Iron Shaker cocktails
Iron Shaker 2015
The Elder Statesmen (Signature Cocktail)
Smoldering Pluot Orchard #1 (also known as The Burning Pluot Orchard)
Lazy Basil Smash (Signature Cocktail)
Singer Ma
Muse
Heroin and absinthe have been muses for centuries. From Berlioz’s Symphony Fantastique, reminiscent of a heroin trip, to Vincent Van Gogh’s absinthe binges. May the Muse inspire you tonight.
1/4 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz poppyseed syrup* - substitute with a light nutty liqueur
1 1/2 oz Matusalem Classico - substitute with a smooth gold rum
1/2 oz Gosling’s Black Strap - substitute with a raw dark rum, Gosling’s or Cruzan Black Strap rather than Myer’s
1/2 oz Lost Spirits Navy Style Run 55% ABV - substitute with something firey, Lemon Hart 151 comes to mind, it should be very full flavored
1 tsp absinthe float - most absinthes should work, I used Absente
The rum mix is just meant to have a base of something pleasant and smooth, with something dark to fill out the middle flavor and something incredibly intense to finish it off.
*poppyseed syrup
2 Tbsp poppyseeds
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
Bring to a boil, and allow to cool, the poppy seeds will get everywhere.
Combine everything with ice except absinthe. Shake. Pour over crushed ice. Serve with a straw. Garnish with lemon peel in whatever way is feasible. The drink is quite strong and the crushed ice helps to dilute it a bit. This combined with the straw means that as you drink it, it will water down slightly more, and the absinthe flavor will meld into it as it gets consumed.
Plantation Fields
I saw apricots and pineapple and gave it a try. The problem with this drink is all of the fruit flavors entirely dominate, and the apricot gets lost. It tastes fine but feels like a generic tiki drink.
1 oz pineapple juice
1 oz apricot nectar
1 oz Apry - Bols was used
1 1/2 oz gold rum - don’t even remember what I used, but a typical mixing rum should work
1/2 oz St. Germain
Muddle an apricot into a long glass. Combine everything with ice and shake. Pour into glass. This might be improved with some dark rum to fill out the body.
Concentrated Stones
This drink was really conceptualized when I saw that plum works well with vanilla and cinnamon and that someone brought Averna. I knew I wanted something a bit different, to have the flavor of a dried plum (prune) cake. The name sucks, I know, but I wasn’t gonna call it prune delight.
1 1/2 oz Bourbon - Maker’s mark was used, but most should be fine here
1 oz Apry - Bols was used
1 oz apricot nectar
1/2 oz Averna
a few shakes of Angostura Bitters
1 egg white
Ground Cinnamon
Dry shake all ingredients except cinnamon. Add ice. Shake. Pour into cocktail glass (like a coupe or martini glass, something with a stem). Lay a thin slice of pluot (or plum) onto the surface of what should be a foamy top. Sprinkle cinnamon on top.
Cloudy Daisy
This is really based on a drink I’ve made before, which is accidentally based on a Mai Tai. The original drink is the same without the apricot nectar, but that addition does give it a different flavor. Part of Amaretto’s flavor comes from apricot pits, so it fits thematically
1 1/2 oz Gin - Tanqueray was used
1/2 oz apricot nectar
1/2 oz Amaretto
1/2 oz Cointreau - you really do want a high quality orange liqueur, Grangala might work, Grand Marnier is a touch on the rich side but might work with a bit more lemon juice, Patron Citronge works relatively well too, at the very least use Bols, the cheaper ones, Hiram Walker and Dekuyper are just way too sweet.
3/4 oz Lemon
Combine all ingredients with ice and a very ripe apricot. Shake hard, you should be bashing the apricot apart while shaking. Pour into a cocktail class (like a coupe or martini glass, something with a stem). Garnish with a half an apricot, draped on the rim of the glass by cutting a small slit into it.
Manfred Georg
The Elder Statesmen (Signature Cocktail)
Ingredients:
1 oz. Bourbon (Maker’s Mark)
1/2 oz. Lemon Juice (fresh squeezed)
1/2 oz. Elderflower Liqueur (St. Germain)
1/4 oz. Honey Syrup (to taste)
Directions:
Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Optionally rim with basil and garnish with lemon wheel.
Comments:
It’s quite sweet but turns sour easily, so be careful to balance the Lemon juice and Honey Syrup. For a stronger variant this drink stands up easily to another 1/2 oz of Bourbon.
Smoldering Pluot Orchard #1 (also known as The Burning Pluot Orchard)
Ingredients:
1 Pluot
1 1/2 oz. Rum (El Dorado 5)
1/2 oz. Lemon Juice (fresh squeezed)
2x 1/4 oz. Laphroaig
Directions:
Remove pit and stem from pluot and muddle in mixing glass. Add Rum, lemon juice (to taste). Shake with ice. Add half of Laphroaig and stir gently. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Gently float remaining Laphroaig on top.
Comments:
The choice of Rum paired with Laphroaig in this drink is rather questionable. Further experimentation will likely yield a better base spirit combination. At the very least an even more sturdy Rum could likely be used. 1 1/2 oz. apricot nectar can be substituted for the muddled Pluot, but the drinks is a bit worse for the substitution.
A Mexican in Italy
Ingredients:
1 1/2 oz. Apricot Necter
1 1/2 oz. Blanco Tequila (Jimador Silver)
1/4 to 1/2 oz. Campari
Directions:
Shake ingredients with ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Optionally garnish with fruit wheel.
Comments:
I feel like these directions are missing an ingredient. Further experimentation will likely determine what it should be.
Irish Fruit Vendor
Ingredients:
1 1/2 oz. Apricot Brandy
1 1/2 oz. Jameson
grated ginger to taste (quite a bit)
2 to 4 dashes Jamaican Bitters (allspice bitters)
2 dashes Pernod
Directions:
Add Brandy and Whiskey to mixing glass with ice. Grate ginger into mixing glass. Add bitters. Shake. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Float Pernod in glass.
Comments:
The missing ingredient from the last cocktail may have shown up here. The cocktail does well without the Pernod, and the name can likely be improved (since this Irish vendor is clearly an ex-pat).
Moira Tagle
Lazy Basil Smash (Signature Cocktail)
1 dash maraschino (luxardo)
generous 1/4 oz cointreau
1/2 oz dry vermouth (vya or other high quality dry vermouth)
1 1/2 oz gin (blade or other assertive gin)
1/4 oz lime juice
6-7 large basil leaves
Muddle leaves with lime juice in one half of a shaker. Don’t be too rough on the leaves, you want to crush them without tearing them.
Add other ingredients and shake with ice.
Fine strain (strain through normal hawthorne strainer and through a mesh strainer) into rocks glass with ice.
Garnish with slapped basil leaf.
French Morocco
1 1/2 oz scotch
1/2 oz apricot liqueur
1/2 oz orange juice (freshly squeezed please!)
1 dash glossops #6*
Enough Absinthe to coat the inside of your glass, roughly ¼ oz.
Pour the absinthe into your serving glass and rotate and swirl the glass until the absinthe covers the inside of the glass. If you want less of an anise taste in your drink, you can dump the remainder, but I normally leave it; no sense in wasting expensive absinthe.
Put the other ingredients into a shaker with ice and shake. Strain into prepared glass.
- If you don’t have this, you could probably use ginger simple syrup.
Pluot One
1 1/2 oz gold rum
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
1/2 pluot
1 dash aromatic bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Cut ½ pluot into quarters (⅛ of original pluot), and muddle in the bottom of one half of a shaker. Add remaining ingredients to the shaker and shake with ice.
You can fine strain this in the same way I did the lazy basil smash but it takes FOREVER which does not work well in a timed competition, but the resulting drink would be less thick and more similar texturally to a normal cocktail. Tastes pretty good in either case.
Garnish with orange peel (elongated instructions: With a paring knife, cut about 1-2 inches of zest off an orange, taking sure not to take too much pith. Hold over drink, peel side down, and bend towards the drink to express the oils into the drink. Rub the peel side on the edges of the glass, and drop into drink, peel side up.)