1.5 Brennivin
1 Beet Syrup
1 Lemon
Soda
Shake. Strain to collins. Top with soda. Thyme Sprig.
Beets??? In a cocktail??? Heck yeah! When all the fruits are in season in the spring and summer we use them. Well, ‘tis the season of the root vegetable, and with all of their natural sweetness beets are pretty much dirt candy. We make the syrup by just chopping up beets and adding a little bit of sugar, water, and fresh ginger. Cook it down, and you get this lovely, earthy sweetness that gives a drink the same color a blueberry would. From there it is just a beet-flavored Tom Collins. Refreshing, pretty, and yet still a product of the cold.
FRAN’S TRANS AM
1.5 Mezcal
.5 Kina L’Aero
.75 Grenadine
.5 Lime
Dash Angostura
Pinch salt
Soda
Shake. Strain to collins over fresh ice. Top soda, garnish with lime wheel.
The path to this one took me on many strange turns. What initially started as a Ward 8 with mezcal evolved into crushable spritzable-land, which, though not what was intended, is still never a bad place to find yourself. Mezcal is known for its smokey quality, and there is much debate about whether an original Ward 8 should be rye or scotch. Kina L’Aero provides a bitter back bone, and house grenadine and lemon brighten it up to make a refreshing, food friendly cocktail. Spritz that ish, and it moves from quaffable to downable. Grenadine, contrary to popular opinion, is not a cherry flavored syrup, but instead on based on pomegranates. We use pomegranate juice, pomegranate molasses, orange blossom water, sugar, and a touch of cinnamon to make ours.
So who’s Fran? Well, Fran is my grandmother. When I was a wee lass she had a ‘78 Firebird Trans AM T-Top, and I thought I was the coolest kid in the entire world when she would pick me up from preschool in it. The car was made famous by the movie “Smokey and the Bandit.” Before we spritzed it, the first person I had taste this cocktail just said “wow, that’s good like Smokey and the Bandit.” But when I made it bubbly, suddenly a different side showed: smokey and intense, but sweet and soft at the same time. Kinda like my grandma picking up a 4-year-old me in an old muscle car.
LAST GIRL LAURIE
1.5oz pisco
.75 oz Halloween Shrub
.5 oz becherovka
.5 lemon
Cava
Shake. Strain to collins. Top with cava.
This is a Jill. Fall makes her think warming spices, honey tones, and some roasty toasty notes. Pisco is a grape brandy from Peru that should taste clean with an earthy sweetness. It is most famous for the Pisco Sour, but it is so underutilized elsewhere in the cocktail kingdom that it makes Jill want to work with it. Becherovka is a Czech digestif that smells like Christmas. Halloween Shrub? Shrubs are a type of vinegar solution used a mixer in cocktail. They originated as a way of preserving fresh, seasonal ingredients in a liquid form back in the days before refrigeration. They work very similarly to pickling: fresh ingredients plus vinegar, sugar, and spices will make them keep for an extended period of time. Jill took some carrots and ginger, added red wine vinegar, white and brown sugars, and baking spices to create a really beautiful fall spice mixer with none of the artificial stuff you find in anything commercially made. This is a cocktail all about the spices; if you like mulled cider, mead, or wine, this a great cocktail for you.
Laurie is Laurie Strode, the heroine of “Halloween.” She was the first iconic Last Girl Standing of slasher films, and in many ways was a feminist icon for her refusal to simply be hunted, eventually choosing to fight back. If Mr. Myers is lurking around 707 Meridian, Last Girl Laurie is here to provide balance and an eventual downfall for him.
SOFTLY SPOKEN WORDS
1.5 Clement
.75 lime
.5 raw honey syrup
Dash Angostura
Cava
Shake the first 4 ingredients together. Strain to collins. Top with cava.
This little lovely is a play on an Airmail. The Airmail first appeared in the 1940’s, and is much akin to a French 75, with silver rum instead of gin or cognac. Airmail itself was a fairly new method of correspondence, and added a touch of glamor to the sending of a letter.
So what are we working with here? Artisanal, estate made rum. Raw, hand-harvested local honey. Hand squeezed lime. Small production bubbles. All of these ingredients combine to make a lovely, delicate cocktail that whispers to your palate the sweet nothings it wants to hear.
STEVE MCQUEEN
1.5 Mezcal
.75 lime
.5 Green Chartreuse
.5 Lavender Syrup
Shake. Double strain. Coupe, no garnish.
This cocktail is much akin to a Last Word (equal parts gin, Green, Maraschino, and lime). We sub out the maraschino for a bit of lavender, and tone down the Green to adjust for the smoky quality of the mezcal. The cocktail itself is delicate, citrusy-floral, with a hint of fireplace in the back. It’s named for the biggest action star of the 70’s, Steve McQueen, who was also a huge fan of tequila and helped to bring agave spirits to the American mainstream. He also drove a green Mustang in his hit film Bullitt, which featured in what is popularly argued to be the best car chase scene ever to be filmed.
CREOLE CANOE
2 Clement Barrel Select
House Suger Cube
1 dash Peychauds
Ouzo rinse
Muddle sugar cube and bitters. Add rum, rocks, and stir. Mist rox glass with ouzo. Strain to rox glass over new ice. Flamed orange coin.
This cocktail is a fairly straightforward riff on a Sazerac, which happens to be my favorite cocktail. The Clement drinks remarkably like a whiskey, despite being an agricole rum. Even the way the Select Barrel is produced (hand picked barrels chosen for their vanilla and caramel tones; minimum of 3 years spent in wood) mimics the laws of bourbon country. Fall and winter lead people toward the darker spirits, and if we cannot carry a straight American whiskey, let’s evoke that spirit in the form of a rum.
The Sazerac is traditionally made with rye, and is one of the classic New Orleans cocktails. The entire point of the drink is that you’re just dressing up the spirit itself, so less is more. Peychaud’s is a style of bitters that is native to the city and is the definitive ingredient to making a Sazerac. It is Gentian-based, but adds an intense licorice and floral aroma to a drink, with a hint of mint (it’s not a bad idea to throw some Peychaud’s in a Julep). We make our own sugar cubes but infusing sugar with Peychauds and then baking them. This means less processing, and a more consistent size for the cube than store bought, which in turn means a more consistent cocktail. Ouzo is a Greek anise-flavored aperitif, and we source ours local from Short Path in Everett. We only rinse the glass so that we gain the complexity of the aromatic, but we avoid watering down the true spirit to the drink. Sante!
BETTY WHITE
1 Brennivin
1 Gran Classico
1 Carpano
Dash Coffee Bitters
Stir. Coupe. No garnish
Betty White. You all know Betty White. Sliced Bread is actually the best thing since Her. She’s a classic, and a classy lady, who attributes her incredibly long life and career to vodka, coffee, and hotdogs. This cocktail is a Negroni variation (classic), using Brennivin (Icelandic aquavit, very similar to a vodka). Gran Classico takes the place of the Campari, with a more citrus-focused bitter. Carpano Antica is the original red vermouth. All classic ingredients, with a splash of that caffeine to keep us all going. For drinkers that love spirit-forward cocktails.
BELLADONNA
1.75 Gin
.75 Lemon
.5 Simple
2 dash Cardamom Bitters
Shake. Dbl strain to coupe w/ ½ sugar rim.
This cocktail is deceptively simple. It is simply a sour, but with the addition of a home-made Cardamom bitter that adds an incredibly alluring floral aroma. There is a delicate subtlety to this cocktail that makes you want to just keep sipping. Belladonna (which means “beautiful lady” in Italian) is an alternative name for Deadly Nightshade, a poisonous flower in the tomato family. It is also the title of Stevie Nicks’s most celebrated solo album. Seriously, give it a listen. Or better yet, check out concert footage from this era of her career. She’s alluring, delicate, and dangerous, just like this drink.
707 MERIDIAN
1 Mr. Katz
1 Applejack
.5 Amaro del Etna
.5 Anise & Black Pepper Syrup
2 dash Peychauds
1 dash Mezcal
Stir. Coupe. No garnish.
If I had to place this cocktail into a family, it’s kindof an exploded Manhattan. Mr. Katz and Applejack combine to form your whiskey base, and the Amaro del Etna and pepper syrup would make up your sweet vermouth. Peychauds and Mezcal round out the edges as your bitters. Note that on the menu mezcal is not mentioned: we are using just a dropper full, wherein it acts almost like a pinch of salt would in cooking. It doesn’t add much to the flavor, but the texture of the cocktail and harmony of the other components are enhanced by it.
If Applejack and Rye are the flavor and liquor of the season (cold weather = brown booze), the title is a nod to this time of year. 707 Meridian Avenue is the home of one Mike Myers. And I don’t mean Austin Powers.
CRIMSON & CLOVER
1.5 Gin
1 Cranberry syrup
1 Lime juice
1 egg white
Dry Shake. Add ice, and shake wicked hard. Strain to rocks glass. Angostura paint.
One of my most favorite classic cocktails is the Clover Club: gin, fresh raspberry syrup, lemon, egg white. It’s frothy, it’s fruity, it’s herbal, it’s not too sweet. The recipe appears by 1917 in print, and it was named for a Philadelphia men’s club doing business at that time. The club and the cocktail faded over the years, but new school mixology types love it so much that it gave its name back to a now-prominent Brooklyn cocktail bar.
The trouble with it is that fresh raspberries for the syrup are a must, and they are in season here for all of 5 minutes and right in the middle of our patio season. Egg drinks take time, and I know from experience how hard it can be to crank them out when one is on the list when volume is at its highest. Well, with fewer seats, let’s show some extra love. Cranberries are native to this area and grow abundantly. Though not as naturally sweet as raspberries, they have a great sweet-tart quality and make for excellent cocktails. We’re making a natural puree of them with sugar and orange zest. The rest is a straightforward interpretation of a cocktail that has long withstood the tides of time.
