Local restaurants are shaking things up with some innovative and outright ingenious cocktails, inspiring imbibers to craft their own with these favorite recipes.
Photo by Jim Pile
Vida Bandida
Serve in a Collins glass
While every last detail is tended to at Coastal Virginia's finest bars, including scratch tinctures, you don’t have to be that obsessive at home. Here, Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub is a suitably-searing commercial substitute for Saltine’s house “Ignition” tincture (so-called because, “It will light you up”).
Ingredients:
1.5 oz. Del Maguey Vida Mezcal
.75 oz. lime juice
.5 oz. orange liqueur (Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao preferred)
.25 oz. simple syrup
6 drops Bittermens Hellfire Habanero Shrub
Peychaud’s Bitters and an orange twist for garnish
Method:
Combine ingredients in a Collins glass. Add crushed ice and swizzle, using a long spoon to combine the spirits and ice until the outside of the glass is chilled. Top with more crushed ice, and garnish with liberal drops of Peychaud's Bitters and an orange twist.
Pomegranate Manhattan
Serve in a martini glass
In bar speak, “express” means to release the oils from citrus by waving the peel over the glass as well as rubbing it around the inside and outside rim. It’s the secret to alluringly aromatic drinks like this one from Ultra Craft Cocktails.
Ingredients:
2 oz. Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye
1 oz. Carpano Antica Formula sweet vermouth
.25 oz. PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur
Bar spoon of crème de cacao
2 dashes of Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters
Method:
Stir all ingredients in a mixing glass and strain into a chilled glass. Garnish with expressed orange or grapefruit peel.
Photo by David Uhrin
Like a Prayer
Serve in a coupe
Dry shake means to shake ingredients in a cocktail shaker without ice. It allows egg whites to emulsify, resulting in a fabulous froth in this drink from Terrapin.
Ingredients:
1.5 oz. gin
.5 oz. green Chartreuse
.5 oz. yellow Chartreuse
.75 oz. egg white
.75 oz. lemon juice
.5 oz. simple syrup
Method:
Combine all ingredients in cocktail shaker and dry shake. Add ice and shake vigorously. Strain into coupe.
Photo by Jim Pile
Okie Dokie Artichokie
​Serve in a mini Mason jar
Kitchen torches aren’t just for crème brûlée anymore; they’re ideal for home bars, too, as this quirky cocktail from Fin proves.
Ingredients:
1.5 oz. Cynar 70
1 oz. cashew orgeat*
1 oz. fresh lemon juice with pulp removed
.25 oz. mellow corn whiskey
1 fresh local egg white
Sprinkling of loose leaf chia tea
Method:
Combine all ingredients except tea in cocktail shaker and dry shake (see method above for Terrapin's Like a Prayer). Add ice to shaker and shake until frost forms on the outside. Strain into mini Mason jar. Wait for froth to form on top. Sprinkle loose chia tea on froth and brûlée with kitchen torch. Let cool before enjoying.
*Orgeat is a simple syrup usually associated with almonds. You can substitute a commercial syrup or make your own: Pulverize 2 1/4 cups cashews in a food processor, then soak them in 3 1/2 cups of water for several hours (stirring occasionally). Strain liquid through a cheesecloth-lined strainer into a glass jar, discard nuts. Add 1/2 cup of cane sugar, close jar lid tightly and shake vigorously until sugar dissolves. Store in refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Photo by David Uhrin
Linus Van Pelt
Serve in a coupe
While we give substitutions for the at-home bartender in some of these recipes, this one from Saint Germain might be better left to the experts.
Ingredients:
1.5 oz. pumpkin-infused rye
.75 oz. allspice dram
.5 oz. liquid smoke simple syrup
.5 oz. lemon juice
2 dashes angostura
2 dashes cranberry bitters
Micro amaranth for garnish
Method:
Shake all ingredients then strain into coupe. Smoke (the drink, not a cigarette). Top with micro amaranth.
Marisa Marsey
Marisa Marsey is a food, beverage and travel writer whose awards include 1st place Food Writing from the Virginia Press Association. A Johnson & Wales University representative, she has sipped Château d'Yquem '75 with Jean-Louis Palladin, sherpa-ed for Edna Lewis and savored interviews with Wolfgang Puck and Patrick O’Connell.
