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This weekend I made three completely different cocktails:

1) Ceviche

Ingredients For 2 cocktails:
6 oz Seneca Drums Gin
1 lime
1/2 fresh Red Chili Pepper
2 Tsps evaporated cane juice or white sugar
1/2 oz Absinthe or Pernod
2 sashimi-sized slices of raw, sushi grade tuna

Sugar Chili rimmer
2 tsps fine sea sale
1 tsp evaporated cane juice or white sugar
Dash of chili powder

Instructions:
Chill 2 martini glasses
Slice fresh chili pepper into narrow rings, reserve two for garnish
Add ice, gin, lime juice, sugar, and pepper to shaker
Muddle contents of shaker, then let sit while you prepare the glasses.
Thinly coat inside of both glasses with Pernod
Mix salt, sugar, and chili powder on a plate
Run used lime peel over rim of glasses, press glasses upside-down onto rimmer plate and rotate until they build up a fine coating
Place one piece tuna in each glass
Shake contents of shaker, then pour
Add pepper slices for garnish

Ceviche is one of my favorite dishes– although it comes in a lot of variations, the basic culinary method to create it is to “cook” a piece of fish by marinating it in citrus juice. Though the flavors vary based on region, fish, and chef, I wanted to create a drink that reflected the taste of a classic ceviche dish, without being too fish (except for the fishy part, of course!) and would double as a marinade for the piece of sushi-grade tuna in the bottom of the glass.

This is a very spicy drink (you can cut the spice by using a milder pepper or leaving the chili out of the rimmer, or letting the drink sit with the pepper in it for less time) and needs a gin with a strong flavor of its own to stand up to it. I tried five or six gins before settling on the Seneca Drums; my second-favorite for this was D H Krahn. This drink would also be very nice mixed with tequila if you prefer that to gin.

2) Cookie Crumbles

Ingredients for two cocktails:
6 oz bourbon (I used Maker’s Mark)
1 oz Faretti Biscotti Liqueur
1 oz Amontillado (I totally forgot to write down what I used!)
4 dashes Urban Moonshine Maple Bitters
4 whiskey-marinated Cherries (you can make these yourself or buy them)
2 dashes Extra Virgin Walnut Oil

Instructions:
Chill 2 martini glasses
Add ice, bourbon, liqueur, amontillado, and maple bitters to shaker.
Remove ice from glasses and add cherries
Pour contents of shaker into glasses
Drizzle oil very lightly on top. Do this very slowly, one drop at a time, to create a pretty design on the top of the surface of the drink

This drink was borne out of the idea that oil would float on the top of a cocktail very prettily. It’s a pretty sweet drink. Walnut oil is slightly sweet and tastes delicious with bourbon, and the Faretti, Amontillado, and maple bitters all add different complimentary nutty flavors. We ate this with short ribs and a cassoulet-style sauce.

3) LaSalle Griffon

Ingredients for 2 drinks:
6 oz Death’s Door Gin
1 oz Lavender simple syrup (you can purchase this or make your own)
1 lemon
4 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
1/2 oz St. Germain

Instructions:

Chill two martini glasses
Reserve two half-moon slices of lemon for garnish
Add gin, syrup, lemon juice, and bitters to shaker
Coat glasses with St. Germain and pour out excess
Shake and pour contents of shaker into glasses
Add lemon for garnish

This drink is named for the first expedition to sail the upper great lakes– LaSalle’s voyage on the Griffon. The Griffon is supposed to have been wrecked at Porte des Mortes strait (Death’s Door, in French), which is approximately where Death’s Door Gin is from (and where it takes its name from).

This is my first time tasting Death’s Door. It has a light, slightly bitter herbal, flavor and is slightly syrupy, but not so sweet like some syrupy gins get. My mother asked me to make a drink that would go well with deep-fried brussels sprouts, but this would also be good with salads or chicken. It was very light and flowery without being too sweet.