The Negroni is a classic Italian cocktail known for a crisp full flavor and a bitter finish. As Becky Harris (my wife, and our chief distiller) likes to say, “the bitterness reminds you it's a grown-up's drink.” Though variations exist, the most agreed upon recipe is equal parts gin, Italian (red sweet) vermouth, and Campari.
The word “sbagliato” means “broken” or “wrong”. So how do we mess up a perfect Negroni? By adding sparkles! This changes this rather boozy cocktail into something lighter, and more like an aperitivo—that is a perfect welcome cocktail for the evening!
[Part of the Art of the Cocktail series, season two.]
1 oz Watershed Gin
1 oz Don Ciccio Luna Amara
1 oz Tribuno sweet vermouth
rocks glass with ice
top with soda or Prosecco
garnish with orange half-slice
Limoncello is a liqueur particular to Italy, and very popular in the Amalfi coast, where Francesco from Don Ciccio hails. It is an infusion of lemons and zest in spirits with sugar. You can also find an “Orange Cello” or Mandarinetto and a Fico d'india (“Fig Cello”) from Don Ciccio. To close out the evening, a sweet something in a flute is always nice. The combination of fruit brandy, limoncello, and some bubbles should be a great way to end any evening.
[Part of the Art of the Cocktail series, season two.]
½ oz Pearousia pear brandy
½ oz Limoncello
Top with bubbles
Flute
lemon ribbon garnish
Tis the season for autumn flavors! Nothing goes with falling leaves and cooler breezes than crisp apple cider, fall spices and rye whisky! Here is a punch that you can enjoy, cold or hot!
3 cups Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup ginger-cinnamon syrup*
6 cups fresh apple cider
*To make the ginger-cinnamon syrup:
1/2 lb fresh ginger root
5 cinnamon sticks
2 cups water
granulated cane sugar
Thinly slice ginger root (no need to peel!) and boil with cinnamon sticks in water for 45 minutes. Strain, and add 1/3 volume of granulated sugar to remaining hot liquid. Example: if after straining, you are left with 1.5 cups ginger-cinnamon liquid, add 1/2 cup sugar.
Recipe courtesy Linda Jockers.
Johnny Bandanna, aka John Shope, aka The Next Rounds On Me, came up with some lovely fall punch cocktails for a festival we did in Powhatan, Virginia this season. Here they are for your enjoyment.
Appalachian Honey Grapefruit Sour
Glass Type: Rocks Glass or Coup
Garnish: None
Method: Combine all ingredients into ice filled shaker, shake vigorously, then serve on the rocks or neat.
Ingredients:
2 oz. Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye Whisky
2 oz. fresh squeezed grapefruit juice
1 oz. honey syrup
Ice
*Honey Syrup: Simply boil water and mix a 1:1 ratio of hot water and locally sourced honey together, allow to cool and keep refrigerated for up to three months.
W.G.L.L.G. For Me:
Glass Type: Martini or Coup Glass
Garnish: Lavender Sprig
Method: Combine all ingredients into ice filled cocktail shaker, shake vigorously and fine strain into glass.
Ingredients:
2 oz Watershed Gin
Juice from 1 Lime
1 oz Lavender simple syrup
2 Dashes Embitterment Lavender Bitters
*Lavender Simple Syrup: Boil 1/4 cup lavender seeds with 1 cups of water and 1 cup white sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature, strain seeds and then keep refridgerated for up to three months.
(That’s a Watershed Gin Lavender Lime Gimlet for Me, please and thank you!)
This cocktail was one of our featured cocktails for the distillery dinner in August.
2 oz Catoctin Creek Watershed Gin
¾ oz Lemon Juice
¾ oz Butterfly Pea Tea & Basil Simple Syrup
Top with Cava
Garnish with Yellow Cherry Tomato & Purple Basil Leaf
Serve in Champagne flute.
This cocktail was one of our featured cocktails for the distillery dinner in August.
1 oz Short Hill Mountain Peach Brandy
1 oz El Guapo Rose Cordial
1 oz Lemon Juice
3 drops of Frontier (Sarsaparilla) Bitters
Top with Club Soda
Garnish with Mint Sprig
Serve in a Nick and Nora glass.
This cocktail was one of our featured cocktails for the distillery dinner in August.
2 oz Roundstone Rye 92 proof Distiller's Edition
½ oz Benedictine
½ oz Carpano Antica
3 dashes Herbsaint
3 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
Garnish with Catoctin Creek 1757 Brandied Cherry
Serve in rocks glass.
This cocktail was one of our featured cocktails for the distillery dinner in August.
1 oz Roundstone Rye 80 proof
1 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Orange Juice
¼ oz Raspberry Truffle Tea Simple Syrup
¼ oz Grenadine
Garnish with a floating layer of Angostura Bitters and Orange Wedge
Serve in rocks glass.
This cocktail is one of our featured cocktails for the Virginia Spirits Month of September.
1½ oz Catoctin Creek Watershed Gin
¾ oz Carrot Juice
¾ oz TRUE Tonic Syrup
Top with Club Soda
Dash of Aromatic Bitters
Garnish with Mint Sprig
Serve in a Nick and Nora glass.
I love Boulevariers, and I love spritzes, so when this one came across my Instagram feed, I sat up and took notice! What a refreshing take on a couple classics! This one is courtesy @adamdstein on Instagram.
1½ oz Roundstone Rye
1 oz Campari
San Pellegrino Limonata, to top.
Fill a rocks glass with ice, add the rye and Campari, stir, and top with San Pellegrino Limonata soda. Garnish with a lime. Enjoy!
Recipe and photo courtesy Adam D. Stein, and used with permission.
This cocktail is one of our featured cocktails in the tasting room for the month of August, 2018.
1 oz Roundstone Rye 92 Proof
2 oz Loudoun Raspberry truffle tea
½ oz fresh orange juice
½ oz True grenadine
2 brandied cherries
1 dash Angostura bitters
Combine all in shaker, stir, and pour over ice in a rocks or punch glass. Garnish with brandied cherries
Recipe courtesy Denise Petty.
Nothing says summer in the south quite like peaches. The juicy ripe fruit, dripping with sweetness, just begs to be in a cocktail!
This one comes to us from Instagram personality @jonpenndorf.
1½ oz Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye
1 peach slice, muddled
½ oz thyme simple syrup
1-2 dashes Fee Brothers grapefruit bitters
Muddle the peach in the bottom of a cocktail shaker, add ice, and other ingredients. Shake and strain over ice in a rocks glass.
Recipe and photo courtesy Jon Penndorf via Instagram.
