A Cocktail to Celebrate By

I'm currently enamored of "cocktails" - those mixed marvels of juices and spirits, liqueurs and bitters which first saw their heyday in the 1930s, when Prohibition-era bartenders had the chance to practice their art with quality spirits, instead of the bathtub brews of earlier days.

Where we're located in Oakland, we're around 2 miles, as the crow flies, from the St. George Spirits/Hangar One distillery. I've raved about them before, so I won't go into details, but I credit them with a huge part of the resurgence of the "cocktail" in these parts. And to be honest, I think we in the Bay Area are paving the way for the rest of the country with bars like Bourbon & Branch, Rye, Cantina and Alembic -- let alone the incredible mixologists at restaurants like NoPa, Absinthe and even Bar Cesar.

Like I said, the cocktail is making a comeback.

What I love most about cocktailing is how it mimics cooking: take a base flavor, season it, add a spice or an herb (maybe both?), all the while paying attention to texture and balance. Thing is, cocktails provide instant gratification, and of course there's that delightful little buzz at the end.

My friends and I talk often about our affection for cocktailing, and how to play with the nearly endless variety of ingredients. In fact, one lovely lady's Limoncello has played a starring role in a LucianoDrop recently, while another's gift of a stunning shaker inspired a fanciful concoction only yesterday. But it was today's professional coups, both C's and mine, which led to the creation of tonight's most excellent cocktail.

The ChristianBerger

• Juice of one Ruby Red Grapefruit
• Juice of one Tangerine (a blood orange may be substituted)
• 1.5 oz Campari
• 1.5 oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
• Champagne or other dry sparkling wine, chilled

1. Shake the first 4 ingredients vigorously with ice until frothy.
2. Fill your champagne flute 1/3 full with juice mixture
3. Top with fizzy good stuff (aka, bubbly, aka sparkling wine)
4. Enjoy

This will make 3 - 4 cocktails depending on how much juice you get out of your citrus; I suggest having enough on hand to make more than you think you'll need, because these babies go down way easier than you might expect.

If you're the garnishing type, you can pulverize some dried tangerine with sugar for a nice rim; I suggest dipping first in Campari, but you might prefer the sweetness of St. Germain. Salut!

Tags: Food, Food & Drink, Cocktails, San Francisco, Oakland, Mixology, Bar

Comments

[C]

Its tagline should read… *Bright, Civilized, and Ever So Refreshing*!

[Tim]

Great post. As a lover of booze, I welcome the resurgence of proper cocktails. However, let’s not give SF/Oakland too much credit. Good bars that serve classic drinks have never gone out of style in Boston. Even the newer bars like B-Side Lounge have bartenders that can make you a perfect Old-Fashioned or a refreshing Pimms Cup.

[laura @ cucina testa rossa]

OH! let's go NOW! in the words of Jimmy Buffet, "It's 5 o'clock somewhere!" :)

[sam]

lordy lordy this is my cocktail if ever I saw one. I have 11 WW points left today. I think I'll just go home and drink them. I have all ingredients on hand except the grapefruit but I am sure orange will work untl I get to the market tomorrow. Oh and is a manderine the same as a tangerine? glad you like your shaker!

[sam]

PS - how rude of me - i didnt even say congratulations - not sure what for but as long as it's good...

[Quinapalus]

As proud as I am of our local talents, I don't think we're exactly blazing the trail -- NYC's Flatiron Lounge, Employees Only, Pegu Club, etc. have been at this for a couple years at least.

[Stephanie]

Aw, I adore the idea of having a cocktail named after me! You'll have to share what was in the LucianoDrop.

Boston cocktails: true, in the six years we lived happily in Boston and Cambridge, there was no shortage of amazing cocktails and bartenders. However, we were just speaking to our cocktail-obsessed friends the other night (they are frequenters of B-Side, as well) and when we described the bartenders out here making their own bitters, tonic water, and whatnot, they sighed and said that SF was way ahead of them. I'm sure they'd be thrilled to be wrong, though.

[Fatemeh]

Quinaplus and Tim - I think San Francisco's obsession with all things local and organic and so on is driving up the quality of our drink menus. We have so many bartenders making their own bitters and liqueurs and all manner of unique simple syrups, which I haven't seen in other cities.

That said, I don't think that San Francisco is necessarily at the forefront of perfect "classic cocktails" - I do think Boston can claim at least some of that distinction.

[Margaret Morgan]

Very interesting ~ great photos ~ love the breadth of cultural diversity!