EMBURY COCKTAILS

Embury Events at The New Traditionalists

 

Embury did our first proper cocktail catering this week for an event in the showroom of The New Traditionalists, makers of classically inspired, environmentally sound furniture. The crowd was a lively mix up uptown and downtown, the showroom was a great setting for a party and the drinks, if I do say so myself, were smashing.

 

We made 3 large batches of some of our favorite cocktails, all of which proved to be highly effective in punch form. We poured the punches over ice and added garnishes with each serving.

NEW LONDON PUNCH (from the mind of Naren Young)

5 parts Beefeater 24 
1 part St Germain 
1 part Maraschino 
5 parts Chilled Green Tea 
1 part Lime Juice 
5 parts Proseco

Add ingredients to Punch Bowl with Ice Block, stir well, serve on the rocks, dropping a blackberry in the glass as a garnish.

PETER PAN PUNCH (All credit to a pre-Hendrick's Jim Ryan)

1 1/2 part Basil Hayden's Bourbon
1/2 part Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur
1/2 part Lemon juice
1/2 part. Simple syrup
Middle of 1 Pixie Mandarin (I per serving)

In a bowl, muddle Mandarin sections and add Luxardo, lemon juice, simple syrup and Basil Hayden's. Stir well, add a large block of ice and pour into a rocks glass--garnish with a good cherry, in syrup.

IN ANOTHER TIME (An Embury orginal)

2 parts Basil Hayden's Bourbon
1 part fresh grapefruit juice
1/2 part ginger simple syrup (instructions here)

Pour into punch bowl, add ice block, stir. Pour over ice, top with a fanned green apple resting on top of the rocks.

I served some impromptu cocktails from the New Traditionalist's highly desirable Bar Cart no. One., a great piece that stands at the exact proper height for building drinks. More about that bar cart to come.

Friday Night Cocktails: Booker's Notion

Naming cocktails after songs is a noble tradition--Jeffrey Morgenthaler regularly mines the 70s rock catalogue for titles. But In an attempt at some reverse engineering mixology, I asked Bartender Of The Month Mark Buettler to make a drink actually inspired by the Booker T. & The M.G.'s song "Booker's Notion." I suggested using prior bar manager Jim Ryan's recipe for the Peter Pan Punch as a jumping off point: elegant Basil Hayden's, Luxardo Maraschino liqueur, lemon juice, simple syrup and pixie mandarins, shaken, strained and poured over  rocks. Mark thought the song was "a little grimy, a little dirty," and set about roughing up the original which was delicious but, like its namesake, a bit precious, a tad jejeune. The first step was leaving out the the Luxardo and muddling two brandied cherries in the glass instead, leaving clumps of the dark fruit to float about in the drink. Ramazattti and Blood Orange Bitters, grown-up tangerines and of course the 121-127 proof power bourbon Booker's completed the transformation from pretty boy cocktail to down-and-dirty man drink.

BOOKER'S NOTION

1 1/2 oz Booker's

3/4 oz Ramozzatti Amaro

1/2 oz Stirrings Blood Orange Bitters

1/4 oz Lemon

4 slices of Mandarin Orange

2 Brandied Cherries

Muddle cherries in bottom of double rocks glass, leave in

Muddle mandarin with lemon

Add rest of liquids, shake with ice, strain over cherries in glass

I like to think that Mark took Peter Pan out to a dive bar on this one, getting him drunk and laid. When Peter wakes up in the morning in a strange bed with no idea where he is and no money, he's nonetheless happy. Everyone's gotta learn sometime.

As I snapped the photo above at Dressler a school bus entered the frame, and I instantly thought of a line a friend likes to drop when he gets up to leave a bar: "That school bus isn't going to drive itself." That seemed fittingly grimy for this drink, and for this song, which you can hear below, and download below that.

Booker's Notion

Download Booker's Notion

Friday Night Cocktails: Peter Pan Punch

Originally called Tinkerbell's Punch until I decided to butch the name up a smidge, the Peter Pan Punch was created by Jim Ryan a couple years back when he was manning the bar at Dressler, long before he became brand ambassador for Hendrick's. I'd just been to Bourbon Fest in Bardstown, Kentucky, and was having a full-on love affair with bourbon, Basil Hayden's in particular. The delicate floral notes stop just short of being sweet, and it's got that potent rye kick minus the burn-it's sort of perfectly masculine and feminine, in equal parts. I was gearing up for my 40th birthday party and asked Jim if he could think of something Bail Hayden based for a party I was throwing at home. He came back at me with an original creation, the Peter Pan Punch, and it certainly got the party started.  Refreshing and strong, It accelerates the beginning of the party nicely, nudging it past the awkward just-catching-a-buzz phase in short order. The Maraschino is probably the secret ingredient, investing the entire cocktail with a luxurious, addictive quality--this one practically drinks itself. It's a little labor intensive for a high-volume party, but the general air of happiness it helps foster makes it well worth the effort.

PETER PAN PUNCH

1.5 oz Basil Hayden Bourboun
½ oz. Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
½ oz. Lemon Juice
¼ oz. Simple Sugar
-middle ½ of a Pixie Mandarin

In a mixing glass, muddle Mandrain and add simple sugar, lemon juice, and Bourbon. Add ice and shake well. Pour into a double rocks glass and enjoy!