This cocktail is one of our feature cocktails for our August dinner.

2 oz Roundstone Rye 80 proof
½ oz fresh lemon juice
½ oz fresh orange juice
¼ oz Luxardo grenadine
dash of Angostura bitters

Combine first four ingredients and pour into a nick and nora glass, dash with Angostura bitters on top, with a brandied cherry garnish.

Courtesy of Denise Petty

On August 21, 2017, we will have a full solar eclipse in the United States.  This won't happen again here for something like 100 years!  To celebrate, we created the Midsummer Moon cocktail.  We'll be drinking this and wearing our eclipse glasses when the end times come!

1½ Roundstone Rye
3 oz Ceylon black tea
¾ oz lemon juice
¾ oz ginger syrup
2-3 dashes of Angostura bitters
Lemon wedge garnish

Combine ingredients in a Nick and Nora glass with ice, and garnish with a lemon wedge and 2-3 dashes of Angostura bitters.

Recipe courtesy Jen Coate.

This patriotic cocktail was featured in the tasting room for the month of July.

1 oz Watershed Gin
¾ oz blueberry lavender syrup*
½ oz fresh lime juice

Combine ingredients slowly over a bar spoon, to create layers, syrup first, then gin and lime, and top with seltzer. Garnish carefully with fresh blueberries, so as not to disturb the layers.

*Blueberry Lavender Syrup

11 oz bin of fresh blueberries, muddled
½ cup lavender flowers (food grade)
1 cup sugar
1 cup hot water

Combine all ingredients, let steep for 1 hour, strain out blueberries.

Recipe courtesy Denise Petty.

This cocktail comes to us from Sam Scarlett at the Wine Kitchen, and was one of our feature cocktails at our speakeasy dance party last month. If you missed the party, don't worry! We're going to do more coming up for Repeal Day and New Years Eve!

The proportions for this cocktail are that for a punch. Feel free to scale it down for personal consumption.

40oz Watershed Gin
10oz Lemon juice
10oz Honey syrup (equal parts honey and water cooked together)
20 dash Lavender Bitters

Combine all ingredients and use 40 small rosemary sprigs and 40 brandies/maraschino/etc cherries for garnishes.

Recipe courtesy Sam Scarlett.

This cocktail is a classic! This drink is the original cocktail, the forefather of them all. Legend has it that it came from a Confederate General who didn't like his whiskey neat, so he added sugar, bitters and water to it. Hence, the cocktail was born. Originally called the whiskey cocktail, and later the old fashioned whisky cocktail, it eventually ends up as just the old fashioned. Since its creation, it's gone through lots of variations (some of them painful). This is the original, and the one we like best... no fruit, no Sprite.

We are purists, after all.

2 oz Roundstone Rye
¾ oz rich simple syrup (2:1 sugar:water)
2-3 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine all ingredients with a heavy ice cube and serve in a rocks glass. Garnishment is optional, but keep it light.

Photo is of Scott and Alexa at our Catoctin Creek Speakeasy Party in 2017. Reward if found!

This cocktail comes to us from Sam Scarlett at the Wine Kitchen, and was one of our feature cocktails at our speakeasy dance party last month. If you missed the party, don't worry! We're going to do more coming up for Repeal Day and New Years Eve!

The proportions for this cocktail are that for a punch. Feel free to scale it down for personal consumption.

25 oz Apple Brandy
15 oz Roundstone Rye
15 oz Lime juice
7½ oz Grenadine
7½ oz Rich simple syrup (2:1 sugar to water)
30 dashes Angostura Bitters
15 dashes Orange Bitters

Combine all ingredients and garnish with apple wedges.

Recipe courtesy Sam Scarlett.

This cocktail comes to us from our new Tasting Room Manager, Denise Petty.  Denise is a Loudoun County native and joined our team in July.  She's a food and beverage pro, and we're so grateful to have her on our team.

1½ oz Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye
¼ oz fresh lime juice
¼ oz local honey
​1 oz​ fresh, fine strained orange juice
3-4 drops of orange blossom water
garnish with orange peel and honey comb

Stir together fresh squeezed lime juice, local honey and Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye until honey is even throughout. Add fresh squeezed orange juice, use a fine strainer to remove all pulp and seeds. Shake vigorously with ice. Strain into glass, top with 3 to 4 drops of orange blossom water. Garnish with orange peel around honey comb.

Recipe courtesy Denise Petty

The Jitterbug Sour is a classic cocktail from the Savoy cocktail book.  This one is brought to us by The Next Whiskey Bar at the infamous Watergate Hotel in Washington DC.

2 oz Roundstone Rye whisky
½ oz honey syrup (1:1 honey:water)
½ oz Benedictine
¾ oz lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and strain into a martini glass.

In April, Magnolia's hosted our Catoctin Creek cocktail dinner, and featured five excellent Prohibition-era and pre-Prohibition cocktails.

Here they are, for your enjoyment:

Rye Punch
Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye "Cask Proof"
Plum-ginger beer
Lemon juice
Lime juice
Soda
Cardamom bitters

Ramos Gin Fizz (Magnolia's Style)
Catoctin Creek Watershed Gin
Lime juice
Aqua fava (chick pea liquid from the can)
Sugar
Orange flower water
Soda

Roffignac
Catoctin Creek 1757 Brandy
Raspberry shrub
Soda

Apple Brandy Crusta
Catoctin Creek Apple Brandy
Maraschino liqueur
Angostura bitters
Baked apple bitters
Lemon juice
Cointreau

Rye Shrub
Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye
Date and vanilla shrub
Cream

Recipes courtesy Matt Perkins, Magnolia's at the Mill, and used with permission.

Last night, Becky and I had dinner and drinks at Dino's Grotto in Shaw in DC.  Not only do they have amazing Italian food, but a cocktail menu that features tons of local distillers--like us! Ric Newton, head bartender there, has a cocktail he invented called the Ric Flair.  It's a great drink, the woodsy flavor of the amaro and vermouth blends perfectly with the cherry liqueur and bouncy rye.  Absolutely delicious!  Be sure to ask for it with the Catoctin Creek rye!

1½ oz Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye
½ Cherry Heering
½ Nardini Amaro
½ Cinzano sweet vermouth
Dash of aromatic bitters
Dash of orange bitters

Combine, stir, strain over fresh ice. Orange twist.

Courtesy Ric Newton, Dino's Grotto bar.

These were the featured cocktails for Valentine's Day 2017.  Please share with the one you love...

A Lovely Flower in the Middle of a Pond

2 oz rose and lavender tea infused Mosby's Spirit
½ oz honey syrup (1 part honey, 1 part boiling water)
½ oz lemon juice
¼ oz Luxardo
¼ oz El Guapo (rose syrup)
3 dashes lavender bitters
candied rose for garnish

Shake all ingredients together, strain in a martini glass.

Mon Amour

2 oz Watershed Gin
3 oz ruby red grapefruit juice
½ oz St. Germain
1 oz tarragon simple syrup
club soda
fresh tarragon to garnish

Shake all ingredients except soda, strain into a Nick & Nola glass over fresh ice and top with club soda.

Ti Adoro

Ice- ¾ oz Campari & 2 oz Water freeze in large cube tray

2 oz Roundstone Rye
1 oz good Italian vermouth
2 dashes orange bitters
Orange peel for garnish

Combine rye, vermouth and bitters in an old fashioned glass. Add large Campari ice cube, stir. Express orange peel into drink, wipe rim with peel and side it into the side of the drink.

I Was Wrong

... which always leads to a happy ending.

1½ oz 1757 Virginia Brandy
1 oz Don Ciccio walnut liqueur
¾ oz lemon/grenadine simple syrup (lemon simple syrup mixed with True tonic grenadine syrup)
2 dashes angostura bitters
egg white (optional but delicious!)
brandied cherry to garnish

Shake all ingredients vigorously and strain into a coup glass.

This recipe comes to us from spirits writer, Matthew Rowley. You can read about it on his blog, here. We love this pie so much, but took the audacious step of replacing rum with our Roundstone Rye. Rye and ginger are such happy bedfellows, after all.

1 unbaked pie crust
¼-⅓ cup minced young ginger
2½ oz Roundstone Rye
1½ cups sugar
8 Tbl unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ tsp salt
3 eggs
2½ Tbsp all purpose flour
¼ cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest

At least one hour before beginning, combine the ginger and rum in a small bowl or jar and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at the time and mix after each addition. Add remaining ingredients, including the rum and ginger, and combine thoroughly.

Pour the mixture into the unbaked pie crust and bake at 350F about 50 minutes, until the center has mostly set, but is still just a little wobbly – it will firm on standing. It should have a slightly darkened, crusty top. If necessary, cover the pan with a tented piece of aluminum foil or an overturned stainless steel bowl to prevent overbrowning while the pie bakes.

Warm, the pie cries for heavy dollops of whipped cream barely able to hold itself together. Cold, it’s best to sneak mall slivers while the rest of the house sleeps.

Recipe courtesy Matthew Rowley and used with permission.