It’s no secret that Romain has fallen in love with the Rosemary Gimlet. He’s featured in Drinking French sipping the drink. But I’ve been trying to shake things up, so to speak, and get him to branch out to similar cocktails. And the White Lady is a good one, especially if rosemary isn’t available. But it’s an equally bracing gin and citrus cocktail, that’s easy…
This elegant sipper is the creation of Damon Boelte, who is the head bartender and co-owner of Grand Army bar and restaurant in Brooklyn. Not only is Damon a great bartender, but he has a particular knack for naming cocktails. This one is based on an experimental music album (Damon is also a musician), although I like to think it got its name because it’s…
I was delighted that so many people were interested in setting up a French bar in advance of the publication of Drinking French and have been asked what liquors and spirits to get. So I’ve teamed up with Slope Cellars wine and spirits shop in New York City to release a Drinking French Bar Box. The Drinking French Bar Box includes a bottle of Old…
When I rediscovered cocktails a while back, rye whiskey was the spirit that reeled me in. I loved its spicy, smoky notes and each one I tried was different than the others. Here, in the Algonquin cocktail, the rye is mixed with fruity pineapple juice, which gives it a suggestion of the tropics, but the whiskey brings it back to the “serious” category. But not…
Not as famous as its “other borough” cousin, the Manhattan, the Bronx is a fruitier, lighter alternative to the rough-and-tumbler whiskey-based cocktail. However one sip and you may find yourself visiting the Bronx a little more often!
Gentian is a root unearthed in volcanic soil in France. Its bittersweet flavor is very popular in France, sold as liqueurs and apéritifs; Suze, Salers, and Avèze are the most well-known. If you’re in France, Distillerie de Grandmont makes an excellent artisan gentian liqueur that I like very much, but isn’t widely available. (Google it to track a bottle down from online sellers.) Also in…
Invented in Burma, at a British club called the Pegu Club, this tropically-tinged cocktail found its way into the Savoy Cocktail Book. It’s pleasantly tangy and fruit-forward. The ingredients come together in the glass, resulting in a savvy cocktail with gentle citrus notes. One sip and you’ll understand why it’s still a cocktail classic!
This cocktail gets its name from the three main ingredients, and their relationship to bijoux, or jewels or gems. The clear gin is like a diamond, the red vermouth is like a ruby, and the green from the Chartreuse is the emerald. The original recipe called for those ingredients to be used in three equal parts but cocktail expert and bartender Dale DeGroff, who resurrected…
While green Chartreuse has been around for nearly four hundred years, Yellow Chartreuse is a relative newcomer, introduced in 1840. Because it’s such an iconic French spirit, Chartreuse is featured prominently in my book, Drinking French. Yellow Chartreuse is lower in alcohol than green Chartreuse, and both come by their color naturally. The yellow a touch sweeter and milder in taste than green Chartreuse, so…
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