The Manhattan Cocktail Classic Is Here! (Please Imbibe Responsibly?)

Love Potion #44 will bewitch you with the herbal liqueur Strega.

Tomorrow evening marks the start of The Manhattan Cocktail Classic, billed as “New York City’s first ever multi-day event celebrating the history, contemporary culture, and artful craft of the cocktail.” If the fall preview was any indication of what’s to come, be prepared for five days of big fun. You may even learn a thing or two.

According to the Web site, The Manhattan Cocktail Classic is

[p]art festival, part fête, part conference, part cocktail party, [and] brings together the unparalleled talents and opportunities of the bars, bartenders, and restaurants of our great city for five days of activities, both educational and celebratory in nature, championing the common ideals of authenticity, equality, sustainability, service, and pleasure. (There will be some drinking involved, too.)

The event kicks off with the sold-out gala at the New York Public Library. We were privileged to attend this event last fall and were completely wowed by the sheer amount of cocktails being shaken and stirred by the city’s most skilled and creative bar chefs, and lavish arrays of food festooning the hallways of one of the city’s most resplendent examples of Beaux-Arts Design. Gary Regan, famed cocktail guru and author of some of the best books written on imbibing, will be on hand later to congratulate the winners of his gaz regan’s Big Cocktail Competition. Paul found out he was a Runner Up with his cocktail Love Potion #44, a strong brew of Rittenhouse rye, Carpano Antica vermouth, and Strega (Italian for witch), that chartreuse-colored Italian liqueur that can light up any drink with its potent blend of herbs and spices. The drinks gets its moniker from his parents’ anniversary a few years ago, both of them being fans of the classic Manhattan Cocktail.

Love Potion #44
(created by Paul Zablocki, Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients

2 ounces Rittenhouse rye
1 ounce Carpano Antica vermouth
1/2 ounce Strega
orange twist or peel, for garnish

Method

Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Add garnish.

What follows is a host of seminars at The Astor Center and bars around the city. Tickets generally run at $50, but you can be sure that there will be plenty to drink and try some new spirits at these events. One of the events, “Chasing the White Dog in Manhattan: The History of Moonshine with the Legendary Junior Johnson and the Craft Distilling of Today” will feature our Kitty Carlisle Cocktail, a sweet and sour mix of equal parts Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine, bourbon, lemon juice, and creme de cacao.

Kitty Carlisle

(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients

3/4 ounce Catdaddy Spiced Moonshine
3/4 ounce bourbon
3/4 ounce white crème de cacao
3/4 ounce lemon juice

Method

Shake in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass.

We hope to see you at one of these events. Please stop us to say hello. Bottoms up, Manhattan!

To read coverage of the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, click here.

Suntory Spirits Unite in This Early Fall Cooler

The Bank of Japan is crisp, zingy, and refreshing.

Suntory makes an incredibly smooth whisky, Yamazaki, and we thought we would challenge each other to come up with a drink that showcases its mellow smokiness. The “Bank of Japan” is the name of the first drink (we’ll explore the other at a later date), and the path we took to come up with the name was long forgotten after a few rounds of these coolers that are perfect for late summer–early fall. (Happy Fall, by the way, and we hope you enjoy the lack of humidity wherever you may be.)

Sometimes it’s difficult to mix whiskies (the flavors of most single malts can be slightly overpowering when mixed with liqueurs that cannot hold themselves up to their piquancies). Mulling around the liquor cabinet, Paul thought that the addition of Midori, another Suntory product, might just be the sweetness that this 12-year Yamazaki needed. Midori, as you all know, is a melon liqueur, and a guilty pleasure in the Schul–Zablocki household. It’s also an ingredient in The Universe, which won First Prize in the the 1978 U.S. Bartenders Guild Annual Competition, and was a favorite at the bacchanalian Studio 54.



The addition of Midori did add just the right amount of sweetness, and also a tantalizing fruitiness, to the Yamazaki Whisky, but something was missing. The characteristics of what makes single-malt whisky, whisky, were now suppressed. How to bring them back? Another glance at the liquor cabinet revealed a bright yellow liqueur, recently purchased, and crying out to be used creatively. Strega! Italian for witch, and a brew of spicy, herbal wonder. Just a little bit goes a long way, so after a splash, and a few drops of Peychaud’s Bitters to round out all the flavors, we threw in some ice and garnished with a slice of pear (apple works just as well) to welcome the fall into our home. The color is gorgeous, and changes from a bright yellow, to a glowing chartreuse, depending on the light source (see photos).

Now as we enter the fall, and are sitting outside on our terrace, or back porch, or near an open window, we can sip our Bank of Japans, breath a sigh of relief knowing that in less than half an hour we’ll be ready for another one. Kampai!

Bank of Japan
(created by Paul Zablocki, Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Yamazaki whisky
1/2 ounce Midori melon liqueur
1/4 ounce Strega
2 drops Peychaud’s Bitters
splash of soda

Method
Stir first three ingredients in ice for 30 seconds. Pour into rocks glass. Add ice. then bitters. Top with soda. Add red pear slice (such as Clapp, Red Barlett, or Red Anjou), as garnish.

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz