Ready to celebrate the arrival of summer? In time for Memorial Day weekend, beverage director Jason Hedges of Laurent Tourondel Hospitality Group will release “The Seasonal Cocktail,” a manual for creating cocktails that make the most of seasonal ingredients. The book is divided into sections according to the seasons, and it concludes with a primer on cocktail ‘fundamentals’ designed for a beginner at-home barman.
Here are four drink recipes from the book that are perfect for the upcoming warm weather.
All recipes are from Jason Hedges’ “The Seasonal Cocktail: A Guide to Creative Drink Making.”
Cherry Blossom
Mint and cherry, flavours often associated with scoops of ice cream in the summer, combine to create a wonderfully vibrant and herbaceous beverage. At your next patio get-together, toss up a few Cherry Blossoms to impress the audience.
Ingredients:
2oz Mint and Cherry Infused Hendrick’s Gin*
¾ oz lemon juice
½ Oz maraschino liqueur
1 dash of orange bitters
La Marca Prosecco Rosé
Method:
Shake each and every component minus the sparkling rosé.
Add sparkling rosé to the coupe after straining.
Use a mint leaf as garnish.
Sub recipes:
Gin with mint and cherries added: To 1 litre of gin, add 2 cups of ripe red cherries and a good number of mint leaves. To extract flavour and colour from the cherries, lightly mix them. Allow to steep for one to two days, periodically stirring or agitating. To get the most liquid out of the solids, strain while gently pushing on them. Bottle the liquid and discard the solids.
Bergamotto Blackberry Spritz
In this spritz, the flowery Italicus really pops against the tart blackberries and vibrant citrus. On a long, leisurely summer day, this low-ABV cocktail begs to be topped up again.
Ingredients:
1½ oz Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto
¾ oz lemon juice
4 ripe blackberries
La Marca Prosecco
1 thyme sprig
Method:
Lemon juice and blackberries are muddled before Italicus is added.
Shake with ice and fine filter into a white wine glass filled with ice.
Add some prosecco over top, then add some blackberries, lemon peel, and thyme sprigs as decoration.
Green Eyes
This drink is robust and flavorful, with notes of spice, brightness, and crispness. The focus is the mezcal, a structured Los Siete Misterios Doba-Yej that is excellent for drinking. The fresh cucumber and jalapeo mixture balances the mezcal’s citrus and agave flavours.
Ingredients:
2 oz Los Siete Misterios Doba-Yej Mescal
¾ oz Cointreau
¾ oz lime juice
¾ oz fresh cucumber and jalapeño juice*
¼ oz agave syrup
Method:
Shake all the ingredients, then pour into a rocks glass with one piece of block ice and a salt-and-tajin rim.
Sub Recipes:
Slice the ends off a couple of big cucumbers, coarsely cut them, and put them in a juicer for fresh cucumber and jalapeno juice. One seeded, coarsely chopped jalapeno should be added to the juicer. Refrigerate after bottling.
In a pint container or mason jar, combine equal parts salt and Tajin to make a rim. Place a lid on top, then shake to blend.
The Sterling Sour
It’s very hard to outdo the traditional whisky sour. Instead, I changed it up by including tropical and stone fruit flavours along with a bitter, fragrant amaro float. A few years ago, Whisky Advocate recognised the formula for this left turn.
Ingredients:
2 oz Peach Infused Brother’s Bond Bourbon*
¾ oz Velvet Falernum
¾ oz lime juice
½ oz pineapple juice
¼ oz Fernet-Branca
Method:
Shake all the ingredients with the exception of the Fernet-Branca, then filter into a rocks glass with ice.
The Fernet-Branca should float on top.
Add an orange crescent as a garnish.
Sub Recipe:
whisky with peach infusion: Mix 1 litre of whisky with 2 cups of peeled, chopped, ripe peaches. One to two days of infusion are recommended. Stir or agitate periodically. Press the peach to extract all the juice, then bottle after a fine filter.
A piece of advice:
Liquids with varying viscosities may be layered in terms of flavour and colour, with lighter liquids floating on top of heavier ones. Liquids may float on top of frothy heads created by shaking components like egg whites or pineapple juice.
