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THE DENVER POST
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DENVERPOST.COM
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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2020
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The perfect cocktails for your winter adventures By Josie Sexton The Denver Post
If you enjoyed to-go cocktails from bars and restaurants during summer, you’re in luck. Many of them are continuing to offer drinks for takeout. For now, businesses are still open for service, but in case the rules change, we went ahead and asked bartenders for some recipes to carry us through winter. Each of these tasty beverages is appropriate for your to-go insulated cup or flask, in case you’re looking for something stronger than coffee or hot cocoa on your snowy adventures. You can make these drinks at home or order from the bars that suggest them (which will send you home with all the necessary accoutrements). When filling a flask with straight whisky or schnapps just won’t do, American Elm bar manager Jesse Torres recommends making an old-fashioned. “An old-fashioned is my go-to because it’s always adaptable, customizable and actually enjoys the unregulated temperature changes in your flask,” Torres says. “You can put your whole flask in the freezer and have an icecold drink at the ready, or you can keep it next to your body for a warming sip on the slopes.” And he says the combinations for old-fashioneds are “endless,” with a version for every occasion. “You can use whiskey, rum, mezcal, tequila, or whatever spirit you want. It can be as sweet, dry, bitter, or as fun as you’d like it be. Try using a liqueur in place of the syrup (something like Marble Distilling’s Midnight Expresso is perfect for a rich daytime sipper), and try switching up the bitters,” Torres says. “This version is a solid base to start.”
American Elm bar manager Jesse Torres believes you can’t go wrong in winter by mixing an old-fashioned. Provided by American Elm
Steven Waters of Run for the Roses recommends a Boulevardier, center, as your go-to adult beverage for winter fun. Michael Ciaglo, Special to The Denver Post, file
Old-fashioned
“This cocktail can be imbibed as is, or it can be chilled in the freezer ahead of time,” Torres says. “Don’t worry, it won’t freeze!”
Ingredients
4 oz. of your spirit of choice (Torres goes for a higher proof bourbon like A.D. Laws 6-year Bottled in Bond. 1 oz. water ½ oz. rich simple syrup (recipe below), or other liqueur/syrup 6 dashes of bitters, like Angostura 4 orange peels
Directions
In a container, combine the spirit, water, syrup and bitters. Express the oils of the orange peels over the cocktail and discard. Give it all a good stir to combine. Finally, pour the cocktail into the flask using a funnel. FOR SIMPLE SYRUP: To make rich simple syrup, combine two cups of sugar (white granulated or my favorite, Demerara) with one cup of water in a saucepan. Heat and stir until it is all combined into a clear syrup. Remove from the heat, let it cool completely and bottle. This syrup is good for up to two weeks (or up to two months refrigerated). (Makes 12 ounces.)
Brooklyn
Brass Tacks co-owner Stuart Jensen suggests trying the Brooklyn, a cooler version of the Manhattan, when you’re trekking to the mountains and need a warming drink. Like its better known neighbor cocktail, the Brooklyn is made with rye whiskey and dry vermouth, but it adds maraschino liqueur and Amer Picon (made in-house at Brass Tacks) to the mix. For those who haven’t been introduced, Amer Picon is an herbaceous liqueur filled with orange zest and spices — perfect for fall and winter but impossible to find anywhere in the U.S. (It can’t be exported here from France.) You should try making it at home, or you can pick up a ready-made and bottled Brooklyn from the bar just before heading out of town.
Ingredients
2 oz. Old Overholt Bonded Rye 1 oz. Dolin Dry Vermouth ½ oz. Amer Picon ¼ oz. Leopold Bros. Maraschino Liqueur 2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters
Method
Combine all ingredients, stir and strain into a flask.
Albertine/Boulevardier
Steven Waters of Run for the Roses says an Albertine or Boulevardier should warm you right up slope-side. Both are boozy classics, but the first can be added to hot cocoa: “Powdered is fine. Steal some hot water from the peak’s coffee maker and call it a day,” Waters says. And the second is “like a Negroni, but for those people that say ‘I only like whiskey.’ Plus 2 ounces of 100-proof whiskey will always get you going,” he adds. These recipes are strong and straightforward: “You’re not carrying around ice and garnishes and need to pack that buzz into a small package.”
Albertine ingredients
¼ oz. Luxardo Maraschino ¼ oz. Yellow Chartreuse ¾ oz. Cointreau 1½ oz. Schladerer Kirschwasser
Boulevardier ingredients
2 dashes Regan’s Orange Bitters 1 oz. Carpano Antica 1 oz. Campari 2 oz. Mellow Corn Whiskey
Method
For both, shake well with ice and strain into your flask.
Josie Sexton: 303-954-1645, jsexton@denverpost.com or @josiebsexton
