Hotel Nacional Special

Another one from Cuba: the Hotel Nacional Special:

• 3 or 4 (1-inch square) pineapple chunks
• 0.75 ounce lime juice
• 0.50 ounce SC Demerara Syrup
• 0.50 natural apricot liqueur (such as Rothman & Winter Apricot Liqueur or Gifford Abricot du Roussillon)
• 1.5 ounces blended lightly aged rum

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the pineapple chunks with the lime juice and syrup. Add the apricot liqueur and the rum, then fill with cracked or cubed ice. Shake and double strain into a chilled coupe.

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Daisy de Santiago

From Cuba comes the Daisy de Santiago:

• 1.0 ounce lime juice
• 1.5 teaspoons SC Demerara Syrup
• 1.0 ounce seltzer
• 0.5 ounce Yellow Chartreuse
• 1.5 ounces blended lightly aged rum

Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Add cracked or cubed ice. Shake and strain into a double old-fashioned glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a mint sprig.

This recipe is from the Smuggler’s Cove book but it is adapted from The Gentleman’s Companion: Around the World with Jigger, Beaker and Flask by Charles H. Baker, Jr. Baker was a food and drink writer who traveled the world and told stories. It sounds like my dream job. The Daisy de Santiago he discovered in Cuba, and referred to it as a “lovely thing, indeed”.

Hermosa Beach

From Connor at the Oakleaf, it’s the Hermosa Beach:

• 0.50 ounce lime juice
• 0.50 ounce Demerara Syrup
• 2.00 ounces reposado tequila
• 4-6 chunks of strawberry
• 1 large bruised basil leaf

Muddle strawberry and basil in a shaker glass. Add other ingredients and strain over a large cube of ice. Garnish with a small basil leaf.

This is a fine drink that lends itself to a lot of off-topic comments.

First, this demonstrates what I love about true craft cocktails. I often refer to people who make them as “cocktail chefs” instead of bartenders, although there is absolutely nothing wrong with the term “bartender”, it’s just that I want to illustrate what goes in to a great cocktail recipe. In this case it is seasonal ingredients like the strawberries and fresh basil. Just as chefs will use nature as a template for meals, a good bartender will look toward the same sources for inspiration.

Three Dots and A Dash

Morse code for Victory, it’s Three Dots and a Dash:

• 0.50 ounce lime juice
• 0.50 ounce orange juice
• 0.50 ounce SC Honey Syrup
• 0.25 ounce John D. Taylor’s Velvet Falernum
• 0.25 ounce St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
• 1.50 ounces cane AOC Martinique rhum agricole vieux
• 0.50 ounce blended aged rum
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Add all ingredients to a drink mix tin. Fill with 12 ounces of crushed ice and 4 to 6 small agitator cubes. Flash blend and open pour with gated finish into a footed pilsner glass. Garnish with three cherries and a pineapple chunk on a cocktail pick.

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Flamenco

Another classic from Death & Co., the Flamenco:

• 1.50 ounces Lustau Amontillado Sherry
• 1.00 ounce Bols Genever gin
• 0.50 ounce orange juice
• 0.50 ounce lemon juice
• 0.75 ounce orgeat
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a coupe. No garnish.

My biggest challenge in making drinks from the Death & Co. book is finding the ingredients. I was looking for a cocktail to make and was happy to see that I had everything to make this one.

Brown Derby

From the Golden Age of Hollywood comes the Brown Derby:

• 2.0 ounces Elijah Craig 12-year Bourbon
• 1.0 ounce grapefruit juice
• 1.0 teaspoon lemon juice
• 0.50 ounce Acacia Honey Syrup

Shake all the ingredients with ice, then strain into a coupe. Garnish with a grapefruit twist.

The Brown Derby restaurant chain in Los Angeles consisted of a number of restaurants, with the first and most iconic being in the shape of a hat. In researching this cocktail I’ve uncovered a rather interesting story. In the 1930s, the drink was the signature drink at a competing restaurant called the Vendome Club. Originally called the “De Rigueur” in cocktail books, it somehow morphed into the Brown Derby over time.

Whoa Nellie!

A new classic, it’s the Whoa Nellie!:

• 1.25 ounces rye
• 0.75 ounce dark rum
• 0.75 ounce Cointreau
• 4 dashes Angostura bitters
• 0.50 ounce lemon juice
• 0.50 ounce grapefruit juice
• 0.50 ounce simple syrup

Combine all of the ingredients into a shaker and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled martini glass.

My friend Ben and I share a fondness for whiskey, and together we have a decent collection. Unfortunately, we live more than an hour apart, so it made sharing them difficult until we decided we could just bring them to work. Thus “Whiskey Monday” (#whiskeymonday) was born.