Expand your cocktail horizons…
Summer is winding down and you’re over rosé and can’t do another Tom Collins. In other words, it’s the month to experiment. MAXIM asked some of the best bartenders in America for their go-to cocktails, and they didn’t disappoint. So drink up —summer’s not over yet…
Ni Hao, Ginger
By Brett Esler, Whisler’s, Austin
This drink is geared toward the martini drinkers out there, but uses baijiu, a Chinese liquor, as the base spirit instead of gin or vodka. It’s crisp, bright, and smooth, with ginger and slightly herbal background notes.
- 1½ ounces Byejoe baijiu
1 ounce Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur
1 bar spoon Suze Saveur d’Autrefois gentian liqueur
Combine ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir gently for a good 20 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail or coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon-peel rose.
Perfect Daiquiri
By Jesse Vida & Jillian Vose, BlackTail, New York
“The Perfect Daiquiri is the perfect balance of sour, sweet, and spirit,” says Vida, the head bartender at BlackTail. “The perfect combo of texture, brightness, and depth. It never outstays its welcome and is a great cocktail to enjoy all summer long and as we head into fall.”
1 ounce lime juice
½ ounce rich cane syrup
2½ ounces BT rum mix (1 ounce Caña Brava,
¾ ounce Plantation 3 Stars, ½ ounce Barbancourt
white, ¼ ounce El Dorado 3 year)
Combine ingredients, shake, and serve in a sour glass.
63 East Adams
By Jack McGarry, GreenRiver, Chicago
“The 63 East Adams is a delightful late summer drink. We created it with late summer very much in mind,” McGarry says. “At its most basic core the 63 East Adams is a sour. We’ve nuanced it with blackberry and amaro, with the punchy Old Forester as a backbone. It’s what I call a ‘session’ cocktail — you can have a few in one session.”
- 3 blackberries
¾ ounce each: Cynar amaro, lemon juice, and
ajwain honey syrup (or regular honey syrup;
McGarry uses a 2:1 honey-to-water ratio)
2 ounces Old Forester Signature bourbon
Shaken. Serve in a sling glass with cracked
ice. Garnish with smoked black peppercorn
spray (optional if you’re making it at home) and lemon expression.
Pomme & Circumstance
By Tony Abou-Ganim, Libertine Social, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
“This cocktail is refreshing for late summer but also easily segues into fall with the addition of Laird’s applejack and apple brandy, as well as apple juice,” Abou-Ganim says. “The dried apple slice garnish is the final touch to welcome the fall season. You can even serve the cocktail in a glass bottle for late summer/early fall entertaining.”
- 1½ ounces Laird’s applejack
½ ounce Laird’s apple brandy
½ ounce Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur
2 ounces cloudy, unfiltered apple juice
Splash fresh lemon juice
Chilled ginger ale
In a mixing glass add Laird’s applejack and
apple brandy, Canton, cloudy apple juice, and
lemon juice; shake with ice until well blended.
Strain into an ice-filled goblet and top with
chilled ginger ale. Stir to mix, and garnish with a fan of dried apple slices.
This Is Not a Rosé
By JP Fetherston, Columbia Room, Washington, D.C.
“It might not be a rosé, but this cocktail is inspired by and meant to evoke the crisp pink wines of southern France,” Fetherston says. “It’s a blend of fino sherry, dry vermouth (from Imbue), mezcal, fraise des bois (wild strawberry) liqueur, Campari, cucumber water, and trash cordial. The latter is a tart ingredient we make from the trimmed bits of our citrus, fruit, mint, and cucumber garnishes. Pink wine is going to have to share some real estate with pink cocktails in the summer drinking stakes.” Original version, served at the Columbia Room Punch Garden.
- 1 ounce Tio Pepe fino sherry
1 ounce Imbue Classic dry vermouth
¼ ounce Del Maguey Vida mezcal
¼ ounce Giffard Crème de Fraise des Bois
¼ ounce Campari
¼ ounce trash cordial
1 ounce cucumber water
For the home bartender’s version, swap trash
cordial with grapefruit juice. For cucumber
water, macerate sliced cucumbers in water for at least 10 minutes. Strain. Batch ingredients and refrigerate. ■
For the full article grab the April 2018 issue of MAXIM Australia from newsagents and convenience locations. Subscribe here.
