Devour Utah, June 2020

VOL. 6 NO. 6 • JUNE 2020 • COCKTAILS FREE COPY

Book of

COCKTAILS

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 1

Contents

GIN 7 9 10 11 12 13 14

All recipes collected/written by Darby Doyle except where noted

Gin & Spruce Tip Ginger Tonic, made by Natalie Hamilton, formerly of Finca, now of Under Current Bar Drink Your Greens, made by Tracy Gomez, formerly of Finca The Aviation Pegu Club: Maker, made by Pat Harrington, formerly of Water Witch The Last Corpse Reviver, made by Christopher Panarelli, formerly of OP Rockwell Arsenic and Old Lace Ramos Gin Fizz, made by Christopher Panarelli, formerly of OP Rockwell

Vodka 17 18 19 20 21

Blue Cheese Martini by Derek Carlisle The Jitter Bug by Megan Wagstaff Hibiscus Martini by Megan Wagstaff Bloody-tini by Derek Carlisle Utah Mule by Megan Wagstaff

RUM 23 24 26 27 28 29

Dead or Alive, made by Adam Albro, formerly of The Rest The Fall Fandango With Beer Syrup From the Depths, made by Ross Richardson, formerly of Copper Common Knickerbocker à la Monsieur With Raspberry Syrup The Zombie, made by Daniel Flavin, Lake Effect Charles Dickens’ Warm Rum & Cognac Punch

MEZCAL & TEQUILA 31 32 33 34 35

The Import with Cucumber, Lime, Jalapeño, made by Chase Wallin formerly of Copper Kitchen Spicy Jalapeño Margarita, made by Zest Kitchen & Bar Sweet Leaf, made by Marcus MacDonald, Bar-X Tupelo Tiki, made by Tony Goodkid, formerly of Tupelo Beet Margarita, made by Joslyn Pust formerly of Zest Kitchen & Bar, now with Beehive Distillery Bar

Whiskey 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 46 47 48

Smoked Whiskey, made by Al Hubbard, Hearth on 25th, Ogden The Long Piper, made by Ross Richardson, formerly of Copper Common Darby’s Tea Julep New York Sour made with Oleo Saccharum syrup “Real” Irish Coffee, made by Adam Albro, formerly of The Rest I’m Your Huckleberry, made by Josh Novaski, of High West Distillery Irish Rose, made by Jessica Sandberg, formerly of Under Current Bar Piedmont Sour, made by Kelson Westervelt, formerly of Stanza Italian Bistro & Wine Bar Untethered, made by Mimi Reese, Tupelo Park City Classic Rye Manhattan, made by Clif Reagle, formerly of HSL Restaurant Vieux Carré

Liqueur

49 Pimm’s Cup 50 Foggy Bheinn Breakfast Warm Milk Punch 51 Café Brûlot

MocktailS 52 53 54 55 56 57

The New Orleans Collins, made by Amy Eldredge, formerly with Under Current—by Heather L. King Farrah’s Wheel, made by Fallan Keyser, Good Grammar—by Heather L. King My Bloody Christmas, , made by Whiskey Street—by Heather L. King Turkey Tamer With Tea Syrup & Grapefruit Punch , made by Clif Reagle, formerly of HSL—by Heather L. King Quennell’s Cardinal Punch Shake Your Razz Raspberry Shrub

58 LAST BITE: Mastering the Cocktail Toast by John Rasmuson 2 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 3

from the editor

A

STAFF Publisher PETE SALTAS Edi torial

Editor JERRE WROBLE

Contributors DARBY DOYLE, CAROLINE HARGRAVES, (past and present) HEATHER KING, JOHN RASMUSON, MEGAN WAGSTAFF

Production

Art Director DEREK CARLISLE Graphic Artists SOFIA CIFUENTES, CHELSEA NEIDER

Business /Office

Technical Director BRYAN MANNOS

Circulation

Circulation Manager ERIC GRANATO

Drink Up!

side benefit of staying at home during the spring’s coronavirus quarantine was the return of “the violet hour.”

Many of us working at home realized we had an extra hour (or more) each day not filled with the daily commute. It highlighted what might have gone missing in our lives: lovely libations, a time when we could enjoy a refreshing adult beverage and watch TV news or visit with a group of friends on a Zoom call. And there were no worries about driving home afterward as we were already safely ensconced in our manors.

But many of our old cocktail standbys can get, well, old. For those in need of inspiration, art director Derek Carlisle noted Devour Utah had a passel of thirst-quenching recipes that we’ve published over the years. It was his idea to devote an entire issue to drinks—and just in time for sunny evenings on the patio. We’ve even included several restorative and alcoholfree “mocktails” for those whose lips won’t touch the demon rum.

But we couldn’t really produce this issue without a shoutout to a writer who not only recorded many of these cocktail recipes while sitting across the bar from where the drinks were being made, but is also a bourbon blogger and a mixologist in her own right. As you prepare any of these 40-plus drinks, be sure and clink your glass to Darby Doyle and her love of the cocktail craft.

INTERVIEW WITH A BOURBON GAL

Cover illustration by Derek Carlisle Distribution is complimentary throughout the Wasatch Front. Additional copies of Devour Utah are available for $4.95 at the Copperfield Media offices located at 175 W. 200 South, Ste. 100, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 • 801-716-1777 • DevourUtah.com Email Editor@DevourUtah.com Advertising contact: Sales@DevourUtah.com

Copperfield Publishing

Copyright 2020 All rights reserved

@DevourUtah

4 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

@DevourUtah

@DevourUtah

Darby Doyle began writing for Devour Utah in May 2015 with her feature on fly fishing Utah’s Green River and favorite places to grab a bite and a beer along the way. Since then, she’s covered noodle-making, Utah chocolate makers and artisan cheeses. Through it all, she’s kept her finger on the pulse of the Utah bar scene. Not only did she compile or create most of these drink recipes, but she also took many of the photos.

She’s had a pretty tasty career for someone whose college degrees were in anthropology, sociology and history. “A big part of my graduate research looked at the history of tourism and hospitality in the U.S. West,” she says, “and I’ve always been a lover of great food and beverage,” noting she’d worked in restaurants and bars through high school and college in Kentucky and Tennessee.

In 2005, after moving to Utah from Phoenix, Arizona, and with two children under the age of 3, she decided to be a stay-at-home mom for a while. She started a blog (A Bourbon Gal) to share what she was up to in her kitchen and home bar with friends. In the process, she attracted a following of those

Darby Doyle intrigued by a “bourbon-loving mom living in legendarily teetotaling Utah,” she says. “The leap to professional food writing happened when Cody Derrick at cityhomeCOLLECTIVE (I was a real estate client of his) read my blog and suggested to their editor, the amazing Amy Tibbals, that I might be a good fit writing F&B content for them. It’s been a wild ride ever since!”

What sparked your love affair with cocktails?

I love the creativity and possibilities of spirits. I was fortunate that my forays into spirits writing aligned with the craft cocktail scene in SLC catching up to national trends, with a big hat tip to the rebirth of Bar-X and so many great cocktail bars that opened thereafter.

Then, the local craft distilling scene really got going. Our state’s bartenders, brewers and distillers are wicked talented, and I wanted to share their passion for spirits whenever and however I could.

What would you say to those wanting to write about food and drink?

The amazing people who are the backbone of the industry—from farm to plate (or glass)—are doing the important and hard work of feeding us, sustaining our communities and bringing us so much joy. Many of our state’s best bars, distilleries and brewers are small, independent businesses working on incredibly slim financial margins.

I feel grateful for the platform and opportunity to send some well-deserved attention their way.

So, advice? It’s important to get to know the artisans you’re writing about.

Meet them in person if you can instead of relying on an email interview. Hang out at their bar at 3 in the afternoon and shoot the shit. And though it’s challenging to do in light of the usual editorial pitching process, work to hear the stories they want to tell instead of coming to the interview with a preconceived angle on what you want to write. It’s about so much more than the stuff that’s in the glass.

JACKELIN SLACK

Is bourbon still your spirit of choice?

Oh yeah, that hasn’t changed! I’m actually a rather minimalist home bartender when I’m just serving myself.

A finger or two of local bourbon or rye whiskey over a bigass ice cube with a dash or two of good bitters is my go-to.

Or I’ll stir up a Boulevardier: 2 ounces rye, 1 ounce Campari and 1 ounce sweet vermouth.

Tell us about your recent career change and where readers can look for your work.

As of late in 2019, I’m the communications director at cityhomeCOLLECTIVE (going back to my roots!) and am writing F&B content in addition to a lot of other things on my plate there (cityhomecollective. com). I’m grateful to be a featured writer for the Utah Office of Tourism (VisitUtah. com) and have several food and agriculture tourism profiles in the works for them as we speak. Now that I’m not full-time booze writing, maybe I’ll get back to posting more frequently on A Bourbon Gal, and you can follow along on Instagram @darby.doyle and Twitter @aBourbonGal

Did you really sample all the drinks in these pages? Has your liver forgiven you?

Ha! Yes, I did. But I didn’t necessarily finish them all.

Any final words?

I’ve loved writing for Devour and am so happy to see this publication grow and thrive over the years that I’ve worked with all three terrific editors. Don’t forget to tip your bartender. Generously! ❖ —Jerre Wroble PS: Over the course of five years, many bartenders featured in these pages have moved on. We have updated the recipes where possible, but not all businesses were reachable due to pandemic closures.

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 5

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GIN

Gin & Spruce-Tip Ginger Tonic

F

ew cocktails define warm-weather sipping quite like the gin and tonic, a beverage mixed in the tropics by British colonists to make the bitter taste of antimalarial quinine hidden in tonic water more palatable—and its drinkers predictably more sanguine at the same time. Although we’re used to seeing tonic water in a clear, carbonated, conveniently canned concoction—Schweppes developed it commercially for U.S. markets in 1953— many artisan tonic waters are slightly almond-tinged due to their extraction from cinchona bark, which (get out your black lights and velvet paintings for this one) also has fluorescent qualities.

But be careful: Too much quinine can actually cause symptoms like ear-ringing, rashes and—in really severe cases of cinchonism— muscle spasms, vertigo of the extremely vigorous variety and (understatement here) epic intestinal inconsistency.

You can totally MacGyver a sealable-bottled version with a canister of CO2 for your shelf, making a quinine tonic concentrate and then adding carbonation and volume in the form of neutral soda water mixed in on the spot just before serving.

1.5 ounces Plymouth Gin 0.75 ounce tonic concentrate 2-3 ounces club soda water To a rocks glass filled with ice, add gin and tonic, stir briefly to combine. Add club soda to rim of glass, stir gently to combine. Top with spruce tip and grated nutmeg.

Recipe/technique from Natalie Hamilton, formerly of Finca, now of Under Current Bar

By darby doyle • Photo By caroline hargraves

Spruce Tip & Ginger Tonic Concentrate (Makes one quart)

To a large non-reactive pot, add: 3 limes, juiced 1 cup cinchona bark (not powder) 1 cup food grade citric acid powder 1 cup apple juice 1 cup fresh lemongrass 1 teaspoon black pepper 5 cups water 1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

Bring to boil, simmer over medium heat (170 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 20 minutes, or until solution is reduced by half. Remove from heat.

Add to the pot: ½ cup fresh grated ginger 1 cup spruce tips 1½-2 cups granulated sugar (test by taste, should not be overly tart or overly sweet) Let tonic sit overnight in a cooler while the spruce and ginger flavors steep into the mixture. Strain tonic through a triple layer of cheesecloth into a clean container to remove all solids; further strain through a coffee filter, if desired, for improved clarity.

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 7

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GIN

Drink Your Greens The Maker: Tracy Gomez, FORMERLY OF Finca Recipe & Photo By darby doyle

W

hen I told bartender extraordinaire Tracy Gomez that I was contemplating a feature on veggie-based cocktails, she immediately said, “I’m in!” and rose to the challenge with the delicious panache and glam style I’ve come to expect from her bar programs. Gomez even made this original frothy sipper completely vegan by using aquafaba. “Use this magical ingredient in place of egg white in sour-style cocktails,” Gomez says. “It is simply the liquid from can of sodiumfree organic garbanzo beans.” She prefers using aquafaba over egg whites, both to reduce the risk of salmonella and for better consistency, since it has an almost entirely neutral flavor. Gomez’s garden shrub also makes for a delicious alcohol-free beverage when stirred up over ice with an equal part club soda and squeeze of fresh lemon.

1½ ounces gin (aquavit is also amazing here) 1 ounce garden shrub* ½ ounce sauvignon blanc ½ ounce aquafaba ¼ ounce lemon juice 1 drop Bittermens’ Orchard Street celery bitters Shake all ingredients vigorously with ice. Fine strain into a stemmed cocktail glass. Let stand momentarily for the foam to set.

Garnish with a small fennel frond, pinch of black pepper and fennel pollen (if available). *Garden shrub: Rough chop about one mounded cup total of green fruits, herbs and vegetables (Gomez uses apple, cucumber, mint, fennel and green bell pepper). Add the chopped garden mixture to a blender with one cup each granulated sugar and apple cider vinegar. Blend until completely smooth, then strain out the solids. Keep refrigerated in a non-reactive sealed container (will keep for several months). Makes about 2 cups shrub.

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 9

GIN

A

lthough it was undoubtedly shaken up well before then, 1916 saw the first published Aviation cocktail recipe via New York City barman Hugo Ensslin.

This’d be during America’s fledgling flirtation with all things flyboy-related. (Quick U.S. History refresher: Wright Brothers, 1903, Kitty Hawk, steampunk goggles.

Caught up?) The gin martini spin incorporated crème de violette, a floral purple liqueur giving the chilled cocktail a hazy lilac hue reminiscent of a dusky sky. During Prohibition, French crème de violette was rarer than hen’s teeth in the U.S., but after WWII, it became more readily available at the same time commercial air travel was economically feasible for middle-class Americans.

Aviation

RECIPE & Photo By darby doyle (adapted from New York’s Death & Co. Modern Classic Cocktails) 2 ounces London dry gin (try New World’s Oomaw gin for a local spin) ½ ounce Luxardo Maraschino liqueur ½ teaspoon crème de violette ¾ ounce fresh lemon juice 2 dashes simple syrup Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice, shake until tin is frosty. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Drop a brandied cherry to the bottom of the glass. Pull a piece of cotton candy that reaches just past two rims of the glass and garnish with a paper airplane.

10 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

In comparison with our current environment of pajamawearing hordes and the indignities of compulsory disrobing and TSA pat-downs, the 1950s seem like travel’s halcyon days—at least as far as fashion and cocktails go, with air hostesses and stewardesses trained in the art of shaking and stirring dry martinis by request in the smoke-filled cabin. Although the cocktail is traditionally served with only a maraschino cherry dropped into the bottom of the glass, it’s a drink screaming for a little more drama. In this case, a “cloud” of Utah-made Lollipuff lavender cotton candy (when dissolved into the drink, it provides a sweetness usually made with a touch more simple syrup) and a tiny paper airplane.

GIN

Pegu Club Pat Harrington, formerly with Water Witch RECIPE & photo By darby doyle

F

urther proving the British Empire had its hands all over formative cocktail history, bartender Pat Harrington recommends trying a Pegu Club cocktail to taste a bit of English-meets-Southeast Asia influence circa the 1920s. British military officers and wealthy expats from all over the world established exclusive clubs to hobnob, with each club having a signature cocktail based on familiar British booze usually mixed with local ingredients. “In this case, their spirit of choice was gin at the Pegu Club in Rangoon, formerly Burma,” Harrington says. “Imagine how refreshing that citrus juice and gin would be when served on the sweltering edge of the jungle.” This was the first cocktail Water Witch owner Scott Gardner taught Harrington to make. They tweaked the classic a bit by using American-made London-style gin, and served it over ice, finished with a fine grating of nutmeg.

Gardner says that since Water Witch makes this cocktail without additional sugar or simple syrup, “the warming aromatic garnish gives it a nice sweet note.”

1½ ounces Big Gin (or other London or dry gin) ¾ ounce orange curacao ½ ounce lime juice 1 dash Angostura bitters 1 dash orange bitters Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain over ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with lime wheel and a light dusting of fresh-grated nutmeg.

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 11

GIN

The Last Corpse Reviver The Maker: Christopher Panarelli formerly with O.P. Rockwell recipe & photo by darby doyle

1 ¼ ounces London dry gin ½ ounce Cointreau 1 ounce lime juice ½ ounce green chartreuse ¼ ounce Lillet Blanc Shake all ingredients well with ice. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass.

12 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

GIN

Arsenic & Old Lace RECIPE & photo By darby doyle

1½ ounces London dry gin ½ ounce dry vermouth ¼ ounce crème de violette A splash of absinthe Lemon zest To a mixing glass with ice, add the gin, vermouth and crème de violette; stir until well chilled. Add a generous splash of absinthe to a pre-chilled coupe glass, swirl to coat the entire inside of the glass and pour out the excess. Strain the gin mixture into the absinthe-rinsed glass. Zap the surface of the cocktail with the oil expressed from a piece of lemon zest and drop the zest into the drink.

It’s magically delicious.

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 13

GIN

Ramos Gin Fizz The Maker: Christopher Panarelli FORMERLY WITH O.P. Rockwell RECIPE & Photo by darby doyle

Adapted from Imbibe.com 1 ½ ounce London dry gin 1 tablespoon 1:1 simple syrup ½ ounce fresh lemon juice ½ ounce fresh lime juice 1 fresh egg white (may sub with pasteurized egg white) 1 ounce heavy cream 3 drops orange flower water 1 ounce club soda, chilled To a shaker without ice, add all ingredients except for the club soda; dry shake vigorously to combine. Add a generous handful of ice to the shaker and continue to shake well for at least a couple of minutes. The longer, the better (you might want to wear thin grippy gloves to prevent frost burn to your fingers). Doublestrain through fine mesh into a tall serving glass, top with club soda and very gently stir with a long-handled bar spoon to combine.

E

gg and/or cream-based “fizz” cocktails are famous restoratives and hangover cures. In 1880s New Orleans, Henry C. Ramos’ bar was so popular for the drink that they had a whole crew of cruelly underpaid young barbacks whose only job was to shake each Ramos Gin Fizz assembly-line-style for 12 full minutes.

14 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

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Vodka

Blue Cheese Martini Recipe & photo By Derek Carlisle

1.5 ounces Five Wives Premium Vodka .5 ounce dry vermouth splash of green olive brine Add to glass with ice and stir well to chill, strain into a chilled martini glass.

Garnish with blue cheese-stuffed olives.

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 17

vodka

The Jitter bug

By Megan Wagstaff photo by derek carlisle

2 cups mint chocolate chip ice cream 4 ounces chilled espresso ½ cup milk 4 oz. High West 7000' vodka 2 oz. Crème de Menthe 1 cup ice 1/3 cup crushed chocolate cookies, plus whole cookies for garnish Whipped cream

Fill a blender with ice cream, crème de menthe, milk, espresso, vodka, and ice. Blend until creamy. Dip rims of 2 small Mason jar classes in chocolate syrup. Roll in crushed chocolate cookie crumbs. Fill jars with milkshake. Top with whipped cream, and an additional chocolate cookie garnish. Makes 2.

18 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

Vodka

Hibiscus Martini

By Megan Wagstaff photo by derek carlisle

Hibiscus simple syrup 1 lemon 8 ounces Sugarhouse Vodka Directions: To make hibiscus simple syrup, combine 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water in a saucepan with 2 hibiscus tea bags. Heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Allow syrup to cool before using.

Prior to mixing, peel 4 lemon twists. Juice the rest of the lemon and add to a martini shaker filled with ice. Add vodka and hibiscus simple syrup. Stir until combined. Pour into 4 chilled martini glasses and garnish with lemon twists. Makes 4.

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 19

vodka

Bloody-Tini

Recipe & photo by derek carlisle

1 ounce Five Wives Premium Vodka 3 ounces tomato juice .5 ounce lemon juice dash Worcestershire sauce dash Tabasco Sauce 1 pinch ground black pepper Shake well w/ crushed ice and pour into celery salt rimmed martini glass and garnish with fresh jalepeĂąo

20 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

Vodka

Utah Mule

By Megan Wagstaff • Photo by derek carlisle

1½ cups peaches, fresh or frozen 4 ounces Salt City vodka 1 lime, zest and juice, plus more for garnish 2 sprigs fresh mint, plus more for garnish Ginger beer Directions: In a blender, puree peaches, vodka, lime zest and juice, mint, and ice (if using fresh peaches instead of frozen). Pour into copper mule mugs filled with ice. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with additional mint, lime wheel, and peach slice. Makes 2.

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 21

22 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

rum

Dead Or Alive The Maker: Adam Albro, FORMERLY OF The Rest RECIPE & photo By darby doyle

1 ounce aged Cruzan rum ½ ounce Wray & Nephew light rum ½ ounce Appleton VX signature rum 1 ounce coconut syrup 1 ounce lime juice ¾ ounce pineapple juice 4 dashes Honest John NOLA bitters 4 dashes Honest John lemongrasscardamom bitters 2 dashes Honest John Aromatic bitters

C

areful with this one, bar owner Sara Lund says. “I had two a while back and felt more dead than alive the next day.” In true Tiki fashion, this frothy cocktail is served in a hurricane glass and sports four kinds of rum, three varieties of bitters, coconut syrup and a healthy pour of citrus juice to pull it all together. Even with Utah liquor restrictions, it packs a potent punch.

Dry shake all ingredients (no ice) and pour over crushed ice in a hurricane glass. Top with a mound of crushed ice, float ¼ ounce Bacardi 151 black rum on top. Garnish with a mint sprig and pineapple wedge.

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 23

RUM

The Fall Fandango

recipes By darby doyle Photo By caroline hargraves

1.5 ounces white rum (Sugar House Distillery Silver Rum) 0.75 ounce Laird’s Applejack 0.75 ounce chocolate-coffee stout syrup 0.5 ounce Pok Pok apple sipping vinegar 2 dashes cardamom bitters 2 dashes chocolate bitters A tiny splash of seltzer To a mixing glass filled with ice, add all ingredients. Stir for 50 revolutions. Strain into a highball glass over a large ice cube infused with some cacao nibs (about ¼ teaspoon per cube). Splash in a teaspoon or two of seltzer to fill the glass. Garnish with thin apple slices.

Drizzle apple slices with a little more of the beer syrup.

S

imple syrup, that familiar 1-1 ratio of sugar dissolved into water, has been a staple in the bartender’s arsenal since long before someone shook up the first primordial julep. Infused syrups—featuring fruit, spices, fresh herbs, even tobacco and gunpowder—have been showing up on bar menus for decades.

Shake up the usual protocol by reducing fruit juice, wine or, yes, even beer, which all yield some delightful concentrate concoctions with intense flavor elements.

Surprisingly, reducing beer mellows (rather than intensifies) many bitter and hoppy qualities, especially once a bit of sugar is added to the brew—but the essential quality of the beer shines through. In my case, it was a perfect experiment for using up a big quart bottle of excellent beer that was accidently left to go warm and flat on the kitchen counter overnight (cue sad trombone). The resulting cocktail debuted at an autumnal chocolate-themed party last year using the beer syrup; the flavors of apple, chocolate and coffee really hit the spot on a blustery eve.

24 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

Method:

Beer Syrup (Makes about two cups)

To a heavy non-reactive saucepan add 2 cups Epic Brewing’s Big Bad Baptist—a stout beer made with cacao and coffee and finished in whiskey barrels. (I know, it seems a shame to make syrup out of this amazing beer, but it’s worth it!)

Bring the beer to a slight boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, stirring often to prevent scorching. Simmer until the beer is reduced by half (about 30 minutes). Remove from the heat, and cool for about 5-10 minutes at room temp. Add 1 cup raw (turbinado or demerara) sugar and keep stirring until all the sugar is dissolved. Cool completely to room temp, pour the syrup into a lidded jar and refrigerate until ready to use. It’ll keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge.

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rum

From the Depths

The Maker: Ross Richardson, fORMERLY of Copper Common recipe & photo By darby doyle

1 ounce Gosling’s Black Seal rum 1 ounce Lysholm Linie aquavit ¼ ounce St. Elizabeth Allspice dram ¾ ounce pineapple juice ½ ounce lime juice ½ ounce orgeat 2 droppers diluted cuttlefish ink*

T

he only thing murky about this beverage is the name. Full disclosure: This is one of my top five favorite cocktails I’ve tried in years, and that’s saying something with all of the delicious bartending talent in our salty city. Bright, complex and whimsical, it hits all the notes that keep an imbiber sipping, thinking about just how these crazy disparate ingredients work together and make this cocktail even better than the sum of its delicious parts. “I’d been fussing around with squid ink for seven months, trying out different combinations to make it work,” Ross Richardson says. A big fan of heavily thematic cocktails, he thought it’d be a perfect combination to meld classic Tiki flavors like black rum, allspice, orgeat (that almond flavor that makes for a key Mai Tai) and citrus juices while also making a completely unexpected presentation with a steampunk turbulent ocean vibe.

26 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

Shake all ingredients with ice, strain into a coupe. Garnish with an octopus cocktail marker. *Note: Cuttlefish ink is too thick to be incorporated easily into cocktails; Richardson mixes it with equal parts water to thin it enough to flow easily through a dropper dispenser. It savors all of the flavor—and a nice saline bit of serendipity to go with that citrus—while keeping the intense color punch.

rum

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ow virtually extinct, in our humble opinion the Knickerbocker cocktail deserves a resurrection.

This class of cocktails rising from New York in the 1850s and ’60s had at its base a heady combination of rum, citrus juice, fruit syrup and Curaçao, and was perhaps named after the Empire State’s Knickerbocker Ice Co. A good bet, considering its role as one of the first punches to be served with copious amounts of shaved ice. Drinks historian David Wondrich calls the Knickerbocker “the spiritual progenitor of the Tiki drink,” also associated with the fly fellas who drank these refreshing coolers in the summertime wearing their knickerbocker truncated knee-breeches. Keep it local using one of Utah’s many rum producers (Dented Brick, Distillery 36, Kid Curry, Outlaw Distillery or Sugar House Distillery) and make the raspberry syrup from berries snagged at a weekend farmers market. In true proto-Tiki fashion, this drink deserves presentation in vintage glassware with some serious fruit salad garnish on top. Bonus: if you can find them, edible flowers make a pretty (and delicious) topper.

Knickerbocker à la Monsieur

RECIPE & photo By darby doyle (adapted from Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh) 1 ounce white rum ½ ounce aged Caribbean rum ½ ounce orange Curaçao ½ ounce raspberry syrup* 1 ounce fresh lemon juice This cocktail is made in the style of a punch: All ingredients are mixed together briefly in a separate glass (with no ice), stirred to combine and poured into a goblet filled with crushed ice. Garnish with sliced orange and pineapple pieces and, why the hell not, some maraschino cherries and hibiscus flowers. *To make the raspberry syrup, combine 1 cup raspberries with 1/3 cup sugar, ½ teaspoon lemon juice and 2 tablespoons water in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently to prevent sticking, and cook until fruit has broken down and released all juices and mixture begins to thicken (about 15-20 minutes). Remove from heat, strain through fine mesh to remove solids. Will keep in an airtight container refrigerated for up to two weeks. Makes about ½ cup. ❖

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 27

RUM

A

mid-century icon of all that’s over-the-top about tiki tipples, the Zombie is a classic cocktail made popular at the original Trader Vic’s in California. According to booze historian Wayne Curtis, owner Donn Beach blended up the primordial version of this powerful potion using five kinds of rum totaling at least eight ounces (with some accounts upping the content to twelve whopping ounces!), all mixed with fresh pineapple and lime juice to jump start the day of a badly hungover customer by serving not just the hair of the dog, but apparently the whole damned hide. Beach later claimed the customer said he felt like “the living dead” until revived by the drink, and thus, the name Zombie stuck. This West Coast sensation swept the nation after the Hurricane Bar at Flushing Meadows served Zombies during the 1964 New York World’s Fair ($1 each, limit one per customer. It was the fair’s best seller).

Tiki cocktail revivalists make modern versions of the Zombie with top-shelf aged rums. Bartender Daniel Flavin recommends that if there’s one thing home bartenders can do to up their flavor game, it’s use only fresh-squeezed juice.

“At Lake Effect, we juice every day and use very pure ice. It makes a huge difference,” he says. Utah state laws keep the alcohol content low compared to the original recipes, but the flavor is still Tiki through and through.

28 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

the Zombie The Maker: Daniel Flavin, OF Lake Effect Recipe & photo By darby doyle (adapted from Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide —1947) ½ ounce lime juice 1 ounce orange juice 1 ounce lemon juice ½ ounce grenadine 1 ounce light Puerto Rican rum ¾ ounce dark Jamaica rum ½ ounce curaçao Blend in an electric drink mixer with 1 scoop shaved ice. Pour into 14-ounce block optic chimney glass.

Decorate with fresh mint and a stirrer.

rum

P

erhaps one of literature’s greatest proselytizers of Punch, according to drink historian David Wondrich, was Charles Dickens, who was “known among his friends for his ritualized performance as he worked up a bowl or jug [of Punch], complete with running commentary on his ingredients, techniques and progress.”

Dickens shared his popular punches with friends far and near, including this recipe for a highbrow hot rum-andcognac punch that he sent to an in-law, Amelia Austin Filloneau, in 1847.

Dickens recommended decanting this punch into a large stoneware jug and setting it next to a roaring fire so that it might be served very warm.

While the charm of his presentation is uncontested, modern hosts might chose to keep their punch warm in a heavy pot over very low flame or on the low setting in a Crock-Pot. I’ve adapted the recipe here for conventional measurements and nominal fire safety considerations (tavern-keepers of the time often poured and tossed flaming cups of punch over distressingly long distances). Although Dickens’ recipe doesn’t call for spice elements and oranges, both were very common additions in the era. Avoid using spiced rums in this recipe; there’s more than enough intensity going on here without adding additional artificial flavors.

Charles Dickens’ Warm Rum & Cognac Punch recipe & photos By darby doyle

4 medium-size lemons 6 ounces demerara or raw sugar 6 ounces white rum 10 ounces aged (gold) rum 10 ounces cognac 5 cups hot water Fresh nutmeg optional: 4-5 star anise pods, slices from 1 orange, cinnamon stick for garnish

Day 1: With a vegetable peeler, remove zest from lemons with as little of the white pith as possible attached. Reserve the peeled lemons for day two. Drop all of the zest into a lidded glass jar and add sugar. With a blunt wooden spoon or cocktail muddler smash contents until the zest is bruised and completely coated in sugar. Place jar in a dark spot at room temperature; smash the zest/sugar every few hours if possible.

Within 24 hours, you should have a syrupy but still grainy jar of citrus-oil sugar (historically called oleo saccharum).

Day 2: About one hour before serving, scoop all of the oleo saccharum mixture into the slow cooker basin or heavy pan. Add the rum and cognac, stir well to combine. Using a long matchstick, carefully set the surface of the lemon/booze mixture on fire (this will melt the sugar and extract more oil from the peel). After 4 minutes, place a wellfitting lid over the basin to snuff out the flame. Turn the slow cooker on low (or put pan over low heat). Add to the pot all of the fresh strained lemon juice from the reserved lemons and five cups very hot water. If desired, add orange slices and star anise pods.

When serving, ladle into cups and grate a sprinkle of fresh nutmeg over the top; add a cinnamon stick for garnish. Makes about 8 cups of punch (just under 4 pints).

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 29

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Tequila/Mezcal

The Import The Maker: Chase Wallin, formerly with Copper Kitchen By darby doyle • Photo by CarolinE Hargraves

1½ ounces of Wahaka Mezcal 1 ounce cucumber juice ¾ ouce lime juice ½ ounce jalapeño syrup ½ ounce Pok Pok Som honey drinking vinegar

C

opper Kitchen’s former bartender Chase Wallin developed The Import as an ode to the flavors he associates with his other job as a forest firefighter.

It features a nice balanced blend of fresh cucumbers, lime juice and a touch of heat from jalapeños and smokiness from the mezcal. Wallin first developed the recipe for a mid-winter bar special but it’s a perfect patio drink for spring. Copper Kitchen has a dedicated outdoor area with bar and tableside seating for just over 20 happy patrons; food service optional. It’s a much-appreciated cocktail addition for denizens of the south end of the city.

Shake all ingredients with ice, strain into a collins glass with fresh ice.

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 31

Tequila/Mezcal

Spicy Jalapeño Margarita The Maker: Zest kitchen By darby doyle • Photo by Niki chan

1½ ounces reposado tequila ½ ounce citronage 1 fresh slice each of jalapeño and cucumber 1 squirt of agave nectar 1 ounce fresh lime juice 1 ounce fresh lemon juice In a cocktail shaker, muddle jalapeño and cucumber well. Add ice and all other ingredients. Shake well and strain over ice. To salt or not to salt is the question!

32 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

Tequila/Mezcal

Sweet Leaf

The Maker: Marcus MacDonald / Bar-X recipe & PHOTO By darby doyle

1.5 ounces Wahaka Mezcal 1 ounce fresh apple juice 0.5 ounce sotol 0.75 ounce Caffe Lolita Mexican coffee liqueur

“M

ezcal has such a wonderful smoky quality,” Bar-X bartender extraordinaire Marcus MacDonald says. “There’s so much depth and variety within the category of mezcal, and it’s super fun and really delicious to use in cocktails. People are getting really excited about agave spirits.”

Much like bourbon is a subcategory of whiskey, tequila is one of a larger group of agave-based spirits referred to as mezcal.

Tequila can only be made with blue agave (agave tequilana) and in a limited region including and adjacent to the Mexican state of Jalisco. Mezcal, however, may be made from almost 30 varieties of agave and has a much greater geographical production area.

Mezcal’s distinctive sweet-smoky flavor is a direct result of the way it’s made: the agave hearts (called piña) are roasted in stone-lined pits, and as they cook, the agave’s sugars caramelize. MacDonald says his original cocktail, the Sweet Leaf —garnished with a fan of apple slices evoking an agave plant—“combines a lot of great elements, and is super tasty.

Rich and balanced without being too sweet.” MacDonald notes that when he makes this drink at Bar-X, he has difficult-to-find ingredients like cocoa-forward Caffe Lolita Mexican coffee liqueur and sotol (a distillate made from the desert spoon plant, a relative of agave) on hand. “But the drink is great even without the sotol, and you can use a different coffee liqueur if that’s what you’ve got to work with.”

Pour all ingredients over pebbled ice. Grate a bit of fresh nutmeg over the surface of the mounded ice. Garnish with a fan of thin apple slices.

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 33

Tequila/Mezcal

Tupelo Tiki

The Maker: Tony Goodkid, formerly of Tupelo By darby doyle • Photo by Carolin Hargraves

1½ ounces Luna Azul tequila ½ ounce fresh lime juice ½ ounce simple syrup About a generous ¼ teaspoon Bittermens Elemakule Tiki bitters 1½ ounces Park City IPA. Pour all ingredients over ice in a rocks glass and give it a quick stir to mix ingredients. Garnish with a skewered orange slice, cherry and few quick drops of tiki bitters on the orange for added color and flavor.

A

lthough most Tiki cocktails have a big rum-forward base, former Tupelo bar manager Tony Goodkid recommends playing around with other spirits with a similar sweet-bright profile alone or in combination with rum. In this case, his Tupelo Tiki uses crisp tequila as the base and it’s topped with an India Pale Ale beer to give body, volume and a little additional kick. Even better, this beverage is built right over ice directly into the glass, no bar stirring or shaking equipment necessary. Fewer glasses to wash, in other words. My perfect kind of summer break.

34 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

Tequila/Mezcal

Beet Margarita

The Maker: Joslyn Pust, FORMERLY OF Zest Kitchen & Bar, NOW WITH BEEHIVE DISTILLERY BAR By darby doyle • Photo by Carolin Hargraves 1½ ounces blanco tequila ¾ ounce Patron citronge or Cointreau ¾ ounce fresh pressed beet juice 1 dash Peychaud’s bitters lime wedge Rub the rim of a rocks glass with the cut side of a lime. Dip the rim in sea salt, and fill glass with fresh ice. To a shaker with ice, add all ingredients and shake until well chilled. Strain into serving glass; squeeze in lime juice and garnish with lime.

F

ull disclosure: It’s hard to pick just one drink off of the everchanging Zest bar menu as the epitome of a veggie-forward beverage.

They have a slew of them.

Think carrot juice mimosas, spicy jalapeño margaritas and kombucha-based cocktails, all refreshing and concocted with cold-pressed juices made fresh in the Zest kitchen daily. For this gorgeously hued margarita, fresh beet juice provides an earthy balance to the tequila and citrus notes without the added processed sugar found in most margarita mixes. Win-win!

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 35

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whiskey

Smoked Whiskey The Maker: AJ Hubbard/ Hearth on 25th recipe & PHOTOS By darby doyle

W

hile there are only a couple of components to this visually stunning cocktail, each aspect of the drink is prepared with an exacting attention to detail. Hearth on 25th’s co-owner AJ Hubbard’s mission is to give guests a memorable cocktail experience with sophisticated touches like hand-cut crystal-clear ice and more than 70 whiskies from around the world

on hand. For this cocktail, Hubbard uses dried fruit wood infused with Cherry Heering liqueur and the customer’s choice of spice blends—currently cherry, chocolate or Cajun spice—and torches the wood just prior to serving for maximum flavor and smoky effect.

He coats the interior of a rocks glass with a few dashes of Utah-made Beehive Bitters caramelized orange bitters so

that the smoke flavors bond to the bit of liquid in the glass when it is suspended over the wood-smoked spice. Served simply with a shot of overproof whiskey and a gorgeously transparent chunk of hand-hewn ice, the smoke-tinged bitters dissipate slowly into the whiskey and the cocktail changes in complexity the longer it sits. “It’s an amazing aromatic experience,” Hubbard says.

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 37

whiskey

The Long Piper

T

Ross Richardson, formerly of Copper Common By darby doyle • Photo by Carolin Hargraves

“Here’s to the land of the shamrock so green, Here’s to each lad and his darlin’ colleen, Here's to the ones we love dearest and most.

May God bless old Ireland, that's this Irishman’s toast!”

his cocktail’s creator, Ross Richardson, says his final formula came from a place of nostalgia: “It was the first drink I ever developed for Copper Common, and it was kind of an homage to the last six years I had spent at The Republican,” one of SLC’s more dive-y (in the best possible way) Irish bars. The blend of Italian and French aperitifs, a bit of thick texture from the heavy simple syrup and little zip from the long pepper tincture make for a well-balanced and rich combination. “It drinks like an Old Fashioned with a pleasant note of creamed coffee,” Richardson says.

—Traditional toast

1½ ounces Irish whiskey ½ ounce Salers Apéritif ½ ounce Cardamaro amaro ¼ ounce rich simple syrup * 8 drops Addition long pepper cocktail spice Method: Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir until well chilled. Strain into a chilled old fashioned glass and garnish with an orange swath. * Rich simple syrup: dissolve two parts sugar into one part boiling water. Simmer and stir until all sugar is dissolved. Cool to room temperature. May be refrigerated for up to two weeks in a lidded glass container.

38 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

whiskey

Darby's Tea Julip recipe & PHOTO By darby doyle

B

eing originally from Kentucky, Mother’s Days of my younger years were usually the weekend after Derby Day. Having lived outside the South for so many years, my tolerance for both sweet tea and super-sweet mint juleps has declined precipitously. This news is often received with a “Well, bless her heart,” in side-eyed rebuke when I’m now visiting the Commonwealth.

In response to such divisive recipe decisions, I often defer to the DIY model of mixology at my own home bar: Make the base drink and let your guests add sugar to their taste. As both sweet tea and mint juleps are basically 2- to 3-ingredient beverages, consider the super fun and kid-friendly option of adding pieces of cotton candy (it’s essentially spun sugar, anyway, right?) to melt into the

drink and gradually reach a singularly arbitrary level of saccharinity. Utah’s own Lollipuff Gourmet Cotton Candy (LollipuffCottonCandy.com) even has delectable organic flavors like peppermint, mint limeade and wintermint (among dozens of options) to add flair.

Method: Smack a sprig of mint between your hands (in a firm clapping motion) to release fragrance, drop it into the bottom of a chilled silver julep cup or old-fashioned glass. For the grown-ups, add 1½ ounces of bourbon. Fill the glass to the rim with pebble or crushed ice and pour in 4 to 5 ounces cold black sun tea. Add more ice to the rim of the glass and garnish with another sprig of smacked mint. Serve with cotton candy for folks to sweeten to their heart’s content.

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 39

whiskey

New york Sour RECIPE & PHOTO By darby doyle

The classic whiskey sour gets jazzed up a bit with this pre-Prohibition adaptation featuring a signature pretty red wine floater in the glass, and a tip that a Pallet barman extraordinaire once shared with me: Add a touch of amaretto to the drink to smooth out the spice of rye and sour of lemon. An egg white added to the shaker pumps up the body and volume of the drink, but may be left out with equally delicious results. Makes one cocktail.

1.5 ounces rye whiskey 0.5 ounce amaretto 1.5 ounces oleo sacchrum (or more to taste) 1 egg white 0.75 ounce dry red wine Combine all ingredients except wine in a shaker without ice and shake for 15 seconds until the egg white emulsifies with the citrus. Add a big handful of ice and shake for additional 15 seconds until chilled. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Pour the wine slowly over the back of a spoon to layer on top.

O

leo saccharum, aka “oil sugar,” is the bartender’s boon for building concentrated citrus flavors. Add this secret ingredient to your home bar arsenal to make a homemade sour mix that will beat out anything you’ve ever seen poured out of a plastic bottle. It’s the historical base for punch recipes used by saloonkeepers since the early American Republic. Plan ahead: this multi-day process needs some resting time to release all of the goodness and zing of the citrus oils from the fruit zest, which then gets made into a light citrus syrup to balance the fruit/acid/sugar for a superlative sour mix. One quart of oleo saccharum syrup mixed with three bottles of bourbon, three bottles of sparkling wine and some spices of your choice (think nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves) over a decorative ice ring makes enough potent punch for 40-50 people. Or, keep it in the fridge and use it to make the whiskey or amaretto sours of your dreams.

Here’s a take adapted from the definitive document on the subject, Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl, by drink historian David Wondrich. It’s my personal favorite prescription for the historic method, and also the basic formula used by barman extraordinaire Scott Gardner of Water Witch fame to make a High West Prairie Bourbon Punch.

40 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

Method: Oleo Saccharum syrup (Makes 1 quart) Prepare oleo saccharum (“oil sugar”) by completely removing zest (just the peels without any white parts) of 6 large juicy lemons. Place all of the whole peeled lemons in a zip-top bag (to keep them from drying out) in the refrigerator to finish the project later.

In a big bowl, combine the lemon peels with 1 cup demerara or raw turbinado sugar. Stir to combine and smash peels a bit with the back of a wooden spoon to grind in the sugar. Lightly cover with plastic wrap, and move to a warm spot out of direct sunlight. Every time you remember (every 3-4 hours or so), stir and smash the sugar and peels some more. Do this for at least 24 hours and up to two days. You’ll eventually have a nice pool of lemony, oily, syrupy goodness in your bowl of curly lemon peels. To this bowl of goop, add juice from all of the reserved peeled lemons and let sit for an additional 8-12 hours.

Stir well, then strain out solids through a fine mesh strainer. Pour the lemon syrup into a quart jar and add enough cold water to fill the jar. Refrigerate up to four weeks. Shake well before using.

Boom!

whiskey

T

rue story: Adam Albro’s first bar job was sweeping floors at a pub in Dublin, Ireland. The Utah native and former manager for The Rest Bar attended Trinity College for four years, and that was his work-in-trade gig after classes. Along with sampling many a pint o’ stout, Albro learned that instead of using Irish cream liqueurs in boozy coffee, it’s usually made with a strong (way more than a Utah pour) glug of whiskey, a bit of sugar and real whipped cream. “It combines two of my true great loves: whiskey and black coffee,” Albro says, sprinkling a bit of brown sugar to garnish the mound of whipped cream adorning a steaming mug. He also recommends adding some amaro and a few dashes of cocktail bitters to round out and balance the whiskey. Given the time and inclination, Albro might also be amenable to critiquing your pronunciation of sláinte. He implores, “Just don’t say it like ‘cilantro.’”

“Real” Irish Coffee

the maker: Adam Albro /FORMERLY OF The Rest RECIPE & photO By darby doyle

1 ounce Redbreast or other Irish whiskey ½ ounce rich brown sugar syrup * ½ ounce Cynar amaro 3 dashes Honest John coffee-cherry bitters 6 ounces hot black coffee Lightly sweetened heavy whipped cream Method: Add whiskey, syrup, amaro and bitters to a mug or Irish coffee glass. Gently stir to combine. Pour in coffee. Top with whipped cream, a sprinkle of dark brown sugar and a Luxardo cherry. * Rich brown sugar syrup: Add two parts dark brown sugar to one part boiling water, stir well until all sugar is dissolved.

Cool to room temperature. Store in a lidded glass jar, refrigerated, for up to one month.

“Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.”

—Alex Levine

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 41

whiskey

I’m Your Huckleberry the maker: Josh Novaski with high west DISTILLERY By darby doyle • Photo by CarolinE Hargraves

1 ounce rye whiskey 1 ounce dark rum ¾ ounce lime juice ¾ ounce carménère (red wine) ½ ounce simple syrup ¼ ounce ruby port ¼ ounce allspice dram 2 dashes Angostura bitters

B

artender Josh Novaski is the first to admit that this is not a Cocktails 101 example of mixology, as it has some unusual ingredients. “This recipe did turn out a bit long-winded” he says, but the resulting cocktail is exactly what he shoots for when developing a drink: refreshing, spicy and complex. He especially loves it as a cold-weather cocktail with classic warm flavors.

42 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake until well chilled. Strain into an oldfashioned glass with large ice cubes. Garnish with three huckleberries.

whiskey

Irish Rose

The Maker: Jessica Sandberg, FORMERLY WITH Under Current Bar recipe & Photo By darby doyle

1 egg white ¾ ounce fresh lime juice ¾ ounce housemade pomegranate grenadine 1½ ounces Irish whiskey Islay Scotch rinse Method: To a cocktail shaker with no ice add egg white, lime juice, grenadine and Irish whiskey. Dry shake to emulsify the egg whites.

Add ice and shake again until the drink is very frothy and well chilled.

Add about ¼ teaspoon of Scotch to a chilled coupe and swirl to coat the interior of the glass; discard excess.

Double strain the cocktail into the glass—no garnish.

A

“May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow, And may trouble avoid you wherever you go.”

—Irish blessing

n incredibly wellbalanced and beautifully hued drink, an Irish Rose is a spin on a classic Jack Rose cocktail using Irish whiskey.

In this case, Jessica Sandberg recommends using Jameson Irish whiskey as the base spirit and Laphroaig Islay singlemalt Scotch for the coupe rinse. With its distinctive pale salmon color, creamy texture and spectacular floral nose coming through the gorgeous frothy head, it’s a cocktail as elegant as it is delightful.

“My basic advice for elevating cocktails from merely good to great,” Sandberg says, “would be to use clean ice, fresh-squeezed juice and avoid commercial red-dye grenadine.”

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 43

whiskey

A

n SLC favorite for upscale Italian fare, it’s always a pleasure to see Stanza’s bartenders embracing northern Italian ingredients to make standout cocktails like the Piedmont Sour. This bright New York Sour variant uses a gold standard Italian vermouth and wine to provide a velvety base note in the Carpano Antica and the traditional “floater” of a bright, acidic wine like Tiamo Barbera that balances the rye whiskey's sweet spice. Try it with different ryes—such as High West Double Rye whiskey—to see how the drink subtly changes.

Piedmont Sour the maker: Kelson Westervelt formerly of Stanza Italian Bistro & Wine Bar recipe & PHOTO By darby doyle

1½ ounces rye whiskey ¾ ounce fresh lemon juice ¾ ounce simple syrup ½ ounce Carpano Antica ½ ounce Tiamo Barbera To a cocktail shaker with ice add all ingredients except for the wine. Shake until chilled and well combined. Strain into a coupe glass, and slowly add the Tiamo Barbera or other dry red wine.

Garnish with a Luxardo cherry.

44 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

whiskey

P

ronounced “VYOO ka-RAY,” this drink’s name translates from the French as “old square,” a nod to its French Quarter origin at the historic Hotel Monteleone on Royal Street. In 1938, the hotel’s head bartender, Walter Bergeron, created this riff on a Manhattan with some seriously New Orleans flair.

Like a Sazerac, the cocktail adds Peychaud’s bitters and cognac to the rye spirit base, but also requires a touch of the distinctive French herbal liqueur bénédictine.

Vieux Carré

RECIPE & photo By darby doyle

Adapted from the Hotel Monteleone recipe at GardenAndGun.com ¾ ounce rye whiskey ¾ ounce cognac (such as Pierre Ferrand 1840) ¾ ounce sweet vermouth 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters 2 dashes Angostura bitters ½ ounce bénédictine liqueur Build directly in a rocks glass by adding all ingredients and stirring briefly with ice. Garnish with a lemon twist. (You’ll alternatively see this drink served “up” like a Manhattan: stir all ingredients well with ice in a mixing glass, strain into a chilled coupe).

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 45

whiskey

Untethered

W

The Maker: Mimi Reese / Tupelo Park City RECIPE & PHOTO By darby doyle

1.5 ounces bourbon 0.5 ounce Aperol 0.25 ounce Campari 0.25 ounce bourbon barrel-aged syrup Stir over cracked ice and strain over a large ice cube. Garnish with lemon and orange zest.

46 Devour Utah • JUNE 2020

hiskey has had a starring role at Tupelo’s cozy upstairs bar since the restaurant opened in 2015. The preference may be due to owner/chef Matt Harris’ Southern roots and that they’re all big bourbon fans at Tupelo, with more than 40 bourbons on the shelf at any one time.

Their Untethered cocktail is a cunning combination of two terrific classic cocktails, an old fashioned and a boulevardier.

The popularity of American whiskies, particularly bourbon, does not appear to be slowing down any time soon. They love the classics, and enjoying making them their own with a little spin.

whiskey

Classic Rye Manhattan The Maker: Clif Reagle, formerly oF HSL Restaurant RECIPE & photo By darby doyle

1½ ounces rye whiskey ½ ounce Vittore sweet vermouth 3 drops saline 2 dashes Angostura bitters To a mixing glass with fresh, pure ice, add all ingredients. Stir until well chilled; strain into a coupe or Nick & Nora glass. Garnish with an artisan cherry.

D

id you know that back in the day, each of New York’s boroughs had their own signature cocktail? Clif Reagle, former bar manager for HSL, shares that bit of cocktail ephemera as he stirs up his version of a classic Manhattan using local grain-to-glass Sugar House Distillery rye whiskey and special-order French vermouth. Case in point: You’ll sometimes spot The Brooklyn—also made with rye but with maraschino liqueur instead of vermouth—on craft-cocktail menus. But Reagle acknowledges that the Manhattan reigns supreme in public imagination. “People order what they know,” he says.

He also asserts that what sets a great Manhattan apart from merely a good one is using quality booze; as a rule, the fewer ingredients in a drink, the less noise there is to hide behind. “It’s all about balance,” he says. “If you’re using a higher-proof rye, you may need to stir a little longer.”

Devour Utah • JUNE 2020 47

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Liqueur

Pimm’s Cup

RECIPE & photo By darby doyle

P

imm’s No. 1 liqueur has a long and storied history in England, being a secret recipe developed as a tonic sometime in the 1840s in a London oyster house. A gin-based herbal liqueur with a relatively low proof (25 percent alcohol by volume), it’s usually used as a base mixer served highballstyle with ice and ginger beer or lemon-lime soda, which Brits call “lemonade.” Over the years, the Pimm’s company made additional versions (No. 2 with Scotch and No. 3 with brandy, up to No. 6 made with vodka), which have gone in and out of style. You’ll find elaborately garnished Pimm’s cups served in oversized wine goblets at posh events like tennis tournaments, polo matches and regattas, but it’s just as likely to be found poured by the pitcher in a London oyster house. The most basic recipes call for a couple ounces of Pimm’s poured over ice with an equal amount of ginger beer served on top. With apologies to my British friends, my favorite Pimm’s cups cut some of the drink’s traditional sweetness with a splash of dry gin and a touch of lemon juice.

The elaborate garnishing, though, is a must-do on either side of the pond.

½ ounce London dry gin 1½ ounces Pimm’s No. 1 liqueur Juice of one quartered lemon (remove the zest of the lemon first in a spiral) 2 ounces ginger beer 1 hothouse or Persian cucumber Cut a large long hothouse or Persian cucumber in half lengthwise. Using a vegetable peeler, peel a long strip of cucumber from the cut face going end-to-end to make one continuous wide strip.

Starting at the bottom edge of a tall Collins-style glass or wine glass, mold the cucumber strip to the inside wall of the glass, working in loose spiral to the top. Fill glass with ice. To a mixing glass, add gin, Pimm’s liqueur and lemon juice (with no ice) and stir briefly to combine; pour into cucumbertrimmed serving glass. Add ginger beer to the top of the glass and garnish with elaborate lemon zest, cucumber “flowers,” strawberry slices, candied kumquats or other fruits (the more obnoxious the better). Serve with a straw.

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Liqueur

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hiskey-laced Irish coffee might be the first hot beverage that comes to mind when thinking of Irish cream, but there are endless possibilities for making similarly dreamy drinks, especially if you can find very good fresh dairy-based Irish cream liqueur.

In this interpretation of a warm milk punch, I dubbed it bheinn (or beinn) after the Gaelic word for hills, in particular big ones. And it seems fitting to take a nip of a mildly spicy and fortifying beverage after a vigorous snowshoe or brisk morning ramble in the foothills.

Although it’s a perfect brunch-time tipple when shared from a large thermos trailside, it’s sure to please as a comforting caffeine-free nightcap, as well; the pretty cinnamon-sugar rim is a multi-sensory bonus. Makes about four drinks.

Foggy Bheinn Breakfast recipe and photo By darby doyle

4 cups whole milk (may use 2 percent) ¼ cup honey 1 (4-6-inch) cinnamon stick 2-3 whole star anise ½ teaspoon ground ginger 1 whole vanilla bean (or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract) 2/3 cup Five Farms Irish Cream liqueur 1/3 cup Irish whiskey Garnish: cinnamon-sugar rim, grated nutmeg

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Method: To a heavy medium saucepan add the milk, honey, cinnamon stick, star anise and ginger. Split the vanilla bean pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds; add the seeds and pod to the saucepan.

Stirring occasionally, cook over medium-low heat until the honey is completely dissolved, and the mixture is steaming and very hot (do not boil!) and continue to steam for 5-8 minutes to extract spice flavors. Whisking briskly, add the Irish cream and whiskey. Heat until hot and steamy, then pour milk

punch through a fine mesh strainer to remove solids (discard solids). Grate in a little nutmeg and stir to combine. Decant into a large thermos.

To serve at home: To a small saucer pour in approximately 1 tablespoon honey. In another saucer mix together 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon. Dip the rims of heatproof glasses into the honey to coat, then dip into the sugar-cinnamon. Divide the milk punch equally among four glasses, and add a star anise, if desired, and a grating of fresh nutmeg.

Liqueur Adaptation of Arnaud’s recipe from saveur.com ½ cup orange curaçao ¼ cup brandy 10 whole cloves 3 cinnamon sticks 1 orange, quartered Peel of a lemon 3 cups strong black coffee 3-5 tablespoons sugar

To a heavy 4-quart saucepan add orange curaçao, brandy, cloves, cinnamon sticks, orange and lemon peel. Bring to just barely a simmer over mediumhigh heat. Using a match or lighter, carefully ignite contents and gently swirl pan until flames die out.

Add coffee and sugar; keep stirring over mediumlow heat until sugar is dissolved. Strain coffee into small glass mugs or demitasse cups. Garnish with orange zest.

Café Brûlot

recipe & Photo By darby doyle

T

his super boozy coffee-based drink is all about delicious spectacle. It was invented in the 1890s at the historic restaurant Antoine’s and dubbed Café Brûlot Diabolique, or “devilishly burned coffee.”

Their method: Servers carve around the entire circumference of an orange to make one long continuous peel, skewer the orange with the peel dangling, and douse the fruit in brandy and orange liqueur. Then, the whole thing is set on fire, and servers continuously ladle the flaming booze combination over the skewered orange, which is held high in the air above a wide bowl of steaming hot coffee and spices.

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alcohol-FREE MOCKTAILS

The New Orleans Collins Amy Eldredge formerly with Under Current bar

By Heather L. King • Photos By Caroline Hargraves

“This is my go-to for mocktails,” Amy Eldredge says. The name stems from the style of cocktail it derives from as well as the abundance of Peychaud’s Bitters it contains. ¾ oz. lime juice 2 oz. grapefruit juice ¾ oz. simple syrup 3-4 sprigs mint 8 heavy dashes Peychaud’s Bitters Club soda Shake all ingredients briskly and strain into a Collins glass. Top with club soda and garnish with a mint sprig.

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alcohol-FREE MOCKTAILS

Farrah’s Wheel The Maker: Fallan Keyser / Good Grammar

By Heather L. King• Photography by caroline hargraves

The newest addition to hip Gallivan Avenue, Good Grammar has crafted a menu of cocktails based both on classic drinks and preparation as well as pop-culture icons—whose visages grace the walls of the bar in grand style.

Farrah’s Wheel: 2.5 oz orange juice 2.5 oz grapefruit juice splash of Garwood’s ginger beer Lightly stir with ice to chill. Strain into rocks glass over ice. Top with Garwood’s ginger beer until full.

Garnish with peeled orange wheel and Luxardo cherry.

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alcohol-FREE MOCKTAILS

My Bloody Christmas The Maker: WhiskEy Street

By Heather L. King • Photos By Caroline Hargraves Whiskey Street suggests that this tasty mocktail can be whipped up as a punch offering at holiday parties or made individually. Drink it plain or add spiced rum for a leaded version.

1 oz. Falernum syrup (which is made with sugar, cloves, vanilla, lime and allspice) 1 oz. pineapple juice 2 oz. orange juice San Pellegrino Aranciata Rossa (blood orange soda) Mix all ingredients and top with San Pellegrino Aranciata Rossa. Garnish with an orange wheel.

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alcohol-FREE MOCKTAILS

Turkey Tamer The Maker: Clif Reagle FORMERLY OF HSL and Handle

By Heather L. King• Photography by caroline hargraves

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artender Clif Reagle recommends making the tea syrup in this mocktail using the Anti-Stress blend from The Tea Grotto. Its holidayspice quality reminds him of time spent dining at home with his family when he was younger. Alcohol imbibers can add a shot of vodka, gin, rum or rye whiskey.

Tea syrup

30 grams spiced tea (such as Anti-Stress from The Tea Grotto) 400 milliliters simple syrup Combine tea and simple syrup in an airtight container and let steep in the fridge overnight. You can adjust for flavor to taste by adding more tea, less syrup, adding water, etc.

Grapefruit punch

150 grams grapefruit peel 270 grams sugar 300 grams grapefruit juice 180 milliliters water Muddle peels and sugar together until sugar creates a rough paste. Add grapefruit juice to the mixture and stir to dissolve grains. Strain peels but do not discard. Mix water with peels, strain again. Store cold. (This is roughly 3 large grapefruits, and would serve around 10-13 people depending on glassware used and soda added).

1 ounce tea syrup* 1.5 ounce grapefruit punch* 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice 4 drops of salt water Combine all ingredients and shake with ice, strain over ice into a collins glass. (For a less sweet beverage cut with soda water.) Garnish with a grapefruit twist and whatever spices suit your fancy. I used shaved nutmeg and cinnamon sticks.

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alcohol-FREE MOCKTAILS

Quennell’s Cardinal Punch Dan Souza/America’s Test Kitchen for thesplendidtable.org Photo by darby doyle

T

humbing through vintage bar books, it’s readily apparent that most Punch recipes tipped the scales toward aggressive tippling rather than teetotaling. Such is not the case of Charles Baker’s compendium The Gentleman’s Companion: Vol. 2, The Exotic Drinking Book; Or, Around the World With Jigger, Beaker, and Flask (1939), wherein Baker notes that there are an abundance of occasions where festive alcohol-free libations should be graciously provided. Chronicling his worldly travels, Baker recounts a dozen punch recipes prepared sans booze, saying “There simply happen to be quite a few rational souls who don’t care for anything containing alcohol” including his own Quaker relatives and assorted children of his acquaintance (or at least in deference to their parents).

Baker collected this recipe from the files of C.H.B. Quennell, “a typical old-time English recipe from the country in and around Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire.” Fragrant, tart and refreshing with a gorgeous bright ruby color, this cranberry-based punch pairs beautifully with rich holiday foods.

While Quennell’s recipe calls for a laborious process of cooking and straining cranberries for juice, bottled 100 percent cranberry juice (not sweetened cranberry cocktail) works great. For hosts in need of a slug of liquid courage in the face of family drama or when contemplating post soirée clean-up, it’s also delicious mixed with a generous glug of vodka or gin.

Day 1: Make festive ice blocks by adding cranberries, zest and wheels of citrus fruits to oversize ice cube trays, large ice-sphere molds or a bundt cake pan; use boiling or distilled water for clearer ice cubes. Freeze for 24 hours.

Add zest of 2 lemons (remove with a vegetable peeler, avoiding the white pith) to the cranberry juice. Reserve peeled lemons for use the next day. Refrigerate juice and lemons.

Day 2: Two to three hours before serving, juice and strain the 2 reserved lemons. To the bowl of cranberry juice, add the lemon juice, sugar, orange juice and 6 cups cold water. Stir well to dissolve sugar and refrigerate for an hour or more. Just before serving, add decorative ice blocks to a large punch bowl and pour the cranberry punch into the bowl along with the ginger beer.

Makes 20-24 one cup (8-ounce) servings

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32 ounces (1 quart) unsweetened 100 percent cranberry juice 2 lemons 4 cups sugar 2 cups fresh strained (pulp-free) orange juice 8 cups water (divided use) 4 12-ounce bottles ginger beer

alcohol-FREE MOCKTAILS

Shake Your Razz By darby doyle • Photography by caroline hargraves To a pint Mason jar add: 2-3 basil leaves 3-4 dashes Peychaud’s bitters 1.5 ounces raspberry-Champagne vinegar shrub 3 ounces black sun tea 1 ounce club soda Fill jar almost to the top with ice (and add whiskey if that’s your thing), screw on the lid, and shake it like crazy. Fill with more ice, and add a splash of club soda to the top.

Serve with a straw.

L

ong before refrigerators and reliable canning methods, shrubs gave folks a burst of summer fruit flavor to enhance a winter diet filled with root vegetables and dried everything else. Slow Food U.S.A. claims on their “Ark of Taste” that the word “shrub” comes from the Arabic word sharab (“to drink”). Back in the day, shrubs got mixed in with hot water and brandy or rum to make flavorful toddies in the winter, or with colder equivalents in the summer to make the perfect sweet-tart refresher. Nowadays, you’ll see bartenders breaking out custom shrubs all over the place, using everything from snap peas to exotic melon. But they’re dead easy to make at home by combining equal parts fruit, sweet (sugar, honey, agave) and acid (usually vinegar), essentially pickling the fruit in syrup to make a refreshing tart tonic.

They’re wonderful in cocktails, and make a delightful non-alcoholic spritzer when added to club soda, as in the recipe below. Many shrub recipes call for boiling the fruit with the vinegar and sugar (which makes for a jam-like flavor and consistency), but I prefer the clarity of fruit flavor achieved by the cold shrub method.

This is a festive no-alcohol mocktail for fall tailgating: Before you leave home, just add all the ingredients except the ice and club soda to as many Mason jars as you’ll be serving up, rack them back up in the box the jars came in for transport, then have your guests shake their own when they meet you at the parking lot. To make a boozy version, decrease black tea to 1.5 ounces and add a generous glug of bourbon from your flask. Makes one mocktail.

Raspberry & Champagne Vinegar Shrub

(Makes about two cups)

To a large, non-reactive bowl add: 12 ounces fresh raspberries 1½ cups fine granulated sugar 10 ounces (1¼ cups) Champagne vinegar (7 percent acid) Cover lightly (do not seal entirely) with plastic wrap and place in a cool (less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit) spot, or the refrigerator. Macerate for 48-72 hours, stirring every few hours. Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove seeds, and pour into a clean glass or ceramic jar.

Refrigerate (up to 5 weeks) until ready for use.

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PKCHAI

Last BITE

Take Up Your Glass Mastering the toast

BY JOHN RASMUSON

Here’s to it, and from it, and to it again. And if you don’t do it when you get to it, you may never get to it to do it again.

—The Alta Toast

T

he last time you joined in a toast was probably not at Alta’s Goldminer’s Daughter Saloon. Or at the Alta Club in downtown Salt Lake City. More likely, it was at a wedding party when a guy with a clip-on bowtie stood up, tapped a glass to quiet the crowd, then shouted, “Here’s to the bride and groom!”

Utah culture isn’t known for toasts. At the beginning of any dinner served on round, linen-covered tables, you are more likely to hear a grace than a toast. Grace is commonplace here.

The toast is as neglected as a handwritten thank you.

Toasting is a centuries-old tradition whereby a person is honored by word and drink. It may date to an age when wine was occasionally weaponized with strychnine—remember Hamlet?— so sharing wine from the same bottle engendered trust.

Toasts do have a residual place at the military’s formal dinners. The Army calls it a “dining-in.” It is a scripted event to which attendance is expected and dress uniforms are worn.

A toastmaster leads a succession of toasts like this one from a West Point dining-in: “In keeping with this most auspicious occasion of honoring a tradition that has endured through the centuries, I would like us to remember another long-standing tradition, that of the first toast of the evening being offered to the commander in chief, the president.” Thereupon, everyone responds in unison, “To the president!” before taking a sip.

Similarly worded toasts follow: “To the U.S. Army!” “To the ladies!” and “To our fallen comrades!”

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A Utah wedding is freeform by comparison. In leading a toast here, the composition of an inexperienced audience requires evaluation lest you Spock a Lebowski crowd with an ill-considered toast. Know your audience—a lesson I learned the hard way in Massachusetts.

I had lived there just a few months when a friend asked me to be best man at his Catholic wedding. All I had to do was wear a tuxedo, stand in a receiving line, dine at the head table, and lead a toast, he explained. I took the office to heart. I researched toasts at the library, but none resonated. So, I reworked a poetic passage by St. Augustine into a long, lovely toast, which I memorized by saying it aloud while commuting. When the time came at the wedding dinner—my wife watching from her seat amidst strangers—I stood, raised my glass and commenced. In short order, I detected unease spreading through the audience like a sulfurous odor. As I finished and sat down, my wife heard whispering at the adjacent table: “Who was that asshole?” Only the priest proffered an appreciative handshake as the dessert plates were cleared. “That was some toast,” he said.

Wedding season has arrived. Yellow forsythia has yielded to purple lilacs as the temperatures rise and the coronavirus spreads. Expediency is the order of the day for the nuptial minded. Among this year’s expedients are drive-by showers, Zoom events and color-coordinated N95 masks. For wedding planners, toasts in the time of COVID-19 deserve attention. The Alta toast may appeal to powderhounds and mountainbikers, but it is too flippant for a wedding. The wedding toast should be personal and expressive. No embarrassing stories, no inside humor, no ridiculing Fox News. As the best man and maid of honor rehearse their toasts, they should include stage direction like this: “Please rise, take up your glass and join me as I propose a toast. When I conclude, your response is ‘to a lifetime of happiness for the newlywedded.’” Then pause, smile and get to it.

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