Recipes By Robert Simonson
110 recipes found
Jardin Fresca
As advertised, there’s quite a bit of the garden in this drink: elderflowers from the St. Germain; artichoke, rhubarb and other flavors from the Cynar; as well jalapeño, celery and cucumber. The celery bitters hit your nose and taste buds first, while the pepper-infused tequila leaves you with a pleasant, lasting kick. The cocktail is easy to drink, but never dull.
White Linen
This refreshing drink was created by the bartender Rene Dominguez and popularized in the '00s at the Shady Lady Saloon in Sacramento. It has become so popular in the city that a canned version was released in 2017.
Screaming Greenie
Redemption has arrived for the frozen drink, which in the late 20th century all but ruined the reputation of the daiquiri and margarita as serious cocktails. Absinthe provides a note of anise to this refreshing, verdant beverage. Just don’t drink it too quickly — brain freeze is a real thing.
Vodka Gimlet
Cali Spritz
Jon Santer, the owner of Prizefighter in Emeryville, Calif. created this simple spritz to celebrate the recent arrival of Bruto Americano, an Italian-style bitter aperitivo from St. George Distillery. To keep the drink local, he uses California chardonnay as a mixer. The pleasingly pink drink is well balanced; the easygoing quality of the wine contrasts nicely with the aggressive bite of the Americano.
Black Rock Chiller
Sother Teague, a bartender at Amor y Amargo in the East Village, was asked by some journalists journeying to the Burning Man gathering in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to come up with a cocktail that would travel and didn’t need chilling. This was his response. The big, sweet menthol hit of the amaro Branca Menta — while marrying wonderfully with the herbal tequila and bitter Suze — also provides the illusion of coolness in a drink that has none.
High Five
This drink is a little miracle in liquid prestidigitation: five ingredients (three of them alcoholic) getting together to assume the guise of an innocent cherry cola. That flavor profile was exactly the intention of the bartender Jeff Lyon, who set out to make an alcoholic cola that tasted like “more than the sum of its parts.”
Americano
The Negroni is enjoying a moment now. For bartenders and barflies, this deliciously complex mix of Campari, gin and sweet vermouth has become an easy way to fly one’s flag as a knowing cocktail classicist. But the drink’s rising profile has cast a shadow over its once-popular progenitor, the Americano. Without this refreshing Italian-born highball — Campari, sweet vermouth and club soda — there would have been no blueprint for the gin-loving Count Camillo Negroni to experiment with a century ago. (The drink’s family line actually goes back even farther; the Americano grew out of a simpler aperitif that omitted the soda, called the Milano-Torino — Milano in honor of the birthplace of Campari, Torino for the vermouth.) While the Americano doesn’t have quite the romance that’s grown around the Negroni, it also doesn’t have nearly as much alcohol. It’s a lighter and saner choice for summertime drinking. A pitcher of Americanos enjoyed on the back patio during a hot afternoon will not leave you down for the, uh, count.
Rye Old-Fashioned
One of the most venerable of whiskey-based cocktails, the old-fashioned has a history that stretches back farther than the martini’s. For decades it has suffered under the reputation of something your grandmother drank — overly sweet, fruit-laden and spritzed-up. But grandma wouldn’t recognize what’s happened to it lately.
La Pomme Sourde
This drink is adapted from one offered on the opening menu at Le Syndicat, a Paris cocktail bar that uses only French products in its drinks. As with most of the bar’s cocktails, it requires a little labor, but the pink peppercorn-infused cider syrup is easier to make than it looks. The bartender and owner, Sullivan Doh, called the cocktail “fresh and thirst-quenching” and “an interesting drink for hot days.” It delivers a riot of fruit flavors from the two layers of apple (the Calvados and the cider), the lemon juice and various fruit notes lurking in the French aperitif Byrrh. Think of it as the kind of julep you might drink on Bastille Day.
Bunker’s Love Affair
The cocktails made at Wassail, a cider bar on the Lower East Side, use not only cider, but also other spirits derived from apples, such as Calvados and Pommeau, which is a mix of apple juice and Calvados. Bunker’s Love Affair, created by Wassail’s head bartender, Jade Brown-Godfrey, combines all three. The drink is boozy and fruity in equal measure. The multiple layers of apple flavor are cut by the bitter gentian backbone of the Suze (which, like all the ingredients in this cocktail, is French). The drink is named in honor of John Bunker, a Maine pomologist who has worked to preserve older varieties of apples.
Batida de Maracujá e Coco
Brewer’s Breakfast
The Good Word
Mott and Mulberry
Leo Robitschek, bar manager at The NoMad in Manhattan, named this cocktail for two Little Italy streets, in homage to its Italian and American ingredients. He aimed to create a drink that was festive, like a hot spiced cider, while avoiding the rich excesses of some traditional holiday tipples. The cocktail is basically a whiskey sour armed with two secret weapons: the distinctly sweet-tart flavor of Honeycrisp apple juice and Amaro Abano, which the bartender called a “spice bomb, adding cinnamon and clove notes while adding a pleasant bitterness.” It is suited for the cocktail hour, or just before dinner.
Gillette Cocktail
This recipe is an early print appearance of the gimlet, under a different name, according to the cocktail historian David Wondrich. The gimlet that drinkers came to know in the years after Prohibition usually called for Rose’s Lime Juice, an achingly sweet potion. The St. Louis bartender Tom Bullock made his Gillette the way many mixologists make a gimlet today, with sugar and fresh lime juice instead of Rose’s. He also called for the mildly sweet Old Tom gin instead of a London dry gin. The three ingredients result in a drink both gentle and piquant.
Lazy Lover
This is a popular Employees Only creation made of cachaça, lime juice, jalapeño-infused green Chartreuse, Benedictine and agave nectar.
Crystal Fall
Saratoga
Pimm’s Cup With Watermelon
White Port and Tonic
White port with tonic is a common drink throughout Portugal. The light-bodied and fruity wine pairs well with the bitterness of tonic, creating a happy, easygoing drink. A 1-to-2 ratio works best here; you don’t want to use too much tonic or the gentle flavors of the port will be overwhelmed. Choice of tonic is a matter of preference. Canada Dry makes for a livelier mix, but the lighter Q Tonic leads to a more elegant drink. La Taberna in Napa, Calif., tops the drink with a lime wedge, but I find a lemon a more harmonious companion.
The Giving Tree
This holiday-season cocktail is intended as “a cold version of a type of mulled wine, from Nordic or Germanic tradition,” said its inventor, Mike Ryan, head bartender at Sable Kitchen & Bar in Chicago. The red wine lends a nice roundness; the rye gives strength; and the Drambuie provides sweetness and spice, while pulling the drink into Rusty Nail territory. It’s a natural before-dinner sipper.
Lake Delton Mule
This simple drink is a spin on the classic vodka-and-ginger-beer drink, the Moscow Mule. The combination of genepy, an herbal Alpine liqueur, the sweet snap of the Wondermint and the tangy bite of the ginger beer makes for a refreshing summer cocktail. The drink is named after a small town in Wisconsin where Mr. Bartels had his first restaurant job.
