St. Cupid's Arrow

Given that right now I'm wrapping up work on my Valentine's menu (and given that the holiday is just around the corner), I'm sticking with cocktails I've been working on for that.  One of the things I love to do is introduce people to liquors they think they don't like through drinks that I'm pretty certain they'll like.  The Lady Godiva's Stand from my last entry is one great example of that (it features Cognac, and people seem to be scared of Cognac, for some reason), and this is another (tequila is another that too many people seem to shy away from).

St. Cupid's Arrow
Glass:  Champagne flute
Method: Shake and Strain
Garnish: No garnish, though if you have elderflowers that aren't riddled with pesticides or other chemicals, one floating would be lovely, as they are edible.

.75 oz Sauza Hornitos Plata tequila
.5 oz St. Germain elderflower liqueur
 Dash of simple syrup


Shake the above ingredients with ice, and strain into a champagne flute.  Fill with a dry prosecco.

On naming:  This is a drink where the name came before the cocktail.  I rarely attempt this because I'm generally terrible at pairing what would taste like the name sounds.  This started as "Cupid's Arrow" for a suitably Valentine's-y drink, and I added the "St." when I decided to use the St. Germain.

On my Valentine's menu in general:   You'll probably notice that my Valentine's cocktails are actually fairly simple to execute.  Valentine's weekend is notoriously busy in the restaurant industry, and I wanted to make it as painless as possible for my bartenders.  While our normal drink menu (which will also be available that weekend as usual) contains a lot of fresh-squeezed juices and other things that take some time and patience to execute, I wanted to give them a bit of a break on one of the busiest weekends of the industry.  I love craft cocktails, and cocktails that take love and time and effort, but learning to balance that with a restaurant space that used to be corporate and so seats over 200 once the patios are open this summer (yet only has a 12-seat bar) has definitely been a learning curve.

Lady Godiva's Stand

With Valentine's Day creeping around the corner I've decided to work on a list of special drinks for Valentine's weekend.  Given that Valentine's is typically a chocolate sort of day, I couldn't resist using one of my guilty pleasure liqueurs for the occasion:  Godiva Chocolate (chocolate chocolate...not white chocolate.  Ew, white chocolate).  

I wanted to do something similar to (but not) your run-of-the-mill chocolate martini, so it was clear from the start that I absolutely Was. Not. going to use vodka in this one.  Cognac seemed like a natural choice--the sweetness and flavors would work beautifully together.  This past summer at Tales of the Cocktail, I was introduced to a lovely product called Meukow Vanilla cognac.  As a result, when I was choosing my bar, instead of Korbel or Christian Bros. brandy I chose to use Meukow VS as my go-to brandy/cognac.  The Meukow turned out to be the perfect choice for this cocktail.

Lady Godiva's Stand
Glass:   Large cocktail glass (in the 9-10oz range)
Method:  Shake and strain
Garnish:  Fresh grating of chocolate on surface


.75 oz Meukow VS cognac
.75 oz  Godiva (regular) Chocolate liqueur
.5 oz     DiSaronno Amaretto liqueur
.25 oz   Simple syrup
3 oz      Heavy cream


Shake with ice and strain into a large cocktail glass.  Grate Godiva dark chocolate over the top to garnish (Tip: keep the chocolate bar frozen until ready to use.  This will make for easier grating).


On Naming:  The legend of Lady Godiva's infamous ride to protest her husband's taxation was the base for this name.  I wanted to use "Godiva" in the name since it is such a recognizable brand around Valentine's (and it's in the drink, of course!), but I also really wanted to pay homage to the legend of the woman.  Like Lady Godiva, this is a lovely drink with a bit of backbone to it.

Spellbound

I thought to myself, why not start this blog with what I consider my signature cocktail?  To start, I must warn you that I'm one of those people you can't tell "not" to do something...because I'll probably go right ahead and try to make it work.  This recipe is a perfect example of that.  How, you might ask?  I shake a carbonated soda in with the other ingredients.  shhhh! *grins*  While this is not exactly a widely-encouraged practice, sometimes compromising the integrity of the bubbles/carbonation is EXACTLY what you want to do with a mixer (beer cocktails tend to be another example of where this is a reasonably acceptable practice).  I consider this my signature because every single element of the drink screams "That's so Lindsay!"--just ask my husband.  This one is a little summery, but still has enough substance to make it drinkable any time of the year, and it uses an ingredient you don't really find behind the bar--which I always love the idea of.

The inspiration for this cocktail was actually a creation at one of our favorite dinner places last summer: Sung Korean Bistro on 7th and Elm.  They tend to have some lovely and imaginative bar selections (and a fantastic Pimm's Cup in the summer!  Right now you need to go in and try their Hibiscus Garden cocktail...trust me).  Their version used muddled strawberry, balsamic syrup, and some type of vodka.  I loved the base idea (who doesn't love strawberries marinated in balsamic vinegar?), but I am not a vodka fan (to put it mildly), so I was inspired to come up with a different take on the same theme.

First...I'm a gin girl at heart.  I've particularly loved and promoted Hendricks passionately since I was introduced by a former manager of mine about six years ago (Thank you, Josh, if you ever read this!)--and I've even converted non-gin drinkers to loving it.  Sadly, I didn't think Hendricks would be the proper gin for this job.  I needed something with a little more oomph to hold its own against the balsamic syrup, but nothing with too much juniper.  This thought led me to Tanqueray No. 10 (not my favorite, but just what was needed for this!).  From there...well...here's the final recipe:

Spellbound
Glass:  Large cocktail (in the 9-10oz range)
Method: Shake and double strain
Garnish: Unnecessary, but a thin slice of strawberry or a leaf of basil floating are quite lovely

Muddle in mixing glass:
1 strawberry, cored and quartered
3 average-sized basil leaves
1 tsp balsamic syrup
.33 oz simple syrup (I use a 2:1 sugar:water ratio in mine, you may need to finagle if yours is different)

Add:
2 oz Tanqueray No. 10 gin
2 lime wedges (squeeze and discard)
2 oz ginger ale (I prefer using Canada Dry, nice and not overwhelming)

Shake (yes, even the ginger ale...flattening it a bit through shaking gives a more balanced and even flavor to the cocktail) with ice and double-strain into a large cocktail glass.  Garnish, if desired.

Welcome!

I know, I know, there are a lot of blogs out in Cincinnati about all sorts of restaurant-related things, but I haven't been able to pin one down quite like this.  I've discovered that most of our bar blogs involve recipes for existing pre-Prohibition type drinks and their histories (which is all well and good and educational), but no new cocktails!  I hear about this bartender, or that bar manager, and about the things they've done or are doing, but we don't seem to be talking to each other much (and quite understandably so!  I know we're all spending our time behind our respective sticks!).

I am starting this blog in the hopes that we can start talking about and sharing all the great things we're doing around Cincinnati.  I want to share ideas and thoughts and breakthroughs and inspirations.  I want to start a dialogue among the Cocktailians of Cincinnati.  We may not be NYC or London or Chicago, but we've got talent and we have love and passion for what we do...so let's band together and share!

If you want to join in and author some of the fun, please drop me a line and be part of making this happen!