Cocktails

Top Off

 

• .5 oz Emerald Absinthe
• 3-5 oz Topo Chico

Pour the absinthe into any glass, then add the Topo Chico. The colder, the better. Ice is optional, but recommended. Some folks only want to dilute the absinthe a little, some folks prefer to pour much more. It’s a matter of personal taste. Once the absinthe has gone from clear to cloudy, you’re well on your way to the perfect #topoff.

 

Green Goddess

 

• .5 oz Emerald Absinthe
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 oz simple syrup
• 4 oz soda (we like Topo Chico)

Shake the absinthe, lime, and simple, pour over ice in a Collins glass, top with soda. Garnish with lime or cucumber. This cocktail is only 5.8% ABV in the glass, hardly more than your average craft ale. It’s easy-drinking in the summer, and you can even put a bit of the Jasmine Liqueur in place of some (or all) of the simple syrup for an added floral note.

 

The Fizzard of Oz

 

• .5 oz Emerald Absinthe
• 3-5 oz root beer

This one is just as simple as the Top Off, but the bubbles are a bit more flavorful. We tried every kind of root beer we could find, and we were never disappointed. We must tell you, though, that the folks in Texas are the winners in the root beer running, because H-E-B store brand root beer was the best pairing by far. We did a special event at our home bar, the Firehouse Lounge, and their head bartender Antonio Matta gave all the cocktails names based on the L. Frank Baum book. We like his style.

 

Follow The Yellow Brick Road

 

• .5 oz Emerald Absinthe
• 1 oz dry vermouth
• .5 oz orgeat
• .5 oz lemon

This cocktail is best shaken and served over a big Fat Ice cube. You could also shake it and put it up in a coupe. Any way you serve it, we are honored to have Firehouse Lounge’s Antonio Matta create this cocktail to showcase our flagship product in the first bar it calls home.

 

The Queen’s Tea

 

• 1.5 oz black tea (make 1L with one heaping tsp honey)
• 1 oz Emerald Absinthe
• .25 oz orange liqueur (Combier is more than okay)

Stir and serve over a big rock (we always recommend Fat Ice), or you could serve it up. Garnish with a twist of lemon. This pretty ditty comes from the the mixological mind of Irene Jeanotte.

 

Afternoon Delight

 

• .25 oz Emerald Absinthe
• 3 oz sparkling wine

In the 1935 cocktail book So Red the Nose, Ernest Heminway had one of his most famous cocktail recipes. It was called Death in the Afternoon and called for a jigger (which is 1.5 oz) of absinthe, topped off with Champagne, “and then have three to five of them.” Death in the afternoon, indeed. We don’t have to all take our cocktails in heroic doses. The flavors of our Emerald Absinthe come through in a smaller amount. We use a fraction as much as Heminway did, and it suits us just fine. We like to think of it as a “little death,” and so we call it Afternoon Delight. Serve in a flute or coupe.

 

Sazerac

 

• 2.5 oz rye whiskey (try Kooper’s Family Rye for a recipe using solely Texas spirits)
• 1 sugar cube
• 3 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
• 1 barspoon Emerald Absinthe

For this, which is thought to be the original American cocktail, you can use a mixing glass if you have one, or just use two Old Fashioned glasses, chilling one while muddling the bitters and sugar into the other. Add ice and rye and stir the mixture until properly diluted. Most recipes tell you to pour a small amount of absinthe in the other, chilled glass, coating the inside, and then pour off the excess. We think that’s a waste of perfectly good absinthe, and an unnecessarily difficult task. If you carefully measure out the absinthe in the amount of a standard barspoon and add that to the bitters, sugar, and rye, what you’ll end up pouring into that second glass is a flavorful treat that doesn’t waste a drop. When the Sazerac was invented, ice wasn’t common in cocktails. If you’re going to be traditional about it, skip the big piece of ice. If you enjoy your modern indulgences, have it over ice because, well, you can.

If you have never done a cocktail stir, here’s a video with a simple breakdown of the technique by world renowned bartender Charles Joly.

If you prefer a true absinthe rinse, chill your glass while you mix your cocktail. When you’ve stirred it and it’s ready to pour, get your chilled rocks glass out, measure a barspoon of absinthe into the glass. Hold the glass at an angle such as to not spill, but roll the glass so that the absinthe spreads over the height of the side wall of the glass. Turn the glass slowly until it is coated. Pour in the Sazerac. Enjoy.

 

Obituary Cocktail 

• 2 oz gin
• 1/4 oz dry vermouth
• 1/4 oz Opal Absinthe

This is a drink as much of the New Orleans tradition as a Sazerac or a Ramos Gin Fizz. Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop is supposedly the bar which originally served this decadent, perhaps dangerous version of the martini. Stir until chilled in a mixing glass, then pour in a chilled cocktail glass to serve. 

 

Essence of Gelfling 

• 1 oz Opal Absinthe
• 3 oz tonic water (we like Fever Tree Elderflower)

Serve in a chilled absinthe glass, or in a Collins over ice, but the best way to experience this one is under black UV light, which makes the drink glow like the Dark Crystal elixir it is named for. (credit to Dillon Zavala for the concept)

 

A Whole New World

 

• 1.5 oz London Dry gin
• .75 oz lemon juice
• .75 oz green apple shrub
• .25 oz Jasmine Liqueur

Shake, strain over fresh ice, top with Topo Chico. An original concoction by Sarah Troxell of Houston. Go see her at Nobie’s.

 

An Ex-Parrot

 

• 1.5 oz gin
• .75 oz lemon juice
• .5 oz Dolin Dry
• .5 oz Elderflower Liqueur
• .25 oz simple syrup
• 1 egg white

Shaken, served up. Another original concoction by Sarah Troxell of Houston. Go see her at Nobie’s.

 

Hepcat Highball

 

• 1.5 oz Jasmine Liqueur
• 1.5 oz Scotch
• Soda water (we like Topo Chico)

Pour your favorite Scotch and an equal measure of Jasmine Liqueur over ice in a highball glass, top with soda, and give it a quick stir before you enjoy it. Named because the smokiness of the Scotch and the smoothness of the Jasmine makes us think of one particularly smoky basement jazz club.

 

Morning Aurora

 

• 1 oz Elderflower Liqueur
• 3 oz cold brew coffee
• .75 oz lemon juice
• .5 oz honey syrup
• 1 egg white

Shake all ingredients and pour into a chilled chilled coupe glass that has been spritzed with rose water. Garnish with a sprinkling of rose petals. This low ABV delight is the handy work of Savannah Gates of Amarillo, Texas. The 

 

Black Gold

 

• 2 oz Jasmine Liqueur
• .75 oz Fernet-Vallet
• .75 oz Del Maguey Vida

This cocktail is best stirred and served on the rocks, or rock, singular, if you’ve got one of those large format ice cubes like Fat Ice makes at the ready. This concoction comes courtesy of our pal Savannah Gates of Amarillo, Texas.

 

Blooming Bubbles

 

• .5 oz Jasmine Liqueur
• 3 oz sparkling wine (Champagne, prosecco, cava, anything with bubbles)

If you are a fan of the effervescent, then this is a great way to have your bubbles and your flowers, too. Pour your favorite sparkling wine into a flute or a coupe and top with a dollop of Jasmine Liqueur. Let the flowers and the bubbles tickle your nose.

 

Blonde Negroni

 

• 1 oz gin
• 1.5 oz Jasmine Liqueur
• .5 oz Grand Hops Amaro

Stirred, served over a rock, and garnished with orange peel. This white negroni variation substitutes the sweet vermouth with our Jasmine Liqueur, and the Campari with the bitter and flavorful Grand Hops from Greenbar. The proportions of a Negroni are usually 1:1:1. In this case they have to be adjusted to account for the bitterness in the Grand Hops. We think you’ll find this concoction quite balanced.

 

A Variation

 

• 2 oz gin (we like something citrus-y, like Half Hitch)
• .5 oz Elderflower Liqueur
• .25 oz lemon juice
• .5 oz maraschino liqueur

Shaken, served up in a coupe, garnished with a Luxardo Maraschino cherry. The Elderflower hue is more rouge compared to the Creme de Violette typically used in an Aviation cocktail. We like to think it’s the color of a sunset. Best enjoyed with a view of the sky.

 

Laura Palmer

 

• 1.25 oz Jasmine Liqueur
• .75 oz Meletti
• .5 oz lemon
• .5 oz dry curacao
• .25 simple syrup

This recipe comes at the whim of Houstonian Twin Peaks fan and Nancy’s Hustle bartender Kristine Nguyen. Shaken and poured over crushed ice in a Collins glass, and top with soda. If you enjoy an Arnold Palmer, or the bizarre David Lynch series, you’ll probably enjoy this drink. Fun variation: Omit the simple syrup and muddle mint for a “Mo-tea-to”

 

Gone with the Nguyen

 

• 1.25 oz Jasmine Liqueur
• 2 oz Botanist Gin
• .75 oz honey simple (1:1)
• muddled mint

This one works great on the rocks, garnished with a sprig of mint. Chris from Fort Worth’s Vietnamese restaurant Four Sisters whipped this up and gave me the honor of naming it.  

 

Peachy Green

 

• 1 oz Emerald Absinthe
• 1 oz gin
• 2 oz peach nectar or muddled fresh peach

We look forward every year to peach season. When you can’t find them perfectly ripe and juicy, there’s always packaged peach nectar, but get the real thing when you can. Muddle your peach in a shaker tin, add absinthe and gin, shake and double strain into a coupe glass and garnish with a twist of lemon.

 

Marigold Maguey Negroni 

• 1 oz Midnight Marigold
• 1 oz bianco vermouth
• 1 oz mezcal 

This cocktail’s name pretty much says it all: a Negroni made with Midnight Marigold and mezcal. The Negroni formula is easy to remember for those of you who are unfamiliar. Three equal parts: one bitter, one sweet, and one spirit. We used Tempus Fugit Alessio Bianco and Banhez Mezcal, but the great thing about a Negroni is that they can be made with all kinds of different spirits and vermouths for infinite variations. Whichever you choose to use, pour them in a mixing glass full of ice, stir until chilled, and strain over ice in a rocks glass. This is a great drink for a big Fat Ice cube, but you could use any ice you’ve got. 

 

Summer Swelter 

• 1 oz Midnight Marigold
• 1 oz gin
• ~4 oz Stiegl Radler

Grapefruit effervescence delivers the kind of refreshment we need in the heat of the summer. Get a pint glass full of ice, pour your shot of gin in first, top almost all the way with Stiegl Radler, and then pour the Midnight Marigold over the top. Since this recipe only uses ~1/3 of the Stiegl Radler tallboy can, you can keep pouring Stiegl to extend the sweet sipping experience, or perhaps you could just make two more cocktails for your friends. 

 

Carried Away 

• 2 oz aquavit (try Brennivan’s or Linie)
• 1 tsp cane sugar
• 1/4 oz Elderflower Liqueur 
• 2 big dashes Greenbar Apple Bitters

Build this in a glass like an Old Fashioned. Not like this Old Fashioned (a hilariously bad video example), but like this Old Fashioned (a book on the subject from NYTimes cocktail writer Robert Simonson). In case you want a video from a credible source on how to make a proper Old Fashioned, check out this video from Liquor.com featuring Dushan Zeric of Employees Only in NYC. This recipe is the creation of Blake Walker of Amor y Amargo.