Cocktail Night Menu - Bar Kiley 4/26/14

Occasionally, over the course of the year, Bar Kiley goes on the road and I bartend cocktail nights for my friends. Usually these evenings feature a limited menu - this keeps my costs down and helps keep people who are used to beer/wine from getting overwhelmed by too many options. My classmates asked me to post my limited menus, and so below I offer you the cocktail night menu I constructed for my little sister's college graduation party this weekend.

Katie asked that I feature rum and gin in her menu, as these are her favorite. In addition to these two ingredients, I would also always recommend including a sparking beverage of some sort - this is a must for non-cocktail drinkers, and these beverages have a much lower alcohol content, so those with lower tolerances can still enjoy a drink during the party. I decided to feature dark rum and heavy fruit content for Katie's rum drinks and offer lighter beverages featuring gin. Originally, I was going to offer an Aviation as one of our gin drinks, but Katie nixed this - she was not a big Maraschino fan. With those quick notes in play, here is the cocktail menu from Bar Kiley on Saturday, April 26th:

RUM 

Planter’s Punch * Meyers Dark Rum * Pineapple Juice * Orange Juice * Lime Juice * Grenadine * Angostura Bitters * Splash of Club Soda * served on the rocks 

New Orleans Style Hurricane * Meyers Dark Rum * Bacardi Silver Rum * Passion Fruit Juice * Orange Juice * Lime Juice * Simple Syrup * Grenadine * served on the rocks 

GIN 

Bog Punch * New Amsterdam Gin * Cranberry Juice * Ginger Ale * served on the rocks 

Aruba * New Amsterdam Gin * Curacao * Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice * Orgeat Syrup * Egg White * served shaken and chilled 

SPARKLING 

Saint Germain Cocktail * Saint Germain Elderflower Liqueur * Club Soda * Champagne * served chilled

Recipes for the Aruba and the Hurricane are available on the blog. Below are the recipes for the other three beverages:

Planter's Punch: In a cocktail shaker, combine 2 oz dark rum, 1 oz orange juice, 1 oz lime juice, 1/2 oz pineapple juice, 1/2 oz grenadine, 2 dashes bitters. Shake over ice, strain into a highball glass with ice, top with 1-2 oz club soda. Garnish with a pineapple wedge.

Bog Punch: Build the following ingredients in a highball glass over ice and stir before serving: 2 oz gin, 3 oz cranberry juice, 3 oz ginger ale. Garnish with a skewered cranberry.

Saint Germain Cocktail: This drink is best made by the pitcher, but for a single drink, combine 1.5 oz Saint Germain, 2 oz champagne, and 2 oz club soda (in that order). Serve in a highball glass over ice.

I'll try to post other menus as I bartend, but I hope you enjoy these drinks!

May Drink of the Month - Sir Robert the Savage

South Bend has a new whiskey bar, and I couldn't be more excited. The Exchange opened up in the Citizens Bank and Trust building in the heart of downtown a few months ago, and their selection and staff is excellent. Their specialty is whiskey, served neat or on the rocks (and never with cola, as the menu explicitly points out), but they also have a great short list of mixed drinks that feature a few of their whiskeys. One of the ones I enjoyed trying last week was "Sir Robert the Savage." As far as I can tell, this cocktail is unique to The Exchange - I couldn't find it or anything similar online (which is awesome).

Eventually, I will need to visit The Exchange again and get their recipe for this drink. The menu gives us the four main ingredients (Bushmills Irish whiskey, Creme de Cassis, Orgeat syrup, and lemon juice), but it is up to us to discover the exact proportion of each ingredient. We've encountered most of these ingredients before (need an Orgeat primer? Click here), but Creme de Cassis is a new one for us. Originating in France, Creme de Cassis is made from crushed blackcurrant berries soaked in ethanol. It is a dark red (almost purple) digestif that is the favorite drink of Agatha Christie's famous French detective Hercule Poirot. It is most commonly used with white wine to make the cocktail Kir, but also has many other uses.

I spent a few hours on Saturday experimenting with different ingredient combinations, trying to recreate the purple cocktail I tried at The Exchange last Wednesday night. Below, you will  find a recipe that features my best guess for the cocktail. If the folks at The Exchange are nice enough to give me the recipe for their drink, I will update the blog later with their recipe as well. But whatever the result, an afternoon spent experimenting with cocktail construction is never an afternoon wasted (even if some of the combinations I tried were quite undrinkable - 2 oz of Dewar's scotch combined with a 1/2 oz of lemon juice, 1/2 oz of creme de cassis, and 1/4 oz of orgeat syrup is a recipe I will never plague the world with again).

Sir Robert the Savage - My Best Guess
In a cocktail shaker, combine:
2 oz Bushmills Irish Whiskey
3/4 oz Orgeat Syrup
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz Creme de Cassis

Shake over ice and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice.

I hope you enjoy this combination! Its a little on the sweet side - if that bothers you, you can reduce the amount of orgeat syrup, but don't go below 1/2 oz. If you do decrease your orgeat content, you may consider adding more Creme de Casis.

Enjoy your Sir Robert the Savage!


*Edit* I finally got back to The Exchange last night and my server was kind enough to share the recipe with me. I was pretty stinking close! Here are their mix proportions: 2 oz Bushmills, 3/4 oz Orgeat, 3/4 oz lemon juice, 1/2 oz Creme de Cassis.