Dry January participants, beware: tantalizing cocktail recipes ahead. You may want to skip this post…

I hosted my first cocktail party of 2020 a few weeks ago. However, I was having difficulty coming up with ideas for the drink menu. I sometimes have the same problem deciding what to cook for dinner, so I took the same approach I do then: rummaging through the contents of my refrigerator, looking for inspiration. Let’s see, what do we have here? Some bottles of bubbly, left over from New Year’s. Those could be incorporated into Kir Royales. A few bulbs of fennel in the crisper drawer; I could use the stems and fronds to make fennel-flavored simple syrup, which is the foundation for the F Word. Grenadine and dry vermouth? I’m pretty sure I’ve used that combination in a drink before; what was it? A quick check of my cocktail file confirms my recollection: I find the recipe for El Presidente, which I haven’t made in ages. Okay, that’s three, but I always offer four; what else? Hmm, I have these wine-based apéritifs in the refrigerator door. I know! My last party featured favorite drinks from 2019, but I’d had to leave one off the list: the Sharpie Moustache, which uses Bonal. Done!

This might be the first cocktail menu I’ve created that didn’t require a trip to the liquor store - I should forage in the fridge more often. Happy 2020!

h.

Kir Royale

• ⅓ oz. crème de cassis (I used Langlois Père et Fils)

• 3 oz. champagne or sparkling wine (Simonnet-Febvre Crémant Brut)

• champagne flute

Steps

• pour crème de cassis in flute; top with bubbly

El Presidente

• 1 ½ oz. aged rum (Angostura 7 year)

• ¾ oz. dry vermouth (Noilly Prat)

• ¼ oz. curaçao (Pierre Ferrand Dry)

• one bar spoon grenadine (homemade)

• one dash Angostura bitters (homemade)

• orange peel, to garnish

• cocktail shaker, bar spoon, Hawthorne strainer, coupe glass, ice

Steps

• combine all ingredients except garnish in shaker

• half-fill with ice and stir until well chilled

• strain into glass and garnish

Sharpie Moustache (from Amor y Amargo, NYC)

• ¾ oz. rye whiskey (Sagamore Spirit)

• ¾ oz. gin, London dry style (Bombay)

• ¾ oz. Amaro Meletti

• ¾ oz. Bonal

• dash tiki bitters (homemade)

• orange peel, to garnish

• cocktail shaker, bar spoon, Hawthorne strainer, coupe glass, ice

Steps

• combine all ingredients except garnish in shaker

• half-fill with ice and stir until well chilled

• strain into glass and garnish