Sippin' Mele-Kalikimaka Style

For my birthday this year, we decide to do something a little different. Since the cold seems to be sticking around, we decided to hit up the new tiki bar right around the the corner from office, Lani Kai.

This new hotspot is the brainchild of Hawaiian-born, cocktail maven Julie Reiner. And like all Reiner establishments, the cocktails are absolutely out of this world. I think between the nine of us, we had one of everything on the menu. Here's a sampling:

8 Days a Week (my personal favorite): Haitian, Jamaican and Guyanan Rums, toasted coconut milk, demerara, vanilla syrup and Donn's spices.

Pacific Swizzle: white rum infused with rosehip, lemongrass and hibiscus tea, lime juice and passion fruit.

Hotel California: Dried apricot infused Old Tom gin, pisco, lime, pineapple juice, toasted almond orgeat, and Peychaud's bitters.

Leilani's Fizz: Gin, lychee, lime juice, lemongrass syrup and club soda.

Isle of Islay Swizzle (another fave): blended scotch, coconut liqueur, house falernum, passion fruit, and lemon juice.

The Lone Palm: Gin, ginger syrup, melon, basil, lime juice.

E Kipa Mai: Mezcal, agave syrup, pineapple, lime juice and amara.

The Maya Well: Raspberry tea infused blanco tequila, ginger, pineapple, and lime juice.

And of course, we needed to try a Mai Tai: aged Martinique and Jamaican rums, lime juice, toasted almond orgeat and curacao.

What I should have blogged about in 2010, but didn't...

I have a bad habit of typing up cocktails in my iPhone notes while I'm at the bar and then forgetting about them. I should tweet them, but I can't get the hang of the Twitter to save my life - LOL! So here are a few tasty sips I discovered on my trek back and forth across the U.S. this year. Enjoy!

Rock the Casbah at the Ace Hotel, New York: vodka, hibiscus syrup, lemon juice and prosecco.

Verbena Pisco Sour at Michael Mina's Bourbon Steak in San Francisco: pisco, fresh muddled verbena, housemade verbena syrup, fresh lemon juice, egg white, fresh distilled verbena water spray.

Cherry Blossom at Spice Market in NYC: G’Vine gin, cherry yuzu, and Thai basil.

I'm Effen Sexy at Magnolia in Pasadena: Effen Black Cherry Vodka, X-Rated Fusion Liqueur, Peachtree Schnapps, and cranberry juice.

Flying Wasp at Brinkley's in NYC: Iced Tea Vodka, housemade lemonade, and mint.

Warming up at The James

Last night, I got the opportunity to check out one of the sexiest new rooftop bars in NYC: Jimmy at The James hotel in Soho -- a brand spankin' new spot you won't want to miss.

David Burke is the mastermind behind this hip, urban spot, which has stunning views of the NYC skyline, a cozy vibe complete with a fireplace, and a few holiday trimmings to set the scene (think elegant seasonal flowers and a few twinkle lights).

It was an insanely cold day and we were looking for a warm-up, so Justin -- the extremely knowledgeable bartender and doppleganger for Dominic Monaghan, stirred up the following sips made with fresh herbs taken right from the on-site Chef's Garden:

Mulberry Street Vesper: Luksusowa Vodka, Plymouth Gin, Lillet, Liquore Strega & a dash of Cynar served up with a flamed orange twist.

Adirondack Sazaerac: Michter’s American Rye & muddled rosemary with fresh mint & housemade bitters.

Legal in Vermont: Knob Creek Bourbon and organic Vermont maple syrup served over a cinnamon ice block (super cool and dee-lish!), and red shiso garnish.

'Tis the Season to Sip

I've just been asked to recommend some cocktails for the holiday season, so I thought I'd do a quick blog post with a round up of a few of my faves from past years. Hope this season is a very merry one for everyone!

Coquito
Courtesy of The Food Network
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
1 (14 oz.) can condensed milk
2 egg yolks
2 cups fresh coconut milk or 1 (15 oz.) can coconut milk
Pinch salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup Bacardi white rum

Place all ingredients in a blender and process for 3 minutes at high speed until frothy. Store in a glass container in the refrigerator and serve chilled, dusted with a little cinnamon.

Christmas Cosmo
Courtesy of RecipeZaar.com
1 1/2 oz. rosemary-infused vodka
1/2 oz. triple sec
1 oz. cranberry juice
1 inch rosemary sprigs, for garnish
Cranberries, for garnish

To make the rosemary-infused vodka, coarsely chop 1 bunch of rosemary and put it in a fifth of vodka overnight and then strain out the rosemary. To make the drink, shake all the liquids in a cocktail shaker and then strain into a martini glass. Garnish with 1 cranberry and a little sprig of rosemary.

Sugar Plum Fairy
Courtesy of Stirrings
2 oz. Stirrings Sugar Plum Martini
1 oz. Ciroc Vodka
Splash sparkling wine or dry Champagne

In a champagne flute, top Sugar Plum Martini and vodka with sparkling wine or Champagne.

Eggnog Martini
Courtesy of Stirrings
2 oz. Stirrings Egg Nog
1.5 oz. Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
Stirrings Egg Nog Rimmer Garnish

Shake with ice and serve straight up in a Stirrings Egg Nog rimmed glass.

Poinsettia Cocktail
1/2 oz. Combier
3 oz. cranberry juice, chilled
Orange twist
Champagne

In a champagne flute, combine Combier and cranberry juice. Add the orange twist, top with champagne and serve.

Spiced Cherry Collins '
Courtesy of Jonathan Pogash
1 1/2 oz. Christmas Tea-infused Bombay Sapphire Gin**
3 cherries, pitted
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. clove syrup**
Club Soda
Garnish: cherry and cloved lime slice
Glass: highball

Muddle the cherries, then shake other ingredients except for club soda in a cocktail shaker then strain into highball glass with ice. Top w/ club soda. Stir briefly.

To make Christmas tea-infused Bombay Sapphire Gin: For every one 750 ml bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin, add in 3 Christmas tea bags to airtight container w/ Gin. Allow to infuse for approx. 30 minutes. Remove tea bags and serve.

To make clove syrup: Combine 1 cup of water with 1 cup of demerara sugar or sugar in the raw. Add in 1 tbsp whole cloves and heat until sugar is dissolved. Then simmer for approx. 10 minutes. Strain out cloves, chill, and serve.

Spicy Elf
Courtesy of Jonathan Pogash
1 oz. Belvedere IX Vodka
1/2 oz. Allspice Liqueur
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. agave nectar
Ginger Beer
Garnish: peppermint sprig

Shake the first four ingredients together in a cocktail shaker and strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Top with splash of ginger beer.

Who is Tom Collins, anyway?

Forgive the plastic cup in the photo above. Traditional Collins glasses just wouldn't work on the boat I spent Fourth of July weekend on. Regardless, I just had to share this recipe for a super simple, classic sip that is perfect for these warm weather days and steamy nights.

Tom Collins
2 oz. gin
1 oz. lemon juice
1 tsp. simple syrup
Club soda

Shake first three ingredients together with ice. Pour over ice and top with club soda.

So who was Tom Collins? With a little digging I discovered that no one really knows for sure, but the name could have come from Old Tom, a gin that was used back in the '50s, while the last name may have belonged to the bartender who first created the sip.

Move Over Watermelon ...

It's strawberry season! What does this mean for cocktails? Well, sips flavored with muddled strawberries just happen to be my summer drink of choice these days. Here are just a few I've recently had the pleasure of sipping:

Strawberry Caipirinha @ Morels: a refreshing twist on a Latin classic made with Cabana cachaca, muddled strawberries, and lime juice.

Art Nuvo [shown] @ Laguna Champagne Bar: A fizzy concoction of Grey Goose, lemon juice, fresh strawberry puree, and Nuvo vodka, all topped off with Moet & Chandon Imperial.

And here is one I hope to be making July 4th weekend - I think it will go perfectly with our patriotic festivities.

Strawberry Rose Gimlet
Recipe by Mixologist Matthew Biancaniello of Hollywood's Roosevelt Hotel
2 oz. gin
3/4 oz. Rosewater syrup
3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
3 to 4 fresh strawberries

To make stir up 3 to 4 fresh strawberries with Rosewater syrup and fresh lemon juice. Add gin, shake with ice, and strain into chilled martini glass. Garnish with cut strawberries.

Of all the gin joints...

...in all of New York, I walked in to The Back Room on the Lower East Side earlier tonight. The reason? To take part in the first official Next GINeration Cocktail Challenge, hosted by New Amsterdam Gin.

For those of you who haven't heard about New Amsterdam, it's an American-made gin named after old-school New York and packaged up in a sleek glass bottle inspired by the Empire State Building -- nice, right?

The challenge was to create a cocktail inspired by Manhattan in just 10 minutes using ... New Amsterdam Gin, of course. Inspired by my frequent travels through the three notoriously late airports of New York, my drink was aptly names The Flight Delay. I tried to do a twist on the classic Aviation Cocktail, which I doctored a bit by adding orange juice to the mix, since I always drink OJ on the plane to keep me from getting sick.

How did it turn out? Let's just say I'll leave the mixology to the experts -- experts like Alex Ott, who was our host of the evening and who also created these Manhattan-inspired libations:

Five Points
1 1/2 oz. New Amsterdam Gin
2 1/2 oz. orange juice
2 1/2 oz. cola
1/4 oz. fresh lemon juice

Fill a pilsner or highball glass with ice. Pour in the gin, orange juice and lemon juice then float with coal. Garnish with a thick orange wheel.

Little Italy
2 oz. New Amsterdam Gin
1 1/2 oz. limoncello
1/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 oz. soda

Combine all ingredients except the soda in a shaker filled with ice, shake vigorously and strain over an ice-filled high ball glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

Best. Cocktail. Ever.

I thought I was over the pear vodka drinks. That is, until I sipped the Peared Sake at Sunda in Chicago the other night. Seriously, this was the best drink I ever had! And apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks so -- the Peared Sake even won Cocktail of the Year on Metromix.com.

Why? Blame it on the stellar ingredients. Think Grey Goose La Poire, Zipang sparkling sake, pineapple juice, ginger syrup, a delicious cinnamon rim, and a chewy dried pear slice for garnish. I can't wait to start shaking these up at my place in NYC.

And since I'm mentioning Sunda, I can't forget about the Toasted Ginger Snap: a decadent blend of Bombay Sapphire, red grapefruit juice, lime juice, egg white, ginger syrup, anise seeds, mint, and a crushed almond and orange honey rum.

What will you be stirring up this Christmas?

If you haven't given your holiday cocktail menu a thought, now's the time. The flavors of Christmas are just too good not to serve up over ice (think vanilla, cherry, coconut and spice). Need a recipe? Jonathan Pogash (aka. the Cocktail Guru) can definitely help. Making the rounds on the Today Show and Fox News this week stirring up holiday sips, he also posted the recipes on his blog. Here are two that I'm hoping to try this Friday:

Spiced Cherry Collins
1 1/2 oz. Christmas Tea-infused Bombay Sapphire Gin**
3 cherries, pitted
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. clove syrup**
Club Soda
Garnish: cherry and cloved lime slice
Glass: highball

Muddle the cherries, then shake other ingredients except for club soda in a cocktail shaker then strain into highball glass with ice. Top w/ club soda. Stir briefly.

To make Christmas tea-infused Bombay Sapphire Gin: For every one 750 ml bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin, add in 3 Christmas tea bags to airtight container w/ Gin. Allow to infuse for approx. 30 minutes. Remove tea bags and serve.

To make clove syrup: Combine 1 cup of water with 1 cup of demerara sugar or sugar in the raw. Add in 1 tbsp whole cloves and heat until sugar is dissolved. Then simmer for approx. 10 minutes. Strain out cloves, chill, and serve.

Spicy Elf
1 oz. Belvedere IX Vodka
1/2 oz. Allspice Liqueur
1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. agave nectar
Ginger Beer
Garnish: peppermint sprig

Shake the first four ingredients together in a cocktail shaker and strain into an ice-filled highball glass. Top with splash of ginger beer.

In the Graves

I already knew the Graves 601 in downtown Minneapolis was an amazing hotel, but the scene got even better when I found out they were as serious about their cocktails as they were about their uber-hip decor. At the hotel's Bradstreet Crafthouse Restaurant, they make their own bitters (shown), so I just had to try The Garden Walk made with Chamomile-steeped Beefeater gin, lemon juice, egg white, honey syrup, and housemade summer bitters, which added a fruity pineapple and cherry essence. YUM!

Backlash to Elderflower

Oh, Philly - I'll give you an A for effort, but i have to say, a little disappointed on the cocktails consumed last night. I've been wanting to try this place Apothecary Bar + lounge (above) eversince reading about it in Food & Wine. The have a cool concept: bottle service cocktails. If you don't want to shell out $50+ for a full carafe, you can order just one of their signature Elixirs or a Classic, which is an old-school sip with an Apothecary twist. Most of the cocktails at Apothecary are made with quality spirits, bitters, fresh juices, and herbs. It was a little hard to choose one from the menu (and, unfortunately, the bartender wasn't much help). I picked the Immunity Idol (it is AI season, after all). The menu describes this sip as "an analeptic of high style for all systems needed" - whatever that means. The problem: too much St. Germain. I should have known, but I was so impressed by my last St. Germain cocktail that I thought the liqueur had redeemed itself. Not so much. You might feel differently though, so here's the mix: Hendricks gin, St. Germain, fresh pineapple and orange, orange bitters, echinaecea, hawthorn root, and elderberry liniment. I don't recommend trying to make this one at home - but check it out if you're in town.

I do, however, recommend the Abricot from Parc (below) - can't go wrong with a Stephen Starr sip. This one was made with Ricard Pastis (think licorice), apricot liqueur and puree, lemon juice, and cloves. It was delicious...wish I could have eaten there too.

Sunshine in a Coupe Glass

I'm back in New York for a little more than a minute, and I've decided that since I'm not here so much anymore, I need to take advantage of the time I'm home. So this weekend I made it my mission to visit Little Branch, a speakeasy-style bar in the West Village. And it just so happened that I made it there twice! What was I drinkin'? Well, at Little Branch (below), the actual cocktail menu is fairly limited to sips w/ lots of brown spirits (think juleps, cognac-infused concoctions, etc.). If just the thought of sippin' whiskey gives you headache, take a leap of faith and order the Bartender's Choice. Little Branch's talented mixologists will ask you what you like and whip up something delicious. My sip was the Sunflower: a lip-puckering blend of gin, St. Germain (yes, it's back), Cointreau, and absinthe. It was a lovely preview to Spring, which can't get here fast enough.

Congratulations, Mr. President

It took a little digging, but I managed to find this aptly named drink on the White on Rice Couple blog. This adorable twosome concocted a delicious sip by incorporating a few of the qualities of our 44th President: pineapple juice from his home in Hawaii, the brightness of lime, and the spice of chili to mirror his fire. Cheers, Mr. Obama!


The Obamatini
Courtesy of White on Rice Couple
2 oz. Gin
2 oz. Pineapple Juice
1/4 - 1/2 Serrano or Thai Chili
3/4 oz. Lime Juice
3/4 oz Simple Syrup
Dash Angostura Bitters

Add ingredients into a shaker, crush the chili inside of the shaker. Add ice, then shake vigorously for 15 seconds. Strain into a cocktail glass, garnish with a lemon twist, raise it to your dreams, and drink.

Vote on the Rocks

Just got back from voting and thankfully I did not have to wait in line. Unfortunately, it sounds like millions of people are not so lucky, which means many voters will need a drink once they finally get their turn at the polls. After months of swimming through a see of red and blue, I thought a green cocktail, courtesy of Stirrings, would be a nice change of pace:

Grassroots Gimlet
Organic efforts do pay off.
2 parts Stirrings Organic Classic Sour Mixer
1 part gin (organic gin optional)
Garnish: lime wedge and wheat grass

In a rocks glass, combine Stirrings Organic Classic Sour Mixer with gin over plenty of ice. Stir and garnish with lime wedge and wheat grass.

Find more Election Day cocktails from Stirrings at Simple Stated.

Gilda's Club and some gin

Over the past three months I have been privileged to be a part of the benefit committee that helped to plan the Gilda's Club Worldwide 4th Annual Red Ball, which was hosted by the Young Leadership Council this past Friday night. Close to 400 people came together at the Westside Loft in Manhattan to celebrate and raise money for Gilda's Club Worldwide, an amazing organization named in honor of SNL alum Gilda Radner who's mission is to provide free cancer support for the whole family the whole time. Our hard work and efforts truly paid off (unfortunately though, I forgot my camera!). It was an incredible evening filled with great people, awesome music, delicious sustainable hors d'oeuvres courtesy of Fancy Girl Catering, and tasty cocktails courtesy of Bacardi.

The Gilda
1 part Bombay Sapphire
1 part lemonade
1 part cranberry juice

Peartini
2 parts Grey Goose Le Poire
1/4 part Disaronno
1/4 part simply syrup
Squeeze of lemon

Thank you so much to all of those who attended and donated to this event and amazing cause. We truly appreciate it!

Let's hear it for the Pegu Club!

The next stop on my old-school cocktail tour of NYC came unexpectedly last weekend when a friend suggested we go to the Pegu Club. I was super-excited because this place was on my list and, thankfully, the cocktails did not disappoint. Though, I have to say, the atmosphere sort of did. It just seemed like everyone knew about it already, unlike PDT (even though everyone pretty much does). Needless to say, the bar was really crowded with a well-dressed crowd, but despite this, the bartenders still managed to concoct a mean cocktail. We sipped a Jamaican Firefly (dark rum, ginger beer, fresh lime juice) and an Ode to Ankarah (St. Germain, gin, grapefruit juice, orange bitters, lemon juice).

One thing I did love: the Asian-inspired decor. Check out the Pegu Club's website for the history of it's namesake cocktail lounge in Burma. In the meantime, here is a recipe for the original Pegu Club Cocktail:

The Pegu Club Cocktail
Courtesy of The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock
1 1/2 oz. gin
1/2 oz. Cointreau
3/4 oz. freshly-squeezed lime juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Kickin' It Old School

I just got back from the Bowery Hotel, where bartender Brian is mixing up old school concoctions worthy of Toulouse-Lautrec. That's right, we are talkin' Absinthe. Though I have done my Absinthe research, even writing a story on the "Green Fairy" while at Pennsylvania's Wine Spirits Quarterly, I have never seen an absinthe cocktail made in person -- until tonight. Bowing to tradition, Brian mixed up this mystical green potion in a pint glass, topped it off with a strainer, over which he poured ice cold water from an ornate glass jar over a sugar cube. If you're not daring enough for this hallucingenic sip, try the bar's Bowery Cocktail: a mix of Dubonnet, Angostura bitters, and Plymouth Gin topped off with Champagne and served in a martini glass garnished with a lemon twist.