INGREDIENTS
2-1/2 oz bourbon
1/2 oz Demerara simple syrup
3 dashes Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Orange peel
Luxardo / Maraschino cherry
STEPS
Using a cocktail shaker or mixing glass, combine bourbon, Demerary syrup and both types of bitters. Stir (or shake) to combine, and strain cocktail into a “rocks” or Old Fashioned glass over a single large ice cube. Garnish with a strip of orange peel and a cherry.
Golden and sparkly, Demerara Sugar is a (relatively) unprocessed cane sugar with a smooth, sweet taste.
Demerara sugar derives its name from its original place of manufacture: the Demerara region of British Guyana (on the north coast of South America). Like white (“regular”) sugar, Demerara sugar comes from dehydrating and purifying the cane syrup from the sugar cane crop. Demerara, however, is a less refined sugar: it has a little less sucrose than white sugar, and retains some of the minerals found in cane syrup.
And because it is less refined, Demerara sugar ($3.90 for 1/2 Cup jar) has large, golden amber sugar crystals, and retains a bit of the sugar cane’s natural molasses flavor.
INGREDIENTS
2 oz hard cider (We love the Jefferson County Ciderworks Oaked Sour Cherry Cider)
1 oz Bourbon
1 tsp Runamok Cardamom Infused Maple Syrup
2 dashes bitters (Angostura is good, but you should experiment with other varieties, too)
2 tsp Maraschino cherry juice
Maraschino cherry for garnish
STEPS
Mix ingredients together, and serve over ice or bourbon rocks. Garnish with a cherry.
You can get Jefferson County Ciderworks cider at Peace Tree Brewing – Des Moines Branch at East 4th & Court Avenue, two blocks south of our shop.
This spicy, sparkling punch is a nice drink to make for New Year’s Eve or other winter evening party.
INGREDIENTS
1/4 Cup light brown sugar
1 lemon wedge
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
1/4 tsp Ground Allspice
1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
10 unbleached sugar cubes (available by the box at Gong Fu Tea in the East Village)
10 oz brandy
2 bottles (750 ml) chilled sparkling wine
STEPS
Pour brown sugar onto a shallow saucer or small plate. Rub lemon wedge around the outside of the rim of ten champagne flutes (or other all, thin glasses), then up-end and lightly roll the outside rim of each glass in the brown sugar, taking care not to get extra sugar inside the glasses.
In a small bowl, add the cinnamon, cloves, allspice and ginger, and stir gently to combine. Put a little bit of the spice mixture in the bottom of each of the sugar-rimmed glasses.
Drop one sugar cube into each glass, followed by 1 ounce of brandy. Use a long-handled iced tea or cocktail spoon to stir and dissolve the spice mixture into the brandy.
Fill the remainder of each champagne flute about three-quarters full with the sparkling chilled wine. (Look out! The bubbly will literally bubble-up and if glass is too full, it will overflow onto your nice New Year’s outfit).
Serve immediately.
Let’s talk about shrubs, shall we? No, not the woody-stemmed, smaller-than-a-tree, bushy plant kind of shrubs.
For our purposes, we’re talking this week about a shrub you can drink.
Evolved from the Arabic word sharab, or schurb, which just means “drink,” a shrub is an acidulated* concoction of fruit and (sometimes) sugar, steeped in vinegar.
Shrub-as-beverage dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries in England, and later in the American colonies in the New World. A shrub was a cocktail (or soft drink) made from a sweet, vinegared syrup, mixed with spirits, water, or soda-water.
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