Guest Bartending a Fund-Raiser

[Chris Amirault]

Check that: the cobbler will obviously be shaken.

Tonight I'm doing the recipe cards -- and hence finalizing the recipes -- and the bottle orders for the stuff to be donated. I thought I'd share the recipes and descriptions here. Remember, please, that the majority of the folks at this gathering are unlikely to be familiar with these sorts of cocktails, approaches, and ingredients, necessitating the somewhat over-the-top descriptions.

Cape Cobbler

Bartender Jesse Hedberg 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 you father’s martini gin! 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.

[Chris Amirault]

Thought I'd share a few more notes on the ordering and batching. The max number of guests is 100, and cocktail hour is, um, an hour. So we decided to do a guesstimate at one drink per guest, and we bumped the cobblers thinking they'd be a bit more popular. Here's the ingredient lis.:

For the 40 Cobblers we need:

3 bottles Lustau Penninsula Palo Cortado sherry

2 bottles Marie Brizard orange curaçao

40 oz (2 quarts) Ocean Spray cranberry juice

20 oz lemon juice

80 dashes Regan’s orange bitters

For the 30 Lindbergs:

2 bottles Ransom Old Tom gin

2 bottles Cocchi Americano

1 bottle Marie Brizard Apry apricot liqueur

30 dashes Scrappy's or Fee’s grapefruit bitters

30 dashesBitter Truth Jerry Thomas Decanter or Angostura bitters

For the 30 Williams:

2 bottles Elijah Craig 12 year old bourbon

15 oz smoked pineapple syrup*

1 bottle Luxardo Maraschino liqueur

30 dashes Angostura bitters

3 bottles Duval LeRoy brut champagne, well chilled

Here's the booze order that went to the distributor (the fine folks at MS Walker):

3 bottles Lustau Penninsula Palo Cortado sherry OR SUB

2 bottles Marie Brizard orange curaçao

2 bottles Ransom Old Tom gin ??

2 bottles Cocchi Americano

1 bottle Marie Brizard Apry apricot liqueur

2 bottles Elijah Craig 12 year old bourbon

3 bottles Duval LeRoy brut champagne, well chilled

Jesse is worrying about the cobblers. Here are my responsibilities:

30 Lindbergs Batched

45 oz Ransom Old Tom gin

30 oz Cocchi Americano

12 oz Marie Brizard Apry apricot liqueur

fat ¼ oz Scrappy's (30 dashes)

fat ¼ oz Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Decanter (30 dashes)

60 Tovolo rocks cubes

6 lemons for twists

30 Williams Batched

30 oz Elijah Craig 12 year old bourbon

15 oz smoked pineapple syrup*

-8 oz Luxardo Maraschino liqueur

fat ¼ oz (30 dashes) Angostura bitters

3 bottles Duval LeRoy brut champagne, well chilled

40 pieces pineapple

skewers

Yikes. Gotta smoke and soak that pineapple tomorrow night.