[upbeat music]
- Hi, my name's Jeff.
I'm a bartender at Dutch
Kills in New York City
and today, I'm gonna show you
how to mix every cocktail.
And by every cocktail, we
mean not every cocktail
because that would be insane.
Today, we're gonna focus
on classic cocktails.
These are the drinks from the
19th and early 20th century
that are still popular today.
These are the basic tools I
use when I'm mixing drinks.
Boston shaker.
I use them because it gives
me a little bit more control.
They're easier to open and
then you get a frothier drink
at the end.
Strainers.
This is a Hawthorne strainer.
This is a julep strainer.
This is a fine mesh strainer.
We like to use it for straining
out finer shards of ice
so you get a really nice, smooth
shaken cocktail at the end.
Bar spoon.
You need these for stirring
your stirred drinks.
Also, the bar spoon
itself is a measurement
for small portions.
Jiggers.
The bartender's measuring cup.
This is your muddler.
Necessary for mashing to
get essential oils out
or to dissolve sugar into a
drink like an Old Fashioned.
I can't stress this enough,
good ice is extremely important
for making a good cocktail.
You can have great quality alcohol,
beautiful, fresh juices
and then you put a piece of
smelly ice from your freezer
into a drink and it's just going
to taste like your freezer.
So what I recommend is
to pick up a bag of ice
from a grocery store
before you're making drinks
to make nicer ice in a
silicone mold at home,
or, if you live in a major
city, there's a ice company
in most places that'll
be happy to furnish you
with big, dense cubes like this.
[suspenseful music]
Old fashioned.
To make an old fashioned, we're
gonna build it in the glass.
First, we start with a white sugar cube.
Three to four good dashes of bitters.
Just a small drop of soda
water to help the bitters
and sugar cube dissolve when we muddle it.
Whiskey, could be bourbon or rye.
I think the most traditional is bourbon
and it's what I'm using for this.
Ice.
For an Old Fashioned, I like
to use as big of a piece
as ice as possible to fit in the glass,
reduce the surface area between the ice
and the rest of the drink.
So we're slowing down
the melting of the ice
and we can hold on to
our drink for longer.
And lower that in with the bar spoon
so that we don't splash everywhere.
You don't really wanna
over-stir an Old Fashioned.
And traditionally, this
gets the rabid ears garnish,
which is a orange and lemon twist.
So I like to express all the
essential oils outta that twist
and crisscross.
This is the Old Fashioned, the
classic of classic cocktails.
When the word "cocktail" first came about,
it was really just defined
as "spirit with water, sugar and bitters."
And those are the primary
ingredients in the drink.
Manhattan.
First thing you'll need
is a chilled pint glass.
Bitters in.
One ounce sweet vermouth
to two ounces rye whiskey.
And as always, we're adding
all of our spirits before ice,
starting with the least
expensive ingredient first.
You can use any blunt object to crack ice.
I'm using the back of a
steel muddler, in this case.
For great control, you can
even just use a tablespoon
from your kitchen.
And now we stir.
This actually will take a second.
You can sing a song in your head.
That's something I like to do.
Quick taste and temperature check.
It's getting cold.
Chilled coupe.
Again, every ingredient
should be as cold as possible
to keep your drink as
cold as long as possible.
This is a Luxardo Cherry.
The kind of bright red
maraschino cherries you see
in a lot of bars were based on this.
Really, really tasty.
Highly recommend finding them if you can.
For stir drinks, I'll use a julep strainer
because it fits better
into the pint glass.
This is a Manhattan.
Legend has it, it was developed
at the famous Manhattan club
in the 1870s.
It's the, probably, second
most popular cocktail,
right after the Old Fashioned.
Still to this day.
Whiskey Sour.
To make a Whiskey Sour,
we need fresh lemon juice.
It's probably the single,
quickest, easiest thing
you can do to improve the
quality of your drinks is using
fresh juice whenever possible.
The simple syrup is equal
parts regular white sugar
and water dissolved, and
two ounces of whiskey.
So what makes this Whiskey Sour
traditional is the addition
of egg white for a foamy top.
So for any drink containing an egg white,
the first step is a dry
shake before we actually get
to shaking the drink with ice.
This is called a dry shake
because it doesn't have
any ice in it.
This is, usually, when
you talk to your customers
and then they tell you their problems.
All right.
So our first step is complete
and see the egg white is
already nice and frothy.
So now, we'll add our ice
carefully into the shaken drink.
Softer shakes.
Right now, I'm cooling down
the temperature in the shaker
and it's creating a better
seal between the two cans.
Now, that I feel the
shaker is cool enough,
I can create an airtight
seal in the Boston shaker
and really go for it.
Use a large, chilled coupe for this.
This is the Hawthorne strainer,
which fits this kind of shaker best.
And, as a garnish, just
do a little decoration
with our Angostura bitters.
I'm drawing a line through
the bitters to make a nice,
little feathered pattern.
And this is your traditional Whiskey Sour.
I love Whiskey Sours.
I also love making them for people
that have never tried them before
because people aren't always into the idea
of egg whites at first,
and then when you hand one to them,
they'll taste that it's
just ethereal and fluffy
and not eggy at all.
Sazerac.
Start off with a chilled glass shaker.
White sugar cube.
We're going to douse this
sugar cube with a good amount
of Peychaud's Bitters,
which is the only bitters
that makes us a traditional Sazerac.
And, as we do, whenever we
have to dissolve a sugar cube,
we add just a little drop
of soda water, not a lot.
And now, we muddle.
Don't be afraid to really
go for it 'cause you do want
your sugar to be dissolved.
Take out your aggression.
Two ounces of rye
and crack away.
Spoon all the way to the bottom.
So while the Sazerac sits on ice,
we're going to give our
glass an absinthe rinse.
We like to put absinthe into
one of these atomizer bottles.
So the traditional garnish for
a Sazerac is a lemon twist.
Now, some people like to serve
the lemon with the drink,
some people just like to
express the essential oils
from the lemon and discard the lemon.
I don't want to make anyone mad
so what we do at the bar
is put the lemon twist
on the inside of the rim,
that way people have
the option of, kind of,
having the twist or not.
A Sazerac is special because
it's one of the first cocktails
that used absinthe as a aromatic,
just to lend a last bit of
almost seasoning to a drink.
Whiskey Fix.
We're gonna start with equal
parts fresh lemon juice
and simple syrup.
Two ounces of whiskey, bourbon
or rye works well for this,
I'm using bourbon.
We're just going to do what
we call a whip on this drink,
which is just shaking
with a small piece of ice.
And with this, we're just
trying to lightly chill down
the drink, basically, until
the piece of ice dissolves.
Chilled double rocks glass.
For this, we're gonna use crushed ice
and I recommend going to
a fast food restaurant
or a fish market and
begging them to give you
their crushed ice because
it's the best for this.
Steel straw.
I use steel straws because
metal straws are good
for the environment,
but even more so, it's also
really good for conducting
the cold temperature of the drink.
The Fix gets two garnishes.
A lemon wedge and a Luxardo Cherry.
And here you are, your
classic Whiskey Fix.
A Fix is any cocktail that
consists of lemon juice,
simple syrup and a spirit.
You can also muddle fresh fruit
into a Fix for seasonality.
Who doesn't love seasons?
Boulevardier.
As always, we're gonna start off with
our least expensive ingredients first.
We have our sweet vermouth.
Campari, which is a
must for a Boulevardier.
And bourbon.
And give this guy a good stir.
And we'll take a chilled coupe.
A Boulevardier can also
be served on the rocks
but straight up is standard.
And the traditional
garnish, an orange twist.
This is one of my favorite cocktails,
the Boulevardier, which is
often thought of as a cousin
to the classic Negroni
as they both share sweet
vermouth and Campari
as two of the three base ingredients.
With a Boulevardier, it's
whisky instead of gin.
Presbyterian.
A Presbyterian is my
favorite in a category
of drinks called a Buck,
which is a lime juice,
ginger, spirit drink.
So a Moscow Mule, a Kentucky Mule,
all examples of Bucks.
So to start, half ounce
of lime juice, fresh.
And for maximum ginger flavor,
we like to use fresh ginger juice.
Presbyterian is made with rye.
We're going to whip shake this
with a small piece of ice,
just to get the base mixture
chilled down slightly.
I like to add the first bit
of soda water into the can,
that way we get a slight
bit of carbonation
that helps mix the soda into the drink
as you're pouring it out.
And my secret weapon, once again, big ice
and top with more soda water.
And I like to top these with
a little crystallized ginger candy,
just so it gives people a
little hint of what they're
about to drink.
This is a Presbyterian,
the platonic ideal of
a whiskey ginger.
Blinker.
Use a half ounce of grenadine for this.
Grenadine is probably my
favorite cocktail syrup.
It's made from concentrated,
fresh pomegranate juice
sweetened with sugar.
Add to that an ounce of fresh
squeezed grapefruit juice
and two ounces of rye.
What I love about the
blinker is there aren't
that many citrus-y, refreshing drinks
that people think about when
they think about rye whiskey,
and this is really one of those.
One big rock for shaking.
Hawthorne strainer.
This is the Blinker,
a shaken rye cocktail,
originated probably around
the mid to late 1940s.
Appears in one of the great
cocktail books of all time,
The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks.
Improved Whiskey Cocktail.
Start off with Peychaud's Bitters
and just a bar spoon of absinthe.
A half ounce of Luxardo maraschino.
This was made available in
America in the 19th century
and became a very popular sweetener
as an alternative to sugar,
hence the Improved Whiskey Cocktail.
As opposed to an Old Fashioned,
which just used white sugar.
And this drink gets a lot of rye.
Big rock.
I'm trying to just get
a little bit of ice down
so that it fits in the
tapered bottom of the glass.
And just like with Old Fashioned,
you don't need to over-stir this drink.
And a nice lemon twist with this guy.
This is the Improved Whiskey Cocktail.
This whiskey cocktail thinks it's better
than other whiskey
cocktails and it's right.
Monte Carlo.
Let's start with Angostura Bitters,
as so many Old Fashioned variations do.
Instead of sugar, this gets a herbal
and slightly sweetened kick
from Benedictine liqueur.
This is a drink bartenders love to make
because it has three ingredients in it
and it's very fast and very good.
This is rye whiskey, big rock in glass,
and we'll give this a judicious stirring.
So the herbal qualities of the
Benedictine go really nicely
with a lemon twist.
One of the most popular
riffs on an Old Fashioned.
The delightful Monte Carlo,
named after a brave man named Carlo
who climbed a mountain...
I'm kidding, it's named after
the city of Monte Carlo.
Mint Julep.
First things first, we need a
lot of mint for a Mint Julep.
So what I do is use the bottom
leaves off of a brig of mint,
save the tops for garnish.
And I'm gonna put about
maybe 15 or 16 nice,
fresh mint leaves into
the bottom of the glass.
So the Mint Julep gets sweetened
with a little bit of sugar
to start the abrasion process going,
to get those mint oils out.
And then, a little bit of
simple syrup to provide
the rest of the necessary sweetness.
So I'm using the muddler here.
I don't wanna over-muddle
the drink either,
but just get it crushed up enough.
And while I'm doing this,
I'm also spreading the mint
around the inside of the glass as well.
Two and a half ounces of
bourbon, if you please.
Gonna fill this julep tin up
about two thirds of the way
with crushed ice.
So we're gonna swizzle the drink,
which is just to lightly
combine a drink on crushed ice.
It gets that crushed ice
a little further down
into the glass, making room for more.
Add our straw in now,
just much easier than if you do it after
all the ice is in there.
And we take the prettiest
looking mint that we have.
I like to lightly tap
the mind against my hand
to just get the aromas coming
out of the mint leaves,
and give a nice mint flourish.
Though I don't know when
this tradition began,
it is a really nice
addition to a mint julep
to finish it off with a slight
drizzle of Jamaican rum.
And there's your mint julep.
The official cocktail
of the Kentucky derby.
Legally speaking, if you say the phrase,
"I do declare," you're supposed
to be holding a mint julep.
Martini.
Chilled pint glass.
More than anything else,
you want a cold martini.
Standard martini spec
is one ounce vermouth
to two ounces gin.
I'd like to go with a London dry gin,
and now we're adding some dense ice.
All the way up to the top with ice.
Chilled coupe glass for
our very cold martini.
Julep strainer, crystal
clear and very cold.
There are two common
garnishes for a martini,
it could either be
olives or a lemon twist.
This is a gin martini with a twist.
Obviously, one of the most
beloved classic drinks
of all time, and one of
the ones that spawned
the most variations.
This one is the standard.
Martinez.
Again, in a chilled pint glass.
Start off with orange bitters.
So traditionally, this
drink calls for equal parts
sweet vermouth and Old Tom Gin,
and you'll notice that it
is not clear, like most gin.
That's because either the
gin has been aged in a barrel
or has had malt added to it.
Add to that some nice cracked ice.
There are fights over
how to garnish this drink
and, in this case, the fight
is lemon or orange twist.
[whispering] Gonna go lemon.
This is the Martinez.
It's often thought of as the
predecessor to the Martini.
Biggest difference between
the two is that this is made
with sweet vermouth
instead of dry vermouth.
Gimlet.
Gimlet's were traditionally
made with Rose's lime juice
but we like them with fresh
lime juice these days.
Three quarter ounces of simple syrup
and our standard two ounces of gin.
This one has a bit more of a
peppery, citrus-y finish to it.
We've got our chilled coupe and
a nice big rock for shaking.
I'll use two strainers,
both the Hawthorne strainer
and a fine mesh strainer to
get those last bits of ice.
And that is a Gimlet.
One of the oldest, simplest
and most refreshing gin cocktails.
Gin Rickey.
Three very simple, fresh ingredients.
Just gin, a simple syrup and lime juice.
So a Rickey is, essentially,
a Gimlet but with soda added,
served on ice.
And there's your Gin Rickey.
It's just a simple,
refreshing, fizzy gin cocktail.
Negroni.
Classic Negroni is just
equal parts sweet vermouth
from Turin, if at all possible,
London dry gin and Campari.
Nice, large rock.
Orange twist for this guy.
That's a Negroni.
Classic Italian cocktail,
one of the most refreshing
things you could possibly drink.
Corpse Reviver No. 2.
It's an equal parts drink.
Equal parts lemon, triple
sec, Lillet blanc and gin.
Gonna give our chilled coupe
a nice rinse of absinthe
and finish that off with
a generous lemon twist.
This is the Corpse Reviver No. 2,
a classic, refreshing gin drink,
invented by Harry Craddock
at the Savoy Hotel in London.
Aviation No. 1.
As for why it's the number
one, there's also a number two
which doesn't contain
the trademark ingredient
of creme de violette.
Creme de violette is a liqueur
made from the violet flower,
but it isn't always available
and when it became scarce,
the number two was invested.
The gin echoing the presence
of maraschino liqueur
in the drink.
We're also adding a cherry to the bottom.
The weird and wonderful Aviation No. 1.
If you ever see creme de
violette in someone's bar
and wonder what it's used for, this is it.
Tom Collins.
We use equal parts lemon and sugar,
two ounces of our Old Tom Gin.
And we went with a little
bit of soda into the can.
And the classic garnish
is a Luxardo Cherry,
and a beautiful orange wedge.
This is a Tom Collins,
similar to a Gin Rickey,
except this is made
with lemon juice instead of lime.
Ramos Gin Fizz.
For this, our citrus is a
split base of lemon juice
and lime, and for added complexity,
we also use a couple of
drops of orange flower water.
Simple syrup.
So what makes a Ramos Gin
Fizz special is the merengue
that forms from this drink,
and what makes the merengue extra fluffy,
as opposed to other egg white drinks,
is the addition of heavy cream.
Two ounces of our gin,
egg white for a foamy top,
and it gets a particularly hard dry shake
'cause we're really starting
that merengue right now.
I'm gonna be doing this for
a while so let's talk more
about the Ramos Gin Fizz.
It required so much work that, initially,
this used to be a multi-person operation
where one waiter would
then hand this drink
to another waiter,
and then hand this drink to another waiter
as they were going along.
All right, well, this is great.
We already have the beginning of
our merengue forming down here.
Now, carefully drop our
nice, big shaking rock.
So you can see that our nice
merengue is starting to form.
We're gonna stick it into
the freezer and let that sit.
And we're back, it's
solidified a little bit
from sitting in the freezer.
If you're a good bartender,
you stick your straw in
and it should not move.
I guess I'm a good bartender.
Take the fizziest seltzer you possibly can
and pour it down the straw,
and that is your Ramos Gin Fizz.
Pretty much universally
agreed upon as the hardest,
most work intensive drink
to make from the great city
of New Orleans.
Bramble.
A Bramble is a variation on the Fix,
so it's a crushed ice drink
with lemon and sugar and spirit,
and before we add the
spirit in so there isn't
too much liquid in the glass,
we're gonna muddle some
berries in there right now.
And just try to make sure
that you crush each one.
Now we can add our two ounce pour of gin.
We're going to give this
just a little dry shake
to incorporate that gin.
Straight into a chilled
double rocks glass.
So nice.
We're gonna fill this up
about two thirds of the way
with crushed ice so they
know what we're drinking.
This is a Bramble.
A dangerously easy to drink
gin number with citrus
and fresh fruit.
20th Century.
This drink is a weird one and I like it.
It has lemon and chocolate
in it and it is very good,
trust me.
Creme de Cacao.
If you can spring a few extra
dollars for the good stuff
on this, it makes a huge difference.
And a little goes a long way,
you'll have this forever.
Using Cocchi Americano, which
aromatized fortified wine.
Yeah, just your classic
lemon, wine, chocolate,
gin cocktail but for some
reason, it really works.
Because we used both Creme de
Cacao and this fortified wine,
this gets less than the
usual two ounce pour of gin,
it only gets one and a half.
And with this drink, we also
finish it with a lemon twist,
although most bars like
to express the oils
out of this lemon twist
and then discard it.
This is a 20th Century.
A uniquely flavored, lemony,
chocolatey gin drink invented
in 1930, which is in the 20th Century.
Bee's Knees.
I love the Bee's Knees because
it's sweetened with honey
instead of sugar and it
actually is the drink I make
the most for friends when I'm scrounging
around their kitchen, looking
for ingredients I can use
for a cocktail.
I use a honey syrup,
which is really just honey
that's slightly thinned out
with a little bit of hot water,
making it easier to pour.
And two ounces of gin.
This is the Bee's Knees.
One of the things I love
about honey cocktails is
that it creates a really
nice foam on the top.
Last Word.
So in this case, we're using
equal parts fresh lime juice,
maraschino liqueur, gin
and green chartreuse,
which is very strong stuff.
So this drink is one of
those bartender drinks
that bartenders really love.
I think a Last Word is disgusting.
Everybody else loves this drink but me,
I'm the crazy one
and it's my job to please.
"What a great order.
"Last Word.
"Nice drink."
And garnish it with a cherry.
The delicious, to most people, Last Word.
Vodka Martini.
A standard martini always
calls for dry vermouth
and either gin or vodka.
Modern tastes for vodka
martinis usually mean
as dry as possible.
I'm going to go with just a drop,
although, often, it could be none at all.
And because the cocktail is
usually about three ounces
in total, with the vodka martini
will usually get a slightly
heavier pour than the usual two ounces.
Of course, the most popular variation of
the vodka martini would
be the dirty martini,
which involves olive brine added into it,
which is great if you like sea water.
I'm gonna give this guy a good stir.
This should really feel
pretty much frozen.
As with any vodka martini,
it could be served
with either olives or a lemon twist.
This is a vodka martini.
I feel like I'm at a business power lunch
just looking at it.
Moscow Mule.
So just like other drinks
in the buck family,
I'll have lime juice and
our fresh ginger syrup
and two ounces of vodka.
Normally, this is when you would take out
the Moscow Mule mug,
but I am going to not use
the mug for this because,
in my mind, it leads to just
a kind of diluted drink.
So I'm gonna make this
the way that I make all my
other tall Collins drinks,
in a tall glass with
nice, big piece of ice
so that you can enjoy
the thing for a while.
Add soda.
And that's a Moscow Mule.
Bonus.
If you float bitters on
top of a Moscow Mule,
that is now a Headless Horseman
and it is delicious.
Vesper.
I'm going to go with our Cocchi Americano.
The original recipe called for
a product called Kina Lillet
but it's not made
anymore and this is kinda
the closest thing that we've got.
Vodka and gin.
Vesper was James Bond's girlfriend.
Spoiler alert, things
didn't end well for Vesper.
And unlike martinis,
where there's an option
between olives and lemons,
there is no debate here,
this gets a lemon.
This is the Vesper, famously
invented by Ian Fleming,
the creator of James Bond.
James Bond got me into
bartending so this drink has
a little extra meaning for me.
Margarita.
Obviously, Margarita's one
of the most popular cocktails
in the world.
There are so many different
ways that it can be made.
It can be shaken, it can be
served down on the rocks,
straight up.
So, for me, it's just
lime juice, triple sec
and silver tequila,
the un-aged variety of tequila.
And as for glassware, I'm
going to rim this glass.
One big rock.
Margarita is probably one
of the most popular drinks
in the world.
It is the national drink of Mexico.
I like mine with rocks and salt.
Paloma.
So this drink is made with
tequila and grapefruit soda,
but we're gonna do ours
with fresh grapefruit
and lime juice.
So this is my spin on a
drink that's usually made
with a prepackaged drink.
Liquid sugar, two ounces of tequila,
shake that guy on our cracked ice,
add a little soda to that can.
I add a tiny bit of salt to the top
which will kind of season that drink.
And for a welcome dose of bitterness,
a long grapefruit twist.
This is a Paloma.
Tequila, grapefruit, easy
to drink a lot of 'em.
Mexican Firing Squad Special.
Equal parts lime and grenadine
and a few healthy dashes
of Angostura forms
the flavor base for this.
And our two ounces of tequila.
This drink has a kind
of politically incorrect sounding name
but it was invented in Mexico
so we're going with it.
Soda in the can.
And an orange twist to run
the length of the glass.
This is a Mexican Firing Squad Special.
Daiquiri.
Daiquiri couldn't be simpler.
It's just three ingredients.
Lime juice, simple syrup,
two ounces of white rum.
We're gonna double strain
this guy for clarity.
This is a daiquiri, or a daiquiri natural.
Just rum, lime and sugar.
It's pretty much holy to bartenders.
Hemingway Daiquiri.
Out of many daiquiri variations,
this is one of the more popular ones.
It's stood the test of time.
It is sweetened with maraschino liqueur
and also has the addition
of grapefruit juice.
This is a Hemingway Daiquiri.
Hemingway was famous for not
liking sugar in his drinks,
so this one is named after
him for the lack of sugar.
Dark N' Stormy.
We're using our standard
buck spec of lime juice
and fresh ginger syrup.
Bermuda rum.
This is a Dark N' Stormy.
I just really like this drink.
The Dark N' Stormy is the
national drink of Bermuda
and it is always made with Goslings Rum.
If it ain't Goslings,
it ain't Dark N' Stormy.
Mai Tai.
Here's how you make a Mai Tai.
This is Orgeat, it's a
almond-scented syrup used
in a variety of tiki drinks.
Little goes a long way here.
Dry curacao, which is one
of many different kinds
of orange liqueurs used
in classic cocktails.
Rhum agricole, which is made
from fermented cane syrup
and has a really nice funkiness to it.
Oh, we're just giving this a quick whip.
Release those aromas.
I like putting that mint
right next to the straw
so that when you bring it to your mouth,
you get the aroma coming right at you.
And we finish this off with
a drizzle of our strong,
funky Jamaican rum.
This is a Mai Tai.
The sexy grandad of all tiki drinks.
Mojito.
When making a mojito,
we're going to need a lot
of fresh mint.
We have a nice, chunky
[mumbles] sugar cube here.
And before we add the spirit,
just so there isn't too
much liquid in the shaker,
we muddle.
Two ounces of silver rum.
Really not trying to add
a lot of froth or anything
to the drink right now,
just to get it combined
and into a chilled double rocks glass.
Crushed ice to top.
Give our mint a little smack.
This is a mojito, the
national drink of Cuba.
One of the simplest, most
delicious drinks there is.
Just rum, lime, sugar and mint.
Hotel Nacional Special.
Probably my single favorite
rum drink if I had to pick.
This is kind of a pineapple
version of a daiquiri,
but instead of using sugar to sweeten,
we use apricot brandy.
If at all possible, use fresh
pineapple juice for this.
Last but not least, this
gets just a bar spoon
of cane syrup.
This gives just a hint of depth.
And two ounces of aged rum.
And finished, just a dash
of Angostura Bitters.
Little feather across the top.
This is a Hotel Nacional Special,
invented at the Hotel Nacional in Cuba.
Highly recommend trying
this one if you haven't.
Sidecar.
Another great, simple,
three ingredient cocktail.
Lemon juice, Cointreau and cognac.
For this, we are going to
be going with a dry version
of the cocktail.
The no sugar version.
And we'll finish this guy
off with a lemon twist.
The Sidecar is an undisputed classic.
A wonderful, sharp,
citrus-y brandy cocktail.
French 75.
Now, let's start off with a
half ounce each of lemon juice
and simple syrup.
Technically, a French 75 can
be made with gin or cognac
but, for today's purposes,
we're going with the cognac version.
And what makes a French
75 a French 75, champagne.
Quick tip, I like to
hold on to the metal tree
when you're taking the
[champagne cork pop] off.
All right.
And last but not least, the lemon twist.
This is a French 75, which
sounds like a beautiful,
elegant name but is actually
named for a military cannon
because it feels like you got hit by one
when you drink one.
Brandy Alexander.
You only need three things
when making a Brandy Alexander.
Brandy, cream and creme de cacao.
This is a Brandy Alexander,
indulgent and decadent
but surprisingly balanced,
just a nice, creamy,
delicious brandy drink.
Vieux Carre.
Start off with a small amount of
our lunk-made benedictine herbal liqueur.
And since the Vieux Carre is
a kind of Manhattan variation,
it wouldn't be complete without
sweet vermouth and bitters,
rye whiskey and, of course, cognac.
Big piece of ice.
Finished with a lemon twist or an orange,
depending on your bartender.
Since I'm here and you're on
the other side of the screen
and can't say anything, I'm doing lemon.
This is a Vieux Carre,
another New Orleans classic.
Pink Lady.
So when making a Pink Lady,
we'll start by cracking an
egg into our large shaker,
apart from everything else
we're gonna be mixing.
Fresh lemon juice.
Nice tart, pomegranate-y grenadine.
And as for the hard stuff,
the Pink Lady gets a split
base of gin and apple brandy,
also known as Apple Jack.
[mumbles]
[mumbles]
This is a Pink Lady.
All too often forgotten
but a true classic.
Delmonico.
Angostura Bitters.
Do half ounce each of
dry and sweet vermouths.
And for the hard stuff,
we had a split base
of London dry gin and French cognac.
All the way up to the top
and the Delmonico cocktail, of course,
was invented at Delmonico's,
one of the oldest
restaurants in the country.
Nice swath of lemon.
The Delmonico cocktail, New York's finest.
Jack Rose.
To make a Jack Rose, you
just need three things.
Fresh lime juice, the
incredible edible grenadine
and our apple brandy.
The Jack Rose, FYI, is the perfect drink
for Thanksgiving dinner.
Simple, refreshing, tart, delicious,
born in New Jersey.
Bonus drink.
If you add our absinthe
rinse to a Jack Rose,
that's a Pan American Clipper.
Aperol Spritz.
There are a million ways
to make an Aperol Spritz
but this is the classic.
Two ounces of Aperol, some ice,
three ounces of brut prossecco,
your fizziest seltzer
and the traditional garnish
would be just a wedge
of orange and orange twist,
just to get a little extra
orange flavor into the drink
but then I throw it out and
don't tell anybody I did it.
The Aperol Spritz.
You can do it a million different ways
but this is the classic.
Americano.
Traditionally built in the
glass that it's drunk from,
so we're gonna start this on ice.
Showcasing our vermouth from Turin,
just like with the Negroni and Compari.
Top 'em with soda
and this can be garnished
with either an orange wedge
or a nice orange twist.
This is an Americano, it's the
predecessor to the Negroni.
Champagne Cocktail.
Heavily douse this white sugar cube
in Angostura Bitters.
In Casablanca, they drink
champagne cocktails constantly.
If you were to drink a champagne cocktail
every time they drink one in
Casablanca, you'd be dead.
This is the champagne cocktail
which dates back all the
way to the mid-19th century.
Bamboo.
To make a Bamboo, we need
two kinds of bitters.
Angostura and a smaller
amount of orange bitters,
and for this, we're using
equal parts dry vermouth
and Fino sherry, delicious fortified wine.
I don't know who made this up
but if you're having a little Bamboo,
like a Bamboo shooter,
you can call that a Bambooter.
A delicious, low alcohol cocktail,
[mumbles] back to late 19th century Japan.
Pisco Sour.
We use just a split base
of the lemon and lime.
The reason is simple
that in Peru and Chile,
the citrus fruit which
they really would just call
the [murmurs] there has a
taste that's kind of right
in the middle of the lemons
and limes that we get here.
Simple syrup,
Pisco, which is technically
in the brandy family
but is just really it's own thing,
and an egg white.
Now, traditionally a Pisco
Sour can be topped with
either three dots of Angostura Bitters
or grated cinnamon.
I like to do both just
because I like the flavor
that each one of them lends.
This is a Pisco Sour,
the national drink of both Chile and Peru.
Both countries claim to
have created this drink,
I choose not to get
involved in that fight.
Caipirinha.
For a Caipirinha, we're
going to muddle a fresh lime
into the drink.
In with our lime wedges,
going to add our friend
the sugar cube that we use for most of
our muddling applications,
as well as some simple syrup.
And before we add the base spirit,
we'll muddle.
And two ounces of Cachaca.
Cachaca is a fermented sugar cane product
and with the Caipirinha,
we really don't wanna
over-shake the drink.
We just need to give it
maybe good 10 shakes or so.
This is a Caipirinha, the
national drink of Brazil.
It uses fresh lime muddled into the drink,
which gives it a really
nice, zesty flavor.
What I love about classic
cocktails is the rich tradition
and history behind each
one of these recipes.
Every country has their own
spirit that they're proud of,
so you can really kind of have
around the world experience
when you're trying out classic cocktails.
So either you're trying to
mix these cocktails at home
or if you're just going
to a good cocktail bar,
I'd recommend ordering
one of these classics,
maybe try one you haven't had before
and get into the history of it all.
Cheers.
