Time for a Drink: Penicillin Cocktail
Let's start the weekend right—with a cocktail recipe from Paul Clarke (The Cocktail Chronicles). Need more than one? Hit up the archives. Cheers!
It may not be as powerful as a flu shot or have the healing properties of the antibiotic it's named for, but the Penicillin Cocktail is a surefire cure for a chilly autumn night. Originally created by New York bartender Sam Ross, the Penicillin Cocktail takes the warming, soothing flavors of honey, lemon juice and fresh ginger, and fortifies them with a good dose of scotch whisky. And as if that isn't enough, the drink is topped with a thin pour of headily aromatic Islay malt, which gives the drink a fragrance as alluring as any woodsmoke-laced autumn breeze.
Other bartenders have taken Ross's formula and adapted it for drinks made with tequila, gin, and rum, all with great results, but the scotch-based original is always a good place to start. And one note on the preparation: the original drink uses a house-made ginger-honey syrup; since the spark of fresh ginger fades so quickly, home mixologists may be better served by simply muddling a few slices of fresh ginger in the drink, rather than mixing a batch of syrup that will likely lose its luster before the bottle is half gone. This adapted recipe is listed after the jump.
Penicillin Cocktail
Ingredients
2 ounces blended scotch whisky (Famous Grouse works well)
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
3/4 ounce honey syrup*
3 slices fresh ginger
1/4 ounce Islay single malt scotch (such as Laphroaig)
* Honey syrup: combine equal parts honey and hot water and stir until well mixed. Let cool before using, and keep refrigerated.
Procedure
Using a wooden muddler or mixing spoon, muddle the fresh ginger in the bottom of a cocktail shaker until it is well mashed. Add the blended scotch, lemon juice, and honey syrup, and shake well with ice. Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass (you may wish to double-strain through a fine tea strainer to remove the small flecks of ginger), and pour the Islay scotch over the back of a bar spoon so that it floats atop the drink.
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1 Comment:
Hey Paul,
I've never bothered to try it, but I've long figured a rum version was a natch. I'm curious- the article you link to says the Amoxicillin "substitutes Ron Zacapa for the whiskey (sic)". So...is there another rum in there? or is the Zacapa the aromatic over a Scotch base? or is it even layered?
Kilbeggan at 2:18AM on 11/14/09