French Blonde

Now that we have moved undeniably into spring, it’s time to bust out the gin and citrus again and start sipping sweet-tart concoctions that refresh and relax.
 
The French Blonde is exactly that.
 
Of fairly recent vintage – apparently coming into focus in the aughts of this century – the current buzz is that it’s supposedly Taylor Swift’s favorite cocktail. I’m going to let each of you decide individually whether that’s a plus or a minus, but I’m here to tell you it’s terrific and bound to become one of my favorites.
 
Relatively light on alcohol, beautifully balanced between sweet and sour, floral and ginny, and so refreshing! A perfect kick-off to the summer sipping season.

French Blonde

• 2 ounces Lillet Blanc

• 2 ounces grapefruit juice (fresh squeezed of course, and try to find a white, not a pink, grapefruit.)

• 1 ounce gin

• 5 dashes lemon bitters

Shake it all up with ice and serve straight up. A lemon twist makes a nice garnish.

Smoke Show

Direct from the balmy shores of Palm Beach, here’s a new one that sips like a venerable classic. 
 
Last month, I paid my annual visit to my totally deluxe pals in Palm Beach, Nedda and Larry. They had been to dinner at a great place on the island called Restaurant 44, where they had had a cocktail called Smoke Show. Larry wanted to make one at home but didn’t have all the ingredients on hand, so he re-created it with what he did have. The night I landed, he made one for me and it was delicious! 
 
Later in the week, we went to Restaurant 44 – beautiful place, great dinner! – and I had one of theirs. Lovely, but I liked Larry’s version better, so that’s what we have here. 
 
As chilly evenings linger here in Nashvegas, you might want to give this boozy, rich, warming, slightly smokey sipper a try. If you’ve already gone over to gin and citrus for the season, save this recipe for next fall. 
 
Smoke Show, ala Larry – a winner!

Smoke Show

• 2 oz Bourbon

• .5 oz Licor 43*

• .5 oz Nocino**

• .25 oz Amaro – I’m using Cynar here, but there are many to choose from and try.

• 1 dash chocolate bitters

Stir all the ingredients with ice to get them cold and strain into a rocks glass with new ice. I like one big cube.

* Licor 43 is a Spanish liqueur with a distinct vanilla flavor.

** Nocino is an Italian walnut-based liqueur. There are several brands. A good liquor store ought to have one of them on the shelf.

Towncar

In honor of the recent – and maybe soon to return – freeze, here’s another dark, heavy drink, perfect for curling up in your favorite chair in your footie pajamas and watching worthless TV. Or for sharing with your friends. Either way it will make things instantly warmer.
 
It’s basically a goosed-up Manhattan, but here’s what Imbibemagazine says about it:
 
When one of the regulars at Apis Restaurant and Apiary in Austin couldn’t choose between three classic cocktails—the Old Fashioned, Manhattan, and Sidecar—bartender Chelsea Carter invented this mashup on the fly by using the best components of each.
 
Perfection! Rich, mouth-filling, potent. 
 
I owe a shout-out to Jim, one of my partners in cocktail crime, for putting me onto this one. Thanks for many happy sips, buddy!

Towncar

• 1 oz. rye whiskey

• 1 oz. cognac (Could also be plain old brandy. I’ve made it both ways.)

• ½ oz. dry curaçao (Any not-too-sweet orange liquor will do.)

• ½ oz. sweet vermouth

• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

• 1 dash orange bitters

Stir with ice to get it freezing cold, then strain onto new ice in an Old Fashioned or rocks glass.

Eggnog

Okay, it has finally come to this: Eggnog. I don’t like complicated drinks, with lots of weird ingredients and complicated steps. And I do not enjoy separating eggs. But eggnog is the quintessential holiday drink, and after nine+ years of not doing it in this series, the time had come.
 
Eggnog’s history goes back deep into the 18th century, but this is not the place to review all that. Just know that it’s creamy, soothing, and – if you make it right – boozy. Eggnog is a universally delicious beverage with the capacity to improve any holiday gathering. What’s not to like?
 
The base sprit can be bourbon, brandy, or dark rum. There are fierce partisans for each, but I like all of them equally. Last night we combined bourbon and brandy and it was delicious! So, suit yourself. 
 
Also this: it’s great to make in large batches, and it saves well for months in the fridge, so make up a couple of gallons, and you can sip with your friends right through New Years Eve! 
Merry, merry! 

Eggnog (This recipe comes from Liquor.com, but there are many others) 

• 2 eggs, separated

• 1/4 cup sugar, divided

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

• 1/2 cup  bourbon, brandy, or dark rum

• Garnish: grated nutmeg (you can also add a cinnamon stick)

Steps
Serves 4

• In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with 3 tablespoons of the sugar until fluffy.

• Stir in the milk, heavy cream and your spirit of choice.

• In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar until soft peaks form.

• Fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture.

• Divide between four rocks glasses.

• Garnish each with freshly grated nutmeg.

Storm King

I love to sip a good Scotch whiskey, neat or with a cube of ice. But as a rule, its flavors don’t play nicely with others. Aside from the venerable classic, the Rob Roy, there are very few Scotch-based cocktails out there.
 
But here’s an exception, and it’s a winner!
 
Absolutely perfect for autumn, its medium-dark flavors and colors, and spicy tang are warming and refreshing at the same time. According to Damon Boelte, its originator, they evoke the crisp air and fall leaves along the Hudson River Valley, where the Storm King Arts Center is located. Hence the name.
 
Be that as it may, the deal here is the drink itself, and you are going to love the complex flavors. Tangy, herbal Benedictine and smooth/sweet-ish nocino are out front, with the smoke and punch of the Scotch just peeking through. 
 
Lovely! Sip a few and ease into the holidays.

Storm King

• 2 ounces blended Scotch whiskey 

• .5 ounce nocino

• .25 ounce Benedictine

• 3 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine the ingredients iand stir or shake to get it frosty cold. Serve straight up. 

A word on ingredients: You can use any Scotch you want to, but a medium-bodied blend with a bit of smoke/peat flavor works best. I used Johnnie Walker. Nocino is a walnut-based liquor from Italy and not well-known here. Similar in flavor and feel to a not-too-heavy amaro, it’s lovely to sip neat as a digestif, but it also works well in cocktails. A larger liquor store like Midtown or Total Wine will have one or maybe more to choose from.

Naked & Famous

I don’t name ‘em, folks (unless it’s my own creation) I just mix, serve, and drink ‘em. I have no idea about the reason for the name – if there is one. I do know the recipe was devised in NYC at the iconic Death & Co. (another sorta weird name, though appropriate for Halloween). Generally considered a good pedigree. 
 
None of that really matters though. Flavor and buzz are what we seek in a cocktail – and this baby delivers big time! Sweet, smokey, and tart all at the same time. Boozy, but bright. Light, but not too light. And a gorgeous color. Absolutely perfect for fall drinking. 
 
Combine all that with an easy-to-remember equal parts recipe, and you’ve got a winner.

This one’s a new favorite of mine!

Naked & Famous

Equal parts*:

• Mescal

• Aperol

• Yellow Chartreuse

• Lime juice (fresh of course)

 Mix, shake until freezing, strain, and sip. Lovely!

* A "part" can be any amount you want, but .75 ounce is a good place to start.

NIFTY FIFTY

About 15 years ago, I was asked by Fifty Forward, a Nashville non-profit, to come up with a signature cocktail for their annual fund-raising dinner. Only too glad to comply, I played around in the lab here at the house and came up with three recipes for a committee to test – all using Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur – and I present the winning recipe, the Nifty Fifty, herewith.

This is a winning combo based on – what else? – gin and citrus, God’s gift to drinkers everywhere, and spiced up with Domain de Canton, the absolutely lovely ginger-flavored liqueur. If you don’t have a bottle, you need to get one right away. It’s refreshing on the rocks with a little soda water and/or lime and it’s terrific in cocktails.

The Nifty Fifty blends all the wonders of gin, ginger and citrus to make one spectacular  – but pretty serious – sip. So, shake up a few and proceed with caution.

Nifty Fifty

• 3 parts gin

• 2 parts Domaine de Canton

• 1 part lemon juice (Need we say it? You have to squeeze it!)

Easy as 3-2-1! Drink up and enjoy!

Irish Maid

As we stagger through the last weeks (or so we hope) of oven-like heat, I’m still looking for light and refreshing at cocktail hour – which for me usually means something based on gin or white rum as opposed to the darker, heavier spirits. But light and refreshing whiskey-based sips do exist, and here’s a perfect one.
 
Based on Irish whiskey, the Irish Maid comes out of NYC, that ever-bubbling cauldron of cocktail excellence. It’s a variation on the Kentucky Maid (based on Bourbon) and the London Maid (based on gin) and it lands in between those two on the light-and-refreshing scale.
 
The key here is cucumber. Cucumber aroma and flavor along with the St-Germain and lemon, lift the whiskey into a whole new atmosphere. Light, but not too light, semi-sweet, tons of flavor, and a fairly serious kick. 
 
Perfect for the dog days of summer as we slide (or so we hope) into a more reasonable season!

Irish Maid

• 2 slices cucumber, quartered

• 2 oz Irish whiskey – I used Tullamore Dew

• .5 oz St-Germain elderflower liqueur

• .75 oz lemon juice

• .5 oz simple syrup

Muddle the cukes in the bottom of a shaker. Add the other ingredients and shake with ice until cold. Strain into a rocks glass with ice – I like to use one or two big cubes – and serve.

Cat’s Pajamas

Here’s a refreshing summer cooler I picked up at Germantown Café, one of my go-to places here in Nashvegas for decades. If you Google Cat’s Pajamas cocktail, you’ll come up with at least a dozen recipes – all different from each other and different from this one. 

This version, invented by the Café bar staff, is the only one I’ve tried, and it’s delicious – so we’re going with it. Maybe we’ll sample the others later.
 
The base, a refreshing combo of gin (always a great place to start!), Campari and lime, is made fizzy and fun by the addition of bubbly. The gin, Campari, and lime combination always reminds me of grapefruit – as it does in the Act III a creation of my own (under the cocktails tab right here at davidpainerealtor.com). The addition of the bubbly adds lightness and a perfect summertime fizz. 
 
Guaranteed to put you right after a long hot day of toil. Or a long hot day of sitting on the deck. Whatever. It’s delicious however your day plays out.

Cat’s Pajamas

• .5 oz gin

• .5 oz Campari

• .5 oz lime juice (fresh, as always!)

• 2 oz bubbly – can be cava, prosecco, champagne as long as it’s dry. 

Combine the first three ingredients in a beaker and shake with ice. Strain into a highball glass with fresh ice and top with the bubbly. One quick stir with a bar spoon (or any long-handled implement) and you are ready to sip.

Ménage à Quatre

Now that summer has landed – with both feet! – it’s time for something that will cut through the sludge and refresh without being sweet or sappy. This confection, from Francophile, David Lebovitz’s, excellent book, Drinking French, is just the ticket.

Like so many of my favorite cocktails, it’s a sweet-sour combo. But unlike most others, this one leans toward the sour. Arresting! And delicious! Especially at the end of a long, hot day when you feel like you want to slip into a coma for a couple of weeks rather than go on living. 
 
Simple: four ingredients, in equal measure, living together (in your glass, until you drink it) in harmony. Hence the name. 
 
Gin, Grand Marnier, Lillet, and lemon. How French! How refreshing! How deluxe!

Ménage à Quatre

Equal parts:

• Gin

• Grand Marnier (Another good choice would be Mandarine Napoleon, or if you prefer something a bit sweeter, Cointreau) 

• Lillet – that luscious softly sweet aperitif

• Lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. A lemon peel makes a nice garnish.

French Gimlet

This this month we have a variation on a timeless classic, the Gimlet. A Gimlet is a typical sour, combining a base spirit, gin, with a sweet ingredient, simple syrup, and a sour ingredient, lime juice. 

The French Gimlet uses St. Germaine elderflower liqueur as the sweetener instead of simple syrup. And the substitution totally changes things – floral, a bit sweeter, and much rounder than a traditional Gimlet. Absolutely perfect for spring drinking – as we finally move into warmish evenings and maybe having a sip outdoors.
 
As a cool bonus, we are making ours this evening with Empress 1908, a lovely gin, which has the interesting distinction of being purple. You can make a French Gimlet with any London dry style gin and it will taste great. But with Empress you get a wonderful color that evokes fin de siècle Paris. Think Moulin Rouge, Toulouse Lautrec, Sarah Bernhardt, languid afternoons, romance, intrigue, spies, assignations, bowler hats … 
 
Sip a few of these, put a flower in your lapel, and take a stroll down the Champs-Élysées – if only in your mind.

French Gimlet

• 2 oz gin – Use Empress 1908 if you want a lavender cocktail.

• 1.5 oz St. Germaine 

• .75 oz lime juice

Stir (or shake if you must) with ice until very cold and serve straight up.

Rob Roy

Now and then, I shake up something I haven’t had in a long while, and it reminds me of how many great drinks there are, and how getting into a rut can cause you to miss a lot of fun. Last night I had a Rob Roy for the first time in years. I loved it so much, I decided to repeat it here for all of you who may have missed it when I featured it the first time, back in 2017. 
 
It's another robust classic from the late 19th-early 20th centuries – the days of two-fisted drinking. Created in 1894 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, the Rob Roy was named in honor of the premiere of Rob Roy, an operetta based on the exploits of Scottish outlaw/folk hero Rob Roy MacGregor.
 
Not that any of this makes much difference. It’s really all about the flavor. This is a cocktail you may never have heard of, but your grandfather probably liked – a lot. It’s time you did, too.

Essentially, a Rob Roy is a Manhattan made with scotch instead of rye. It’s much less sweet, and at first sip, can be a little challenging. But after the second sip, or the third, things smooth out and the sipping is swell. So stick with it.

Perfect for freezing weather! Mix up a pitcher of these, go out on the moor, and howl at the moon. Or something like that …

Rob Roy

• Two parts scotch - a medium bodied-blend like Johnnie Walker is probably best, but by all means, experiment with others. 

• One part sweet vermouth

• A dash of Angostura bitters

 Combine the ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. For those who wish to garnish, a brandied cherry is ideal.

Champs Élysées

Just in time for the holiday season, comes this classic from the 1920s – what I like to call the Golden Age of Drinking. Cognac-based, it’s stout enough to confront the cold weather. Yet it’s a totally refreshing sip for the weary drinker after a long day of work, or Christmas shopping, or dealing with visiting relatives – or all three. 
 
It’s a variation on the classic Sidecar (my all-time favorite) but the substitution of Chartreuse and simple syrup for the triple sec in a Sidecar, and the inclusion of herbaceous Angostura bitters, gives it a delicious twist. Tart-sweet. Spicy. Provocative. Fun!
 
I included this among my cocktail offerings at Thanksgiving dinner this year and everyone was thankful. Try a couple and you will be, too.

Champs Élysées

• 1½ oz. cognac (I’ve used cheap brandy and it works just fine)

• ¾ oz. lemon juice

• ½ oz. simple syrup

• ¼ oz green Chartreuse

• 2 dashed Angostura bitters

Combine the ingredients in a shaker and shake for 10 to 12 seconds (I count them) to get it frosty cold. Serve straight up. 

Spook Night

Just in time for Halloween, here’s my own take on a new-ish holiday season concoction called To All a Good Night. It begins with a weird-sounding (scary, perhaps?) combo of bourbon and reposado tequila as the base, sweetened with Cherry Heering (a very sweet cherry liqueur from Denmark). 
 
Last week, my good buddy and fellow cocktail hound, Brian, alerted me to this one. It sounded interesting and we both tried it, but we found it a little too sweet for our taste.
 
So, I adjusted the proportions. More tequila, less Cherry Heering  – et voila! – the Spook Night. Drier and a tad stiffer. Dark, spicy, boozy, and perfect for fall weather. Delicious!
 
And, for another interesting twist, try replacing the tequila with mezcal. The rich, smokey flavor of the mezcal makes it even drier. Breathtaking! Proceed with caution!
 
A couple of these and you’ll be afraid of absolutely nothing!

Spook Night

• 1.5 oz bourbon

• 1 oz reposado tequila (for added thrills try mezcal instead)

• .5 oz Cherry Heering

• Dash of orange bitters

Put all the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir to get cold. Serve on the rocks – or on one big rock, like I do.

Millionaire

As we finally swing into real non-summer weather, we naturally swing into brown. As in brown spirits. Or at least I do. And here’s a real brown-ish beauty.
 
As with so many cocktails from the first years of the past century, the provenance on the Millionaire is obscure, and in this case, there are lots of different versions and recipes. No matter. This version is really wonderful, and that’s about as far as we need to go for today, right?
 
Spicy, and wonderfully sweet-sour, the flavor is kicked into high gear by the addition of a touch of absinth. And the addition of egg white makes it smooth and silky – just like you’d expect the life of a millionaire to be. I don’t usually bother with adding egg white, and you could certainly leave it out. But try it this way first. I know you’ll love it.
 
Tastes like a million bucks!

Millionaire

• 2 ounces bourbon

• 3/4 ounce Grand Marnier

• 1/4 ounce absinthe or pastis

• 1/2 ounce grenadine (the good stuff, NOT Rose's)

• 1/2 ounce egg white

• 1/2 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed

• Garnish: nutmeg, freshly grated

Add the ingredients to a shaker and shake without ice to get them mixed and the egg white foamy. Then add ice and shake to get it cold. Serve straight up.

Mexican Firing Squad

I don’t know about you, but as summer finally begins grinding to an end, I’m thinking ahead to cocktails for fall and the transition to somewhat more reasonable weather. 
 
I still want something refreshing, of course, but after months of gin and citrus, who isn’t ready for something with a little more guts? If that’s you, I’ve got just the thing right here.
 
This concoction dates back to at least the 1930s and (according to those who know) was first set forth in the 1939 book Gentleman’s Companion by a globe-trotting historian and barfly named Charles Baker. As always, the history isn’t as important as the present – and this is a great sip for right now.
 
Tequila-based, with lime and grenadine and a healthy shot of Angostura bitters, it’s rich and rounded and has a lovely deep rose color. And there’s flavor in abundance! 
 
Think of it as a Margarita that talks back. You’ll love it!

Mexican Firing Squad

• 2 ounces blanco tequila

• 3/4 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed of course

• 3/4 ounce grenadine 

• 4 dashes Angostura bitters

Get the mixture absolutely freezing cold and serve on ice in a rocks glass.

Army & Navy

As we drag ourselves through this very hot summer, bright, citrusy, and refreshing continue to be the ticket to a pleasant cocktail hour. And the old-time classics never seem to disappoint in this regard.

This one is another old-timer, dating to the early decades of the last century. Its typically vague origin story may, or may not, refer to tailgaters at the annual Army-Navy football game and/or the bar at the officers-only Army and Navy Club in D.C. No matter, it’s here now and it’s delicious.
 
Made with two of my favorites, gin and lemon, it gets its special character from orgeat, an intense almond-flavored syrup that’s essential to many Tiki drinks like the Mai Tai. Orgeat supplies the sweetness to go against the sour lemon and bitter gin. Throw in Angosutra bitters for a little color and earthy flavor – and voila! – the final mixture is magic. 
 
Shake up a few of these and savor the moment!

Army & Navy

• 2 ounces gin

• 1 ounce lemon juice

• .75 ounce orgeat* 

• Dash Angostura bitters

*Orgeat, pronounced with a soft g, is thick, almond-intense, and very sweet. It’s perfect for all sorts of Tiki drinks and should be on your shelf. Or more accurately, in your fridge once it’s been opened. Your better liquor merchant will have a bottle on his shelf.

Crop Top

As we slog through the current heat wave, light and refreshing remains the best concept for cocktail hour - and absolutely nothing does that better than the combination of gin and citrus. So, from the pages of the Cocktail Codex* (a gift from my cocktail comrade, Brian) we offer the Crop Top. 
 
Gin and two citrus flavors – lemon and grapefruit – combine with amaro, to make a zingy, spicy sipper with a gorgeous golden color. It’s an unexpected combination of ingredients, but really effective. Spicy, light, and very refreshing.

BTW, I usually don’t bother to recommend using a specific brand of liquor, but sometimes there’s an exception. There are dozens of amaros on the shelf at a respectable liquor store, and they vary widely in flavor and heaviness. This recipe calls for Amaro Montenegro, lighter and spicier than some of the others. I’d stick with this recommendation for the Crop Top.
 
Shake up a Crop Top or two at 5:00 pm and wave goodbye to the heat wave. At least for the night ahead.
 
Crop Top

Equal parts:

• Gin

• Amaro Montenegro

• Pamplemousse (grapefruit) liqueur (I’m using Combier Liqueur de Pamplemousse because that’s what Midtown Corkdorks, my favorite merchant, stocks.)

• Lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. A lemon peel makes a nice garnish.

*There are literally thousands of cocktail books out there, and I have at least 100 of them on the shelf, but Cocktail Codex is an especially good one. It goes into the fundamentals and variations on classic themes in a clear and fascinating way. It’s not only well-written, but also gorgeous to look at. Maybe the best book to have if you only have one.

Garden of Eden

Now that summer is really here, bright and refreshing is what the doctor ordered, and this one fills that prescription. 
 
Starting with gin – of course – adding healthy shot of St. Germaine elderflower liqueur and finishing with not one, but three, citrus flavors: grapefruit, lemon, and orange. Gin, sour, and sweet – all in the right proportion. Paradisical! 
 
This one started with a recipe I saw on Liquor.com (an excellent source for info on all things drinkable) that included the ingredients above, and added simple syrup (which made it too sweet) and topped-off with champagne (which muddled the flavors). A hot mess. 
 
So, I simplified. With cocktails, as in most of life, clarity and simplicity is usually best. 
 
Shake up a few of these on a hot day and you’ll be back in the garden. A few more, and you may need a fig leaf. I’ll leave that choice up to you …
                                          
Garden of Eden

• 2 oz gin

• .75 oz St. Germaine

• .5 oz grapefruit juice

• .5 oz lemon juice

• Healthy shot of orange bitters

Mix it up, shake it up, and serve it straight up. A bit of lemon or grapefruit peel makes a nice garnish.

Birthday Gimlet

As we – finally! – swing into spring, as usual my thoughts turn to gin, citrus, and sparking refreshment. The Birthday Gimlet is just the ticket!
 
Originating recently at the Electra Cocktail Lounge in Las Vegas, this is a simple variation on the classic Gimlet, which is a classic version of the basic sour – two parts base spirit, one part sweet, one part sour. 
 
This concoction starts with a Gimlet and simply adds a hint of grapefruit and layer of sparkling wine on top. For those who find a classic Gimlet a bit sweet, this will be a revelation. Drier – and with the bubbles – much more festive.
 
The Electra Lounge also recommends garnishing with an edible flower – but really, I think that’s a bridge too far. Who wants to find, buy, and/or eat a flower? Just mix it and drink it and admire the flowers blooming in the yard this time of year.
 
You won’t be disappointed.
 
Birthday Gimlet

• 1.5 oz gin

• .75 oz lime juice (always only fresh!)

• .75 oz simple syrup

• Grapefruit peel

• 1 oz sparkling wine – dry champagne, prosecco, cava – whatever you have in the fridge

Put the first three ingredients along with a healthy bit of grapefruit peel in a shaker with ice and shake to chill. Strain into a cocktail glass and top with the bubbly.