Dissecting a Cocktail

DISSECTING A COCKTAIL

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Paloma

By Tony Cross

When it comes to tequila cocktails, there are none that come close in popularity to the margarita. Though not nearly as popular, the cocktail that is next in line is the paloma. A very simple drink to make, the paloma is light, refreshing, and perfect for hot weather sipping.

Spanish for “the dove,” the paloma was supposedly created by bartender Don Javier Delgado Corona (more names than ingredients in the drink) in Tequila, Jalisco — though I’ve read that Corona has denied that claim. The easiest, and most probable, story is that the drink was created when the grapefruit soda, Squirt, was popularized in Mexico in the 1950s. Tequila over ice, topped with the sweet carbonated beverage seems like a no-brainer.

That’s one way to make a paloma, but there are others. Regardless of the version you choose, you’ll want to be sure to use a blanco tequila — it has all of the flavor you’ll want that hasn’t been adulterated with notes of vanilla or cinnamon. And by all means, save the aged agave for imbibing neat or in stirred cocktails. The paloma also requires fresh grapefruit, lime, a sweetener and sparkling water.

If there is a cocktail that has anything carbonated in it, I want the whole thing carbonated. Mixing a carbonated liquid and a still liquid quickly flattens whatever bubbles existed in the first place. For me, it’s all or nothing. To achieve this, I clarify the grapefruit and lime juices using a centrifuge, then add the juices to a stainless steel keg with sugar, water and tequila. I carbonate everything in the keg for 24 hours and then pour on draught.

There is, of course, the question of salt. Yes, you can add it to the rim of your glass à la a margarita, but I would suggest adding it to the cocktail itself. The addition amplifies the citrus flavors. Making a 4:1 (water: salt) saline solution is the easiest way for me to stay consistent (I use 80 grams of water to 20 grams of Celtic salt). Try a paloma with Squirt and then try making it from scratch with the recipe on the right, and decide which one you prefer. I guarantee either one will help beat the summer heat.

Specifications

2 ounces blanco tequila

1½ ounces grapefruit juice

½ ounce fresh lime juice

½ ounce simple syrup

5 drops saline solution

1½ ounces sparkling water

 

Execution

Add all ingredients (sans sparkling water) into a cocktail shaker and add ice. Shake hard and strain into a Collins glass over ice. Top with sparkling water. Stir briefly. Garnish with grapefruit or lime wedge, grapefruit peel or nothing at all.

Dissecting a Cocktail

DISSECTING A COCKTAIL

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One Way Trigger

By Tony Cross

Almost all the cocktails you see on bar menus and in social media and books are either classics or a spin on a classic.

The caipirinha is a South American cocktail, almost like a daiquiri on the rocks, but different, and there’s a reason why it’s the national drink of Brazil. I wanted to use the traditional recipe as a template and hopefully create a drink that would keep the integrity of the original while adding the nuanced flavors of a favorite fruit and spice: pineapple and ginger. At the time, I had just started making a rich ginger syrup, so the idea seemed like a no-brainer. Muddling pineapple chunks in caipirinhas was nothing new, so I decided to go another route: pineapple-infused cachaça, a sugar cane-based rum indigenous to Brazil. This, with muddled limes and the rich ginger syrup, would do it. Super simple, incredibly tasty. The One Way Trigger was one of my most popular cocktails and, to this day, it’s still one of the best cocktails I’ve ever made. Don’t take my word for it, build one yourself and let me know what you think.

Specifications

2 ounces pineapple-infused cachaça*

1/2 ounce rich ginger syrup**

3/4-1 lime, quartered

Execution

Combine quartered limes and ginger syrup in a rocks glass. Muddle to extract juice and release oils. Add pineapple-infused cachaça and cracked ice. Stir to incorporate ingredients.

* Core and dice one pineapple. Put in a glass container and add 750 milliliters of cachaça. Store at room temperature for 2-3 days, agitating container once daily. Strain through nut milk bag, rebottle and refrigerate. Good for one month before flavors begin to dissipate.

** Place 1 cup of chopped unpeeled and washed ginger in food processor or blender and process until finely chopped. Combine ginger, 1 cup of sugar and 3 cups of water in a pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until a rich syrup is created. Let cool and strain through a nut milk bag. Bottle and refrigerate.

Dissecting a Cocktail

DISSECTING A COCKTAIL

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The Tin Whistle

By Tony Cross

A few years ago, I was asked to create a cocktail for Pinehurst No. 2. When I delved into the history books, I learned that Pinehurst’s founder, James Walker Tufts, and I have one major connection: Both of us have/had businesses that deal with carbonated beverages.

Tufts owned Arctic Soda Fountain Co. before forming the American Soda Fountain Co., where he acted as the first president. By 1908, there were more than 75,000 of his soda fountains across the nation. The largest was 33 feet high and equipped with 104 taps offering syrups, mineral and soda water. Old advertisements for Tuft’s Arctic Soda Water included scenes of a tropical paradise with sick men and women arriving to drink the “fountain of youth.” Another ad shows winged demons and skeletal forms dancing between fire and ice with the pristine soda fountain representing purity, power and refreshment.

With my background in cocktails and carbonated elixirs, I knew I wanted to create a highball cocktail as an homage to one of Tufts’ carbonated sodas. I decided to keep it simple and create a candied lemon highball, The Tin Whistle, named after the oldest men’s golfing society in the United States, founded in Pinehurst in 1904. As for the spirit? Even though whiskey was king of the South, gin was especially popular in resorts. Though different than the London Dry and Old Tom of yesteryear, I chose Sutler’s Spirit Co. because its citrus-forward and mixed botanical gin pairs perfectly for this highball. This built cocktail is very straightforward: gin, candied lemon syrup, sparkling water and acid phosphate (soda fountains used this phosphate because it was lead-free, shelf-stable and not tainted with adulterants). The cocktail is an excellent choice after a round of golf on the famed No. 2 course or on any beautiful sunny day in the Pines.

Specifications

1 3/4 ounces Sutler’s
Spirit Co. gin

1 1/4 ounces candied
lemon syrup*

1 teaspoon acid phosphate

6 ounces sparkling water

lemon wheel

*Candied lemon syrup: Make a simple syrup of 3 parts sugar to 2 parts water; add a heavy 1/8 teaspoon of food-grade candied lemon (or plain lemon) oil per 8 ounces of syrup.

Execution

Add gin, syrup and acid phosphate in a tall glass. Briefly stir. Add ice. Top with sparkling water. Briefly stir and top with lemon wheel.

Dissecting a Cocktail

DISSECTING A COCKTAIL

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Jack and Coke

Story and Photograph by Tony Cross

The Jack and Coke is, and has been, widely ordered at bars for almost a century. It was the go-to drink of my late brother and my father, who recently passed away, so this is an homage to them.

The first recorded mention of a “Coca-Cola highball” stretches all the way back to 1907. Highballs — cocktails in tall glasses that contain ice, spirit and some variation of soda — were popular but the quality of other sodas was inconsistent. Every location formulated its own drinks; syrups would be improperly stored (lack of refrigeration or ice), leading to a loss of flavor; CO2 variations would leave drinks flat or too acidic from over-carbonation. This gave Coca-Cola an advantage: It tasted the same every time.

Fast forward to the Prohibition years and you’ll read how cola was masking bad-tasting spirits, especially whiskey. This is where Jack Daniel’s came in. The way it charcoal-filtered its whiskey made it softer around the edges, also giving it notes of vanilla and caramel. Pairing that with the sweetness of Coke made the drink an instant classic.

A decade later, the United States was in the middle of a world war. Coca-Cola President Robert Woodruff declared his intention “to see that every man in uniform gets a bottle of Coca-Cola for 5 cents, wherever he is and whatever it costs the company.” In turn, soldiers started ordering Jack and Cokes when they were at bars until the whiskey became hard to find. Down the line, the drink became a favorite of everyone from musicians like Frank Sinatra and Lemmy Kilmister to my father and little brother, who all raised a glass of Jack and Coke during some of the best times of their lives.

Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola didn’t create whiskey and soda, but they made it iconic.

Specifications

1 1/2 ounces Jack Daniel’s
No. 7 Whiskey

4-6 ounces Coca-Cola

Execution

Add ice and whiskey in a short or tall glass. Top with ice cold
Coca-Cola. A quick stir is optional.

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The Tipperary

Story and Photograph by Tony Cross

The Tipperary first appeared in the 1916 book Recipes for Mixed Drinks, by Hugo R. Ensslin.

Likely named for either the town in Ireland or the popular World War I song “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary,” about a young man yearning for “the sweetest girl I know,” the first print has this cocktail with equal parts Irish whiskey, sweet vermouth and Chartreuse. It was Harry MacElhone’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails in 1922 that upped the whiskey to 2 ounces, the vermouth to 1 ounce, and identified the original Chartreuse spec as green, using 1/2 ounce. You can look at The Tipperary as a spin on the classic Bijou cocktail (substituting gin for Irish whiskey) or imagine it as an Irish Manhattan with a kick of Chartreuse.

The recipe given here is from a famed Irish bar in New York City, The Dead Rabbit. The bartenders there found a better balance by lowering the Irish whiskey to 1 1/2 ounces and adding a couple of dashes of bitters. With mezcal, tequila and bourbon being all the rage over the past 15 years, Irish whiskey may not be getting its due. This is the perfect cocktail for any whiskey-curious imbiber to cut their teeth on.

Specifications

1 1/2 ounces Irish whiskey

1 ounce sweet vermouth
(I recommend Dolin Rouge)

1/2 ounce Green Chartreuse

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Orange peel

Execution

Combine all ingredients in chilled mixing vessel, add ice and stir until proper chilling and dilution has occurred. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Express oils from orange peel over cocktail — keep as a garnish or discard.

Dissecting a Cocktail

DISSECTING A COCKTAIL

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Naked & Famous

Story and Photograph by Tony Cross

In 2014, famed New York City bar Death & Co. released its first cocktail book, Modern Classic Cocktails. It was the book that bartenders had to have and one of the best cocktail books ever printed.

One of the cocktails inside, the Naked & Famous, was created by bartender Joaquín Simo in 2011. The drink immediately caught my eye. The Naked and Famous is an Indie rock duo from New Zealand that had a hit song at the time of the drink’s creation, and I appreciated the fact that I wasn’t the only bartender in the world who tended to name drinks after bands and songs. The specs were interesting, too, with equal parts mezcal, Aperol, Yellow Chartreuse liqueur and lime juice. Why did this seem familiar? According to Simo, “This cocktail is the bastard child born out of an illicit Oaxacan love affair between the classic Last Word (a gin-based cocktail) and the Paper Plane, a drink Sam Ross created at the West Village bar Little Branch.”

I once read somewhere that Simo chose Aperol and Yellow Chartreuse instead of Campari and Green Chartreuse because he wanted lower ABV liqueurs to avoid overpowering the mezcal. The cocktail became an instant classic, and I put it on my outside patio bar menu, where it sold like crazy. These days if anyone hears the words “Naked and Famous,” it’s the drink — and not the band — that comes to mind. 

Specifications

3/4 ounce Del Maguey Chichicapa mezcal

3/4 ounce Yellow Chartreuse

3/4 ounce Aperol

3/4 ounce fresh lime juice

Execution

Shake all ingredients with ice, then strain into a chilled cocktail coupe. No garnish.

Dissecting a Cocktail

DISSECTING A COCKTAIL

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100 Year Old Cigar

Story and Photograph by Tony Cross

Let’s start 2026 off with a bang, or the strike of a match, if you will. The 100 Year Old Cigar was created by Maks Pazuniak at the bar Jupiter Disco in Bushwick, New York. Carey Jones includes it in her book Brooklyn Bartender: A Modern Guide to Cocktails and Spirits published in 2016.

One of the qualities of Pazuniak’s creations is how well he blends myriad spirits that might intimidate others. He showcased those skills in Beta Cocktails (the book he cowrote with Kirk Estopinal) and again with his 100 Year Old Cigar cocktail. The backbone of this drink is an aged rum — I use Ron del Barrilito’s 3 Star — that has more body and depth than the typical light rum. The modifiers are Laphroaig 10 Year Scotch, Cynar and Benedictine. On paper, this cocktail looks intense — indeed, these flavors are juxtaposed: Laphroaig is very peaty, Cynar is savory and bitter, and the French liqueur, Benedictine, is sweet with notes of baking spices and honey. Throwing them together with an aged rum lets the ingredients shine while the rum still holds its own without overpowering the modifiers. After stirring this and pouring it into a coupe, give a few spritzes of absinthe over the cocktail. The result is richly boozy, with layers of flavor that echo the notes of a fine cigar. It makes a great nightcap or perhaps a celebratory toast for surviving another year. 

Specifications

1 3/4 ounces aged rum

1/2 ounce Benedictine

1/2 ounce Cynar

1/4 ounce Laphroaig 10 Year

Absinthe

Execution

Combine all ingredients, sans absinthe, in a chilled mixing vessel. Add ice and stir until cocktail is ice-cold and properly diluted. Strain into a chilled cocktail coupe. Using an atomizer, spritz absinthe over the cocktail a few times. 

Dissecting a Cocktail

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Tom & Jerry

Story and Photograph by Tony Cross

Long before flavored lattes at Starbucks, there was another creamy and sweet beverage that went hand-in-hand with cold weather.

The Tom & Jerry, named after the punch bowl and mugs, not the cartoon, is a warm, frothy variation of eggnog made with eggs, sugar, hot milk (traditionally hot water), brandy and rum. Though recipes have existed since the early 1800s, it was famed American bartender Jerry Thomas who was responsible for its revival in the Northeast. Author Amanda Schuster says, “From the 1930s to the late 1960s or so, it was adopted as a traditional winter treat all over the U.S., served as soon as temperatures dropped.” The tradition carries on today in colder cities, particularly the Midwest. Thomas’ recipe calls for hot water, but as bartender Jim Meehan points out, you should opt for whole milk instead: “There’s no way around this drink’s richness.” Below is Meehan’s recipe that he adopted from Audrey Saunders, bartender and owner of New York City’s famed Pegu Club.

Specifications

6 ounces whole milk, served hot

2 ounces Tom & Jerry mix*

1 ounce Remy Martin VSOP cognac

1 ounce aged rum (Plantation 5 Year, perhaps?)

Garnish: grated nutmeg

Execution

Preheat a coffee mug or teacup by filling it with boiling water, letting it sit until heated, then discard the water. Add cognac and rum, then add Tom & Jerry mix. Stir until evenly combined and top with hot milk. Grate nutmeg over the top.

*Tom & Jerry Mix

(Makes 48 ounces)

6 large organic eggs, yolks and whites separated

1 pound sugar

1 ounce Jamaican rum (Appleton works great here)

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 dashes Angostura bitters

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. In a separate bowl, whip egg yolks until they are completely broken up and smooth, then stir in the sugar, rum, spices, bitters and vanilla. Mix contents together in a large bowl and blend until it resembles a cake batter. Refrigerate to cool, store up to 2 days.

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Kettle to the Coil

Story and Photograph by Tony Cross

Years ago, I was commissioned to create a cocktail for a local event celebrating the famed author Tom Wolfe, who was a frequent Sandhills visitor. The book being highlighted was The Right Stuff, and the committee that hired me thought Tang, the orange drink mix, would be a great ingredient to include as an homage to the earliest astronauts. After a little persuasion, I was able to change their minds. The resulting cocktail that I called Kettle to the Coil did indeed include orange, but not in a powdery form. Instead, I infused the fruit and its oils in a blended Scotch whisky. I also incorporated a syrup with a wine base — pinot noir. Everyone loved the drink, and it ended up on my bar’s menu that year.

A great cocktail to serve during the cooler months, the whisky is rounded out with the orange oils, and the spices added to the pinot noir syrup scream fall weather. You can try this syrup in other cocktails that include whisk(e)y and sugar. It’s also great on its own with sparkling water. Some people get excited for pumpkin lattes this time of the year. I get excited for whisky and red wine.

Specifications

1 1/2 ounces orange oil-infused blended whisky*

1/2 ounce Drambuie

3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice

1/2 ounce pinot noir syrup**

Execution

Combine all ingredients with ice in a shaking vessel. Shake hard until the tin becomes frosted. Double strain into a chilled Nick & Nora glass. Express the oils of an orange coin over the cocktail. Lay orange coin on top.

*Orange Oil-Infused Blended Whisky

Using two 16 ounce Mason jars, add the following: flesh and peel of one medium orange; 1/2 bottle blended Scotch whisky (I use The Famous Grouse). Tighten jar and let sit for three days (shake or swirl the jar for 15 seconds once each day). When ready, pour infusion through a mesh strainer and then again though a coffee filter. Rebottle in the same whisky bottle.

**Pinot Noir Syrup

1 bottle (750 milliliters) pinot noir (preferably a lighter pinot like Willamette Valley)

3 cups granulated sugar

3 cinnamon sticks

1/2 apple (sliced)

1 tablespoon star anise pods

1 tablespoon whole cloves

1/2 tablespoon cardamom pods (crushed)

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

Zest of 6 oranges

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium/high heat and bring to a simmer. Let simmer to the consistency of a rich syrup, 15-20 minutes.

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The Cosmopolitan

Story and Photograph by Tony Cross

In the fall of 1988, bartender Toby Cecchini was working at The Odeon in New York City, chatting with his co-worker Melissa about her previous night out with friends. They were visiting from San Francisco and introduced her to a cocktail that was making its way across the gay bar scene.

“It’s called The Cosmopolitan,” she said. “Wanna see it?”

“Why not?” replied Cecchini.

She proceeded to make him a cocktail with vodka, Rose’s lime juice, Rose’s grenadine, and a twist of lemon. Oh, that’s cute, Cecchini recalls thinking.

“It was in one of those V-shaped martini stems (very of the times), and I thought that it was funny, because you don’t put cocktails in a martini glass, you only put a martini in a martini glass,” Cecchini said on the podcast Cocktail College. “I thought that was clever — and it was very cute — but it was disgusting. It was Rose’s, fake, cloying, lime cordial and Rose’s grenadine, which is even worse; just simple syrup artificially colored red . . . And I thought, I can make that better.”

So, he did. “Because we made our margaritas with Cointreau and fresh lime juice, I thought, oh, there’s the base, and Absolut had just come out with Absolut Citron — it was the first flavored vodka that we had ever seen, and it was absolutely mind-blowing.” For the red coloring, Cecchini decided to use cranberry juice, since he was used to making Cape Codders all day long. He made it for the servers at The Odeon, and it quickly became the staff drink.

Word of mouth had regulars at the bar asking for “Toby’s drink.” Soon random guests and celebrities began asking for his Cosmopolitan. “Madonna would come in for lunch several times a week and ask for the ‘pink drink,’” he says. And the rest is history: The Cosmopolitan became an instant hit in the bartending community and even had a resurgence a decade later when it was glorified in the Sex in the City series.

Here are Cecchini’s exact specs. Feel free to change the vodka if you’d like, or even the garnish (perhaps a twist of orange?), but do not change the orange liqueur or cranberry juice — Cointreau and Ocean Spray all the way. 

Specifications

1 1/2 ounces Absolut Citron

3/4 ounce Cointreau

3/4 ounce fresh lime juice

3/4 ounce Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice Cocktail

Garnish: lemon twist

Execution

Combine all liquid ingredients into a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake hard until your mixing vessel starts to frost on the outside. Double strain into a chilled cocktail coupe. Garnish with lemon twist.