The Lemon Drop

This simple cocktail is a good one to have in your repertoire for those times when you have guests who might not be able to appreciate the full flavors of some of the more interesting, booze-forward classic cocktails we prefer here at A Bitter Spirit. 

The lemon drop first showed up in the 1980s as a vodka based variation on the tequila shooter – do a shot of cold vodka from a sugar-rimmed glass followed by biting into a lemon wedge. It has since transformed into a shaken cocktail.

Lemon Drop

Adapted from New Classic Cocktails

1 ½ oz. vodka (or citrus-flavored vodka)

½ oz. lemon juice

¼ oz. simple syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a sugar-rimmed cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon wedge. A dash of grapefruit bitters makes for a nice variation.

Some More Summer Cocktails

Hello everyone – It's been a while since I posted anything here. The combination of a temporary job doing some physically demanding work, time spent writing fiction, and the summer heat wave has kept me away from the blog. Also, the heat here in NY has us drinking more gin & tonics or cold beers than anything particularly interesting.

I'm quite sure that a lot can be written about mixing a gin and tonic, and I may just pursue that subject some day. Today, though, I'm just going to throw a few more refreshing summer cocktail recipes your way.

Tara's favorite lately is the Pink Lady, an old drink very similar to the Clover Club cocktail. The Pink Lady adds some applejack to the recipe, resulting in a slightly boozier, tastier drink.

Pink Lady
¾ oz. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
½ oz. real pomegranate grenadine
1 ½ oz. gin
½ oz. applejack
½ egg white

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. It doesn't need a garnish, but a cherry wouldn't be out of place.

I make my own grenadine by shaking equal parts pomegranate juice and sugar together until the sugar dissolves, then adding two or three ounces of pomegranate molasses to each cup of pomegranate syrup. It's far, far better than any commercial grenadine I've tried, but if you prefer to buy your grenadine, Small Hands Foods, Sonoma Syrup Company and Stirrings all make real pomegranate grenadine. Please avoid the nasty, chemical-laden red sugar water on the shelf at your local supermarket, as it will spoil any cocktail you put it in.

My sipper of choice lately has been something I call the McGee, after Travis McGee, the beach-bum/knight errant hero of John D. MacDonald's series of novels. These books are some of the greatest detective stories ever written, and McGee emerges as one of the truly great characters in all literature. If you haven't read them, do so. If you have, read them again.

McGee is a gin man, and the original version of the McGee cocktail was simply Boodles gin on the rocks, served in an old fashioned glass. Now, this isn't a cocktail, or even a mixed drink, but it is pretty much a modern Martini served on the rocks rather than up. Since I personally want the Martini to regain it's place as a specific drink, I've taken to calling my version a McGee instead.

In keeping with the lore in the books, you can rinse the ice in the glass with sherry or vermouth, dumping the excess before filling with gin. Stick with Boodles, which McGee drank for much of the series, or Plymouth, although McGee seemed to only drink from his stash of old-style Plymouth and had some unkind things to say about the current formulation. Well, current circa-1980-something, anyway.

My preferred McGee goes like this: Fill a rocks glass with large ice cubes, add a splash of Noilly Prat dry vermouth and a dash of Regan's orange bitters, swirl to coat the ice and glass and dump the excess. Add a good amount of Boodles gin, stir to chill and sip. Ahh...

Obviously, you need to love whatever gin you're going to use in a McGee. Happily, Boodles is both my favorite London dry gin and accurate to the books, but feel free to use your own favorite if Boodles doesn't do it for you. Maybe, if everyone starts calling a gin-with-little-to-no-vermouth a McGee instead of a Martini, it will help nudge the Martini back towards being a specific drink, rather than a catch-all term for a mixed drink served up in a stemmed glass...

I'll stop here, since I'm also working on a future post detailing the history of the Martini. My apologies for the lack of photos this time around, I'll try to get back in the swing of taking pictures for next time.

The Billionaire Cocktail

I found this one at Serious Eats, where the drink calls for the soon to be released Employees Only brand grenadine, Pernod absinthe and Baker’s 107-proof bourbon. Well, I make my own grenadine and Pernod’s modern absinthe is overpriced junk. Baker’s is good whiskey, but not one I usually keep on hand, so I subbed in Kubler for the absinthe and Wild Turkey 101 for the Baker’s. The Employees Only recipe calls for a half-ounce of simple syrup as well, which I skipped because I didn’t want the drink to be too sweet.

The Billionaire Cocktail
2 oz. 101+-proof bourbon
1 oz. freshly-squeezed lemon juice
½ oz. grenadine (homemade, or EO Grenadine)
¼ oz. absinthe

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

This one is a winner for me – I love whiskey, and this combination is a whiskey drink for the summer that doesn’t lose the base spirit altogether.

Bumbo

Bumbo is an old drink, dating back to the 18th century at least. George Washington served bumbo to voters in Virginia in 1758, and prior to that the drink was a favorite of Caribbean pirates.

Originally, bumbo was a mixture of rum, water, sugar and nutmeg and/or cinnamon, served straight up. Ice was uncommon, so bumbo was likely drunk at cabin temperature.

The modern bumbo keeps the rum and spices, but replaces the sugar and water with grenadine and lemon juice. I made two versions, the current iteration and a variation on the original.

Bumbo (modern)
2 oz. rum (gold or dark; I used Brugal gold)
1 oz. lemon juice
½ oz. grenadine (homemade)
pinch nutmeg

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

The modern bumbo is a nice drink, especially for the summer months. The only downside to it is that the nutmeg doesn’t dissolve in the liquid, and tends to collect at the bottom of the glass. I suppose you could fine-strain the drink, but that might also remove most of the flavor of the spices. The best solution would likely be a tincture – cinnamon and nutmeg soaked in alcohol to extract the flavor. A spritz of each on top of the drink would add the spice components without the grit.

For my variation on the original, I used 2 oz. rum and ½ oz. cinnamon syrup, stirred for a long while with ice and served over fresh ice in an old-fashioned glass. The melting ice provides the water, and the syrup gives a spicy note to the drink without the grit that results from using ground spices. This is a great drink, a simple variation on an old-fashioned that would be nice any time of year.

Happy Birthday Campari

I recently found out that Campari is celebrating it’s 150th anniversary this year. The bitter, bright red liqueur is one of my favorites, and one of those indispensable products that every bar and home should stock.

Just about everyone remembers their first taste of Campari. For a lot of folks, the first taste also winds up being the last taste… The bitter flavor of Campari is too big of a hurdle for them to clear. These folks are making a mistake, and missing out on a great product which features in some delicious cocktails. Yes, Campari is, for most people, an acquired taste, but I think you’ll find it’s one worth acquiring.

The Negroni
1 oz. Campari
1 oz. sweet vermouth
1 oz. gin

Build over ice in a rocks glass and garnish with an orange wheel or a twist. A dash or two of orange bitters makes for a pleasant variation.

The Negroni is arguably the most popular Campari cocktail out there (disregarding for the moment such simple preparations as Campari & Soda or Campari & Orange), and for good reason. It’s a perfect drink, balanced, adult and delicious, as well as being easily adjusted to suit one’s taste. For me, the classic equal proportions work best.

The Americano
1 ½ oz. Campari
1 ½ oz. sweet vermouth
3 oz. soda water

Build over ice and top with soda water. Garnish with an orange wheel.

This is the drink the Negroni was based on – Count Oliver Pascal Negroni preferred gin to soda in his Americano, and thus a cocktail was born.

The Boulevardier
1 oz. bourbon
1 oz. Campari
1 oz. sweet vermouth

Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

The Boulevardier, interestingly enough, actually predates the Negroni by a couple of decades. The drink was first published in Barflies and Cocktails in 1927, and resurrected by Ted “Dr. Cocktail” Haigh in his Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails.

The Jasmine
1 ½ oz. gin
1 oz. Cointreau
¾ oz. Campari
½ oz. freshly-squeezed lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

The Jasmine is a great drink to introduce people to Campari. The sweetness of the Cointreau and the tartness of the lemon juice help to temper the Campari’s bitterness, and the botanicals in the gin combine with the other ingredients to produce a pretty good imitation of grapefruit juice.

The Bitter Elder
1 ½ oz. gin
½ oz. Campari
½ oz. freshly-squeezed lemon juice
¾ oz. St. Germain

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist, or with a cherry blossom or other edible flower.

This is a recent concoction pairing Campari with the ubiquitous St. Germain elderflower liqueur. It’s light and floral, which I like to accentuate by using a flower garnish.

Now go out and buy yourself a bottle of Campari, and raise a few glasses tonight in honor of 150 years of excellence.