Virginia Living - December 2021

Page 45

>

GOODtaste Drink Goosecup’s day menu features coffee drinks made from beans roasted in-house. Below: Ahad and Zaara Raza.

Goosecup’s Caught in the Rain clarified cocktail.

DOUBLE FUN AT GOOSECUP This Leesburg outpost serves both coffee and craft cocktails.

photos (from top): by angela newton roy (3), courtesy of horton vineyards

W

HEN ZAARA AND AHAD RAZA

moved home to Virginia from Texas, they went searching for the coffee and craft cocktail bars they’d enjoyed in Austin. Coming up empty-handed, the couple decided to open their own. At Goosecup Coffee and Craft Cocktails in Leesburg, the Razas roast their own coffee and have now expanded their food and cocktail offerings. Here, one of Goosecup’s signature recipes, Caught in the Rain, a “clarified” take on the Pina Colada. What are clarified cocktails? The process involves batching a citrus cocktail with milk and allowing the mixture to curdle, which separates the ingredients, stripping away color, cloudiness, and bite. The technique dates back to the 18th century, when liquors were often harsh-tasting and refrigeration was scarce. Once separated,

the drink is fine-strained through a chinois lined with a coffee filter, resulting in a crystal clear, shelf-stable cocktail. Here’s how they do it at Goosecup:

CAUGHT IN THE RAIN In a large container, combine: 10oz Plantation Pineapple Rum 10oz Smith + Cross Jamaican Rum 2.5oz Arak (a traditional Lebanese spirit consisting of grape alcohol and anise) 10oz House Seven Spices Coconut Cream 7.5oz Fresh Lime Juice 10oz Fresh Pineapple Juice Add that mixture to a container with 6oz of whole milk and allow to sit refrigerated overnight. Strain the mixture through a coffee filter-lined chinois. For clearest results, pass through the filter a second time. Bottle your clarified cocktail and enjoy. —By Constance Costas

A passion for sci-fi informs Caitlyn Horton’s Gears and Lace wines. WINEMAKERS LOVE DREAMING UP SPECIAL BLENDS to please their own palates. For

Caitlyn Horton, the result is Gears and Lace, a line of steampunk-themed wines with names drawn from Victorian-era slang. The inspired theme earned Horton, the daughter of Horton Vineyard founders Dennis and Sharon Horton, a feature in Sci-Fi magazine. “Everything I learned about winemaking was on the job,” Horton says. “There was no formal education.” But at 27, she’s a quick study. Her sparkling red, sold under the name Knott and Shuttles (a lacemaking reference) is a personal favorite. “Sparkling reds are out there, but they’re underappreciated,” she notes. “People who don’t love reds, love this,” she says. It’s even attracted committed beer drinkers—an achievement for any winemaker. Her port-style dessert wine, Bone Orchard (2013), is fortified with brandy. After six years of barrel aging, it debuted in 2019, earning 95 points from The National Wine Review along with glowing praise: “It ranks among the finest port-style wines produced in Virginia.” “When we open a bottle for a tasting,” Horton acknowledges, “there’s always a fight over who gets to take the leftovers home.” Bone Orchard also came out a winner among our 2021 Made in Virginia entries. Find out more in our special section in this issue. HortonWine.com —By C.C.

D EC E M B E R 2 0 2 1

GT-Drink_Dec2021.indd 43

STEAMPUNK SIPPING

Horton Vineyards’s TitforTat dry red.

43

VIRGINIA LIVING

10/21/21 9:02 AM


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.