New Years Eve

This year was my first time in NYC for New Years Eve and it lived up to all expectations.  Nothing especially noteworthy, however, a night of reconnecting with old friends and making new acquaintances in tandem with the sense of place that only NYC provides was amazing.

I was the "barkeep" of the evening, ruling my corner of a granite tabletop with a handle of Jim Beam, a bottle of Smirnoff, a 26 of Sauzo Blanco and a couple bottles of extra dry prosecco.  While I spent the majority of the night drinking old fashioneds with various bitter combinations (usually Angostura and Regan's Orange #6) I was making drinks for a group that generally stuck to vodka highballs and that sort of drink.

Lacking any mixing ingredients aside from simple syrup, agave nectar, 8 different bitters, lemons, limes (only 4), oranges, cranberry juice, coke and gingerale I had to resort to making some things up as I went along to give them drinks that weren't your standard vodka cranberries.  The result was, I believe, that some of them are going to buy a bottles of both Angostura and Regan's Orange bitters by next week...but then again I always enjoy talking about bitters.  The drink of the night was what i temporarily dubbed variation on a theme (although, yes, I know it isn't original in the slightest).


Variation on a Theme (Cosmopolitan variant)
2.5 oz Smirnoff Vodka
1.25 oz Squeezed Lime Juice (some were cut with Lemon after I got low on limes)
~1 oz Simple Syrup
~1 oz Cranberry Cocktail (Ocean Spray)
4-6 Dashes Regan's Orange Bitters
(optional: 2 drops Bitterman's Tiki Bitters or a dash of Scrappy's grapefruit bitters)
Shaken vigorously and garnished w/ Orange or Lemon Peel

The drink was actually rather delicious despite my very limited experience creating drinks on the spot, in fact some of the better ones that were made were much closer to my tastes than the "proper" Cosmopolitans I have had.  I chose the Cosmo as my impetus merely because I believed it shows off exactly how good a proper cocktail can be to the habitual vodka highball drinker.  The simple syrup and cranberry juice measurements varied wildly through the night as I couldn't quite keep track of everyone's tastes and the bottles were sitting on the counter to allow for some improvisation on the part of my friends.  Overall I was very happy with the results (which is unusual for me considering the drink doesn't have whiskey in it) and I'm sure I converted a few people.

Other cocktails made through the night included

Margaritas
2.5 oz Tequila
1.25 oz Simple (or agave nectar syrup)
4 dashes Regan's Orange Bitters
Optional 1 dash Scrappy's Grapefruit Bitters. 
Shaken for ~30 seconds and garnished with orange peel.

Bittered Whiskey Sours
2 oz Jim Beam
1.5 oz Simple
~1 oz Lemon
2-3 Dashes Angostura Bitters
Shaken Vigorously 15-20 seconds

(I also made versions with 2:1:1, although overall wasn't really happy with any of my sours, but it introduced some people to whiskey in an approachable manner which made me feel better about making so many vodka cocktails :p)

Old-Fashioned
2.5 oz Jim Beam
.66 oz Simple
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
2 Dashes Regans Orange Bitters
Built and garnished with expressed Lemon Peel

This is one of my favorite drinks (instructions are a rough guideline) and I wish I had better whiskey, but I was the only serious whiskey fan in the room so I was making these quickly for myself while chatting and making other drinks, although I did make everyone taste the better variations that I made throughout the night and got some pretty positive feedback considering their drinking profiles.

The drinks were, of course, not the highlight of the night, but good cocktails and prosecco on New Years Eve is not something to turn one's nose up at.  I hope everyone else had as good a time as I did last night and good luck in the New Year.