EMBURY COCKTAILS

Leo Robitscheck's "Paris Is Burning"

Cocktail realness.

Tasted Leo Robitscheck of Nomad's dynamic cocktail at the English Gins party atop the brutally chic Nomad Hotel, on a sun-drenched Saturday afternoon during the Manhattan Cocktail Classic. The mezcal punched through the gin's sweeter side and accented its herby botanicals, pineapple and lemon juice always makes a vibrant mix, and the judicious use of St. Germain didn't pretty her up too much and gave her that light French touch (Mexico, England and France all represented, not an easy party to host.)  The name alludes to Jenny Livingston's 1990 film about the drag balls of Harlem so it seems appropriate to run the cocktail on the weekend of Gay Pride in NYC. Amazing to revisit the film 22 years after I first saw it at the Indepent Feature Project when Livingston was seeking distribution. The film, and the subject, remains as radical, subversive, empowering and bad-ass as ever. For a neat summation of the pre-Madonna, pre-RuPaul uptown gay phenomenon read Janet Upadhye's s article at Huffington Post, clip of the movie below and a link to the full film on YouTube here.

PARIS IS BURNING

1 oz Mezcal
1 oz Beefeater gin
1 oz Pineapple juice
1/2 oz Lemon juice
1/2 oz St Germaine
1/4 oz Cane syrup

Shake and strain into a coupe. top with angostura bitters

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: Party Of Six

As part of his duties as Bartender Of The Month here at Embury, Mark Buettler is required to contribute an original cocktail every week in October. He'd forgotten that fact when I'd stopped by to shoot his entry for the sherry cocktail contest that every bartender with a blog or a Facebook page seems to be entering, and he was put on the spot to come up with something on the fly.  This impromptu number made from spirits in Mark's bar started out life as the Party Of Five, but the last minute addition of Aperol was the sweet but surprisingly complext guest that truly made the party.

PARTY OF SIX

1 oz tawny port (Mark used a 1997 tawny Colheita)

1 oz Beefeater 24

1/2 oz Poire Williams

1/2 oz Aperol

1/4 oz. St. Germain elderflower cordial
1/4 oz. lemon juice

 

Shake and strain into an up glass of your choice, garnish with a lemon twist.

Rock You Like A Murricane

"But the good news is, the whiskey works." So says Bill Murray in Lost In Translation, with his trademark mixture of mirth shot through with a certain ennui or resignation (or is it the other way round?). The man has some important drinking moments in films, from taking a swig from a bottle on the steps of Columbia in Ghostbusters while giving one of the best, most reckless pep talks in cinematic history to his melancholy poolside scotch in Rushmore. Murray the man knows his way around a bottle too, or so his tale of a late night ride on a golf cart across Stockholm would seem to indicate.

In his Shaken and Stirred column for the New York Times, Jonathan Miles writes about The Anchor, a Soho bar that has distinguished itself by naming drinks after celebrated guests-a bit of naked P.R. strategy that's clearly worked. The cheesiness of the gimmick appears to have been transcended, however, with the creation of The Murricane. Apparently Bill Murray stopped into The Anchor where they, naturally, were keen to create a drink in his honor. Amenable, he suggested something with chartreuse, a nice challenge and an interesting indicator of his taste. The Anchor folk came up with this decidedly chartreuse-free drink that redeems its arrogant origin (ignore Bill Murray's request?) by being quite good. And Murray suggested calling it the Murricaine, a nickame SNL co-star Dan Akroyd gave him in light of his reputed moodiness. One more reason that it's Bill Murray's world, and we just live in it.

2 ounces fresh watermelon
4 or 5 basil leaves
1 1/2 ounces bourbon
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
3/4 ounce St-Germain elderflower liqueur
Freshly ground black pepper and watermelon wedge, for garnish (optional).

Combine the watermelon and basil leaves in a mixing glass or shaker and muddle until the watermelon is crushed and juicy. Add the bourbon, lemon juice and St-Germain, along with ice, and shake vigorously. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish, if desired, with a sprinkling of black pepper and a wedge of watermelon.

You've got to imagine some bourbon reps are kicking themselves for not getting in on branding this one.

Shaken and Stirred in the NYT
The Anchor