harkness table

1 oz Christian Drouin Selection Calvados
1 oz Christian Drouin Pommeau di Normandie
1 oz Alessio Chinato Vermouth

Stir with ice, strain into a double Old Fashioned glass, and add ice cubes.
Two Mondays ago, I ventured down to No. 9 Park for an afternoon of education with the producer of Christian Drouin Calvados. After the talk, we were treated to Ted Gallagher of Steel & Rye making drinks. One of his recipes was the Harkness Table named after a teaching method where students sit in a large oval and discuss topics in an open-minded atmosphere with little teacher intervention. In the glass, the Harkness Table was like a Marconi Wireless with more fresh apple notes and a touch of quinine instead of the normal orange bitters.

rye rising

1 oz Old Overholt Rye
1 oz Galliano Ristretto Espresso Liqueur
1/2 oz Boston Bual Madeira
1/2 oz Demerara Syrup
1 dash Mole Bitters
1 Egg

Shake once without ice and once with. Strain into a rocks glass and garnish with grated coffee bean.

For a dessert cocktail at Steel & Rye, I asked bartender Ted Gallagher for the Rye Rising. When I inquired about the name, Ted mentioned that he was stuck thinking of something to call it since Coffee Cocktail had been taken a mere 150 years before. Luckily, Ted's wife came to the rescue at 1:30am the night before this brunch drink was due to be printed on the menu. With whiskey, Madeira, and egg, it did remind me a bit of a Boston Flip, although the coffee angle put it in the realm of his previous Bramble and Arabica, Ted Kilpatrick's Orinoco, and Sam Gabrielli's Don't Flip Out.
The grated coffee bean garnish contributed a fresh dark roast coffee aroma to the nose. The dark roast continued on into the sip where it joined the rich, caramel sip. The coffee theme carried on into the swallow along with the rye and hints of the Madeira at the end. I suggested dropping the espresso liqueur amount and raising the Madeira both to 3/4 oz to bring out the beauty of the Madeira a touch more in the drink.

lionheart

1 1/2 oz Domaine Dupont Calvados
1/2 oz Rittenhouse 100 Rye
1 barspoon Maple Syrup
1 dash St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass with a large ice cube. Twist a lemon peel over the top.

For a first drink at Steel & Rye, Andrea requested the Lionheart. Bartender Ted Gallagher explained that the Lionheart was not named after one of Jean-Claude Van Damme's films as one server at the restaurant thought, and I was misguided in thinking about the Lion's Tail due to the whiskey and allspice dram in the mix. For the recipe was named after the Duke of Normandy in tribute to the Calvados in the drink.
The Lionheart shared bright lemon oil notes over the apple aroma. The rye's maltiness mingled with a vague fruitiness on the sip, and the swallow showcased the apple, maple, and allspice flavors.

josephine's bath

1 1/4 oz Rhum JM Blanc
1 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
3/4 oz Gran Classico

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass containing a large ice cube. Twist a grapefruit peel over the top.

A few Sundays ago, Andrea and I ventured down to Milton to dine at Steel & Rye where bartenders Ted Gallagher and Derric Crothers were manning the bar that night. For a first drink, I requested the Josephine's Bath which seemed like an interesting rhum agricole Negroni variation. Ted explained how he spent his honeymoon in Martinique, and there, he stood with his bride in a historic section of water off of the shore. The fame came from Napoléon Bonaparte's first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais from Martinique, and she used to bathe in that sandbar off the island's coast.
The grapefruit oil greeted the nose and preceded a grassy wine sip. The swallow then offered the grassy and mineral flavors of the rhum followed by the herbal notes of the Gran Classico and vermouth. Overall, the Gran Classico worked rather well here with the rhum agricole, and the Josephine's Bath came across as more delicate than other rhum agricole Negroni variations including the Pirate Slave and the Defensio.

[lower mills]

1 1/2 oz Ransom Old Tom Gin
1/2 oz Suze Gentian Liqueur
3/4 oz Lustau Amontillado Sherry
1/2 oz Citrus Cordial (*)

Shake with ice and strain into a rocks glass containing an orange wheel and filled with crushed ice. Add a straw.
(*) Sub triple sec in a pinch. See this post that includes a recipe for a grapefruit cordial the bar manager used to make while at Craigie on Main and perhaps sub lemon and lime.
Two Sundays ago, we stopped into Steel & Rye in Milton for dinner. There, bartender Ted Gallagher made me an Old Tom gin drink he had been tinkering with. Once mixed, it offered a citrus and grape aroma that led into a light citrus and grape sip. Next, the gin led off the swallow that continued on with nutty and gentian flavors and spice-driven swallow.

stagecoach traveler

1 1/2 oz Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac (*)
1 oz Aperol
1/2 oz Amaro S. Maria al Monte

Stir with ice and strain into a rocks glass rinsed with Lucid Absinthe.
(*) Now made with 3/4 oz rye whiskey and 3/4 oz Cognac.

For Andrea's second drink, bartender Ted Gallagher made her one of the drinks he had been working on that lacked a name. In fact, when Ted emailed me the name later that week, he also had updated the recipe from a Cognac base to a split spirits base of Cognac and rye akin to a Saratoga. The tasting notes below are for the way it was served that night with the brandy base though.
The Aperol's orange notes on the nose were spiced by the absinthe rinse's anise, and as the drink warmed up, the Cognac grape aromas became apparent. The orange notes continued into the sip where it joined the amaro's caramel, and the swallow presented Cognac and the S. Maria's herbal flavors and finished with the absinthe spice.

eddie lynch

2 oz Canadian Club Whisky
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz Orange Juice
1/4 oz Cocchi Sweet Vermouth
2 dash Green Chartreuse

Shake with ice and strain into a Highball glass containing fresh ice. Top with 2 oz soda water, add a straw, and garnish with a "traffic light" (lime twist, lemon twist, and cherry on a pick).

For my second drink at Steel & Rye, bartender Ted Gallagher recommended the Eddie Lynch, a tribute to his maternal grandfather; while Ted unfortunately never met his grandfather, he is name after him -- Edward Lynch Gallagher. Eddie grew up in Syracuse, NY, and he and his friends would break the traffic light in the Tipperary Hill neighborhood by throwing rocks at the red light. They complained to the city that the green should be on top (to mimic the Irish flag), and eventually the town gave in. To pay tribute to his grandfather's neighborhood, he based the libation roughly off of a Tipperary, and since Eddie grew up to be a Canadian Club salesman, Ted swapped the Irish for Canadian whisky.
Ted's three color flag garnish captured the essence of his grandfather's childhood protest, and its green light on top provided a delightful lime oil aroma. A carbonated sip shared light citrus notes, and the swallow shared whiskey and hints of Chartreuse. I commented to Ted that the Eddie Lynch Highball reminded me of an easier drinking version of his Everybody is a Nun that he crafted for the J.D. Salinger 9 Stories event last year.

good cuban

1 oz Plantation 3 Star Rum
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Mint Demerara Syrup
1/2 oz Kina L'Avion d'Or
1 dash Bittermens Mole Bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Top with 2 oz dry sparkling wine.
The libation that Andrea started with at Steel & Rye was the Good Cuban. Bar manager Ted Gallagher described how it was his take on the Pegu Club's neo-classic, the Old Cuban. Once mixed, the lime paired elegantly on the nose with the mint's greenness and spice. Next, a citrussy wine sip led into a swallow that shared a glimmer of the white rum's character but mainly the mint and the Kina L'Avion's herbal flavors. Definitely on the lighter side of the spectrum from the one Eastern Standard makes with aged Barbancourt.

maritime out

3/4 oz Rhum Clément
1 oz Bonal Gentiane Quinquina
3/4 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Simple Syrup

Shake with ice and strain into a white wine glass.

Two Sundays ago, Andrea and I ventured down to Milton to eat dinner at Steel & Rye. The bar program there is now headed by Craigie on Main and No. 9 Park alum Ted Gallagher and another of the bartenders is Green Street and Alchemist Lounge alum Derric Crothers. While it was Derric's night off, we did have the honor of getting to sit at Ted's bar again. For a light start to the evening, I asked Ted for the Maritime Out which was his addition to the Daiquiri Time Out (or D.T.O.) phenomenon in the area. Some bars, such as Brick & Mortar, have D.T.O.'s as shooters or cocktails on the menu, and others have Daiquiri variations such as Eastern Standard's Chappaquiddick. The Steel & Rye Daiquiri variation strayed by calling for rhum agricole with much of the spirit's potency cut with Bonal Gentiane Quinquina.
The Maritime Out offered a grape and grass aroma. The grape continued on into the sip along with the lime, and the swallow offered the rhum's grassiness balanced by the Bonal's bitter herbal notes and finishing clean from the lime crispness.