| « Gene, Jude, and Me | Friday Foodporn: Warmth » |
Drink Thu Dec 13 2012
Put A Little Christmas In Ya' Drink
Not creating your own simple syrup these days is so un-posh. And if you're still bringing fruitcake and cheap bottles of Champagne to holiday parties, The Gage's head bartender Thomas Mooneyham has a remedy for that -- Christmas Syrup.
This holiday take on simple syrup works well with all types of spirits and liquids, including rum, whiskey, and even tea (although we prefer ours in a hot toddy) and can even be packaged up as a present.
Christmas Syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups water
2 sticks cinnamon
5 cloves
10 cherries (chopped up)
2 cardamom pods
1 teaspoon grated ginger
Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Take off of heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Once cooled, strain through a fine strainer or cheesecloth.
And of course, there's always the Manhattan, which, you did get the hint that it came back in 2012, right?
Christmas Manhattan
2 ounces Buffalo Trace Bourbon
.75 ounces Carpano Antica sweet vermouth
.75 ounces Christmas Syrup
3 dashes of Angostura bitters
Combine all ingredients and stir for 10-15 seconds. Strain into chilled martini glass and garnish with brandied cherries or orange twist. Don't want to make your own, no worries, head over to Gage and tell Mooneyham that you want a little Christmas in your drink.
