Spritz Magazine

SPRITZ JUNE 2021 // ISSUE V

cocktails + more

best recipes for summer sippin’ + making the perfect martini

PINEAPPLE ORANGE PUNCH

SPRITZ

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JUNE 2021 // ISSUE V

CONTENTS 15

Why Elixirs Could Save Your Morning LINNEA COVINGTON

Let’s Get Spicy!

Drink of the Month SPRITZ STAFF

35

29

Everything You Need To Know About Champagne PRIYA GANESH

42

3 Recipes for Summer Sippin’ SPRITZ STAFF

53 SANGRIA SIPS PG. 67

Essentials to Stock Your Bar Cart Like a Pro ROXI KRIEGER

Not Your Typical Sangria SPRITZ STAFF

70

67

The Art of Making the Perfect Martini ANGELA KLINE

LIFESTYLE

Elixirs

Why Could Save Your Morning

By Linnea Covington

What if all of our boozy brunch drinks made us feel great without the mandatory face-plant-into-the-couch nap that follows? Well, put away your over-garnished Bloody Marys and spiked coffee concoctions, and start making a brunch cocktail that will work for you.

Enter the elixir, a drink that’s both classic and trendy in today’s slayall-day society.

In ancient Greece, elixirs were thought to give immortality. And although an elixir can certainly solve for everyday maladies such as an upset stomach or headache, eternal vitality is a bit of a stretch. They can, however, boost your energy, help your organs function and tickle your taste buds.

“I like to mix something healthy into something indulgent,” says Alexis Osborne, a bartender in Denver. “I love the idea of playing with healthy ingredients.”

To make your own special elixir, you want to start with a healthy base— ingredients that add flavor to the drink but also benefit your mind and body. Think cocktail-friendly additions that work well with spirits such as fennel—which is good for our bones, treating heart disease and possibly fighting cancer—or figs, a fruit high in fiber that contains phenol, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, as well as other nutrients that can help lower cholesterol, prevent coronary disease and even help with weight loss.

Another way to give a drink a boost is through the ice cube. Consider skipping the boring water-based cube and instead freeze a square of earthy and beet juice for some added antioxidants, or a lemon-mint mixture which aides in tummy health. Just make sure whatever ingredient you’re making ice out of goes well with the whole drink.

“We kind of think of drinking as, we need to restrict ourselves because it’s a dirty little thing that you have to hide,” says Peters. “But, not everything in life has to be about sacrifice. Here’s a way to have clean spirits with clean food.”

DRINK OF THE MONTH

Let’s Get

SPICY

Ingredients 2 oz. silver tequila 3 dashes Cholula Green Pepper hot sauce 2 oz. freshly chopped pineapple 1 teaspoon coriander ½ oz. fresh lemon juice 1 dash Angostura bitters

This month, Spritz is getting spicy with a Pineapple-Jalapeño Cocktail.

Instructions Macerate the pineapple with the coriander.

Combine all other ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake, and strain over ice into an old-fashioned glass.

If you don’t have Cholula Green Pepper on hand, you can try to sub in a different salsa verde-style sauce, as long as it’s made primarily with bright, green peppers, like jalapenos and poblanos, and falls in the middle of the mild to hot spectrum.

This crisp, summery sipper is the brainchild of Alberto Ontiveros, a mixologist at Mundo Cuervo in Tequila, Mexico. It drinks like a tropical garden in a glass, packing just the right amount of grassy punch from the herbaceous coriander, zesty fruit and vegetal hot sauce.

SPRITZ // 29

HAPPY HOUR

Champagne Everything You Need To Know About

A lot goes into a fine glass of bubbly. In fact, it takes years to craft a fine bottle of champagne. The three grape varieties used for champagne can only be grown in a certain region in France—and if they’re not grown there the beverage legally can’t be called champagne. In the 17th century, champagne started to be associated with royalty, and today it’s used by celebrities, rappers, and for every kind of celebration imaginable. But you already knew that. Here are a few fun facts you may not have known about champagne: Champagne is just sparkling wine

Yeast and sugar is added to wine for a second fermentation, which then creates the bubbles that makes champagne. This is why readers of our site will see champagne included in many wine of the month clubs, such as Vinesse’s Sparkling Wine Club.

The most expensive bottle of champagne costs $2.07 million.

This bottle literally has a diamond ingrained in the design on the outside.

The chalky remains of ancient sea-creatures are the “soil” for champagne’s grapes.

The champagne region of France was actually once the floor of an ancient pre-historic sea. Now it’s the perfect foundation to grow grapes.

“Sabrage” is a term for opening a champagne bottle with an actual sword.

It’s only done in certain ceremonial occasions and the wielder uses the blunt side of the sword. It was made famous by Napoleon and his army when they celebrated victories in battle.

It can help prevent memory loss.

According to new research, one to three glasses of champagne each week could counteract memory loss associated with aging – so cheers!

Marilyn Monroe took a bath in champagne.

It took 350 bottles to fill up the tub.

The pressure in the bottle gave it the nickname “Devil’s Wine”.

Early champagne manufacturers came down to their cellars to find some corks had blown out of their bottles prematurely.

They attributed this to spiritual beings. This caused many champagne-makers to wear iron helmets to prevent injury.

The pressure in a champagne bottle is 90 pounds per sq. inch.

This is three times the amount of pressure than the tires on a car.

The longest recorded flight of a champagne cork was 177 feet.

Dropping a raisin into champagne causes it to travel from the top of the glass to the bottom continuously.

This translates to about 54 meters, more than half a football field!

You can use this trick at parties to impress your friends!

It’s Always

Tequila Time

Patrontequila .com

FEATURE

3

Recipes Summer Sippin’

for

1

Rosemary Greyhound Preparation time: 10 minutes Number of servings: 1 Ingredients 3 oz. vodka 2 grapefruits, juiced 1 oz. rosemary simple syrup 6 oz. club soda (optional) Fresh Rosemary for garnish

Instructions Shake vodka, grapefruit juice, and simple syrup well with ice. Add more simple syrup depending on sweetness preference.

If you’d like a bit more diluted grapefruit flavor, pour into a tall glass, and top with club soda. Pour in a glass. Garnish with rosemary. Serve and enjoy.

SPRITZ // 43

FEATURE

2Watermelon Cooler Preparation time: 15 minutes Number of servings: 2

Ingredients 1 ½ oz. fresh watermelon juice 3 slices cucumber, divided 1 ½ oz. gin ½ oz. simple syrup ¾ oz. freshly squeezed lime juice 1 pinch kosher salt 1 ½ oz. soda water

Instructions After gathering ingredients, press the watermelon to make juice (squeeze the watermelon in a juicer or muddle three 1-inch chunks in a mixing glass).

Strain and reserve 1 ½ oz of the juice.

Place 2 slices of cucumber in a cocktail shaker and muddle well.

Add the gin, simple syrup, watermelon and lime juices, and salt. Fill with ice and shake vigorously for 30 seconds.

Fine strain into a glass filled with fresh ice.

Top with soda water. Serve and enjoy.

3Orange Pineapple Punch Preparation time: 6 minutes Number of servings: 1 Ingredients ½ oz. Grenadine 1 ½ oz. Bacardi Rum Punch 1 ½ oz. Pineapple juice 1 ½ oz. Orange juice 2 dashes Angostura bitters Orange slices (garnish) Pineapple chunks (garnish)

Instructions Into a cocktail shaker add ½ cup of ice, grenadine, Bacardi Rum Punch, pineapple juice, orange juice, and Angostura bitters.

Secure lid, shake vigorously for 30 secs.

Strain into a standard rocks glass filled with ice, garnish with an orange slice and a pineapple chunks. Serve and enjoy.

(See Cover for Finished Cocktail)

Watermelon Cooler

SPRITZ // 45 SPRITZ // 45

TOOLS, TIPS + TRICKS

Stainless Steel Jigger Bed Bath & Beyond, $4

8 Essentials To

Stock Your Bar Cart Like

a Pro Muddler

Williams-Sonoma, $15

Bar Spoon Amazon, $6

Stainless Steel Strainer West Elm, $17

Lowball Glasses

Set of 6, TJ Maxx, $18

Decorative Tray World Market, $54

Bottle Opener Target, $12

Boston Shaker

Crate and Barrel, $20

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Not your typical

Sangria

This drink’s title is misleading, but I didn’t name it. This cocktail tastes of red wine and tequila in equal measure, plus it has the refreshing tang of lime and grapefruit.

It would even make a nice party punch.

Ingredient Notes: Your tequila should say “100% agave” even if you don’t use a high quality or expensive brand. If you can’t find grapefruit soda, check in your Latin grocery stores. They usually carry Squirt, the grapefruit soda you might remember from the 1980s.

Ingredients 1½ fl. oz. Camarena Silver Tequila 1½ fl. oz. Pinot Noir ½ oz. Lime Juice ½ oz. Agave Nectar 2 fl. oz. Grapefruit Soda Instructions In a rocks glass, mix all the ingredients, except the grapefruit soda. Add ice, top off with grapefruit soda and stir.

Garnish with lime wedge.

SPRITZ // 67

COCKTAIL OF THE NIGHT

Making the Perfect Martini

By Angela Kline With Martinis the proof is in the mixing. You can never have the same Martini twice, no matter how carefully you mix, but you can have a superb Martini every time if you take care in your mixing.

Tending your home bar is a public art that should be a delight for any drinking guest to behold. It looks easy, especially to those whose sight is already enhanced by two or three cocktails, but like anything worth doing it takes lots of practice.

There are skills, tips, tricks, and hints to icemanship, mixing, stirring, garnishing, pouring and serving good drinks. Learn them all and you will be well on your way to becoming a bartending artisan.

The Tools of the Trade While the home bar may be fully stocked and accessorized, it is more likely that it is routinely created upon an empty counter space with whatever tools are handy. Either way there are a few necessities and many luxuries to have on hand when you shake up the day’s Martini.

SPRITZ // 71

COCKTAIL OF THE NIGHT 42 // Spritz

The Necessities Include: • 2 oz. shot glass • A Long-handled jigger with ½ oz. on one side and 1 ½ oz. on the other • Long-handled bar spoon for stirring drinks • Strainer for pouring ice-cold drinks from the shaker into the glass without sending the ice splaying all over the bar • 2 shakers (one metal, one glass) with optional screw tops for shaking or stirring

How to Break the Ice Be cold. Be very, very cold. On a hot summer’s day your guests will thank you. Even on a cold winter’s night if you are mixing Martinis your guests will be thankful for the ice-cold chill that warms their insides when all is said and done. Ice can make or break a party. Cracked ice is best for stirring a really cold Martini. Use a plastic zip-lock type baggie if you don’t have an ice-crusher, blender or any other type of ice making device.

Creating the Perfect Mix Mixing is like playing tennis. It is easy to learn how to hit the ball – or pour a jigger, but it is difficult, often agonizing, to reach the level of a pro. Just as a tennis pro can explain the different strokes necessary to elevate your game to the next level, we can give you tips and hints on how to mix up a dream cocktail.Yet, ultimately perfecting it is entirely up to you.

• Gin should be kept in the freezer. Any alcohol with more than 30% alcohol (60 proof) will not freeze, but will maintain a viscous, ice cold consistency. Vermouth should be kept in the refrigerator as keeping it on the wine cart will see it lose its flavor.

• Use a 2 oz bar glass if possible, remembering that most bar glasses are imprecise. Find one that is close to exact, and try to use it every time for consistency’s sake. Trust the glass, or the jigger, not your eye.

• Your shaker, whether metal or glass, should be kept inside the freezer until needed.

• Gin should be poured first and could enough that it steams as it drains through the ice.

• Other ingredients should be poured starting with the one most called for (i.e. 1 oz. poured before ½ oz.)

• Stirring is always preferable to shaking.Thanks to James Bond, more Martinis are shaken than stirred, which bruises the gin and changes the cocktail's flavor. Unless a recipe calls for vigorous shaking, use a long handled bar spoon to give all the ingredients a nice, good stirring.

For proper dilution, stir each Martini at least 20 times.

• If you must shake, shake right. Don’t just rock the shaker back and forth a couple times, put some muscle into it. Hold that shaker out and shake it diagonally with a good steady rhythm.

• Use a good strainer and pour at once into a pre-chilled cocktail glass.

• Add your desired garnish, olive, onion, lemon twist.

• Enjoy and try experimenting with new flavor.

Most importantly, have fun!

SPRITZ // 73

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