Boozehound - Jason Wilson [97]
4 ounces chinotto soda, preferably San Pellegrino brand
1½ ounces apple brandy or applejack
1 thin orange slice, for garnish
Fill a highball glass with ice. Add the chinotto and apple brandy. Stir gently. Garnish with the orange slice.
Recipe by Jackson Cannon of Eastern Standard, Boston
JACK MAUVE
Serves 1
This variation on the classic Jack Rose calls for homemade grenadine. Since homemade grenadine will be purple rather than red, the Jack Rose in this case takes on a sort of mauve color—but more important, this version is much tastier. The original recipe calls for applejack; I recommend Laird’s apple brandy or a nice Calvados for a sublime cocktail. With Calvados, though, use slightly less grenadine—about half an ounce.
1 ½ ounces apple brandy, applejack, or Calvados
¾ ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
¾ ounce homemade grenadine
Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Add the apple brandy, lime juice, and grenadine. Shake vigorously, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
CORPSE REVIVER #1
Serves 1
1½ ounces brandy, preferably cognac
¾ ounce apple brandy, preferably Calvados
¾ ounce sweet vermouth
Lemon peel twist, for garnish
Fill a mixing glass halfway with ice. Add the brandy, Calvados, and vermouth. Stir vigorously, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the lemon peel twist.
WIDOW’S KISS
Serves 1
This cocktail, first created in the late nineteenth century, involves two French liqueurs with romantic, and mysterious, company stories. Bénédictine is believed to be the world’s oldest liqueur, dating to 1510. Made from brandy or cognac and a secret infusion of herbs, the recipe is closely guarded at the Benedictine abbey in Fécamp, Normandy. Chartreuse is made in the alpine town of Voiron, at a monastery called La Grande Chartreuse. There is little chance its secret recipe will ever be revealed. The only two Carthusian monks who know it have taken a vow of silence.
1½ ounces Calvados or applejack
¾ ounce Bénédictine
¾ ounce yellow Chartreuse
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 strawberry, sliced, for garnish
Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full with ice and add the Calvados, Bénédictine, Chartreuse, and bitters. Shake vigorously, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the strawberry slices.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FIRST AND FOREMOST, thanks to Joe Yonan, my editor at the Washington Post. It was he who made the brilliant decision to let me to write about booze for his section. Thanks also to my other wonderful Food section colleagues: Bonnie Benwick and Jane Touzalin for editing me to success every week—their fingerprints are all over this book; Jane Black for setting the writing bar high, but also for being the president of my fan club; and Leigh Lambert for sharing chuckles over the many unintentionally hilarious press releases we receive.
Thanks to Lisa Westmoreland at Ten Speed Press for seeing Boozehound as a worthy project, and huge thanks to Sara Golski, who certainly had her hands full editing me, yet shepherded this book through the process with aplomb.
My colleagues at The Smart Set, Jesse Smith and Brittany Tress, deserve my undying gratitude for putting up with me during all the travel and the writing. This book, in fact, wouldn’t have happened without the amazingly generous support of Drexel University, in particular Dave Jones and Mark Greenberg. I should also give a shout-out to my “protégé” Emily Callaghan, whose talent and friendship is unwavering (even when her “assistance” at Tales of the Cocktail is shaky).
There are so many bartenders, drinks writers, and spirits people whose knowledge, generosity, and camaraderie is always greatly appreciated: Duggan McDonnell, Audrey Fort, Maggie Savarino, Jordan Mackay, Todd Thrasher, Derek Brown, Adam Bernbach, Gina Chersevani, Chantal Tseng, Dave Wondrich, Jim Meehan, Neyah White, Jackie Patterson, Janell Moore,