Seasonal Cocktails to Survive the Holidays
Presented by Charles Joly
Oct 3rd, 2011: Charles Joly presented an interactive session covering fall and winter cocktails with emphasis on holiday entertaining. The focus was on using available ingredients during a slow growing season. Chris Patino of Pernod Ricard provided free home bar kits to the guests, making it possible for everyone to experience cocktail making firsthanda hands-on presentation.
Joly is a proud south-sider, and has worked in the industry in Chicago for 13 years. He recently took home top honors on the reality show: “On the Rocks”, mixing up a cocktail called the Absolut Tea Time.
Absolut 
Tea Time
1.5oz Absolut Wild Tea
3/4oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
3/4oz Grapefruit juice
1/4oz lemon juice
1/3oz agave
Egg white
Grated ginger
Tea infusion mist
Here are some of the cocktails that Charles demonstrated:
The Guild Meeting
2 oz Vanilla Sugar*, muddled with 6 pieces orange peel
16 oz brewed strong chai tea
4 oz fresh orange juice
2 oz fresh lemon juice
2 oz Canton ginger liqueur
2 oz Drambuie
6 oz Wild Turkey Whiskey
Prep: Place vanilla sugar in punch bowl.
Use vegetable peeler to cut six strips of orange peel. Combine peel with sugar and muddle to extract orange oil. Let peels marry with sugar as long as possible (up to 2 hours) to create oleo saccharum. Heat water and brew tea with 3-4 bags or to desired strength. Pour brewed tea over sugar mixture and stir to dissolve.
Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
Add generous amount of ice if serving immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Serves 4-6, or two very parched guests.
*Create vanilla sugar by placing a split vanilla bean into a sealed container of sugar for at least 24 hours.
The Sun Also Rises
3-4 oz Mumm Napa sparkling wine
¼ oz Pernod absinthe
¾ oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
¾ oz fresh lemon juice
¼ oz simple syrup (1:1 ratio, sugar:water)
3 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters
Glass: Champagne flute
Prep: Pour champagne into flute. In a mixing glass, combine absinthe, sloe gin, lemon and simple. Shake with ice and strain slowly into champagne flute. Top with a dash or two of Peychaud’s.
Serves 1
The Sun Also Rises is an original sparkling cocktail created in response to Hemingway’s “Death in the Afternoon” cocktail. Mr. Hemingway was a better drinker (and a much better author) than he was a bartender.
Eve’s Answer
1 ½ oz Corzo Reposado Tequila
½ oz spiced raisin syrup*
1 oz rich apple cider
¾ oz fresh lemon juice
mezcal float- optional, but recommended …highly recommended
Prep: Combine tequila, raisin syrup, cider and lemon juice in mixing glass. Add ice, shake well and strain into rocks glass. Float mezcal over top of cocktail. Dust with cinnamon and garnish with remaining stick. (note: Ceylon cinnamon is preferable; however, cassia (common cinnamon) is just fine in a pinch)
*Raisin Syrup: Heat 24oz white grape juice until warm. Combine with 24oz sugar and stir until dissolved. Steep 5 cinnamon sticks, 6 cloves, 3 star anise and a scrape of nutmeg for 30 minutes. Let cool, strain and refrigerate for use.
Eve’s Answer is an original seasonal adaptation of the timeless margarita. Don’t forget to save some mezcal for later.
Tom & Jerry
The Pioneering Ladies of Bartending
Abigail Gullo and Lynnette Marrero of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails) gave a fabulous presentation yesterday at the New York Bar & Wine show about the pioneering ladies of bartending, whipping up a classic punch reminiscent of the ones served in 18th century taverns, and introducing us to some of the most intriguing women mixologist pioneers of lore, and their contemporary counterparts. Great fun and very enlightening- thank you Abigail, Lynnette, and Lupec NY and our sposnoring brands: Skyy, Jameson, Martel, Cointreau, Fee Brothers, Cynar, Luxardo Maraschino, and Perfect Puree! Great Drinks of the Great Hotel Bars, Part II
On Tuesday, March 22, the Museum of the American Cocktail presented Great Drinks of the Great Hotel Bars Part II, held at the beautiful and historic Tabard Inn in Washington, D.C. Chantal Tseng, Derek Brown and Philip Greene were the presenters for this nearly-two hour evening of history, folklore and cocktails. In Part I of this series, we covered the Ritz in Paris (Sidecar), the St. Regis in New York (Red Snapper/Bloody Mary), the Monteleone in New Orleans (Vieux Carre), the Raffles in Singapore, the Waldorf-Astoria in New York (Rob Roy), and the Tabard itself (Tabard Cocktail).
Special thanks to or wonderful sponsors, Remy-Cointreau (Cointreau, Piper-Heidsieck Brut), Skyy (Wild Turkey Rye and Bourbon), Corzo Tequila, Hendrick's Gin, Plymouth Gin, and our friends at Nike Communications (Noilly Prat and Benedictine)
On this evening, we covered the Savoy in London (Hanky Panky), the Biltmore in Phoenix (Tequila Sunrise), the Roosevelt in New Orleans (Ramos Gin Fizz), the Algonquin in New York (Algonquin), the Seelbach in Louisville (Seelbach), and the Moana in Honolulu (Royal Hawaiian).
Derek led off the discussion with a general overview of the historical role played by hotels, inns, and other hostelries with respect to eating and drinking. He talked about how punch was a popular offering in the 17th and 16th centuries, and possibly the forerunner of the cocktail itself. He brought the discussion into the 20th century, and to the Hotel Savoy in London, where Ada Coleman tended bar, and was later succeeded by the great Harry Craddock. Ada invented the Hanky Panky about 100 years ago, which goes something like this:
Chantal Tseng and Derek Brown Wax Mixologic
Hanky Panky
1½ oz Plymouth Gin
1½ oz Noilly Prat Sweet Vermouth
2 dashes Fernet Branca
twist of orange peel
Stir all ingredients well in an ice-filled shaker and strain into a cocktail glass. Expel a bit of orange oil from the peel over the top of the drink, garnish with the twist and serve.
Derek makes the Tequila Sunrise using Corzo Tequila
Next, Derek took us on a journey to the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, home of the Tequila Sunrise. No, it wasn’t invented by Don Henley and Glenn Frey, but that Eagles’ song did make it a bit of a pop-culture fave in the 1970s:
Tequila Sunrise
1 ¼ oz tequila
¾ oz cream de cassis
1/4 oz lime juice
sparkling water
Special Guest Jim Hewes, bartender extraordinaire at the Willard Hotel's Round Robin Bar, talks about the historic role of hotels in the world of society, politics, and civilized drinking
Build in a Tom Collins glass with plenty of large ice cubes.
Phil Greene then presented a brief history of the Hotel Grunewald (featuring what perhaps was the world’s first nightclub, The Cave), which became the Hotel Roosevelt, which became the Fairmont, and is now again the Roosevelt. He also talked about the history of the Ramos Gin Fizz, and told of Senator Huey Long’s antics with the drink, showing newsreel footage of Huey instructing the bartender at the New Yorker Hotel how to make one. Then, everyone in the audience was given a shaker, and shook the drink for the duration of the Elvis Presley song “All Shook Up.”
Phil Greene shaking the Ramos Gin FizzPhil describes the origins of the Ramos Gin Fizz
Ramos Gin Fizz
2 oz Plymouth Gin
½ oz fresh lime juice
½ oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup
1-2 oz cream or half and half
1 egg white (pasteurized)
1-2 dashes orange flower water
Shake for several minutes with 2 ice cubes in shaker. Top with 1-2 oz seltzer
a crowd of nearly 60 cocktail enthusiasts was on hand
Phil then talked about the Algonquin Hotel, and the “10 year lunch” that was the Algonquin Round Table.
Algonquin
2 oz Wild Turkey 101 proof rye
1 oz Noilly Prat dry vermouth
1 oz pineapple juice
Shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass
Chantal Tseng then took the stage, and presented the long-lost Seelbach Cocktail from the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville.
Seelbach
1 oz Wild Turkey Bourbon
½ oz Cointreau
7 dashes Angostura Bitters
7 dashes Peychauds Bitters
4 oz Piper Heidsieck Brut Champagne
In a Champagne flute, add first 4 ingredients, then slowly add Champagne. Garnish lemon peel
Chantal then led us on a journey to the Hawaiian Isles, and delighted the crowd with the Royal Hawaiian, served at the Hotel Moana Surfrider.
Royal Hawaiian
1 1/2 oz Hendrick’s gin
1 1/2 oz pineapple juice
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon orgeat syrup
Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
In addition to our sponsors, we wish to thank the owners and staff of the beautiful and historic Tabard Inn for their hospitality. If you’re ever in D.C., you owe it to yourself to stay at the Tabard, or at least have dinner or a drink at the bar (Chantal Tseng makes the best Sazerac in Washington!).
Be sure to attend our next event, May 9th at the Warehouse Theater/Passenger (7th Street, NW, Washington, DC), Dale DeGroff will be presenting his incomparable event, “On The Town.” Details here:
On The Town with Dale DeGroff
According to Dale DeGroff, founding president of The Museum of the American Cocktail, the cocktail is as American as jazz, apple pie, and baseball… and as diverse and colorful as America itself. Every classic cocktail arose out of a historical context, and every era can be characterized by its songs and stories. From this vantage point, Mr. DeGroff gave an entertaining presentation at the museum in New Orleans last month: “On the Town”: a salute to neighborhood bars, notorious saloons, and legendary drink palaces of lore, represented in song, stories, and classic drinks from the various eras.
Best known as a master mixologist and author of two popular cocktail books, DeGroff is also a master storyteller. He describes the evolution of modern cocktail culture from colonial taverns to the hotel bars of the early 19th century. DeGroff was joined by New Orleans musician Cranston Clements and a crew of talented New Orleans mixologists for an evening of cocktails, music, and stories.
The story continues in the post-industrial revolution era with waves of immigrants filling the cities of the northeast continuing the old world communal drinking traditions of the beer hall, tavern and pub. As the country pushes west the story continues; saloons spring up in gold rush towns, along railroad routes as they push west, often becoming the defining element of a successful town.
In the big cities of the east politics, historical events, and technological advances shaped drinking culture. The legendary Tammany Hall makes neighborhood saloons political action centers. Prohibition sweeps the country leaving a vacuum that is soon filled by bootleggers and gangsters. But the upper classes experience Prohibition in another way: the booze is quality and the roaring twenties roar in upper class enclaves like the 21 Club where Mayor Jimmy Walker has his own hidden bar and dining room.
DeGroff also shares his own stories gleaned from a life of working and carousing in the bars of two of the most exciting cities in the world: New York and Los Angeles. His bar career culminated in the Rainbow Room at the close of the century.
The sheer joy of tasting a cocktail that was popular at a particular moment in time, while discovering its connection to the politics, theatre, songs, wise guys, literati, and headliners of its day, is indeed a powerful potion. ”On the Town” gave me a true taste of bar culture and social history in all its gritty, creative, and intoxicating glory!
Sherry Cognac Cobbler
1800 – 1850, The Early Years
1 orange and 8 lemons to prepare syrup
1 quart spring water
1 cup sugar
24 ounces fresh lemon juice
16 oz Emilio Lustau Pedro Ximenez*
1 bottle Martell Cognac
In a mixing glass filled with ice pour 2 ½ ounces of the base ingredient. Shake with ice to chill and strain into a goblet filled with cracked ice. Top with Berries and an orange and lemon peel.
Absinthe Frappé
(The Gilded Age 1880 – 1910, )
1 ounce Pernod Absinthe
1 ounce water
2 dashes Anisette
Fill a mixing glass with crushed ice and roll once or twice to chill strain into a goblet filled with crushed ice. Splash with seltzer.
The Major Bailey
(Post Prohibition) Served at demolition party on last night at Jack & Charlies
1 1/2 ounce Plymouth Gin
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 ounce lemon juice
1/4 ounce lime juice
Several mint leaves and a mint sprig
Crushed ice
Muddle the sugar and mint leaves in the bottom of a Delmonico glass with a splash of seltzer to help dissolve. Add the crushed ice and gin stir and garnish with mint sprig.
Jasper’s Planters Punch
(The Revival 1980 – 2000)
1 1/2 oz Appleton 12-yr-old Rum
Float of Coruba Dark
1 1/2 oz. Jasper’s Mix*
Cherry, pineapple spear, and sugarcane stick garnishes
Assemble the two ingredients in a medium highball glass with cracked ice. Stir to chill top with additional ice and the float of Coruba rum. Garnish with the pineapple, cherry and sugarcane *(see page 177 of Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails (Deluxe Edition)
Velvet Fog
(The New Wave 2000 – 2011)
1 1/2 ounces Skyy Vodka
1/2 ounces fresh lime juice
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
1 ounce Velvet Falernum Syrup
1 ounce fresh orange juice
Shake ingredients well with ice, stain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a flamed orange.
To Have and Have Another – The Hemingway Bartender’s Companion
This line, from Hemingway’s Green Hills of Africa, was how the evening began at Hemingway’s former Key West home on Friday, February 11, 2011. The Hemingway Home and Museum (907 Whitehead Street, Key West, FL) played host for To Have and Have Another – The Hemingway Bartender’s Companion, presented by Philip Greene, and co-sponsored by the Key West Art and Historical Society (KWAHS).
During the 3 hour evening, Philip presented five different Hemingway cocktails, discussed several more, and before and after his presentation, guests were able to mix and mingle while enjoying four other Hemingway libations. During the presentation itself, Phil served the Jack Rose, the Green Isaac’s Special, the Montgomery Martini, the Negroni, and the Papa Doble Daiquiri.
Other drinks featured at this gala event were the Chambery Cassis (A Moveable Feast), the Cuba Libre (To Have and Have Not, the Americano (The Good Lion), the Bloody Mary (Selected Letters), the Death in the Afternoon (The Gentleman’s Companion, Pt. II), Tom Collins (Islands in the Stream), Gin and Tonic (Islands in the Stream), and the Gimlet (The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, and Green Hills of Africa).
The event was a fundraiser for the Key West Art and Historical Society, and featured a silent auction, along with a costume contest (many of the attendees dressed as Hemingway, his friends, wives, girlfriends, and other notable contemporaries). Claudia Pennington, Executive Director of the Key West Art and Historical Society, acted as Master of Ceremonies, and she and her amazing team ensured that the event went off splendidly, and it did.
Philip Greene measures out the perfect Montgomery Martini
Above photo courtesy of Michael Haskins.
The recipes follow:
Jack Rose
1 ½ oz Laird’s Applejack
¾ oz fresh Key Lime juice
½ oz grenadine
Shake well with ice, strain into chilled cocktail glass
Green Isaac’s Special
2 oz Hendrick’s Gin
4 oz green coconut water
1 oz lime juice
4 drops Angostura Bitters
Fill highball glass with ice, add all ingredients, stir, serve. Optional garnish, wedge of lime.
Many of Key West's finest citizens donned wonderful costumes for this soiree
Above photo courtesy of Michael Haskins.
Montgomery Martini
2 oz Plymouth Gin
1 tsp Noilly Prat dry vermouth
1 Spanish cocktail onion (frozen)
silent auction items
Negroni
1 oz Campari
1 oz Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth
1 oz Plymouth Gin
Pour Gin, Campari and Vermouth into a highball glass filled with ice. Stir. Top with seltzer and garnish with an orange wedge or lemon twist.
Philip Greene and Claudia Pennington gather round Papa
Double Frozen Daiquiri No Sugar, aka, the Papa Doble
3 ¾ oz Flor de Cana white rum OR Mount Gay Eclipse White Rum
2 oz fresh lime juice
2 oz fresh grapefruit juice
6 drops Luxardo maraschino liqueur
Also available at the service bar were the following:
Death In The Afternoon
Pour 1 jigger of Pernod absinthe into a champagne glass. Add iced champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness (we recommend 1 ½ oz Pernod absinthe, along with about 4 oz Perrier-Jouet Champagne or Piper Sonoma Brut).
At the service bar were placards featuring Hemingway photos, excerpts, and cocktail recipes
Chambery Cassis
3 ounces Dolin dry vermouth
1/2 ounce creme de cassis
a splash of club soda
Make on the rocks in a highball glass.
Bloody Mary
“To make a pitcher of Bloody Marys (any smaller amount is worthless) take a good sized pitcher and put in it as big a lump of ice as it will hold. (This is to prevent too rapid melting and watering of our product.) Mix a pint of good russian vodka and an equal amount of chilled tomato juice. Add a table spoon full of Worcester Sauce. Lea and Perrins is usual but can use A1 or any good beef-steak sauce. Stirr. (sic) Then add a jigger of fresh squeezed lime juice. Stirr. Then add small amounts of celery salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper. Keep on stirring and taste it to see how it is doing. If you get it too powerful weaken with more tomato juice. If it lacks authority add more vodka. Some people like more lime than others. For combatting a really terrific hangover increase the amount of Worcester sauce – but don’t lose the lovely color. Keep drinking it yourself to see how it is doing. I introduced this drink to Hong Kong in 1941 and believe it did more than any other single factor except perhaps the Japanese Army to precipitate the fall of that Crown Colony. After you get the hang of it you can mix it so it will taste as though it had absolutely no alcohol of any kind in it and a glass of it will still have as much kick as a really good big martini. Whole trick is to keep it very cold and not let the ice water it down.
Ernest Hemingway – Selected Letters, 1917-1961 , from a letter to Bernard Peyton, April 5, 1947
Costume winner Dink Bruce (presented a copy of Old Man and the Sea)
Americano
1 oz gin
1 oz Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth
2 oz seltzer
Cuba Libre
2 oz Mount Gay Eclipse or Flor de Cana white rum
4 oz cola
Make on rocks in glass, garnish with lime wedge
Gimlet
2 oz Hendrick’s or Plymouth gin
1 oz lime juice
Hemingway Gin and Tonic
2 oz Hendrick’s or Plymouth gin
4 oz tonic water
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Make in glass, garnish w/lime wedge
Hemingway Tom Collins
2 oz Hendrick’s or Plymouth gin
1 oz lime juice
4 oz coconut water
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Make in glass with ice, garnish with lime wedge
To view many, many more great photos from this gala event, please see http://www.kwahs.com/haveslides.htm
We wish to thank our hosts at the Hemingway House, Claudia Pennington and the Key West Art and Historical Society, and our generous sponsors, namely: Remy Cointreau, Plymouth Gin, Skyy Vodka, Laird’s Applejack, Campari, Hendrick’s Gin, Flor de Cana Rum, Mount Gay Rum, Perrier Jouet Champagne, Pernod Absinthe, Piper Sonoma Sparkling Wine, Dolin Vermouth/Haus Alpenz Importers, Noilly-Prat Dry Vermouth, and Martini & Rossi Sweet Vermouth.
On An Evening in Roma – An Introduction to the Classic Cocktails and Flavors of Italy
Gaspare Campari
On Thursday, January 13, Gina Chersevani and Philip Greene presented a lively 90-minute cocktail seminar on Italian cocktails. Gina is a local treasure, and runs the bar at the acclaimed PS7′s restaurant in the Chinatown/Gallery Place part of D.C. The event was held at the historic Washington D.C. restaurant, the Occidental Grill and Seafood, located just steps from the White House, and next door to the Willard Hotel.
Guests were greeted with a Bellini cocktail, a simple yet delicious blend of white peach puree and (traditionally) Prosecco, an Italian sparkling wine. The drink was invented in the 1940s by Giuseppe Cipriani at the famous Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy. While enjoying the Bellini, guests learned the history and folklore of Harry’s Bar, its celebrity clientele, and of course the Bellini, itself.
On this evening we used Perfect Puree White Peach Puree, from Perfect Puree of Napa Valley (www.PerfectPuree.com), as well as Piper-Heidsieck Champagne, generously donated by our friends at Remy-Cointreau. Here’s how:
The Bellini
1 ½ oz Perfect Puree White Peach Puree
4 oz Prosecco (or any dry sparkling/frizzante wine)
Add puree to bar glass. Slowly pour wine into glass, gently blending with long spoon. Strain into a chilled flute. Option: float ¼ oz peach liqueur
Phil then generally discussed aperitif bitters, comparing and contrasting them with both cocktail bitters and vermouth (and other fortified wines). He focused on Campari, and made two delicious Campari cocktails, the Americano and the Negroni. A bitter aperitif, Campari was invented by Gaspare Campari in the 1860s, at the Bass Bar in Turin, Italy, where he was maitre licoriste, or master bartender, at 14.
It’s a blend of natural ingredients, mostly herbs, spices, bark, fruits and fruit peels. Campari is a trade secret , only one person knows entire formula. It’s distinctive carmine hue originally came from dye extracted from the cochineal, a beetle-like insect native to Mexico, Central and South America.
Phil explained that there are two types of bitters: Aperitif bitters (Campari, Aperol, Amer Picon, Fernet Branca, Cynar, Averna, etc.), which are typically enjoyed as/part of a beverage, while cocktail bitters (Angostura, Peychaud’s, Fee Brothers, Regan’s, et al.) are used a dash at a time. An easy way to remember, aperitif bitters = big bottle, larger amounts, whereas cocktail bitters = small bottle, smaller amounts.
Phil then talked about the origins of the Americano, originally called the Milano-Torino, since it was a 1:1 blend of Cinzano Italian vermouth from Milan, and Campari from Turin. Eventually, owing to its popularity among visiting American tourists, it became the Americano. While the Vesper is perhaps the most famous of the James Bond cocktails, it was the Americano that is known as the first cocktail ever enjoyed by Bond in one of Ian Fleming’s works:
“James Bond had his first drink of the evening at Fouquet’s. It was not a solid drink. One cannot drink seriously in French cafés. Out of doors on a pavement in the sun is no place for vodka or whisky or gin. A fine a l’eau is fairly serious, but it intoxicates without tasting very good. A quart de champagne or a champagne à l’orange is all right before luncheon, but in the evening one quart leads to another quart and a bottle of indifferent champagne is a bad foundation for the night. Pernod is possible, but it should be drunk in company, and anyway Bond had never liked the stuff because its liquorice taste reminded him of his childhood. No, in cafés you have to drink the least offensive of the musical comedy drinks that go with them, and Bond always had the same thing–an Americano–Bitter Campari, Cinzano, a large slice of lemon peel and soda. For the soda he always specified Perrier, for in his opinion expensive soda water was the cheapest way to improve a poor drink.”
The Americano Cocktail
1 oz Campari
1 oz Martini & Rossi Italian (sweet) Vermouth
Seltzer Water
Add ingredients to ice-filled highball or rocks glass. Stir. Garnish with an orange wedge or lemon twist.
Enter The Count, and Gin: The Negroni
Perhaps a folktale, the Americano was said to have been transformed into the Negroni by one Count Camilo Negroni, who asked his bartender, Fosco Scarselli, to liven up his Americano with an equal portion of gin. Thus was born the Negroni. In describing the Negroni, one of the more famous of the regulars at Harry’s Bar, Orson Welles, noted in 1947 that “The bitters are excellent for your liver, the gin is bad for you. They balance each other.“ Here’s how:
The Negroni
1 oz Plymouth Gin
1 oz Campari
1 oz Martini & Rossi Italian (sweet) vermouth
Place ingredients into an ice-filled shaker. Stir well. Strain into chilled cocktail glass or an ice-filled tumbler. Garnish with an orange twist.
Shown above, Orson Welles, and Giuseppe Cipriani serving Ernest Hemingway
Phil then exited stage left, and Gina Chersevani swept in. Gina taught the audience the method of making Limoncello, nothing more than an infusion of lemon peels in Vodka, though my mere words don’t do it justice; one has to see Gina in action to appreciate it. Members of the audience were able to savor a sampling of Gina’s homemade Limoncello.
Gina then offered the story of the creation of the drink known as “spritz,” how it factored into the story of the liberation of Venice. Gina offered a delicious version of spritz using another bitter aperitif, Aperol.
Triestina Spritz
1 oz of Aperol chilled
3 oz of Vino Blanco (peferably a terrano blanc or pinot grigio); chilled
3 oz of Acqua Frizzante (Sparkling water); chilled
Garnish with crushed kumquat, pineapple, bay leaf and rosemary (all garnishes are seasonal so all fruits and herbs used are in season). In a wine glass, pour chilled Aperol, white wine, add all garnishes, then top with sparkling water. Stir and serve
Next, Gina and Phil spoke about Amaro in general, and Averna in particular. Gina made one final drink, an amazing dessert (almost a milkshake) drink she calls the Latte di Cioccolata di Basil.
Latte di Cioccolata di Basil
1 1/2 oz of Averna Amaro
4 oz of whole milk
1 large scoop of chocolate ice cream
3 basil leaves (no stems)
In a blender, combine Averna Amaro, whole milk, ice cream, and basil, blend until smooth, serve in a collins glass, garnish with basil leaf.
Thanks go out to Jerry LeNoir (www.Mr-Booze.com) and Peter Smith, chef of PS7′s, for their for their invaluable behind the scenes work. Thanks also go to our host, the Occidental Grill, and the assistance of Lamont Proffit, Lawrence Van Weigel, Aqua, Javier, and the rest of the crew. And of course, we could not put on events such as this without our sponsors, tonight’s were Skyy Vodka (who provided the vokda for the lovely Limoncello), Campari, Perfect Puree, Plymouth Gin, Martini & Rossi, and Remy-Cointreau, who provided the excellent Piper-Heidsieck Champagne for our Bellinis.
For a far better description of the event, and especially Gina’s role therein, please see:
http://imbibehour.blogspot.com/2011/01/evening-in-roma-one-drink-at-time.html
Cheers!
