Lemon Juice

— No. 146 —

Basil Smash

The 4th of July is one of my favorite hol­i­days, and I cel­e­brate every year by host­ing a par­ty com­plete with home­brewed shandy and fresh sum­mer cock­tails. Because my gar­den is usu­al­ly over­flow­ing by this time of the year, I like to take advan­tage of that by cre­at­ing cock­tails packed with fresh herbs. This year, I’ll be serv­ing my adap­ta­tion of the Basil Smash. The Basil Smash was orig­i­nal­ly cre­at­ed by Jörg Mey­er of Le Lion — Bar de Paris in Ham­burg, Ger­many. Accord­ing to Jörg, he …

— No. 130 —

Signs of Spring

This cock­tail is named for its inclu­sion of elder­ber­ry, long thought to her­ald the begin­ning of spring. All the Year Round: A Nature Read­er by Frances Lucia Strong and Martha Allen Lane (1896) is a book designed to inter­est young school chil­dren in nature and includes the pas­sage: “How warm the sun­shine is!” exclaimed a lit­tle bud on an elder­ber­ry twig. “Yes,” answered her twin sis­ter, “I believe spring has come at last. How glad I am!” And how glad …

— No. 129 —

Bee’s Knees

The Bee’s Knees cock­tail is a gin, lemon and hon­ey clas­sic that dates back to pro­hi­bi­tion. The phrase “bee’s knees” was pro­hi­bi­­tion-era slang for “the best.” In that time, the addi­tion of ingre­di­ents such as cit­rus and hon­ey were often used to cov­er the less than ide­al smell and taste of bath­tub gin. Improv­ing the taste of an infe­ri­or gin may have been the goal, but the result was a fan­tas­tic con­coc­tion that can hold its own today. Cale­do­nia Spir­it­s’s …

— No. 114 —

Bonne Fée

Ah, to live the bohemi­an lifestyle, sip­ping a Bonne Fée and lis­ten­ing to the lit­tle birds chirp away in my gar­den. Maybe I’ll reread my favorite book and smoke a hand rolled cig­a­rette. Maybe I’ll meet up with friends for mac­chi­atos and polit­i­cal­ly dri­ven con­ver­sa­tion. Maybe, but first the Bonne Fée. Recipe 1 oz Absente 1 oz water 1/2 oz lemon juice 3/4 oz house made grena­dine 1/2 oz Cam­pari 6–8 mud­dled mint leaves Top with 1 oz of club …

— No. 109 —

Manly Deeds Womanly Words

Beer cock­tails are a pop­u­lar trend right now. As you may have noticed from my events, when sum­mer comes around I like to focus my cre­ative juices on a few beer cock­tail recipes. This one stood out from the rest. If you think you’re get­ting off easy on the alco­hol per­cent­age, don’t fool your­self. This cock­tail packs a man­ly suck­er punch. It’s sneaky, hid­den by all those pret­ty flo­ral and herbal tones. This is exact­ly why I named the cock­tail …

— No. 108 —

Justice For All

Jus­tice For All is a cock­tail I was com­mis­sioned to cre­ate and serve for a Baltimore/DC adver­tis­ing fir­m’s client par­ty. This recipe is a twist on the clas­sic Side­car. I ramped up the fla­vor pro­file and added my own per­son­al touch with a home­made hon­ey syrup that fea­tures notes of chamomile, clove and black pep­per­corn. To bal­ance the addi­tion­al sweet­ness I also includ­ed a bit­ter­ing-agent in Mon­tene­gro Amaro. Side Note: Wash­ing­ton D.C.‘s mot­to is “Jus­tice For All”, so it seemed …

— No. 88 —

The O’Hara

Ele­gant and time­less. The embod­i­ment of Scar­lett O’Hara from Gone with the Wind… not to men­tion its beau­ti­ful scar­let hue. Next time you throw on Gone with the Wind dim the lights and shake up The O’Hara. 1 3/4 oz Wood­ford Reserve Bour­bon 1/2 oz Bene­dic­tine 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice 1/2 oz home­made black­ber­ry syrup 1/4 oz Fer­net Bran­ca 5–6 choco­late mint leaves 1 choco­late mint sprig for gar­nish Place all ingre­di­ents in a cock­tail shak­er except the 5–6 mint leaves and …