This is where you’ll find my favorite cocktail creations!

You’ll see links throughout to help you find the necessary ingredients and supplies.

Planter’s Punch

Tiki culture is an American invention.  More specifically, the “exotic drink” was conceived and raised in California, just like me!

A globetrotter from Texas was the first to marry the drinks of the Caribbean with the look of the South Pacific under one roof: Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt was born in a small town in Texas in 1907.  Before he was even a teenager, he found himself prowling the streets of New Orleans with his charismatic Grandfather.  Together they traveled to the Caribbean on his grandfather’s yacht as part of his import-export business – which during Prohibition included smuggled rums into the U.S. Ernest discovered the rich, fragrant rums of Jamaica and the spices and flavors of Caribbean cuisine. After High School he spent several years roaming the seas, immersing himself in the drink, food and culture of the people.  Along the way, he collected large amounts of masks, carvings, Polynesian and nautical stuff.  At the age of 24 he found himself in Los Angeles, where he worked several odd jobs and rubbed elbows with celebrities. By 1933 he saved enough money to buy a vacated tailor’s shop in Hollywood.  He built a bar for 24 guests, hanged his flotsam and jetsam from the ceiling and called it “Don’s Beachcomber” (a pseudonym from his bootlegging days).  It was hugely successful.  Eventually he moved to a larger building across the street, which he named “Don the Beachcomber” and years later he actually changed his name to Donn Beach.  (Yes, with two n’s. No clue why.)

As for the drinks, he started with the centuries-old Planter’s Punch.  Building upon this he created what he called his “Rum Rhapsodies”. He had single-handedly invented the “Exotic Cocktail”.

What is a “punch”? The word punch may be a loanword from Hindi पाँच (pāñć), meaning "five", as the drink was traditionally made with five ingredients.

The authors of Death & Company Modern Classic Cocktails state

“For a punch to be authentic, the communal bowl needs to contain five elements: Spirits, sugar, citrus, water, and spice. Without the spice component, it’s not technically a punch.”

Punch in the Caribbean began as something enjoyed by the plantation owners, or “planters”; hence the name. Punch is traditionally served in a “communal bowl”, which is ladled into individual cups.

(Note: Communal punch is usually expected to contain less alcohol than a cocktail, so go easy on the booze if you scale this recipe up to a punch bowl. Might want to hold back on the bitters and allspice dram as well, and spice it to taste.)

Over time, Punch recipes proliferated, but always followed the basic recipe above. Here is the great version from the Smuggler’s Cove, that iconic San Francisco tiki bar:

RECIPE:

Glassware:  Collins or Highball

Garnish:  Mint sprig

1 oz Fresh Lime Juice

¾ oz SC Demerara Syrup (see recipe below)

¼ oz St Elizabeth Allspice Dram

3 oz Blended Aged Rum (Denizen Merchant’s Reserve or Appleton)

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Combine all ingredients in drink mixer tin with

12 oz Crushed Ice

Blend, then open pour with gated finish

Garnish with Mint Sprig

The Manhattan

This is a classic! And it's my go-to cocktail if I am about to eat a steak dinner…(well...just about any dinner, but especially a steak dinner.) I was introduced to the Manhattan by my friend Charles Nelson Riley, that hilarious star of Broadway musicals, Hollywood Squares and Match Game. It was at Sardi's, that famous restaurant on West 44th Street in Manhattan. What could be a better place to have my first Manhattan? Charles was a very good friend of mine and my family. He directed me in Die Fledermaus in Dallas, he coached me in several other opera roles, he wrote and directed my cabaret show.

It's a boozy cocktail. It's sweet, bitter, rich and luscious. It’s very simple to make, but you have to get the proportions right!  I like to add a bit of the syrup from the Luxardo Cherry jar.  Here's my recipe:

Rod’s Manhattan

Coupe glass
Garnish: Luxardo cherry

2 oz Rittenhouse Rye
1 oz Carpano Antica Formula vermouth
2 dashes Angostura Aromatic Bitters
¼ tsp Luxardo cherry syrup

Before adding ice, stir (do not shake!) all ingredients until the very thick Luxardo Cherry syrup is dissolved. Fill to top of liquid with1-inch ice and stir until well chilled (30 sec).
Double strain into Coupe glass
Garnish with Luxardo Cherry on a cocktail pick

The Burning Christmas Tree

This cocktail is a tribute to our tradition of burning our dried-out Christmas trees in a concrete bonfire ring at the beach. It tries to imitate the red/orange fire (blood orange/mango), the heat (jalapeño), the smoke (Mezcal) and the burning tree (Rosemary) in the concrete ring (grey sugar).

Ingredients:

2 oz Vida Mezcal

2 oz fresh Blood Orange juice

1 oz fresh Lime juice

½ oz Jalapeño Vodka (see recipe below)

½ oz Agave syrup

4 drops Mesquite Smoke Flavoring

Mango Purée

Garnish:

Gray sugar rim (see method below)

1 long dried Rosemary Sprig

Method of Preparation: Shaken

Served:  on the rocks

Steps:

Rim the glass with lime juice and Gray Sugar (It should look like a concrete fire ring)

 Add  Mezcal, Blood Orange, Lime, Jalapeño Vodka, Agave, Smoke Flavoring into the shaker. 

Add 1 scoop of 1 inch ice.  Shake and pour into sugar-rimmed glass, reserving 1 oz of the liquid for pouring on top.

Build the Bonfire: Top with a mound of finely crushed ice. Pour reserved liquid on top – like syrup on a snow cone, then drizzle with Mango Purée.

Strip the leaves from lower stem of Rosemary Sprig and insert it so it stands up like a Christmas Tree.

Ignite the Rosemary and serve immediately.

Jalapeño Vodka: Coarsely chop 4 green Jalapeño peppers in a container and add 750ml of VODKA.  Let soak for a maximum of 20 minutes (I find 10 minutes is enough), checking the heat frequently.  Strain back into vodka bottle. Label the bottle!

Gray Sugar: I make grey sugar by  pulverizing silver cake sprinkles in my coffee grinder.  (You have to find the right sprinkles: some are chocolate-based and yield a brown color.)

Pumpkin Pie Martini

A few years ago I ordered a “Pumpkin Pie Martini” at a bar. It was awful! It was made with caramel liqueur (what?) and was way too sweet. Blech. But most noticeably, it had no pumpkin flavor whatsoever! I decided to create a drink that actually tastes like pumpkin pie. After years of tweaking I think it’s pretty close! This is a cocktail that’s perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas or any other time you would serve pumpkin pie. It’s easy to make, it has a great aroma (due to the fresh nutmeg on top), and did I say it tastes like pumpkin pie?

serve straight up in Martini (or coupe) glass

 3 oz RG Pumpkin Vodka (see recipe below) 

½  oz RG Spiced Simple Syrup (see recipe below)

½  oz melted Häagen-Dazs® Vanilla Ice Cream (or other premium ice cream with no fillers.  Costco Premium is awesome, and cheaper than Häagen-Dazs)

¼ tsp Vanilla Extract

Shake with ice

Double strain into martini (or coupe) glass

Garnish with dollop of freshly Whipped Cream (not from can!), dusted with freshly-grated Nutmeg

RG Pumpkin Vodka

1 small can 100% Pumpkin,

750 ml Vodka

Combine pumpkin and vodka in a flavor-neutral container (stainless, glass or acrylic).

Let macerate 24 hours.

Strain through sieve and pour back into vodka bottle. You want to use a regular metal sieve for this, not a fine filter. Tyhere should be a layer of pumpkin at the bottom of the bottle. Shake before each use:  You want some pumpkin in each drink!  

(for better pumpkin color, add 6 drops red, 8 drops yellow food coloring.)

RG Spiced Syrup

 1 C White Sugar

1 C Filtered Water

4 slices of Fresh Ginger

2 Cinnamon sticks

10 whole Allspice seeds

4 whole Cloves

¼ t freshly-grated Nutmeg

 In a saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil.

Cover and simmer on lowest heat for 30 minutes.

Allow to cool, then strain.

I like to keep it in a condiment bottle for easy dispensing.

Keeps in refrigerator for a few weeks, but check for mold before each use.

Apple Pie Martini

This martini tastes so much like apple pie, you'll be amazed! It's a perfect, festive cocktail for Christmas, Thanksgiving or Baseball Games (“As American as Baseball and Apple Pie!”) . A Holiday Cocktail like no other! It has a luscious mouthfeel, it’s viscous (from the pectin), fruity, not too sweet, with nicely balanced spice.

serve straight up in coupe glass, rimmed with cinnamon sugar

1 1/4 oz RG Baked Apple Vodka (see below)

1 1/4 oz Green Apple Vodka  (I like Absolut, Smirnoff)

1 1/4 oz Spiced Rum (I like Sailor Jerry)

1 1/4 oz unfiltered Apple Juice (I like Simply Apple )

.625 oz RG Spiced Simple Syrup

.2 oz (1.25t)  fresh Lemon Juice

.1 oz  (.625 t)  St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram

For rim: Lemon Juice, Cinnamon Sugar (4 parts White Sugar, 1 part Ground Cinnamon) Wet rim with lemon juice and apply Cinnamon Sugar

Add all other ingredients to shaker and shake with ice.

Coarse strain into glass & serve.

Rod’s Favorite Old-Fashioned

This is my riff on the superb Old-Fashioned recipe from Death & Co.’s book Cocktail Codex.

Rod’s Riff: I wanted to pump up the orange-y flavor of their recipe, so I start by muddling a slice of orange in the mixing tin. I also add slightly more Demerara Gum Syrup (they use only1 teaspoon), balanced by one more dash of Bitter Truth aromatic bitters.

2 oz Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon

1/2 oz Demerara Gum Syrup (see recipe below)

2 dashes Angostura aromatic bitters

2 dashes Bitter Truth aromatic bitters

1/4 in. orange slice with peel

Garnish: 1 orange twist and 1 lemon twist

Directions:

• Muddle orange slice in mixing tin with muddling stick, making sure to crush the peel to express the oils. (if you buy a muddling stick, I recommend a fat wooden one with a flat base like this one, or use 1 foot of 1 5/16 in. hardwood closet rod. I have even used the handle of a hammer in a “cocktail emergency”. Clean it first!)

• Add liquid ingredients, add 1-inch ice (enough to protrude well above the liquid) and stir until desired dilution is achieved (10-20 seconds) (Here is my favorite stirrer. Don’t shake this cocktail, or you will infuse it with air bubbles, making it cloudy and ruining its luscious mouthfeel. Nooo!)

• Double-strain (through a Hawthorne strainer and a conical strainer) over a large ice cube (I prefer 2.25 inch) in an extra large rocks glass.

• Express a wide orange twist over the cocktail, rub it on the rim and drop it in.

• Express a wide lemon twist over the cocktail and drop it in. (Don’t rub it on the rim, as the lemon oil is quite bitter.)

Be sure to savor the fantastic aromas of this cocktail before your first sip!

Demerara Gum Syrup I make this at home using my sous vide machine, according to the following recipe from Cocktail Codex. The Gum Arabic (made from acacia trees) in this syrup gives body to the cocktail without making it too sweet. It affords a smooth, luscious mouthfeel. You can buy Gum Syrup here, but I like making my own.

300 grams Demerara Sugar
18 grams Gum Arabic powder
150 grams hot filtered water

Place sous vide machine in a pot of water and set to 145 degrees F. Place sugar and gum arabic in a food processor (or blender) and process until powdery (2 min). With food processor running, slowly add hot water. Process until the sugar and gum arabic are completely dissolved. (2-3 min) Pour contents into a thick resealable bag (plastic or silicone). Push out as much air as possible and seal bag. Place bag in the sous vide pot and cook for 2 hours. Remove from the water, allow to cool and pour into a resealable container. (I use a 12 oz condiment bottle). Store in refrigerator for several weeks, but always check for mold before use. Makes 10 oz.



The Sean Gregory

I invented this cocktail in Santa Fe for my son-in-law Sean Gregory Slater’s 30th birthday.

It’s smokey, spicy, sweet, sour and smooth. The muddled Japaleño pepper gives it some clean heat, the Mezcal makes it delightfully smokey, and the egg white makes it silky & smooth. It’s one of my best cocktails.

FROZEN MARTINI GLASS (place a martini or coupe glass in the freezer before your start. It only takes a few minutes to chill it down)

In a cocktail shaker:

MUDDLE

¼  jalapeño pepper, with seeds (peppers are not uniformly hot. You can adjust how much pepper to use after you taste the first cocktail. Of course, that means you’ll have to make at least two!)

ADD

2 oz mezcal (I prefer Del Maguey Mezcal Vida because it’s smoky, but relatively cheap)

1 1/2 oz fresh lime juice

1oz fresh orange juice

3/4 oz Cointreau

3/4 oz Agave syrup

1 oz egg white (if you are concerned about eating raw eggs, you can use pasteurized egg white - available in most grocery stores. However, I find it doesn’t aerate as well as fresh egg white, i.e. less foam)

DRY SHAKE (no ice) vigorously, for 15 seconds

WET SHAKE (with ice) less vigorously - just to cool it all down

DOUBLE STRAIN (through Hawthorne strainer [or the shaker lid] AND a fine conical strainer) into frozen martini glass 

GARNISH with lime wedge