry Blossom Cocktail

As you have probably been able to gather from my posts of cocktail events in March and April and of my non-alcoholic Sakura Sparkler recipe, I’ve got a thing for cherry blossoms.  As I’ve noted, cherry blossoms are not only beautiful but also edible, meaning you can use them in your cocktails.  In this post I have another such recipe for you.  And this one uses cherry blossoms in three different ways.  For lack of a more imaginative description, I’m calling it the Cherry Blossom Cocktail:

Cherry Blossom Cocktail

There are other ingredients, but let’s start with our three cherry-blossom constituents.  The first is the cherry-blossom garnish, visible in the picture and plucked from a local tree (if you don’t have your own tree, ask a neighbor – most won’t deny you a lone blossom).  The second is Sakura Cherry Blossom Honey Syrup, which I used in my Sakura Sparkler recipe and is available on Amazon.  And the third is Cerasum, a new aperitivo from D.C.’s own Don Ciccio & Figli.  Don Ciccio explains that Cerasum is made from three different kinds of cherries, sakura blossoms, and “10 selected roots and herbs,” pursuant to a recipe dating back to 1906.  What it is is delicious – not sweet like many cherry-flavored liqueurs but tart, adding a distinctive flavor to the drink.

These cherry-blossom influences are accompanied by gin and freshly squeezed lemon juice.  They combine to produce a bright and tangy cocktail with cherry, citrus and light floral and herbal flavors.  It’s just the cocktail for enjoying the cherry blossoms on a nice spring day.

Here is the recipe:

Cherry Blossom Cocktail recipe
Print Recipe

Cherry Blossom Cocktail

Celebrate cherry-blossom season with this cocktail, which mixes gin with flavors of cherries and cherry blossoms.
Prep Time5 minutes
Total Time5 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Sour
Keyword: cherry blossom cocktail
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 226kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

  • 1 oz. gin I used Botanist
  • 1/2 oz. Cerasum
  • 1 oz. Sakura Cherry Blossom Honey Syrup
  • 1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 cherry
  • 1 cherry blossom

Instructions

  • Combine the gin, Cerasum, cherry blossom honey syrup and lemon juice with ice in a shaking tin.
  • Shake vigorously and strain into a coupe.
  • Garnish with a cherry and a cherry blossom.

Enjoy!

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April 2018 Cocktail Events Round-Up

Ok, ok, I’m a couple of days late on this.  Spring break got in the way.  But there’s good news; on spring break I came up with a couple of frozen drink recipes to share with you when summer comes around.  And there’s more good news:  spring is springing, meaning that good, outdoor cocktail weather is on its way.  Photographic proof:

Spring Has Sprung - April 2018 Cocktail Events

The bad news is that I missed reporting on any April 1, 2 or 3 events there might have been; but that’s only 10 percent of the month.  Here are the April 2018 cocktail events over the last 90 percent:

Tasting Preview of Reverie, at Columbia Room.  This month you can get a sneak preview of Reverie, the forthcoming Johnny Spero-Drink Company brainchild that is set to open in Georgetown “this winter” per its website.  (See Washington City Paper’s write-up of Reverie for more details on its inspiration and vision.)  Columbia Room – where Spero has been working while Reverie moves toward opening – is hosting four tasting and drink pairing sessions this month.  Tickets are $143.31 (i.e., $185 after tax and tip) and available here.  124 Blagden Alley N.W.; April 10 and 24 at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Cocktail Class:  Spring Has Spring at Via Umbria.  Via Umbria celebrates the arrival of spring this month by showing you how to make three cocktails:  the Lavender Martini; the Bourbon Sweet Tea; and the Vodka Spiced Cider.  Tickets are $38.50 and available here.  1525 Wisconsin Avenue N.W.; April 11, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.

Cocktail Class:  Home Is Where The Bar Is II at Columbia Room.  A couple of months ago, Columbia Room offered a class focused on making good drinks at home.  This month it returns with a sequel that promises to cover clarification, rapid infusions, and making ice and your own amaro.  The class was already booked a while back, but there’s a waitlist here; tickets are $85.  124 Blagden Alley N.W.; April 14 at 3 p.m.

Cocktail Class:  “Japan” at barmini.  This month’s cocktail-making class at barmini focuses on Japan.  Although the class description gives few details, the inspiration is the ongoing celebration of cherry blossoms covered in last month’s round-up (and note that the Cherry Blossom Pop-Up bar covered there continues through this month).  As usual, you will be greeted with a cocktail on arrival and learn to make three more.  Tickets are $145 and available here.  501 9th Street N.W.; April 18 at 5:30 p.m.

Cocktail Class:  Sustainable Cocktails at the St. Regis.  This month, the St. Regis’s monthly offering celebrates Earth Day.  It promises to show us how to make “zero-waste” cocktails featuring ingredients from local, sustainable distilleries.  The class will include hors d’oeuvres, cocktail tastings, and a “special parting gift.”  Tickets are $55; more information here.  923 16th Street N.W.; April 21 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

That’s it for April.  As always, let me know if there are any events you think I should add here!

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Dry Recipe: Sakura Sparkler

As foretold in my March cocktail events round-up, cherry blossom season is upon us.  This year, celebrate not merely by getting outside to see them, but by adding them to your drinks.  I’ve already offered you a recipe that uses an edible flower as garnish in the Blood Orange Daiquiri.  And cherry blossoms (or sakura) are also edible and thus fair garnish game.  You can even find cherry blossom comestibles on Amazon if you don’t have a tree of your own at hand.  We’ll get to that, but first let me introduce you to what we will be making:  a refreshing, non-alcoholic, sparkling beverage called the Sakura Sparkler:

Sakura Sparkler

Like my previous non-alcoholic cocktails (see the Mexican Candy Soda and the Actually Dry Martini), this one is made with Seedlip’s Garden 108.

The cherry-blossom component comes in two parts.  First, the drink itself includes a Sakura Cherry Blossom Honey Syrup, which provides a sweet floral flavor that goes well with the Garden 108 and is balanced against freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Second, I took some dried cherry blossoms and made ice cubes out of them.  Dried cherry blossoms are available on Amazon; so are large ice cube trays.  Making cherry-blossom ice cubes is simple.  If you’re working with the dried variety, rinse them thoroughly to remove the salt.  (If you’ve got fresh cherry blossoms, you probably still want to wash them.)  Next, fill the tray with water and drop a couple cherry blossoms in each cube.  If you’re working with dried cherry blossoms, you might want to gently unfold them in the water, and I pushed mine toward the bottom of the tray so they would be more visible from the surface of the ice when frozen.  Finally, place them in the freezer and allow to freeze.

Mine came out looking like this:

Cherry Blossom Cubes

Put these all together and you have a refreshing, alcohol-free drink perfect for welcoming spring.  Here is the recipe:

Sakura Sparkler recipe
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Sakura Sparkler

Enjoy the Sakura Sparkler, a Seedlip-based cocktail perfect for spring, featuring cherry-blossom honey syrup and cherry-blossom ice cubes.
Prep Time10 minutes
Total Time10 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Mocktail
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 70kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

Cocktail

  • 1 1/2 oz. Seedlip Garden 108
  • 3/4 oz. Sakura Cherry Blossom Honey Syrup
  • 3/4 oz. Freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • soda water

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 Seedlip, syrup and lemon juice in a shaking tin with ice.  Shake vigorously and strain into rocks glass.
  • Add cherry-blossom ice cube.
  • Top with soda water and stir gently to combine with the other ingredients.

Enjoy!

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Drinking D.C.: A Rake’s Progress at the Line Hotel

Editor’s note: Unfortunately, the fabulous Rake’s Progress closed in June 2020, another local business that fell victim to the COVID-19 business disruption. We’re maintaining the review for posterity’s sake.

Readers of this blog know I enjoyed my initial visit to the Line Hotel, when I stopped in at Brothers and Sisters on the first floor.  The thing that I was totally blown away by was the space:  a sprawling lounge inside an old church under a soaring ceiling.  Recently I was able to return and check out A Rake’s Progress – another restaurant in the same space but on the second floor.  Incredibly, the space at Rake’s is even more awe-inspiring.  You see, on my last visit, I forgot that this old church probably had windows:

Golden hour window at A Rake's Progress

That’s one of two such windows on the second floor, caught here at the golden hour, which incidentally is probably the only time you’ll be able to find a reservation here.  But book it anyway and dine in the late afternoon so you can witness the wonderful effect this creates in the bar area.  Also the chandelier:

I thought this was amazing and very much wanted to try to swing from it.  A friend disagreed, pronouncing it ugly.  Love it or hate it, subtle it is not, and you should definitely go see this space for yourself.

Oh, and they also serve drinks and food.  And these are also quite good.  I  I had a chance to sample three cocktails on my visit here.  The first was the Good Luck Road:

Continue reading “Drinking D.C.: A Rake’s Progress at the Line Hotel”

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Original Recipe: Blood Orange Daiquiri

In the last few posts, I’ve focused on blood orange.  First I offered the Desert Orange, a “margarita for winter” of sorts.  Next I featured the Blood Moon Cocktail, a light and somewhat spicy drink for enjoying astronomical events or really any occasion.  And in my post previewing March cocktail events in the District, I promised a recipe featuring an edible hibiscus garnish.  This is that post.  To help put you in the mood for spring I offer you a blood orange daiquiri:

Blood Orange Daiquiri

The daiquiri has a special significance for me.  It was nearly a decade ago at the Columbia Room – when it was still just a backroom in the old Passenger – that Derek Brown first taught me (and a roomful of other guests) how to make one according to the traditional recipe:  2 ounces of aged rum, and 3/4 ounces each of simple syrup and lime juice.

It was life-altering.  I had taken a bartending class in college, where we learned that daquiris were frozen drinks made with rail rum and sour syrup.  The traditional recipe was so much better, and it re-awakened my interest in mixing drinks.

So I thought it fitting to celebrate the arrival of spring with a fresh take on the classic that marked a spring of sorts in my drink-crafting hobby.  I started with aged rum (Appleton 12-year) and used freshly squeezed blood orange juice in place of the usual lime.  Blood orange juice is sweeter than lime juice of course, so I dialed back the sugar.  (In this case, the syrup was hibiscus flower syrup, about which more in a minute.)  I also added Campari and Calvit’s Tomatillo-Tamarind-Hibiscus shrub.

The garnish has two parts.  The base is a blood orange wheel, placed horizontally on top of the crushed ice that fills the glass.  On top, I placed an edible hibiscus flower from Wild Hibiscus Flower Co., which offers the flowers in syrup (which, as I noted above, I used as a substitute for simple syrup).  Although it isn’t depicted above, I also added a paper straw.  (The garnish looks great but isn’t easy to sip around.)

I had a lot of fun with this drink.  As daiquiris tend to do for me, this one went down fast.  Let me know what you think!

Here’s the recipe:

Blood Orange Daiquiri recipe
Print Recipe

Blood Orange Daiquiri

Urge spring forward with this blood orange daiquiri, featuring rum, Campari, blood orange and hibiscus, and garnished with a hibiscus flower that anticipates the coming season.
Prep Time6 minutes
Total Time6 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Sour
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 225kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz. aged rum
  • 1/2 oz. Campari
  • 1 oz. freshly squeezed blood orange juice
  • 1/4 oz. Calvit's Tomatillo-Tamarind-Hibiscus Drinking Shrub
  • 1/4 oz. Wild Hibiscus Flower Co. syrup
  • 1 dash Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters
  • 1 dash Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Cocktail Shrub
  • blood orange wheel
  • Wild Hibiscus Flower Co. edible hibiscus flower

Instructions

  • Combine the rum, Campari, juice, shrubs, syrup and bitters in a shaking tin and set aside.
  • Fill a rocks glass with crushed ice.
  • Add ice to the shaking tin, shake contents vigorously and strain into the rocks glass.
  • Garnish by laying a blood orange wheel horizontally atop the drink and placing an edible hibiscus flower on top of the wheel.
  • Add a paper straw, trimmed as necessary.
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March 2018 Cocktail Events Round-Up

Spring is coming!  And I’m here to help you plan for it with a round-up of March 2018 cocktail events in the District.  This month we have two categories of events:  (1) cherry blossoms; and (2) everything else.

Cherry Blossom Events

“Cherry blossom” is the byword (are the bywords?) this month, with multiple events celebrating the annual bloom that typically begins at the end of March.  That seems fair – cherry blossoms are worth celebrating.  One shot from my archive:

Cherry Blossoms

If past is prologue, many D.C.-area bars will have cherry-blossom-themed cocktails on offer this month.  Those who enjoy mixing at home might experiment with these pickled cherry blossoms or this cherry blossom honey syrup.  In any event, here are two places you can go to get your cherry blossom/cocktail fix:

Cherry Blossom Pop-Up Bar at Mockingbird Hill and Southern Efficiency.  The folks from Drink Company (they of the Christmas Bar pop-up in the same space) have done the cherry-blossom-themed pop-up before.  They are back again this year, this time as an official partner of the National Cherry Blossom Festival (detailed preview at Eater).  If you have hit the Christmas Bar or other pop-ups in this space in the past, you know this will be a must-see event.  If you haven’t, here’s a preview to help convince you:

A post shared by Drink Company (@drinkcompany) on

That, and the menu:  10 Japanese-inspired cocktails to celebrate the occasion.  So, yeah, see you there.  1841 7th Street N.W.; March 1 through April 29.

Cherry Blossom Cocktail Class at Via Umbria.  If you want to go beyond consuming cherry-blossom-themed cocktails and get some tips on creating your own, there is a class this month at Via Umbria that promises to do just that.  They will walk you through three recipes:  a Gin Blossom Dearie, a Sake Blossom, and a Cherry Blossom Daquiri.  Tickets are are $35.  1525 Wisconsin Avenue N.W.; March 21, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.

Read on for the best of the rest of March events, not necessarily cherry-blossom-themed.

Continue reading “March 2018 Cocktail Events Round-Up”

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Original Recipe: Blood Moon Cocktail

The end of January brought us an unusual astronomical event:  a super blue blood moon.  It was a combination of three phenomena:  a super moon, where the moon is closer to Earth and therefore brighter; a blue moon, meaning the second full moon in a month; and a blood moon, which denotes the reddish hue caused by a lunar eclipse.  But Washington, D.C. was not optimally situated to view the “blood” portion of the event.  To make up for that fact and to celebrate the occasion, I prepared a Blood Moon cocktail:

Blood Moon cocktail

Like my last recipe for the Desert Orange, this recipe features blood orange, which is in peak season from January to March.  But here it functions only as a garnish – a red citrus wheel that serves as my “blood moon” proxy.  The drink itself relies on a sibling citrus – grapefruit juice.  The spirits are Campari, which complements the citrus nicely, and Ancho Reyes Verde, which adds a little kick.

The result is a light and refreshing drink that would do well on any night, super blue blood moon or not.  And by “light” I don’t mean just easy to drink.  Although the Campari and Ancho Reyes Verde flavors are definitely detectable here, they together comprise only 1 1/2 ounces of the recipe.  Grapefruit juice is the primary ingredient, and there is no high-proof spirit.  That means the drink is lower proof and lower-calorie than your typical cocktail – call it about half strength on both scores.  So make yourself a couple rounds!

Here is the recipe:

Blood Moon recipe
Print Recipe

Blood Moon

Try my Blood Moon cocktail, a light and refreshing drink made in anticipation of the super blue blood moon, but fit for sipping on any occasion.
Prep Time5 minutes
Total Time5 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Sour
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 124kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

  • 1 oz. Campari
  • 1/2 oz. Ancho Reyes Verde
  • 2 oz. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
  • blood orange wheel

Instructions

  • Combine Campari, Ancho Reyes Verde, and juice in a shaking tin with ice and shake vigorously.
  • Strain into a rocks glass.  Add a large ice cube.
  • Garnish with blood orange wheel.

Enjoy!

Missing some ingredients?  You might be able to have them delivered.  Check out our comparative review of liquor delivery services.

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Original Recipe: Desert Orange

I’ve been inspired by the cocktail recipes I’ve been seeing this season making use of blood orange, which is in peak form from January through March.  (One example:  the brûléed blood orange spiced winter gin and tonic at Craft & Cocktails.)  So in addition to experimenting with “dressed can” cocktails this month, I’ve put together a couple of recipes of my own that feature blood orange.  I now present the first of these, the Desert Orange:

Desert Orange

This cocktail combines flavors of smoke, spice, and citrus.  It begins with mezcal as the base spirit, which provides the smoky flavor.  Spice and savory flavors are provided by Ancho Reyes Verde liqueur and a tomatillo, tamarind and hibiscus shrub by Calvit’s.  And the citrus of course comes from freshly squeezed blood orange juice.  To round off the drink, I added a bit of burnt sugar syrup from Tippleman’s and Aztec Chocolate Bitters by Fee Brothers.  I also salted the rim of the glass with pink Himalayan salt.

This is a great cocktail for February.  The smoke and spice keep you warm, while the citrus foreshadows sunny summer days ahead – a margarita for winter, if you will.  Here is the recipe:

Desert Orange recipe
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Desert Orange

Enjoy the Desert Orange cocktail, which combines smoke, spice and citrus that takes advantage of blood orange season.
Prep Time6 minutes
Total Time6 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Sour
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 240kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

  • 2 oz. mezcal I used Mezcal Vago Espadín
  • 1/2 oz. Ancho Reyes Verde
  • 1/2 oz. Calvit's Tomatillo-Tamarind-Hibiscus Drinking Shrub
  • 1/2 oz. freshly squeezed blood orange juice
  • 1/4 oz. burnt sugar syrup I used Tippleman's
  • 1 dash Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate Bitters
  • blood orange wheel
  • pink Himalayan salt

Instructions

  • Salt the rim of a rocks glass with the salt.  Add a large ice cube.
  • Combine the mezcal, Ancho Reyes Verde, shrub, juice, syrup and bitters in a shaking tin with ice and shake vigorously.
  • Strain into the glass and add an orange wheel as garnish.

Enjoy!

Ingredients that are available on Amazon are linked in the post (the blog may earn a commission if a purchase is made). Missing any other ingredients?  You might be able to have them delivered.  Check out our comparative review of liquor delivery services.

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“Dressed Can” Cocktails for the Super Bowl

Ed.: Remember when I said in the February cocktail events round-up that no one in D.C. was hosting a cocktail-themed event?  Well now you can do it yourself, thanks to this idea for “dressed can” cocktails from Julia (who previously posted about how to make your own Slivovitz).

When you’re hosting guests for a game day, cocktails made in a can are a great way to upgrade the drinks offerings without a lot of legwork (or clean up). These “dressed cans” don’t have to be a can of beer either – soda, juice, or canned wine can all form the base of a delicious drink.

Whether you’re tuning in for the Puppy Bowl or the Super Bowl, game day drinking is also a marathon. I started off easy with a Stiegl Radler, a 2% ABV grapefruit shandy (game day drinking is a marathon after all).

Inspired by a Greyhound cocktail, I doctored the Stiegl up with 1.5oz Tanqueray, ‘Rizzo’ rosemary and grapefruit bitters from Crude Small Batch Bitters, lemon juice (Stiegl is on the sweeter side), and some fresh grapefruit. If you’re a Salty Dog lover, you could rim the can in grapefruit juice and salt, or swap out the gin for tequila to make a Paloma. Bon Appetit published a great list of beer cocktails – next time there’s a Budweiser in the cooler, I might just sneak in a shot of Amaro.

Enjoy, and have a great game day!

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Original Recipe: Raspberry, Rhubarb & Rye

As past posts reveal, I’m a fan of shrubs.  I’ve used them in cocktails like the Autumn Breeze.  And because they are nonalcoholic they also work in mocktails like the Mexican Candy Soda.  In part because of their versatility, I’ve also recommended shrubs as great cocktail-themed gifts.  In that vein, I was recently given a gift of a rhubarb shrub from Tulip Tree Hill.  I immediately set out to find a good use for it in a cocktail.  And lo, the Raspberry, Rhubarb & Rye was born:

Raspberry, Rhubarb & Rye

The inspiration for this drink was the strawberry-rhubarb preserves my grandmother always had on hand when I was a kid.  I figured raspberries would do just as well as strawberries and are a bit easier to use in cocktails.

That proved true, but these ingredients needed a little support to stand up against the base spirit – rye, in this case.  I thought it would help to add some sugar and citrus.  For these I used burnt sugar syrup from Tippleman’s and lemon juice.  I also added a dash of walnut bitters.

These additions rounded out the drink nicely, giving it a smooth, tangy and slightly sweet taste.  Although I put this together in January, the spring-summery flavors of rhubarb and raspberry hinted at the warmer days ahead.  This would be a perfect pre-dinner cocktail on a night of an outdoor meal.  Here’s the recipe:

Raspberry, Rhubarb & Rye recipe
Print Recipe

Raspberry, Rhubarb & Rye

This Raspberry, Rhubarb & Rye cocktail combines raspberry and rhubarb flavors to provide a smooth, tangy and slightly slightly sweet cocktail that is perfect for your next happy hour.
Prep Time5 minutes
Total Time5 minutes
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: Sour
Servings: 1 cocktail
Calories: 195kcal
Author: Geoffrey Wyatt

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz. rye I used Whistle Pig
  • 3/4 oz. Tulip Tree Hill rhubarb shrub
  • 3/4 oz. burnt sugar syrup I used Tippleman's
  • 1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 dash walnut bitters I used Fee Brothers
  • 5 raspberries

Instructions

  • Combine the rye, shrub, syrup, lemon juice, bitters, and three of the raspberries with ice in a shaking tin and shake vigorously.
  • Strain into a rocks glass.
  • Add a large ice cube.
  • Garnish with two fresh raspberries.

Enjoy!