Batch Cocktails
Page 7
Rio Housewives
MAKES ABOUT 12 SERVINGS IN A 2-QUART PITCHER
What happens when a bold and effervescent Americano—flavored with Campari and sweet vermouth—meets a tall caipirinha, made with lime juice and Brazil’s signature sugarcane spirit? Very good things. Brett Tilden of Turkey and the Wolf in New Orleans brings the two drinks together here, and the result is as juicy as a ripe cherry, with a vacation-friendly funky banana note thanks to the cachaça. Campari balances the cocktail’s richness with its pithy orange-rind bitter edge, and lime juice and soda keep things chuggable. You’re gonna want to drink this one outdoors.
2¼ cups Cocchi Vermouth di Torino
1½ cups silver cachaça (such as Novo Fogo)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Campari
6 tablespoons 2:1 demerara syrup (this page)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
TO SERVE
2 (1 L) bottles chilled club soda
12 lime wheels
At least 2 hours and up to 2 days before serving, make the batch. Pour vermouth, cachaça, Campari, and demerara syrup into a 2-quart pitcher and stir to mix. Seal well, covering with plastic wrap if needed, and refrigerate.
Up to 2 hours before serving, prepare lime juice and stir into pitcher mix. Reseal and return to refrigerator if not serving immediately.
To serve, stir pitcher well. Fill collins glasses with ice, then carefully pour in chilled club soda to fill glasses about halfway (letting fizz settle). Top with pitcher mix, give each drink a quick stir, and garnish with a lime wheel.
Sunrise at Koko Head
MAKES ABOUT 13 SERVINGS IN A 2-QUART PITCHER
Let’s all go on vacation somewhere where the sun is warm, the pool extends forever, and the drink in your hand is actually as good as you dreamed it would be. Well, even if you don’t have the frequent flier miles saved up, at least you can have a round of these. Created by Honolulu bartender Jen Ackrill, each sip starts out fruity and tart, showcasing the guava and lime. But a mix of herbal and bitter liqueurs gives the drink a crisp, citrus-pith edge that will leave you coming back for more. Batch the bitter stuff and stash it in the fridge the night before, and you’ll have a cool cocktail and minimal prep on party day. One box of Ceres guava juice will give you enough for this recipe.
1 cup Campari
1 cup Benedictine
½ cup Aperol
6 tablespoons water
3¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons chilled guava juice or nectar (such as Ceres)
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
TO SERVE
13 lemon half-wheels
At least 2 hours and up to 24 hours before serving, make the batch. Pour Campari, Benedictine, Aperol, and water into a 2-quart pitcher and stir to mix. Seal well, covering with plastic wrap if needed, and refrigerate.
Up to 1 hour before serving, shake guava juice container well before opening. Prepare lime juice and stir or whisk both juices into pitcher mix. Reseal and return to refrigerator if not serving immediately.
To serve, stir mixture well and pour into ice-filled collins glasses. Garnish each glass with a lemon half-wheel.
USE IT UP
Benedictine partners nicely with rye in classic cocktails such as the Vieux Carré, De la Louisiane, Monte Carlo, and Frisco Sour, or you can pour it into a hot toddy (with a lemon squeeze or wheel) like they do at the Burnley Miners Social Club in England. Also, don’t miss it in the sherry-based Bone Machine (this page).
Principessa di Sole
MAKES ABOUT 10 SERVINGS IN A 2-QUART PITCHER
This fizzy lifting drink, created by Elliot Clark of San Francisco’s Bon Voyage, gains layered spice from the combination of anise-laced Peychaud’s bitters and a sizable pour of Amaro Montenegro, an Italian liqueur that’s flavored with vanilla, saffron, orange peel, and other wonders. It’s a lowish-proof cocktail that keeps you guessing: there’s juicy raspberry and fresh citrus up front, but the finish is as bitter as the day is long. It works well in a punch bowl with a large chunk of ice, too; feel free to double the recipe if your serving vessel can hold five quarts or more comfortably.
1¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons Amaro Montenegro
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons white rum
2 teaspoons Peychaud’s bitters
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons chilled raspberry syrup (recipe follows)
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
5 tablespoons fresh lime juice
TO SERVE
2½ cups chilled dry sparkling wine
10 lively mint sprigs
10 fresh raspberries
10 lime wheels
At least 2 hours and up to 24 hours before serving, make the batch. Pour Amaro Montenegro, white rum, bitters, and chilled raspberry syrup into a 2-quart pitcher and stir to mix. Seal well, covering with plastic wrap if needed, and refrigerate.
Up to 2 hours before serving, prepare lemon and lime juices and stir into pitcher mix. Reseal and return to refrigerator if not serving immediately.
To serve, stir well. Gently pour in chilled sparkling wine, then stir mixture gently once more. Pour into ice-filled rocks glasses or punch cups. Garnish each glass with a mint sprig, a fresh raspberry, and a lime wheel.
RASPBERRY SYRUP • MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP
1 cup sugar
½ cup water
½ cup fresh raspberries
Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is completely dissolved. Add raspberries and stir into syrup. Continue cooking about 2 minutes, using spoon to mash berries against side of pan. Remove from heat and let steep, covered, for 30 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a resealable container and refrigerate until chilled or for up to 1 week.
Thyme Out
MAKES ABOUT 8 SERVINGS IN A 2-QUART PITCHER
This tart and bitter cocktail from Bay Area bartender Alfie Turnshek-Goins has my number: gin gets an extra herbal flair by sitting with some fresh thyme in the batch, but the main flavors come courtesy of freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice (strained to remove seeds and pulp, if you’ve got time) and Punt e Mes, an Italian vermouth that has a particularly bitter kick. The combination is great with salty predinner snacks, but my friends have been known to take down a pitcher especially quickly at brunch.
1½ cups gin
¾ cup Punt e Mes
¾ cup dry vermouth (such as Dolin)
2 teaspoons 1:1 simple syrup (this page)
8 thyme sprigs
2¼ cups strained fresh pink grapefruit juice
TO SERVE
8 grapefruit wedges
8 thyme sprigs
At least 2 hours before serving, make the batch. Pour gin, Punt e Mes, vermouth, and simple syrup into a 2-quart pitcher and stir to mix. Add thyme sprigs, making sure they’re submerged in liquid. Seal well, covering with plastic wrap if needed, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Discard thyme sprigs. If not serving immediately, reseal and return to refrigerator for up to 1 day.
Up to 2 hours before serving, prepare grapefruit juice, strain to remove any seeds, and stir into pitcher mix. Reseal and return to refrigerator if not serving immediately.
To serve, fill pitcher with ice and stir gently until outside of pitcher is cool. Pour into ice-filled rocks glasses and garnish each glass with a grapefruit wedge and a thyme sprig.
National Treasure
MAKES ABOUT 8 SERVINGS IN A 1-LITER SWING-TOP BOTTLE
If you love Negronis and Boulevardiers, your cool-weather months will be more complete with this lovely whiskey drink from Brian Kane of Abe Fisher in Philadelphia. It opens up velvety and candied, unfolds with warming rye and apple brandy, then turns a corner into bitterness, when vegetal Cynar takes the wheel. And yes, you should try aging a bottle or mason jar of this, if you can keep from drinking it all tonight.
; ¾ cup rye (such as Wild Turkey)
½ cup Laird’s 100-proof apple brandy
½ cup Carpano Antica Formula sweet vermouth
½ cup Campari
¼ cup Cynar
½ cup water
TO SERVE
8 lemon twists
At least 2 hours before serving, make the batch. Use a small funnel to pour rye, apple brandy, vermouth, Campari, Cynar, and water into a 1-liter swing-top bottle. Seal, turn gently end over end to mix, and refrigerate.
To serve, turn bottle gently to mix. Place a large ice cube in each rocks glass, then pour in cocktail. Express oils from a lemon twist over each drink and use twist as garnish.
USE IT UP
If you like your drinks big and bold, try Andrew Friedman’s 50-50 mix of Cynar and a smoky Scotch, like Ardbeg or Laphroaig. Cynar’s also great in the Frankie Panky (this page) and the Bitter Ex (this page).
Bitter Ex
MAKES ABOUT 12 SERVINGS IN A 2-QUART PITCHER
Salty, bitter, fruity, sour.…This multidimensional low-proof drink was designed by San Francisco bartender Gillian Fitzgerald for serving (as a bit of a joke) on Valentine’s Day. It’s so delicious, though, that I’d gladly drink it at a larger party anytime. The cocktail’s biting bitterness is nicely balanced with nutty sherry, fresh pineapple juice, and honey. If you have two pitchers handy, Fitzgerald recommends pouring the mixture back and forth between them to aerate the drink. Don’t have a juicer? Just cut two large peeled pineapples into cubes, puree them in your blender, then strain and measure. Save the pineapple leaves for your garnish!
1½ cups Cynar
¾ cup Campari
¾ cup amontillado sherry (such as Lustau)
¾ cup chilled 2:1 honey syrup (this page)
1½ cups fresh pineapple juice
¾ cup fresh lime juice
TO SERVE
Flaky sea salt
1 lime wedge (optional), plus 8 lime wheels
24 pineapple leaves (optional)
Up to 12 hours before serving, make the batch. Pour Cynar, Campari, amontillado sherry, and chilled honey syrup into a 2-quart pitcher and stir to mix. If not serving immediately, seal well, covering with plastic wrap if needed, and refrigerate.
Up to 2 hours before serving, prepare pineapple and lime juices and stir into pitcher mix. Reseal and return to refrigerator if not serving immediately.
To serve, if you’d like to rim the rocks glasses, pour some flaky salt onto a small plate and rub each glass’s rim with a lime wedge. Gently dip and roll rim of each glass in salt to coat.
Stir pitcher mixture well, then fill pitcher with ice and stir until outside of pitcher is cool (or pour mixture back and forth between two pitchers a few times to add froth). Add lime wheels to pitcher and pour cocktail into ice-filled rocks glasses and garnish with pineapple leaves, if desired.
USE IT UP
San Francisco bartender Drew Record combines equal parts amontillado sherry, sparkling wine, and club soda for a flavorful but light afternoon drink.Serve over ice, with a dash of orange bitters.
BOOZY
HAPPINESS
GREYSCALE
UNCHAINED MELODY
BARDSTOWN
THREE-PIECE SUIT
THE NIGHT SHIFT
HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER
DOUBLE DOWN
TICKTOCK
Happiness
MAKES ABOUT 8 SERVINGS IN A 1-LITER SWING-TOP BOTTLE
When you make a Manhattan, you usually stir together two parts whiskey with one part sweet vermouth. Here, Mark Sassi of the Sexton in Seattle reverses those proportions, rendering the drink lower in alcohol and richer in dark fruit and caramel flavor. Sassi serves it up in a martini glass with a brandied cherry, but I prefer to sip this velvety cocktail with a big ice cube, plus an orange twist for added aroma.
2 cups Carpano Antica sweet vermouth
1 cup bourbon
3 teaspoons Angostura bitters
½ cup water
TO SERVE
8 orange twists
At least 2 hours before serving, make the batch. Use a small funnel to pour vermouth, bourbon, bitters, and water into a 1-liter swing-top bottle. Seal, turn gently end over end to mix, and refrigerate.
To serve, turn bottle gently to mix. Place a large ice cube in each rocks glass, then pour in cocktail. Express oils from an orange twist over each drink and use twist as garnish.
Greyscale
MAKES ABOUT 12 SERVINGS IN A 2-QUART PITCHER
This luscious drink from Anna Moss of La Moule in Portland, Oregon, will vary depending on the Scotch you use—some will add a whisper of smoke, while others bring out the caramel and juicy peach flavors in the cocktail. Whichever you choose, the combination of honey, citrus-tinged tea, and Cognac makes for a rounded, aromatic sipper that’s nice with cheese straws or toasted nuts.
1½ cups Cognac
¾ cup Scotch
1½ cups chilled Earl Grey syrup (recipe follows)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
TO SERVE
12 lemon wheels
At least 2 hours and up to 1 day before serving, make the batch. Pour Cognac, Scotch, chilled Earl Grey syrup, and water into a 2-quart pitcher and stir to mix. Seal well, covering with plastic wrap if needed, and refrigerate.
Up to 2 hours before serving, prepare lemon juice and stir into pitcher mix. Reseal and return to refrigerator if not serving immediately.
To serve, pour cocktail into ice-filled rocks glasses or punch cups and garnish with lemon wheels.
EARL GREY SYRUP • MAKES ABOUT 1¾ CUPS
2 Earl Grey tea bags (decaffeinated, if desired)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup honey
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Place tea bags in a heat-safe container, such as a large spouted measuring cup, and add boiling water. Let steep for 6 minutes, then discard tea bags, and stir in honey and salt until fully dissolved. Let cool. Seal well, covering with plastic wrap if needed, and refrigerate until chilled or for up to 1 week.
Unchained Melody
MAKES ABOUT 10 SERVINGS IN A 2-QUART PITCHER
Bourbon loves orange and spice; fans of the old-fashioned know this. In this cocktail from Katipai Richardson-Wilson of Brooklyn’s Dirty Precious, the citrus and whiskey share the spotlight. Honey and orange tea amplify the bourbon’s toasty barrel flavors. (The honey syrup is cut with a bit of sugar so the honey doesn’t dominate.) I hope this recipe catches your eye in cooler seasons, when piles of crisp leaves and bonfires call for bourbon drinks. For a big gathering, double the recipe for a large punch bowl, add an ice block (see this page), and make sure each glass gets plenty of ice.
2¼ cups high-proof bourbon (such as Medley Bros.)
1½ cups chilled orange-honey syrup (recipe follows)
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
TO SERVE
10 orange wheels
10 orange twists (optional)
Up to 1 day before serving, make the batch. Pour bourbon, chilled orange-honey syrup, and water into a 2-quart pitcher and stir to mix. If not serving immediately, seal well, covering with plastic wrap if needed, and refrigerate.
Up to 2 hours before serving, prepare lemon juice and stir into pitcher mix. Reseal and return to refrigerator if not serving immediately.
To serve, fill pitcher with ice, add orange wheels, and stir gently until outside of pitcher is cool. Pour cocktail into ice-filled rocks glasses. Express oils from an orange twist over each cocktail, if desired, and use twist as garnish.
ORANGE-HONEY SYRUP • MAKES ABOUT 1⅔ CUPS
1 cup water
2 orange tea bags (such as Tazo wild sweet orange)
2 tablespoons sugar
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¾ cup honey
In a small saucepan, bring water to a bare simmer over medium-high heat. As soon as you spot the first bubble, add tea bags, remove from heat, and let steep for 5 minutes. Discard tea bags. Add honey and sugar to saucepan, return to medium-high heat, and stir constantly, just until dissolved. Remove from heat. Let cool, then transfer to a resealable container and refrigerate until chilled or for up to 1 week.
Bardstown
MAKES ABOUT 8 SERVINGS IN A 1-LITER SWING-TOP BOTTLE
Named after the Kentucky home of the Heaven Hill distillery, this cocktail from Andrew Friedman was on the menu at Liberty in Seattle for quite a few years. It’s a potent little number, with just enough aromatic citrus to smooth the edge of peppery rye and 100-proof apple brandy. The orange bitters and triple sec layer nicely with the whiskey, offering a hint of Creamsicle and butterscotch.
1½ cups 100-proof apple brandy (such as Laird’s)
1 cup 100-proof rye (such as Rittenhouse)
½ cup high-quality triple sec (such as Giffard or Ferrand dry curaçao)
1 tablespoon orange bitters
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon water
TO SERVE
8 orange twists
At least 1½ hours and up to 2½ hours before serving, make the batch. Use a small funnel to pour apple brandy, rye, triple sec, bitters, and water into a 1-liter swing-top bottle. Seal, turn gently end over end to mix, and chill in freezer. (If you’d prefer to batch further in advance, refrigerate filled bottle, then place in freezer an hour or so before serving.)
To serve, turn bottle gently to mix, then pour cocktail into chilled coupe glasses. Express oils from an orange twist over each glass, rub rim of glass with twist, and use twist as garnish.