Boozehound - Jason Wilson [72]
3 ounces freshly squeezed white grapefruit juice
2 ounces blanco or silver tequila
½ ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
½ ounce agave nectar
Sea salt, to rim the glass
Club soda
1 lime wheel, for garnish
Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full with ice. Add the grapefruit juice, tequila, lime juice, and agave nectar. Shake well and strain into an ice-filled Collins glass rimmed with sea salt. Top with a splash of club soda, and garnish with the lime wheel.
Recipe by Tad Carducci of Tippling Bros., a New York-based consultancy
NOUVEAU CARRÉ
Serves 1
This is an inventive tequila riff on the New Orleans classic Vieux Carré. Añejo tequila is not normally used for mixing; pairing it with herbal-honey Bénédictine and the bright white-wine-and-citrus notes of Lillet Blanc is certainly strange. But somehow those ingredients fit together in this bold and complex cocktail.
1½ ounces añejo tequila
¾ ounce Bénédictine
¼ ounce Lillet Blanc
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Lemon peel twist, for garnish
Fill a metal cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Add the tequila, Bénédictine, Lillet Blanc, and bitters. Stir until frost forms on the outside of the shaker, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the lemon peel twist.
Recipe by Jonny Raglin of Absinthe Brasserie & Bar, San Francisco
RESTRAINING ORDER
Serves 1
Aperol—a bright orange, low-proof Italian aperitivo—has the uncanny ability to enhance and balance many disparate flavors and make everything taste better, including tequila. In this cocktail, it’s part of an unlikely combination that includes celery bitters. Be sure to use a reposado tequila in this recipe, and do not neglect the garnish; a fat orange peel twist is critical for the right aromatics.
1 ½ ounces reposado tequila
¾ ounce Aperol
3 or 4 dashes celery bitters
Orange peel twist, for garnish
Fill a mixing glass halfway with ice. Place 2 or 3 large ice cubes in an old-fashioned or rocks glass. Add the tequila, Aperol, and bitters to the mixing glass. Stir vigorously for 20 to 30 seconds, then strain into the glass with the ice cubes. Twist the orange peel over the drink to release its oils, then rub it around the rim of the glass and drop it in.
Recipe by Colin Shearn of Franklin Mortgage & Investment co., Philadelphia
BRASSERIE LEBBE
Serves 1
Eau-de-vie, generally poured as an after-dinner digestif, is challenging in cocktails. But as used here, it makes a cocktail that would be wonderful served earlier, perhaps even as a replacement for the mimosa at brunch. Neyah White of Nopa in San Francisco named the drink after a Belgian producer of saison farmhouse ales that have pear and yeasty notes, as this cocktail does. It works best with champagne, rather than other sparkling wines.
¾ ounce pear eau-de-vie
¾ounce Licor 43 or Tuaca
½ ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 ounces dry champagne
Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice. Add the eau-de-vie, Licor 43, and lemon juice. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds, then strain into a champagne flute. Top with the champagne.
Recipe by Neyah White of Nopa, San Francisco
HANS PUNCH UP
Serves 8
This punch, by Adam Bernbach at Proof, is named for a guy Adam got into a fight with one New Year’s Eve. Be sure to use pear eau-de-vie or poire Williams brandy, not pear liqueur; the liqueur would be too sweet for this recipe.
16 ounces pear eau-de-vie or poire Williams brandy
16 ounces honey syrup
8 ounces freshly squeezed lemon juice
8 dashes Angostura bitters
8 ounces sparkling wine
8 mint sprigs, for garnish
Combine the pear eau-de-vie, honey syrup, lemon juice, and bitters in a large glass pitcher. Add about 1 cup of ice and stir vigorously. To serve, fill 8 highball glasses with ice; divide the punch among them, and top each with 1 ounce of sparkling wine. Stir gently, and garnish with mint sprigs.
Recipe by Adam Bernbach of Proof, Washington, D.c.
PISCO SOUR
Serves 1
This variation on the classic pisco sour is made in a blender and was adapted from a recipe by Eduardo