EMBURY COCKTAILS

Pride Bonus Cocktail from Joshua Anthony Campbell: Kinky Reggae

 

When  I chatted with Joshua Anthony Campbell for my Spirited Pride series in collaboration with Campari America, a drink he mentioned in passing sort of stuck in my mind for a few days, and I circled back with him to get the recipe. This one seems has summer afternoon party written all over it.  Josh took a non-alcoholic drink that was on the menu at an old workplace in Rochester, Java's Cafe, which was their lemonade with iced tea, and Fee Brothers Raspberry Syrup. For this revamped version Josh made his own raspberry syrup, went with straight lemon juice and Earl Grey Tea, and beefed it up with vodka and Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum. I'd always been wary of use W & N for cocktails, but I've been swayed recently. The banana notes, the high ester quality and the just overall kick to the stuff is a nice touch to a drink like this. Not the use of "touch". Much more than an ounce of the stuff in a drink means you're going to a very different party.

KINKY REGGAE

1.5 oz vodka

.5 oz Wray & Nephew Overproof Rum

.75 Earl GreyTea

.75 lemon

1 raspberry syrup

RASPBERRY SYRUP

1 quart white sugar

1 quart hot water

12 oz fresh raspberries

Shake, dump into a zombie glass. Garnish with 2 skewered raspberries on an extended cocktail umbrella (think of an umbrella that's been caught in the wind) and a mint sprig.

 

Muddle raspberries in sugar, add hot water (do not add additional heat!) and stir until sugar is dissolved. Let sit until cool then strain, bottle and date. Best if used within a week.

Wednesday's Cocktail, Spirited Pride Edition: Joshua Anthony Campbell & The Black Rose

Joshua Anthony Campbell at Leyenda. Special thanks to Ivy Mix for styling and coaching support for Josh's first cocktail shoot.

At 25 Joshua Anthony Campbell is the youngest person on our line up of LGBTQ cocktail and spirit pros for the second annual Spirited Pride series in partnership with Campari America. When I sat down to chat with Joshua over Americanos at Dante on a sunny afternoon in early June, he was fresh off the boat from Buffalo by a matter of a couple weeks, and he'd already landed barback shifts at Leyenda and was hosting at Pouring Ribbons. We spoke about his start in the business, his love of rum cocktails, and the value of being focused and bold when going after opportunities.

JAC: I started out in Rochester at a restaurant called Revelry, and the same group owns Buffalo Proper in Buffalo, which is what brought me to Buffalo.

JR: What's the cocktail & food scene like in Buffalo?

JAC: It is very adventurous, it's a city that loves to drink, the cost of living is so low that people can afford to go out and drink every day, they have 4:00 am closing time, it's an amazing party city.

JR: So what's the average craft cocktail run you there?

JAC: Average is about ten bucks.

JR: Yeah, so that's a big difference from, say, here in NYC.

JAC: Prices are going up a little more with the evolution of craft cocktails there, and more expensive ingredients and more time consuming to produce, but capping out around twelve bucks.

JAC: Yes, it's great, a little bit goes and long way and it just takes up it a notch.

JR: So how did you come to move down to New York City?

JAC: Well, obviously the city is a hub for all things food and cocktail, it's at such a high level. I'm from the city originally so I'd be come down frequently to see family and friends, and make it a point to go to the great cocktail spots. So the things I was doing upstate were definitely insprired by people here like Ivy Mix, or Natasha David, all these great minds, and I've always been inspired by their individual styles and creativity. So moving down here to be more exposed to this level of creativity was always a draw, but considerations like cost of living made me think long and hard about it. But I had some personal changes, a relationship I was in ended, and I felt like I needed to make some decisions for myself. And I also realized, I'm at an age where I can afford to make a few mistakes. And I'm a bit of a gambler. So I'm rolled the die! I'm just really here to learn from these heroes that I look up to.

More after the jump, including the recipe for Josh's Black Rose...

Spirited Pride Players: Alex Negranza of Anvil Bar & Refuge

Editor's note: I'm working with Campari America to interview and feature some very cool, very talented LGBTQ players in the cocktail and spirits world in celebration of Pride Month.  JR

 Bartender Alex Negranza has a fairly outsized passion for Negronis--his Instagram handle and nickname is A_Negroni, and he spearheads Negroni Week in Houston where he works at Anvil Bar & Refuge. He's also the Global Brand Ambassador for Scrappy's Bitters. The guy doesn't seem to need to sleep. I spoke with Alex via Skype as a late afternoon storm system moved into Houston. Alex sipped an Americano as we chatted, while back in Long Island City I had a nice lean rye & soda. Alex took me through his journey from barista to bartender and broke down his obsession with negronis, his go-to airport bar order, and a recent tattoo of one of his favorite drinks.

Photo: Sam Landrum

JR: So you're ramping up for Negroni Week?

AN: Yes, I've actually just been on the phone with our distributor and our local Campari rep and working on a really cool shirt design we're doing just for the Houston market as well as some limited edition screen prints. I've been working with a local artist/designer Matthew Tabor on commissioning a piece of art. It’ll be a hand pulled, screen printed homage to the Negroni- each of the 25 will be hand signed and numbered by the artist, they’re gorgeous. We've got the launch party coming up, and the Houston United States Bartender's Guild  June meeting is being hosted by Campari here at Anvil, so we've got a lot going on.

JR: So you're like the ringleader for Negroni Week there?
AN: Ringleader, cat herder, whatever you want to call it!

JR: It's funny, I always say about emailing for recipes or quotes from bartenders is like herding cats—drunk cats. Speaking of: what are you drinking

AN: An Americano. The Americano has been my go-to drink recently—as I've been visiting all these venues gearing up for Negroni Week, it’s a little easier to have a lower ABV Americano—can't always have a Negroni at each stop, this kind of limits my actual alcohol intake. And it's an appropriate cocktail—since it kind of started off the Negroni.

JR: I was on an epic travel bender last year, and I made a point of ordering Americanos as the first drink every time I got to a new town. And it's interesting the subtle variations you'll see from bar to bar, around the world.

AN: Did you have more people saying that they don't have coffee?

JR: It's about 30% of the time, if you don't specify “cocktail” you get a coffee.

Photo: Sam Landrum

JR: So where did you start your career in hospitality?

AN: I worked at a bunch of specialty coffee bars around Seattle.

JR: Isn't that compulsory in Seattle, doing a stint in a coffee shop?

AN: Exactly! It's actually what got me up to Seattle in the first place, and it definitely set me on a course for the bar world—I started working in bars while on a sabbatical from coffee industry and the sabbatical continues about six years later.

 

Wednesday's Cocktail: Tyler Steven's All Americano

I've been on the road a tremendous amount the past couple months - brand ambassador-grade levels of travel - and I've been making Americanos my go-to order at bars along the way. It's prety foolproof, simple, easy to explain even in another language, and most every bar has Italian Vermouth & Campari, even dodgier airport bars. It's also endlessly refreshing after long haul flights -- a low A.B.V. tonic for the jet-lagged. There's a plasticity to the drink that makes it fascinating to see all the interpretations that are both regional, and personal to each bartender I encountered. Got a lovely one from Hannah Waters at 28 Hong Kong Street in Singapore that was a juicy, effervescent re-imagining of the classic Campari/Italian Vermouth/Soda model, appropriate for the near-equatorial swelter of the place (recipe to follow.) Ordering an American is always interesting, not only because each bartender has their own takes and touches, but because you may sometimes wind up with a café Americano, as happened with a fresh-faced bartender at Urban Farmer in The Nines in PDX. (That coffee turned out to be a useful push that particular night, so I think that one was kismet.)

But my all-around favorite so far of this world tour has been from Teardop Lounge's Tyler Stevens. He sticks to the original ratios--mostly--but with a canny blend of two vermouths, Punt E Mes & Cinzano. It's in the selection of vermouth or vermouths where there's so much room for variety, and the blending of two (or more) can hit even more spots on the bitter/sweet/herby flavor spectrum. The addition of a splash of sparkling wine gives it a celebratory finish, which was nice for me as he made it for me at Teardrop on my birthday. I've made a rule that I  shall have my first and last drinks there on my Portland visits. (There's a slight flexibility on that rule in that drink can be had at the home of any Teardrop staffer, particularly if that home is closer to the airport and it's rush hour.) I've dubbed this one The All Americano, despite almost nothing in it save water and ice being American, in honor of Tyler's legendary run as star middle linebacker of his high school football team in Newburg , an Oregon town that's possibly even smaller than the one I grew up in, but with a far more impressive team.  Just like team at Teardop, and I'm pleased to claim the spot as my bar away from home.

Tyler Stevens' All Americano.

1.25 oz. Campari
1.25 oz. Italian Vermouth (50/50 Cinzano and Punt E Mes)

Stir, add soda in vessel, stir some more, strain and top with sparkling wine. Garnish with a pretty orange peel to impress the ladiez.