Dissecting a Cocktail

DISSECTING A COCKTAIL

Home
Tag Archives: Dissecting a Cocktail

Big Trouble in Oaxaca

Story and Photograph by Tony Cross

Amanda Schuster’s Signature Cocktails is a beautiful cocktail recipe book that pays homage to older cocktails, as well as those that will be soon. I’ve been in the process of mentally preparing myself for a brick and mortar bar of my own, and every now and then I come across a drink that I visualize serving in my fantasy lounge. “Big Trouble in Oaxaca” is one of them, courtesy of Schuster’s book.

The name of the drink pays homage to the ’80s movie Big Trouble in Little China. It’s essentially a riff on a margarita, and what first got my attention is how it glowed on the page. Bright and fluorescent, its hue reminds me of when I’ve had one too many B vitamins . . . if you know, you know. Created in 2018 at the restaurant Drink Kong by bartender Livio Morena, this cocktail seems to fit the bar’s trademark ’70s and ’80s nostalgic theme. The neon color comes courtesy of Midori melon liqueur (which was first popular in the late 1970s) and was used “because in 2018 it just seemed so dated and weird that it might be the perfect way to attract attention to the bar, and also show love for Japanese culture,” says Morena.

Personally, I can see this drink catching the eye of anyone in a dimly lit cocktail lounge. The fact that it tastes amazing only solidifies the odds of me serving this one night as a drink special. Hypothetically, of course.

SPECIFICATIONS

1 1/2 ounces tequila blanco

3/4 ounce pineapple liqueur

1/2 ounce Midori liqueur

1/2 ounce green ancho chili liqueur

1 ounce fresh lemon juice

1/2 ounce sugar

EXECUTION

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake hard for 10 seconds. Strain into a chilled rocks glass over a large cube. No garnish. 

Dissecting a Cocktail

DISSECTING A COCKTAIL

Home
Tag Archives: Dissecting a Cocktail

The Green Beret

Story and Photograph by Tony Cross

Almost a decade ago, I began piddling around with a cocktail to honor my father. He served 20 years in the Army as a Special Forces medic. I knew before creating the drink that I wanted to call it The Green Beret. My next thought was that it seemed appropriate to include green chartreuse in the mix. And whiskey had to be the base. That was a given, since it’s my dad’s favorite spirit. I decided to create a spin on the Boulevardier using equal parts TOPO’s (a Chapel Hill distillery that is sadly no longer with us) Eight Oak Whiskey, cacao nib-infused Campari, and sweet vermouth, rinsing the inside of the rocks glass with the chartreuse. Even though the drink was a hit on our cocktail menu, I wasn’t completely happy with it — the chartreuse wasn’t adding anything to the cocktail.

So, I decided to revisit The Green Beret. This go-round, I switched a few things up. First, the whiskey. Rittenhouse Rye is a go-to when I need a whiskey with a backbone, but one that will still let other flavors come through. Next was the chocolate. Instead of infusing cacao into Campari, I opted for Angostura’s Cocoa Bitters, which wasn’t available when I originally created the drink. I fat-washed the Angostura with brown butter. This gives the bitters a creamy texture and adds nuttiness to the chocolate. Lastly, I took organic espresso beans — about one barspoon — and added them to my glass vessel when stirring all of the ingredients. That allows the oils from the espresso beans to make an appearance in the drink. I’m happy to report that The Green Beret earned its promotion.

SPECIFICATIONS

1 1/4 ounces Rittenhouse Rye

1 ounce Campari

1 ounce Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth

4 dashes brown butter-washed Angostura Cocoa Bitters*

1 bar spoon organic espresso (or coffee) beans

2 dashes saline

Garnish: orange peel

*Brown butter-washed bitters: You can do this to regular Angostora bitters, too. Pour a 4-ounce bottle of bitters into a small glass container. Place 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a pan, bringing to a simmer. Continue to cook the butter until it turns brown. As soon as it does, take it immediately off the heat and pour it into the glass container. Give the bitters/butter mixture a quick stir and let cool. Once cool, seal the container and place it in the freezer. Let it sit overnight. The next day you will notice the butter has solidified. Use a knife to break a hole in the butter and strain the bitters out through a cheesecloth or coffee filter (using a coffee filter will take much longer). Pour butter-washed bitters back into its original bottle.

EXECUTION

Combine all ingredients into a chilled mixing vessel, add ice and stir until your gut tells you that it’s cold enough and properly diluted. Strain into a chilled rocks glass over ice. Express oils from an orange peel over the cocktail and place into drink.

Dissecting a Cocktail

Dissecting a Cocktail

Home
Tag Archives: Dissecting a Cocktail

Chartreuse Swizzle

Story and Photograph by Tony Cross

In 2003, San Francisco bartender Marcovaldo Dionysos entered his city’s cocktail competition for the fifth year in a row, pining for top honors. The contest was sponsored by the French herbal liqueur Green Chartreuse. According to cocktail historian Robert Simonson, Dionysos considered sitting out the year’s competition. “I didn’t have any great ideas,” Dionysos remembers. “I decided to make something fun and went in a tropical direction.” His idea nabbed first place that year and has since popped up in cocktail bars across the country and the world, becoming a modern classic.

Dionysos’ cocktail, the “Chartreuse Swizzle,” combined the herbal liqueur with pineapple and lime juices, Velvet Falernum (a low-ABV rum liqueur made with almonds, cloves and lime) and mint. Commonly made with rum, “swizzles” can be potent. They’re usually mixed with fruit juices and a sweetener, built and mixed in the drinking glass with a swizzle stick. Originally, these pronged sticks came from trees native to Bermuda, but the garden-variety lookalikes are made of metal, plastic or wood. One of my first introductions to Green Chartreuse was Dionysos’ Swizzle. For such a high proof (and pricy) spirit, it’s a little shocking how popular it became. What’s not surprising is how the four ingredients complement each other for a perfect tiki-themed sipper.

Specifications

1 1/2 ounces Green Chartreuse

1 ounce fresh pineapple juice

3/4 ounce fresh lime juice

1/2 ounce Velvet Falernum

Garnish: mint sprigs

Execution

Combine all ingredients into a Collins glass and add pebble (or crushed) ice. Insert a swizzle stick or barspoon into the mixture, rubbing your hands together to “swizzle” the stick until frost appears outside the glass. Add more ice and garnish with mint.  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.

Dissecting a Cocktail

Dissecting a Cocktail

Home
Tag Archives: Dissecting a Cocktail

Feel Good Hit of the Summer

Story and Photograph by Tony Cross

I started a small series on Reverie Cocktail’s Instagram page that I call “Vibe & Imbibe.” In each clip I pull out one of my vinyl records, give it a spin and create a cocktail from scratch. Some drinks were classics, while others were my own creation. In one episode I whipped up one of tiki legend Jeff Berry’s cocktails, the “Pago Pago.” The cocktail has a Puerto Rican rum base, with a touch of crème de cacao, Green Chartreuse, lime and pineapple. I first heard of the drink scrolling through Instagram (oddly enough), where Leandro DiMonriva (The Educated Barfly) made one. It looked so good that I did my own video of it. After shooting it, I decided to tinker with the measurements. I split the rum base with two Jamaican rums and made every ingredient equal parts. In the Pago Pago created, I used Queens of the Stone Age’s “Feel Good Hit of the Summer” from their second album Rated R as the background music. The song title stuck as the name of my new sleight of hand.

 

Specifications

1/2 ounce Smith & Cross

1/2 ounce Appleton Estate

1/2 ounce Green Chartreuse

1/2 ounce Tempus Fugit crème de cacao

1/2 ounce lime juice

3-5 chunks of fresh pineapple

 

Directions

Muddle pineapple chunks in a shaking vessel. Add remaining ingredients and ice cubes. Shake hard for 10-15 seconds and double strain into a chilled Nick & Nora glass. No garnish.  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.