Recipes

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

Yana Volfson, the beverage director at Cosme, created this elegant yet lively drink for that Manhattan restaurant. It draws its ingredients equally from France and Mexico. The fiery mezcal is calmed by the subtly sweet and fruity blanc vermouth. The guanabana nectar (also known as soursop), which has litchi-like characteristics, adds yet another unexpected flavor note to this twist on a margarita. The drink is a perfectly balanced amalgam of the unusual and the familiar. Goya makes a guanabana nectar that can be found in many New York City bodegas. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

Frank Caiafa’s modified Martinez has been a staple for years on the cocktail menu of the Peacock Alley bar in the Waldorf Astoria. The pre-Prohibition drink’s flavor is rendered more complex by his using both sweet and dry vermouth (making this a “perfect” Martinez), as well as the addition of orange bitters. At the Waldorf, Mr. Caiafa barrel-ages his own gin. But for the home bartender, the Ransom or Greenhook commercial brands will do nicely. Like many of the drinks on the Peacock Alley list, it’s an elegantly modernized version of a classic. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

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. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

Austin Hartman of Montana’s Trail House in Bushwick, Brooklyn, sticks pretty close to the wine-bitters-bubbles template of the classic spritz with this simple drink. His main break with tradition is his use of the fiery agave spirit mezcal as a base. Wanting the liquor to play well with the other ingredients, he opts for the sweeter, softer Crema de Mezcal, from Del Maguey. “It still has some of the smoky, spice qualities of mezcal, but some of the sweetness that works well with the bitterness of the Aperol,” he said. At first, the mezcal delivers a bracing, spirited hit you don’t expect from a spritz. But after a few sips, it all calms down into an easygoing, refreshing whole. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

Natasha David has served a wide variety of spritzes at her Lower East Side bar, Nitecap, since it opened in 2014. Some she delivered in the fashion of a standard cocktail — that is, chilled but iceless. Despite its name, that is the case with this bright and sparkling take on the classic daiquiri. Fragrant crème de menthe and the light flavor of the muddled cucumber give the drink an additional garden freshness. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

This drink, served at Whisler’s, a bar in Austin, Tex., is a classic Moscow Mule with a Spanish twist, using brandy de Jerez and sherry, as well as ginger liqueur, lemon and ginger beer. Brett Esler urges the use of drier styles of ginger beer, sherry and brandy for the cocktail. For presentation, the traditional copper mug will work, but Mr. Esler says a Tom Collins glass will do as well. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

Larry Rice’s Louisville bar, the Silver Dollar, is all about whiskey. So its version of the Moscow Mule is bourbon based. Nothing complicated here, just good Kentucky whiskey subbed for the usual vodka. Ginger syrup is used instead of ginger beer, pushing the drink very close to whiskey sour territory, albeit one served under a mound of crushed ice. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

This equal-parts drink is not a proper cocktail but a shot, meant to be drunk in one go. If there are any booze bullies that can back mezcal into a corner, it’s the tag team of green and yellow Chartreuse. They dominate here, creating a liquid riot of herbs in a glass, with a background smokiness the only hint that the mezcal’s still hiding in there. The drink is on tap at the Grain and Grape Exchange in Jacksonville, Fla. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

The drink, invented by the New York bartender Sam Ross, who created the classic modern cocktail the penicillin, has slowly been gaining steam since it was introduced in 2007, showing up on cocktail menus in numerous time zones. It is a rich, immediately likable whiskey sour lent plenty of culinary complexity by the amaro and the Aperol. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

The old-fashioned is one of the oldest mixed drinks in the cocktail canon. (Original name: whiskey cocktail, which became old-fashioned whiskey cocktail, and then just old-fashioned.) It is a stirred drink, usually built in the glass in which it is served. Both rye and bourbon are suitable base spirits. For the sweetener, purists muddle up a sugar cube with water and a couple dashes of bitters, but simple syrup works as well. Twists can be orange, lemon or both (known as “rabbit ears”). A fruited version of the drink came into vogue after Prohibition and involves the muddling of a cherry and orange slice along with the sugar. That version remains widespread, but we advocate the more elemental rendition that took hold in the late 1800s, one that allows the flavors of the whiskey to shine.

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

The martini is the undisputed king of cocktails, nearly a category unto itself. The frosty, austere, all-alcohol icon has bewitched palates and imaginations for more than a century, to a measure no other drink can even approach. The trend toward drier martinis, with only trace amounts of vermouth, began after World War II. (In martini vernacular, “dry” means less vermouth, “wet” means more.) That style remains popular. But, thank goodness, in recent years crusading bartenders have brought proportions back close to historical, wetter dimensions. A martini isn’t a martini without the herbal tang of vermouth; a 3 to 1 ratio of gin to vermouth should satisfy both tastes, given that the vermouth is of good quality and fresh.

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

The daiquiri is a classic sour — that is, a family of cocktails made with spirit, sugar and citrus juice — whose simple, straightforward appeal has been obscured for years by frozen, fruity variations. One doesn’t need a blender to make one, just fresh limes, good rum and sugar. The proportions of syrup and juice can be adjusted, depending on whether you prefer a sweeter or more-tart style.

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

There are some who adhere to dry-martini dogma when making a manhattan, thinking the drink improves with less vermouth. But the classic, best and most flavorful ratio for this drink remains two to one. Whether you use bourbon or rye is entirely a matter of taste. Bourbon will get you a slightly sweeter, more mellow drink; rye a drier, spicier one. Both versions can be excellent. Use homemade cocktail cherries if possible, or a quality brand like Luxardo. Eschew the common neon-red orbs found in supermarkets. They are cherries the way that stuff movies theaters put on popcorn is butter.

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

The Tom Collins is perhaps the ultimate highball and one of history’s most enduring cocktails. It was historically made with Old Tom gin, which is sweeter than London dry gin, but the drink works well with both types of the spirit. (Old Tom only recently became available again, thanks to the clamoring of mixologists.) A peculiar methodology is used in mixing up a Tom Collins. Though it contains fresh juice, which usually dictates that the drink must be shaken, it is nonetheless often built in the glass in which it is served. But shaking the drink and then straining it into an ice-filled highball works as well, and arguably leads to a better integrated cocktail.

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

Cynar is a low-proof, bittersweet amaro derived from artichokes, among many other ingredients. Italians typically drink it over ice with a slice of orange. But it has found a home in many cocktails thanks to adventurous American mixologists who not only treat it as a supporting player, but also sometimes as the foundation of a drink. Such is the case with the Bitter Giuseppe, a creation of the Chicago bartender Stephen Cole. The cocktail calls for a full two ounces of Cynar. Though audacious in concept, the drink is easy to understand if you think of it as a Cynar manhattan. The lemon juice, lemon twist and extra bitters do much to lighten up the mixture, which is brighter and more buoyant than you might expect. A great aperitivo cocktail. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

When devising a signature drink for the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Ky., Adam Seger drew inspiration from the cocktails made with cava and Spanish brandy that he had tasted at a Spanish restaurant. Wishing to create something that would resemble a pre-Prohibition drink, he replaced the brandy with Old Forester, a bourbon with a long heritage in Kentucky, and the cava with Korbel Brut, the sort of sparkling wine that would have been available to a Louisville bartender in the early years of the 20th century. The drink comes across as a mash-up of a manhattan and a Champagne cocktail: refreshing and just peculiar enough to keep you interested. Mr. Seger strongly recommends that all of the ingredients be very cold before being introduced to the glass. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

Jeffrey Morgenthaler, the bar manager of Pépé Le Moko and Clyde Common in Portland, Ore., enjoyed amaretto sours as a young man. As a bartender, he embarked on a project to make a better version of this often-mocked drink, which was typically composed of just amaretto and sour mix. He boosted the alcoholic strength by mixing in nearly a full ounce of overproof bourbon, replaced the sour mix with real lemon juice and added an egg white — a common ingredient in many sour recipes from the past. Given all the alterations, he might have given the cocktail a new name, but decided against that. “There wouldn’t have been any point,” he said. “There’s a big difference between if I took this drink and made it good, and if I invented a new drink with amaretto. The latter wouldn’t have the same gravitas.” Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

The Tuxedo is a simple affair, made of gin, sherry and orange bitters, that will give any traditional martini a run for its money in dryness. One of the most prominent old cocktail books to feature this recipe was issued by the Waldorf-Astoria hotel bar in 1934. Jarred Roth, beverage director of the Bar Room at the Beekman in New York, gives the drink an added herbal touch by applying a light rinse of absinthe to the glass. To achieve a more traditional Tuxedo flavor profile, simply omit the absinthe. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

This version of the Tuxedo cocktail first appeared in a cocktail book in 1900. Essentially a traditional martini that is lent sweet and herbal notes by small amounts of maraschino liqueur and absinthe, it is a gentler, more delicate version of its austere cousin. Jarred Roth, beverage director of the Bar Room at the Beekman in New York, prefers the Brooklyn-made Greenhook gin and the soft French Dolin vermouth. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

Edna Scott, the owner of Edna’s Club & Restaurant in Oklahoma City, came up with the lunchbox by accident while trying to make another drink, probably a boilermaker, according to her daughter Tammy Lucas. For such a low-brow cocktail, the instructions are very specific. The beer must be Coors Light, not another light beer. And the glassware must be ice cold. As for the orange juice, no need to squeeze it fresh. Store-bought juice is fine. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

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. Robert Simonson

Robert Simonson · NYT Cooking

In 1995, Joe McGuirk was tending bar at Chez Henri, a bistro in Cambridge, Mass., with an executive chef of Cuban descent. Mr. McGuirk was asked to come up with a menu of Latin-flavored cocktails. He found a rum drink called the periodista (Spanish for “journalist”) in a liquor company's cocktail book and gave it a whirl. Mr. McGuirk did a little tinkering and delivered a cocktail, under the same name, that called for Myer’s rum, apricot brandy, Rose’s lime juice, triple sec and a bit of sugar. The drink took off and was soon served across the Boston area. Mr. McGuirk continued to work on the recipe. Here is the one he currently uses. Robert Simonson