CommunityData:Meetup December 2020/Cocktail hour

As part of our social retreat, Mako will be leading a session around his backup career plan: mixing up cocktails and mocktails.

Preparing
If you planning on making drinks with me, you'll probably need to shop for ingredients. My advice it to chose what you want have off the list below and shop just for that drink. Or just bring a beer or glass of wine a cup of tea to watch, chat, learn, and hang out!

I've listed the night's (afternoon's?) menu below here from easiest to most difficult. There are four drinks including one non-alcoholic drink (marked EtOH-free). My advice is to pick one or two that you want make and to shop for ingredients for that drink. If you like the idea of a rosemary lemonade, do the dishwalk cooler. If you like beer, go with the first one. If you like juicy fancy cocktails, try to do the Bitter Elder. They're all great.

Getting a bottle of Campari (or some similar citrus-based digestivo like Gran Classico) is probably a good place to start. It's not super expensive (~$30 in Washington and less elsewhere) and its versatile, tasty, and available almost anywhere. If you beer, Campari, gin, lemons, and elderflower liquor, you can make three things off this list.

...or you could just buy a bottle of Cynar and a half dozen eggs.

Cocktail 1: Casual Inference [Easiest]
Ingredients:


 * 6 oz IPA [Something local!]
 * 1½ oz Campari

You'll want to prepare ahead of time by...

Assembling your tools including:


 * Something to pour your drink into! I recommend a lowball/DOF glass
 * Something to measure your ingredients with
 * Ice!

Cocktail 2: Rosemary Dish Walk Cooler [EtOH-free]
Ingredients:


 * 1 oz Lemon juice
 * 1 ¼ oz Rosemary simple syrup
 * 3 oz sparkling water

Optional ingredients (if you're not into the whole EtOH-free thing):


 * 1½ oz Gin

You'll want to prepare ahead of time by...


 * Preparing the rosemary simple syrup involves boiling 150g sugar, 150g water, 2-3 tablespoons of rosemary (fresh or dry). Then let cool.

And by assembling your tools including:


 * Something to juice your lemons with
 * Something to pour your drink into! I recommend a highball glass
 * Something to measure your ingredients with
 * Ice!

Based on: Dish Walk Cooler, Benjamin Mako Hill, Seattle

Cocktail 3: Bitter Elder [Intermediate]
Ingredients:


 * 1½ oz Gin
 * ¾ oz Elderflower liqueur (St. Elder or St. Germain)
 * ½ oz Campari
 * ½ oz Lemon juice

You'll want to prepare ahead of time by...

Assembling your tools including:


 * Something to juice your lemons with
 * Something to pour your drink into! I recommend a coupe/cocktail glass
 * Something to measure your ingredients with
 * Ice!

Based on: Bitter Elder (History is complicated.)

Cocktail 4: Snake Fight [Advanced]
Note: This one will require an NO2 whipper and you will be making foam for 4-5 drinks.

The drink:


 * 3 oz Rye
 * 3 dash Peychaud's bitters

Also... ingredients for the lemon maple foam:


 * 4 egg whites
 * 2 oz lemon juice
 * 4 oz maple syrup
 * 6 oz water

You'll want to prepare ahead of time by...

Assembling your tools including:


 * A whipcream charger (like an iSi Whipper)
 * Something to juice your lemons with
 * Something to serve it in: ideally a lowball/DOF glass
 * Something to measure your ingredients with
 * Ice!

Based on: Vessel 75, Jamie Boudreau, Canon, Seattle

Afterparty
If there's time, I'll be walking you through one of my favorite cocktails:

You'll need: (a) a whole egg; and (b) a bottle of Cynar; and (c) something to shake your drink in and pour it into when you're done. I promise it will be both fantastic and completely surprising. You won't regret having a bottle of Cynar around.