Pineapple Peril

     Playing around with our happy hour menu on an all day happy hour Sunday; I came up with the beauty on a challenge from a roller derby girl, to create a drink that would make her "wanna lose her clothes." Her first round was our ever popular Rosemary Gin Fizz, containing New Amsterdam gin, lemon juice, rosemary syrup, and topped with soda water; served over ice. It was a hit, as the table ordered three of them, but the challenge ensued.
     I poured a shot of rum, a half shot of pineapple syrup, a dash of Aperol and topped it with pineapple juice and soda water. How could this go wrong?

Pineapple Peril
1.5 oz. light rum (Trader Vic's)
0.75 oz. pineapple syrup
dash Aperol
1.5 oz. pineapple juice
- shake and strain over ice
top with soda water; lime garnish

Madagascar Sour

     The Madagascar Sour is a drink I have always wanted to play with since I got the book, Cocktails, by Douglas Ankrah. His book inspired me a lot especially for the craft cocktails containing aged rum. I especially like his favor for Bacardi 8.
     The drink seemed simple enough, the hardest part would be to make the vanilla simple syrup. Easy enough after infusing some raw sugar with vanilla essence and cooking down with boiling water, we have our syrup. As his recipe is in tablespoons and for multiple cocktails I have interpreted as follows;

Madagascar Sour
1.75 oz. aged rum (Pyrat XO)
0.75 - 1 oz. lime juice
0.5 - 0.75 oz. vanilla syrup
- shake and strain


A great Daiquiri variation with a definitive vanilla note on the finish and a nice sharp lime bite up front. Pyrat rum helps to round the cocktail out with its citrus notes as well as the aged rum blend.

Vanilla Rose

     Working on the new drink menu for Dante, "W" came up with another whiskey cocktail, This one was to use Four Roses Small Batch, a product that doesn't sell that well in the bar. He mixed up trial after trail over the weeks and we finally came down to it, a splash of lemon juice really opened up the drink. He deemed it:

Vanilla Rose

2 oz. Four Roses Small Batch 

0.75 oz. Tuaca

0.5 oz. Vanilla simple syrup

0.5 oz.  lemon juice

3 cracked espresso beans

shake and double strain into cocktail glass

- espresso bean garnish

A great whiskey cocktail with a sweet tone, a slight tang and great depth from the espresso. 

Dusted Mums

     Playing around with a few ideas for beer cocktails for the impending summer patio season we tried a plethora of combinations.  Wanting to show the amazing German doppelbock style I chose to use Wasatch Devastator Double Bock. A couple different combinations and the final yeh, Mt. Falernus.

Mt. Falernus
0.75 oz. Captain Morgan Black Spiced Rum
0.75 oz. Velvet Falernum
top 4 oz. Wasatch Devastator



For the second round of Dante approved beer cocktails we revert to the first delicious libation, Dusted Mums. I wanted to exemplify the delicate nuances of the Mid-American IPA. It is definitely a great IPA for beginners as it is not nearly as aggressive as your everyday IPA, a great product to play with. The first thing that came to mind was to mix it with our recently finished barrel-aged Chrysanthemum cocktail, a great cocktail I'm sure will yield. And was I right;

Dusted Mums
1.5 oz. Barrel-aged Chrysanthemum cocktail
     (2oz. Dolin Blanc Vermouth, 1 oz. Benedictine, 3 dashes Absinthe)
               -  age 2-3 months in a charred oak barrel
top with 3 oz. Cropduster Mid-American IPA

Marsala Sour

     Sifting through our endless bottles of unused liquor at the bar yesterday, the owner/chef challenged me to create a drink using marsala wine. Definitely not my drink of choice by any means, but challenege accepted. The nose  was of sweet wine and old grapes. The first drink that came to mind was a play on the classic Sidecar.
     I grabbed a bottle of Courvoisier the Sweet Marsala, and some fresh squeezed lemon juice. Trial number one yielded a drink too sour for most drinkers palates. A splash of simple syrup really opened the drink up alot. The initial taste was of Courvoisier, a good sour and sweet middle that we all love in the hot days of summer. (We are getting closer and closer.) The finish was pure marsala wine which in this cocktail tasted very much like honeyed fig. We have a winner!

Marsala Sour
1.5 oz. Courvoisier VS Cognac
0.75 oz. Marsala Wine
0.75 oz. Lemon Juice
splash simple syrup
- shake and strain