C O C K TA I L S
I
t just doesn’t get
old — walking into a restaurant, sitting down at the bar and ordering some kind of fizzy-frothy-feisty adult beverage. Cocktails were originally created to mask the bad flavor of spirits that were de rigueur during Prohibition. Bathtub gin might have been illegal, but that didn’t keep it out of circulation. Flavor, though, wasn’t what distillers were concentrating on; it was all about the buzz. From there, bartenders at speakeasies created concoctions that went down a little easier. ¶ Spirits have come a long way since then, and so have the cocktails. Whether you call them bartenders or mixologists, the folks making syrups, muddling mint and shake-shakeshaking it all up are the kings and queens of the show. Just like chefs, bartenders jump back and forth between the classic and the new, playing with new liquors, flavors and styles. Some restaurants, such as Kelly Liken, La Tour and Flame, have gone so far as to evaluate the size of the ice, deciding that a single large cube has more panache than several small ones in particular drinks. At other restaurants, such as vin48 and Spago, the chefs grow some of the herbs that are featured in their cuisine and drinks. And everyone seems to have some fun and funky spirit with a story, be it Peak Spirits Cap Rock gin from Hotchkiss or Cocchi Americano from Italy. ¶ Here’s the hit list of delicious ways to indulge in grown-up drinks.
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VAIL LUXURY G S P R I N G 2 012
THAT’S THE SPIRIT Classic cocktails that never go out of style
Red Cachaça from Cima
P h oto BY B r i a n K l i n g b a i l