The Cocktail Club

A digestif is the exact opposite of an aperitif. These herbal or bitter drinks are meant for sipping after the meal to help you digest. Every European culture seems to have their preferred digestif. Holidays with my Italian in-laws aren’t complete until the digestif tray is brought to the table—for them, the Italian Amaro Averna or a nip of sambuca are mainstays. Similarly, the French like to end their meals with pastis, and the Greeks’ preferred digestif is a shot of ouzo.

Liqueur Up A liqueur is an alcoholic drink that is made with a distilled spirit (it can be a neutral grain spirit or a rum, tequila, or whiskey) that is flavored with any combination of fruits, herbs, spices, nuts, cream, and even flowers, and always includes added sugar. Liqueurs are typically sweet, though some are more bitter.

Seeing as there are hundreds of liqueurs and spirits in the marketplace, I’ve broken down the most popular pours on menus today by flavor profile—licorice and anise, fruity, bitter and herbal, nutty, and floral—into a comprehensive liqueur and spirits guide to help you decipher any cocktail menu out there.

SPEAKEASY

“Liquor” is any alcoholic beverage. “Liqueur” is the specific style of alcoholic beverage that combines distilled spirits with flavorings and sugar. A liqueur is liquor, but liquor is not always a liqueur.

Licorice and Anise

Absinthe, the most popular of the licorice-flavored liqueurs, has gotten a bad reputation over the years for allegedly causing addiction and hallucinations so real they may have even spurred a famous Swiss murder in 1905. Claims like this, due to an early lack of production regulations, were enough to have the drink prohibited in the U.S. for almost ninety years. Alas, the green fairy is back, and due to new regulations, no psycho-tropic effects have been reported since its rerelease. This potent, anise-flavored sip gets its herbal and medicinal flavors from a mix of botanicals including anise, fennel, and the very bitter herb wormwood (if herbal drinks aren’t your thing, this is not your go-to cup). Unlike the vintage posters that portrayed it as a fluorescent green pour, absinthe is typically less neon and more of a grassy green, ranging from yellowish/lightly green-tinged to clear. We got a little taste of absinthe with the Sazerac (this page), but in this month’s Taste Test on this page, we’ll try it the traditional way with a sugar cube, water, and fancy slotted spoon (if you’ve got one).

If you like the taste of licorice in your glass, here are a few other popular options you may encounter while browsing the shelves of your liquor store:

• Ouzo

• Pastis

• Anisette

• Sambuca

• Arak

• Jägermeister

• Galliano

• Herbsaint

Feeling Fruity

Limoncello is one of the most popular fruity liqueurs, and nondescript bottles of this high-octane lemony Italian digestif sit behind every bar in Rome. Although my favorite limoncello-infused night involved a jazz bar and a fuzzy memory of a carousel ride, my advice is to be very wary of those neon yellow bottles—who knows what they put into those house blends. Instead, why don’t you make your own?

HOW TO MAKE LIMONCELLO

MAKES 6 CUPS (1.4 ML)

The pith is the white part between the lemon rind and the flesh of the fruit. It’s very bitter, so be sure to use a nice sharp paring knife to remove the peel, being careful not to include the pith. The fruit can be juiced and made into a lemon simple syrup or lemonade.

10 lemons, washed thoroughly and peeled, no pith

1 (750-ml) bottle vodka

2 cups (500 g) sugar

Place the lemon peels in a large container that has a lid. Pour the vodka over them. Cover the container and place it in a dark cool space for 10 days to 2 weeks. No need to stir or check on this. After the desired amount of steeping, strain the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer.

Combine 3 cups (720 ml) of water and the sugar in a pot over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Let this simple syrup cool completely.

Once it is cool, add the syrup to the lemon vodka and stir to combine. Pour it into clean bottles and store it in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to enjoy.

Not a fan of lemon? Here are some other fruity liqueurs to add to your cocktails:

• Orange: Curaçao, Grand Marnier, triple sec, Cointreau, Mathilde orange liqueur, Gran Torres

• Cherry: Cherry Heering or Luxardo maraschino liqueur

• Melon: Midori

• Citrus combined with Vanilla: Licor 43 or Tuaca

• Pomegranate: PAMA liqueur, which is also excellent for making your own grenadine (see this page).

• Raspberry: Chambord

• Peach/Apricot: Southern Comfort/Marie Brizzard’s Apry

• Apple: Berentzen

The Herbal & Bitter Bunch

This category has both bitter and herbal sips included, giving us a nice mix of liqueurs that are a little on the medicinal side in the best way possible. Pimm’s, a popular British brand of liqueurs, originally developed a series of seven bottled English cocktails based on different spirits: gin, whiskey, brandy, rum, rye, vodka, and tequila. Pimm’s #1 Cup, the only one available in the United States currently, is based on gin and has citrusy, spicy, and bitter notes. In England, it’s wildly popular as a summer drink mixed with their version of lemonade, which is more like American lemon-lime soda or ginger ale. As boozy lore would have it, there are only six people said to know the secret mix of herbs used to brew Pimm’s #1 Cup.

SPEAKEASY

A “cup” is another term for a British punch traditionally served to hunting parties in England before the hunters went off in search of their prize. Today, the cup has eased into garden parties, croquet, sporting events, and picnics at the governor’s mansion. Feeling posh? Pour up a Pimm’s #1 Cup (this page).

If you find yourself continually reaching for more bitter pours, here are some other types to sip:

• Aperol: An orange-flavored (and colored) Italian pour that’s excellent when mixed with Prosecco in the Aperol Fizz (this page).

• Cynar: This Italian bittersweet drink comes from artichokes, and is often used with club soda to cure an upset stomach.

• Campari: We saw this liqueur make an appearance in the beloved Negroni (this page). The iconic bitter, red-colored Italian liqueur is lower in alcohol, making the Campari and soda a perfect aperitif if you know you’ve got a long night ahead of you.

• Lillet: This French aperitif is made with wine and citrus, including orange peels, and a liqueur. It’s often enjoyed alone, but it’s equally delicious mixed up in a cocktail, like this month’s Corpse Reviver #2 (this page). You may find Lillet Blanc (white wine) or Lillet Rouge (red wine) when out shopping.

• Punt e Mes: This is a bold, bitter red vermouth that can be used in place of softer, more traditional red vermouths in cocktails like the Manhattan (this page) or Negroni (this page).

• Dubonnet: This French wine-based aperitif comes in red (Dubonnet Rouge—on the sweeter, richer side) or white (Dubonnet blanc), and includes a mix of herbs and spices and a touch of quinine (the same ingredient in tonic). It’s not quite as bitter as some in this category, but it’s still got a bite.

• Cocchi Americano: This Italian aperitif wine is similar to Lillet Blanc and vermouth, but sweeter, a little spicier, and a tad more bitter. This month we’ll see it appear in the Corpse Reviver #2 (this page).

• Bénédictine: This syrupy sweet liqueur has been around the block since 1510. Normandy monks used it to prevent malaria and eventually it went on to become popular when mixed with brandy (so much so that the company began bottling them together as B&B).

• Fernet Branca: This bitter drink has seen a popularity explosion of late among bartenders, servers, and cooks, earning it the nickname “hipster Jager” (short for Jäger-meister). The Fernet trend started in San Francisco, where it’s most often coupled with ginger ale or ginger beer. This is also a type of bitter Amaro (see below).

PARTY FAVOR

Bitters like Fernet Branca are used as digestifs or hangover helpers.

• Amaro: This is a category of Italian bittersweet herbal liqueurs that are made from a mixture of herbs, flowers, bark, roots, citrus peels, and spices. These are often thick and syrupy sweet (though still bitter), and are usually consumed as a digestif. Brands include Averna, Nonino, and the cult favorite—Fernet Branca. Other types include Branca Menta (Fernet Branca blended with crème de menthe), which is very minty, and Zucca, which is rhubarb-based.

• Drambuie: This is a whiskey-based liqueur flavored with honey and spices.

• Chartreuse: This digestif comes in yellow or green. The yellow is milder and sweeter, but both are herbal and said to be made from a secret recipe including 130 herbs. Both Chartreuse styles are spicy, with all sorts of flavors such as cinnamon, cloves, and pine. Like many in the category, this has been believed to have medicinal qualities including aiding digestion and warding off sickness.

Nuts for Nuts: These sips have predominantly nutty characteristics. If you like pistachios in your ice cream and almonds for a midday snack, these sweet liqueurs will be right up your alley.

• Amaretto: A sweet sip made from almonds and apricots.

• Frangelico: A hazelnut liqueur.

Taste Test

While technically not cocktails served solo, there are two important herbal/bitter spirits you should explore this month. Think you’re ready to play with the big boys at the bar? Then pour up a sip of the current bartender’s cult pick—Fernet Branca. A straight shot is the go-to, but feel free to chill it or enjoy it on the rocks.

Next, pour a nip of another intense liqueur—absinthe. Get a bowl of sugar cubes, borrow or buy an absinthe spoon, and have your guests get familiar with the green fairy. To serve absinthe, fill your glass with a few ounces of the green liqueur and place one or two sugar cubes on a flat, slotted absinthe spoon balanced on top of your glass. Slowly pour water over top of the sugar cube and watch the green drink turn white.

Sip the two liqueurs side by side and discuss the differences. Both are medicinal and bitter, but do you like the addition of a sugar cube? Or do you prefer your bitter sips sans sugar?

Flower Power: Getting the garden into your glass is easy with these floral spirits. Mixing these into cocktails lends romantic perfume-y and sweet notes perfect for balancing the more abrasive ingredients you may be mixing up.

• St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur: This 40-proof artisanal liqueur is made from hand-picked elderflowers, balanced by citrus notes and flavors of pear and lychee.

• Orange Flower Water: This spirit is distilled from orange blossoms and typically only a drop or two is added to the glass.

SPEAKEASY

Liqueurs labeled “crème de” are sweet liqueurs that don’t actually contain cream at all. The “crème” refers to their creamy, thick consistency.

Get Your Drink On!

Suppressor #2, this page

I’ve been looking forward to this month’s cocktail club all year long because all of these liqueurs and ingredients make for very interesting drinks. Choose between the two Pimm’s cocktails—either the classic, refreshing Pimm’s #1 Cup (below) or the adventurous Suppressor #2 (this page)—and mix up The Bijou (this page) featuring the herbal Chartreuse, the classic Americano Highball (this page) highlighting the bitter sip Campari, and the most popular of the Corpse Revivers, # 2 (this page), featuring the aperitif Lillet Blanc. Grab your shakers—you’re in for a very adventurous cocktail club!

Tips for This Month

This month, most of our liqueur-driven cocktails can be served in either coupe-style glasses or highballs.

The Classics

PIMM’S #1 CUP

SERVES 1

Also known as the Wimbledon Cooler, this drink may be served with apples, strawberries, rhubarb, lemon slices, rosemary, or mint sprigs. In fact, I’ve seen it served more as a fruit salad than a cocktail. If you’re hungry, feel free to beef up the garnish, but if you’d just prefer to sip the cocktail, the simple cucumber garnish gets the job done.

Ice cubes

1½ ounces Pimm’s #1

¼ cup (60 ml) lemon-lime soda (see Note)

1 ounce club soda

1 English cucumber spear, for garnish

In a glass filled with ice, combine the Pimm’s and sodas and stir. Garnish with the cucumber and serve.

Note: The original recipe calls for lemon-lime soda, but since American sodas tend to be sweeter, I like to cut mine with some club soda. You may also substitute lemonade or 1 ounce of fresh lemon juice and ginger ale.

SHAKE IT UP

For a different twist, try swapping the lemon-lime soda for Champagne and you’ve got a Royal Cup to toast with instead.

THE BIJOU (JEWEL)

SERVES 1

Bijou is French for “jewel” and this drink gets that name because it mixes the colors of three jewels: diamonds (the crystal clear gin), rubies (the red vermouth), and emeralds (the Chartreuse).

Ice cubes

3 ounces (90 ml) gin

1 ounce (10 ml) green Chartreuse

1 ounce (10 ml) sweet vermouth

1 dash of orange bitters

Lemon peel, for garnish

In a shaker filled with ice, combine the gin, Chartreuse, vermouth, and bitters. Stir and strain them into a glass. Add the lemon peel for garnish.

THE AMERICANO HIGHBALL

SERVES 1

Ice cubes

1½ ounces sweet vermouth

1½ ounces Campari

Club soda

Flamed orange peel (see this page)

In a tall glass filled with ice, add the vermouth, Campari, and top with club soda. Light your orange peel over your glass and drop it in for garnish.

New Twists

LIMONCELLO PROSECCO FLOAT

SERVES 1

Sgroppino, the Italian delight made with lemon sorbet, vodka, and Prosecco, inspired this cocktail. This one uses Limoncello (see this page) in place of the lemon sorbet and vodka.

¼ cup (60 ml) limoncello, straight from the freezer

¼ cup (60 ml) Prosecco, chilled

Pour the limoncello into a chilled martini glass. Float the chilled Prosecco on top.

SUPPRESSOR #2

SERVES 1

The Suppressor is a new family of cocktails concocted by a bunch of bartending friends-from Atlanta, Georgia. Suppressors are a mix of low-alcohol spirits, wine, fortified wines, or vermouth. These lower-alcohol sips were created so that you can enjoy one, maybe even two midday, without needing a nap.

Ice cubes

1 ounce Pimm’s #1

1 ounce Cocchi Americano or Lillet Blanc

1 tablespoon Dolin dry vermouth

1 tablespoon Zucca

1 dash of lemon bitters, such as Bitter Truths Lemon Bitters

1 lemon twist

3 thin cucumber slices

Sea salt

In a shaker filled with ice, combine the Pimm’s, Cocchi Americano, vermouth, Zucca, and bitters. Shake and strain them into a glass.

Express the lemon oils from the skin of the lemon into the drink and discard the lemon twist. Top the Suppresor with the cucumber slices and a pinch of sea salt.

Recipe courtesy of Miles Macquerrie, Leon’s Full Service, Decatur, Georgia.

THE CORPSE REVIVER #2

SERVES 1

Where Suppressors are meant to be lower-alcohol sips, on the other side of this movement stands traditional cocktails called “corpse revivers.” These drinks are designed to revive the body after a night of drinking. The Savoy Cocktail Book states they are, “To be taken before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed.”

Ice cubes

1 ounce gin

1 ounce Cointreau

1 ounce Lillet Blanc

1 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 dash of absinthe

1 orange twist, for garnish

In a shaker filled with ice, combine the gin, Cointreau, Lillet, lemon juice, and absinthe. Shake until well chilled and strain them into a chilled glass. Express the orange peel, drop it in the glass, and enjoy.

Eat Up!

So many flavors, so little time! This month, our drinks bring loads of personality to the table so our snacks of curried cauliflower and an assortment of grilled cheeses are versatile enough to go with many of them. Be playful with your pairings and see which you like best.

MINI GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES

SERVES 12

¼ cup (½ stick/55 g) unsalted butter, softened

4 slices sourdough bread

4 slices rye bread

4 ounces (115 g) Gruyère cheese, sliced

4 ounces (115 g) smoked Gouda, sliced

Heat a nonstick sauté or griddle pan over medium heat. Spread ½ tablespoon of the butter on one side of each slice of bread. Place 2 slices of rye bread, butter-side down, into the pan. Top each slice with 2 ounces each Gruyère and top with the other 2 slices of rye, butter-side up. Cook until the sandwiches are golden and the cheese is melted, about 2 minutes per side. Repeat with the sourdough and smoked Gouda.

Let the sandwiches cool for just a few minutes before slicing them into 1- to 1½-inch-thick (2.5-to 4-cm) strips. Serve them warm or at room temperature.

ROASTED CURRIED CAULIFLOWER WITH RAITA

SERVES 8 TO 12

For the cauliflower:

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon plus

1 teaspoon yellow curry powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon salt

About 8 cups (1,820 g) cauliflower florets

For the raita:

½ cup (120 ml) plain Greek-style yogurt

1 clove garlic, minced

½ cup (115 g) shredded cucumber

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

Pinch of salt

Few grinds of fresh ground pepper

Make the cauliflower: Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). In a large bowl, combine the oil and spices. Add the cauliflower and toss well until it is evenly coated with the oil and spice mixture. Spread the florets in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet and roast them for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender and beginning to brown.

Make the raita: In a medium bowl, combine all of the ingredients and refrigerate them until ready to serve.

Serve the cauliflower warm or at room temperature with the raita.

10-Minute Happy Hour

It’d be a shame to have to shorten cocktail club this month, but if you had to just pick one sip for this month’s 10-minute happy hour, I suggest you make it the Suppressor #2 (this page). It’s filled with several liqueurs we discussed this month, including the famous Pimm’s #1. Serve it alongside some fresh sliced cucumbers and hummus for a tasty happy hour.