Penicillin No. 2

This blog post could be considered our version of a get well soon card. Hopefully our spin on the Penicillin cocktail, along with the accompanying floral artwork from the Cocktail Artist’s archives, will drive away any mid-winter doldrums that you may be experiencing. 

The original Penicillin Cocktail was created in 2005 by bartender Sam Ross and contains blended and single malt Scotch, along with fresh ginger, lemon and honey. For our version we used a domestic Peated Whiskey made in the Boston area by Short Path Distillery. This small-batch distillery uses locally sourced ingredients (the peat in this Scotch-style whiskey is harvested in Maine). Short Path’s attention to detail is evident not only in their product, but also in their well-designed bottle labels. Each spirit’s label features a different bird in a bold black and white graphic (or an egg for their newly hatched limited edition spirits).

A Penicillin Cocktail seemed like a good idea last weekend when the January weather went from snowy to rainy to icy-cold with a bracing wind. We had just made a batch of Orange-Honey Simple Syrup, but lacking fresh ginger (and not wanting to go out to the store) we went with ginger liqueur. We were happy with the end result, and the following evening mixed up a variation by replacing the smoky flavor of the peated Whiskey with mezcal (stay tuned we’ll post that one next). The orange-honey syrup not only adds a touch of sweetness (and a dose of Vitamin C), but its citrus fragrance does a great job of balancing the smokiness in these cocktails.

In addition to coming up with a new cocktail recipe we spent part of the weekend cleaning out the Cocktail Artist’s painting studio. Quite a collection of watercolors have piled up (literally piled up) over the many years that he has been painting, so it was high time we did a bit of organizing. The upside to this task was rediscovering works that were painted years (or decades) ago. We thought that these two floral paintings made a nice backdrop to our Penicillin No. 2 Cocktail and are rather reminiscent of a cheery get well soon greeting card.

Cheers to your health!

Penicillin No. 2

2 ounces Peated Whiskey (Short Path Distillery Peated Whiskey)

½ ounce Ginger Liqueur (Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur)

½ ounce Orange Honey Simple Syrup (recipe below)

¾ ounce fresh lemon juice

dash of aromatic bitters (Scrappy’s Bitters)

Add whiskey, ginger liqueur, orange-honey syrup and lemon juice to a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Shake well and double strain into an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube. Float a dash or two of aromatic bitters on top. Garnish with an orange twist and candied ginger.

Orange Honey Simple Syrup

½ cup water
½ cup orange blossom honey
Peel from one medium-sized navel orange (chopped, no pith)

Juice from half of orange

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1 tablespoon of vodka (as a preservative). Cool to room temperature and then strain it through a fine strainer into a bottle or jar. Keep refrigerated for up to 3 weeks.

Daises - original watercolor by The Cocktail Artist

Still Life Bouquet - original watercolor by The Cocktail Artist