- Cocktails
Classic Cocktails With a Twist Are The Ultimate Any Day Luxury
A vintage bar cart stocked with beautiful bottles will always be chic, but collectively we’re drinking less than we used to. Instead, we’re seeking out specialty ingredients to elevate our favourite tipples and the cocktails we’ve kept on rotation.
But how do you level up your cocktail game once you’ve nailed the negroni and mastered the martini? We’ve got just the thing.
You could splurge a little, and make yourself a Truffle Whisky Sour. The ideal marriage of sour, sweet and umami, a little homemade truffle honey shaken with lemon, egg white and Glenlivet 15YO will add a serve of relaxed elegance to your evening. Though seasonally dependent, adding truffle to the mix is less challenging than it used to be thanks to specialty grocers and a boom in truffle-infused ingredients like salt and oil. Pair your cocktail with a simple play on cacio e pepe: finely grate your truffle over a good quality pasta with lashings of olive oil, butter, cracked black pepper and Grana Padano (after all, it’d be a crime to let any go to waste).
Truffle Whisky Sour
Ingredients (serves 1)
Truffle Honey:
2 cups honey
2 teaspoons minced fresh black truffle
Whisky Sour:
60mL Glenlivet 15YO Single Malt Scotch Whisky
20mL lemon juice
20mL truffle honey
Pinch of truffle salt
Egg white
Fresh shaved black truffle for garnish
Method
To make the truffle honey:
1. Combine the honey and the minced black truffle.
2. Allow to sit overnight for the flavours to infuse.
To make the cocktail:
1. Add the whisky, lemon juice, truffle honey, truffle salt and egg white to a shaker. Dry shake, then add ice and shake again. Strain over ice.
2. Garnish with freshly shaved truffle.
Not a whisky lover? How does a Saffron Margarita sound? Famously more expensive, by the pound, than gold, fragrant saffron is good for the body as well as the mind (it’s suggested that saffron is anti-inflammatory, and may reduce anxiety and improve sleep). Luckily, Australian saffron is really good value. It’s of such high quality that a little goes a very long way. As a syrup and a salt, the addition of saffron infuses a warming, golden glint to the cocktail, while the tequila will add a warm glow to your cheeks.
Saffron Margarita
Ingredients (serves 1)
Saffron-infused syrup:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 pinch (about 15 threads) saffron
Saffron salt:
¼ cup coarse sea salt
1 pinch of saffron threads
Margarita:
60mL Teremana Reposado Tequila
15mL Cointreau Liqueur
15mL saffron-infused syrup
30mL lime juice
Ice
Dried orange for garnish
Method
To make the saffron-infused syrup:
1. Combine sugar, water and saffron in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Continue boiling, whisking constantly, until the sugar has dissolved, about 3 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature (the longer it sits, the more intense of a flavour you get).
To make the safron salt:
1. Add saffron and sea salt in a mortar and pestle and grind until smooth.
2. Add 1-2 drops of water as needed to bring out the vibrant yellow saffron colour.
To make the cocktail:
1. Begin by rimming your margarita glass with a lime wedge, then dip the rim in the saffron salt to generously coat.
2. In a cocktail shaker, combine tequila, fresh lime juice, orange liqueur, and saffron-infused syrup. Fill the shaker with ice and shake vigorously.
3. Strain the mixture into your ice-filled glass. Garnish with blood orange.
Try one (or both) of these cocktails on for size.
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