New Beginnings Cocktail

Last year during the holiday season, we offered an original tea syrup-amaro treat called A Life Well-Lived Cocktail, whose genesis was at the time of the still-burgeoning COVID pandemic in Asia, which now, in retrospect, seems a bit melancholic in its appellation. With a vaccine just around the corner, we are looking to an end of the pandemic by summer so that we can return to America’s grand liquid traditions in our favorite watering holes. Until then, there’s no reason why we can’t celebrate new beginnings here virtually in the Firewater Lounge with another homemade cocktail in the same family as last year’s cocktail.

Instead of gin as the spirit base (as in A Life Well-Lived), we wanted a young bourbon as a symbol for the new year, so specifically we used a one-year-aged Colorado bourbon whiskey from 291. To add to the bourbon, we made a 1-to-1 Yaupon tea syrup made from Catspring’s holiday blend called Deck the Hills. For newcomers to yaupon, it is the only American native caffeinated plant, which yields a lightly sweet green tea. We controlled the cocktails sweetness with Amaro Amaricano, a new American amaro from Seattle’s Fast Penny Spirits. The amaro adds depth of favor and color. The resulting cocktail favor is a balance of ginger, pumpkin, and licorice with a warm sweet attack up front, moderating as it retreats.

New Beginnings Cocktail

Holly's Original

1 ½ ounce young bourbon (We used 291)

1 ounce yaupon tea syrup

¾ ounce Amaro Amaricano

If you do not have yaupon syrup, prepare some 1:1 syrup by boiling 1 cup of water and 1 cup of white sugar, then steep a tablespoon of yaupon in the syrup for 6 minutes. Strain. Cool before using. To prepare the cocktail, mix all ingredients in a stirring vessel with ice. Gently stir 40 revolutions to maintain the drink’s smooth texture and then pour into coupe or old-fashioned glass. Garnish with star anise.