:: fred's picks for the top cocktails of 2015 (in) ::

I will complete my sixth annual trilogy of year end wrap up posts by picking out the best recipes we tried at our home bar this year. Given my schedule of working nights, I find myself having the home bar as the only drinking option available, so I definitely put a bit more focus on my closest and dearest bar. I used to also tack on the best of my own creations at the end of the post, but I think I covered that in the first part of the trilogy (and you can see the whole collection here). Thus, this list is dedicated to the best recipes created by bartenders, living, deceased, and unknown, from around the world all brought to me at my home bar (where pants are optional).

January: To start the year off, I selected the Turn Signal by Portland's Sean Hoard and Daniel Shoemaker as a great fruity, bitter, and Bourbon drink. Luna de Cosecha by Justin Noel of 1534 in NYC with a stirred bitter and chocolatey tequila Manhattan and the strange early 1900's cassis for Maraschino Martinez, the Marblehead got honorable mentions.

February: Despite the name, 50 Shades of Maguey captured my attention with the ever delightful passion fruit-Campari pairing. Seattle's Scott Diaz's A Simple Quandry as a gin and aquavit 1919 Cocktail of sorts and Central Provisions' Schooner Punch that they created up in Portland, Maine, to show off a classic punch style have my attention as well.
March: I rather enjoyed Natalie Jacob's Jake Barnes for combining the Jack Rose with the pineapple-laden Jersey City. March's secondary honors go to Jeremy Oertel's Haunted House from The Old-Fashioned book with its use of Swedish punsch as the sweetener, and the sherry and orgeat Youngs from Pioneers of Mixing in Elite Bars: 1903-1933.

April: April was quite a Manhattan-filled month. First, I was quite impressed with the gin-pineapple-IPA beer combo in Thomas Waugh's Strange Brew from The Death & Co. Cocktail Book. Next, for runners up, Phil Ward's R'Cobbler -- a Rosita riff he created at Mayahuel, and Jesse Vida's Square Root -- an earthy Paper Plane-like equal parter that he created at Dead Rabbits.

May: May brought things back to Boston with Ryan Lotz's Benny & the Jets Tiki-style drink that he created for a Beachbum Berry event in town. Keeping with the Tiki theme, one of the second spots goes to Pleasure Island by Seattle's Ryan Lobe. And on the elegant side, Morning from Boothby's 1934 book captured elements of the Brandy Crusta without all the peel and sugar rim.
June: Tiki did continue on with the 1961 Puka Punch as a top pick, and Blair Reynold's Hilo Hala that he created before he even opened Hale Pele as a runner up. The other runner up, the Baltimore Cocktail, was created by Andrew Willett as a Madeira and spice variation using the Vieux Carré structure. The photo above was also from this month, the 1946 Zombie, which was also delightful but the photo and garnishing were more top notch than the variation recipe.

July: The month was a tough one to narrow down, and the top nod will be shared by two bartenders mentioned already. One was Scott Diaz's The Count's Swizzle which veered from the Negroni into Swizzle-land but still kept the Campari; and the other was Jeremy Oertel's Cynar and fire Artichoke Hold. For honorable mention in July, Jessica Gonzalez's Night Watch from The Death & Co. Cocktail Book made for a great nightcap. A garnish nod to myself went to my pirate ship on Blackbeard's Ghost.

August: It was easier to narrow the pack down to three than it was to pick a top drink. Perhaps Seattle's Connor O'Brien's Unique Bird that split the difference between a Jungle Bird and a Daisy de Santiago and graced the pages of Paul Clarke's The Cocktails Chronicles book. The Spiced Park Swizzle from Tiki Drinks: Tropical Cocktails for the Modern Bar and a leftover recipe from Tales of the Cocktail, the Sip Sip Hooray from San Diego's Noble Experiment, both were solid drinks.
September: Jason Alexander's Golden Shellback offered Tiki with elegant Benedictine and Swedish punsch notes for September's pick. Next, Maksym Pazuniak's A Moment of Silence still holds up after all these years since Beta Cocktails was published, and Gregory Buda's update of the Japanese Cocktail -- the Orientation at Dead Rabbits both deserve some recognition.

October: When Will Isaza of Fairsted Kitchen competed for Bacardi Legacy in Boston, I went home and made his winning drink the Paraiso at home to show myself why it was top dog. October also found me drinking a lot of quirky banana liqueur drinks with the Banana Boulevardier from the Anvil being one of the better ones. And for the other runner-up, a strange Daiquiri variation using an already taken name -- the White Lion from the irreverent Pioneers of Mixing at Elite Bars: 1903-1933 reminded me of a little of a Periodista.
November:Hale Pele's Mindy Kucan crafted one of the better seasonal drinks this year with the Nutty Like a Fruitcake. Silver and bronze medals (in no particular order) go to Eric Witz's Last Word-Widow's Kiss hybrid the Widow's Word and Boothby's 1934 dry vermouth elegant yet tropical egg white Pantomime.

December: Another great seasonal drink came from Chicago's The Whistler with Billy Helmkamp's South Pole Swizzle. A nod should be given to a pair of egg drinks, namely Griffin Lawler's Treaty of Paris with its Earl Grey tea notes and Pip Hanson's Angophile with a hearty dose of Angostura balanced and complemented by the vanilla-driven Licor 43.

artichoke hold

3/4 oz Smith & Cross Rum
3/4 oz Cynar
1/2 oz St. Germain
1/2 oz Orgeat
3/4 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with mint sprigs. I added a spent half lime shell filled with 3/8 oz El Dorado 151 Rum set ablaze.

On PunchDrinks, I spotted an interesting St. Germain-containing Tiki drink that seemed like a good follow up to the Hilo Hala earlier in the week, namely Jeremy Oertel's Artichoke Hold. Jeremy crafted this at Donna as a "play on a play... I did a cocktail called the Bitter Mai Tai, and this is its relative." As the drink name suggests, one of the substitution here is Cynar for the Campari in the Bitter Mai Tai.
The Artichoke Hold offered mint aromas over the funky rum notes from the garnish. On the sip, lime, caramel, and bright fruit notes from the St. Germain gave way to funky rum, herbal amaro, nutty orgeat, and floral flavors on the swallow. Indeed, Cynar and St. Germain paired here just as well as they do in Alto Cucina and other drinks.

haunted house

1 oz Appleton V/X Rum
1 oz Rittenhouse 100 Rye
1/2 oz Kronan Swedish Punsch
1/4 oz Ginger Syrup
2 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass with a large ice cube. Garnish with an orange (here, lemon) twist.

Two Fridays ago, I turned to Robert Simonson's The Old-Fashioned book that I purchased for this past Mixology Monday and made the Haunted House. The Haunted House was the recipe that initially caught my eye for the event, but with a liqueur in addition to the syrup, it felt more like a cocktail proper and less like an Old Fashioned. The book attributed the recipe to Jeremy Oertel of Donna in Brooklyn back in 2011. Jeremy dubbed his drink in tribute to Donna's owner's band of the same name.
In the glass, the Haunted House shared a lemon oil aroma that brightened the darker rum notes, and the sip offered malt and caramel flavors. Next, rye and rum notes from both the Swedish Punsch and Appleton began the swallow, and the swallow ended with a tea and ginger finish and lingering hints of ginger and the Punsch's Batavia Arrack.

oxford comma

2 oz Plymouth Gin (Beefeater)
3/4 oz Dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat)
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1 tsp Maraschino (1/6 oz Luxardo)
1 dash Bittermens Celery Shrub (2 dash Bitter Truth Celery Bitters)

Stir with ice, strain into a coupe glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.Two Tuesdays ago, I spotted a reference to the Oxford Comma cocktail, and I tracked the recipe down to an article on Punch. The Oxford Comma was created by Jeremy Oertel at Dram in Brooklyn circa 2014 when he was inspired by Mayahuel's Loop Tonic and wanted to make a stirred riff on it. The name reminds me of a writing gig where the editors eschewed the Oxford comma separating the final two elements in a list, and I found it rather difficult to give up (but that agitation was mitigated by the fact that they were paying me well for the articles). Once prepared, the Oxford Comma proffered lemon, herbaceous, pine, nutty, and celery aromas to the nose. Next, a semi-sweet sip gave way to gin, herbaceous, and cherry flavors on the swallow with a celery and herbal finish.

fade to black

1 oz Mezcal (Fidencio)
1 oz Ramazzotti Amaro
1/4 oz Smith & Cross Rum
2 dash Bittermens Mole Bitters
1 Whole Egg

Shake once without ice and once with ice, strain into a Collins glass, and top with Negro Modelo beer (~8 oz Trader José's Dark Lager).

Two Sundays ago, I added a Negro Modelo beer to my shopping list to finally make the Fade to Black that appeared in Ron Cooper's Finding Mezcal book. The recipe was crafted by Jeremy Oertel at Death & Co., and he was influenced by his time spent at Phil Ward's agave bar Mayahuel. While in Trader Joe's where I had previously spotted single bottles of Negro Modelo, I found that they only had Modelo's regular pale lager. Andrea pointed out that they did have a house brand dark lager that I ended up purchasing. Luckily, I found that the Trader José brand brought more to the table with a delightful wood smoke nose complementary to the mezcal's aromas that is absent in Negro Modelo itself.
Overall, the style reminded me of the Pop-In -- an old style of drink that began as a shot in a beer (opposed to the classic Boilermaker which is a shot beside a beer). Will Thompson at Drink was the first to introduce it to me after he learned about it at Dead Rabbits in Manhattan, and their version was spirits, sweetener, and whole egg that was lightened by beer. Here, the spirits were mezcal and a hint of funky Jamaican rum and the sweetener was a dark amaro. Once prepared, the Fade to Black greeted the senses with a caramel and smoke-filled nose. Next, a creamy and caramel sip gave way to agave, wood smoke, and chocolate flavors on the swallow. The Smith & Cross' contribution was not especially apparent in the mix, but as Jim Romdall pointed out, rum funk is the seasoning of cocktails to provide depth of flavor, and many cocktails would be flatter without it.

topsy turvy

2 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth (Martini Grand Lusso)
1 oz Lock Stock & Barrel Rye (Rittenhouse Bonded)
1 tsp Caffé Borghetti (Copper & Kings Destillare Café)
1 dash Mole Bitters (Bittermens)

Stir with ice, strain into a Nick & Nora glass, and garnish with an orange twist.
Two Tuesdays, I spotted an Inverse Manhattan riff in a recent Chilled Magazine article on rye whiskey drinks to mix this Fall. The recipe was called the Topsy Turvy by Jeremy Oertel of Donna in Brooklyn and Death & Co. in Manhattan, and his tweak on the Inverse Manhattan was to add coffee notes and switch the bitters to chocolate. Once prepared, the drink offered up orange notes and a hint of coffee to the nose. Next, a grape sip flipped into rye and coffee flavors on the swallow with a grape, roast, and chocolate finish.

bait 'n' switch

1 1/2 oz Sombra Mezcal (Peloton de la Muerte)
1/2 oz Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1/2 oz Cinnamon Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Two Wednesdays ago, I searched my ingredients index of the Death & Co.'s Welcome Home book for Ancho Reyes recipes, and I landed on the Bait 'n' Switch by Jeremy Oertel in 2014. When I found the entry in my copy of the book, it read like their Gilda Cocktail with mezcal instead of tequila plus chile liqueur in the mix. Once assembled, the Bait 'n' Switch gave forth a pineapple, dried pepper, cinnamon, and wood smoke aroma. Next, lime and pineapple notes on the sip opened up into smoky, vegetal, pepper spice, dried fruit, and cinnamon flavors on the swallow.

bitter maita'i

1 oz Smith & Cross Rum
1 oz Campari
3/4 oz Orgeat
1/2 oz Bols Triple Sec
1 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with an orange slice and add a straw.
Two Mondays ago after my DJ gig, Andrea and I traveled over to Eastern Standard for a late dinner. For my first drink, I asked bartender Carrie Cole for the Bitter Maita'i which recently appeared on the cocktail menu. The Eastern Standard recipe is a slight variation of the one created by Jeremy Oertel at Brooklyn's Dram whereby the rum was increased and the Campari was diminished. The drink began with an orange, Campari, and rum aroma. The citrus notes and the orgeat filled the sip, and the swallow showcased the Campari, lime crispness, and Smith & Cross funk notes. As the ice melted, the Campari's bitter flavors took a more prominent role. Victoria Moore in How to Drink explained this phenomenon:

If the bitterness makes you wince, there is a surprising way to reduce its impact. The mistake most people make when they're being tentative about Campari is to overdilute it, thinking that this will give it a gentler taste. It doesn't. Our perception of bitterness is very acute and is barely affected by increasing the dilution. What does change, though, is our perception of the sugar concentration, which you will notice decreasing with more dilution; and without the sugar to balance the bitterness, it will make you flinch even more.

Not that the bitterness bothered me, but it was definitely noticeable how the drink shifted over time. Andrea was not bothered by the Campari either, but she felt that the Smith & Cross gave the drink a bit of a rocket fuel note (an aspect that does dilute well with ice melt).

dark horse

1 1/2 oz Appleton 21 Year Rum (Appleton Reserve)
1/2 oz Bordelet Calvados (Boulard VSOP)
1/2 oz Amaro Nardini
1/2 oz Grand Marnier (Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao)

Stir with ice, strain into a Nick & Nora glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.
Two Fridays ago, I was inspired by the article in Punch Drinks about the Cocktail Codex book and therefore pulled it off the shelf. In its pages, I found the Dark Horse crafted by Jeremy Oertel in 2017. Once stirred and strained, the Dark Horse offered lemon oil over a caramel apple nose. Next, the caramel continued into the sip where it led into rum, apple, minty-herbal, and orange flavors on the swallow.

chester rapkin

1 oz Sloe Gin (Atxa Patxaran)
1 oz London Dry Gin (Beefeater)
3/4 oz Campari
1/4 oz St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass with ice. Garnish with an orange twist.

Two weeks ago after a fill-in Wednesday shift, I flipped to the nightcap section of Food & Wine: Cocktails 2015. There I found Jeremy Oertel's take on a Negroni for the Sotto Grand Hotel's menu called the Chester Rapkin. Rapkin was the urban planner who coined the abbreviation SoHo, and this tribute paired sloe gin and Campari like the Red Sea did.
The Chester Rapkin donated a bright orange oil aroma that countered the darker notes stemming from the sloe liqueur. Next, the sloe's dark berry continued on into the sip, and the swallow was rather complex with gin botanicals, Campari bitter and orange peels, and Patxaran's berry and coffee. Finally, the swallow ended with an allspice finish.

long story short

1 1/2 oz Old Forester Signature Bourbon (Evan Williams Bonded)
1/2 oz Smith & Cross Rum
1/2 tsp Cinnamon Syrup
1/2 tsp Demerara Syrup
1/2 tsp Giffard Passion Fruit Liqueur (Passion Fruit Syrup)
1 dash Bitter Truth's Jerry Thomas Decanter Bitters

Stir with ice, strain into a rocks glass with a large ice cube, and garnish with an orange twist.Two Sundays ago, I began perusing the Death & Co. Welcome Home book and spotted Jeremy Oertel's Long Story Short. This 2017 recipe reminded me of the African Queen that I had two weeks prior given the Old Fashioned structure accented by passion fruit liqueur (and where I utilized passion fruit syrup instead). Once prepared, the Long Story Short gave forth an orange, tropical funk, and cinnamon aroma. Next, caramel and a hint of fruit on the sip flowed into Bourbon, funky rum, and cinnamon flavors on the swallow with a tropical finish.

home stretch

1 oz Añejo Tequila (Cimarron Reposado)
1 oz Calvados (Morin Selection)
3/4 oz Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth (Lacuesta Rojo)
1/4 oz Vanilla Syrup
1 dash Miracle Mile Pecan Bitters
1 drop Root Beer Extract (1 dash Bitter Queens Sarsaparilla Bitters)

Stir with ice, strain into a double old fashioned glass with an ice cube, and garnish with an orange twist.Two Sundays ago, I returned to Death & Co.'s Welcome Home book where I spotted Jeremy Oertel's 2016 Home Stretch. The Home Stretch was a Manhattan riff that had the tequila-Calvados combination that I experienced in the Spanish Caravan and used in my Hasta Manzana a few weeks later. In the glass, the Home Stretch approached the nose with an orange, apple, and vanilla aroma. Next, grape and apple notes on the sip flowed into vegetal, apple, and root beer flavors on the swallow with a vanilla and pecan finish.

rosa amargo

1 1/2 oz Mezcal (Fidencio)
1/2 oz Grapefruit Liqueur (St. Elder)
1/2 oz Blanc Vermouth (Dolin)
1/2 oz Campari

Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail coupe, and garnish with a grapefruit twist.

Wednesday two weeks prior, I began thumbing through my Food & Wine: Cocktails book collection, and I spotted the Rosa Amargo in the 2015 edition. This recipe by Jeremy Oertel at Donna in Brooklyn reminded me of a mezcal Rosita with grapefruit liqueur in place of one of the vermouths or perhaps a mezcal Lucien Gaudin with grapefruit instead of orange liqueur.The Rosa Amargo welcomed the senses with a grapefruit, smoke, and orange bouquet. Next, an Aperol-like orange note on the sip slid into smoky mezcal transitioning into a bitter grapefruit and orange on the swallow.

betty carter

1 1/2 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon (Bulleit)
3/4 oz Pedro Ximenez Sherry (Lustau)
1/2 oz Amaro Nonino (Averna)
3/4 oz Lemon Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass.

Two Fridays ago, I turned to Talia Baiocchi's Sherry book for a recipe to begin the cocktail hour. The one that caught my eye was created by Natasha David and Jeremy Oertel for the drink list at Berlyn in Brooklyn (which is where one of my old coworkers Caleb Linton, the one that created the Poppin' Tags, works, and apparently one of David Wondrich's favorite hangouts in the City). Their drink, the Betty Carter, is their tribute to the American jazz singer as a Whiskey Sour variation. The two put the amaro in the mix to span the low notes of the sherry and Bourbon and the high notes of the lemon juice.
The Betty Carter proffered a raisiny aroma from the sherry that was brightened by the citrus notes. Next, a crisp caramel and raisin sip gave way to a tart whiskey swallow replete with herbal notes.

ransom note

1 oz Rittenhouse Rye
1 oz Lustau Brandy de Jerez (Du Peyrat Selection)
3/4 oz Del Professore Sweet Vermouth (Cocchi)
1/4 oz Amaro Ramazzotti
1 tsp Giffard White Crème de Cacao (Bols)
1 dash Orange Bitters (Angostura Orange)
1 dash Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters (Jerry Thomas Decanter)

Stir with ice, strain into a Nick & Nora glass, and garnish with a lemon twist.Two Thursdays ago, I was in the mood for a nightcap after a busy shift at the bar. From Death & Co.'s Welcome Home book, I selected Jeremy Oertel's 2015 Ransom Note to do the deed. In the glass, it shared a lemon, brandy, and caramel bouquet to the senses. Next, grape and caramel notes swirled on the sip, and the swallow came through with rye, Cognac, cola, chocolate, and spice flavors on the swallow.

artichoke hold

2 oz Bourbon (Wild Turkey 101)
1/4 oz Cynar
1/4 oz Maraschino Liqueur (Luxardo)
2-3 dash Orange Bitters (Regan's)

Stir with ice, strain into an old fashioned glass with fresh ice, and garnish with an orange twist.

A few weeks ago, I had spotted a recipe in Imbibe Magazine online called the Artichoke Hold, but I paused on it for it shared the same name with Jeremy Oertel's drink. Then two Saturday nights ago, I was in the mood for a nightcap, and this Old Fashioned-like number seemed perfect enough for the moment to override my hesitations. Actually, it reminded me more of a Fancy Free with perhaps the Cynar subbing in for the classic's Angostura or a Bensonhurst without the dry vermouth. Therefore, I gave this creation of Steven Tuttle of Kettner Exchange in San Diego a whirl.
This Artichoke Hold offered up orange and nutty cherry notes to the nose that led into malt and a hint of cherry on the sip. Next, Bourbon was accented by nutty cherry melding with funky herbal flavors on the swallow. Overall, my choice of Wild Turkey 101 made for a hot and aggressive drink until there was more dilution from ice melt with time.