Classic Cocktails, Coming Up

Since the 1930’s, the site of Felicia’s Atomic Lounge has been a bar. Though we looked up its history once, damned if I can remember what it was called back then. Chalk my bad memory up to aging and excessive gin consumption. Not sure anyone is still alive who can tell us about the early years of this saloon, especially given the fact that the West End was a rowdy, rough-and-tumble, what-happens-in-the-bar-stays-in-the-bar kind of neighborhood for many decades.

I love to say that history doesn’t matter, and that some cocktails are best forgotten (like most of my ex-boyfriends). But then Leah got her hands on a copy of The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), ironically first published during Prohibition. The guide is filled with cocktails that rely on only a few basic liquors: Gin. Whiskey. Vermouth. Kirsch. Absinthe. Sherry. Lillet. Brandy. Even my old frenemy, Fernet Branca. And so our liquid exploration of cocktail history has begun.

We decided to throw a Classic Cocktail party - maybe a series of them - the first being April 17, from 7pm-10pm. The bartenders will be mixing five or six different cocktails for you to sample. If one martini usually knocks you on your ass (like me), never fear: These cocktails will be served in small martini glasses that are about half the size of today’s giant bowls of chilled alcohol, because back in the early 1900’s, drinks were simpler AND smaller. Even the martinis on Mad Men reflect a reasonable restraint, at least in the mixing, though not in the consumption. (How do you think people managed a ‘three martini lunch?’) But, in Leah’s words, “Nowadays we’re a bunch of spoiled kids consuming ridiculous, decadent overcomplicated cocktails filled with corn syrup and food coloring.”

We’ve come a long way, baby, but it ain’t all good. Let’s pay homage to the past. At the Cocktail Classic, expect to try some creative Felicia interpretations of cocktails that have been around for 100+ years, like the Corpse Reviver, an early hair-of-the-dog hangover “remedy.”

Drink your tonic, Carrie Nation. We’re coming for you, Felicia-style.

The Cocktail Classic will be held at Felicia’s Atomic Lounge from 7pm-10pm on April 17, 2012. Also stay tuned for details on the upcoming release party for our barrel-aged cocktails.

Drink Up, Autocorrect

A "damn you, autocorrect" moment between Woody and me

We can offer you sanctuary, or we can offer you sangria. Either way, It's $5. If anyone has a good recipe for sanctuary, let me know.

What We're Drinking Now

beet graphic by Leah Houghtaling © 2012

Beets and Grapefruits

It's hard to be a locavore in the middle of winter. We could make boozy sno cones, but we haven't even had any snow to speak of this year. Global warming cometh.

This winter, our beets are from Stick and Stone Farm, which is a few miles up the road. Our spiced beet syrup is great with champagne, tequila, vodka, everything. But not with your white shirt. Watch out.

In lil' ol' Ithaca we can buy almost any produce we want from farms within ten miles of the Lounge. Except citrus fruits, but with how crazy warm this winter has been, I think we could be growing them soon. For now we'll have to get our Florida grapefruits for our fresh-squeezed grapefruit cocktails at the grocery store.

Rye

Leah's latest infusion? Caraway seeds in vodka. Smells like fresh-baked rye bread. We're still tweaking recipes, but stop by the Lounge to taste-test our latest cocktail, Carried Away. The caraway vodka is combined with fresh-squeezed grapefruit (of course), and lavender syrup. An incredible, unexpected joining of flavors.

And a non-caraway kind of rye is in the house: Bulleit Rye Bourbon. The bartenders are practically shooting it up. Even Abby made a cocktail with it - without Midori or Peach Schnapps! Our little Abby is growing up...

Catcher in the Rye

2 oz. Bulleit Rye

3/4 oz. Pimm's

1/4 oz. simple syrup

1/4 oz. lemon juice

lemon twist

Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Chartreuse

We bought a bottle of Chartreuse after a period of abstaining from weirdly colored herbal liqueurs, and the bartenders have gone ga-ga for it. Here's a drink that has been wildly popular this week:

The Gypsy

1.5 ounces gin

3/4 ounce St. Germain

1/2 ounce Chartreuse

1/2 ounce fresh lime juice

lime wheel

Shake all ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.

Beer

Rooster Fish Black IPA

Southern Tier Eurotrash Pilz

Wine

Jelu Malbec

Ports of New York's Meleau Semi-Dry

Southern Migration

I recently wrote about how much we love Imbibe Magazine’s new cocktail book, The American Cocktail, and that we were planning to “drink the book” during the month of January as we traveled South in our teardrop trailer, affectionately known as the Alligator Teardrop.

We are not following through with this promise, for a number of reasons:

One is because we didn’t find a corporate sponsor for the blog (didn’t even try to find one, actually), I’m accountable to no one but me, which makes me lazy.

Two is that camping itself makes one lazy. We landed in a campground near Jacksonville, Florida, and are spending a lot of time sitting around the fire drinking El Presidente beer (which is much cheaper in Florida than in New York; in fact, the money that we’re saving might fund our whole trip).

The third reason is that camping makes you avoid civilization. It’s so peaceful here in the woods, with the owls, the rats (!), and the El Presidente. Why leave?

We did sneak out to a roadside fruit stand boasting Florida Oranges! Florida Grapefruit! Pecan Syrup! Authentic Georgia Cane Syrup! Unsuspecting, we got sucked into their tourist marketing scheme.

We caught the “Pecan Syrup”, because it had a label listing that the only three ingredients were corn syrup, artificial pecan flavoring, and artificial color. The oranges, which the kid convinced us were called something exciting like “Honey Dreams,” turned out to be plain old navel oranges. And Authentic Georgia Cane Syrup? A fancy name for molasses.

But Leah says, when life gives you lemons (or an excess of some other citrus fruit), make cocktails. The Southern Migration may be best attempted in the South in winter, if only because of the abundance available citrus fruit (of suspicious origin) and the fresh “Florida” tomatoes we got at the stand that actually taste like fresh tomatoes.

Don’t expect to see this cocktail at the Lounge anytime soon. However, if you’ve got some molasses in your cupboard, imported grapefruits, and a local grocery store that carries tomatoes in winter that don’t taste like rocks, give it a whirl. It’s incredibly delicious. But beware tourist traps (like billboards advertising “87 more miles to South of the Border!”) and don’t drink too many of these or you’ll get a wicked headache and yet another reason to never leave the campsite.

Follow our traveling adventures at www.alligatorteardrop.com!

Southern Migration

1.5 ounces tequila

the juice from 1/2 grapefruit (fresh-squeezed)

1/4 ripe tomato, chopped

1/2 ounce molasses, also known as Georgia Cane Syrup

Muddle tequila, tomato, and molasses in a shaker. Shake with ice. Pour over ice in a rocks glass, adding grapefruit juice last.

2011 Champagne Trends Greet New Years Eve

As New Years Eve approaches, Amelia Sauter looks back at a few of 2011’s trends in bubblies: Cava, rosé, and classic cocktails.

Cava is the new champagne. I heard it on NPR, so it must be true. Cava is the term for sparkling wine made in Spain the old fashioned way á la méthode champenoise, which calls for secondary fermentation in the bottle. If you find yourself staring at the selection of sparklings in a liquor or wine store, you can’t go wrong with a Cava, and you might want to buy it while it's cheap; Cava’s quality is often superior to its champagne counterparts in the $8 to $12 range.

Second, rosé is back. Up until recently, the last effervescent rosé I drank was a Bartles and Jaymes wine cooler in 1988. This year when the clock strikes midnight on December 31, I’ll be toasting the arrival of the 2012 with a local Finger Lakes sparkling wine, Goose Watch Pinot Noir Brut Rosé. A close second in my book: Dibon Rosé Cava, which we occasionally pop open at the Lounge and guzzle in the kitchen.

Lastly, classic cocktails are still center stage, and the Champagne Cocktail is one that will never die: sugar, bitters, and champagne; a perfect ménage a trois. And if you make it with a Cava or a rosé (or both), your friends will think you're the trendiest person in town.

For a locavore Champagne Cocktail recipe, check out Amelia's post on Edible Finger Lakes.

Santa Loves his Egg Nog

A public service announcement brought to you by Santa.

(cartoon by Amelia Sauter copyright 2011)

We are open on Christmas Eve from 6pm-midnight! Spiked nog, homemade cookies, and the Festivus cocktail. Come be cheerful and/or scrooge with us.

Give the Gift of Death

You may not have known this, but proprietress/bartendress/blogger-in-chief Amelia Sauter writes funny stuff and draws slightly morbid cartoons in those extremely brief periods of time between working, drinking, and sleeping (once known as "having a life").

Now you, too, can laugh in the face of Death every day. Twelve of her favorite Death cartoons have been compiled into a Year Filled with Death 2012 Wall Calendar. The Death calendar brings a morbid humor to brighten even the darkest of days, with Mr. Death taking on fashion, dating, chocolate, weather, taxes, holidays, and more.

She thanks you for supporting her Sharpie addiction, and her love of fine wines and cheap beer.

Click HERE to order your Death calendar ($15 for this priceless art), or go to:

http://www.lulu.com/product/calendar/a-year-filled-with-death-2012/18727016?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/1

Drinking Thanksgiving Leftovers

Google “Thanksgiving cocktails,” and you’ll find oodles of recipes. But can you make a cocktail out of Thanksgiving leftovers? Read my latest blog post over at Edible Finger Lakes magazine's website to find out which of your turkey day foods can be turned into a delicious drink. (I swear it's possible.)

http://www.ediblefingerlakes.com/blog/edible-voices/how-to-drink-your-leftovers-cranberry-sauce-mimosa.htm