Lost Horizon

 

Story

Lost Horizon is an Old Fashioned variant created by Tyson Buhler, manager of beverage operations at New York bar Death & Co and winner of the 2015 World Bartending Championship.  The drink features a split base of cognac and Jamaican rum with Fernet Brance serving as the bitter ingredient.  The sweetener is a banana liqueur from Giffard, a French company that makes a series of outstanding flavored liqueurs that avoid tasting either artificial or too sweet.  In the case of Giffard banana du Brasil, it smells and tastes like banana bread.  The Lost Horizon is rich, fruity, smooth, and bittersweet.  The subtle smoke from the Islay scotch rinse is great, but if you’re smoke-averse the drink is terrific without the rinse as well.

 

Recipe

Islay scotch (Laphroaig 10-year), to rinse
1 oz cognac
1 oz Jamaican rum
2 tsp Giffard banana du Brasil
1 tsp Fernet Branca
-Rinse rocks glass with scotch and dump excess.
-measure remaining ingredients into mixing glass with ice.  Stir to chill.  Pour into glass.
-express orange twist and use as a garnish.

Aces and Eights

 

 

Story

“Aces and eights” is a reference to what’s also known as the “dead man’s hand” in poker: two black aces and two black eights.  Legend has it that Wild Bill Hickock was holding this hand when he was shot in the back at a poker table.  There is absolutely no evidence that this was the case, but I don’t see why that should make a difference.  The drink itself is a flavor bomb that was invented by bartender Jarred Weigand in 2016 at the New York bar Death & Company.  Coffee is a prominent flavor, but the amaro and bitters add chocolate and spice notes.  The tequila adds richness to the drink but the tequila flavor itself only peeks out shyly from the background.  You can think of this as a type of Old Fashioned, which is a spirit (tequila), sweetener (amaro, vanilla simple), and bitters (mole bitters, coffee liqueur).  This cocktail is both bold and easy to drink.  Bang!

Recipe
2 oz reposado tequila
0.5 oz Meletti Amaro
1 tsp Mr. Black cold brew coffee liqueur
1 tsp vanilla simple syrup  (1:100 vanilla extract to simple syrup, very roughly)
1 dash Bittermens Mole Bitters
-measure ingredients into mixing glass with ice.  Stir to chill. Strain into rocks glass over ice.
-express orange twist and use as a garnish.

iiekanzou (ē-CON-sō)

 

Story

A home bartender named Matthias Soberon created a drink called The Nawashi (Japanese for “rope master”) that won a Home Bar Award and ended up on the menu at Amor Y Amargo in NYC.  It contains dry vermouth, CioCiaro amaro, benedictine, Peychaud’s bitters, and a whopping 0.75 oz of absinthe. As you might guess, it tastes like a glass of black licorice.  Despite that, it managed to be balanced rather than overwhelming, and was interesting because it has powerful flavor but no base spirit.  There were some suggestions online that Green Chartreuse might serve a similar role as absinthe in the drink without being quite so divisive, so I swapped that in and switched to tiki bitters instead.  Bingo.  Now the flavors are more equally represented and interesting.  The vermouth lengthens the punch of the chartreuse, while the amaro and benedictine amp up the fruitiness and the bitters tie it all together.  The name is a portmanteau of the Japanese words for “no licorice”.

 
Recipe
1.5 oz dry vermouth
0.75 oz green chartreuse
0.5 oz Ramazzotti Amaro
0.5 oz Benedictine
1 dash Bittermens Elemakule Tiki Bitters
-measure ingredients into mixing glass with ice.  Stir to chill. Strain into coupe or Nick & Nora.

-express orange twist and use as a garnish.