3 Summer Cocktails from RI Top Bartenders
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
When organizers of Share Our Strength's A Tasteful Pursuit needed specialty cocktails, they went to two of state's top-shelf mixologists in the state, Chris Amirault and Jesse Hedberg. The result: three brand-new, up-to-the-minute cocktails for every summer night. Amirault and Hedberg shared their secret recipes with GoLocalProv.
The Cape Cobbler
Jesse Hedberg, who helms the bar both at Cook & Brown Public House and Fluke Wine, Bar & Kitchen, updates the 1830s classic with bracing Ocean Spray cranberry juice, rich Marie Brizard orange curaçao, and orange bitters.
1½ oz Lustau Penninsula Palo Cortado sherry
¾ oz Marie Brizard orange curaçao
1 oz Ocean Spray cranberry juice
½ oz lemon juice
2 dashes Regan’s orange bitters
Shake with plenty of ice. Strain over ice into a highball glass, and garnish with cranberries and an orange slice.
Lindberg's Baby
Old Tom gin is not your father’s martini gin! Here, it's a rich, slightly sweet foil for Cocchi Americano, the bright aperitif from Asti, Italy, Ransom Old Tom sings in bartender Chris Amirault’s reworking of the Charlie Lindberg Cocktail.
1½ oz Ransom Old Tom gin
1 oz Cocchi Americano
scant ½ oz Marie Brizard Apry apricot liqueur
dash Scrappy's or Fee’s grapefruit bitters
dash Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Decanter or Angostura bitters
Stir with plenty of ice and strain over fresh rocks in an Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with lemon peel twisted over the surface of the drink, rubbed around the rim, and dropped in.
William's Next
Champagne cocktails often get fancy-shmancy names, and the Prince of Wales’s Cocktail is no exception. Bartender Chris Amirault has given this classic a 21st century twist, using a soft bourbon and bringing some smoky pineapple into the mix. We think William, Duke of Cambridge, would approve.
1 oz Elijah Craig 12 year old bourbon
½ oz smoked pineapple syrup*
¼ oz Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
1 dash Angostura bitters
Duval LeRoy brut champagne, well chilled
Combine ingredients in a champagne flute. Garnish with skewered piece of smoked pineapple.*
*Smoke pineapple cubes with applewood for 2-3 hours; make demerara syrup (2 parts demerara sugar, 1 part water, stirred on low heat until dissolved). Steep pineapple in syrup for 1-2 days. Strain and reserve pineapple.