Haute 5 Cocktails for Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day means celebration and one good way to start off the fun is with fresh new cocktails. Here top mixology gurus at top spots around town like Slowly Shirley, Pouring Ribbons, The Plaza, and Crave Fishbar stir up great five great new libations to make VD 2017 a memorable one.

Cleopatra (created by Garret Richard for Slowly Shirley)

1 oz Avua Prata Caçacha

1 oz Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka

1/2 oz Banana cordial

1/4 oz Demerara syrup

1/2 oz Lime juice

1/2 oz Lime cordial

2 Dashes McCormick Buco Pandan extract

Glass: Hurricane

Ice: Crushed

Method: Shake with 3 cubes. Strain over crushed ice.

Garnish: Banana leaf ribbon.

Diarmuid & Gráinne (created by Joaquín Simó of Pouring Ribbons)

Muddle 3 raspberries in

0.5 oz Aperol

0.5 oz Simple Syrup

1 dash Peychaud’s bitters

Add

2 oz Clontarf

0.75 oz Lemon Juice

0.75 oz Grapefruit Juice

Bottom: 1.5 oz Soda

Glass: Collins

Ice: Shard

Method: Shake. Fine-Strain

Garnish: Skewered Lemon Wheel & Raspber

Tahitian Coffee (for two, created by Garret Richards for Slowly Shirley)

3 oz Plantation Barbados 2001

3 oz Encanto Pisco

1 oz Lime juice

1 oz Orange juice

1 oz Passion fruit syrup

1 oz Guava nectar

1 oz Cold brew concentrate

1/2 oz House falernum

1-1/2 oz Honey syrup

Glass: Chemex

Ice: Crushed

Method: Shake. Strain

Garnish: Grated coffee and an orchid

Leche Dulce (The Palm Court at Plaza Hotel New York)

2 oz. Bacardi Light Rum

1 oz. Zacapa 23 Rum

3 oz. Coconut water

2 oz. whole milk

1 oz. cane sugar syrup

Glassware:  Freshly Cored and Drained Cocon

Method: Core fresh coconut and drain coconut water into separate container. Add all ingredients to Boston glass. Fill coconut with fresh large ice, add ice to tin and shake vigorously. Taste for balance, garnish and serve.

Garnish:  Freshly ground nutmeg, one mint sprig and two metal straws

Strawberry Fizz (created by Mazin Ahwal for Crave Fishbar)

1.5 oz gin

.5 oz dry curaçao

.75 oz Giffard strawberry liqueur 

.5 lemon juice

1/4 dropper orange blossom water 

1 oz coconut milk

1 oz egg white

Method: Combine all the ingredients into a shaker and dry shake (no ice) for 30-60 seconds. Add ice and shake for the same amount of time. Next, pour all the content into a Collins class, without ice. Place a straw in the middle of the cocktail (it should hold itself in place given the texture and body of the cocktail). Look for the cocktail to start separating. Once this occurs, remove the straw. In one of the halves of the shaker there should be regular soda water. Start pouring the soda water into the cocktail over the place the straw once was. Do this slowly, little by little. The cocktail is complete once you have seen a “soufflé” of content on the top of the Collins glass.