St Clements Stone Sour

2010-11-22T16:02:00Z

This cocktail recipe has been chosen as one of gaz regan's 101 Best New Cocktails, and it will be featured in the Annual Manual for Bartenders: 2011.

St Clements Stone Sour

Adapted from a recipe by Alex Orwin, Group Head Bartender for The Rushmore Group (formally The Match Bar Group), London.

“Developed in October 2010 for The Starland Social Club, the newest member’s space in The Rushmore Group. The menu here is hand written weekly giving the Head Bartender the scope to offer drinks that are seasonal and really demonstrate his craft. I think this drink does both. Clementines are bang in season now and their bright floral flavours are clean and uplifting as the dark evenings draw in. Clove and other dark spice notes in the bitters work effortlessly with the clementine and are evacative of the incoming festive season. The delicate botanicals in Beefeater 24 bring all these elements together in what is ultimately a drink that is tasty, refreshing and more-ish, as all great drinks should be!” Alex Orwin.

40 ml (1.33 oz) Beefeater 24

30 ml (1 oz) fresh clementine juice

20 ml (.66 oz) fresh lemon juice

15 ml (.5 oz) simple syrup (1:1)

5 ml (.166 oz) Luxardo maraschino liqueur

20 ml (.66 oz) egg white

1 dash Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker and shake without ice to integrate the egg white. Then hard shake with ice and strain into a frozen coupette. There is no extra garnish; the foam IS the garnish!

gaz sez “Stone Sours usually contain orange juice as well as lemon or lime juice, and the clementine juice used here adds a distinctly lighter note than regular orange juice would normally yield. This is just one of the reasons that this drink caught my eye. Alex describes this drink to a T in the introduction, and what I like best about this one is the fact that the Beefeater 24 shines right through the drink. That, I think, is the true beauty of it. The botanicals in B 24 are, indeed, delicate, but they are all evident in the St. Clements Stone Sour, and that hint of the delicately perfumed Luxardo maraschino dances nicely in the back of the throat making this a pretty complex potion, indeed. Nicely done, Alex.”

Another Fine Mes

2010-11-22T14:51:00Z

This cocktail recipe has been chosen as one of gaz regan's 101 Best New Cocktails, and it will be featured in the Annual Manual for Bartenders: 2011.

Another Fine Mes

Adapted from a recipe by Brendan F. Casey, Café Centro, New York, NY

“I'm always trying to come up with new variations of the Manhattan (Dale DeGroff’s Man O' War recipe changed my life), and I loves me some tequila! My Lady and I just picked up some maple syrup at the local greenmarket that day, and I wanted to use it in a cocktail, so there you have it. Cheers!” Brendan Casey.

1/2 teaspoon maple syrup (fresh local!)

60 ml (2 oz) Michter's straight rye whiskey

30 ml (1 oz) Don Julio reposado tequila

15 ml (.5 oz) Combier liqueur d'orange

15 ml (.5 oz) Punt e Mes

2 dashes Fee Brothers Old Fashion bitters

2 dashes Regans' Orange Bitters No. 6

1 orange zest, as garnish

First, to dissolve the maple syrup, combine it with the rye and tequila, stirring at room temperature. Then combine all ingredients in a mixing glass full of ice. Stir while thinking about Laurel and Hardy. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add the garnish.

gaz sez: First I should note that Dale’s Man O’ War, made with 45 ml (1.5 oz) Wild Turkey 101, 30 ml (1 oz) orange curaçao, and 15 ml (.5 oz) each of sweet vermouth and fresh lemon juice, shaken with (optional) slices of orange and lemon in the shaker, and garnished with and orange slice and a cherry, is a fabulous drink, and it shows off Dale’s ability to put a simple drink together wherein the finished product is far, far greater than the sum of its ingredients.

Brendan F. Casey’s Another Fine Mes cocktail, though, is a drink of another color. I’m not a big fan of maple syrup in cocktails, but in this drink it’s plays with the Punt e Mes beautifully—a combination I’d never have dreamed of. Then take a look at the base spirits: Michter’s rye and Don Julio tequila? Great products both, but Casey must be out of his head, I thought, to put both of them in the same shaker. Wrong again, gaz. I have no idea why this combination works so well, but there’s a complexity in this drink that lifts the soul to new heights.

I tried the Another Fine Mes using Cointreau instead of the Combier, and it still worked well. Substituting Grand Marnier works, too, though it renders a cocktail that’s a little sweeter than the original. Nice work, Brendan.