Oktoberfest was a great idea in the alcohol industry. Why do I bring that up now? Because the point of Oktoberfest is not just to drink beer. Instead, it’s to drink a specific type of beer: Märzen or “March” beer. Oktoberfest was designed to drink the rest of the so-called “spring” beer and make way for a new season of brewing. Genius!
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We all know that winter is all about full-flavored drinks: red wine, whiskey, brandy and the like. Spring will bring its gin and tonics soon enough. But right now, as we straddle seasons, we can take advantage of both for our Marchfest celebration. Winter spirits combined with winter citrus — Meyer lemons, in particular — make for exceptional spring drinks. Ironic, huh?
The New York Sour is a winter drink that can be reimagined for “Marchfest.” (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)With those goals in mind, I’ve assembled four classic winter cocktails, all reimagined for our Marchfest spring cleaning. All have been localized for your consumption, which should help financially if any impending tariffs actually do go into effect.
RECIPES
New York Sour
Ingredients
2 ounces Sausalito Liquor Co.’s Unsinkable Bourbon
1 ounce fresh-squeezed Meyer lemon juice
½ ounce simple syrup
½ ounce aquafaba
1 ounce leftover red wine
Directions
Combine the first four ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake until cold and foamy. Strain over fresh ice in a serving glass. Top with red wine carefully, creating a layered effect.
Meyer lemons have a slight orangey taste, which in many cocktails eliminates the need for triple sec — think margarita, lemon drop and sidecar.
Leftover wine is a term for the wine you didn’t drink the night before.
Sonoma Sazerac
Ingredients
2 ounces Griffo Distillery’s Barrel 151 reserve brandy
½ ounce simple syrup
2 dashes Bitter Girl Bitters’ Garden Party bitters
¼ ounce Barber Lee Spirits’ Absinthe Blanche
Directions
Combine brandy, simple syrup and bitters in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until cold.
Meanwhile, fill a serving glass with ice and add absinthe, swirl until glass is cold and coated with absinthe and then discard the contents. Strain the other chilled ingredients into the chilled coated glass and garnish with orange twist.
Cognac has been a great value for money the last few years. This might be changing, but luckily many California brandies are up to the task. The famous Sazerac cocktail, perhaps the first cocktail ever, was originally made with French cognac (Sazerac de forge and Fils) before switching to rye whiskey sometime in the 1800s. Here we switch it back with outstanding results.
An Almost Naked and Almost Famous
Ingredients
¾ ounce Santo Spirits’ Mezquila
¾ ounce Geijer Spirits’ California Amaro
¾ ounce Accompani’s Flora Green
¾ ounce Meyer lemon juice
½ ounce aquafaba
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until cold and foamy. Strain into a chilled coupe glass, making sure to pile up foam on top.
The taste of Flora Green is somewhere midway between green and yellow chartreuse without the high alcohol content of either. It’s also an American product, cheaper and more readily available.
Perfectly Clear Spring Manhattan
Ingredients
2½ ounces Griffo Distillery’s White Whiskey
½ ounce Alessio Vermouth Bianco
½ ounce Vya Whisper Dry Vermouth
1 Bada Bing stemmed all-natural cherry
Directions
Combine the first three ingredients in a mixing beaker with ice and stir until ice cold. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with the stemmed cherry.
Bianco vermouth is not “dry” vermouth. Essentially it’s sweet or red vermouth, without coloring. However, it does tend to present as lighter and more refreshing. Typically, a “perfect” Manhattan is equal parts sweet and dry vermouth, along with whiskey, garnished with a twist. In this clear cocktail, the dark cherry makes for an extreme if not unorthodox contrast.
Jeff Burkhart is the author of “Twenty Years Behind Bars: The Spirited Adventures of a Real Bartender, Vol. I and II” and the host of the Barfly Podcast. Contact him at [email protected].
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