Cocktails By Douglass Miller ’89
for All Seasons
Even though it’s the dead of winter, seed and plant catalogs start filling
excellence.” This classic cocktail is made with gin, honey, and
your mailbox. And it’s never too early to start thinking about spring
lemon juice. It was alleged that the honey was included to mask
and summer cocktails. When you start thumbing through the catalogs,
the harsh taste of the bathtub gin used in the cocktail back then.
consider creating a master plan for your garden that will give you produce you can use in cocktails year round. But while you are waiting for your spring and summer bounty to grow, winter still offers you several rich options to create delicious cocktails.
Winter Wonders Local honey is available. The Bee’s Knees, a 1920s Prohibition-era drink named after a popular phrase of the time, means “the height of
Cold-storage apples are plentiful this time of year. You can peel and dice an apple, and muddle the pieces in a cocktail shaker with nutmeg and brown sugar. Add ice to the cocktail shaker with a whiff of brandy and shake for about 10 seconds. Pour into a rocks glass. Maple syrup season is just beginning and it is a great choice for use in cocktails. Bourbon, whiskey, or brandy-based drinks can all complement maple syrup. So why not add a little maple syrup to your hot toddy? Hard cider, a beverage that was very popular during the colonial period in the American Northeast, is making a comeback. There are now producers of hard cider all over the Midwest and Western regions of the U.S. as well. Many of the growers focus on using heirloom varietals like Brown Snout, Ellis Bitter, Crow Egg, and Golden Russet, which contain more acid and are oftentimes more bitter than the apples we find in today’s grocery stores. Bitter and acidic apples add wonderful depth of flavor to a hard cider. There are more than 100 different apple varieties that are used to make hard cider. Oh, and hard cider is also naturally gluten-free. Here’s a great recipe to try out this winter.
Hard Cider Drink 1.5 ounces rye whiskey 0.5 ounce lemon juice Dash of walnut bitters Simple syrup, to taste 3 ounces hard cider Combine whiskey, lemon juice, bitters, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until cold, pour into a rocks glass, and top with cider. Garnish with a slice of heirloom apple.
Spring and Summer Bounty There are many herbs, fruits, and vegetables that are easy to grow in your garden and make perfect cocktail ingredients. One of the first fruits of the spring season is strawberries. They are very easy to plant and can be utilized in a wide range of drinks. Vodka,
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