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Find the Great Pumpkin (Cocktail)

The Dorrance helps us ease into fall

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Sometime circa 1995, Americans decided that the onset of fall meant sticking pumpkin – or pumpkin pie spices – into every conceivable beverage. Pumpkin-spiced coffees are the foremost example, of course, but sadly the typical version just ain’t great. In fact, it’s often sickly sweet, and about as subtle as the Kardashians. Luckily, an easy fix exists for those who still want autumnal pumpkin drinks minus a slew of taste crimes: Just add booze.

We’re not talking spiked coffee here, although even that would be animprovement. (Just about anything seems better with the onset of a buzz, no?) Rather, we’re talking cocktails that elevate the coffeehouse cliché, or turn it on its head. Case in point is the Dorrance’s pumpkin offering, which – addition to being damn delicious – has a name so charmingly verbose it requires punctuation. Ditch the styrofoam cups and saddle up to the bar for one, beginning this month.

It’s a Great Pumpkin Drink, Charlie Brown
serves 1
The drink began with a wish to showcase a Rhode Island-made pumpkin-spiced whiskey, which debuted last year to major accolades and sold-out shelves. To the whiskey, bar manager Vito Lantz added coffee bitters and a house-made pumpkin-chai simple syrup, which invoke familiar café fare. Egg white froth completes the playful nod, bringing to mind latte foam. The only ingredient that may be unfamiliar to most is a Czech liqueur, which Lantz says can be swapped out for more whiskey and a few whole cloves.

• 1.5 oz Sons of Liberty Pumpkin Spice Whiskey

• .5oz Becherovka herbal liqueur

• 1oz pumpkin chai simple syrup

• .5oz fresh lemon juice

• 2 dashes coffee bitters (preferably from Cocktail Kingdom)

• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

• 1oz egg white

• Ice

Optional: “Pumpkin Dust,” made from approximately equal parts sugar and ground cinnamon, plus half that amount of salt.

Put all ingredients except those for the Pumpkin Dust into a cocktail shaker, and, in Lantz’s words, “shake the living hell out of it.” Once it’s sufficiently frothy and pretty, strain and serve. If using cloves rather than Becherovka, be sure to double-strain. Garnish with a pinch of the Pumpkin Dust, if desired, for an aromatic punch. “It’s Pavlovian,” Lantz says. “Put that dust four inches from your nose, and salivation kickstarts.”

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