Classic and Original Cocktails
Classics
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Old FashionedThere are several ways people like to make their own old fashions. I'm going to post a more classical approach, and you may experiment with different ingredients and measurements to get exactly the cocktail you deserve.
2 oz Rye or Bourbon whiskey 0.25 (1/4) oz simple syrup (or muddled demerara sugar cube) 2 dashes Angostura bitters 1 dash orange bitters (optional) 1 orange quarter slice Orange peel for garnish Place the sugar cube or simple syrup along with the orange slice at the bottom of a double rocks glass. Muddle lightly until the juices and sugar are relatively well mixed and slightly loose. Add your rye or bourbon. Add your bitters. Then slowly slide ice in as not to splash your liquor. We don't want to waste that of course. Using your bar spoon, mix about 30-35 times to dilute your drink. Carefully peel your orange for your garnish. Twist over your drink and wipe along edges of your glass. Drop in your peel and enjoy. |
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Classic Daquiri2 oz White Rum
1 oz lime juice 0.50 oz simple syrup Place your ingredients into your shaker. Add ice. Enough to almost fill your main cup. Shake until your shaker is quite cold and chilled. Strain into a coupe glass, straight up. Lime wedge for garnish. |
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Mojito1.5 oz. White Rum
0.5 oz lime juice 0.5 oz simple syrup Club soda Mint leaves 2-3 wedge pieces of a lime Muddle your lime and mint inside your shaker. Be sure not to muddle the mint very hard, as a small effort is enough to release it's refreshing oils. Severe muddling results in a bitter flavor from the mint. The lime is a little tougher though. Add the rest of your ingredients. Add ice. Shake until cold and chilled. Strain into collins glass. Add ice and top with club soda. Mint sprig for garnish. |
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Manhattan2 oz Rye whiskey
1 oz Sweet Vermouth 2 dashes Angostura bitters Pour your ingredients into your mixing vessel. Dash your bitters. Then slide ice as to not splash your precious ingredients everywhere. Stir about 30 times with your bar spoon, depending on what level of dilution you want. More dilution = less heat, more water. But never over do it. An over diluted cocktail is a ruined one. Strain using a julep strainer into a martini or coupe glass. Garnish by placing a cherry into the drink. *This can also be served over the rocks in a double rocks glass if you'd like. This gives it a more tame profile much like the dilution process. A personal spin I like to add to my Manhattans is half an ounce of Gran Marnier and removing half an ounce of the rye whiskey, giving the drink a slightly sweeter, smooth orange flavor coating. |
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Hemingway Daiquiri1.5 oz White Rum
0.5 oz lime juice 0.5 oz Maraschino liqueur 0.5 oz Grapefruit juice 0.25 oz Simple syrup Pour your ingredients into your shaker. Shake until it's quite chilled and cold. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a simple lime wedge or circle. |
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Blood Orange Spritzer1.5 oz Gin
0.75 oz Campari 0.75 oz Dry Vermouth 1.5 oz Orange juice Club Soda Combine ingredients into shaker. Shake until shaker is chilled and cold. Strain into Collins glass. Add ice. Top remainder of room in the glass with club soda. Garnish with half orange wheel. |
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Silver Lining1.5 oz Rye whiskey
0.75 oz Licor 43 (vanilla liqueur) 0.75 lemon juice 0.25 oz simple syrup 1 egg white Combine all ingredients into shaker WITHOUT ICE. Dry shake the ingredients first. (To emulsify the protein in the egg white.) Add ice. Wet shake (with ice) until chilled. Strain into double rocks glass containing ice. Top with a little club soda. Garnish with anything you'd like to enjoy alongside the drink's creamy, vanilla taste. |
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Sidecar2 oz Cognac
0.75 Cointreau 0.75 oz lemon juice 0.25 oz simple syrup Combine ingredients into shaker. Add ice. Shake until chilled. Strain into coupe glass with a sugar rim. *To rim glasses, I like to use just a little water spread around the rim of the glass...but some use sweetened lime juice or syrup. I prefer the water method because you only taste the sugar or salt you rim the glass with. If it's a drink with a citric juice, using a lime or lemon wedge works even better. |
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12 Mile Limit1 oz White Rum
0.5 oz Rye whiskey 0.5 oz Brandy 0.5 oz Grenadine 0.5 oz lemon juice Combine ingredients in shaker. Add ice. Shake until chilled. Strain into coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon twist. |
Original Cocktails
These cocktails are some of my own creations. Others, my friends and colleagues have brilliantly put together. We hope you adore them as much as we do.
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Bilbo Baggins2 oz Rye Whiskey
0.25 oz Grade B Maple Syrup 1 dash Angostura bitters 1 dash orange bitters Mint leaves Orange quarter slice Muddle your mint, orange, and maple syrup together at the bottom of a double rocks glass. Add your rye whiskey. Add your bitters. Smoothly add your ice. Stir about 30 times. Mint sprig can be used to garnish but isn't completely necessary. Basically an old fashioned, this is my personal twist on the classic favorite. I love the flavor compliments rye whiskey and maple syrup give to each other. The forward and slightly smoky nature of the rye whiskey gets smoothly rounded out by the extreme sweetness of the maple syrup. The orange and mint add a refreshing, natural feel to the drink, making me think of something a hobbit would drink in The Shire. Other than ale from the Green Dragon of course. |
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Polish Saint1.5 oz Vodka (Sobieski is perfect)
0.5 oz St. Germaine 0.25 oz Grenadine 0.75 oz lemon juice Dry Champagne Combine all your ingredients but your grenadine into your shaker. Shake until chilled and cold. Strain into a collins glass. Fill collins glass with ice. Top remainder of the glass with champagne. Drizzle your grenadine into your cocktail. Garnish with a twisted lemon peel and cherry. This cocktail was created by my good friend Mike Dedwylder. An excellent bartender himself, his creativity spawned several incredible cocktails. This particular cocktail derived from the masses of young ladies coming in and being unsure what kind of sweet, balanced drink they wanted. |
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Piedmont0.75 oz Beefeater Gin
0.75 oz Cocchi Americano 0.25 oz Aperol 0.25 oz Campari 0.5 oz Grapefruit juice Place ingredients into a double rocks glass. Add ice. Stir about 30 times. Garnish with an orange peel. Although this cocktail contains juice, I prefer the way the flavor profiles play off each other when you make it like the Negroni it was based off. Which is stirring in a double rocks glass, similar to the old fashioned. This amazing drink was created by another great friend and bartender, Will Sanders. It arrived due to a night of boredom and also, a quiet fascination with the Negroni (a cocktail consisting of equal parts Gin, Campari, and Sweet Vermouth). Thus, the tasty Piedmont was born. |
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Samwise Gamgee2 oz Demerara Rum
0.25 oz Cinnammon simple syrup 1 Dash orange bitters 1 Dash cherry bitters 4-6 Mint leaves Orange quarter Muddle mint, orange and cinnamon simple syrup at the bottom of double rocks glasses. Add bitters. Add Demerara rum. Add ice. Stir over ice for about 30 times to dilute. Garnish with cherry. *I continued making the hobbit inspired drinks based on characteristics of the characters themselves. Samwise was the sweet, compassionate hobbit that guided Frodo throughout their journey. Not in direction necessarily (that fell to Gollum) but emotionally. So I opted with a Demerara rum, which is sweeter than whiskey but still contains that spirit (pun intended) of bourbon. Sweet and soft. Much like Samwise the Brave. The mint leaves adds to the Shirefolk feel and the cherry bitters gives the rum a wonderful, rounded flavor. |
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Scotland Yard (aka Boromir)1.5 oz Scotch
0.5 oz Drambuie 0.25 oz Sweet Vermouth 1 dash Angostura bitters Add ingredients in double rocks glass. Add bitters. Add ice. Stir about 30 times to dilute. Lemon peel garnish. *Again, this was inspired by a Tolkien character. The flavors play off each other so well. I particularly enjoy how the taste and smell of the lemon peel plays off the honey and spices of the Drambuie. I changed the name later to the Scotland Yard, since it gave it a more professional, common feel. However, this drink came from the inspiration of the Rusty Nail and Rob Roy cocktails. It just seemed like something Boromir of Gondor would drink after a raid. |
More cocktails coming soon! Stay tuned.
