WASHINGTON, DC — 2021 will soon be knocking on our doors, but there's still time enough for a quick dash to the market and liquor store to gather the ingredients to help toast in the new year.
"For New Year's Eve, I think it's always been about sparkling drinks, right? You want to do something festive and nothing says festivities more than bubbles," said Derek Brown, expert mixologist and author of Spirits, Sugar, Water, Bitters: How the Cocktail Conquered the World, and the forthcoming Mindful Mixology: A Comprehensive Guide to No- and Low-Alcohol Cocktails. He is also the founder of the Columbia Room, a casual sandwich and cocktail pop-up in Washington, D.C., that's open for pickup and delivery during the coronavirus pandemic.
One trend that Brown has seen grown since the start of the pandemic is that people are experimenting with creating their own cocktails. To accommodate that, some restaurants and bars, such as the Columbia Room, are now providing cocktail-making kits for customers to purchase.
"People are obviously doing cocktails at home and they're still relying on bars and restaurants to give them ingredients and kits to do it," Brown said. "I think that's really cool. And it's a way to support bars and restaurants when they're having a really hard time."
While many people's drink of choice on New Year's Eve is champagne or sparkling wine, there are plenty of festive cocktails out there as well. At-home bartenders can even incorporate sparkling wine into a cocktail or choose to make a non-alcoholic beverage for guests.
"What I would think of as like the premier party cocktail for me is the French 75," Brown said. "It's a classic cocktail. It's made with gin, or sometimes people make it with brandy. Both recipes exist there, out in the world, but it's probably more popular with gin."
French 75 Cocktail - One serving
- 1 ounce gin
- 0.5 ounce fresh lemon juice
- 0.5 ounce simple syrup
- champagne or sparkling wine
"A French 75 is just lemon juice, sugar, or usually simple syrup, topped with champagne or other sparkling wine," he said.
For those looking to create an alcohol-free version of a French 75, Brown suggests substituting one of the many non-alcoholic spirits that are widely available.
"One that's just started getting poured in the United States which I think is excellent is Thomson & Scott Noughty," he said. "It's a sparkling Chardonnay."
Amanda Thomson, who founded Thomson & Scott, set out to create something that tasted like a grower champagne that was a little bit more craft oriented and small batch, according to Brown.
"You could simply increase the amount of lemons, increase the amount of simple syrup and then top it with Thomson & Scott and you have a really good cocktail," he said.
As a non-alcoholic gin substitute for your French 75, Brown offers two suggestions.
"Monday Gin tastes remarkably like gin for not having alcohol," he said. "The other one is Damrak Virgin. That one is made by Damrak, which makes a regular gin that's very good, so they had their masters focus on making a non-alcoholic gin. And so both of those could be used just to make a French 75 the way it's supposed to be, but using non-alcoholic products."
Another way to spice up your non-alcoholic French 75 is to play around a bit with your sweetener.
"For instance, making a ginger simple syrup is pretty easy," Brown said. "You can essentially make the simple syrup and while it's heating up, add in some fresh chopped ginger or grated ginger is even better. Let it cook with that, sit with it for a few minutes and strain it out. Then you have this sort of gingery cocktail with a nice, dry non-alcoholic, sparkling wine."
Although people may not be celebrating New Year's Even in big groups this year due to COVID-19 concerns, small groups can still share a pitcher of French 75s or another festive punch. Brown shared the following recipe for those looking to create a pleasing punch for their New Year's Eve party:
Fish House Punch - 25 Servings
Requirements: Punch Bowl/Punch Cups - Grated whole nutmeg, grated, and lemon wheels for garnish
Ingredients
- 8 lemons (peels from all, juice after peeling)
- 2.5 cups Demerara sugar
- 16 ounces boiling water
- 16 ounces fresh lemon juice
- 1 bottle Jamaican rum
- 12 ounces of Cognac
- 12 ounces of peach brandy
- 3 quarts of cold water
Directions
Peel and juice the lemons. Set the juice aside. Hand muddle peels with sugar in the bottom of the punch bowl until it forms a thick paste (that is called the oleo Saccharum). Add boiling water. Allow to cool, then remove peels and add lemon juice and spirits. Finally, add the water quart by quart and fill to taste.
Grate nutmeg on the top and garnish with lemon wheels.
December 31, 2020 at 10:17AM
https://patch.com/district-columbia/washingtondc/perfect-new-years-cocktails-enjoy-dont-forget-bubbles
Perfect New Years Cocktails To Enjoy: Dont Forget The Bubbles - Patch.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment