1919

A few weeks ago I finally went to get a drink at Craigie on Main, a restaurant/bar that has been a Cambridge mainstay for the past ten years. I was drawn to a cocktail called the 1919, which was listed as a "classic" on the menu even though I had never heard of it. The bartender explained that it was something of a local classic, created a few miles away at Drink. This only made me love it more. And I already really loved it. Spirit-forward and rich, it's reminiscent of a Manhattan or a Vieux Carre. It is an absolutely lovely drink to sip on.

The 1919 has a split base of rye whiskey and rum. The recommended rum is Old Monk, which I keep hearing about recently. It's an Indian rum, quite cheap but much-loved. Definitely something I'm going to add to my bar soon! In the meantime, Appleton Estate was a wonderful replacement. Benedictine, Punt e Mes, and Mole Bitters round out the recipe. I personally like reducing the recommended 1/2 oz. of Benedictine to 1/4 oz. to keep the drink from getting too sweet.

History: The 1919 was created by Ben Sandrof at Drink in Boston's Fort Point neighborhood. He named it after the year of the Boston Molasses Flood (affectionately known as the Boston Molassacre) because of the molasses notes in the rum. The Molasses Flood took place on January 15th, 1919 - the day before Prohibition ended. I just realized that I missed the 100th anniversary of this weird and tragic event! Still, 2019 seems like the perfect year to sip on a 1919.

1919

3/4 oz. rye whiskey (Rittenhouse recommended; I used Redemption)
3/4 oz. rum (Old Monk recommended; I used Appleton Estate Signature Blend)
1 oz. Punt e Mes
1/4 oz. Benedictine
1 dash Bittermen's Xocolatl Mole Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a coupe or cocktail glass. No garnish.

Recipe from Cocktail Virgin Slut.
Photos taken at The Canopy Room.

Condado

I'm so excited today to share a cocktail made in partnership with Bacardi to celebrate the launch of their brand-new Bacardi Añejo Cuatro! This premium blended rum is aged in American Oak for at least four years. Slightly fruity with flavors of vanilla, honey, and toasted oak, it's an amazing rum for cocktails.

In addition to the Anejo Cuatro, I was able to try the re-branded Bacardi Reserva Ocho and the brand new Gran Reserva Diez, which will also be released in April. I have to say a quick word about these as well, because they are fabulous. If you're skeptical that rum can be as enjoyable to sip neat as whiskey, get your hands on one of these bottles. My husband was doubtful when I offered him a glass of rum, and he has since replaced his usual nightcap of Scotch with some Bacardi on the rocks.

Sipping the Bacardi Añejo Cuatro makes me think of the streets of San Juan - brightly colored houses beside shady palms and weathered seaside forts overlooking bright blue water. It's a blend of Old World elegance and Caribbean beauty, and that's what I tried to capture in this cocktail. Lime and pineapple juices are always great with rum and bring some bright tropical notes, but to emphasize the flavors of vanilla and oak, I brûléed the pineapple slices before extracting their juice. It's amazing what a bit of heat or fire can do for flavor. Brown butter, toasted spices, caramelized fruits, smoked wood or herbs... a bit of char can take a drink to an entirely different place. I have yet to use my crème brûlée torch to make actual crème brûlée, but you'd better believe it has seen some use on cocktail ingredients.

Pineapple actually pairs really well with an IPA, a fact that Death & Co taught me with their Strange Brew and Savage Islands cocktails. IPAs are my favorite beers by far, and I've been meaning to try an IPA syrup in a cocktail for some time. This seemed like the perfect opportunity. Along with some Punt e Mes, the hoppy syrup adds sweetness balanced with bitterness. A dash of smoky Scotch adds the finishing touch and helps emphasize the toasted taste of the pineapple. I really like how these flavors play together, and how they all work so well with the Añejo Cuatro. Salud!

Condado

1.5 oz. Bacardi Anejo Cuatro
3/4 oz. Punt e Mes
1 oz. brûléed pineapple juice*
1/2 oz. lime juice
1/4 oz. IPA syrup**
1 dash peaty Scotch (Laphroaig)

Combine all ingredients except Scotch in a shaker with crushed ice and shake until chilled. Open pour into a large brandy snifter. Top with a little more ice and the peaty Scotch. Garnish with pineapple leaves and a piece of brûléed pineapple.

*For brûléed pineapple juice, slice a pineapple into rings, removing the rind and the core. Set rings on a cooling rack or other heatproof surface and pass a torch over them until they begin to blacken. Let cool slightly, flip rings, and repeat. To extract the juice, muddle the rings and then fine-strain the pulp. For the garnish, leave the rind on one of the rings and sprinkle a bit of sugar on before you brûlée it - this gives it a nice caramelized color.

**For IPA syrup, add 1 cup of IPA beer to a saucepan and bring to a simmer. When it foams up, add 3/4 cup Demerara sugar. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and the mixture has reduced to a syrupy consistency.

Bottle Swap: Ancho Reyes

It's week 2 of my bottle swap with Mr. Muddle! If you missed it, check out last week's cocktails made with The King's Ginger. This week we're working with the bottle that was at the top of my wish list, Ancho Reyes. Before you read on, be sure to check out Mr. Muddle's cocktail, The Pope of Chili Town!

Ancho Reyes is a liqueur is flavored with ancho chiles, which are dried and smoked poblano peppers. A neutral sugar cane spirit is steeped with the peppers for six months, then aged. According to the makers of Ancho Reyes, it's based on a recipe from 1927. Back then, cantinas in the town of Puebla, Mexico each served their own menjurjes, spirits made with local ingredients. The Reyes family created one with the local dried poblanos that was the inspiration for Ancho Reyes. But though the recipe is old, the spirit itself is quite new; it was created in 2014.

For a great virtual tour of the distillery and the process of making Ancho Reyes from field to bottle, check out Alcademics.

Ancho Reyes

Price: $40
Alcohol Content: 40%
Popular Cocktails: Ancho Margarita, Ancho Old Fashioned... basically add it to any tequila cocktail!

I knew Ancho Reyes would be great for adding a bit of spice to cocktails, but what I didn't expect was its complexity and drinkability. When you first sip it, you get the richness and sweetness of the aging process. Then the spice of the ancho chiles hits you, lingering on your palate. As cocktail ingredients go, it's pretty killer. It's an instant, spicy facelift to anything you add it to. The first thing I made with it was a Margarita, subbing it in for triple sec, and I couldn't believe how great it was. I'm not sure I want to make them without it anymore.

Since the thing that surprised me about Ancho Reyes were those flavors up front, and since they seemed kind of perfect for autumn, I decided to play up the spices and sweetness. I originally wanted to make a bourbon cocktail, but I have to say, the Ancho Reyes just sings with tequila. Tequila anejo aged in bourbon barrels gave me those same smooth vanilla and caramel notes while blending perfectly with the Ancho. I added mezcal for smoke and Besamim by Sukkah Hill Spirits for some autumn spices. (I'm guessing you could sub Allspice Dram but I'm not sure - I don't have a bottle yet. Bottle swap, anyone??) Punt e Mes helped bind it all together.

I think this is a pretty great cocktail. At first you get the sweetness of the Punt e Mes, the Besamim, and flavors of cloves, vanilla, and cinnamon. It drinks like a bourbon cocktail for a split second. Then the mezcal and Ancho Reyes hit you, and you get the smoke and spice at the end of your sip. I can't imagine anything more perfect for a chilly fall day. One of these will warm you right up.

Bonfire

1 1/2 oz. tequila anejo (I used Espolon)
1/2 oz. Ancho Reyes
1/2 oz. Punt e Mes
1/4 oz. mezcal
1/4 oz. Besamim or Allspice Dram

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled. Strain into an Old Fashioned glass with one large ice cube. Garnish with a burnt cinnamon stick.

Maximillian Affair

Boston has a lot of great cocktail bars, and one of the best is Drink in Fort Point. This bar, part of star chef Barbara Lynch's Boston empire, is all about craft cocktails. The staff includes some of the best bartenders in the city, so rather than restrict customers with a menu, the folks at Drink just ask, "What do you like?" Given a base spirit or a few vague hints, they usually whip up something spectacular. That's exactly what happened last time I went. I was with a big group of friends and not sitting at the bar. When the waiter asked what I'd like, I froze - I had no idea. So I just told him I really liked unusual cocktails and to please surprise me. (The bartenders probably groaned when they heard that one.) He came back with a Maximillian Affair.

The Maximillian Affair uses mezcal, which is going to add a strong smoky taste to any cocktail. But to brighten it up and make it drinkable for even the mezcal-averse, it is paired with sweet, floral St. Germain. Punt e Mes and lemon juice round out the recipe. I was thrilled to find the exact proportions online after my visit to Drink. I recently made one for a friend, and he called it a perfect ten. The blending of spirits is really just dead on. It's sweet and sour, smoky and floral. Easily one of my all-time favorite cocktails.

Manet's depiction of the execution of Maximillian Ferdinand, Emperor of Mexico

History: The Maximillian Affair was invented by Misty Kalkofen when she worked at Green Street in Cambridge, MA. But she now works at Drink, and may have even been the one to make me my first Maximillian Affair - I didn't know enough about the Boston cocktail scene at the time to wonder. The name of this incredible concoction comes from the French invasion of Mexico in the 1860's (Mexico's victory in one particular battle, on May 5, 1862, is the origin of Cinco de Mayo). France had control of the country for nearly five years. Because they were trying to make nice with Austria following the Franco-Austrian war, they installed Maximillian Ferdinand, younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I, as Emperor of Mexico. As you might imagine, the Mexicans were none too pleased with this development, and eventually won back their independence and had Maximillian executed (as painted by Manet above). The entire incident has become known as the Maximillian Affair. It's an apt name for a cocktail that blends Mexican mezcal with French St. Germain. Only, in the cocktail, it's a far more harmonious pairing.

Maximillian Affair

1 oz. mezcal

1 oz. St. Germain

1/2 oz. Punt e Mes or other sweet vermouth

1/2 oz. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a shaker over ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass or coupe. Garnish with a lemon peel. Raise a glass for poor Max.

Recipe from cocktail virgin slut.

Red Hook

Before I gush about one of my new favorite cocktails, the round-up of Mixology Monday's Drink of Shame is up! I feel like I'm in good company. I'm not even the only one who re-mixed the 7&7: Craig E. created the Fourteen, which I can't wait to try. I'm also planning on mixing up Home Bar Girl's Santa Monica Sunrise and Doc Elliot's Paradise Remembered. (Though I will stand up for the Pina Colada as a legitimate cocktail any day.)

Now, on to a cocktail that needs no modifications: the Red Hook. The Manhattan has been the basis for a number of interesting variations, and most have been cleverly named after other New York neighborhoods. The oldest are named after New York's five boroughs, while the newer versions have either become more localized (Greenpoint, Prospect Park) or gone farther afield (Newark). Many have ingredients beyond the scope of my growing home bar, but the Red Hook was not only doable, but delicious. It's sweet, strong, a little bitter, and very classy. I'm not exaggerating when I say it is officially one of my new favorites.

Instead of just any sweet vermouth, the Red Hook specifically calls for Punt e Mes. This is a type of vermouth that was created by Carpano but was purchased by Fratelli Branca in 2001. The name means "a point and a half" in a Piedmont dialect of Italian. Some folks say it got its name because it was created following a favorable rise in the stock market, others that it refers to the fact that it's mostly sweet but a little bitter. The story on Fratelli Branca's website is that a stock broker from the Piedmont was having lunch at Carpano's Bottega when he ordered vermouth with quina, a bitter French aperitif, saying "punt e mes" to describe the proportions (one measure of vermouth, half a measure of quina). The old Carpano site repeats the story, adding the bit about the point and a half rise in the stock market. Whatever the truth, Punt e Mes is what you want in your Red Hook. It's got some extra bitterness to it, and isn't as sweet as other vermouth, both important qualities when it's combined with something as sweet as maraschino liqueur.

History: This recipe is a recent creation by Enzo Errico at Milk & Honey in New York.

Red Hook

2 oz. rye
1/2 oz. Punt e Mes
1/4 oz. maraschino liqueur*

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir. Strain into an old fashioned glass. Garnish with a brandied cherry if desired.

*The original recipe calls for 1/2 oz. maraschino liqueur, but I prefer only 1/4 oz. The more maraschino, the sweeter the drink will be.

Recipe adapted from Imbibe.