Felicitations, much happiness and biddings of long life go out to our good friends Mary Jane Amato and Chris Clarke, who got married on a perfect, beautiful Saturday in May of 2005.

We were honored that they asked us to come up with a new cocktail for the occasion, which would be served to the wedding guests. Mixological duties fell to Wes this time, who had been knocking around some ideas in his head for Belle de Brillet (a French Cognac-based pear liqueur) for a while and eventually came up with this gem, which is a relative of the Footloose Cocktail and was a big hit at the reception. Even people who don’t normally quaff cocktails loved this one. (We were delighted to hear that MJ’s grandmother, normally very wary of drinking, had at one point finished her second and was considering a third!)

The Mary Jane Cocktail

2 ounces vanilla-infused vodka.
1 ounce Belle de Brillet.
1/2 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice.
2 healthy dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters.

Shake with cracked ice for 10 seconds and strain into a chilled cocktail glass; garnish with a lime twist.

 
 

Not to be outdone, the groom had a drink named after him as well. “The Christopher Michael”, however, was a bit simpler, and was described thusly on the menu: “A bottle of beer.” Natch.

Congratulations, youse two nutty kids!

[Updated in 2010.]

‘Member a while back, when the Regans called for entries in a cocktail-creating competition? The idea was to honor the late Hunter S. Thompson by creating a cocktail in his honor.

The results are in, via this month’s issue of Gary and Mardee’s Ardent Spirits newsletter. Some of the entries were, predictably, weird.

We got one drink from Chris Gallagher of PUG! Muddler fame that called for a toothbrush garnish, and we haven’t quite figured that one out yet. Another submission, this one from bartender Joe Gonzalez, resulted in a drink that looks like a lava lamp when assembled. Pretty creative, huh?

And of course we had to get one recipe that called for an illicit substance, so we weren’t surprised when Nancy Breslow, a recent graduate of Cocktails in the Country, suggested that the glass containing her “Gonzo Martini” be rimmed with cocaine. “IF (and only if) cocaine is ever legalized,” she added, covering her tail quite nicely. And you seemed so prim in class, Nancy…

The winning entry was submitted by the ever-fabulous LeNell Smothers, former owner of LeNell’s in Brooklyn (one of the greatest spirits shops ever) and currently living in Casa Cóctel in La Paz, Baja California, México. While I can’t necessariy see Hunter drinking too many of these and winding up whapping big hairy bats with a yardstick, Gary opines that Hunter would have approved. We’ll try this one this weekend.

The Fear and Loathing Cocktail

1 slice pink grapefruit, cut about 1/2 inch thick, peel removed.
2 barspoons bar sugar, superfine or granulated sugar.
4 dashes Fee’s Peach Bitters.
3 ounces Bellows Bourbon.

Muddle the grapefruit with the sugar and the bitters in a large Old Fashioned glass. Add the ice and the bourbon, stir the drink and serve.

Seems mighty Suth’un to me — unsurprising, considering that LeNell is from Alabama. I’ll wear my seersucker suit while we’re tippling.

Our pal Chris Viljoen has sent in yet another fascinating cocktail recipe, providing a glimpse of the cocktailian culture in Brazil. Chris says this drink is very popular in São Paulo at the moment.

This was the most fascinating one yet, although one that can get a little expensive. It calls for fresh passion fruit pulp, two passion fruits’ worth for each drink, and in supermarkets those little suckers can go for $2.50 each. Try to find one in a farmer’s market, where the price is more likely to be reasonable … or else, move to a place like Brazil, where I assume they’re cheap and plentiful.

Make sure your passion fruits are wrinkly but not dry and overly shriveled before you cut them in half and scoop out the pulp — that’s when they’re at the height of their ripeness.

You can make vanilla sugar by slicing a vanilla bean in half and, after scraping the seeds out for another use, placing the bean husk in a bowl of sugar. The bean pod will add a wonderful flavor and aroma to the sugar. I didn’t have any of that handy, so I used Monin’s Organic Vanilla syrup, which is an excellent, shelf-stable product.

Chris says he watched the bartender as he made it, but the guy wouldn’t give him the measurements under orders from his stinky boss. It may need some tweaking, but was pretty good as is.

Capeta Paulista
(“Capeta” means “devil” in Portuguese)

3 ounces passion fruit (grenadilla in Portuguese) pulp.
1-1/2 ounces cachaça.
Juice of 1/2 lime.
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar (or 1/2 ounce vanilla syrup).
1 small pinch cayenne pepper.
 

Shake well with a few large cubes of ice. Take out any remaining ice and pour into a cocktail glass. Don’t strain, because you want to keep the pits.

It has a really different taste.

It was pretty weird, but really enjoyable. The slight tartness of the ripe passion fruit pulp with its heavenly tropical perfume, the additional perfume of the vanilla, the tartness of the lime and the touch of fire from the cayenne (the weirdest part) made for quite an experience. Maybe when the weather gets warmer we’ll have these as well as Caipirinhas. Thanks again, Chris!

I’m thrilled to post the latest edition of Gary Regan’s fortnightly exploration of cocktails with The Professor, because it features a drink created by a friend of ours. Daniel Reichert (formerly of Vintage Cocktails) came up with a lovely, lovely drink called the Jamaica Farewell, and when he sent me the recipe a couple of weeks before last Christmas he reminded me (and all of us) that rum is something to keep you warm on cold winter nights, and mustn’t be confined to the summer. (That Cadenhead’s 12-year-old Jamaica rum I had the other night attests to that … good Lord, mon. My aged rum fanatic period is coming … and there goes my money, honey.)

Gary, as he often does, published an adapted version of Daniel’s cocktail — still quite good, but lacking one ingredient that was originally specified. This is unsurprising, because the aforementioned ingredient is, as we’ve noted in the past, extremely difficult to obtain, and Gary wants people to be able to make these cocktails with relative ease. The drink calls for a small amount of pimento (Jamaican allspice) liqueur — use St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram, or your own homemade. Here’s Dan’s original recipe:

Jamaica Farewell Cocktail
(created by Daniel Reichert)

2 ounces Appleton Estate V/X rum.
3/4 ounce Marie Brizard Apry.
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice.
1 teaspoon pimento (allspice) liqueur.
2 dashes Angostura bitters.

Shake with cracked ice and strain into a cocktail glass;
garnish with a lime wedge.

Gary suggests kicking up this drink with Appleton Estate 21-year-old rum, and that’ll certainly make it more special. However, to make it truly special … that teaspoon of pimento liqueur transforms the drink, lifts it be an exponent or two and carries you off to the beaches of Montego Bay. I’ll be finishing my lastest batch of pimento liqueur tonight, and I’ll let you know tomorrow morning how it turned out.

Now, let’s everybody sing along with Harry …

Down the way, where the nights are gay
And the sun shines daily on the mountain top,
I took a trip on a sailing ship
And when I reached Jamaica I made a stop.
But I’m sad to say I’m on my way,
Won’t be back for many a day,
My heart is down, my head is turning around,
I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town…

Yah, bredda …

Today’s Los Angeles Times Food Section features an article on blood oranges, which I absolutely adore. Beautiful color, wonderful sweetness, and far less acid than a common navel orange, these beauties are great for savory or dessert dishes, and make great drinks.

The article gives some nifty-looking recipes for blood orange marmalade and a blood orange sangría, but c’mon … is the best cocktail they could come up with a “Blood Orange Blossom”? The orange blossom, which is basically “gin and juice”, has got to be near the bottom of the barrel cocktail-wise, and was originally invented during Prohibition to cover up the flavor of awful homemade “bathtub gin”. Do something more interesting than that, for gawd’s sake. I came up with something off the top of my head one day that’s better than a bloody Orange Blossom:

Cacciavite
(or, “Italian Screwdriver”)

1-1/2 ounces Luxardo grappa (or any inexpensive grappa)
1/2 ounce Maraschino liqueur (Luxardo is good)
3 ounces freshly squeezed blood orange juice
2 barspoons of Campari

Build with ice in an double Old Fashioned glass. Stir for 8-10 seconds, garnish with a blood orange half-wheel and serve.

You might also wanna try my recipe for Blood Orange and Rosemary Sorbet, which is really fantastic.