Jeffrey Morgenthaler

We’ll never know if I came in fourth or dead last in the Tales of the Cocktail Drink Competition yesterday, but we can gaze longingly at the winner’s circle regardless.

Congratulations to those who won, and I hope the rest of you losers will post your own recipes in the comments. Here’s mine, the Brazil ‘66 (with apologies to the great Sergio Mendez and the venerable French 75):

1 large or 2 medium strawberries, hulled
.75 oz cachaça
.75 oz orange liqueur (Cointreau or Citronge)
.5 oz grenadine (preferably high-quality)
3 oz champagne

Muddle strawberries and grenadine in bottom of a mixing glass until berries form a smooth paste. Add remaining ingredients and fill with ice. Stir ingredients until cold and strain into a chilled champagne flute. Garnish with a strawberry slice and mint sprig.

Created by bar manager James West at Marché Restaurant, Eugene, Oregon

I had this drink tonight and was completely blown away. You won’t find many drinks on this blog that were created by bartenders other than me (it is my website after all) but this drink deserves to be the exception to the rule.

I don’t normally reach for the amaretto when I’m mixing, but this drink is the very definition of balance. Think of it as an amaretto Manhattan with a kick, but rather than stirring this one, shake it to tame the flavors and break up the star anise - releasing its delicate oils.

1.5 oz Maker’s Mark bourbon
.75 oz DiSaronno amaretto
2 dashes peach bitters
1 star anise seed

Shake well over cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a star anise seed and a brandied cherry.

If you ever find yourselves in Eugene, be sure to stop into Marché’s bar and have James make this incredible cocktail.

Sometimes a drink idea takes days of adjusting and tasting to finalize the recipe, but sometimes it will just come to me. When someone mentioned that Valentine’s Day was coming up in a week and that I should come up with a set of special drinks for the occasion, my wee brain somehow managed to kick into gear and come up with this drink. Don’t ask me how I did it.

I had just picked up a new bottle of House Spirits’ fabulous, rich, creamy, herbaceous Aviation Gin, and somehow knew that it would work beautifully with one of my all-time favorite liqueurs, Mathilde creme de cassis (liqueur of black currants). I added a little lemon for balance, and the drink was ready.

The result is gorgeous. The color is a deep pink. The mouthfeel is tight and bracing. The flavor is like a flower, rich and herbally. It’s romantic, it’s deep, and it’s a perfect balance between masculine and feminine. Try it sometime.

2 oz Aviation gin
.75 oz creme de cassis
.5 oz fresh lemon juice
2 tsp simple syrup

Shake well over cracked ice and strain into a chilled nine ounce cocktail glass. For Valentine’s Day we garnished the drink by floating white rose petals on top, but edible flowers such as pansies or nasturtiums would work beautifully in the spring when they can be found. If you’re out of flowers, use a lemon wedge and call it good.

Another note: if you can’t find Aviation gin in your store, try to find Plymouth gin or even Hendrick’s gin for a similar flavor.

All this talk of Chocolate Martinis is giving me diabetes. Sure, you can pour a bunch of sweet, creamy liqueurs into a glass and call it the Fine Art of Mixology, but you’d be missing the whole point. Why not try something that’s going to reward you from start to finish, a drink that packs the Bacchanalian punch of brandy with the delicate flavors of chocolate and cream?

The Brandy Alexander, popular during the first part of the 20th Century, was likely a derivative of the Alexander Cocktail, which uses gin in place of brandy. Both are wonderful concoctions, but the brandy version achieved greater fame in the pantheon of cocktail culture, possibly because of brandy being revered as a rare and sophisticated spirit and gin having a more pedestrian image pre- and during Prohibition.

Okay. On to the drink. It’s so worth it to find whole nutmeg in your grocery store and grate it yourself, rather than using the stale, pre-grated crap you’ll find.

1.5 oz brandy or Cognac
1.5 oz dark (or light, if you prefer) crème de cacao
1.5 oz cream

Shake well over cracked ice and strain into a chilled nine ounce cocktail glass. Grate fresh nutmeg on top of the resulting foam and serve immediately.

Victor Bergeron - Trader Vic - created this drink back in the 40s, and is quoted in the 1947 edition of his Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide as saying, “Anyone who says that I didn’t create this drink is a dirty stinker.”

When I visited Trader Vic’s in Beverly Hills, I watched their skilled mixologists closely to try to learn the secrets of this drink (shaved ice is key here, kids) but I recently found the recipe online here.

When made properly, the Mai Tai is a smooth, slightly sweet, and potent concoction - and well worthy of our sophisticated palates (heh).

1.5 oz light rum
1 oz dark rum
1 oz fresh lime juice
.75 oz orange curaçao or triple sec
.5 oz orgeat (almond syrup)
.5 oz simple syrup

Build this drink in a wine glass, stirring just enough to mix, before finishing the drink with crushed ice and floating the dark rum on top. Garnish with an orange wedge and maraschino cherry.

It’s summer here in Eugene, Oregon, which means barbecues, camping trips and river floats are on the agenda for the next few months. I always love showing up with a gallon jug of pre-mixed margaritas for the party, so I’ve decided to share my recipe with you, the loyal reader.

When I can’t find a gallon jug lying around, I just buy a gallon of distilled water from the grocery store for 88 cents and use the water to feed the plants.

6 cups tequila (you’ll need two fifths for this)
2.5 cups triple sec (just a fifth, please)
2.5 cups fresh lime juice
2.5 cups fresh lemon juice
2 cups simple syrup

Mix ingredients together in gallon container. Don’t forget to refrigerate! When ready to serve, pour mixture into a 16-ounce glass filled with ice. Salted rim is optional.

Makes 21 margaritas.

Since it’s Cinco de Mayo and everything, I figured I’d post the margarita we use at the bar. I worked on my margarita recipe for a long time until I found that perfect balance between sweet, sour and strong. It’s been very good to us over the years.

2 oz tequila
1 oz triple sec
¾ oz fresh lime juice
¾ oz fresh lemon juice
¾ oz simple syrup

Shake ingredients with cracked ice and strain into a 16-ounce glass filled with ice (salted rim optional). Garnish with a lime and enjoy!

This drink was created at the Pegu Club in Rangoon, Burma, probably in the 1920s. According to Harry Craddock’s Savoy Cocktail Club of 1930, people traveled the world round asking for this drink. It fell from popularity sometime around WWII, but its complex flavors and refreshing taste are well suited to today’s cocktail enthusiasts. We have recreated the recipe here as we make it at El Vaquero, adjusted for the modern palate.

2 oz gin - we prefer Beefeater
1 oz orange liqueur
¾ oz lime juice
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters

Shake well with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.