Featured Cocktails
And at the end of each tour we ask our guests, which of the several cocktails they tried, was their favorite?
Check back here often for recipes and pro tips from the mixologists who created them.
Be cocktail curious and drink outside the box. Cheers!
Tropical Malady
Ampersand Asian Supper Club
Trent’s cocktail struck the perfect balance between bright, citrusy and boozy notes. The ginger molasses and lemonsicle tea added complexity and richness to the cocktail to easily become this week’s Fan Favorite.
2 oz. Diplomatico Reserva rum
1.75 oz. Lemonsickle tea
.5 oz. Black ginger molasses
.5 oz. Fresh orange juice
2 dashes Bay leaf bitters
Combine all ingredients in a shaker tin. Add ice and shake hard until chilled. Using both a Hawthorn and a mesh strainer, double strain into a rocks glass with 1 large ice cube and garnish with a twist of orange.
PRO TIP: tbd
Dram and Loathing
Worthington Tavern
Ryan’s Old Fashioned riff was both bold and delicious. The split-base blend of aged rum and mezcal was delicious and the complex flavors only intensified as the craft ice opened it up.
1.5 oz. Diplomatico Riserva rum
.5 oz. Bozal mezcal
.5 oz. Orange cordial
.25 oz. Allspice dram
Combine all ingredients in a tin and shake until well-chilled. Strain and serve in a rocks glass with one large cube.
PRO TIP: To make the orange cordial — zest and juice 24 oranges and combine in a saucepan with the same weight of sugar. Place over low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves then turn off the heat and cover until it cools. Strain and bottle and refrigerate.
Pocketful of Sunshine
Mouton
Theo’s cocktail featuring Noble Cut distilleries Grapefruit Cello was both effervescent and delicious. The Grapefruit Cello and tequila played perfectly together and each enhanced the other in the cocktail.
1 oz. Chamomile-infused Altos reposado tequila
.5 oz. Noble Cut grapefruit cello
.5 oz. Lemon juice
.5 oz. honey syrup (1:1 honey to water ratio)
Combine all ingredients to a tin and shake with ice. Strain into a champagne flute and top with Prosecco and add a few drops of Peychaud’s bitters to the top. Garnish with a lemon twist.
PRO TIP: To make the chamomile-infused Altos reposado tequila, infuse one bottle of Altos reposado tequila with one chamomile tea bag, let stand overnight then strain.
The tip of the tongue
Goodale Station
(A.K.A. The Spicy Josie) This cocktail featuring Maker’s Mark Lakeside Sipper was balanced, delicious, spicy, light and refreshing yet still booze forward — the perfect combination to be voted fan favorite.
2 oz. Maker’s Mark Lakeside Sipper
1 oz. Lemon cordial
1.5 oz. Pineapple/Cocounut/Chili shrub
Combine all ingredients in a shaker, add ice and shake until chilled. Strain into a Collins glass, add fresh ice and top with soda water. Garnish with spicy salt rim and chili strands.
PRO TIP 1: To create the lemon cordial, combine equal parts (by weight) lemon slices and sugar, vacuum seal and let sit for 2 to 3 days at room temperature, strain and enjoy.
PRO TIP 2: To make the shrub use: 1000ml water, 500ml apple cider vinegar, 600ml pineapple juice, 200g toasted coconut flakes, 100g Aleppo chili flakes, and 500g white sugar. Combine all ingredients and let simmer on low heat for roughly 45 minutes. Taste and adjust as necessary.
Passionfruit Sour
Subourbon
The cocktail tour was in for a real treat with this delicious tipple featuring Blade and Bow bourbon. It checked all the right boxes: boozy, fruity, lemony, silky, and really well-balanced.
1.5 oz. Blade & Bow bourbon
1 oz. Passionfruit puree
.5 oz. Simple syrup
.5 oz. Lemon juice
2 dashes Fee Foam
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail tin and dry shake. Add ice and shake again. Double strain into a coup and garnish with a sprig of burnt rosemary.
PRO TIP: Fee Bros. makes an amazing foaming substitute called Fee Foam. Use just a couple of dashes in place of egg whites or aquafaba for all the foam without the smell.
Letter 23
Goodale Station
Infusing Maker’s Mark bourbon with basil and simple syrup with strawberries worked together with the other ingredients to create this delicious and complex cocktail.
1 oz. basil-infused Makers Mark bourbon
1 oz. Pierre Ferrand cognac
.25 oz. Giffard Rhubarbe liqueur
.25 oz. Zucca Rabarbaro amaro
.5 oz. Yuzu juice
.5 oz. Strawberry simple syrup
Combine all ingredients and shake until chilled. Double strain, using a mesh strainer, into a Nick and Nora glass and garnish with a twist of lemon and slice of strawberry.
PRO TIP: To make the strawberry syrup combine 500 grams of strawberries with 1000 grams of simple syrup. Add 5 grams citric acid and sous vide for 10 minutes at 120°. And get to Goodale Station and order this amazing cocktail while it’s on their menu.
Peach Barrel
‘Plas
This amazing cocktail featuring Maker’s Mark is the perfect autumn cocktail — boozy, fruity, rich and complex.
1.5 oz. Makers Mark bourbon
1.5 oz. Peach Infused Watershed apple brandy
1 oz. Toasted oat syrup
Squeeze of lemon wedge
Combine all ingredients and shake with ice. Strain into Nick and Nora glass. Garnish with Peach Ring and Crystalized Ginger Candy
PRO TIPS: To create the peach-infused Apple Brandy, wash and cut peaches. 1 lb. per 750 ML of Watershed Apple Brandy. Place peaches and brandy in an airtight container. Make sure the peaches are completely covered in liquid. Allow this to rest for approximately two weeks. Strain carefully to ensure all of the peach particles have been removed and store in an airtight container.
To make the toasted oat syrup combine 2 cups Old Fashioned Oats with 5 cups of water and 1 cup of white sugar. Toast oats in an ungreased pan over medium heat, stirring often — approximately 10 minutes. Oats should turn a light brown color and smell like a nutty butterscotch when toasted. Remove from heat. Transfer oats to the vessel you will use for steeping. Combine water and white sugar in a separate pan, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Bring to a simmer, remove from heat and pour over the toasted oats that you prepared earlier. Allow to steep for 5 minutes. Strain off the liquid, this is your syrup, and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Three Strikes, You’re Out!
Mouton
Theo hit this one out of the park! On paper we were a bit skeptical of how this cocktail would taste but it was beautifully balanced and absolutely delicious. Silky smooth and the perfect end to this weekend’s cocktail tour.
1.5 oz. Bubble gum vodka
.75 oz of Peanut falernum
2 dashes of orange bitters
Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. Stir with ice, then strain over a large cube into a rocks glass. Garnish with a lemon peel with the oils expressed over the glass. Serve with peanuts and bubble gum.
PRO TIP: To create the vodka and felernum, infuse one bottle of Watershed vodka with 3 pieces of bazooka bubble gum and one cinnamon stick and one bottle of Velvet Falernum with 1/2 cup of peanuts. Let both sit for 48 hours then strain.
Jack Sparrow
Goodale Station
This complex and delicious cocktail checked all of the boxes — boozy, sweet and velvety smooth, with citrus and baking spice notes.
1.5 oz. Bumbu Rum
.5 oz. Maggie’s Farm Spiced Rum
.75 oz. Maggie’s Farm Falernum
.5 oz. Lime juice
.25 oz. Pineapple juice
.25 oz. Demerara simple syrup
5 dashes Angostura bitters
Combine all ingredients in a shaker tin, shake hard until chilled, double strain and serve up in a coupe. Garnish with a wedge of fresh pineapple.
PRO TIP: Double straining a cocktail through a mesh strainer helps remove all of the ice chips.