cocchi americano

Winter Citrus is the Best Citrus

Mexican Sleepover

3/4 oz Mezcal [Del Maguey Vida]
3/4 oz Drambuie
3/4 oz Cocchi Americano
3/4 oz Grapefruite Juice
Few dashes Hopped Grapefruit Bitters [Bittermens]

Combine ingredients in a shaker, shake with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with grapefruit twist.

It’s winter, which means citrus season. And while lemons and limes are essentially year round items for us, we definitely go all in on oranges and grapefruits during the colder months. I love grapefruits on their own. In fact, I’ll often just peel and eat them just like an orange (a move I learned from my dad) instead of the more traditional cut-in-half-eat-with-spoon method. So obviously I’ll take full advantage and throw them in some cocktails. Continue reading “Winter Citrus is the Best Citrus” →

Flip or Treat

Satan’s Stubble

3/4 oz Gin <Bully Boy>
1/2 oz Campari
1/2 oz Grand Marnier
1/2 oz Punt e Mes
1/2 oz Cocchi Americano
1/4 oz Orange Juice
Few Dashes of hot sauce
Egg white

Add ingredients to an empty shaker, shake vigorously to combine. Add ice, shake again, strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

I wasn’t planning on doing a Halloween themed drink, but after seeing some cool ones other people put out there, I guess I got inspired. These drinks usually fall into one of two camps. On one hand you have your dry ice and gory garnishes, and on the other there is the surprisingly large amount of classics that have Halloweenish names. I took the latter approach and used the Satan’s Whiskers as a starting point. Continue reading “Flip or Treat” →

October 31, 2016 0

Trying to be Affable

Medium Talk

2 oz Gin <Citadelle>
3/4 oz Blanc Vermouth <Dolin>
1/2 oz Cocchi Americano

Express oils from lemon peel into a chilled coupe. Stir ingredients in chilled mixing glass and strain into a coupe. Garnish with lemon peel and olives on the side.

I had the traditional James Bond split-base cocktail the Vesper, a cousin of the Martini, a couple months ago out at a Happy Hour in NYC. After one of those potent drinks I was chatty, and after two, I was downright affable. When I set out to make it at home, I substituted Cocchi Americano for Lillet – which elevated this classic drink – giving it a bolder, zippier finish. Cocchi is most similar to Kina Lillet, which the Vesper originally called for.

Continue reading “Trying to be Affable” →

August 4, 2016 1

Four Punch Combo

Uppercut

3/4 oz Rye <Rittenhouse>
3/4 oz Cointreau
3/4 oz Cocchi Americano
3/4 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice, strain into an ice filled rocks glass

The first weekend in May we had a little party at our house. It also happened to be my friend’s birthday that day. I was making various drinks throughout the night (a Good Shot Red Two, a Vieux Carre, among others) and then noticed the birthday girl had nothing in her hands. When I offered to make her a drink, she requested something with a brown spirit that was also refreshing, maybe with some citrus. Continue reading “Four Punch Combo” →

May 27, 2016 1

Mixology Monday CVII: Infuse It or Lose It

Photo Negative

1 1/2 oz Vanilla-Date infused Old Grand Dad 114
1 1/2 oz Cocchi Americano
1 barspoon (~1/8 oz) Cointreau

Stir with ice, strain into rocks glass with ice, garnish with a date slice.

Hosting this month’s Mixology Monday is Dagreb of Nihil Utopia. His theme is Burden of Proof, and I’ll let him expound upon it:

My theme this time is overproof. Or rather how you utilize overproofs. Do you sub them into your standards? Save them for accents in particular recipes? Pour them into ceramic volcanoes and set them on fire? Reserve them only for making liqueres? Whatever it be I’m looking for your recipes that use overproofs as base or as modifier…

Dagreb goes on to stipulate that for the purposes of this MxMo, overproof shall be booze at 51% abv or greater.

Now, it just so happens I’ve had my eye on a bottle of Old Granddad 114 for a few months now at my local liquor store. The price ($22) was ever so tempting, but for some reason I hadn’t yet pulled the trigger. So thank you, Dagreb, for finally giving me a reason to make this impulse purchase. Continue reading “Mixology Monday CVII: Infuse It or Lose It” →

March 22, 2016 1

Straddling the Line

Flying Pig

3/4 oz Genever <Bols>
3/4 oz Becherovka
3/4 oz Aperol
1/2 oz Blood Orange juice
1/4 oz Bourbon <Woodford Reserve>

Shake with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass

Genever is an interesting beast. It lives somewhere between gin and whiskey. Gin is simply a distilled neutral grain spirit infused with some botanicals; genever is partly that same spirit, but also blended with a maltier spirit made from the same grains to give it a sweeter edge. Serious Eats goes into a bit more detail, but you get the idea. Genever is also the proto-gin, as the Dutch were making the stuff and throwing some of the classic gin botanicals (juniper, coriander, etc) into it to take the edge off. Eventually it made its way to England and the malty base was eliminated, and you get the more familiar London Dry Gin.

Continue reading “Straddling the Line” →

March 4, 2016 0