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: 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.

 

Wednesday's Cocktail: The Ascot

I just came across this photograph of an Ascot taken in the fall of 2007, right after my first spirits press junket (Beefeater, see pen) and I was awash in the punchy afterglow of the discovery that drinking could be not merely euphoric and occasionally destructive but also aesthetically invigorating and, in the right hands, actually transcendent. The alchemy that a really good cocktail creates was new to me, and when I first started writing about spirits I found myself sitting at various bars around the world doing what can reasonably be called research. These experiences of watching and listening to skilled bartenders as they made and explained drinks changed me, and I daresay the seed for Embury was planted in that halcyon fall, when St. Germain was miraculous and new (see notes in photo) and I first grasped what kind of instant transformations a gifted bartender (or an excellent recipe, followed closely in one's home) could effect. It was a revelation that seemed worth sharing during that November cocktail hour when I took this photo. It still does.

J.R.

THE ASCOT

2. oz Beefeater gin.
3/4 oz Punt e Mes vermouth
1.5 oz Aperol Aperitivo

Stir and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon peel.