Like any serious art, drinking can be a matter of dialectics. On the one hand we have the professional (one might say sober) approach. This is the mixologist path that gives us bespoke ice cubes, a market rush on Peychaud’s bitters and bearded men speaking earnestly about the botanicals in Alpine amari. For the past several years, the professionals have been on the ascent, and this is great. Thanks to them, every zip code has its own small-batch organic cachaça distillery. By spiking our drinks with a hard shot of expertise, they’ve helped it grow up. Problem is, maturity isn’t always fun.
On the other side, we have Jägerbombs, umbrella drinks, elemental pleasures and wild nights. Problem is, a burning forehead, a parched tongue and the bathroom linoleum at 3 am.
The question, then, is what should a thinking drinker do? More importantly, what would Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel order from a well-developed cocktail list?
A really excellent Surfer on Acid, obviously. One made with handcrafted gum syrup and pineapple shrub, and the most exquisite French Caribbean spirits money can buy. Lifting his hurricane glass, he might observe that cocktails can be expert and enjoyable, rational and rapturous, synthesizing their dichotomies in a harmony of sweet and dry flavors.
Yes, dead German philosophers would drink super fancy fun cocktails, sometimes with umbrellas sticking out. Just like these from local bar talent.
Blood of the Kapu Tiki
In a punch bowl, combine ingredients with ice. Garnish with floating citrus peel flowers, lime wheels impaled with mint sprigs and an inverted spent lime shell containing flaming Hamilton 151 Demerara Overproof Rum.
This is a citrus-forward drink, with pronounced fruit and a complex background spiced with anise and cinnamon notes. Also, it’s on fire. “When someone walks by with a large punch bowl with flaming limes,” says Loyal Nine co-owner Daniel Myers, “it sells the next one.” Inspired by Tiki bookBeachbum Berry’s Intoxica, Myers and bar manager Fred Yarm put a New England stamp on the recipe by swapping in Ipswich’s Privateer rum. The blazing lime “pirate ship” adds a further nautical touch.
$55 at Loyal Nine, 660 Cambridge St., Cambridge (617-945-2576) loyalninecambridge.com
Super Fancy Fun Drinks!
By Andrew Rimas | Photo Credit: Dave Bradley | March 25, 2016
Like any serious art, drinking can be a matter of dialectics. On the one hand we have the professional (one might say sober) approach. This is the mixologist path that gives us bespoke ice cubes, a market rush on Peychaud’s bitters and bearded men speaking earnestly about the botanicals in Alpine amari. For the past several years, the professionals have been on the ascent, and this is great. Thanks to them, every zip code has its own small-batch organic cachaça distillery. By spiking our drinks with a hard shot of expertise, they’ve helped it grow up. Problem is, maturity isn’t always fun.
On the other side, we have Jägerbombs, umbrella drinks, elemental pleasures and wild nights. Problem is, a burning forehead, a parched tongue and the bathroom linoleum at 3 am.
The question, then, is what should a thinking drinker do? More importantly, what would Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel order from a well-developed cocktail list?
A really excellent Surfer on Acid, obviously. One made with handcrafted gum syrup and pineapple shrub, and the most exquisite French Caribbean spirits money can buy. Lifting his hurricane glass, he might observe that cocktails can be expert and enjoyable, rational and rapturous, synthesizing their dichotomies in a harmony of sweet and dry flavors.
Yes, dead German philosophers would drink super fancy fun cocktails, sometimes with umbrellas sticking out. Just like these from local bar talent.
Blood of the Kapu Tiki
In a punch bowl, combine ingredients with ice. Garnish with floating citrus peel flowers, lime wheels impaled with mint sprigs and an inverted spent lime shell containing flaming Hamilton 151 Demerara Overproof Rum.
This is a citrus-forward drink, with pronounced fruit and a complex background spiced with anise and cinnamon notes. Also, it’s on fire. “When someone walks by with a large punch bowl with flaming limes,” says Loyal Nine co-owner Daniel Myers, “it sells the next one.” Inspired by Tiki bookBeachbum Berry’s Intoxica, Myers and bar manager Fred Yarm put a New England stamp on the recipe by swapping in Ipswich’s Privateer rum. The blazing lime “pirate ship” adds a further nautical touch.
$55 at Loyal Nine, 660 Cambridge St., Cambridge (617-945-2576) loyalninecambridge.com
By Andrew Rimas | Photo Credit: Dave Bradley
St. Kevin Sling
Refreshing and mellow, with slight honey-like notes beneath the orange, this cocktail is “a take on an old bizarre recipe called a MacKinnon,” observes Drink general manager Ezra Star. “Which is a Drambuie and rum cocktail. I felt it was the perfect venue for the round flavor of Irish whiskey.” Named after the patron saint of the town in which the whiskey is made, it’s a play on a classic Collins format—surprisingly light and summery for a whiskey drink, but with a hearty bottom.
$13 at Drink, 348 Congress St., Boston (617-695-1806) drinkfortpoint.com
By Andrew Rimas | Photo Credit: Dave Bradley
Our Painkiller
Says Banyan’s bar director, Jon Kochis, “This is sneaky Tiki, through and through.” The spices are a proprietary blend of star anise, clove, cinnamon, Szechuan peppercorn and fennel; the flavors are a testament to balance. And the on-tap elixir gets welcome texture from coconut foam, which you can make at home by mixing egg white, Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut, coconut water and a touch of simple syrup. Store in a whipped cream dispenser and keep frosty.
$12 at Banyan Bar + Refuge, 553 Tremont St., Boston (617-556-4211) banyanboston.com
By Andrew Rimas | Photo Credit: Dave Bradley
Mudslide Milkshake
Rosebud bar manager Beth Herron concocted this tribute to the retro dessert cocktail, amping up the adult elements. The housemade Irish cream is a blend of Glendalough Irish Whiskey, cold-brewed coffee, condensed milk, cream and vanilla and almond extracts. The Borghetti adds a bitter grounding, and they use a heavy dark chocolate to infuse the vodka. Herron says, “It balances the sweetness of the ice cream,” which comes all the way from Christina’s in Inman Square.
$13 at Rosebud American Kitchen & Bar, 381 Summer St., Somerville (617-629-9500) rosebudkitchen.com
By Andrew Rimas | Photo Credit: Dave Bradley
Surfer on Acid
This overhaul of the original recipe replaces the wallop of Jägermeister with an inspired mix centered on the lightly bitter Punt e Mes and coconut liquor. “There’s a danger of using coconut if it comes off like sun tan lotion,” explains Hojoko’s Daren Swisher, who developed the drink with his colleague Joe Cammarata. Barrel-aged rum gives the fruit an underlying structure; a hurricane glass gives it style. Since it’s served on draft, you don’t have to wait long for your second round. This is a drink designed for summer air and sun-dappled water—or for drowning out the snow and darkness.
$12 at Hojoko, 1271 Boylston St., Boston (617-670-0507) hojokoboston.com
By Andrew Rimas | Photo Credit: Dave Bradley
Grasshopper
“It’s like mint chocolate-chip ice cream with the benefit of booze in it,” explains bartender Todd Maul. He uses fresh cream from Jersey cows (the paragon of dairy animals), while the chocolate essence is the product of 90 percent cocoa chocolate, alcohol and an eventful encounter with a rotary evaporator. “That’s how you get the note on your tongue that feels like you’ve eaten a candy bar.” Indeed, the Grasshopper is exemplary of Cafe ArtScience’s approach of “looking at a cool drink, and making it funny and clever” through obsessive experimentation. Also, it’s a blessed trinity of cream, mint and chocolate.
$12 at Cafe ArtScience, 650 E. Kendall St., Cambridge (857-999-2193) cafeartscience.com
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