The Cocktail Artist

Winter is here, the holiday season is upon us, and it has (finally) become cold outside. There's a bright red cardinal sitting on a bare branch in our yard - looking like a Christmas ornament. Northern Cardinals are not migratory birds. They stay put throughout the winter. It's heartening to see them in the colder months, and during the holidays they appear festive and provide a reminder of the warmer seasons to come. So, after birdwatching for a few minutes, our team got to work. The Artist pulled out his paintbrush to do watercolor of the bird, and the Mixologist decided to use the cardinal as an inspiration for a holiday cocktail. A margarita is something we mix up most often during the summer (or on the occasional taco night), but there really isn't any good reason to push the tequila to the back of the cabinet during the colder months. For this "winterized" version, we are adding to the tartness by mudding pomegranate seeds in the cocktail. We have anot...

We love our desserts and we love our cocktails, but we don’t really like our cocktails to taste like dessert. When the flavors of the spirits are overwhelmed by sugar, a cocktail just isn't very interesting (at least not interesting to us). Last summer we were asked by a family friend to make an amaretto sour and, after briefly considering mixing up one of those soda-pop sweet cocktails, we talked her into something else. Thinking back on it, we felt a little bad - we really should have risen to the occasion and put our creativity to the test.  A couple of weeks later we saw a piece in the New York Times food section ( When Bad Drinks Go Good , August 2017) about how bartenders are taking on the challenge of improving classic cocktails that have a poor reputation. For the Amaretto Sour, the suggestion was to cut down on the amaretto and add some cask-proof bourbon to the mix. So, we reached into the back of the liquor cabinet and pulled out that dusty bottle of Disaronno...

Traditions are what define the holidays. Traditions are comforting, they ground us, but they can also become a bit of a burden. It’s wonderful to have your entire family over for a huge Thanksgiving feast, but by the time you’re done washing up the last of the pots and pans you probably have had at least fleeting thought about eating at a restaurant next year.  Last year we took a non-traditional approach to Thanksgiving and left the country to visit our youngest daughter - who was doing a semester abroad in Seville, Spain. It turned out to been of the most enjoyable holidays we've ever had. Yes, we did miss getting together with our extended family, but having our nuclear family together in such a beautiful place was truly memorable. The Artist had plenty of time to paint, the Mixologist/cook was able to truly relax, and our grown children got to spend time exploring the city and savoring a glass of nice Spanish wine with us at the end of the day. This year we’re at home fo...

Portrait of Lady with a Hat - original watercolor by The Cocktail Artist We are still working on recipes using the array of ingredients that we were introduced to at the Virginia Spirits Festival in September. This is where we discovered a very  unique version of aquavit. We've used Linie Aquavit in several of our cocktails (the Basil Gimlet and the Split Rock Cocktail ), and we certainly think that  Virginia's  James River Distillery Oster Vit would be an excellent choice for those cocktails. James River Distillery uses oyster shells in the steeping process of their aquavit - hence the name “Oster Vit”. This might sound like a bit of a gimmick, but the end result is a terrific herbal (caraway and fennel) clear spirit with a crisp mineral taste. We tried it as a substitute for vodka in our District Martini recipe with excellent results. We're  planning  to continue to experiment with Oster Vit in place of  gin or vodka in some traditional recipes...

Cherry Capital Old Fashioned - original watercolor painting by The Cocktail Artist If you've read some of our previous posts (such as the Up North Raspberry and Rye or the Grand Mariner Cocktail) you know that we're fans of the bourbon and rye produced by The Traverse City Whiskey Co . Traverse City, Michigan is known as the "Cherry Capital" for being the area with the largest production of tart cherries in the United States. In Traverse City, you will find wonderful freshwater beaches, lots of summer tourists, and (of course) cherries! You can attend the Cherry Festival in July, go to the Cherryland Mall, and fly into Cherry Capital airport. So the folks at Traverse City Whiskey (naturally) produce an American Cherry Edition of their bourbon. Here in the Nation's Capital we were lucky enough to find this cherry bourbon at our local liquor store. It's a nice bourbon for sipping neat, but during #OldFashionedOctober we also tried it in an Old Fashioned and...

We recently attended an event, held by the Virginia Distillers Association,  where  we were able to try all kinds of spirits produced in the Old Dominion. Virginia has a number of distillers making very good bourbon and rye (which we have previously  featured  in our Peach Cobbler Bourbon Slush  and  Chesapeake Bay   cocktail recipes ).  It’s also home to founding father George Washington’s Distillery - located on his Mount Vernon estate. The  Mount Vernon Distillery  produces a small amount of rye and brandy using very traditional methods. They offer a great tour tour (from April to October) where we learned that, following the revolutionary war, George Washington was one of the largest producers of whiskey in America.  So, how does it happen that the main ingredient in this Virginia-inspired cocktail is a product of New Jersery ( Laird’s Applejack ) ?  Well, as it turns out Laird’s Applejack not only has a conn...

If you asked us what our "house cocktail" is, the answer would be our version of the Manhattan. The Manhattan is a cocktail that's been around for a long time - for good reason. One of the legends of it's origin states that it was invented at New York's Manhattan Club around 1880. According to a 1916 history of the club:  “The Celebrated Manhattan Cocktail was inaugurated at the Club. This consists of equal portions of vermouth and whiskey, with a dash of orange bitters.” There are others who lay claim to the Manhattan's birth, but the only thing that is clear is that it originated in New York City. Most people make a Manhattan with whiskey, sweet vermouth, and bitters. We are happy with the classic version, but over the years we tinkered with the recipe and came up with one that is similar to the "Perfect Manhattan". Our version uses bourbon, sweet vermouth, and blanc vermouth (not dry vermouth). We also use more vermouth (in total) than what...

Here is a cocktail that would be suitable to sip on a Caribbean Island or an island bounded by the Hudson and East Rivers. It's sort of a Manhattan with dark Jamaican rum in the place of whiskey (plus a couple of other modifications). Liquor.com's Drinkwire challenged us to create a cocktail that uses rum in the place of whiskey and we were happy to take on the task. We named the Jamaica Bay cocktail after a body of water that is near Manhattan, but far enough away that you don't feel the city. Jamaica Bay is on the south side of Long Island and straddles two of Manhattan's boroughs -  Brooklyn and Queens. Much of the bay is a wildlife refuge and part of the National Park System. It can be reach via the New York City subway system, yet it's a place for birding, nature walks, kayaking, and even camping in a tiny house. The Cocktail Artists like their Manhattans perfect - meaning with both sweet and dry vermouth. Well, actually, we use blanc vermouth and sweet ...

The Italiano Cocktail with Afternoon in the Piazza - original watercolor by the Cocktail Artist This started out with the classic Italian cocktail - the Negroni, but just like with Italian cooking we began substituting a bit of this and a bit of that until it became something quite distinct. The Negroni cocktail has been around for about a century. The standard story of it's creation is that Count Camillo Negroni instructed the bartender at Caffe Giacosa in Florence to make a stronger version of the Americano (by replacing the soda water with gin). A classic Negroni consists of gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari. As with so many things which involve cocktails, there is some controversy surrounding the history of the Negroni, so if you want to read more, you can find a good piece at  Drinking Cup . For this cocktail we did use gin and sweet vermouth, but the dark amber color of our Italiano is the result of the addition of balsamic vinegar. With the popularity of shrubs right n...