Mouthing Off

Marrow 75 Courtesy of The Marrow

Pink Gin—a term for gin mixed with Angostura bitters—was incredibly popular in England starting in the 19th century when the British navy used the concoction to combat seasickness. It was so ubiquitous that James Bond drinks one in Sir Ian Fleming's, The Man with the Golden Gun. His order: Beefeater with "plenty of bitters." The combination is now catching on in the U.S., where American bartenders are using bottled pink gin in Valentine's Day-perfect cocktails. MORE »

Sazerac Interpreted Courtesy of Restaurant R'Evolution

With Mardi Gras approaching on February 12, cocktail obsessives can honor the holiday by trying a new variation on New Orleans’s famous Sazerac. The basic recipe features rye whiskey, Peychaud’s bitters and sugar, stirred and strained into a cold (but ice-free) rocks glass rinsed with absinthe. At French Quarter newcomer Restaurant R’evolution, wine and spirits director Molly Wismeier makes a Sazerac with brandy. MORE »

Cradle of Life © Tina Rupp

Food & Wine editors aren’t necessarily sports experts, as you will see admitted below. So if you’re wondering whether to bet on Baltimore or San Francisco for the Super Bowl on Sunday, don’t ask us. But for an answer to that burning question regarding what to pair with loaded nachos, we’ve got you covered. Here, editors’ game-day-perfect cocktails, wines and beers for serious football food fans. MORE »

The Dead Rabby © Andrew Kist

New Yorkers looking for an antidote to the recent blast of frigid weather can take refuge at a new cocktail spot opening next week called the Dead Rabbit, which will offer several warming winter drinks. Located in an early-19th-century townhouse, the new venue is actually two bars in one: a cozy pub, which aims to have the largest Irish whiskey menu in the city, and an upstairs cocktail lounge. Downstairs, co-owners Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry will serve a classic hot toddy and Dale DeGroff’s Irish coffee recipe. But upstairs, among the 72 cocktails divided into 12 chapters, Muldoon and McGarry will employ very modern technology to prepare historically influenced drinks. MORE >

Courtesy of Barrelhouse Flat.

In a recent piece detailing the simple pleasures of sweet and rich after-dinner wines, F&W’s Ray Isle wrote that port is “arguably the world’s greatest sweet wine.” It’s also one of the greatest classic cocktail ingredients, especially for winter drinks, to which the fortified wine adds a luxurious texture and intense dark fruit flavors. “The tradition of port in cocktails is as old as mixing drinks,” says Greg Buttera, the creative director of Barrelhouse Flat in Chicago. Buttera’s menu features two historical port cocktails: the Coffee Cocktail and the Elk’s Own.

“The Elk’s Own first shows up in The Savoy Cocktail Book, published in 1930,” says Buttera. “The drink evolved a little bit but the original was called the Elk’s Fizz—it was the 1901 Police Gazette cocktail of the year.” Buttera begins with Rittenhouse Rye Bottled in Bond, an intense 100-proof whiskey that provides a strong backbone for the drink. “It’s not a whiskey you would slowly sip while you pour over a leather-bound volume of Melville,” Buttera warns. He mixes the whiskey with ruby port, fresh lemon juice, Angostura bitters, simple syrup and an egg white for volume and a velvety consistency. The cocktail is shaken vigorously and served in a rocks glass. “It’s a nice cold weather cocktail,” Buttera says. “But it has much brighter fruit and more acidity than a lot of whiskey drinks.”

The Coffee Cocktail, which neither contains nor tastes like coffee but does somewhat resemble a frothy café au lait when mixed properly, dates to 1887 when it appeared in the third edition of Jerry Thomas’s The Bar-tender’s Guide. For his version, Buttera mixes equal parts of light, fruity Maison Surrenne Petite Champagne Cognac and ruby port with a touch of simple syrup and a whole egg. Buttera gives the mix a quick dry shake before adding ice and shakes again, just enough to chill the drink. He strains the creamy result into a brandy snifter and tops it with nutmeg. “The port has a silky texture inherently,” Buttera says. “Then the fat from the egg yolk integrates and creates a nice mouthfeel. It goes down very easy.” Here, more bars serving terrific port cocktails.

BAR GUIDE

Teardrop Cocktail Lounge, Portland, Oregon
Among the bar’s exquisitely crafted early-19th-century cocktails is the Chicago Fizz, which dates to 1930. Bartenders use an ounce of house-blended rum as the base: a mix of polished, tropical Plantation Grande Reserve 5-year, appley Flor de Caña and vegetal Novo Fogo Cachaça. To that, they add ruby port, lemon juice, rich demerara syrup and egg white. The rosy shaken cocktail is strained into a glass filled with a couple of ounces of club soda for a lightly fizzy, creamy drink. teardroplounge.com

Sylvain, New Orleans
Even though winter in New Orleans isn’t the chilliest, bartender Darrin Ylisto thought the seasonal menu at Sylvain could use a cozy, robust port cocktail. For the Dead Man’s Wallet, Ylisto mixes Rittenhouse rye with lemon juice, cinnamon syrup, ruby port and Angostura bitters. Ylisto shakes the spiced, fruity cocktail and serves it on the rocks in an old-fashioned glass. sylvainnola.com

Ace, Denver
A massive former garage, Ace now houses an Asian restaurant, a ping-pong hall and a bar, which features both original creations inspired by the cult movie Big Trouble in Little China—like the Girl with the Green Eyes, named for Kim Cattrall’s character—and new takes on classic cocktails like the Ship Song, a fruity twist on an old-fashioned. To make the Ship Song, bartenders muddle orange peel with sugar and Angostura bitters, add Guatemalan rum and ruby port, and stir it until it’s chilled. The dark, baking-spice-inflected cocktail is strained over one large ice cube and garnished with an orange peel. acedenver.com

South Water Kitchen, Chicago
Head bartender Sarah Mengoni just updated the cocktail menu at this recently redesigned restaurant. One of the new seasonal drinks is the Boardwalk Braggadocio: vodka, Laird’s Bonded Applejack, nutty tawny port, fresh lime juice, simple syrup and Angostura bitters, shaken, strained into a coupe and garnished with a mint leaf. “It’s almost like a fruitcake,” Mengoni says. “Fresh—not the one that has been passed around your family for the past 10 years.” southwaterkitchen.com

Related: 50 Best Bars in America
Best New Cocktails Trends for 2013

Courtesy of Florida Cookery at The James Royal Palm

From mild anchos to seriously hot Scotch bonnets, chile peppers add nuanced flavors and, at times, lip-numbing sensations to cocktails. MORE >

Trail Ridge Road © Phoebe Trotta.

While boozy, brown drinks still rule in pre-Prohibition-style bars, bartenders who take inspiration from Europe are now popularizing aperitif-like cocktails that are flavorful and low in alcohol. In F&W's series of cocktail predictions for 2013, Bryan Dayton, owner of OAK at fourteenth in Boulder, Colorado, championed low alcohol drinks as the future of mixology. "European cultures have always promoted light aperitifs," Dayton says. "Whether it's cider in Normandy or Aperol spritzes in Italy." MORE »

Sparkling wine is de rigueur on New Year's Eve when party goers salute the year gone by and eagerly toast to doing it all better in the months to come. To make the bubbles go further, hosts can take a lesson from mixologists around the country who are creating delicious and festive effervescent cocktails this season. MORE »

Passed Bright Milk Punch © Nathan Rawlinson.

Long before there were martinis and daiquiris, Manhattans and mai tais, there was punch. Punch dates to the early 17th century, when it was imported to England by officers of the East India Company, according to writer John Ayto, who just published a new edition of The Diner’s Dictionary: Word Origins of Food & Drink.

Made in batches and perfect for holiday entertaining, punches are especially popular this time of year among bartenders looking to put their own spins on festive cocktails. Brooklyn’s buzzed-about Scandinavian restaurant Aska—from chef Fredrik Berselius (Aquavit, Per Se) and partner Eamon Rockey, formerly of Atera—is now serving three innovative punches. “Punch is about community and about enjoying something together,” says Rockey. MORE »

The Alpine Mai Tai Courtesy of The Beehive

Often sugary or creamy, holiday drinks frequently taste more like liquid dessert than balanced cocktails. “The temptation is to do peppermint this and gingerbread that,” says Nate Hayden, bartender at The Beehive, a jazz club, bar and restaurant in Boston’s South End. “But we wanted to create something fun and slightly sweet, but also with real complexity to it as well.” Inspired by the nostalgic scent of pine trees, Hayden came up with the Alpine Mai Tai.