Just two weeks ago, the Alembic Bar (full disclosure: a Hoodline advertiser) put the finishing touches to this year's summer cocktail menu. Naturally, we rushed right over to talk to Alembic bartender Larry Piaskowy (who you may remember from our Girl Scout cookie cocktail coverage), just to make sure everything tasted okay.
Yes, though we here at Hoodline cover our share of business, community and weird crime news, sometimes it's time for a tipple of something lighter. So without further ado, here's a little cocktail bingo guide for you.
The summer menu features 10 new cocktails (four "classics" and six "new school"), and the bar's own negroni, Piaskowy's Sloe Boat to China, shown below, which they're featuring as part of 7X7's citywide negroni contest (vote here).
The new additions to the old school menu are the Aviation, the Mabel Berra, the Hemingway Daiquiri, and the Blood & Sand. We're sure they're delicious. (They're also very pretty, shown below.) But we devoted ourselves to a discussion of the "new school" menu. Here's what we learned.
First up was the Heir Apparent, created by Piaskowy. It's a clean, clear, rabbity mix of genever, sage, vermouth and pear brandy. Piaskowy said this one is inspired by a clear cocktail from Smokestack. The Heir Apparent is great for martini aficionados, or for anyone needing a little respite on a hot day. As a footnote, genever is now our favorite new spirit: an older Dutch cousin of gin, Piaskowy describes it as playing scotch to gin's bourbon.
The Bait & Switch (above) is a reimagining of last year's Switchback, and was reinvented by Alembic bartender Ethan Terry. It's a strawberry cocktail with mezcal, green strawberry bitters (which, in case you were curious, smell exactly like all your dreams of summer) and peppercorn syrup. It's a bit like a sexy date with a chili pepper. One of the characteristics of mezcal is that it has to be smoked underground, rather than in an oven (the way tequila can be) so its key notes are usually more earthy and leathery.
We moved bravely on to Ethan's other drink on the summer new school menu, the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique (below left, as seen in progress). This little number is the only vodka cocktail ever to grace the menu at the Alembic. There's a lot to this guy: lapsang souchong, gentian, pear brandy, five spice and palm syrup, and star anise. Give it a while to do stuff in your mouth. It revolves back and forth between sweet, dry, smoky and herbal.
And after that was Piaskowy's Black Diamond (being mixed above right, finished below). Originally dubbed the Bunny Slope for beer week earlier this spring, Piaskowy said it was too good to ditch. He also said it was renamed the Black Diamond over the Bunny Slope because "we thought it was a little more dangerous than that." It's an orangey, piney, chocolatey beer-based party on your tongue.
Were we then ready for more? We were, we were.
Next up was Sunset Scavenger Hunt (below), which Piaskowy said he cooked up on a hot day not too long ago by rummaging around the bar for favorites. It's got tequila and aquavit, but don't be frightened: it's rounded out with persimmon shrub, lemon, orange and a spritz of soda water to keep you cool. It's tart but not bitter, with just a hint of candied orange.
Hang on, the notes are crooked here.
To finish off the afternoon, we sampled the Sloe Boat to China, Piaskowy's take on the classic negroni. This one uses sloe gin instead of Campari, a touch of orange bitters, some Carpano Bianco vermouth and good old gin. It's less bitter than a traditional negroni. "Most negronis are really bitter," Piaskowy said, "so you can only have one or two, but this we thought you'd want to spend a little more time with." Amen.
That's all she wrote, folks. The rest is up to you. As Piaskowy said, "describing them is fine, but it's really just better to taste it and find out yourself."
