Cranberry Old Fashioned
A simple, but pleasing cocktail, especially as an apertivo.
2½ oz Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye
½ oz rosemary simple syrup
2 dashes cranberry bitters
Combine all in a glass with a big ice cube. Garnish with lemon peel.
Hooray for the return of the cocktail!
Catoctin Creek spirits are excellent neat, but also very nice in cocktails. Many classic American cocktails call for rye, and Roundstone Rye is a faithful reproduction of 19th century rye whisky that would have been common in old classics like the Manhattan, Sazerac, and Old Fashioned. With Watershed Gin, you have a great cocktail for Gimlets, Martinis, French 75's, and much, much more.
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Nod to the Nog
This cocktail is one of our feature cocktails for December, and is an eggless egg nog created by our brand ambassador, Peter Nelson. For those who don't wish to have raw egg in their drink–either due to allergy or health concerns–this cocktail makes a nice substitute.
3 cups milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp condensed milk
4-8 oz of Roundstone Rye, more or less to taste
Grated nutmeg for garnish
Add all the ingredients except whisky to the blender; blend until well mixed and frothy. Chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour. When ready to serve, stir in the whisky and re-blend if desired to achieve extra froth. Garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg.
Recipe courtesy Peter Nelson.
Poin'shed'dia
This cocktail is one of our feature cocktails for December.
1½ oz Watershed Gin
1 oz Element Cranberry-Hibiscus syrup
1 oz Rosemary-infused rich simple syrup*
Seltzer to top
1 dash of cranberry bitters
Rosemary sprig to garnish
Combine all ingredients in a shaker of ice, strain to a cocktail glass, and dash with cranberry bitters. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary.
*Rosemary Rich Simple Syrup
Combine 2 cups sugar with 1 cup of water; add 2-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary. Heat until thoroughly combined and steep over low heat for 1-3 hours (a crock pot works great for this). Remove rosemary. Keeps for up to 1 month in the fridge.
Recipe courtesy Denise Petty.
Santa's Reserve
This cocktail is one of our feature cocktails for December.
1½ oz Roundstone Rye
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 c whole milk
¼ cup sugar
½ tsp cayenne powder
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ cup peppermint infused rich simple syrup (to taste)*
Can be served warm or cold. If warm, combine all ingredients except alcohol in a pan and warm (do not boil!). If cold, add the alcohol. Serve in a mug or glass, with a dollop of whipped cream, marshmallows, or a candy cane garnish.
*Peppermint Rich Simple Syrup
Combine 2 cups sugar with 1 cup of water; add 2-3 sprigs of fresh peppermint. Heat until thoroughly combined and steep over low heat for 1-3 hours (a crock pot works great for this). Remove peppermint. Keeps for up to 1 month in the fridge.
Recipe courtesy Denise Petty.
The Blood and Warshore
A green Bloody Mary. Incredible!
1 lb roasted tomatillos
2 cloves roasted garlic
½ avocado
½ pint yellow cherry tomatoes
2 Persian cucumbers, peeled
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 Serrano pepper
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper
fresh parsley
1 tsp prepared horseradish
¾ tsp green hot sauce
½ tsp Worcestershire
1 pinch celery seed
9 oz Catoctin white unaged spirit or Watershed Gin
Blend all ingredients except spirit together and strain. Pour over ice with spirit in a highball glass with an agave/smoked sea salt rim and local pickled vegetables. Makes 6.
Courtesy Lauren Barrett.
Wind and the Whiffle
1½ oz Catoctin white unaged spirit
½ oz Cocchi Americano
½ oz Benadictine
¼ oz Pavan
2 dash orange bitters
Stir all ingredients. Strain into a martini glass with a Luxardo cherry.
Courtesy Lauren Barrett.
Take Me to the Mill
Prosecco
1.5 oz Roundstone Rye 80 Proof
Splash of TRUE grenadine syrup
2 dash black walnut bitters
Pour rye, grenadine and bitters into a flute and top with prosecco. Garnish with pomegranate seeds.
Courtesy Lauren Barrett.
Virt & Earth
2 oz Beet infused Watershed Gin
1 oz Campari
1 oz Carpano Antica Vermouth
splash of pomegranate juice
Stir and pour over a large ice ball in a rocks glass. Garnish with an orange peel.
Courtesy Lauren Barrett.
A Long Way to the Pasture
1½ oz Roundstone Rye
1 oz pineapple juice (fresh pressed)
½ oz lemon juice (fresh pressed)
½ oz lime juice (fresh pressed)
½ oz simple syrup infused with dried guajillo peppers
Shake all ingredients and pour into a Nick and Nora glass over ice. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Courtesy Lauren Barrett.
I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas Negroni
This cocktail is a fun "bianco" take on the Negroni, using white bitter liqueur and clear vermouth. We add some sweetness from the stevia to counterbalance the dry vermouth in the recipe, without adding any calories. The stevia also adds a nice herbal element and a touch more bitterness, which in this cocktail is desired.
Scott recommends this cocktail with an accompaniment of Burt Bacharach on vinyl. Sublime!
1½ oz thyme-infused Watershed Gin
1 oz Salers Aperitif
1 oz Noily Prat dry vermouth
1-2 dashes orange bitters
½ oz housemade stevia tea (for sweetness, use simple syrup as an alternative)
Combine all in shaker, pour over a large rock in a rocks glass.
A Scott Harris original cocktail.
Charlie #4
This cocktail is one submitted by Charlie Berkinshaw from Element Shrub. We were very happy to see the DMV area prominently featured in the 2018 Good Food Awards, with Element Shrub, Embitterment Bitters, and Catoctin Creek all named as finalists. This cocktail celebrates those wins, with a delicious take on local ingredients.
2 oz fig-infused Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye
¾ oz Element Chai Pear shrub
1-2 dashes Embitterment chocolate bitters
Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice, stir and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a brandied cherry and/or a fig slice.
Courtesy Element Shrub and used with permission.
The Chesapeake Bay Cocktail
This cocktail comes to us from The Cocktail Artist, Christopher & Beth Cowie. You can check out Christopher and Beth's work at their site thecocktailartist.blogspot.com or on Instagram @thecocktailartist.
Having received a lovely painting and card from them over the weekend, I wanted to share this delightful cocktail from their site:
The Chesapeake Bay is well known for its seafood - particularly crabs. It's a summer ritual in Maryland to enjoy a bucket of steamed Chesapeake Bay crabs caked with Old Bay Seasoning. Old Bay has been produced in Maryland since 1939. It is a spice blend with a very distinct flavor - which includes paprika, pepper and celery salt. Old Bay no longer seems limited to crabs, and it has been showing up in some new and interesting places, in mayonnaise, beer, and in chocolate, among others. We decided to get on board this Old Bay renaissance and give it a try in a cocktail, and we were pretty pleased with the results.
Our Chesapeake Bay cocktail uses r hisky and aquavit. We have tried it with several ryes, and particularly like how Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye works with the other ingredients. This rye is produced in Virgnia, not far from the Chesapeake, so in addition to giving the cocktail the right flavor, it seems like a pretty good fit geographically.
2 oz Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye
¾ oz Linie Aquavit
½ oz Old Bay simple syrup*
2 dashes orange bitters
In a cocktail shaker with ice, combine all the ingredients. Shake for 15 seconds, and strain into an old fashioned glass with a large ice cube. Garnish with an orange twist.
*Old Bay simple syrup
Add ½ cup of water, ½ cup of honey, and 3 tsp of Old Bay seasoning to saucepan. Stir until syrup begins to boil, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heatj and cool to room temperature. Transfer syrup to a jar and keep refrigerated for up to 2 months. Shake well before using.
Courtesy The Cocktail Artist, Christopher and Beth Cowie, links above.
