Harvest Rye

When the year end holidays roll around, I start to look forward to the Harvest Rye cocktail:

• 2 ounces High West Double Rye
• 1 ounce Sour Mix
• 1 ounce Apple Shrub
• Cider Foam
• Fresh nutmeg

Shake the first three ingredients in an iced shaker and pour into a cocktail glass. Top with cider foam and fresh nutmeg.

My first trip to the bluezoo restaurant at Walt Disney World in Orlando was formative in my desire to make cocktails. Not only do they revive vintage cocktails, they make a number of delicious new ones. When I first had this one, it was so new it didn’t even have a name. Chad Lobner, the General Manager, was kind enough to share some of their recipes with me. He works hard at trying to preserve the spirit behind the classics but adding new twists such as as the use of infusions, gels and foams.

Cider Foam

One concept that is definitely associated more with modern mixology than vintage is the use of foams. This is a recipe for an apple cider foam:

• 8 ounces apple cider
• 3-4 cinnamon sticks
• 1 sheet gelatin

Simmer the cider and cinnamon sticks until liquid is reduced by half. Meanwhile, rehydrate a sheet of gelatin. Off heat, remove the cinnamon sticks and add the gelatin sheet. Pour into an iSi whipper and chill for at least 4 hours.

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Apple Shrub

A shrub is an acidulated beverage made of fruit juice, sugar, and other ingredients. It is both sweet and tart. I needed an apple shrub for a recipe and was given this one:

• 8 ounces of Granny Smith apples
• 8 ounces of brown sugar
• 8 ounces of apple cider vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a container and let sit for 24 hours or more. Or simmer on the stovetop until flavors are blended.

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Sour Mix

Sour mix is such an overused cocktail ingredient that the Vintage Cocktail book expressly states it won’t be used (but one exception is The Fogcutter). However, homemade sour mix is much different than the sickly sweet stuff you usually get in a bar, so here is the recipe I use:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup fresh lime juice

Make a simple syrup with the water and sugar. Off heat stir in the lemon and lime juices

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Palm Beach Special

In our house we almost always have a grapefruit. It’s odd, because while we eat grapefruit we don’t do so very often, and since we always have one sometimes it hangs around past its prime. Thus we refer to it as the “sacrificial” grapefruit.

Due to this new hobby, I tend to have a lot of fresh citrus on hand and I recently bought a new grapefruit to sacrifice. However this time it was to the cocktail gods. Of the four recipes on the list that use grapefruit juice, the one I was most in the mood for was the Palm Beach Special:

The Rose

I counted four cocktails in the list that call for raspberry syrup as an ingredient. In the Resource Guide section of the book, Dr. Cocktail recommends using [Smucker’s Red Raspberry Syrup][1]. Mine finally arrived so I present The Rose:

• 2 ounces dry French vermouth
• 1 ounce kirschwasser
• 1 teaspoon raspberry syrup

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

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Sherry Baby

In Chatham County, NC, where I live, we don’t have many options for cocktails. However, the always excellent Oak Leaf restaurant is usually a good place to go (especially on Tuesdays when cocktails are half price). They recently got a new bartender (more aptly “cocktail chef”) named Justin Peregoy who takes cocktails seriously, and he was kind enough to share his recipe for Sherry Baby:

• 1.50 ounces Redemption Rye
• 0.50 ounce Lustau Amontillado Sherry
• 0.25 ounce orange simple syrup
• 2-3 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters

Combine the ingredients in a bar glass, top with ice and stir until the glass is completely chilled top to bottom. Strain into a long stemmed glass and garnish with an orange twist.

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