September is a liminal month—one foot still in summer and the other bounding toward fall. The most popular cocktails this month follow a similar pattern. The Peach Thunderbolt is practically a plea to make the most of summer produce before it’s gone, while the Winterized Negroni, with its subtle hit of peated Scotch, is ready to bypass sweater season entirely. Of course, sometimes the best time for a summer drink is in the dead of winter, so as the temperature starts to dip, we suggest shaking up a round of Anton Kinloch’s winning Zombie recipe and calling it a day. Here are the five cocktails you deemed best this month.
(Lou's) Army Navy
The Army Navy, also known as the Army & Navy, dates to at least the 1930s. A cousin of contemporary orgeat sours like the Cameron’s Kick and Coo-ee Special, it’s evidence of an orgeat boom that predates tropical drinks like the Mai Tai. At New York’s Dutch Kills, the house Army & Navy spec honors longtime regular and retired FDNY firefighter Lou, who prefers hers with a cocktail cherry sunk to the bottom of the coupe and Angostura bitters dashed on top.
Read More →Winterized Negroni
“I had never thought of Scotch and gin as such an agreeable flavor duo until stumbling across Michael Madrusan’s Death & Taxes cocktail, which was an enlightening blend of robust and malty flavors of blended Scotch rounding out the sharp, botanical edges of a London dry gin,” says New York bar director Brian Evans. Today, Evans’ favorite hack for adding depth to a Negroni is to add a half-teaspoon of Islay Scotch. It’s a technique used in a complex riff, the Hashira, at Rule of Thirds in Brooklyn, but it also works in a more classic build like this, too.
Read More →Anton Kinloch's Zombie
The winner of our Zombie blind tasting, Anton Kinloch’s recipe was the only one of eight in which the grenadine was perceptible, thanks to the fact that Kinloch acidifies his syrup to make it pop, even when a mere tablespoon is used. For the rum, Kinloch is true to the hard-hitting nature of the original and blends one and a half ounces each of Puerto Rican and Jamaican rums, with another ounce of overproof Demerara rum. “You can taste the layers,” noted one of the panelists. Though Kinloch serves his Zombie clarified, the recipe here is for the nonclarified version that won our blind tasting.
Read More →Peach Thunderbolt
The original Peach Thunderbolt is a rum-based peach julep that Charles H. Baker Jr. encountered outside of Savannah, Georgia, in a town called Thunderbolt. It’s published in the julep section of Baker’s 1939 book, The Gentleman’s Companion: Around the World with Jigger, Beaker and Flask. Mike Capoferri didn’t just bring the drink into the 21st century at his high-concept bar in Los Angeles’ Echo Park neighborhood—he named the place Thunderbolt as a nod to his home state of Georgia. Although special equipment is needed for the “justino” infusion method used at Thunderbolt, Capoferri offers this home bartender–friendly option for peach-infused rum.
Read More →Kevin Armstrong's Satan's Whiskers
Unsatisfied with the classic Satan’s Whiskers recipe as specified in Harry Craddock’s 1930 The Savoy Cocktail Book, Kevin Armstrong, owner of the London bar of the same name, tweaked the original to make it more palatable for his discerning guests. “It’s not god’s gift to classic cocktails,” he admits, but Armstrong’s version is as good as a Satan’s Whiskers gets without completely reconceptualizing the drink. He notes that, because the characteristics of fresh citrus vary from batch to batch, his recipe may need to be adjusted “with a little extra lemon, sugar or even gin.” The key is to taste the first round and adjust accordingly.
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