In the Spirit
Three’s Company
Have liquor, will travel
By Tony Cross
On a lovely trip to Wrightsville Beach I had my fair share of margaritas and Mexican lagers from Tower 7 restaurant and Lagerheads Tavern. I also brought rum and liqueurs — as well as syrups and bitters — for my travel bar at the Airbnb. Naturally, I brought way too much. I definitely should have scaled it back. Lesson learned. With that in mind, here are some suggestions for those of you who would like to make a few quick and easy cocktails while on vacation but don’t want to lug around any more stuff than absolutely necessary. I’ll keep them in mind for my September trip, too.
Ti’ Punch
With the exception of a vodka and soda, this might be the easiest drink a beach-loving vacationer can make. Rum, lime and sugar are the only ingredients you’ll need. You may be asking yourself, “Isn’t that the recipe for a daquiri?” Well, sort of. You’ll need the end of a lime, not the juice, and this cocktail will not be shaken, only stirred, without ice. A quick history of the national drink of Martinique, per rum bartender, enthusiast and author Shannon Mustipher: “There is no real ‘recipe.’ It is meant to be built and enjoyed according to one’s own personal taste, and it is reflected in the local saying, Chacun prepare sa propre mort, which roughly translates as ‘Each prepares his own death.’”
Rhum agricole is recommended; these are usually 50 ABV or higher in spirit. I’ve used Clairin before (a Haitian rum) and thoroughly enjoyed the results. This is a spirit-forward drink and great sipper.
2 ounces rhum agricole (50 percent ABV)
1 bar spoon cane sugar or cane sugar simple syrup
1 lime
Cut a disc of skin from a lime, about the size of a silver dollar, taking as little of the pith and actual flesh of the lime as possible. In a rocks glass, muddle the lime disk with sugar or simple syrup. Top with rhum. Stir well to mix.
Gold Rush
I don’t drink a lot of whiskey during North Carolina summers, but if you do, the Gold Rush might be intriguing. It’s basically a whiskey sour, but with honey syrup for the sweetening agent. You might call it a Bee’s Knees with gin instead of whiskey. No matter how you look at it, it’s an easy cocktail to make. Use a younger bourbon, or one without a lot of oak present. As for the honey, you’ll want to make a syrup out of it, so it mixes easier when shaking the cocktail. You can do a 1:1 ratio with water, but a 2 or 3:1 ratio of honey to water will make the syrup richer and, in my opinion, a better mouthfeel.
2 ounces bourbon
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce honey syrup (3:1). If using a smaller ratio of honey to water, use 3/4 ounce
Add all ingredients to cocktail shaker, add ice, and shake hard for 10-15 seconds. Strain into cocktail glass over a large cube. Add lemon peel for garnish.
Tommy’s Margarita
Be warned. If you haven’t had this margarita, you are going to be hooked. There’s no orange curaçao, no simple syrup, no fruit. I’m in love with this simple three-ingredient margarita that’s courtesy of Julio Bermejo of Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco. From Robert Simonson’s book Modern Classic Cocktails, he writes: “The seeds of the drink were planted when Bermejo was not yet of drinking age. Like many teenagers, he experimented with booze. Beer, rum and brandy left him with bad hangovers. But he found that tequila — filched from Tommy’s, his family’s restaurant in the Richmond District — didn’t do as much damage. And Herradura tequila in particular, made from 100 percent agave, left his brain largely unscathed.” Once Bermejo was of age to bartend, he began experimenting with higher quality tequila, fresh juices, and ultimately 86-ing any orange liqueur. By the mid-’90s, his margaritas began to turn heads, including well-known bartenders and newspapers like The Wall Street Journal.
For this margarita, you’ll need to make an agave syrup. A 2:1 ratio (2 parts agave and 1 part water) works great. Add agave and water into a saucepan and put over medium heat, stirring until agave is dissolved — should take less than a minute. A quality tequila is strongly recommended. Don’t even go through the trouble making your own agave syrup if you’re going to end up using inferior tequila. Though blanco tequilas work great in margs, a good reposado tequila really shines through in this one. Herradura reposado is still a great choice. These are addicting — don’t say I didn’t warn you.
2 ounces reposado tequila
1 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce agave syrup
Take a rocks glass and use a lime wedge to rim 1/4 to 1/2 of glass. Roll that part of the rim into a small plate containing kosher salt (Celtic salt is yum). Add a large ice cube into the glass. In a cocktail shaker, add tequila, lime juice, agave syrup, and ice. Shake hard for 10-15 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass and toast the beach. PS
Tony Cross owns and operates Reverie Cocktails, a cocktail delivery service that delivers kegged cocktails for businesses to pour on tap — but once a bartender, always a bartender.